1. Protagonists are decisive people who know what they want and they grab life by the throat to get it. Even thoughtful, sensitive heroes are men (or women) of action. Hamlet would not make a good Sword & Sorcery protagonist.

2. Magic is rare and kicks ass. There might be plenty of quacks, con men, lunatics, or wise old geezers, but they don't know anything. The people who do know things are hard to find, and have often traded their souls for mastery of forbidden lore.

3. Monsters tend to be either Cthulhu-style abominations, or "dire" versions of regular critters. A saber-tooth tiger is a terrifying foe in this genre.

4. There usually aren't hordes of Orcs, Trolls, or whatever. The hordes of bad guys are usually degenerate, in-bred people, or bloodthirsty savages; in any case, they're human like you or me.