An airplane walks into a bar... wait, that doesn't make sense. But it happened, kinda. "Tales from the Floating Vagabond" (TftFV) is a comic RPG that started with the idea "what if any door could, sometimes, lead to this one specific bar", followed by "what if some adventurous type accidentally flew into it?" More to the point, can you have a comical RPG, or are we stuck with movie quips interjected into otherwise serious play?

Lee Garvin is betting otherwise. Of course, he's betting for the 2nd time, since he's doing the 2nd edition of TftFV. The TftFV kickstarter hopes to re-open the world of comedy RPGing. D-Infinity did an interview. And just to make a pitch, do check out that kickstarter. Will it succeed?

As N. Rodriquez notes, "any game that uses the term 'See That Dot?' as a range measurement and 'Don't Point That At My Planet' as a weapon scale must be supported." Today, we're going to look at two issues-- whether funny derails a game, and are there past funny RPGs?

There are a lot of ways to derail an RPG session. Face it, a gaming session is held together by the loosest of unagreed upon, implicit group threads. You need to trust the other players will play 'the right way' (which is different for each group). You have to hope the GM isn't there to screw you. You want to create a plausible engaging narrative, but you don't want to be railroaded. Can you also make it intentionally funny?

We want to get away from the type of experience L. Schick quipped about when I asked for funny games: "Cyborg Command (unintentional)". I recall a particular Amber run that descended into surreal farce, culminating in players invoking a Yellow Submarine ala the Beatles. Yet ironically, a Beatles/Yellow Submarine deliberate crossover campaign would be funny. Why is accidental funny different?

In accidental funny, a serious moment gets a bit of humor that lifts you out of play, then everyone re-immerses into the game. In a comedic RPG, the goal is to create the humor in-game, in-setting, as part of the universe. Now, a good story requires just characters and a conflict. In an RPG, the players then help generate the plot. How is a joke set up different?

A joke requires a setup, the punchline, and the optional reaction. The setup is tied to the punchline different from how a serious story ties conflict to resolution. There's a dozen potential resolutions to any RPG situation, but far fewer of them will actually be comic and riff off the setup. Does this mean comedic RPGs are actually harder to play and therefore the supreme and ultimate form of true RPGing?

Maybe, maybe not. A bunch of RPGs go for comic by simply giving you a target-rich environment, a setting so full of ludicrious that you can't help but find funny things to do. Using a highly scientific method (asking on Facebook) and with help from L. Schick, D. Davenport, L. Garvin & M. Young, a partial list of comedic RPGs is below. Is it complete?

• Alma Mater
• *Bullwinkle and Rocky
• *Ghostbusters
• Kobolds Ate My Baby
• HoL (+)<
• Illuminati University/IOU for GURPS
• *Men in Black
• Murphy's World
• Paranoia (+)
• *Red Dwarf
• The Shab al-Hiri Roach (+)
• Tales from the Floating Vagabond
• Teenagers from Outer Space
• Toon

The "*" items on this list are games set in funny TV or movie settings, so they get the benefit of dragging along the inherent humor from the original property. Others mimic this approache. Primarily, many create a potentially funny world just like the tie-in games, only their world is unique as well as full of comic elements that you can bounce off of. Are these the only options?

The ones marked with (+) go for ironic humor, create a dark or dystopian underlying world premise in the hopes that the players will be able to find the humor inherent in the premise. Using this sort of model, any World of Darkness game could be re-cast as a humor game, if the players wished it. So is comedy either only an accidental byproduct or else reserved only for comic games?

Any game can be a comedic RPG if the kobolds ate my babyplayers and GM agree in the beginning, and decide how to make that flavor work. This is the same argument that points out any RPG can be used for just about any play style. You can do hack-and-slash in Nephilium or deep gothic soul-searching in AD&D, if the players wish-- and work really hard at it. But, different games exist specifically to encourage different optimized styles of play. That's their selling point. Want hack-and-slash, try HackMaster! Want gothic angst internal roleplay, try Vampire: The Masquerade. In this model, what a good comedic RPG does is provide the setting and tools to encourage good comic play. Is this the last I have to say on the matter?

Sure.

Until next month?
Sandy at rpg.net