D&D 5E Do you embrace the silly?

[dropbear8mybaby]

What's that RPG meme?

That's the one.

I'm sure there are some groups, somewhere, in a mythical realm of serious roleplaying with a distinct lack of shenanigans, but if this group exists, I have never seen nor interacted with it and have no concrete evidence of its existence. My groups always end up like the above meme.

Then again, it's not like I do much to discourage it. Last session one of the players asked, "So how do elves greet each other? Handshake? Special handshake?"

So I answered.

"Since elves are androgynous, a traditional elven greeting is by cupping their right-hand under the other person's crotch and giving a light tap."

I know, I bring the misery upon myself and therefore only have myself to blame.

What silly stuff happens in your games and do you promote it, embrace it, or curtail it and stamp it out wherever possible?

 

[Lanliss]

I don't know about silly. One of my players is playing a Kobold Assassin, and just about every attack he makes involved making an Acrobatics check first. However, it is still early days for us. I am sure it will eventually devolve(or is it Transcend?) to a sillier state.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

What silly stuff happens in your games and do you promote it, embrace it, or curtail it and stamp it out wherever possible?

It's always situational, usually the sort of thing that's against the forum rules to try and post, and often immediately becomes an in-joke for the group because anyone who wasn't there at the moment it happened won't be in the right state of mind to understand it.

And because my goal as a DM is to facilitate my gathered friends and I having fun, I embrace the things which cause laughter around the table - especially because, as a person with a sense of humor, it would be exerting more effort to not say the funny thing which came to mind and instead think of something serious to say, and I'm all about the minimum effort needed for the maximum result (so that I never feel like being a DM is "work).

 

[pukunui]

I'm down with silly jokes and stuff at the table. What I try to avoid/stamp out is silliness in the fiction - like characters with joke names and the like.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

...like characters with joke names and the like.

I've always wondered how one determines a name to be a joke name.

Is Dat Man a joke name? What about a character with the surname Knife who happens to be an assassin, is that a joke? What about Hugh Manly or Richard Hartigan?

 

[hejtmane]

What's that RPG meme?

That's the one.

I'm sure there are some groups, somewhere, in a mythical realm of serious roleplaying with a distinct lack of shenanigans, but if this group exists, I have never seen nor interacted with it and have no concrete evidence of its existence. My groups always end up like the above meme.

Then again, it's not like I do much to discourage it. Last session one of the players asked, "So how do elves greet each other? Handshake? Special handshake?"

So I answered.

"Since elves are androgynous, a traditional elven greeting is by cupping their right-hand under the other person's crotch and giving a light tap."

I know, I bring the misery upon myself and therefore only have myself to blame.

What silly stuff happens in your games and do you promote it, embrace it, or curtail it and stamp it out wherever possible?

Never played with a group all my games ended up like the meme but I would never want to play with a group that did not have humor hell even when I was in the military humor was part of how you got throw the stupid stuff. Also it does not help I add to the situation with the way I DM.

 

[pukunui]

Is Dat Man a joke name?

Yes.

What about a character with the surname Knife who happens to be an assassin, is that a joke?

Depends. I once went to a gastroenterologist whose surname was Gutman.

What about Hugh Manly or Richard Hartigan?

The first one, probably; not sure about the second.


I was more referring to names that break the fourth wall. When I DM, I prefer that my players choose a name from their race's suggested names or come up with one that is in keeping with them. I've also banned people from naming their characters after fellow players, as I played in a game where that happened once, and it got really confusing.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Yes.

Depends. I once went to a gastroenterologist whose surname was Gutman.

The first one, probably; not sure about the second.

Every one of those names is a real name - just as real as my own. How do you decide that some of them are jokes?

 

[Zardnaar]

Yes.

Depends. I once went to a gastroenterologist whose surname was Gutman.

The first one, probably; not sure about the second.


I was more referring to names that break the fourth wall. When I DM, I prefer that my players choose a name from their race's suggested names or come up with one that is in keeping with them. I've also banned people from naming their characters after fellow players, as I played in a game where that happened once, and it got really confusing.

What is the nickname for Richard?

Wayne King
Wayne Kerr

Are silly names in NZ maybe Aussie and the UK. Worst silly D&D names I have seen/heard are.

1. Voltaren (not that bad really) and
2. The (3 intelligence fighter only word he knew).

 

[pukunui]

Every one of those names is a real name - just as real as my own. How do you decide that some of them are jokes?

Context.