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Nevermore
2007-05-04, 05:22 AM
Hello everyone, I am not a DM very often, but in my little Table Top Roleplaying Club here at Christopher Newport University, I am chief Story Teller for all World of Darkness (old or new) games and a Game Master for two long running post Rebellion Star Wars d20 campaigns. However, what I have found to be a constant battle, no matter what role playing game you use, is keeping the mood in tact with certain groups. Thus, I will start with three specific types of problem players and when I am less exhausted from studying instead of sleeping for my last final today I will add to it.

1) The Joker: The Joker is that buddy of yours who always has an Out of Character joke for almost any situation, especially when you want a sombre mood to set in. When the coterie of young vampires is moving through the haunted asylum, trying to fix the current problem of escaped serial killers with odd powers, zombies, and ghosts that either infest the place or keep trying to escape, threatening the Masquerade, the feeling of panic in the room steadily rising, the sppokienes REALLY getting to everyone... this is the guy whom at the apex of the scene, that moment every ST, DM, GM whatever lives for... cracks a joke like "Looks like Mr. Ventrue needs a new case of Oops I Crapped My Pants." and totally destroys the mood of the scene.

2) Movie Man:This is the guy that in the above circumstances instead of cracking a joke either quotes some movie or says "Hey, this is like that scene in *insert name of movie here*" totally destroying what you as the DM etc have carefully and lovingly built.

3) The comedic relief: While refreshing at times, these characters can drag a proper horror scene or desperate ambience, drag it outside, kick it in the cahones till it drops to its knees, then put a bullet in its skull to finish it off, then a second shot to the dead mood's face for good measure. This is the guy who during a moment where the DM etc makes the game take a dark, or saddenning turn does something so completely rediculous it completely destroys what the DM etc was trying to accomplish.

There are fortunately several ways to deal with this...

3) This one is the simplest- make In Character consequences for the Comedic Relief. In my Sabbat game a Nosferatu asked a rat using Animalism "Seen anything strange lately?" to which the confused animal replied "Just you ugly." and scuttled off. Said Nosferatu proceeded to run around killing rats with his machete, dropping jokes left and right in the middle of enemy held sewers. The Local Sheriff (also a Nos) thus appears behind him and with one blow with a base ball bat to the back of the PC's head explodes the PC's shattered cabeza all over the wall as his body slumps to the floor and fell to ash. Problem was solved for several weeks.

2&1) Must be settled out of character. You should talk to the players, and hopefully that should work. If not, then what I normally do is penalize the person on Role Play xp for the day. If the offender refuses to let you weave a decent mood or feeling when the entire campaign is more or less reliant on it in a horror based setting... some times you gotta ask them to take a hiatus and think on fixing their habits.

henebry
2007-05-04, 09:20 AM
I don't have a solution to the problem you cite, but I do have a theory about what causes it: bad jokes at scary moments are usually a symptom of the players' fear, a way to insist that the game is just a game. If you take it as a compliment, you may be able to react in a way that reinstills the mood rather than breaking it: "Oh, so this scene's getting under your skin? That's good, but I'm not interested in hearing [insert player name]'s pitiful attempts to lighten the mood. I want to know how [insert character name] plans to deal with a situation which is, to him, very real indeed."

Hazkali
2007-05-04, 03:44 PM
I too find mood hard to keep. In the end, I have had to admit that mood isn't a large part of what my players are looking for in a game. They want to joke, make comments and lark about at the table, and so trying to keep a particular mood is fruitless.

I think one of the main problems I have had is with lighting. I'm sure if I had access to a dimmer switch in the room we play D+D in, keeping up a tense/horrific atmosphere would be easier to do. As it is, getting emotionally involved about a game in the harsh light of day is hard to do.

RandomNPC
2007-05-04, 06:43 PM
i have three gamers who all yell "send in da car!" when the druid starts his crazy combat stuf. (summon huge elemental, send in dire wolf, turn into a big ol' bear.)

i have no idea what it's all about. but i have the same problem in my games.

Corolinth
2007-05-04, 07:11 PM
D&D is supposed to have its campy, cheesy moments. You read that important, plot-critical letter, and then the DM does a voiceover in the badly mangled Transylvanian accent of the letter's author.

jjpickar
2007-05-04, 10:12 PM
The problem is only a problem if the joker is a single member of the group. When its just the odd man out trying to draw attention to himself that ruins the game for everyone else then a certain amount of restraint should be brought to bear on the individual. Personally I prefer to talk about it out of game and politely indicate that the humor is in bad taste.

However, if the whole group is cracking wise it is a symptom of two scenarios. The first is that they aren't a serious group. They just want to have fun running around the world doing crazy things and having fun. This is where you have to either let them have fun, the preferred method, or teach them gradually to become more serious and enjoy darker games.

The other scenario is that sometimes players get bored with long drawn out games of a serious nature and in an effort to change the mood make pleasantries at the games expense. This is a signal to change the play style a bit to a more fast paced game.

Matthew
2007-05-18, 06:02 PM
I don't usually view this as a proble either, unless it is happening so much that it is detracting from the game. I just laugh along, we all get it out of our system and then we return to the game with a definite verbal cut off point ("Okay, that's enough of that"). Doesn't always work, but it's my usual treid and tested tactic.

Daze
2007-05-18, 06:36 PM
I don't usually view this as a proble either, unless it is happening so much that it is detracting from the game. I just laugh along, we all get it out of our system and then we return to the game with a definite verbal cut off point ("Okay, that's enough of that"). Doesn't always work, but it's my usual treid and tested tactic.

That's what usually works for me too.... It's ok to laugh it up once in a while, sometimes things can be funny! Not a big deal, even in WOD games. When things have run their course, you get back to business. Dont take it personally, remember it's just a game... the point is to enjoy yourself.

manda_babylon
2007-05-23, 03:08 PM
When we played V:tM, we had one of those "oh! let's make a funny!" people in our group - he was the damn Storyteller. Needless to say, that group didn't last long.

In my current group, we try to balance humor and serious role playing. We have silly characters who sometimes act extremely serious. It scared my players when the man who is usually happy-go-lucky and crazy-hyper was overheard speaking to his brother in tones of low menace about something they had no idea he was even involved in. They get to be silly, and then they have to suit up and roll out. In a swashbuckling sort of adventure, this is easier, but it works in other games, as well.

Currently, the running gag in my group is that when they kick down doors, ask zingers of questions, score critical hits, or just generally own at adventuring, someone will shout, "No One Expects The Spanish Inquisition!"

It's getting a little old, but it's still a showstopper when timed correctly.