Just how comedic can an OSR game get? I mean a for-sale game, rather than a campaign.

The question is how and what type of humor could it have that you:
a) would think would still be a viable product

and

b) would personally be interested in?

The best OSR comedy is the longshot goofball plans that players come up with in order to deal with problems or the strange problems that seem to crop up in OSR games (having "charge!" usually be a bad plan in OSR games makes encourages players to come up with strange workarounds which are often hilarious). Having the setting itself be intentionally goofy just seems to counteract that. Having some strange NPCs works but only if you play them with a completely straight face. Nothing kills comedy in OSR games faster than winky puns/references about stuff in the real world.

Aren't most of Venger's products comedy? I realize they aren't particularly OSR rules wise or content, but it shows there's a market.


J.V. West's products, such as the Black Pudding magazines are also very amusing yet have real content.

The "funniest" RPGs I've played were Toon and Paranoia. Both qualify as Old School. I put "funniest" in quotes because I've had great laughs with so many RPGs, but those were to two comedy RPGs that are most memorable for achieving laughs at the table.

Unless you count Creeks & Crawdads...a classic sadly lost in the mists of time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creeks_and_Crawdads

WEG's classic Ghostbusters is one of the funniest RPGs ever produced. Every game I've played and run has always ended in laughter. The system doesn't really force the humor; it surfaces naturally through play. And its D6 system doesn't get any more OSR.

Of all things... Beyond the Supernatural had a section in the back for playing the game in a more lighthearted tone.

As for a straight up humour based RPG. There's several out there but most tend to be either parodies of something else, which tends to fall flat, or a bit too random to really work.

I even was working on a revision of one many a year ago for a comic that was set in D&D but more comedy themed. Unfortunately the comic folded before I was done.

Given there are card games like Munchkin I think a comedy RPG could work. I don't know if Id personally buy it. Maybe. I imagine it would need to be pretty rules light, with a "one shot" type vibe to it. Running a DCC funnel as a one off might get the same effect.

I don't have any interest in comedy-themed games.
I don't have any interest in OSR games.
It logically follows that I would not find comedy-themed OSR games interesting.

I think Hackmaster has the comedy angle covered for D&D-ish games.

I would never play a comedy game for more than a one-off.  I wouldn't spend any money on a comedy game.

Quote from: EOTB;1066490I think Hackmaster has the comedy angle covered for D&D-ish games.

I would never play a comedy game for more than a one-off.  I wouldn't spend any money on a comedy game.

I agree with this and we ran HackMaster straight with no comedy other than what comes from goofy guys playing together

Quote from: JeremyR;1066338Aren't most of Venger's products comedy? I realize they aren't particularly OSR rules wise or content, but it shows there's a market.

The Alpha Blue products certainly are. I'd define the style as "Raunchier Saturday Night Live". It has its moments, but generally isn't quite my style either.

I did have a few ideas for OSR games that would be considered comedic and tongue-in-cheek due to the sheer silliness of them.

The main idea that I have wanted to make into an OSR game or campaign is a game where the PC's are sentient army men and similar toy soldiers/miniature figures and the game is heavily inspired by stuff like Toy Story, Small Soldiers, The Indian In The Cupboard, and the Army Men video games from the 90's.

Stephen King's short story "Battleground" is another major inspiration as well (coincidentally Battleground is tied with The Stand as my favorite work by Stephen King)

I always imagined it being like Twilight 2000 but with model soldiers and anime figurines, the in-character text treats the setting and premise as a super-serious grimdark "War is Hell" survival game but the actual OOC premise of "real combat and plastic men" is just so naturally ludicrous it would obviously be an ironic comedy and a parody of the gritty war story.

I would love to make it into my own OSR game but if anyone else who is an actual OSR developer wants to use my concept, feel free to do so.

Quote from: Doc Sammy;1066940The main idea that I have wanted to make into an OSR game or campaign is a game where the PC's are sentient army men and similar toy soldiers/miniature figures and the game is heavily inspired by stuff like Toy Story, Small Soldiers, The Indian In The Cupboard, and the Army Men video games from the 90's.

We shall fight in the bedroom, we shall fight in the sandbox, we shall fight on the lawn and in the streets, we shall fight at little Timmy's; we shall never surrender!

So...  Gamma World?