Another Monty Python? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Another Monty Python? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Max Overload
02-20-05, 01:27 AM What is it about British Comedians? My group now contains a handful of Eddie Izzard fans. It's scary, but a few lines of Eddie Izzard can sap my will to even be conscious, let alone run a game. Anyone found a reasonable effective way to kill Python game interruptions without just throwing down Instant Flaming Character Death?

I'm just glad they don't like Bill Hicks...
The_Dark_One
02-20-05, 01:39 AM How frequent are the game interruptions? How bad are they? If its just a brief comment every now and then, I'd suggest just letting it go (fighting it can eat up even more game time).

If its very bad, you might talk to them like the reasonable adults that they aren't. You could explain the problem in a calm, rational manor and then murder them. You could also institute a policy that the gaming table is a Python Free Zone and have them sign a contract (with clear punishments for breaking the rules.)

Ideas for adding more python references to gaming (an attempt to usurp this thread and create a 101 thread from the ashes):

1: Take the Undead Familiar feat and have your very own dead parrot. (if you also take the Token Familiar feat, it could transform into a stiffened dead parrot that you could bang on tables and announce very loudly "This parrot is no more. It has ceased to be. It is an ex-parrot."

2: Make your character a pirate. Take maximum ranks in Profession: Accountant.

3: Create a use activated item by enchanting two coconut halves with the
Mount spell.

4: Create an office building as a mobile stronghold and go around plundering castles.

It is important to note that I am listening to Accountancy Shanty, right now. :embarrass
KhanJackalMoreau
02-20-05, 02:15 AM 5: Have a particularly small-framed Troll put on a black suit of armor and guard a brook.

6: Holy Hand Grenade?

7: A township that allows a condenmed man to choose his own method of demise? Did they mention the Nymph-rich forest to the east?
Fixxxer
02-20-05, 02:17 AM 5: Have a group of NPC seaborne barbarians who all have ranks in Perform (singing) and are constantly searching for the Sacret Paper Artwork of Maladon.
JabberWocky
02-20-05, 02:35 AM I suggest you be especially creative and read up on Douglas Adams. Once you're fairly certain your players are going to crack open British comedian jokes, do stuff like that to them.
Alcari Ambaron
02-20-05, 03:57 AM indeed, a 101 thread is good

9) *sings* "bravely, bold sir robin. Rode out from camelot, he was not afraid to die...."

10) It is but a flesh wound. (said regularly in my campaigns)
The_Dark_One
02-20-05, 03:58 AM 6: Decide that your character is on a quest for: A shubbery. One that is tasteful, but not too expensive.

7: Play your PC as French. This works especially well on worlds, such as Faerun, where the nation of France has never existed.

8: Buy a catapult. Use Shrink Item to render it portable. Then use Summoning spells to summon livestock to use as ammo.

9 (For the DM): Add unnecessary information. Say that Jenkins the Cleric casts Commune. After he gets his answers, his Deity remarks, rather offhandedly "Oh, Jenkins? Apparently, your mother died this morning".
DrMorganes
02-20-05, 07:29 AM 5: Have a group of NPC seaborne barbarians who all have ranks in Perform (singing) and are constantly searching for the Sacret Paper Artwork of Maladon.

Buy a catapult. Use Shrink Item to render it portable. Then use Summoning spells to summon livestock to use as ammo.
Moments of inspired genius!
mastroyo
02-20-05, 11:05 AM 11-Have an old timer ask 3 questions to cross a bridge.
What is your favorite color? etc etc

12-Killer Rabbit? Too obvious, but it's not too difficult to re-enact the situation until the players realize that it is a "killer rabbit with pointy teeth"...

13-The communist farmer before the castle with the 'bird discussion' 2nd scene if i'm not mistaken, could make a great NPC, a little irritating though.
mastroyo
02-20-05, 11:29 AM Edit:

How could I forget the new spell "Killer Joke", with only verbal components, and spoken in Germanic. :D
Jagyr Ebonwood
02-20-05, 12:09 PM You're lucky it's just Python and Izzard. You don't have to deal with Benny Hill. My players keep a tape player under the table, and regularly start up some faced paced wacky music and chase each other around in lines. This usually leads to me chasing after them at high speeds while making wild arm motions.
Some people...
TheUnknownZombie
02-20-05, 12:10 PM 14 - When you complete your quest to find a shrubbery, go on another quest to find another one, so you can put them together and get the two-level effect...

