Hi guys
I am almost finished the first draft of 'What a shambles', a game about love, guts and guns in a zombie apocalypse, and was lookiong for some advice on including mechanics or advice that would encourage play that was funny and light hearted, The game is very much inspired by Shaun of the Dead and I was wondering if anyone here had experience in writing rulebooks for rpgs that encourage the funny.
Cheers
Iain

Hi Iain -

I wrote part of the Red Dwarf rpg, but we never employed any mechanics to encourage players to be funny. We just went down the route of GM advice for running humourous games and putting players in ludicrous situations.

With hindsight I think I might have employed some sort of mechanical incentive to playing in the appropriate style, whether it be something as simple as xp or a bit more complicated, like in-game bennies such as action points or whatever.

With Dead of Night - a different play style but a similar genre/objective - we tied the core mechanic (Survival Points) to a number of factors, foremost of which were playing up to horror cliches. So whenever players went out of their way to have their characters act in a manner appropriate to the genre - ie by doing something stupid such as splitting up or running off into the wood - they gained a survival point, thus giving them a direct incentive.

Could you do something similar? Offer some sort of bonus or instant benefit to reward players playing in the spirit of the game, whether it be by having their characters do something humourous or make the other players laugh.

Greg Stolze's ...in Spaaace has players who laugh give away their resources to the ones who made them laugh. In a way, it makes people try to not laugh, but it gives a direct benefit for being funny(I will ignore the connection between laughing and funny).

What about a reward mechanic that does not take into consideration actual funniness? Rather than win a reward from a laughing victim, award static rewards for traditionally funny tropes or efforts:

Pun = One Good Thing
Pop Culture Reference = One Good Thing
Horror Movie Reference = Two Good Things
Song and Dance = Two Good Things
Ridiculously Implausible Excuse = Three Good Things
etc.

This will encourage attempts to be humorous without encouraging players to clam-up or try to "fight" being amused.

Worth a damn?
David

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humour

I encourage reading up on the different types of humour and comedy first before diving into the mechanics.

Slapstick: I cut off the zombies arms and I.... club the zombie with his own arms.
*players have a good laugh*

It might become a tad stale once the Player does this for the sixth time in a row. Eventually the player will earn in the negative.

I could see referencing another joke later on in the game as being a bonus multiplier of sorts.

Just throwing out some ideas.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Especially love the idea of incentivising play style and also giving away resources when someone makes you laugh. Will think about that, add in and then post a link to the game once done.
Cheers
Iain