Sense of humor joke in DM Guide?

[Telvos]

Hey, anyone else notice the joke in the NPC table (page 128 dm guide 3.5, Table 4-24)?


Look at option 100 on the table.

[Azerian Kelimon]

Yes, I've come to the conclusion that the "no sense of humour" trait is a joke. Which seems interesting.

[Yuki Akuma]

Roleplaying games rarely take themselves entirely seriously. If you find an RPG rulebook with no jokes in it, it's probably FATAL.

(The greatest D&D rulebook joke ever is in the Expanded Psionics Handbook. The power Déjà Vu is listed twice. )

[martyboy74]

Roleplaying games rarely take themselves entirely seriously. If you find an RPG rulebook with no jokes in it, it's probably FATAL.

That entire game is a joke. A horrible, horrible, horrible joke that makes my eyes bleed.

[Neon Knight]

If you find an RPG rulebook with no jokes in it, it's probably FATAL.

I thought FATAL was, itself, a joke.

[TheOOB]

I'm stuck, on the one hand that could be a funny joke on WotC's part, but on the other their editing for such things often leaves much to be desired which implies it may just be a mistake.

[Yuki Akuma]

I thought FATAL was, itself, a joke.

Unfortunately, it probably wasn't.

Incidentally, did anyone buy the full version? I have the masochistic urge to read it.

(For the love of God, if you have a copy, don't post a link here.)

[ilovefire]

No, no. FATAL Isn't the joke. Every other RPG is. FATAL is just the punchline.

[HidaTsuzua]

Unfortunately, it probably wasn't.

Incidentally, did anyone buy the full version? I have the masochistic urge to read it.

(For the love of God, if you have a copy, don't post a link here.)

It actually was available for free for a while. I used to have a .pdf. However, I deleted it about two years back.

[Anxe]

Roleplaying games rarely take themselves entirely seriously. If you find an RPG rulebook with no jokes in it, it's probably FATAL.

(The greatest D&D rulebook joke ever is in the Expanded Psionics Handbook. The power Déjà Vu is listed twice. )

I thought that was a printing error! The first Deja Vu is where the power Defensive Precognition should be, but isn't. Defensive Precognition is a Psi-like ability given by the Phrenic Template.

[Yuki Akuma]

I thought that was a printing error! The first Deja Vu is where the power Defensive Precognition should be, but isn't. Defensive Precognition is a Psi-like ability given by the Phrenic Template.

It's called Deja Vu. It was printed twice. That can't have been an error, it's too perfect.

And I was talking about the FULL version of FATAL. The free version was about seven-hundred pages. The full version was longer.

[Kurald Galain]

It's called Deja Vu. It was printed twice. That can't have been an error, it's too perfect.

Obviously. It's like the Invisible Stalker in the 2E MM.

Also, WOTC admitted this publically in one of their on-site columns.

[Kyace]

It's called Deja Vu. It was printed twice. That can't have been an error, it's too perfect.

Mark Twain once said "Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't." It is possible that it was an error. However, I agree to the humor in it.

Edit:

Obviously. It's like the Invisible Stalker in the 2E MM.

Also, WOTC admitted this publically in one of their on-site columns.

Taking a wild guess, it was listed in the index and table of contents but had no entry? :)

[Closet_Skeleton]

Taking a wild guess, it was listed in the index and table of contents but had no entry? :)

No, the truth was;

Spoiler

Show

It's behind you.

[DraPrime]

Obviously. It's like the Invisible Stalker in the 2E MM.

Also, WOTC admitted this publically in one of their on-site columns.

What was with the Invisible Stalker?

[Tokiko Mima]

I think that the deal with the Invisible Stalker was it's picture looked like this:

*waits for this to sink in.*

[Kurald Galain]

I think that the deal with the Invisible Stalker was it's picture looked like this

Yep. Plus, the credits page had a separate entry for "Invisible Stalker Artwork" (but not for any other monster). Kind of like how The Secret Of Monkey Island has a credits entry for "Art and animation for disk #22" even though the game comes on 8 disks.

[Emperor Demonking]

Yeah, the lack of picture in itself isn't a joke.

If Deja Vu wasn't a joke, the editor must be the luckiest person alive.

[Mewtarthio]

And I was talking about the FULL version of FATAL. The free version was about seven-hundred pages. The full version was longer.

Okay... so it's a really long, horrible joke. The kind that makes everyone hate you when you've told it. And the guys who wrote FATAL don't know when they've taken a joke too far. But it's still a joke nonetheless. I refuse to believe that anyone would be able to seriously produce that.

[Pauwel]

Ahem... I have the full, revised edition pdf. 1038 pages of suckiness.

And yes, it really is that awful.

[Yuki Akuma]

Okay... so it's a really long, horrible joke. The kind that makes everyone hate you when you've told it. And the guys who wrote FATAL don't know when they've taken a joke too far. But it's still a joke nonetheless. I refuse to believe that anyone would be able to seriously produce that.

Yeah, sure. I bet you think that all humans are, deep down, morally good people, too, don'cha?

[....]

I fail to see how the invisible stalker thing was a joke. That seems a pretty good representation of what an invisible stalker looks like.

And older D&D had lots more jokes, Zagyg, for example. And wasn't there some really powerful gods of luck and destiny that were shaped as giant polygonal shapes (ie. Dice)?

[PlatinumJester]

What's FATAL ?

[tainsouvra]

I fail to see how the invisible stalker thing was a joke. That seems a pretty good representation of what an invisible stalker looks like.

And the fact that they listed the artist of that blank box in the credits section doesn't seem funny to you?

[Grey Paladin]

What's FATAL ?

4chan without the funny

[Deepblue706]

FATAL = [ln (1/3 GURPS^3 * 1/5 Hackmaster^5) + c], with limits of infinity and 1, for both values of GURPS and Hackmaster, plus infinity rules.

[bugsysservant]

No, the truth was;

Spoiler

Show

It's behind you.

I honest to God got a shiver down my spine when I read that and had to resist the urge to turn around. STOP MESSING WITH MY MIND!!!

[Yuki Akuma]

What's FATAL ?

A game with rules for, among other things, maximum anal circumference.

Oh, and it's a game where, due to the nature of the stats system, it's possible to have an infant more attractive than an average adult.

It also has a statistic with the sole purpose of determining your earliest memory. And then makes no adjustments for extremely long-lived characters, or characters who start at a younger age than their first memory.

[kjones]

Funny someone should bring this up... I once used that table and happened to roll a 26. I was very very confused.

[Jerthanis]

I'm stuck, on the one hand that could be a funny joke on WotC's part, but on the other their editing for such things often leaves much to be desired which implies it may just be a mistake.

My 3.0 DMG is no longer with us (Loaned to a friend, promptly disappeared, friend has no knowledge of borrowing them), but I'm fairly certain I noticed the #26 entry missing on that same table out of the 3.0 manual... the fact that they changed #100 to the entry that it has makes people aware that they caught it in the editing process, but decided it wasn't worth changing. For one thing, it'd throw the table out of alignment (3 columns of 33 entries, 33 entries and 34 entries doesn't align well.)