Something I miss

[Hussar]

Been waxing nostalgic lately and looking at some of my older stuff in my collection. Not that much of it has survived my many moves and real life stuff, but, there's some D&D stuff that I've managed to hang on to over the years.

Like my module EX 2 Land Beyond the Magic Mirror. I dug this out and reread it.

Yup, pretty primitive, extremely confrontational between the DM and the players, and, yet, still very witty and funny. Maybe I'm just easily amused.

But, that brings me to my point. We don't see the funny in D&D very often anymore. Oh sure, OOTS gives us the knee slapping punchline from time to time, but, I mean the more whimsical stuff that you used to get in various sources. LBtMM has a house that eats you, for example, and another house with a lightning elemental generator in the basement (no how's that for environmentally friendly?) and a vampiric ghost in the attic.

That's what I'm talking about. The old April Fools issues of Dragon. Stupid comics in the DMG. Weird and wonderful names. Unbelievably stupid monsters that are still, at least to me, endearing.

I think that over the years, we gamers have gotten way to serious about our hobby. Far too often we spend hours and large amounts of bandwidth agonizing about what direction the plotline of this or that setting is going to take, or whether or not the latest feat is perfectly balanced or whatever issue happens to be discussed today.

I miss the stupid things in D&D. Not constantly. I certainly don't think it should get to the point where campaigns are all absurd to the point of silly. But, injecting a bit of humour when appropriate and some really stupid stuff like a flumph or a trapper once in a while serves to remind us that this is a game we're playing for fun.

I think I'm going to go add a couple of really stupid monsters to my campaign now. Any suggestions?

 

[Haffrung Helleyes]

I agree with you!

I think Mimics make great comic monsters. The last time my PCs encountered one (in the Age of Worms AP), I named it Bob the Mimic and had it surrender quickly, then beg to be the party fighter's follower. It provided a nice bit of comic relief to a campaign that was otherwise pretty serious and grim.


Ken

 

[Hussar]

Heh, cool. Very Pratchettesque.

 

[Wolv0rine]

Been waxing nostalgic lately and looking at some of my older stuff in my collection. Not that much of it has survived my many moves and real life stuff, but, there's some D&D stuff that I've managed to hang on to over the years.

Like my module EX 2 Land Beyond the Magic Mirror. I dug this out and reread it.

Yup, pretty primitive, extremely confrontational between the DM and the players, and, yet, still very witty and funny. Maybe I'm just easily amused.

But, that brings me to my point. We don't see the funny in D&D very often anymore. Oh sure, OOTS gives us the knee slapping punchline from time to time, but, I mean the more whimsical stuff that you used to get in various sources. LBtMM has a house that eats you, for example, and another house with a lightning elemental generator in the basement (no how's that for environmentally friendly?) and a vampiric ghost in the attic.

That's what I'm talking about. The old April Fools issues of Dragon. Stupid comics in the DMG. Weird and wonderful names. Unbelievably stupid monsters that are still, at least to me, endearing.

I think that over the years, we gamers have gotten way to serious about our hobby. Far too often we spend hours and large amounts of bandwidth agonizing about what direction the plotline of this or that setting is going to take, or whether or not the latest feat is perfectly balanced or whatever issue happens to be discussed today.

I miss the stupid things in D&D. Not constantly. I certainly don't think it should get to the point where campaigns are all absurd to the point of silly. But, injecting a bit of humour when appropriate and some really stupid stuff like a flumph or a trapper once in a while serves to remind us that this is a game we're playing for fun.

I think I'm going to go add a couple of really stupid monsters to my campaign now. Any suggestions?

I've had this train of thought myself a few times lately. Always makes me think back to the last time I was playing D&D with Ralts DMing... my half-orc barbarian and the rest of the group ran into this weird freak we had to take down, but the guy had some weird twist (PrC or template or something, you just never know with Ralts) wherein he was a masochist and so damage didn't affect him very much. This frail, old guy with piercings and tattoos is wiping the floor with the whole party. My half-orc Barb with his 20 Str comes charging in, and the guy takes my hit with a laugh, jumps up onto my Barb's head, and starts humping his face. The entire room is laughing like mad as this freaky old dude is monkey-humping my half-orc barbarian's face... I honestly don't know how we got through the rest of the encounter, but I still get teased about it from members of that group from time to time.

