Humor in sourcebooks

[Warrior Poet]

The GURPS: Horror supplement has a lot of humor to it (I don't know if all GURPS books do; I don't play GURPS but the source books are freaking fantastic for ideas, historical periods, information, etc.), and it was nice counterpoint to the, uh, well, horror.

It's nice to see. Games need a sense of humor to them, of some kind, even if it's grim. There's a lot of humor at our game table, sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally (those are usually the funniest moments), but it doesn't dominate, just strikes a nice balance. Besides, as often as misfortune befalls our characters, we have to laugh, or we'd go crazy.

Warrior Poet

 

[jmucchiello]

25 years later, I still spend many an idle moment debating with myself about which cartoon in the AD&D DMG was the funniest. "Papers and Paychecks -- no, +2 backscratcher -- no, Papers and Paychecks --" etc.

The backscratcher, fer sure.

 

[frankthedm]

PHB needs "oops I got blown to bits" humor..
DMG needs dark humor at PC expence.
MM needs humor befitting the monster.

 

[Menexenus]

I think increasing the amount of humor in sourcebooks would be a great idea. Many Planescape fans (like myself) will recall that almost every section of a major Planescape sourcebook had a quote from some random character that was usually a little funny while also helping to introduce the reader to the subject matter in a character-centric way. Little pseudo-quotes like that are a good idea, as are funny sidebars and tongue-in-cheek descriptions in the text itself. I think all of these things help to make a sourcebook more memorable, more enjoyable, and easier to read. Yes, it can be overdone at times, but at present, as a whole, I think it is being underdone.

Publishers, please include more humor in your sourcebooks!

 

[Henry]

It's full of stuff like that. Daze has a "pinch of wool" as component, to pull the wool over the eyes of the victim.

Gary used to include stuff like this throughout the original PHB spells; in fact, that's where half of the little in-jokes in the spells originated.

• ESP (detect thoughts version 1.0) had the copper piece thing.
• Either the scare or fear spell had chicken feathers.
• Sending had a "tin-can telephone"
• The flame cantrip from unearthed arcana had the magic words "ron-son" or "zip-po"
• Sleep had sand as a component (never did get the "rose petals", though)
• Phantasmal Force had the first "pull the wool over your eyes" component
• Lightning Bolt had the "amber rod and piece of wool you rub together

And the sad part was, I took all these at serious face value back when I was 11 years old! Never questioned "teh funny" then

 

[Barak]

Another good use for humor in the DMG would be to provide examples of stuff players try to do, but shouldn't be allowed to. It allows an easy, non-mean way of telling your player "you're an idiot", while referencing the "official" book, and avoid hurt feelings.

By that, I mean for example, the 2nd edition AD&D example of an item you shouldn't allow your players to create. Everytime a player got overboard, the DM could simply say "Well, why not a Multi-Barrel Wand of Megadeath, then?" And that was that.

 

[The Shaman]

Another good use for humor in the DMG would be to provide examples of stuff players try to do, but shouldn't be allowed to. It allows an easy, non-mean way of telling your player "you're an idiot", while referencing the "official" book, and avoid hurt feelings.

This is a good idea - it's also the kind of thing that appears regularly in Nodwick, Dork Tower, Order of the Stick, et cetera already, so why not get each of those writers to contribute a strip that illustrates (in a humorous way) some point of the rules?

 

[VirgilCaine]

[*]Sleep had sand as a component (never did get the "rose petals", though)

"Bed of roses"?

Another good use for humor in the DMG would be to provide examples of stuff players try to do, but shouldn't be allowed to. It allows an easy, non-mean way of telling your player "you're an idiot", while referencing the "official" book, and avoid hurt feelings.

By that, I mean for example, the 2nd edition AD&D example of an item you shouldn't allow your players to create. Everytime a player got overboard, the DM could simply say "Well, why not a Multi-Barrel Wand of Megadeath, then?" And that was that.

Good idea there.

 

[kenobi65]

PHB needs "oops I got blown to bits" humor...

It does...see the illustration of Lidda in the Skills section, under "Use Magic Device."

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ph35_gallery/PHB35_PG85_WEB.jpg

There's also a great illustration of the iconics in one of the books (Complete Arcane, I think), in which Mialee is working on a magic item for Redgar, and Redgar is "back-seat driving" over her shoulder. The expression on her face is priceless.

(Edit: I fibbed, it's in Unearthed Arcana: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/UnA_Gallery/79163.jpg )

 

[Delemental]

It does...see the illustration of Lidda in the Skills section, under "Use Magic Device."

There's also the "Jozan climbing" picture, just before that.

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ph35_gallery/PHB35_PG68_WEB.jpg

There's also a great illustration of the iconics in one of the books (Complete Arcane, I think), in which Mialee is working on a magic item for Redgar, and Redgar is "back-seat driving" over her shoulder. The expression on her face is priceless.

It's in Unearthed Arcana, in the section on Craft Points (was just looking those up yesterday).

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/UnA_Gallery/79163.jpg