15 - Any female spellcasters in the party? Change their weight so it's the same as or less than a duck.
Makuya
02-20-05, 12:15 PM Don't forget the succubus-infested castle with a beacon shaped like a desired artifact!!!
Redstubb
02-20-05, 12:18 PM A Monty Python free zone!!! That's inhumane!
Fixxxer
02-20-05, 01:26 PM 12-Killer Rabbit? Too obvious, but it's not too difficult to re-enact the situation until the players realize that it is a "killer rabbit with pointy teeth"...

Wasn't there a monster in 1st edition called "Vorpal Bunny?" I know the old Wizardry games had them.
Jagyr Ebonwood
02-20-05, 01:29 PM Wasn't there a monster in 1st edition called "Vorpal Bunny?" I know the old Wizardry games had them.

If there wasn't, there should have been.
Nomad4life
02-20-05, 01:44 PM Huh? You CAN’T run an adventure without the Pythonian incantations. The game just… Won’t work without them. Right? :confused:
Locus
02-20-05, 02:08 PM Remember to have no horses, only men with coconuts carring your gear :P
I love Monthy Phyton.. "Niih, niih.." :chicken:
Draco Strang
02-20-05, 02:19 PM I'm glad my players are all anime and Whitewolf fans on the side, and not Python nuts. I for one love my British humor, I'm just glad they don't bring it up.

P.S.-One of my NPCs is named Concord, sweet Concord! They haven't picked up on it.
aaron3579
02-20-05, 02:34 PM Yes, I also feel like a large portion of D&D humor is based on "The Search for the Holy Grail," and rightly so. I love Monty Python:

Paladin: I want to ask the nearest peasant about the goblin raids.
Me: All right, there is an old woman pushing a cart.
Paladin: Excuse me, old woman.
Me: [assumes decrepit voice] Man.
Paladin: What?
Me: I'm not, a woman, I'm a man.
Paladin: Well, old man.
Me: Why do I have to be old?
Paladin: Well, I can't just call you 'man.'

I don't know, there is just something funny about how they can take the word 'man' and use two syllables to say it. Anyway, all jokes aside, too much of anything is bad, even humor. If it is getting to the point where you feel like your game is bogging down, tell them how you feel. If the problem is that everyone in your group loves MP but you, then shame on you, find a new group. :P

Maybe you don't like them because you think that their humor is irredeemably foolish: not so! Actually, they are some of the most politically charged comedians that have ever told a joke... you just have to know where to look. ;)
Planar Wanderer
02-20-05, 03:26 PM Personally I like Monty Python but if it gets really annoying, take some of the Python scenes and for a brief go full out Python on it, make it completely surreal , if you've talked to them they may take the hint, Make sure that "Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition" ( Doesn't matter if Spain isn't in your game, make them extra-planar or substitute another nation) and at the next castle throw these guys in Knights of the round table (http://www.lyricscrawler.com/song/72420.html)
Guy Humual
02-20-05, 03:56 PM You're lucky it's just Python and Izzard. You don't have to deal with Benny Hill. My players keep a tape player under the table, and regularly start up some faced paced wacky music and chase each other around in lines. This usually leads to me chasing after them at high speeds while making wild arm motions.
Some people...
:rofl:
Alright, in all seriousness, talking is always the best route to take. Monty Python (and his flying circus) is all well and good, but it can be quite disruptive if your trying to run a serious campaign. My best advice is when things start to get silly, take a break, get some snacks, tell some jokes, let them get it all out of their systems, then go back to the game. It's not fair that the players are disrupting your game and it's also unfair for you to expect them to play serious all the time . . . find a compromise.

And now for Something Completely Different . . .

