Running Gags

[Doctor DM]

Do you have any fun running gags or inside jokes in your campaign?

For example, our group has a fun one: The Bartender.

Every single NPC we meet is very detailed, our DM does a great job of roleplaying them, different voices, mannerisms, ect. Even the most minor NPC, no matter how briefly we interact with them, is full of flavor.

Then there's The Bartender. EVERY single tavern or inn has the EXACT same bartender. We're talking 20+ different bars, always the same guy. For fun we always make sure we ask what the bartender looks like when we enter. The answer, every time:

"A bald, heavy set guy with five o'clock shadow, wearing an apron and cleaning out a mug with a rag."

Every single time. We always joke it's the "Legion of Evil Bartenders" and they secretly are planning a take over of the world.

Anyone else have a fun inside joke or tradition like that?

 

[kitsune9]

Yes, we have a couple of running gags in our campaigns.

The first one was we were playing a Dungeon Crawl Classic in which we encountered some really tough encounters that lead up to a rather anticlimatic fight. The BBEG was some kind of undead ghoul lord who went through some long spiel and at the end of his speech, he screams at us, "I'm the master now!"

We killed him in the first round before he got his turn. It was just really sad. So now every time I end up introducing some kind of half-crazed NPC or villain, we'll toss in that "I'm the master now!" line every once in a while.

The second gag was that in one campaign, the PC's were having an in-game argument and made the observation that they were just "bumbling from one encounter to the next!". Later, they would meet up with powerful NPCs, they would describe their stories and events and the NPCs would comment, "You don't seem like heroes to me, just a bunch of idiots bumbling from one encounter to the next." or similar comment.

When that campaign ended and the players retired their characters, the new PC's would run into the old characters and have similar interactions from the older characters sayingg, "You remind me of us when we used to adventure, just bumbling like idiots from one encounter to the next".

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

Back in the glorious 2nd edition day, I loved using the random magic item table. That's how my PCs landed a knife +3 at level 4 during a Dragonlance campaign. A knife, not a dagger! It was their most potent magic for a long time and was put to many hilarious use. It was lost duing plane traveling mishaps.

It has then resurfaced in every single Dragonlance campaign I have run (and I ran many). Always as a knife (1d3!) never a dagger, even if the edition I was running had no knifes. The players called it 'The Butter knife' because it cuts everything like butter. And I can't count the number of conversation we had trying to determine under what circumstances someone might want to enchant cutlery.

Another running gag is that whenever, in whatever system, the PCs need a guide and find a guy named 'Gerard', they know they are going to get completely lost. Every time.

DM: You found a guide. Looks like a capable man and he leads you into the mountains toward castle Grimm.
PC: ''What's your name, dude?''
NPC:''Gerard.''
Players OOC: Aaawww man... We're Never reaching castle Grimm, right? You didn't feel like running a dungeon and we are doing a wilderness adventure instead?''¸
DM: Yep.

 

[TarionzCousin]

In a previous group, one character always tried to be a good guy but ended up failing at it. He would say "This time I'm going to be Chaotic Good. It was the 'Lawful' part that I couldn't handle last time. I really think I'll make it this time."

Then, a half-dozen sessions (or so) into the campaign, after one of his typical tirades about torturing a helpful NPC because "he might know something" or a rant about how "the town council needs to be assassinated--just in case" we would all stare at him silently and he would know it was time.

"You're right," he would say, erasing his character sheet and writing over it. "Chaotic Evil."

 

[Diamond Cross]

One of ours was "Never underestimate the power of a pointy stick."

Because one time, we were reduced to having only a knife. We were facing some vampires and we used the knife to sharping some wooden stakes.

Hilarity ensued.

 

[Haltherrion]

The "Head Chipper!"

It dates back many years (9-10) to a time when a sodden ref (me) asked a six year old to "pick a creature out of the figure cabinet". He picked out a demon with a vorpal axe (per the Monster Manual; the figure was supposed to be a specific demon, forget which one). Said demon promptly chopped the head off a PC. As we don't usually play with ressurect the PC was permanently dead. At the time, the kid called the axe the "head chipper" rather than the head chopper and "head chipper" gets referenced every few sessions to this day. The kid is now a 16 year old who plays in our group.

 

[jonesy]

Pip was a little white mouse we came across in a jail who helped us escape by stealing the keys from a guard. He had a distinctive black star shaped spot around his right eye.

Later, on another continent, Pip suddenly appeared again, carrying a scroll of mass teleport in his mouth. We took him with us.

When we faced against the BBEG we were hit by a fireball, and Pip died in the blast.

Then there was a long pause when we thought nothing of it until one day playing Dragonlance a white horse with a star eye appeared. We named him Pip.

In Twilight 2000 we found a white jeep. It had a black star painted on its side. It had a mounted M249, of course with a PIP kit.

There was a Shadowrun client whose logo was a mouse inside a star. Peterson's International Parcels.

In Top Secret a mousy fence called Mr.Pip. He had a starburst scar surrounding his eye.

On Athas we came across a mouse shaped hill of white rock with a star fort made of black stone. Met captain Pip.

Then there was the BBEG who lived in Karameikos. He was called Rudolf, looked nothing like a mouse, always dressed in black, had a white star emblem, and always got really angry when we called him Pip.

 

[Camelot]

One of my players is a githzerai wizard who was once a powerful mage who murdered a young couple and tried to kill their son, but his magic missile backfired and he was reduced to level 1. His name is Voldemort.

Another one of my players always tries to have her character (a warlord) rush into battle first. She always ends up getting separated from the rest of the battle because of this, which is awful for a warlord. Last time, she could have run from an enemy she was alone with but decided to try and kill him instead; he knocked her out and now she's kidnapped.

I once played with my younger sister, who played a wizard, but she would never use any power except cloud of daggers. It became a joke that when her turn came around we'd say, "So you use cloud of daggers?" And she'd grumble and say, "Yeah..."

Another one of my players always tries to kidnap smaller enemies (like goblins and xivorts) to be his pets. He gets really upset when I tell him that the monster leaves while they sleep, because he thinks it suddenly loves him and doesn't want to leave.

 

[Holy Bovine]

Let's see.....


Sword Golem (yes a golem made of swords tied together - it stood about 9 feet tall and was 12 feet long) trapped by a well placed stone-shaped wall. To this day I can say 'tink*tink*tink" and get a chuckle from some of the players involved in this. It is the sound they heard as the sword golem (often now referred to the butter knife golem) banged away with his sword arms on the 10' thick stone wall.