Barastrondo
First Post
Dagnabit, I am not even going to go in and edit that back. That's magical.
How do you deal with "gamer humor?"
- Thread starter Dykstrav
- Start date
Dagnabit, I am not even going to go in and edit that back. That's magical.
It's incorrect if you're talking to a human psychologist, yes.
When you're trying to teach a home pet owner how to get his dog to stop chewing his slippers, though, different word use may be called for.
(Which is just to say that for different jobs, jargon is sometimes used differently. I mean, technically "velocity" and "speed" are not the same thing, but in most circumstances the incorrectness isn't important.)
Marx420
First Post
Aid and abet it.
Am I the only DM here who gets players pissed off with overly wacky NPCs?
Like the Hadozee (winged monkey-man) whose dialog I lifted almost verbatim from Jar-Jar in episode 1?
So vexing he inspired my players to blow THREE genie wishes from saving the city of brass on Hellballing his island below the waves, erasing his culture/language from the timestream, and imprisoning him the depths of Carceri to be shat on hourly by the multiverse's fattest demodand.
Needless to say, I have actually had to set up a beer fund to act as social lubricant for that grim and gritty group.
Am I the only DM here who gets players pissed off with overly wacky NPCs?
Like the Hadozee (winged monkey-man) whose dialog I lifted almost verbatim from Jar-Jar in episode 1?
So vexing he inspired my players to blow THREE genie wishes from saving the city of brass on Hellballing his island below the waves, erasing his culture/language from the timestream, and imprisoning him the depths of Carceri to be shat on hourly by the multiverse's fattest demodand.
Needless to say, I have actually had to set up a beer fund to act as social lubricant for that grim and gritty group.
Nifft
Penguin Herder
Anything that reminds me of Jar-Jar is going to be painful, and not merely because it's a pop-culture reference.
I mean, that's like asking if the screeching of nails on a chalkboard is an annoying cliche. Yes, it's annoying -- and yes, it's cliche -- but the annoyance goes far beyond the fact that it's a well-known device.
Cheers, -- N
Vyvyan Basterd
Adventurer
My easy fix, when a joke or series thereof goes too long and starts to disrupt the game, is to continue with the game starting with an "...anyway..." They don't see an opportunity to antagonize me because I was probably laughing along with them and realize they need to focus as I'm continuing the game whether they listen or not.
Maybe I wasn't clear before. Please allow me to clarify...
I have no problem with humor at the table, in and of itself.
For example, our tiefling warlord and our dragonborn ranger have a good-natured rivalry (both the players and their characters), trying to out-do each other in every encounter. The tiefling warlord tries to leap over a pit. He needs a 20 on an Athletics check to do it. He rolls a 19. Falling unceremoniously on his rear at the bottom of the pit, he is dubbed "the pit fiend," an appellation which he bears to this day. The players tell that story to each new player to join the group.
As the characters explored a necromancer's lair, I let them find a copy of the Nomonomicon, which turned out to be a zombie-authored cookbook.
A shifter warden in a different campaign we play inspired much speculation about how exactly a male longtooth shifter goes about "marking" their target. That player pantomimes raising one leg from time to time and it's funny.
That sort of thing is fine. In-game events and deliberately orchestrated silliness can be funny, and when they are, we laugh at them. We're not a dour group of unsmiling, joyless puritans like an Ingmar Bergman film.
What I have a problem with is repetition, or with assuming that I'm ignorant of a pop culture reference when I laugh at their joke once and move on.
How would you react to a player who asks if he's "in the room where he's casting all these spells from" whenever any player casts a spell? Every single time? Is that really funny after a few weeks? Maybe I could see it being an ongoing thing for an encounter or even an entire session, but week after week after week of the exact same joke in the exact same situation isn't funny.
How would you react to a player that insists on sidetracking the game to recount each and every evil monkey reference from Family Guy when you encounter a barlgura?