16 - The party is attacked by a gang of grannies or keep left signs
17 - The party is hired by an eccentric millionaire to build a bridge between the twin peaks of mount Kilimanjaro
18 - Someone has been robing the lupins express, authorities suspect the well know highwayman Dennis Moore, Players have to investigate.
19 - The players find a dead bishop on their doorstep
20 - The Spannish Inquisition. It's the perfect surprise encounter because . . . Nobody expects the spannish inquisition!
21 - And finally if things get too silly, the entire group is crushed by a mysterious big foot from the sky.
Nomad4life
02-20-05, 04:15 PM 20 - The Spannish Inquisition. It's the perfect surprise encounter because . . . Nobody expects the spannish inquisition!

I was going to mention this, but everyone else beat me to it.

I would just like to add that the Spanish Inquisition ALWAYS gets to make sneak attacks in the first round… Simply because NOBODY expects them.

EDIT: And don’t forget to have your party attacked by a badly animated Tarrasque… Only to have the animator fall dead at the last minute.
The_Dark_One
02-20-05, 10:13 PM You know, you could use the technique often used to prevent forest fires: a controlled burn. This is where sections of forest are deliberately set on fire to burn of combstible materials so that an uncontrolled wild-fire can't develope.

In the context of RPGs and British comedy, this means that you would create a short (maybe a month of once a week game sessions) comedy game so that they can get it out of their systems.

To this end, I will be now using this thread to throw out ideas for such an RPG.

I'm going to call the modified gaming engine:

A Series of Unfortunate Adventures
(Or: When Bad Things Happen to You, Specifically)

This is a modified D&D setting that allows for greater comedy. It is set in a comedic fantasy version of medieval Earth, with some very small changes.

1: The world is flat.

2: Magic is very real. For the most part, standard D&D magic rules apply to this game as well.

3: Humans are not the only race. Add the other races from the PHB as well. Most of these races are divided into national/ethnic groups similiar to humans (so you could have an Irish elf, a Russian Dwarf, or a Scottish half-orc).

4: For the most part, points 2-3 don't seem to have changed the world that much, even though they really should have. These two points are never really explained, either.

5: There are some pretty startling anarchronisms. There are middle-ages equivalents to fast food, Las Vegas, the internet, pizza delivery, and modern newspapers.

6: The language of magic is Latin, rather than Draconic.

7: The god of the Gnomes is an un-exploded nuclear bomb, from the future. The device is fully sentient and capable of granting spells to its clerics.
The_Dark_One
02-20-05, 11:54 PM Well, I think I have finally lost my mind. This is my new project. Keep in mind that its not totally based on Monty Python. There will be a healthy amount of Terry Pratchett, Futurama, and maybe some Douglas Adams.

I welcome any and all help on this project (after all, this is not something I could ever hope to Copyright).

I'm thinking of adding an action-pointlike system that allows PCs to achieve certain comedic effects (such as avoiding death by having the villain murder an innocent stunt-double :( ). Each class will probably have minor powers that cost nothing ( Like the paladin's ability to always remain perfectly groomed, even in the middle of the Swamp of Disgusting and Foul-Smelling Muck).
The Plane
02-21-05, 12:38 AM 7: The god of the Gnomes is an un-exploded nuclear bomb, from the future. The device is fully sentient and capable of granting spells to its clerics.

:rofl:

I'm SO doing that!
Lord Gwydion
02-21-05, 01:08 AM Wow, surprised no one's jumped on the Bill Hicks reference. Then again, since we're members of the People Who Hate People Party, :censored:.

Bill's material is probably better suited for d20 Modern anyway. Imagine, an adventure where you investigate UFO sightings in rural America, and discover that maybe these are not super-intelligent beings...

PC: "Don't y'all wanna go to New York or Paris?"
Alien: "Nah, we just had a long trip. We're gonna sit back and whittle some!"

And what would be the stats of a British soccer ball?
Fixxxer
02-21-05, 08:17 AM Bill's material is probably better suited for d20 Modern anyway.

