Friendship is Dragons
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Page 467 - Theatre of Mysteries
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Oh man, nothing worse than when you're trying to be all in character and heroic and everyone's too busy making jokes about where you stole the speech from...
ESPECIALLY when it's an original speech! D:
Most PCs default to something they'll crib from Braveheart, Lord of the Rings, or even (egads) Monty Python.
Most PCs default to something they'll crib from Braveheart, Lord of the Rings, or even (egads) Monty Python.
I remember the kinda trouble my class had at just learning a few lines for acting (I went to a weird school), trying to get them to remember a multi-paragraph speech seems like it'd be the work of several days of hard work.
That's what I meant. You're trying to improvise a rallying speech and they're trying to decide if you're doing Independence Day or Pacific Rim this time.
Yes, it is the Game Master's job to try and predict how his players would react to certain situations, but even then, they still can't be totally predictable. In my Shadowrun campaign, I sometimes purposefully leave details out of my notes, when I find that I have too much information.
Improvising is a great way to help build one's storytelling skills.
Yeah, getting too detailed means a lot of stuff is gonna get wasted when PCs skip about. Improv is excellent for filling in those gaps.
In the rare times I was a PC, I enjoyed improv RPing my dice rolls. If I had a string of bad luck, I'd play it off well, like slipping on something on the floor or getting distracted. Fun times.
In the rare times I was a PC, I enjoyed improv RPing my dice rolls. If I had a string of bad luck, I'd play it off well, like slipping on something on the floor or getting distracted. Fun times.
GMing is certainly a way to work on your on-your-feet thinking. I've finally taken the captain's chair, and ye gods it's not as easy as it looks.
Something to remember regarding Improv: Like everything else, it's something you need to practice to get good at it.
Something to remember regarding Improv: Like everything else, it's something you need to practice to get good at it.
In a circus-oriented campaign I created for some friends, I'm about to unleash an Anti-Bard character who has a perform skill for heckling and can use his bardic performance to impose penalties on everything instead of bonuses. He's gonna be a lot like the guy from Happy Gilmore who kept calling Adam Sandler "Jackass" but much more resilient and annoying.
My thought about half way through your comment, Toric, was, "What, you're gonna make one of the grand muppet hecklers?"
For those who may not be versed in muppets, that would be Statler and Waldorf.
For those who may not be versed in muppets, that would be Statler and Waldorf.
Statler and Waldorf are MASTERS at heckling. My brother and I used to do a real good impersonation of those two.
Thats where the lesser used Ability Counter song comes into play, You use your preform check to counter another Bards Preform Check/Sonic attack. No matter what your Preform check is. (I countered Shriekers by dancing once)
You do realize that's impossible right? Counter song HAS to be audible, not visual based. Therefore your dancing shouldn't have worked.
Heh. It's not a game session until at least one player playfully heckles another.
Silly jokes are an essential part of any good campaign. As long as you're clear about it being OOC.
You should see our shipping list.
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That they are. But all thing in good measure. I'm all for a good joke that will make the table burst in laughter, but at times, the mood need to be a bit more serious or the joking around takes a bit too much time. At these time, when I'm DMing, I tend to get the players back on track, if only so we can put a bit more in the session than jokes and endless puns and pop culture references.
It used to be a tradition to write down the best jokes and quotes made during a session. I've got a vault full of them online. Some are still hilarious to me after all those years.
well you can't just say that and not tell us any! Tell us some.
"The trading post is built upon a bluff, and you can see the walls are built of"
"I roll sense motive."
"Um, what?"
"When we get closer, I look for the traders, and accuse them of treason."
"I roll sense motive."
"Um, what?"
"When we get closer, I look for the traders, and accuse them of treason."
One of my favourite moments from an old campaign is probably when the party druid tried to be a rogue.
"I roll to pick the lock"
"You fail to pick it."
"I roll to intimidate the door!"
*I, the sorcerer subtly cast Knock on the door behind him*
"Uh, you intimidate the door open."
It become a running trick for him to just intimidate any doors we came across.
"I roll to pick the lock"
"You fail to pick it."
"I roll to intimidate the door!"
*I, the sorcerer subtly cast Knock on the door behind him*
"Uh, you intimidate the door open."
It become a running trick for him to just intimidate any doors we came across.
Some gems from the old Shadowrun campaign I ran years ago:
Henry: "You're not one of those Twilight vampires, right?"
Vampire: "No, I do not glitter in the daylight."
Snowfire: *Shows up with a flamethrower* "Let's test that theory."
Sophia: "I'll land a few blocks away."
Henry: "Is that necessary?"
Sophia: "I don't want to fly over the building only to be taken out by an RPG."
