shilsen
Adventurer
pogre said: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.