----- Original Message -----
From: 
To: 
Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2002 10:24 PM
Subject: GM: Humor game help


> I'm working on an adventure that I plan to send in for publication. The
> tricky thing is that this is the first adventure I've written that is
_meant_
> to be humorous; most of the time I've done serious plotlines and the
players
> have inserted humor on their own. Anyone have hints/tips on writing humor
and
> having it come out funny?  (For any Champions types on list, it's a Foxbat
> Master Plan(TM) . Having _him_ go flat ....)

Humor is easier when you know your audience.  That said, there is one base
assumption you can work with...

They know the genre conventions.

Which means feel free to parody them at will.

Personally I've found it easier to improvise comedic adventures.  My current
BESM game is a very humorous, very-high-powered romp that can best be
described as what happens when the principle cast from The Slayers gets
dumped into a cross between Ranma 1/2 and Tenchi Muyo...and the result
then gets hijacked by Excel Saga.

Needless to say, it's not for everyone...but I have an advantage:  It
doesn't
have to be.  I know my players, so I can cater to--no, _shamelessly_pander_
to
what they find amusing.  In-jokes (in or out of game).  Commonly understood
references.  Parodies of genre conventions.  Heck, I'll take a one-off side
comment and run with it as far as I can get away with (which, with the crew
I've
got, is pretty darn far).

You've got it tougher, especially with the long gap in Hero activity; I'm
not sure
I can make a lot of generalizations.  You're eventually going to have to
come
up with a vague profile of the target audience and work with that.  There's
no
such thing as truly "generic comedy", despite what network programming
execs seem to think; you have to have a hook...

   ---Darth Stomper--
Dark Chairman, Stomper Institute for Thaumaturgy and Heronism (S.I.T.H)
GURPS fan - GMAST-L Old One (once banished) - Philosopher
- Alternate Historian - General Crank - email: bravado@mindspring.com
"There will be no use of superpowers to settle domestic disputes!"
MxLP Count: 1

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