Basic Trope: The starting area in a game is destroyed as part of the Call to Adventure.
- Straight: The Hero's hometown is destroyed by Emperor Evulz at the end of the first act.
- Exaggerated:
- Downplayed:
- The starting location is a small inn in the middle of the wilderness, which, while burned to the ground, everybody survives.
- The hero returns to his hometown to find it half derelict, with most of the people moved away, and the rest miserable.
- Justified:
- The village was a Hidden Elf Village containing people who could kill Emperor Evulz.
- As an addendum to the above entry, Evulz was trying to pre-emptively kill the Hero as a child, who survived, giving them a reason to hate the Emperor, thus allowing the prophecy to march forthwith, sealing his fate.
- Emperor Evulz is a an Unfettered war-criminal who massacres every town that gets in his way.
- Inverted:
- The Hero's journey is void of destroyed towns until he settles down in a small village at the end. Which he finally burns down when he gets bored.
- The Hero's hometown is the only place that doesn't suffer some sort of tragedy or major incident.
- There is a wide sandbox-like world for people to explore in the tutorial. Then it turns out that a magic shield was put around the hero's hometown, protecting it from the threat that took over the rest of the world. The rest of the game takes place within the shield.
- The Hero's hometown is introduced as ruins at the start of the game; then it is rebuilt.
- Emperor Evulz's hometown is destroyed at the end of the first act.
- Subverted: The Hero's hometown is threatened at the start of the game, but the threat is defeated, and the area is left alone by the forces of Darkness.
- Double Subverted: The Hero's hometown is threatened at the start of the game, but the threat is defeated; but the town is burned to the ground at the end of the second act (of three).
- Parodied:
- Everything in the Hero's hometown is labeled "highly flammable".
- There are several heroes in this game, everyone native to another area, and everyone had their hometown destroyed. They have arguments about whose town went out in the most devastating way, all played like children arguing about who the coolest characters in their favourite shows are.
- Zig Zagged: The hero's hometown is attacked before he ever begins his journey, but is successfully defended. He leaves seeking revenge and to prevent it being threatened again. Later, he hears rumors that it's been destroyed, and rushes back... to find it's still standing, and nothing's happened to it. Yet. Turns out the rumors were spread by one of Emperor Evulz' generals in order to lure the hero back so he could witness the attack, with the general mocking his helplessness to prevent its destruction. This turns out to be a tactical mistake, as the hero IS actually able to defeat the invaders and defend it... but part of the village is destroyed despite his efforts.
- Averted: The hero's town is not burnt to the ground by marauding bandits.
- Enforced: "We don't want the player to stick too close to the safety of the starting area, so let's destroy it at the end of the tutorial."
- Lampshaded: "Now that Emperor Evulz knows you're here, he's sending his mooks to burn this place to the ground. Naturally."
- Invoked: Emperor Evulz has heard a prophecy about a hero destined to destroy him and he knows where he will be born. So he launches a preemptive strike to stop the prophecy coming true.
- Exploited: The hero or a teammate not averse to manipulating people's emotions uses the story about the destroyed hometown to gain allies.
- Defied:
- Evulz is baffled at sending a whole army just for The Hero.
Emperor Evulz: "'Destroy the whole town?' Are you suggesting I would be stupid enough to do something like that just to catch one child?! Send an assassin to his home and call it a day!"- Evulz KNOWS of the prophecy, and that if he actively engages in it by destroying the town, The Hero would go on a massive Roaring Rampage of Revenge (maybe even literally) and this will inevitably be the cause of his downfall. So, he simply waits it out, and prays that this is just a free will based universe.
- Discussed: "I guess it's tough, having nowhere to go home to after all this..."
- Conversed: "What is it with these games and burning down small villages?! At this rate they should all be gone, and not just the ones where Special Snowflakes happened to be born!"
- Implied: In the scene that begins the second act, the hero is shown having already left their home, reading a newspaper or watches the news on TV. The audience only gets to see scenes of destruction, but are never told where this destruction was. However, the hero seems to put much more effort into his work after the scene. When a teammate suggests a plan that involves going back to the hero's hometown, and is shot down with a variant of "Impossible. We can't go back there now" without any further elaborating.
- Deconstructed:
- The Hero may be roused to action by the destruction... But the trauma of suddenly having everything taken away from them makes the hero very paranoid. They can't live at peace even after their journey is over and they have taken revenge. Wherever they end up living is a mere Replacement Goldfish that invariably leaves them disillusioned.
- The hero ends up Walking the Earth due to a belief that wherever they settle down will be cursed to a similar fate.
- Reconstructed:
- The hero helps to rebuild their hometown, and eventually accepts life going on in a different way from before. Perhaps they even take up a line of work, such as a non-crazy guard who mentors other guards, that ensures the town being properly protected for as long as they and their followers are around.
- Walking the Earth turns out to be the kind of lifestyle the hero would have preferred anyway.
- Played For Laughs: The hero's hometown being destroyed makes him plot revenge on... The smoking drunkard who had thrown several not-quite-put-out cigs in highly flammable places, thus setting the town on flames. Even the hero is surprised (and even disappointed!) that Emperor Evulz wasn't behind this.
- Played For Drama: The hero angsts about this every other chapter (or line).
- Playing the above for both Drama and Laughs, one of the party members inevitably tells him to SHUT THE FUCK UP!
You might try to return to Doomed Hometown, but I don't recommend it... Something tells me you'll only find its charred remains when you reach it.