Additionally, it's probably better if you play in a Waffle House. That way, the serving "girl" can come and ask "Hey, 'chu readin' for?"
The_Dark_One
03-08-05, 01:02 AM Well, I promised to concoct a comedy setting. I wasn't bluffing. Here it is A Series of Unfortunate Adventures (Or, When Bad Things Happen to You, Specifically) (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=390519)

Visit, look around, help me create something that will get the comdeic urge out of the players' systems and keep silliness from infecting your serious games. :cool:

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Max Overload 02-20-05, 01:27 AM	What is it about British Comedians? My group now contains a handful of Eddie Izzard fans. It's scary, but a few lines of Eddie Izzard can sap my will to even be conscious, let alone run a game. Anyone found a reasonable effective way to kill Python game interruptions without just throwing down Instant Flaming Character Death? I'm just glad they don't like Bill Hicks...
The_Dark_One 02-20-05, 01:39 AM	How frequent are the game interruptions? How bad are they? If its just a brief comment every now and then, I'd suggest just letting it go (fighting it can eat up even more game time). If its very bad, you might talk to them like the reasonable adults that they aren't. You could explain the problem in a calm, rational manor and then murder them. You could also institute a policy that the gaming table is a Python Free Zone and have them sign a contract (with clear punishments for breaking the rules.) Ideas for adding more python references to gaming (an attempt to usurp this thread and create a 101 thread from the ashes): 1: Take the Undead Familiar feat and have your very own dead parrot. (if you also take the Token Familiar feat, it could transform into a stiffened dead parrot that you could bang on tables and announce very loudly "This parrot is no more. It has ceased to be. It is an ex-parrot." 2: Make your character a pirate. Take maximum ranks in Profession: Accountant. 3: Create a use activated item by enchanting two coconut halves with the Mount spell. 4: Create an office building as a mobile stronghold and go around plundering castles. It is important to note that I am listening to Accountancy Shanty, right now. :embarrass
KhanJackalMoreau 02-20-05, 02:15 AM	5: Have a particularly small-framed Troll put on a black suit of armor and guard a brook. 6: Holy Hand Grenade? 7: A township that allows a condenmed man to choose his own method of demise? Did they mention the Nymph-rich forest to the east?
Fixxxer 02-20-05, 02:17 AM	5: Have a group of NPC seaborne barbarians who all have ranks in Perform (singing) and are constantly searching for the Sacret Paper Artwork of Maladon.
JabberWocky 02-20-05, 02:35 AM	I suggest you be especially creative and read up on Douglas Adams. Once you're fairly certain your players are going to crack open British comedian jokes, do stuff like that to them.
Alcari Ambaron 02-20-05, 03:57 AM	indeed, a 101 thread is good 9) sings "bravely, bold sir robin. Rode out from camelot, he was not afraid to die...." 10) It is but a flesh wound. (said regularly in my campaigns)
The_Dark_One 02-20-05, 03:58 AM	6: Decide that your character is on a quest for: A shubbery. One that is tasteful, but not too expensive. 7: Play your PC as French. This works especially well on worlds, such as Faerun, where the nation of France has never existed. 8: Buy a catapult. Use Shrink Item to render it portable. Then use Summoning spells to summon livestock to use as ammo. 9 (For the DM): Add unnecessary information. Say that Jenkins the Cleric casts Commune. After he gets his answers, his Deity remarks, rather offhandedly "Oh, Jenkins? Apparently, your mother died this morning".
DrMorganes 02-20-05, 07:29 AM	5: Have a group of NPC seaborne barbarians who all have ranks in Perform (singing) and are constantly searching for the Sacret Paper Artwork of Maladon. Buy a catapult. Use Shrink Item to render it portable. Then use Summoning spells to summon livestock to use as ammo. Moments of inspired genius!
mastroyo 02-20-05, 11:05 AM	11-Have an old timer ask 3 questions to cross a bridge. What is your favorite color? etc etc 12-Killer Rabbit? Too obvious, but it's not too difficult to re-enact the situation until the players realize that it is a "killer rabbit with pointy teeth"... 13-The communist farmer before the castle with the 'bird discussion' 2nd scene if i'm not mistaken, could make a great NPC, a little irritating though.
mastroyo 02-20-05, 11:29 AM	Edit: How could I forget the new spell "Killer Joke", with only verbal components, and spoken in Germanic. :D
