After reading Mark’s article Funny I got to thinking, as I’m sure you did as well when you read it, about the humor in my games. I started thinking about what works to deal with it, when it works and how I make it work. After mulling it over for a bit I’ve come to the conclusion that humor is unavoidable in my games. In fact, I think that it’s unavoidable in every RPG. But that doesn’t mean we have to let it take over the game.



It’s been my experience that most humor happening during a game is disruptive. Perhaps not totally disruptive, but it does distract from the task at hand (i.e. pulls you out of the game world momentarily). I think the problems that we run into when humor happens is: “How do we get back to the game?” We all like a good laugh but we also like a good game, and if we let laughter take over the game will loose out. What to do, what to do…



As I see it, laughter during our games is normally based on in-game events that trigger something the group thinks is funny. That something can be a funny story from games gone by, a funny real-life story or even an honest to goodness in-character something that was supposed to be funny. No matter what the funny thing is, it’s normally started by something in-game.



I had a PC in one of my horror games that ended up, after much strangeness, trying to hold off a group of cultists in a restaurant with a banana. Screwy situation for sure, and tons of laughter was had by all as the description of events was laid out. As the GM I basically ran with it, using the laughable situation in my descriptions, making the NPC cultists react strangely to the banana and adding some funny bits into the dialogue as well.



What I didn’t do was let the situation stop the game. It’s not easy to do, but you take what the players give you,just like we do with non-humor situations, and run with it. This not only allows you to have some fun and get a few laughs with the group, but also keeps you in control. When you’re in control, you can stop it at any time.



With the banana situation, I let the laughter work for a bit and then turned the situation into a more serious issue. Lives were on the line after all as the cultists were clearly there to kill the PCs. No matter how funny/strange the situation, a possible deadly confrontation was never out of the picture. I continued to move the plot forward. The key to being able to do this is to remember where things were headed before the humor happened.



Your party is always in the process of doing something. Exploring a dungeon, slaying a dragon, getting information from a computer, investigating the effects of a new spell, sitting and waiting for something, etc. No matter what it is, PCs are always doing something before the laughter starts. Remember what that something is and keep heading for it in your descriptions. Laughter cannot be maintained for long if the plot continues to move forward. It will linger for a while, and the plot may move a bit slower while the players are giggling, but if you keep things moving it will end and you will maintain control of the situation.



There are times when you need to kill the laughter quickly, and taking the long road of “rolling with it” isn’t a viable option. As you are in control you can shorten the time frame by advancing the plot quicker. Let’s turn back to the banana situation for a second.



When I could see that the humor could last quite a while and ruin the tension that was supposed to occur, I decided to speed things up. The cultists pulled out guns, with one of them also producing a grenade – without a pin of course. The group’s laughter died quickly and the PCs turned to the matter at hand. Sure we still had a few giggles, but I would not acknowledge them. We were back in business and this was serious. All focus was once again back on the game.



As you roll with the laughter, using the humor to help describe the situation and keep the plot moving, watch for when the laughter starts to die. Once that happens, do not allow it to start again. Do not acknowledge any attempts to prolong the humor. Focus your attention only on the PCs who are acting seriously and in-game. Those not initially focused will quickly become so. No one wants to miss out on the action if they can help it.



I do not suggest that you kill the laughter outright. Not only is that very difficult to do, I’ve found it’s not as effective as acknowledging it and working with it. It may take a couple of times, but after a while the group will see that humor isn’t a bad thing – it has it’s place and time. However, in order for the group to know when they need to let the laughter die and move on with the game they need the GM to guide them.



Well, that’s enough out of me. Let me know what you think and I’ll see you in the forums!