If you're a narrator who can make your player(s) laugh a couple of times during an adventure, then you're probably a popular narrator. If you're a narrator who can run a serious adventure and still generate a few laughs at appropriate times then you will be regarded as a great narrator by your players. For most groups - humor is what makes or breaks an adventure.

Duets

A duet is one narrator and one player so any humor has to be pretty tailored to your player and the situation, which is really a huge advantage. As such I'm going to take more of a group narrating perspective for this article, as everything about humor that applies to groups typically applies to duets save that on a whole duets are more serious affairs than most group campaigns.

The Problem with Humor

Some narrators are better at humor than others. We've all played with narrators who can turn a mission to audit the books of a law firm into a hilariously fun and exciting adventure. We've also played with the opposite, those narrators who can soak the fun completely out of an adventure chock full of potential. It's the same with players, some are great at finding the fun in any scenario while others are composed of anti-fun and capable of destroying any fun they come into contact with. Thus we're going to talk about how you as the narrator can cultivate humor in your adventures.

It is critical to note that the best humor flows both ways. It's a give and take between the narrator and players. That has to be your ultimate goal.

Humor: A Renewable Resource

I've mentioned before how creativity is a renewable resource. You don't have to bend the rules of the universe to protect your clever villain because you can come up with another clever villain next week. Embrace this truth that you have infinite amounts of creativity and the ideas will come. Humor is no different. So let's talk about some conditions you can cultivate to make humor a renewable resource with your group.

Trust is the key, but how do you, as the narrator, create an environment of trust?

1. Be Generous. This isn't about treasure and awards in an adventure, which I believe should be challenging and hard-won. Players don't want handouts; they want to face difficulties and earn their victories. However, there are other areas where generosity should be your mantra. Be generous at character creation, provide munchies for everyone to share, if someone needs more time to come up with a response to a situation then give them that time. If a player's plan of action has a 50/50 chance of working, give her the benefit of the doubt. If you are generous to your players they will be generous to you. This creates an environment of trust.

2. Empower your Players. Go with the flow and react to your players, not the plot. If the players go off script then you follow them with enthusiasm. If your players feel like they are in control then they will use that control, not only to shape the course of an adventure but to be humorous.

3. Keep Things Relaxed. Okay the adventure itself might be the opposite of relaxed but the mood out-of-character should be relaxed. Players should feel free to ask questions of you and generally be able to engage and enjoy what everyone is doing. If people are comfortable they will be more willing to laugh and joke.

4. Be in Charge. You're generous, you're spontaneous, and yet you need to be in charge of the group. This is tricky, but most players are willing to give the narrator the benefit of the doubt and if you're doing #1, #2, and #3 above they will be even more willing to follow your lead. Still I'm going to give you three tricks:

Stand or position yourself at the head of the table. When I narrate groups, I stand the entire session. This way I can see all the players, they can see me, and it gives me a little edge in authority. Standing also will make you more confident, it just does.

Rarely be authoritative. You need to pick your battles. If you are arguing rules with your players or quibbling over the positions of things on a grid map - then you are doing it wrong. For myself there is only ONE thing that I am consistently authoritative on: protecting players from another player. I don't mean protecting them from in-character harm but out-of-character interference and abuse. If you have a player interrupting another player, trying to rewrite the actions of other players, insulting another player, and so on then you need to quash it immediately. You do so calmly and forcefully. You identify the offending player, you state the problem, and decide the solution in one fluid motion. "Bob, you are not in the cockpit with Jasmine's character, so let her decide what her player does." Don't moralize, don't make it a big deal; just get to the point, don't give any options, and it will be resolved. If you do the above you've established an environment where humor can flourish. Now here are some techniques to consider:

The Theme

When you can find a theme for your humor during an adventure it amplifies its impact as the adventure proceeds. This is one of those quirky things with humor; a mildly humorous point can generate a raucous response if it is built upon. Not only that but a theme can help you find the humor. So what's a theme? It's a series of situations that feed upon some humorous element inherent within an adventure. Let me give an example.

I've been running a few Icons adventures lately and one of the elements of my setting is celebrity superhero teams who are to avoid collateral damage as best as possible. Obviously, I've yet to encounter a PC superhero who even when really trying can avoid massive collateral damage. This is funny, yes in a twisted way, but most humor is twisted. How do you execute this? You simply have an officious NPC keep talking about collateral damage and getting exasperated as the adventure progress. You can even have random NPCs talk about the collateral damage building up. The humor will manifest itself almost automatically.

There are lots of themes to consider: an incompetent NPC, a case of mistaken identity, puns and twists, etc. Just don't select a theme that overwhelms the adventure, it needs to compliment it. You'll need to hit the theme at least three times to really maximize the humorous impact and try to deliver the theme straight; let the players find the humor, just set them up. Which brings us to…

Take Your Cues from Players

If the players are finding the AI character you have created to manage their starship funny then run with it. Give them the opportunity to have fun with the AI program, torment the poor thing for their enjoyment. You set up the scene and let them find the humor and jokes within it. The best humor in an adventure or campaign is where the narrator plays the straight-man, he sets up the players to deliver the jokes. This is better in so many ways than trying to be funny yourself.

Laugh

If your players do something funny - laugh. Acknowledge the humor. Positive reinforcement is the key to developing any behavior at the table, including being funny.

Laugh With, Not At

It is far better to make fun of yourself or an NPC than a PC or player. When you have an NPC who generates laughs that's great, but when you have a PC who is generating laughs you need to be wary. Watch to see whether the player of that PC is laughing with you or are all of you laughing at him. Now if you have a player who is good, I mean real good, he can be the straight-man for the narrator or other players setting up humorous situations at his expense. I've seen this done and it is amazing: a player who plays it straight but is setting up humor and fun for other players. However, just make sure you aren't dealing with a player who's just erring or unexpectedly setting himself up. You will usually know, but always keep this in mind. It might start off fun with you tormenting a PC with the player's help but you don't want to cross a line and start to frustrate or annoy the player. Just be mindful and listen to your players, and as narrator make sure that you're watchful for situations where some of your players are picking on another player in the guise of humor. If so, be authoritative as discussed earlier and redirect that energy elsewhere.

Mix and Match Players

Related to this is that some players work better together than others. Actually, more accurately is that some players are great with roleplaying and playing off other players. If you have these good players, you need to make sure they get to work with everyone at the table. Yes, the two players at the end of the table are awesomely funny with their elf and dwarf buddies but break them up sometimes to spread the magic. Players can get lazy, that's bad for roleplaying and humor, so nudge them to interact with other players.

Listen

The best humor comes to the most observant. A good narrator should be listening to his players. See what they respond to, listen to how they react with other players, and generally may attention.

That's a lot of stuff about humor and hopefully some of it is useful. Now it's important to note that humor can be a negative. It can ruin the mood of a moment, downplay a dramatic reveal, and so forth. However, remember that humor is also a defense mechanism. If you've just revealed that the party's longtime ally has been turned into a sparkly vampire and they make a joke, it doesn't mean the reveal didn't have impact. In fact, the humor in that situation is a sign it did. Humor is usually a good thing. That's a point I should make. Humor that is external (like quoting movies or such nonsense) reflects a bored player. Humor that is focused on what is happening in the adventure, regardless of the context, reflects an engaged player. That's your litmus test for humor, or at least the one I use.