Not exactly what you were talking about, but it was one of those "It brought the funny" moments, you know. I wish we could see a little less taking-it-all-so-seriously in publication (but like you said, not TOO much, just enough to be there).

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Heh, cool. Very Pratchettesque.

If it would have been Pratchettesque, the Mimic would have made the fighter its follower (or become the wizards follower?) Or at least eat someone...

 

[Hussar]

Funnily enough, my last DM gave me a Luggage as a construct that followed me around. I feel bad that I didn't take more advantage of it. TBH, I pretty much forgot it was there most of the time. :/

But a mimic pet like this would work pretty well. hrm.

 

[Mallus]

We don't see the funny in D&D very often anymore.

Read the Story Hour based on my campaign! (see .sig).

...I mean the more whimsical stuff that you used to get in various sources. LBtMM has a house that eats you, for example, and another house with a lightning elemental generator in the basement ...

During one adventure, the party magician bought, buffed, and then possessed a bull in order to fight a gelatinous cube monk pit-fighter named Glutinous Maximus for the right to run for city council (of a pirate haven).

The mage/bull won and afterwards the mage Awakened the bull (giving it an 18 INT). He went on to a dual career in politics and academics, becoming a university professor and founding a discipline known as semioxtics, which, of course, is the study of bull.

I think that over the years, we gamers have gotten way to serious about our hobby.

Well some of us...

I certainly don't think it should get to the point where campaigns are all absurd to the point of silly.

I've been skirting that razor's edge for almost five years now with my current campaign...

I think I'm going to go add a couple of really stupid monsters to my campaign now. Any suggestions?

You can't go wrong with a gelatinous cube monk. Mine was a hybrid created by a mage with issues; a partially dissolved middle-age man in robes suspended inside a gelatinous cube.

 

[billd91]

But, that brings me to my point. We don't see the funny in D&D very often anymore. Oh sure, OOTS gives us the knee slapping punchline from time to time, but, I mean the more whimsical stuff that you used to get in various sources. LBtMM has a house that eats you, for example, and another house with a lightning elemental generator in the basement (no how's that for environmentally friendly?) and a vampiric ghost in the attic.

That's what I'm talking about. The old April Fools issues of Dragon. Stupid comics in the DMG. Weird and wonderful names. Unbelievably stupid monsters that are still, at least to me, endearing.

I'm still finding it, from time to time, in stuff by Paizo. Lots of things by Nicholas Logue have a really warped humor to them. The goblins in Rise of the Runelords were a balance of menacing and hilarious. There's an interesting sport involving pigs in Curse of the Crimson Throne that has a certain ridiculousness.

One of the reasons I've really liked the stuff put out by Paizo (and by the Paizo guys freelancing for WotC) is they have an old-school feel to their adventures. They give me the impression they're well rooted in the history of the game running back through the 1e glory years, and that includes their use of humor.

 

[Delta]

Somewhere in the last few years there was a WOTC designer essay saying thet they intentionally no longer put funny bits in their publications. Theory was: funny comes from players at tables, putting it in publication wrecks it for players who want to be serious.

But I think that might be a reaction from 2E years, when (having stripped adult themes from the game), the published funny became really adolescent. The nadir for me was a Dungeon adventure with demons & mephits wearing funny hats and ties (in an otherwise serious adventure), boy I thought that was wretched.

 

[Treebore]

I've always done it on a seasonal basis. Around Christmas time my adventure side treks into a Christmas Themed adventure.

During Holloween they encounter some form of powerful undead as their main antagonist.

Around April Fools I pull out some wierd/whacky creatures or events, usually both. Often stuff from my old Dragon April Fools issues.

For just general Prankster stuff I have a Gnome Illusionist named Gestafi Mendolez. IF you don't smile much there is no telling what he will do while he is around to get people smiling and laughing. His Faerie Dragon friend/familiar loves to help him too.