| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Question: Have you ever seen a player ruin a dramatic moment with an ill-timed joke? Have you ever done so yourself? When is it time to put away the snark and do the "serious RP" thing?
I don't recall a single 'dramatic moment' in gaming. Not that they haven't existed, but really they aren't all that memorable.
Jokes though, a few have become legend, fondly remembered years after the campaigns they took place in were otherwise forgotten.
There's not a particular moment that comes to mind, but I have had sessions where the tone was jarred (from my perspective, at least) by a player with a more gamist mindset than a storytelling one. The character in question soured my mood less by boisterously blurting out GET REKT SCRUB, and more by not really reaction with much emotion at all.
It's happened to me many times over the years as a GM. Sometimes you just have to laugh along with the mood wrecker because of the dramatic speech by someone in the party getting interrupted is hilarious. We've taken to using an idea from the old TORG game, which had a card (the name of which escapes me) that when played allowed the character to have his or her say no matter what was going on. So now we just say we're playing that card if we have something that we really feel must be said. I use it for my BBEGs a lot because my unruly crew will always blurt out something in the middle of the exposition.
I don't recall a single 'dramatic moment' in gaming. Not that they haven't existed, but really they aren't all that memorable.
Jokes though, a few have become legend, fondly remembered years after the campaigns they took place in were otherwise forgotten.
Yep. Usually the jokes don't let the campaign even get to "dramatic moment."
I remembered! The TORG card was the "Monologue" card. When we say we're using the Monologue card it's an unwritten rule in our PF games that the bad guy gets to blather on for a few rounds before the heroes start grinding through the final battle.
It's happened plenty as I've been a GM, though I have to say, it pretty much died as soon as I implemented the rule in this comic of yours, and I've seen a notable increase in roleplay.
Now the snark is reserved for the group's first impressions of NPCs, as they wear down the intricacy of the NPC into "The man who wears too much jewelry" or "Very likely a Succubus" or the popular, "Did we kill him, I thought we killed him?"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Whenever I try to go for a dramatic moment I end up rolling a critical fail immediately, so I'm rather more likely to just LEROY JENKINS it these days.
We have a guy at are table who notorious for telling inopportune jokes at the worst moments. Jokes that you can tell that he has been holding on to all week seemingly just to release himself from their burden.
They usually suck too.
It has now become an exclusive inside joke for the rest of the table to laugh when the jokes come out because we expect them.
It's not a huge deal though. It's really hard to create sound theatrical drama, unless you have a really immersive DM, as well as players who buy in and aren't afraid to test the waters as "actors/role players".
The problem only arises when the riffing doesn't stop and we can't even proceed with the story or the DM is interrupted mid flavor text.
I posted something a while back about sucker punching a villain when he's doing his evil gloating. Most people said this would be ruining the moment.
I remembered! The TORG card was the "Monologue" card. When we say we're using the Monologue card it's an unwritten rule in our PF games that the bad guy gets to blather on for a few rounds before the heroes start grinding through the final battle.
I hope that blather rounds aren't counted for purposes of rounds-per-level buffs! :P
I've definitely witnessed this problem. Fart and dick jokes get old after a while, as do various Internet memes and catch-phrases. The problem is that humour is the lowest common denominator, and displaces anything that depends on mood and atmosphere (like horror, romance, or drama). I've seen people trying to role-play give up after being interrupted with dumb OOC jokes. I like a more serious game, where any humor comes from in-character moments (derived from the PCs' personality and the situation) instead of OOC comments. Still, I recognise that my tastes aren't for everyone, so I don't expect more casual games (like PFS) to be bastions of good role-playing. It takes time to try to get a group moving in a more serious direction.