How gonzo will you roll with?

[Satyrn]

. . . ice cream dinos . . .

Vanillasaurus Rex.

Mint Chocoraptor.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Doublediplodocus?

Jamoca Almondsaurus?

 

[Celebrim]

I don't recognize the poll as constituting a linear scale.

I'm a fairly low gonzo DM. I believe heavily in internal consistency and depth of setting.

But there are some weird assumptions being made pertaining to the seriousness and depth of a setting based on genre alone that I don't understand. Eberron and mage-punk do not strike me as inherently more gonzo than a medieval game. A monster ecology and rational traps could still take place in a Candyland setting with feral gummy bears wielding jawbreaker hammers and fighting sucremancers casting red hot cinna-bombs. In such a setting, a spumonisaurus makes sense, even if it is silly out of context. Something can be both gonzo and coherent.

Honestly, there are potato monsters in my game. Do not make the potato gods angry. An angry potato spirit can kill you. There is nothing funny about it. Fresh blood for the potato god, lest famine fall upon the land and everyone starve only sounds gonzo until you think about it.

 

[Harzel]

I also intend to maybe have a small Thanksgiving sidequest with a monstrous dire turkey and maybe some food monsters, as well as maybe add in a Christmas adventure with Santa, Frosty, and a gingerbread golem. That type of thing.

I chose #3 and #4. However, last Easter the party was attacked by a flock of marshmallow Peeps (a mixture of yellow ones and pinks ones IIRC). They caused no damage, but did knock PCs prone and prevented the party from making progress on their journey until they were defeated. Eventually it was discovered that they could only be defeated by the players grabbing them off the table and consuming them. At least that was my plan. However, just as the players were tiring of eating Peeps, one of the PCs thought to summon the Easter Bunny, who was able to corral the last few Peeps and lead them away whence they came. Which is to say the DM (aka me) had to eat the remaining Peeps. #skillfulplay

 

[mordenkainendogpissbeer]

Actually trying to start a Gonzo Swords & Wizardry Game on Roll20

if interested Roll20

 

[DammitVictor]

I kinda need my games/settings to have some kind of consistent internal logic, but I also don't necessarily need that logic to be realistic. Given my preferred D&D source material, I am generally aiming for a kind of fairy tale logic... sometimes more wholesome, and sometimes darker.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

How much zaniness can you enjoy?

I'm not sure how to answer, tbh. I don't need near as much rational explanation as Eberron goes for. I'd consider Eberron as less gonzo than the "mostly medieval" option.

I guess I'm somewhere in between those, but like...gods absolutely do not need to make any sense at all, because they're gods. I absolutely will not use stats for gods, ever. No power level you can achieve makes you a god while still being capable of being a PC, because gods exist multi-dimensionally and outside of normal reality. Fey are somewhere between gods and mortals, and the supernatural aspects of the world are as supernatural as medieval IRL people imagined them, if not moreso. A place like the titular Labyrinth of the classic movie, including the irrational geometry of the ultimate showdown, are totally possible, but the characters are still affected by gravity.

That all being said, if a character wants to do some rad anime stunt like leaping their full speed off a 40ft high pedestal to slash at the dragon, and then slow or stop their fall by arcing over to another pedastal and jamming their greatsword into it, I'm gonna ask for rolls and let them help us guide the narrative based on the declared actions. And it will probably be epic and rad and make for a great story.

IMO, realism only really matters when it comes to behavior, and everyday stuff. The town needs a source of water, the townsfolk need to feel realistic in terms of how they live and what they eat and how they behave, etc, but I don't use real world medieval history to determine that beyond inspiration. Food, bathing practices, work, work songs, architecture, common greetings and other phrases, etc, are all carefully in-world and make sense. How far you can jump or throw something? much less important to me.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I kinda need my games/settings to have some kind of consistent internal logic, but I also don't necessarily need that logic to be realistic. Given my preferred D&D source material, I am generally aiming for a kind of fairy tale logic... sometimes more wholesome, and sometimes darker.

I really like using fairy tale logic in dnd. My players are about to get their first real taste of that in a while in my Eberron game, which is normally more grounded and noir/pulp inspired. They're spending a day in the Nightwood in Karrnath, and the firbolg bard is about to meet some dryads that want his help, and have clues to the secret of his ancient heirloom greatsword.