Humor while gaming

From: Brian Tickler <tickler_at_netcom.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 11:04:40 -0700 (PDT)


> From: rhwolfe_at_ix.netcom.com (Robert H. Wolfe)
>
> Brian defends his duckocidal tendencies thusly:
>
> >I did not kill Rupert out of malice
> >(didn't he get killed by a zombie in Al Dewey's campaign in 1980 or
> >so? must have been another duck...)
>
> You are confusing Rupert the Avenger with Alfonso the Avenger, his
> predecessor (or maybe I am. You always had a better memory than me).

Must be "the Avenger" that's confusing me.

> Brian goes on to protest:
>
> >Seriously, I do not take
> >out vendettas on PCs; they are not responsible for their actions...
>
> But you have to admit, you were glad Rupert bit the dust. Come on,
> 'fess up...

Honestly, no, not really...I try to examine what happened any time a PC dies in my game, even if it's not "permanent". This is not because I coddle the PCs, but because I need to review everything that happened... there are usually a handful of reasons why a PC dies: they made some kind of judgement error, they just got unlucky, the GM made a mistake or misjudged the party's ability to deal with something, the GM had some kind of bias against a PC/player, etc. I try to make sure that the latter three reasons do not occur, or that if they do they are not repeated.

> >The real reason I don't allow ducks anymore comes from the example of
> >another duck that I allowed in later. This duck caused so much
> >annoyance and grief for myself and the party that I decided I had
> >enough with ducks... I had never been happy with a race that I felt
> >was created for mere comic relief. The fact that some players choose
> >to play ducks so that they can make a mockery of more serious
> >characters/players just sealed their fate.
>
> Look, just because Rupert wore a black mask, a cape, and a hat with
> dingle balls on it, and liked carving flaming "R"s into Lunar soldiers
> didn't make him comic relief.
>
> Errr... okay, maybe it did. But is that so wrong?
>
> >I have, to a lesser degree, the same view on Tricksters:
> >"Hey, let's loosen Gronk the Troll's armor straps while he's not
> >paying attention...ha, ha, look his leg got chopped off! What a riot!
>
> That's because you forget the two built-in Gloranthan dynamics for
> keeping a Trickster in line...
>
> 1. Violent reprisal. Any trickster who tried this IMG would get end
> up as Gronk's lunch, more than likely. When Trix Concealed himself and
> tried to dump a bucket of purple paint on Heldoria's unicorn, she
> critted him with a blind shot and functed his leg, nearly killing him.
> Now THAT was funny!

Here's a perfect example of the schism you noted below. Let me tell my side of this story (with a few minor corrections), and you'll see how I felt about the events as they transpired (apologies to list members if this seems too much like a personal conversation between Robert and myself, but I think it illustrates very well the point I was trying to make about humor during the game).

I was visiting Robert one weekend when he had a game scheduled. Robert's play group uses RQ3 rules, so I was looking through my binder for a PC that would not have a lot of conversion problems during the game (all my PCs are RQ2) and that would mesh well with the party. I played Velera (Heldoria is Paul's elf from my campaign), a Yelorna Star Priestess/Unicorn rider, who had little rune magic and few issues that would be a problem.

Let's switch to present tense...Velera is a Praxian, but the campaign is in Dorastor, so a typical "you have taken a wagon train to Dorastor to find XXX for your tribe" is done and, presto, Velera is ready to go. She wanders into the area of Dorastor where the party members have set up a small fiefdom or something near the borders of Dorastor (south of the Risklands, I believe?). Robert's players have been playing for years together and these PCs have a "tight" environment and culture into which I am intruding, somewhat, as both a player and PC.

Velera tells various people about her quest and ends up negotiating to join the party on their ventures into Dorastor to find her item. During these negotiations, her unicorn is temporarily hanging out in the stable. A Trickster PC with Conceal decides that it would be very funny to paint the unicorn's horn red and white like a barber pole (never mind that there aren't any in Glorantha, but anyway...). He casts Conceal and sneaks up and starts painting the horn. Robert allows a roll for the unicorn to notice this and the unicorn becomes aware that someone unseen is doing something to his horn. Horns being rather important to unicorns, the unicorn reacts violently and attempts to gore the unseen being based on its best guess of the being's whereabouts. The unicorn rolls an 01 and not only hits buts takes out a leg and sends the Trickster into shock. Several events ensued, but suffice to say that this Trickster ends up being called in by his betters/superiors and is standing before Velera, in theory to explain what he's done. Velera, as a Yelornan, a Praxian, and a priestess considers this an affront beyond measuring, punishable by the typical nomad response to such affronts; killing the perpetrator where he stands. Although Velera's "character conception" calls for this course of action, I, as a player, also have to take into account that these kinds of "shenanigans" are par for the course in Robert's campaign and that gutting this PC might be unexpected and misinterpreted as personal hostility between myself and Robert's friends. RW people being more important than Gloranthan ones, I decide to "eat" Velera's righteous anger and let it slide as gracefully as I can. The superiors then decide that it would be appropriate punishment to have the Trickster kiss Velera's feet. A session of mock grovelling and protest follows that largely serves to humiliate Velera more than the Trickster, as her Praxian honor and dignity are poked at from all sides.

