Author: Flinx (---.58.22)
Date: 08-01-2001 12:47
Liked the column, Meera, regardless of how old it is/how doped you were (been there, done that... ever tried tavist? wogga)
I find that setting up the plot or environment for a punch ine that I think is funny or groan-worthy usually backfires, either because I've made it too obvious or too obscure, or people laugh, once, when they get it, and then never again. My games are still very funny though, because I've learned to let the players do most of my work when it comes to busting out laughing.
One of the best ways I've found (after much trial and error) to encourage humor in the games I'm running is to shock the players. Whether it's by throwing something wholly unexpected from left field at them, or producing a classic 'Oh, SH*T!' moment, the first thing that comes out of players' mouthes, even after great heights of dramatic tension, tends to be extremely funny, and these words will often take on lives of their own and come back to haunt them. I've also found that these kind of situations tend to foster further player-driven- humor that sustain themselves very readily, sometimes with a little nudge here and there.
One of my SR group's absolute faves at the moment: the physad who's picked up a gun for the first time in his life, just fired three lethal shots in three rounds from a sniper rifle into something he later learned was a vampire. His question, after the third shot:
"Is... it... DEAD... yet?"
Something else that works very well, sometimes associated with munchkinism, is that I will let players develop an extreme aspect to their character, but I don't let them forget about it. This manages to naturally set up moments where the group lets each other have it, right between the eyes.
Point in case: a heavily 'wared, massive Scotsman (scruffy red ponytails, clan plaid, nearly seven feet tall, you name it) sees an armored kilt in a store. He buys it and puts it on. Immediately, the gender-undetermined and _extremely short_ dwarf combat mage starts trying to sneak a peek at the 'regiment'. The scottish cyborg takes a swing in jest, but the dwarf bounces away and starts snapping its fingers while casting the spell 'Spark'. Instantly, the two are setup in a relationship that neither will forget, and that has popped up at random times, including in the middle of a firefight. The rest of the players stop and watch, and laugh, every time, regardless of what they were doing, previously.
However, if you want a group that laughs and is happier to be in the game for it, be willing to laugh with them, especially if what they're chuckling at is the NPC you've slaved over for the past month. Be flexible, take that particular sheet of paper in a different direction then you'd intended, and have more fun with it.
Just some of my methods, as always, YMMV.
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