Humor and Ravenloft...

[Ronia Sun]

First, allow me to say I'm a brand new registree, but have been lurking about the site for some time. Wonderful content! I'm so glad to find a good source of RL material...

Now, the topic. And no, I do not mean spoof/parody/welcome to Douglas Adams' world in Ravenloft.

I've just begun a RL campaign--and it's the first time I've ever DM'd, as well--but after introducing my players to the setting the immediate reaction was "Good lord, this isn't going to be all doom and gloom, is it?!"

My immediate response was "Of course not!"

It got me thinking, though.

A sense of humor is, I think, a vital survival tool no matter if you're in real life or anywhere else. Unalleviated angst and gloom gets boring after awhile...and makes you feel as though you've moved into WW's Vampire setting. ("Oh me! I am a vampire! See me dripping with angst!" )

So how would you go about adding a touch of levity to a Ravenloft campaign?

[the_unnamed]

Maybe gallows or black humour. I can't see anything else working in Ravenloft.

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

Humour has a place in Ravenloft. The closest analogy I can think of is in FFX when Tidus realises that Yuna, Wakka, Lulu et al laugh so much is because if they didn't, they'd never stop crying.

If you can give humour that element, that it stops them falling apart, it works in a Ravenloft game.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Humor employed between ordinary humans as a defense-mechanism against the horrors of the world is certainly a viable and plausible element for a Ravenloft game. Think of the doctors on the TV series "M.A.S.H.", defending their souls from the grinding, oppressive awfulness of combat medicine by smarting off and playing sophmoric pranks. That show's humor rang true, and made it so memorable, because it stood in contrast to (and in defiance of) the dreadful circumstances the 4077 was caught up in the middle of; they didn't make jokes about the bloodshed, but rather about each other and the political agenda that caused it.

Likewise, the occasional witty character who uses humor to resist getting depressed is fine for Ravenloft, so long as they're not actually poking fun at the horrific events they witness. The latter should still be taken completely seriously, in the same way that M.A.S.H., though a humorous program, never showed horribly-wounded soldiers taking pratfalls or displaced Korean farmers cracking wise.

[Ronia Sun]

I completely agree. The folks of the 4077th are and ever will be counted among my heroes.

And, in truth, I believe that humor's place *is* as a defense mechanism, especially in a setting such as Ravenloft. In my own campaign, for example, my players of course joke and laugh--that's part of the fun of gaming--but as part of the adventure itself I plan to have a villain who is not *quite* as terrifying as he thinks he is. Something like this requires a delicate balance, lest it descend into parody.

However, in my opinion, the master of humor in a grim situation is Terry Pratchett. If you've ever read 'Night Watch', you know what I mean.

[Spiteful Crow]

Ever been to the Midway Haven Alchemical Observatory? It should be in the FoS links page.

[Jack of Tears]

One has to remember that dread and horror lose much of their bite if you have nothing to compair them with.

Horror and humor often co-exist in my games. Not only do the moments of light heartedness contrast well with the darker aspects of the game, but they make the game easier for the players. Expecting players to adventure in a setting of nothing but tragedy and wretchedness for months or years on end, with no breaks, is problematic. Such campaigns can wear down on the players themselves, until they are no longer enjoying themselves.

[Undead Cabbage]

Humor is something that I've always found to be a bit of a wild card.

It's a given that eventually, no matter how dark or sinister you make a campaign, the players are going to crack some jokes. People are playing to have fun: denying them of laughter for the sake of gameplay is self-defeating.

On the other hand, there's a point. If your players start singing songs by Tenacious D mid session, there's a huge problem. This is usually a sign that the players need a break, badly.

It's all about pacing. Things can't be dark 24/7 in game. Ideally, a GM could have little spots of humor in order to help the players get 'their sillies' out of their system. An NPC can sometimes be good with this: I use a perverted little Undead Cabbage that has a habit of creating bathos in certain situations. Heck, the inserted humor doesn't even have to be dark: it just needs to give the players a break from Gothic dispair. This way the players will be fresh for the picking once they do end up in a horrible situation.

In short, if the players spend all of their time in eternal darkness, they won't remember what happiness is, and will simply shake off anything you do as normal. Likewise, there are times when you need to pull in the reigns, and stop them from snorting the ashes of the vampire they just burned to the ground.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I agree with most people here. Stamping out humor is impossible, and makes for an unfun experience. Humor will naturally come out, and it can even fit in character, as a break from the dreariness. As long as rampant sillyness remains in check, it's still Ravenloft.