To top things off, Velera's RQ2 advantages (higher weapon percentages courtesy of 5% rule) end up during the adventure into Dorastor to be greatly outweighed by the party's RQ3 advantages (martial arts, enchanted items, etc.), and Velera is largely ineffectual during the course of the day except for her Yelornan magic allowing her to track the chaos beastie we were searching for.

Now, for me and my play group, character conception is everything, and I have just compromised Velera's irrevocably. This made me actually regret playing her that day. Now, I know that from Robert and everyone else's point of view this didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary, and I certainly don't begrudge them for it, but this incident does illustrate how what is humorous in one campaign/group of players can be considered completely mortifying in another.

> >My feeling has always been that the comedy comes from the players
> >themselves and should not intrude into the actual actions of
> >characters in ways that would never happen in a
> >realistic-fantasy-world.
>
> Which is essentially the root of Brian's and my duck/trickster schism.
> Brian's campaign (one of the best I've ever played in, by the way)
> emphasizes grand heroism, noble deeds, and dastardly villians. Ducks
> just don't fit the mood. My campaigns tend to be a little goofier. If
> Brian's Glorantha is a Disney cartoon, mine leans a little more towards
> Warner Brothers. Which means the more outragous/comic aspects of
> Glorantha fit in just fine. Personally, both genres are great fun.
> I'm not sure which I liked better, cowering in fear from Brian's
> infamous eight-armed Doomed One Scorpionbroo or battling Zorak Zoran
> Loons and the Lower Intestine of the Devil in Frank Giles' chaos
> infested Upper Bog. And I've laughed my ass off at stuff in Brian's
> campaign and quaked in my boots at unmentionable horrors in Frank's.
> One of Glorantha's strengths is it's richness, allowing GMs to
> emphasize aspects that they and their players enjoy most.

I agree with this...BTW, Thrykys the Destroyer is a 6 armed, 18 legged, 3 tailed, 4 horned (goat and ram horns), black-skinned, 18m leaping Thanatari Scorpion/Broo Hero. He has 30 hit locations and has a percentile table to determine where you hit him. My play group (including Robert) first saw him up close when a Troll War Party of a couple of dozen various trolls including several KL and ZZ rune levels was approaching Blind King's Castle for reasons unknown. Thyrkys leaped among them and slaughtered the entire war party in a couple of minutes. The party hung around too long and almost got slaughtered themselves, having to throw up all their best rune/battle magic defenses just to allow them to successfully escape.

> Brian concludes:
>
> >yes, it's unfair for me to dislike ducks and tricksters based on the
> >actions of only some players/characters, but, hey, there's always
> >other RQ campaigns to go to, right? Whoops, wait, there aren't
> >anymore...hmmm... :)
>
> Too true. And too sad.
>
> On Brian's Dragonnewts:
>
> >> The DNewt was a monstrousity, balance-wise. But we were young and
> >> foolish (and I played one too).
> >
> >I actually forgot about him...I was talking about Lashout Longtail, a
> >renegade beaked dragonewt, not Saraksan the Flame of Truth, a Full
> >Priest who sits in my binder unplayed like my 40th level wizard from
> >my early D&D days (that's what happens when you're 13...these old
> >monstrousities are great NPCs though). So anyway, I have 2 Dragonewt
> >PCs, I guess; it's just that one of them has Firebreath 12... :).
>
> Actually, I _was_ thinking of Lashout. PC beaked DNewts are gross. PC
> beaked DNewts who are Rune Lords of Humakt are even worse. But I'll
> grant you, not nearly as bad as Saraksan. I'd blocked him out of my
> mind completely. Firebreath 12. Shudder.
>
> Hey, has anyone ever thought of running a game at one of the cons for
> all those really horrific characters sitting at the back of everyone's
> binders? I'd love to play Sargareth again. And I'm sure Brian would
> get a fiendish delight from inflicting Kroll the Uber-Baboon on an
> unsuspecting world. Any takers?

I tried this at the RQ Con in San Francisco (you had to leave early). After boring myself to tears playing some of the pre-rolled PCs in the "we are Greek theatre actors, not gamers" scenarios, I tried to run an impromptu game using Blind King's Castle; I wrote it up on the board as a chance for players to break out their favorite characters from 10 years ago who never get to play because they have advanced themselves into retirement. Sadly, some of what I got were brnd new players that just had gross characters. I don't mind powerful PCs, as long as it seems apparent that they have earned their status through years of experience. Ray Turney played, which was good since I hadn't seen him since playing in Steve Maurer's campaign a few years before. It didn't turn out as well as hoped, though.

> From: David Dunham <dunham_at_pensee.com>
>
> Brian Tickler wrote
>
> > sounds like RQ2 Chalana Arroys..."What, you're a priest already?
> > When did that happen?"
>
> Hey, I don't remember you from our game. (It happened after her first
> adventure, as I recall. And she was a royal pain for GMs from then on, with
> her Sleep 6.)
>
> One of the many abuses that RQ3 reacted against.

Rune Lord didn't take long either: "Hmmm...the party is on ice for 14 weeks until Ed's bladevenom wound is completely healed...guess I'll take some of that free training again...ho hum...another mastery for me...".

> From: Nils Weinander <nilsw_at_ibm.net>
>
> Brian Tickler:
>
> > There is only one elf playing in my game, and she is pretty distinctive.
>
> Wow, you got an elf _player_! Wherever did you find her?

Golden Gate Park, the closest forest to my house at the time...

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