Light-Hearted Games


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I've run many campaigns and am what many consider to be a very experienced GM. However, I haven't run a lighthearted campaign in 15 years. I've just started a game that I'm aiming have as a Comedic Adventure game juxtaposed against darker elements (ala Made in Abyss).

What do you think makes for a lighthearted game without just being silly?


I once played an all-gnome campaign that was fun!


Many years ago ran a Dragonlance game where everyone made a kender...


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Bards. Bards everywhere.


So many Gnome Bards


I also played a campaign where we were a traveling band! (I couldn't quite convince the party to play all bards.) That was really fun too!


Allow npcs and/or monsters to suffer from embarrassment. Even if the characters aren't actively attempting to embarrass them, critical fumbles are an opportunity for embarrassment. Both for the fumbler and the fumblie.


Jason Wedel wrote:
Many years ago ran a Dragonlance game where everyone made a kender...

Dragonlance novels have really sad, tragic story arcs, but the world is hilarious.

Here's your loony Dragonlance Campaign hook: make it a maritime campaign. The first event in your story is a Minotaur Pirate/Naval ship takes for a prize or is given command of a Gnome ship, putting a junior Minotaur officer and some crewmen on board to command her. In addition to the Gnome crew, there is a contingent of Gully Dwarf Marines, and the Captain of the Marines is a Kender. The campaign will be all about the Gnomes, Gully Dwarves, Minotaurs, and Kender learning how to work together to transform into an effective crew. Tell the party to make Minotaur, Gnome, Kender, and Gully Dwarf characters, and hilarity will ensue!


For a light-hearted campaign, you can have enemies never kill the characters. Of course, never tell them that. If they get reduced below zero, they move on to the next character. No TPK's. If everyone gets dropped, they wake up later... the bad guys having moved on leaving the characters for dead. This also means you need to fudge damage rolls so you don't accidentally kill anyone.

Bad guys fight among themselves.

Make trivial magic items fairly abundant as well as add flavor to noraml magic items. For example, a small copper rod that's a couple inches long that creates a small flame when you rub your thumb against it, then turn it off the same way. A wand of true strike made entirely from novaculite (whetstone material) and you use it by sliding it down the blade of a sword, causing sparks to fly and the wand gets short by a couple of inches. When the charges run out, there's no wand left.

Introduce and NPC wizard with a rat familiar as a translator (Tongues made permanent on his familiar). That's actually my main character I've been using since Basic D&D up through 3.5

Anything along these lines should make it light-hearted without getting downright silly.


Another way to have a light-hearted campaign is to have a TPK every session.


Only one? (Yes, I would like to run Kobolds Ate My Baby! at least once.)


The secret to a light-hearted game isn't going to be so much in the mechanics as it is in the tone.

Light-hearted also means that it should have a light touch. The evil shouldn't be unspeakably vile. The smallest mistake that the players make shouldn't be used against them. Allowing the Rule of Cool to overrule exactly what is stated in the rulebook should be the norm. Tracking mundane concerns like how many rations they're carrying, or how much gold it costs to stay at the Inn shouldn't be the focus.


Yeah... What AaronUnicorn said.

Make it rules-light. I wouldn't even keep track of encumbrance. Just use common sense when it comes to things like a fighter carrying 2 longswords 2 longbows, 4 quivers of arrows, etc... I'm actually in a message baord game where there's a halfling who is collecting daggers. Man-sized daggers. Even if they were halfling sized, 6 daggers is a bit much, but I'm not the DM. Everyone's having fun so, what's the harm?

When in doubt, rule in favor of the players. Don't look up rules, if you can't remember, make it up on the fly, as I said, in favor of the player. Look up the rule afterward and use it next time if it calls for it. You can always laugh with the players afterward... "Remember when you rolled a 12 and made that 20' jump? LOL That was supposed to be much harder. Next time, it won't be so easy. It must have been some magic frog legs that the innkeeper slipped you. LOL" Crap like that.

You can also add cutsy magic like magic frog legs of jumping. On that same note, change up potions. In a home-brewed game there was a county named Synister. They had some magic machine that made potions of healing (much earlier edition of D&D), but they were biscuits. So you could buy Synsiter Biscuits in shops. I'm not saying to mass produce magic, but don't make all potions a vial of liquid. I've had carrots that grant infravision (again, earlier edition) for a couple of hours. How about a nice pudding of Enlarge Person or a stick of butter that makes a Grease effect when thrown down?

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