Jagyr Ebonwood 02-20-05, 12:09 PM	You're lucky it's just Python and Izzard. You don't have to deal with Benny Hill. My players keep a tape player under the table, and regularly start up some faced paced wacky music and chase each other around in lines. This usually leads to me chasing after them at high speeds while making wild arm motions. Some people...
TheUnknownZombie 02-20-05, 12:10 PM	14 - When you complete your quest to find a shrubbery, go on another quest to find another one, so you can put them together and get the two-level effect... 15 - Any female spellcasters in the party? Change their weight so it's the same as or less than a duck.
Makuya 02-20-05, 12:15 PM	Don't forget the succubus-infested castle with a beacon shaped like a desired artifact!!!
Redstubb 02-20-05, 12:18 PM	A Monty Python free zone!!! That's inhumane!
Fixxxer 02-20-05, 01:26 PM	12-Killer Rabbit? Too obvious, but it's not too difficult to re-enact the situation until the players realize that it is a "killer rabbit with pointy teeth"... Wasn't there a monster in 1st edition called "Vorpal Bunny?" I know the old Wizardry games had them.
Jagyr Ebonwood 02-20-05, 01:29 PM	Wasn't there a monster in 1st edition called "Vorpal Bunny?" I know the old Wizardry games had them. If there wasn't, there should have been.
Nomad4life 02-20-05, 01:44 PM	Huh? You CAN’T run an adventure without the Pythonian incantations. The game just… Won’t work without them. Right? :confused:
Locus 02-20-05, 02:08 PM	Remember to have no horses, only men with coconuts carring your gear :P I love Monthy Phyton.. "Niih, niih.." :chicken:
Draco Strang 02-20-05, 02:19 PM	I'm glad my players are all anime and Whitewolf fans on the side, and not Python nuts. I for one love my British humor, I'm just glad they don't bring it up. P.S.-One of my NPCs is named Concord, sweet Concord! They haven't picked up on it.
aaron3579 02-20-05, 02:34 PM	Yes, I also feel like a large portion of D&D humor is based on "The Search for the Holy Grail," and rightly so. I love Monty Python: Paladin: I want to ask the nearest peasant about the goblin raids. Me: All right, there is an old woman pushing a cart. Paladin: Excuse me, old woman. Me: [assumes decrepit voice] Man. Paladin: What? Me: I'm not, a woman, I'm a man. Paladin: Well, old man. Me: Why do I have to be old? Paladin: Well, I can't just call you 'man.' I don't know, there is just something funny about how they can take the word 'man' and use two syllables to say it. Anyway, all jokes aside, too much of anything is bad, even humor. If it is getting to the point where you feel like your game is bogging down, tell them how you feel. If the problem is that everyone in your group loves MP but you, then shame on you, find a new group. :P Maybe you don't like them because you think that their humor is irredeemably foolish: not so! Actually, they are some of the most politically charged comedians that have ever told a joke... you just have to know where to look. ;)
Planar Wanderer 02-20-05, 03:26 PM	Personally I like Monty Python but if it gets really annoying, take some of the Python scenes and for a brief go full out Python on it, make it completely surreal , if you've talked to them they may take the hint, Make sure that "Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition" ( Doesn't matter if Spain isn't in your game, make them extra-planar or substitute another nation) and at the next castle throw these guys in Knights of the round table (http://www.lyricscrawler.com/song/72420.html)
Guy Humual 02-20-05, 03:56 PM	You're lucky it's just Python and Izzard. You don't have to deal with Benny Hill. My players keep a tape player under the table, and regularly start up some faced paced wacky music and chase each other around in lines. This usually leads to me chasing after them at high speeds while making wild arm motions. Some people... :rofl: Alright, in all seriousness, talking is always the best route to take. Monty Python (and his flying circus) is all well and good, but it can be quite disruptive if your trying to run a serious campaign. My best advice is when things start to get silly, take a break, get some snacks, tell some jokes, let them get it all out of their systems, then go back to the game. It's not fair that the players are disrupting your game and it's also unfair for you to expect them to play serious all the time . . . find a compromise. And now for Something Completely Different . . . 16 - The party is attacked by a gang of grannies or keep left signs 17 - The party is hired by an eccentric millionaire to build a bridge between the twin peaks of mount Kilimanjaro 18 - Someone has been robing the lupins express, authorities suspect the well know highwayman Dennis Moore, Players have to investigate. 19 - The players find a dead bishop on their doorstep 20 - The Spannish Inquisition. It's the perfect surprise encounter because . . . Nobody expects the spannish inquisition! 21 - And finally if things get too silly, the entire group is crushed by a mysterious big foot from the sky.
