Tongue in Cheek Campaign

[Rigor_Mortis]

As a player, how would you feel if during the campaign you ran into:

• An airship piloted by Bears (Pirate Bears to be exact)
• A crack squad of penguin ninjas
• A dwarven NPC who has you looking for pieces to his "Mcguffin" (literally)
• A gay gnome (with titan bloodlines and some retarded min/maxing) who wields an enormous bastard sword (he's overcompensating)
• A Tribe of halflings who ride mini tyrannosaurs

Keep in mind, all of this is delivered deadpan, as if I were absolutely serious and in no way joking.

[dsmiles]

As a player, how would you feel if during the campaign you ran into:

• An airship piloted by Bears (Pirate Bears to be exact)
• A crack squad of penguin ninjas
• A dwarven NPC who has you looking for pieces to his "Mcguffin" (literally)
• A gay gnome (with titan bloodlines and some retarded min/maxing) who wields an enormous bastard sword (he's overcompensating)
• A Tribe of halflings who ride mini tyrannosaurs

Keep in mind, all of this is delivered deadpan, as if I were absolutely serious and in no way joking.

As long as I can play a tongue-in-cheek type character, I would absolutely LOVE it! I do love the comedy adventures every so often.

As far as your gay gnome, we once had a player play a metrosexual gnome bard named (yep, you guessed it) Metro, Metro G. Nome. (Metro-Gnome, metronome, get it? )

[gallagher]

i would play under one condition: i want to play a bard with perform(mime)

EDIT: imagine getting sorc spells with that and using stuff like forcecage, wall of stone, and invisible spell?

[Rigor_Mortis]

I should probably state that the campaign hasn't started yet, and my players don't know it's going to be tongue in cheek.

[Rigor_Mortis]

i would play under one condition: i want to play a bard with perform(mime)

EDIT: imagine getting sorc spells with that and using stuff like forcecage, wall of stone, and invisible spell?

OH MY GOD.
That's fantastic!
I'm totally going to steal that for either an NPC or a villain.
<3

[dsmiles]

In that same campaign there was Rhon Jheremy, the porn-themed dwarf sorcerer, and me, playing (and I may be dating myself, here) Sho'-'Nuff the monk.

[valadil]

As long as I can play a tongue-in-cheek type character, I would absolutely LOVE it! I do love the comedy adventures every so often.

Agreed. I could probably enjoy this game as the straight guy (as in, part of a comedy act) who reacts to all the craziness. And I could have fun being just as whacky as the world. But I couldn't be anything else. I think you should tell your PCs ahead of time what sort of game you're going for.

Even in serious games I like some tongue in cheek humor so long as it's appropriate. For instance in my game my players were in town near several entrances to the Underdark. Drow were common there. Every last one of them was a Drizzt clone. Well no, not really. They all just dressed that way. Local Drow found that they were more accepted if they wore dark leather armor and two scimitars so much so that it became a fashion statement. They weren't really all emo or even good aligned. Just acted that way so they'd fit in with a society that had only heard of one good drow.

[DMGreg]

I would enjoy this as long as expectations were established up front that things were to be tongue-in-cheek. If I created a "real" character, I'd feel cheated out of the opportunity to do something fun, like playing a slightly neurotic elven ranger with several "invisible friend" animal companions and who had a thing for hairy women and possessed a legendary stash of Playdwarf Magazines. Or something like that...

[arrowhen]

If I'd agreed to do a comedy campaign, mildly amused. I didn't find any of your examples particularly funny, but it's the thought that counts.

If I'd been led to believe it was a standard campaign, I'd be angry at being lied to.

[gallagher]

OH MY GOD.
That's fantastic!
I'm totally going to steal that for either an NPC or a villain.
<3

then you owe me one internets and a cookie, or i sue

[Kalaska'Agathas]

I would certainly enjoy this sort of thing, so long as I am not expecting a super serious campaign. But you have to be ready for your players to respond in kind (as I'm sure I would) and be ready to help deescalate things if they get out of hand (you're looking at tongue-in-cheek, not slapstick, right?). And if I were confronted with this sort of thing, I'd likely just play it on. Absurdist humor is some of my favorite, and so to simply let it ride and see what happens would be completely in character for me as a player.

[Toric]

It'd depend on the character I played. With most characters I'd be cool with it, and just play my normal or somewhat addled character either questioning the world's sanity or going along with it. However, if I was playing GRIMDARK THE ATONER, and found that my angsting is out of place among the ninja penguins (that hopefully don't explode when thrown) and the search to assemble a McGuffin (which may include such components as a golden egg, crystal sausage patty, and mythril bacon strips), I might get upset, and would probably ask to roll a new character.

[kyoryu]

As a player, how would you feel if during the campaign you ran into:

• An airship piloted by Bears (Pirate Bears to be exact)
• A crack squad of penguin ninjas
• A dwarven NPC who has you looking for pieces to his "Mcguffin" (literally)
• A gay gnome (with titan bloodlines and some retarded min/maxing) who wields an enormous bastard sword (he's overcompensating)
• A Tribe of halflings who ride mini tyrannosaurs

Keep in mind, all of this is delivered deadpan, as if I were absolutely serious and in no way joking.

I love it.

I'd probably have the dwarf have you looking for his missing relative/friend/clan chief/whatever - *named* "McGuffin".

One of the halflings should be a wizard who rides an undead mini T-Rex, with a name that's some variation of Harry Dresden.

I should probably state that the campaign hasn't started yet, and my players don't know it's going to be tongue in cheek.

Yeah... you should probably consider cluing them in. One of the biggest sources of conflict in games is different, incompatible expectations of what the game will be. You know your players, presumably, so you're a better judge of how they'd react than we would be, though.

[Grendus]

i would play under one condition: i want to play a bard with perform(mime)

EDIT: imagine getting sorc spells with that and using stuff like forcecage, wall of stone, and invisible spell?

New skill: perform(Rickroll)

I'd take it.

[ExtravagantEvil]

This all reminds me of a Character Idea I had.
Chipper McGuffin, a Halfing Sorcerer who wields a morningstar and I randomly determine his spell list.

[Vemynal]

The main villain needs to be a fluffy white Bunny

just sayin xD

[Comet]

• An airship piloted by Bears (Pirate Bears to be exact)
• A Tribe of halflings who ride mini tyrannosaurs

I wouldn't call these two tongue in cheek. I would rather call them utterly awesome. Sounds like a great campaign to me!

[Kalaska'Agathas]

...Snip...

• A Tribe of halflings who ride mini tyrannosaurs

...Snip...

This is actually part of the Eberron Canon, essentially. Halfling Barbarians riding Deinonychoi across the Talenta Plains.

Edit: Which should give insight into why I think Eberron is so awesome.