Does 4E uniquely lend itself to humour?

[CharlesRyan]

Hi, all--

So a couple days ago WotC posted their April Fools delve, in which they managed to make the carbuncle an interesting--while still completely goofy--monster.

Today Bad Gods posted a set of goofy magic items--which, while funny, are also interesting and useable.

Is there something inherent about 4E that supports useable silliness?

 

[El Mahdi]

Well, 4E mechanics, especially powers, seem quite easy to reflavor by changing the fluff but keeping the crunch. Perhaps that flexibility allows for useable crunch even while having humorous fluff.

Of course though, humorous material can be quite hard to write. WoTC seems to have some really humorous guys working there currently. Maybe they should start an SNL clone for gamers and call it Game Night Live. I think Scott Rouse would be good in the role of Lorne Michaels.

 

[Rechan]

Those are just useful magical items, and then given an amusing or punny appearance.

I could do the same with 3e magical items if I, say, took a Necklace of Fireballs and called it a Necklace of Spicy Meatballs. Or a Decanter of Endless Water, and put it in a Seltzer bottle (or maybe one of those lapel flowers that squirts with a squeeze).

 

[Hand of Evil]

It is about the creativity and wit of the writers, with the right person anything can be made into humour.

The question, will the reader get it?

Every heard of the 10 foot long sword, it was a looonnng sword!

 

[Minicol]

There were some pretty good humor pieces in previous editions too.

I particularly remember the "Reverse Dungeon" module, and a Dungeon module where a group of lvl1 humanoids had to cross the wilderness to deliver a stinking cloud trapped letter to the local lord. including celebrities like "Roger the ranger".

 

[Scribble]

I think it's slightly easier in 4e because a lot of it tends to be a little more abstract, and therefore you have a bit more wiggle room to play with descriptions and names.

For instance monster names are sometimes descriptive, but they aren't generated by other parts of the design, so you can play with them a little more, and make them goofy without confusing people (and causing them to look for other explanations.)

 

[Arnwyn]

Is there something inherent about 4E that supports useable silliness?

No, I don't think so.

 

[Umbran]

Is there something inherent about 4E that supports useable silliness?

Not any more or less than any other game, to my thinking. Humor is in the eye of the beholder, and is more about the flavor of a thing than its inherent mechanics.

 

[Dragonbait]

Role-playing games are inherently silly, not just one edition of D&D.

Didn't 2ed had a magical item that removed people's undergarments? 3E had a calzone golem in one adventure who did heat (steam) damage with every hit because it just came out of the oven.

All those monsters were from 1E and converted to every system in one form or another.

 

[Mistwell]

My favorite funny but useful April Fools update was the 3.5 Avenger - the Assassin PRC with a name change, description change, and alignment change.