(( Amusing Adventures Vs. Silly Scenes ))

Part of the problem in using funny elements is knowing when to stop versus when to keep going. Essentially, do you angle in for an amusing adventure, or do you settle for a silly scene?

Reading your players will tell you a lot. And, even better, simply asking them for feedback and being open and communicative will reveal to you how to run your game. If they long for Star Wars accuracy, you'll probably want to achieve the level of humor that Han and Chewie or Threepio and Artoo became famous for. If your players just want a good time and you feel you can do so through a funny adventure then, by all means, go for it!

I've broken this section into: Scene Ideas, Adventure Ideas, General Game Tips

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Scene Ideas

• Read the preface to this supplement. The scene described there is actually taken from a true to life story that occured on a train that travelled in Ireland from Dublin to Waterford. It was a funny thing that happened on an otherwise entertaining trip to Ireland. It was a case of a normal situation being made abnormal -- becoming the unexpected and amusing.
• Utilize spot characters; that's why the "Characters" section is in the supplement. It's not uncommon to see a Jedi with a beard and in brown robes. But what if that Jedi suffered from multiple personalities? Or what if the Jedi proved to be an amusing con man posing as a Jedi? There are ways to advance your story and add a character that will let your players have fun. Prozac popping padawans are inherently kind of amusing, I think.

Adventure Ideas

First Thing's First

• First, keep in mind that goofball adventures generally won't go over terribly well. Players want realism and humor. There's a difference between slapstick funny and situationally funny. Always play up the humor in a situation. If you can't see a pie in the face, will a pie in the face really be all that amusing? So keep your adventures like you always would, but expand the premise from earlier to a larger scale. Make a normal adventure abnormal. A character that runs from the start to the end of an adventure might be a way to keep the rest of the adventure normal but have a vehicle to inject some humor into an otherwise normal adventure.

The Actual Ideas

• (1) The Midget Menace
  Necessary characters: Any number of Rebel operatives or local security forces or mercenaries who fight only for noble causes.
  Basic plot: A new crime lord is causing havoc for local Tatooine businesses, forcing some owners out of business completely. His stiff "taxes" are hurting the economy but lining his pockets. No one has seen this mysterious leader, though a Hutt is expected for obvious reasons. A team is sent to find him and bring him to justice. The team is sent to a small village outisde of the Cliffs of Taloon, kilometers from anything else ressembling civilization. After witnessing a small Jawa Tossing tournament in town, the adventure leads them into the cliffs, and they discover a series of caves that lead into a large cavern where, somehow, a large metal palace exists. After a series of strange mishaps and encounters with unique droids and technologies, they finally enter the chamber of the lord. In a scene straight from the Wizard of Oz, the players are confronted with a being they have no knowledge of. However, behind the curtain, the real genius is none other than Tootlik the Jawa, a nine-tenths-of-a-meter tall Jawa with a bad attitude.
• (2) What's Worse?
  Necessary characters: Any group of Rebels that have a fairly average or strict demeanor.
  Basic plot: An Imperial probe has crashed on an outlying world where the Rebels have been building some small bases. It's believed that things are fine, but the probe must be found. On the way, the players discover a hermit Gungan who is the only one who knows the terrain well enough to lead the players to their destination. As the GM develops the adventure, the players are forced to wonder what's worse: struggling lost through the creature-infested woods or listening to the Gungan.

General Game Tips

• Make seemingly normal situations actually turn out to be very ABNORMAL. Think about an episode of Seinfeld and how a normal thing like going to get soup couldn't ever be normal in that show because some bizzarre line cook was playing the role of a "Soup Nazi." Making muffins can't be normal because Elaine had to cut the tops off the muffins off. Parking a car couldn't be normal because some guy tried to pull in improperly to cut George out of his parking spot. Just turn a normal situation into an abnormal situation, and you'll be surprised how funny it can be.
• Always be willing to go with the flow as a GM. Many times, if a player is bored with a game, he or she will try to make things interesting for him- or herself by seeking out funny things to do. Don't discourage it. So what if your plot point takes another adventure to develop? The players have fun, and that's the key.
• Don't overdo it. Pretty simple and self-explanatory.
• Don't overthink it. Part of why I included the random character generator was because it doesn't let you think about what's funny. Oftentimes, the funniest things come about as a result of happenstance or sheer luck. Creating absurd concepts creates absurd concepts. Harnessing the absurdity of randomness creates humor.