[Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: No Sense of Humor

johndallman · 08-29-2019, 01:46 PM

No Sense of Humor [-10] is a mundane mental disadvantage. You don’t understand any kind of humor, and never try to use it. You are always earnest and serious, and assume that everyone else is, too. Most people react to you at -2 when they discover your oddity. This disadvantage appeared in Compendium I for GURPS 3e.

Like all disadvantages, this one can require interpretation. You can presumably learn that other people have this thing called “humor”, although it’s very silly, and you can’t see why they waste time on it. You might even learn to recognise some forms happening, as slapstick or puns, and you’ll certainly learn to recognise its after-effects. It just all seems so pointless. This disadvantage needs to be distinguished from Clueless, which tends to limit your wit, and Low Empathy, which limits your understanding of humor, but doesn’t destroy the concept for you.

No Sense of Humor is a reasonably common option on published templates. It usually indicates someone who’s very focussed with no time for distractions, devoted to duty, anti-social or just dim. It’s part of the Automaton meta-trait, which represents minds with no self-awareness or creativity, and also shows up on aliens, golems and so-called Homo Superior. Bio-Tech psychosurgery can give you this disadvantage, and plenty of Horror and Madness Dossier inhuman opponents have it. Power-Ups 6: Quirks has several limited versions, which aren’t all that rare in real life (e.g., few contact lens wearers have any sense of humor about grit in their eyes). It can be a result of Psionic Powers crippling, and Space and Template Toolkit 2 use it in their racial personality design systems. TT2 adds Intolerance (Any form of jokes or play) as a step beyond this disadvantage. Transhuman Space: Changing Times NAIs are capable of coping with jokes in human speech, but they don’t try to make any. Ultra-Tech robots can have a programmed sense of humor, which isn’t very good, but is bound to be better than the Funbot in one classic Paranoia scenario. Most Zombies have No Sense of Humor; ones that don’t are probably even worse.

In a role-playing game, which is an inherently absurd activity, lacking a sense of humor has, in itself, vast potential for comedy. Playing it can be hard, but is worthwhile: the roles played by Margaret Dumont in the Marx Brothers’ films are a good example.

My best encounter with this disadvantage came when I built a set of example characters for a RogerBW convention demo scenario, set on board a passenger-carrying airship. I gave the Captain No Sense of Humor, and the Chief Steward no Diplomacy skill, just Fast-Talk, as role-playing challenges for the players. I had not realised how these would interact. The scenario is not intrinsically comic, but every time it’s run it turns into a comedy.

Have you had fun with this disadvantage?

08-29-2019, 01:46 PM	#1
johndallman Night Watchman Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Cambridge, UK	[Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: No Sense of Humor No Sense of Humor [-10] is a mundane mental disadvantage. You don’t understand any kind of humor, and never try to use it. You are always earnest and serious, and assume that everyone else is, too. Most people react to you at -2 when they discover your oddity. This disadvantage appeared in Compendium I for GURPS 3e. Like all disadvantages, this one can require interpretation. You can presumably learn that other people have this thing called “humor”, although it’s very silly, and you can’t see why they waste time on it. You might even learn to recognise some forms happening, as slapstick or puns, and you’ll certainly learn to recognise its after-effects. It just all seems so pointless. This disadvantage needs to be distinguished from Clueless, which tends to limit your wit, and Low Empathy, which limits your understanding of humor, but doesn’t destroy the concept for you. No Sense of Humor is a reasonably common option on published templates. It usually indicates someone who’s very focussed with no time for distractions, devoted to duty, anti-social or just dim. It’s part of the Automaton meta-trait, which represents minds with no self-awareness or creativity, and also shows up on aliens, golems and so-called Homo Superior. *Bio-Tech* psychosurgery can give you this disadvantage, and plenty of *Horror* and *Madness Dossier* inhuman opponents have it. *Power-Ups 6: Quirks* has several limited versions, which aren’t all that rare in real life (e.g., few contact lens wearers have any sense of humor about grit in their eyes). It can be a result of *Psionic Powers* crippling, and *Space* and *Template Toolkit 2* use it in their racial personality design systems. *TT2* adds Intolerance (Any form of jokes or play) as a step beyond this disadvantage. *Transhuman Space: Changing Times* NAIs are capable of coping with jokes in human speech, but they don’t try to make any. *Ultra-Tech* robots can have a programmed sense of humor, which isn’t very good, but is bound to be better than the Funbot in one classic Paranoia scenario. Most *Zombies* have No Sense of Humor; ones that don’t are probably even worse. In a role-playing game, which is an inherently absurd activity, lacking a sense of humor has, in itself, vast potential for comedy. Playing it can be hard, but is worthwhile: the roles played by Margaret Dumont in the Marx Brothers’ films are a good example. My best encounter with this disadvantage came when I built a set of example characters for a RogerBW convention demo scenario, set on board a passenger-carrying airship. I gave the Captain No Sense of Humor, and the Chief Steward no Diplomacy skill, just Fast-Talk, as role-playing challenges for the players. I had not realised how these would interact. The scenario is not intrinsically comic, but every time it’s run it turns into a comedy. Have you had fun with this disadvantage? __________________ The Path of Cunning. Indexes: DFRPG Characters, Advantage of the Week, Disadvantage of the Week, Skill of the Week, Techniques.