Comic Relief

[DC Henderson]

Over the many RP sessions I've been involved in there have usually been one or two elements or characters to the session that add in some random humour, whether it be for actual story progression or no. I've had a few people ask me if they can use some of those elements/chars in their games. Now, this sparked off an idea in my head last night that it might be interesting to have a book/resource that contained a large number of these things that they can add into their games if they like (without having to come up with things on the fly all the time).

I was curious as to whether this would be a good idea for a book. Would people use something like this? What sorts of things would people (GMs and players) like to see in it? And would it be best to include specific systems (D20, D6, whatever else is out there) and have a generic conversion table for other systems, or just keep it generic?

Thanks for your time, people.

Hendo.

[Eero Tuovinen]

Give us some examples of the kind of material you're thinking of.

[DC Henderson]

Okay, I can think of a few examples off the top of my head.

The Purple Parrot - Sits on a perch in the middle of town or the wilderness. Once you give it the password it will allow you to ask it a question and will give you the answer... Eventually. The parrot is all-knowing, however it has a memory similar to the proverbial goldfish. He'll kick off by asking for a fish, then will ask what you want. Usually, before he's even finished asking you what you want, he will ask for the password and fish again. It continues on like this for ages, eventually getting around to answering the question after many returns to the 'What's the password?' and misinterpreting the things that the character says (most of which are somehow reverted back to him asking where his fish went). Perhaps a scripted example would help.

Parrot: Wark.
PC: Purple Octopus Soup.
Parrot: Right, right, right. I believe- I believe there's some sort of fish involved.

[Player hands the parrot his fish. The parrot swallows it in one mouthful, no matter how big it is.]

Parrot: Right, right, right. Now, what can I- What can I do for- What's the password?
PC: Purple Octopus Soup.
Parrot: Right, right, right. Now, I believe there's some sort of fish involved?
PC: You already ate it.
Parrot: Right, right, right. I'm terribly sorry. My memories not what it- What's the password?
PC: Purple Octopus Soup.
Parrot: Right, right, right. Now, who are you?
PC: Carpathia.
Parrot: Right, right, right. Carpathia. Carp. Carp. Where's that fish gone?
PC: You ate it.
Parrot: Right, right right. Terribly sorry. Memory not what it- What's the password?

And it goes on like that for quite a while. For some reason the parrot is always purple, and he always speaks in an accent similar to characters from a Victorian soap opera. I had my group in hysterics for about 20 minutes with this one. It's entirely probable that the players will get pissed off with the bird, so when they walk away it always explodes violently, leaving a small crater where the perch was standing.

Second example: The taxi. Similar in function to the regular taxi/cab, but these ones are suicidal and homocidal. They defy the laws of physics (driving up the sides of buildings or along the underside of a bridge. And they almost always appear out of nowhere, smashing into things and exploding in big red hellish hellfires of... hell... They're always thrown in randomly. I think the first time I used one was when a guy passed out in a urinal in a pub and the taxi smashed through the wall and blew out the side of the building.

Third example: Liberationist ninjas. A pair of adolescent ninjas that are bent on the liberation of silk worms from the greedy silk-farmers and merchants of feudal Japan. If they think that someone has been taking advantage of the silk worms they will probably throw a couple of bombs into their home. The fact that it's an orphanage is beside the point.

I hope these get my point across.

[Ron Edwards]

One concern I have is that this thread topic reads more like "would you like it?" rather than "this is how I think I'll use it."

DC, we can't really respond in terms of what people will like. But we can talk about how well the technique you're describing works, and how well it might be integrated into a game design.

What are your thoughts on those things?

Best, Ron

[Eero Tuovinen]

Ron took the words from the fingertips. One other observation: for the vast majority of play the kinds of gags you mention are deeply rooted in the local play culture and especially the relationships of the people at the table - you might therefore be inverting the cause and result: it's not that it's difficult to think up zany humour, it's just that you need specific social conditions for it to happen. So a perceived lack or difficulty in thinking up this stuff might merely be a matter of the play group not being right for it, in which case an external product won't fix the situation - unless you'd happen to include tools for creating a zany-friendly play atmosphere, of course.

That's not to say that this kind of product couldn't work, though. I can definitely see the attraction, not the least because I'm designing a similar thing myself. My approach, however, is that the small tidbits of setting are accompanied by a rules system that uses them in a specific game. That might be something you'd like to consider as well: give us a game that uses these gags to make them something more than anecdotes one player regales for others. (I'm not saying that they aren't more in actual play, I can easily see how those ninjas, for instance, might be a source of various hilarious interactions; however, there's the danger that you'd lose that interactivity with a book full of these anecdotes, if the system of the game didn't encourage using them in a certain manner.)

[DC Henderson]

Ron: My apologies. Poor wording on my part. A better question probably would have been 'Would people find a single product like this useful for their own experiences?' A game that I've been working on for the past year or so has these sorts of humorous situations deeply set in the actual play. I was curious about whether it would be possible to take that aspect of it and design something that could be easily incorporated into other people's games, or whether it is something that needs to be a part of a game/world already. Once again, my bad.

Eero: So you're saying that the humorous atmosphere (or whatever you'd like to call it) is more a socially constructed thing rather than something that can be injected from an outside source? I guess that would make a lot of sense. It would be why some people can't tell jokes, no matter how innately funny they are (the joke, not the person).

I do have a game that uses these things, but while it is playable, it is far from finished. I think the random humour is more my doing than the actual system (although it does lead to it - especially when the only real source of liquid is from the alcohol streams that run through the land). Could you give me an example of how you combine the humorous incident with a mechanic?

[Eero Tuovinen]

I don't know outright, that's the design dilemma right there. Thinking about it, I'm reminded of stand-up as a model - you could have specific beats during the game where a given player is expected to stand up and deliver a joke or two. Then again, that leads to a pretty different kind of comedy than the interactive scenarios you have here. But it's an example of how one might proceed when looking to create a "comedic game".

Paranoia as a game was and is very much structured to use and deliver the kind of sketch comedy you have here. The adventure products for the game always were primarily a string of scenes intented to deliver this kind of comedy material, and the actual funniness of the game was supposed to come from player interaction with the scenes. Something to think about.

[pells]

Hi Endo, a couple of questions to understand what exactly you're doing and what you want to do with it.

But, first a comment.

I guess that would make a lot of sense. It would be why some people can't tell jokes, no matter how innately funny they are (the joke, not the person).

I think Eero means the joke might not be understood as funny. Because of a social context, a different culture for instance, the person might be funny but the joke not considered innately funny. Anyway, that's what I think.

Now, back to our subject. What are you designing exactly ? Mechanic ? Setting ? Plot ? What role does the humor takes in each of those three aspects ? Is it mechanic related and how, plot related and how, setting related and how ? Or is it just kind of "color", an ambiance ?
Can I play without it ? Can I buy your product and just discard this aspect ? For instance, the parrot. Is it part of a typical plot and can I just replace the parrot or not play the scene ? Is it optional ? Something like I would buy a setting with a hundred inns in it (which I can or can't use), but instead have humourus situations ?
Those are, I think structuring questions.

Paranoia is a very good example. And the black humor of this game is the point of the game. It is impossible to discard this aspect of paranoia when you play (at the risk of missing the point of the game) and it is strongly mechanic related. So, where do you stand ?