Big Damn Heroes/Tabletop Games

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Most RPGs have you appear in the villain's lair just in time, after fighting your way past all his henchmen. This occurs even if you Take Your Time getting there.
  • It could be said that Exalted takes this to an extreme, as not only do you show up in the nick of time, but you are all but guaranteed a flashy, even gaudy entrance that defies all logic.
  • The ridiculously extensive battle history of Warhammer 40,000 has hundreds of these moments on every side, to the point where in the latest Space Marine codex, Vanguard Veteran Squads have a 'Heroic Intervention' ability exclusively to pull off these moments...though it doesn't always work.
    • Though if you have them show up to help a Scout squad (the second wimpiest unit in the Codex) equipped with a teleport homer, it does always work.
    • The Legion of the Damned is an entire Space Marine chapter with this as their schtick. Despite losing most of their chapter and being horribly mutated by a freak warp storm, the surviving members of the Hawk Lords chapter remain loyal to the Imperium, and have since then dedicated themselves to teleporting onto the battlefield when all hope of victory for the forces of the Empire has been lost, and soundly beating the crap out of the enemy before disappearing back into the warp only to show up somewhere else.
    • Fear of this trope was the reason Horus dropped the deflector shield on his flagship at the Siege of Terra (and thus allowing the Emperor to attack him) - the entire Ultramarines legion (that's 250,000 Astartes) were on their way. The Space Wolves and Dark Angels (nearly as many marines again) were on their heels. And they were pissed.
  • Nobilis has a fairly basic power available to starting characters which ensures they always show up in the nick of time. The more powerful version ensures they ALWAYS show up in the nick of time...even if the bad guys did it 35 minutes ago, or sacrificed the princess last week.
  • In Magic: The Gathering, the aptly-named instant Dramatic Entrance lets you turn any given massive creature into your very own Big Damn Heroes.
  • Some cards from the Yu-Gi-Oh Card Game have effects that emulate this trope.
    • For example, Gorz - Emissary Of Darkness is special summoned when you take damage while having nothing on your field.
    • Starlight Road negates the destruction of two or more cards and special summons a Stardust Dragon from you extra deck.
      • Not surprisingly, both cards are part of the Metagame for that exact reason.
    • A Hero Emerges, a Trap Card Judai uses a lot in the anime, Special Summons a monster from the user's hand at random - potentially this can be something as strong as a Blue-Eyes White Dragon, often foiling a direct attack.
    • A Rival Appears is similar; the summoned monster isn't randomly chosen, but must be of the same Level as an opposing monster.
    • https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Dramatic_Rescue Dramatic Rescue] fits the Trope pretty well - it "rescues" a monster on the field that is targeted by an effect by returning it to the user's hand, and then summons another monster from the hand. While the rescued monster has to be an Amazoness, the summoned monster can be anything.
  • Advanced Dungeons and Dragons; the original illustration for the Kelpie in Fiend Folio shows a male adventurer caught in the monster's grasp, but his female companion is diving to the rescue.
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