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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Luthien Greyspear" data-source="post: 2419582" data-attributes="member: 34334">I've been DM-ing for a long time, and I've found that most humor comes from the players. Rarely have I ever had to introduce something that was inherently funny to lighten the mood, as my players have rarely passed up the opportunity to mock, cajole, and embarass anyone they think is against them.Recently, I forayed into a classic superheroic altercation between two separate good-aligned parties who were convinced the other side was evil or bad or just plain in the way. The NPC's were all based on easily recognizable super-hero archetypes (the heroic patriot, the archer, the elementalist (two of them), the bruiser (a grey render barbarian named GRAHHH!!), the psion, and the shapeshifter). The party immediately got into the spirit of trading quips and mocking their opponents, who were ENTIRELY SERIOUS. They were trying their best to drive these foreign mercenaries from their country. The players, however, knowing my love for four-color superheroics, dove in and had fun with it.In fact, this party has one of the only instances of lowbrow punslinging of which I've ever been guilty. One of the party is a professional sidekick, sort of like Sancho Panza. His whole concept is based around being an ordinary guy who happens to team up with and help extraordinary heroes. So his magic item list (he's 10th level) is fairly mundane, with one exception. To further the 'Sancho-ness' of his character, I gave him a low-power figurine of wondrous power: an ass. He has a small block of wood, crudely carved into the shape of a donkey, that will become a mostly normal ass for up to 12 hours a day. The two cheap saddlebags that come with it each act as a small bag of holding, and the animal can drag a cart as though it were one size larger than it is. Nothing exceptional, but within the character's concept, right?It didn't take long for the party to comment on his a** of holding, his magic a**, and other such crudities. I almost couldn't run the fight that session.Something else that adds immensely to the humor of a campaign is a professional straight man. I had the honor of being one in my college campaign, and it was a blast. One of the other party members was a jester, and I was a semi-suicidal, Frank Miller-written, angst-ridden necromancer. Our DM couldn't have wished for a better comedy team. One of the funniest quotes from that campaign was my simple answer to his simple question: "Hey Luth, what are ya doin' over there?"Icy glare, exaggerated exasperation at his bouncy glee, and the response:"PUTTING DIRT... IN A JAR."The game actually stopped for a few minutes while the DM got his bearings again.  It was great.</blockquote>

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