Nomad4life 02-20-05, 04:15 PM	20 - The Spannish Inquisition. It's the perfect surprise encounter because . . . Nobody expects the spannish inquisition! I was going to mention this, but everyone else beat me to it. I would just like to add that the Spanish Inquisition ALWAYS gets to make sneak attacks in the first round… Simply because NOBODY expects them. EDIT: And don’t forget to have your party attacked by a badly animated Tarrasque… Only to have the animator fall dead at the last minute.
The_Dark_One 02-20-05, 10:13 PM	You know, you could use the technique often used to prevent forest fires: a controlled burn. This is where sections of forest are deliberately set on fire to burn of combstible materials so that an uncontrolled wild-fire can't develope. In the context of RPGs and British comedy, this means that you would create a short (maybe a month of once a week game sessions) comedy game so that they can get it out of their systems. To this end, I will be now using this thread to throw out ideas for such an RPG. I'm going to call the modified gaming engine: A Series of Unfortunate Adventures (Or: When Bad Things Happen to You, Specifically) This is a modified D&D setting that allows for greater comedy. It is set in a comedic fantasy version of medieval Earth, with some very small changes. 1: The world is flat. 2: Magic is very real. For the most part, standard D&D magic rules apply to this game as well. 3: Humans are not the only race. Add the other races from the PHB as well. Most of these races are divided into national/ethnic groups similiar to humans (so you could have an Irish elf, a Russian Dwarf, or a Scottish half-orc). 4: For the most part, points 2-3 don't seem to have changed the world that much, even though they really should have. These two points are never really explained, either. 5: There are some pretty startling anarchronisms. There are middle-ages equivalents to fast food, Las Vegas, the internet, pizza delivery, and modern newspapers. 6: The language of magic is Latin, rather than Draconic. 7: The god of the Gnomes is an un-exploded nuclear bomb, from the future. The device is fully sentient and capable of granting spells to its clerics.
The_Dark_One 02-20-05, 11:54 PM	Well, I think I have finally lost my mind. This is my new project. Keep in mind that its not totally based on Monty Python. There will be a healthy amount of Terry Pratchett, Futurama, and maybe some Douglas Adams. I welcome any and all help on this project (after all, this is not something I could ever hope to Copyright). I'm thinking of adding an action-pointlike system that allows PCs to achieve certain comedic effects (such as avoiding death by having the villain murder an innocent stunt-double :( ). Each class will probably have minor powers that cost nothing ( Like the paladin's ability to always remain perfectly groomed, even in the middle of the Swamp of Disgusting and Foul-Smelling Muck).
The Plane 02-21-05, 12:38 AM	7: The god of the Gnomes is an un-exploded nuclear bomb, from the future. The device is fully sentient and capable of granting spells to its clerics. :rofl: I'm SO doing that!
Lord Gwydion 02-21-05, 01:08 AM	Wow, surprised no one's jumped on the Bill Hicks reference. Then again, since we're members of the People Who Hate People Party, :censored:. Bill's material is probably better suited for d20 Modern anyway. Imagine, an adventure where you investigate UFO sightings in rural America, and discover that maybe these are not super-intelligent beings... PC: "Don't y'all wanna go to New York or Paris?" Alien: "Nah, we just had a long trip. We're gonna sit back and whittle some!" And what would be the stats of a British soccer ball?
Fixxxer 02-21-05, 08:17 AM	Bill's material is probably better suited for d20 Modern anyway. Additionally, it's probably better if you play in a Waffle House. That way, the serving "girl" can come and ask "Hey, 'chu readin' for?"
The_Dark_One 03-08-05, 01:02 AM	Well, I promised to concoct a comedy setting. I wasn't bluffing. Here it is A Series of Unfortunate Adventures (Or, When Bad Things Happen to You, Specifically) (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=390519) Visit, look around, help me create something that will get the comdeic urge out of the players' systems and keep silliness from infecting your serious games. :cool: