Imperial_Hammer posted:Than show it to you know, in a proactive approach, I shall take a reactive approach, and address the points of the nay-sayers who say Comedy RPGs cannot be done... Dark-Enigma posted:First off, a great deal of comedies focus strictly on the physical concept of the genre. While this can be done online by insinuating that a character got hit in a "certain area" with an object, it may only get a slight chuckle from the reader, contrast to an outburst of laugh from a studio audience. Coming second is the verbal side of comedy. While jokes are easily typed and read, they don't have the same feel as actually hearing the voice on television/in a movie. Think of all the laugh-out-loud jokes that you've heard in a movie, and then picture them being typed on a word document. Not as funny, eh? The third analysis has been mentioned by the Guild Master. Staying friendly to the ToS while maintaining the quality of comedy is a fairly large task. Most of the "knock-knock" jokes don't appeal to the 13 and over audience we have here, and while some jokes can be clean and mature at the same time, they are a rarity. RPG comedies should not have rare jokes, if it is strictly focused on the genre. Addressing your points in whole: 1st Paragraph: Obviously the immediacy of some forms of comedy arises through a visual medium, however, this does not mean that comedy can be doomed. There are two (or three, I'm not being scientific, here atleast) types of comedy. Slapstack, or physical comedy relies on visuals. But I have read plenty of books and seen plenty of TV shows that are funny without visuals. Frasier for example, had the most hilarious dialogue in a show. Although slapstick was included, the rhetoric and context of the humor within the show powered its funny-factor 2nd Paragraph: Your point of verbal funniness is well taken, but not damning. Obviously we cannot be "as funny" as a movie, addressing that same lack of spontaneity, but we can strive to get something. The more IC I think a reader gets, the more funny a type of comedy can be. 3rd Paragraph: My point on the TOS is also not damning. A strong GM can take pains to enforce the rules. As to DVC's point, not made by Enigma: Newbies: Although comedy games will grab more newbs, this again is not damning. A strong GM can deny them admittance, solicit for oldbies, and force a level of quality. Ultimately, my response is that, while your points are good, I do not see it (yet at least) as final for the genre. Newb levels can be tailored, the TOS can be enforced, and humor can still exist in a well-written medium, although perhaps not at levels as vibrant in a visual one. I have read very funny humorous books (Hitch-hikers, Discworld, etc. etc.) I think you all are wrong. Come come, will no one debate me? Step right up and give it your best shot! -I_H
Dark-Enigma posted:First off, a great deal of comedies focus strictly on the physical concept of the genre. While this can be done online by insinuating that a character got hit in a "certain area" with an object, it may only get a slight chuckle from the reader, contrast to an outburst of laugh from a studio audience. Coming second is the verbal side of comedy. While jokes are easily typed and read, they don't have the same feel as actually hearing the voice on television/in a movie. Think of all the laugh-out-loud jokes that you've heard in a movie, and then picture them being typed on a word document. Not as funny, eh? The third analysis has been mentioned by the Guild Master. Staying friendly to the ToS while maintaining the quality of comedy is a fairly large task. Most of the "knock-knock" jokes don't appeal to the 13 and over audience we have here, and while some jokes can be clean and mature at the same time, they are a rarity. RPG comedies should not have rare jokes, if it is strictly focused on the genre.
***Star Wars: Lords of the Lounge*** It is (enter the time frame you wish). The generic government of you choice is re-building after the Enter Name Here war, and a new fad has emerged in the galactic underground... Stand Up Comedy. It is your mission, oh brave comedic soldier, to lighten the hearts (and hopefully wallets) of your late-night audience. Perhaps you can even work your way up to The Big Time, the single biggest comedy club in the galaxy. But bewere oh fellow traveler, for there are many road blocks on your journey to the top. Shady agents, other comedians, late-night huslters, and many many more beings that frequent the venues you will be playing at, all trying their hardest to make sure to don't make it to the top. The road is long, and some fall. The choice is your's. Will you be a clean-shaved, niaeve, honest comedian, just trying to make a living for you self, and make some people laugh while your at it? Or will you be a husting, no good, shady low-life who is out to get as much many as possible, no matter how many backs you have to stab and people you have to climb on to get there? Chose wisely. Do you have what it takes to make it to The Big Time?
Winged_Jedi posted:In roleplaying, you only control a single character. You can only use a joke if you get the right response or situation. (D_V_C touched on this when he posted that sometimes he had a good joke, but he didn't get the response he needed from a fellow roleplayer to pull it off.) In a novel, you are in total control. You can set up the dialogue, you can set up the situation. So "I have read very funny humorous books" doesn't work as a defense. Dontlookatmethatway, I think most of your points are valid, but I don't agree with the one above. It's not necessarily true. You don't need your fellow RPers to create humour. To use the examples IH mentioned of the Discworld novels and the Hitchhiker "trilogy", some of the funniest stuff in these books comes from one character's thought processes or internal monologues. Like with Rincewind the wizard- it is the way he thinks, his attitude towards things and his general cowardliness that is funny, not just his interaction with other characters. However, if interaction with other characters is absolutely required, a comedy game could allow players to RP as NPCs to help the humour along, and to 'manufacture' humourous situations and dialogue.
Penguinator-176 posted:This is the key problem in creating a humourous RPG: people seem to write as a character, not as a real person.
