[Rant] Bad cliches, silly names, and acting stupid around the gaming table

[shilsen]

I think the humor comes out of the game if you are trying to be funny.

A cool D&D game that embraces the things your talking about is The Chronicle of Burne, and Some Others of Lesser Importance . That story hour proved to me over the top stuff can work in D&D and be very, very funny.

For my personal game though, I outlaw goofy names, I try to keep it mostly serious (not intentionally funny at least) - and my players have a blast in killing things and taking their stuff.

As a player in the above game (run by Mallus), I should clarify something. There's a huge difference between over the top stuff out of character and in character, and in Mallus's game we're always using that distinction. When we run into a character named Mephisophocles, there is a chorus of groans from the players, but since the characters have never heard of either Mephistopheles or Sophocles, the PCs are completely serious.

I know a lot of people say that kind of situation/humor takes them out of their character's head, but the way I figure it, if sitting around a table and rolling dice doesn't take you out of your character's head, then a few bad puns shouldn't do so either. I guess it comes down to the purely arbitrary nature of most people's likes and dislikes.

 

[Umbran]

I love this sort of game as a one-shot, but they're not how I like to have a campaign.

Agreed. It is good occasionally, but I would get quickly tired of a steady diet of such stuff. YMMV

 

[Fishbone]

Mileage varies a lot. I guess I like a game to be sillier than most. Since life and death for the main characters is on the line, by the book suggestions, at least 3 times a day there is plenty of time to be serious in game.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Who's with me? Cheer if you like your dwarf drunk, your elf foppish, your rogue a complete bastard, your wizard an insufferable know-it-all and your paladin a self-righteous prude! I know you're out there!

Amen, brother rat!

But you don't have to try for the humor. If you stick to the base stereotypes -- something that bothers me not at all -- the rest will come. Heck, it will come anyway even without stereotypes. I do dislike forced silliness for the sake of being silly, as it doesn't work long-term, but I don't find that "playing to type" is necessarily the same thing.

 

[Shadowslayer]

I don't mind the funny. Gamers with no sense of humor are off-putting.

However, I do prefer (as both a player and DM) that the DM play it straight. I find it annoying when the DM's deliberately trying to be goofy, as I feel like its being forced on me. When a player is cutting up and the others arent in the mood that day, they can just tell him to knock it off. When a DM presents an NPC with a comic relief name...its not so easy.

As a DM, I just like to be the straight man and let the players set the tone.

 

[Gold Roger]

I want my cake and eat it.

Clichees are great, I love silly names and sometimes sillyness is just the right think at the right moment.

Ideally, that doesn't stop me from giving the seemingly shallow character some depth.

Sometimes it's time for comic relief and sometimes things need to get dead serious.

 

[Ghendar]

I love this sort of game as a one-shot, but they're not how I like to have a campaign. Still, there's something primal about being the big hulking half-orc barbarian...

Yeah, that's my feeling as well.
Play the game you want to play but silly names really hack me off. Nothing bothers me more than the heroic fighter named Fred, or Tommy, or something equally as ridiculous.

One player in one campaign named his Halfling Rogue, Gotcher Vyallet (Got your wallet) <rolleyes>

 

[Nonlethal Force]

Well, I certainly don't believe anyone is playing the game wrong if they are enjoying it - although if it stops to become a game and becomes real life then perhaps it has gone to far. But, the difference between a funny game and a serious game is simply a matter of taste.

Personally, I hate movies done by ex-Saturday Night Live cast. I find them all silly, stupid, and shallow. But that doesn't make me hate people who like them. It just means I find something else to do with my hour and a half. [Cause movies by those people seldom go a full 2 hours anyway!]

My point is that one person can have their silly name game, but it isn't for me. Kudos if you like it, though! It just means we'll likely never sit at the same table. But then again, that's okay too! Different strokes ...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

For me, it comes down to "all things in moderation."

Sometimes, a good humerous PC is needed in a campaign- whether he starts that way or develops into is, on some level, immaterial- but some campaigns need not a bit of it.

When I playtested the GURPS version of Vampire, I made a completely ridiculous PC: a PI who went insane due to being brought over, and his warped mind looked at his abilities (stupendous strength, speed, and toughness) and decided he had become a superhero.

His mind, warped as it was, based his new identity not on Batman or someone similarly iconic, but NEC's "The Tick" and only drank the blood of criminals. "Major Mosquito" had a set of stainless-steel "Crime Straws" for the job, costumed himself with anti-vampire equipment (because he knew "they're out there"), but also protected himself as if he were human- including body armor- because "super tough" didn't mean invulnerable or impervious to pain...which, of course, made him somewhat resistant to those vampire hunters who tangled with him.

Despite the inherent silliness of the PC, he didn't break the campaign's atmosphere. His brutality and bloodthirst were no different than others of his clan (for those familiar with the game, he was actually a Brujah, not a Malkavian, and only slightly removed from Caine), so this comical figure could quickly become horribly fearsome in seconds. Because he was so incredibly powerful, but so insane that he was easily manipulated by "comic book" plots, he was often the pawn of choice for hits between clans...

IOW, he was equal parts comedy and horror, and quite memorable for it.

 

[Phlebas]

You can play a halfling who's perpetually worried about 2nd breakfast, elevenses, high tea and supper and its funny and becomes a running thread

call him Gam Samgee, Filbo Faggins (or equiv) and its funny once, then silly, then just irritating

Ham roleplaying can be incredible fun, (and every roleplayer loves a hook to base a character around) but making a character too one-dimensional or a spoof means you'll lose interest real fast. Not a problem for one offs but not good for campaigns

IMHO - the game need to be serious enough to give you the base for the characters, and then you can have fun around that

(btw - funniest game i ever ref'd had a Dwarven Fighter, Elven Wizard/Thief and Human Cleric. The Dwarf and Elf spent the entire time bickering and complaining about each other in true stereotypical fashion with the cleric the only person paying any attention to the plot - to the extent that in one encounter a group of bandits suggested they came back later when they were finished! If only all my campaigns could run themselves with so little input from the DM.......)