DM: "Jeff, I really do watch Family Guy, it's just that we've gotten the joke, and--"
Jeff: "I dunno, if you did, you'd think this was REALLY funny! You see, the second episode that had the evil monkey in it..."
Todd: "Oh hey, did you know that the evil monkey was a Mormon in one episode?"
That is the sort of repetitive, nerve-grating thing that I'm talking about. Not an occasional funny moment or the silliness that naturally happens when people congregate.
I have no problem with humor at the table, in and of itself.
For example, our tiefling warlord and our dragonborn ranger have a good-natured rivalry (both the players and their characters), trying to out-do each other in every encounter. The tiefling warlord tries to leap over a pit. He needs a 20 on an Athletics check to do it. He rolls a 19. Falling unceremoniously on his rear at the bottom of the pit, he is dubbed "the pit fiend," an appellation which he bears to this day. The players tell that story to each new player to join the group.
As the characters explored a necromancer's lair, I let them find a copy of the Nomonomicon, which turned out to be a zombie-authored cookbook.
A shifter warden in a different campaign we play inspired much speculation about how exactly a male longtooth shifter goes about "marking" their target. That player pantomimes raising one leg from time to time and it's funny.
That sort of thing is fine. In-game events and deliberately orchestrated silliness can be funny, and when they are, we laugh at them. We're not a dour group of unsmiling, joyless puritans like an Ingmar Bergman film.
What I have a problem with is repetition, or with assuming that I'm ignorant of a pop culture reference when I laugh at their joke once and move on.
How would you react to a player who asks if he's "in the room where he's casting all these spells from" whenever any player casts a spell? Every single time? Is that really funny after a few weeks? Maybe I could see it being an ongoing thing for an encounter or even an entire session, but week after week after week of the exact same joke in the exact same situation isn't funny.
How would you react to a player that insists on sidetracking the game to recount each and every evil monkey reference from Family Guy when you encounter a barlgura?
DM: "Jeff, I really do watch Family Guy, it's just that we've gotten the joke, and--"
Jeff: "I dunno, if you did, you'd think this was REALLY funny! You see, the second episode that had the evil monkey in it..."
Todd: "Oh hey, did you know that the evil monkey was a Mormon in one episode?"
That is the sort of repetitive, nerve-grating thing that I'm talking about. Not an occasional funny moment or the silliness that naturally happens when people congregate.
Theo R Cwithin
I cast "Baconstorm!"
Oh, I feel so very sorry for you...
But it seems counterproductive to get too ruffled about it, especially if that's the way it's been with this group for so many years. Aside from disbanding the group, though, all you can do is put a cork on their forks so they don't put out an eye, and grin and bear it.
Just know that there must be others out there in the wide world who share your pain!
Hussar
Legend
I get where you're coming from Dykstrav. Particularly when it can be so disheartening. You spend a fair bit of your free time (and by you, I don't mean YOU specifically, but the generic you of "a person") coming up with adventures, crafting NPC's and whatnot. It can be especially grating if you are trying to create a particular mood or theme in the game and it's getting thrown for a wobbler by players who refuse to meet you half way and at least attempt to get into the mood.
So, yeah, totally get what you're saying.
As for what you can do about it, well, maybe a bit of Dr. Phil mightn't hurt. Just say, "Guys, look, I'm trying to get things going here. I know you're just having fun and whatnot, but, it's really bugging me, could you tone it down a touch?" Or something to that effect. I think if the other players know it's bugging you that much, they'll hopefully respect that and play ball.
So, yeah, totally get what you're saying.
As for what you can do about it, well, maybe a bit of Dr. Phil mightn't hurt. Just say, "Guys, look, I'm trying to get things going here. I know you're just having fun and whatnot, but, it's really bugging me, could you tone it down a touch?" Or something to that effect. I think if the other players know it's bugging you that much, they'll hopefully respect that and play ball.
ExploderWizard
Hero
You need new friends.
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