Hugo: "Why would our mortal enemies try and hurt us?"
Auren: "I can kill catering with a thought, I can kill you with a thought, I can kill me with a thought for I am powerful! So why with all this power can I not find a food tray that is dry?
Danny: "Food for thought?"
Auren: "Death by tray it shall be!"
Danny: "Mine was better because it was bigger."
Blackwolf: "Yeah, and I bet it was a lot easier."
Hugo: "I like easy."
Zelda: "What the hell kind of conversation did I just walk in on?"
Troll: *Bursts into a ball of fire*
Hugo: "Where'd the troll get a flame thrower? They're illegal on all planets."
Danny: "I can ask him, but I think he's only going to respond with 'Ah! Ah! Put me out! Put me out!'"
Auren: *Casts an Armor spell on an Emblem model executive helicopter*
Hugo: “Can I get one of those?”
Auren: “I was hired only for the helicopter’s enchanting.”
Hugo: “Can’t you do me after?”
Auren: “No. Not in any sense of that phrase.”
Henry: “You want me to jump out of a moving what onto a moving huh?!”
Blackwolf: “Does this helicopter have a bathroom?”
Ms. M: “No, it does not.”
Blackwolf: “Do we need to stop for a pack of Depends for Henry?”
Snowfire: “Depends.”
Sophia: “Depends on what?”
Snowfire: “Depends on Henry. Unless you want to wear them. Ha ha ha!”
Henry: "You're not one of those Twilight vampires, right?"
Vampire: "No, I do not glitter in the daylight."
Snowfire: *Shows up with a flamethrower* "Let's test that theory."
Sophia: "I'll land a few blocks away."
Henry: "Is that necessary?"
Sophia: "I don't want to fly over the building only to be taken out by an RPG."
Hugo: "Why would our mortal enemies try and hurt us?"
Auren: "I can kill catering with a thought, I can kill you with a thought, I can kill me with a thought for I am powerful! So why with all this power can I not find a food tray that is dry?
Danny: "Food for thought?"
Auren: "Death by tray it shall be!"
Danny: "Mine was better because it was bigger."
Blackwolf: "Yeah, and I bet it was a lot easier."
Hugo: "I like easy."
Zelda: "What the hell kind of conversation did I just walk in on?"
Troll: *Bursts into a ball of fire*
Hugo: "Where'd the troll get a flame thrower? They're illegal on all planets."
Danny: "I can ask him, but I think he's only going to respond with 'Ah! Ah! Put me out! Put me out!'"
Auren: *Casts an Armor spell on an Emblem model executive helicopter*
Hugo: “Can I get one of those?”
Auren: “I was hired only for the helicopter’s enchanting.”
Hugo: “Can’t you do me after?”
Auren: “No. Not in any sense of that phrase.”
Henry: “You want me to jump out of a moving what onto a moving huh?!”
Blackwolf: “Does this helicopter have a bathroom?”
Ms. M: “No, it does not.”
Blackwolf: “Do we need to stop for a pack of Depends for Henry?”
Snowfire: “Depends.”
Sophia: “Depends on what?”
Snowfire: “Depends on Henry. Unless you want to wear them. Ha ha ha!”
I think so, it's completely respectful and if done right, you can get a few laughs and merriment at the table, especially if your DM is cool enough to laugh along.
I do a weekly improv jam and I've gotten one of my fellow actresses to join up in our 3.5 D&D game. :D
(I can only see the rest of the group showing up for SOME reason)
If you want to invoke the Riff, you must be prepared for the horrors that await.
Twilight probably wrote an Eva godboy story back in the day.
Twilight probably wrote an Eva godboy story back in the day.
Welcome to "Whose Turn is it Anyway," where everything's made up and the points make all the difference. Let's get things started with a game called "Natural 1!" It's "Natural 1", ladies and gentlemen. Our performers have to act out a successful roll in a tabletop game, until Colin, the Game Master, comes in and tells them "no, no, you got a 1 on this roll," and they have to act out what REALLY happened on that roll, with the situation and result being based on suggestions from our audience. Start the game whenever you're ready.
I have seen many teams communicate via radio before, many doing it with a spot of accent as well, but this one I remember quite fondly.
Would someone like to define "riffing" for me, please? I don't get it.
Riffing is to make fun of something. It is generally distinct from heckling (as AJ and RD point out), as heckling has a lot more directly insulting the person being made fun of.
Statler and Waldorf were the muppet masters of heckling, and Mystery Science Theatre 3000 is a show dedicated to riffing.
Statler and Waldorf were the muppet masters of heckling, and Mystery Science Theatre 3000 is a show dedicated to riffing.
Now that I think about it, there's a lot to be said about the parallels between roleplaying games and improv games...