[Bloody Morgan]

I've found that the best way to deal with humour in a Ravenloft game - or any horror game - is to run with it when it happens, but don't actually try to set up a situation for it. Be ready to adapt to it. If you have a nasty scene planned, but right before it something silly happens just because of the luck of the dice, then you might want to alter the scene. Turn the creepy, adandoned old cabin into a place warm and cozy. Let the players settle in as they laugh about the three 1s that the fighter rolled in a row in the last combat, which they won easily despite his "aid". Let them play it out IC, and when they're winding down.... spring the nasties on them

My last game had lots of funny bits, based on misunderstandings and dice rolls. For example, while bear-hunting, one player rolled a 20 for tracking, another a 1. I rulled that they both found it at the same time... in different ways It became a fond memory when they were undertaking long trips, something one PC would tease another about.

[Brandi]

Humor's always been a part of Ravenloft. There's some downright silly and corny jokes in the original I6.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Humor's always been a part of Ravenloft. There's some downright silly and corny jokes in the original I6.

It was pretty rare to find a 1E module that didn't feature at least one dorky pun or pop-culture reference, back then. (Bubbleheaded marilith secretaries, anyone...?) What's really appalling is that those same cheesy puns were subsequantly re-printed in "Roots of Evil" and "House of Strahd" -- long after the game-setting would seem to have outgrown the "cheap laughs" stage -- thus proving that the Dark Powers (or, at least, the old TSR Kargat ) have no pretentions of taste whatsoever.

[HuManBing]

I think Bathos is the best type of humor here - meaning an abrupt anticlimax after something you'd been building up to.

Gothic horror, rather like the Shakespearean tragedy, relies on placing people in situations they cannot believe they have gotten themselves into. More often than not, their attempts to extricate themselves only get them into even greater difficulties.

This tends towards a steady progression of growing tension and pressure. Be sure to give them an escape valve for relieving the pressure.

One good way is to use the Boarding House Matron viewpoint. Briefly condensed, this technique is when you take whatever horrid situation the PCs are in, and look at it from the viewpoint of a 60-something conservative frumpy granny. Pretend you understand nothing of the situation except what you see before your eyes, and then think of some opinionated off-the-cuff emotional response.

Thus, when a hero is being chased by cold hearted killers and escapes - briefly - into a warm parlor, the middle-aged butler there might offer him some biscuits and tea. When the killers arrive at the door, the butler refuses to let them in because of the mud on their shoes. The PC knows the butler is in terrible danger, but the killers aren't quite stupid enough to knife somebody in broad daylight on the steps of his house, so they sulk off muttering imprecations like pouting schoolchildren.

Also, having NPCs place over-emphasis on minor problems can be entertaining, although you must be careful not to exasperate the PC. A barbarian might stumble back from the moors, not quite knowing how he became berserk and what happened out there. He might have several truly disturbing traits: perhaps an enormous needle-toothed bite mark square in the middle of his back, or the fact that his hair is matted in dried blood while his clothes are still pretty clean. Maybe he has a lump in his side which shows gentle movement below the skin.

Then have the local constabulary pick him up on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly. Of course, under his clothes, he's got a lot of things to be worried about and if only these police knew, they'd slam him in a silver cell faster than you can say "lycanthropic atavism" ... but in true Keystone Cops fashion, they're twitching his fingers and making him touch his nose and walk backwards to make sure "he's not going to be a danger to anyone this evening".

Perhaps the best adventure I ran for humor was a mini-adventure in Darkon. The plot was the Kargatane had lost a member because he had a change of heart and couldn't bear to get involved in human bloodsucking. The renegade still had to drink blood, however, and so started a rash of killing pets and small animals. Police wanted this nuisance to stop - Kargatane wanted this guy captured and punished horribly.

The PCs were assigned to investigate the deaths of various dogs and cats in the dock area, because the police rightly couldn't be bothered to do it. So what started off as a seeming waste of time like "Ravenloft: the Return of the Pet Detectives" later became a much more human story about a man who despises what he has become and wishes to make good again.

The PCs also had to choose between turning him in and having him spend time in jail, or inadvertantly leading the Kargatane to him and having him disappear permanently. They also had to deal with far, far too many distraught noblewomen weeping over the loss of their beloved lapdogs and taking it out on them.

[Brandi]

Also consider-- though it's mighty difficult to do-- the kind of situation which can be dangerous, frightening AND funny all at once. For example, the Automatic Man from CotN: The Created is a pretty nasty creature/place that can cause some real hurt to adventurers... and at the same time a classic setup for comedy (seemingly every cartoon studio in the 30s had a "house of the future goes berserk" cartoon at some point or another).