Redundancy / Tabletop Games

• The English localization of Cardfight!! Vanguard happens in Bushiroad's Singapore office, so the flavor text tends to not be the greatest. Typically this simply results in lots and lots of superfluous commas, but on occasion it can enter into the territory of this trope. Probably the most blatant example is "Experiment Successful!" which sports the flavor text "Yes! The experiment was a success!".
  • To be fair to "Experiment Successful!", the Japanese flavor text is basically the same, but it Title Drops the card name within the flavor text instead of rewording it.
• GURPS Illuminati University actually has several Department of Redundancy Departments.
• Naturally, Alpha Complex in Paranoia actually has a Department of Redundancy Department. And many other variations on the theme. "Oh, this is the Complex Supply Bureau. You want the Bureau of Complex Supply."
• In the fantasy world Glorantha (featured in, among other things, the RPG RuneQuest) the local equivalent of China is bordered by the Shan Shan Mountains. In one Chinese language - I have forgotten which - "shan" means mountain. So they are the Mountain-Mountain Mountains. Did we mention that they are really high and impassable?
• Due to some confusion when he first introduced himself, Ravenloft's most infamous lich is referred to as "Azalin Rex" in official court documents of his domain of Darkon. Invokes this trope, as "Azalin" is actually a mangling of his old Oerth title of "Wizard-King", thus making him Darkon's "Wizard-King King".
• In the RPG Orbital, one space ship has "two emergency low berths for emergency use", and in outposts, "Individuals or teams will be regularly rotated back to the main installation on a regular basis".
• The Low-Life card game Dementalism is described on the back of the box as, "An ingenious game of ingenious ingeniousness."
• Smash Up has a minion called "King Rex." It's a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
• The producers of simsense recordings in the world of Shadowrun sometimes have to whip up portions of those recordings from scratch rather than live-record it, usually because sensations associated with spellcasting or astral phenomena can't be captured by sim-tech. Industry jargon refers to such computer-generated patches of experience as pseudosim.
• In Delta Green, one antagonistic group are Americans Against Covert Enemies, basically a racist hate group that's secretly backed by a ruthless and very well-connected Mythos cult. The sourcebook they're covered in contains a list of their preferred targets, which mentions Islam five times even before discussing their direction after the September 11 terror attacks.
• The D&D supplement Complete Psionics has the Deja Vu power (which causes the target to repeat their previous action) listed twice. Since the second entry shows up several pages later, with no indication of being a repeat (other than being out of alphabetic order), it's entirely possible to read it and go, "Hey, didn't I read this before?"
• Magic: The Gathering has certain instances of redundant place names in the Western version of the lore of the Kamigawa block. This is due to the fact that the descriptive terms are masked within the Japanese names, thus have to be clarified again with English equivalents. Here are some examples with translations:
  • Eiganjo Castle: Eternal Rock Castle Castle
  • Jukai Forest: Forest Forest
  • Kamitaki Falls: Divine Falls Falls
  • Shizo, Death's Storehouse: Death's Storehouse, Death's Storehouse (literally); Hoarding, Death's Storehouse (figuratively)
  • Sokenzan Mountains: Icy Blade Mountains Mountains
  • Towabara Plains: Eternal Plains Plains
• Yu-Gi-Oh!:
  • Japanese card names (consequently, also Korean card names) are frequently redundant. The format is usually something like this: the descriptive title in Japanese, followed by a hyphen, then the cool English title that more or less simply translates what comes before it. For example, Chinmoku no Majutsushi - Sairento Majishan means "Silent Magician - Silent Magician".
  • Several of these uses, though, result in rather odd-sounding English names. For example, many cards in the "Black Luster Soldier" archetype have names like "Black Luster Soldier - (descriptor) Soldier", where the second part was originally listed in Japanese first, followed by the archetype's Japanese name, the English words "Chaos Soldier". Special mention goes Konton no Senshi Kaosu Soruja, which means "Chaos Soldier, Soldier of Chaos", but because a card named "Black Luster Soldier" already exists, it was translated more literally to "Black Luster Soldier - Soldier of Chaos".
  • Another way to make card names sound cool but also comprehensible is to write them with Japanese words, but also annotating them with English equivalents. For example, the Japanese name of "Blue-Eyes" is spelled with the Japanese words for "blue-eyed", but pronounced with the English words "Blue-Eyes" as per the annotation above them.
  • The card Red-Eyes Fusion, which special summons a monster and lists that it can only be used once per turn; despite the fact the card itself prevents any further special summons that turn hence making the limitation redundant.
  • Also, the card Harpie Lady Phoenix Formation will inflict damage among the highest attack of your opponent's destroyed monsters, with the addition of "Your choice if tied". Since if the attack is tied it will do the same thing no matter what, it's a completely redundant choice.
  • Prior to the addition of problem-solving text, many cards were an example of this, especially the earliest cards. Probably the most extreme example was declaring "Regardless of position" for monster destruction effects.

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