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So, what's the most Gonzo you'd be willing to have in a campaign and still play?

I want to run a Samurai Jack based campaign, that is pretty much out there level of Gonzo.

Quote from: RPGPundit;990792So, what's the most Gonzo you'd be willing to have in a campaign and still play?

Really depends on how you define 'Gonzo'.
 One gamer's "gonzo" is another gamer's sedate and boring session. It also sort of depends on the group

If both the GM and the players have a had a rough week a little bit of 'gonzo' or over the top stuff might be a good tension release for all of them.

- Ed C.

Quote from: Koltar;990845Really depends on how you define 'Gonzo'.

This for me... But generally, I'm not all that interested in playing in Gonzo or comedy settings.

"You're playing a 23' giant with a squid for a head, and you want logic?"  Does that answer the question?

I dunno. I guess I can take 18.456%?

(Isn't pretending to be an Elf already pretty gonzo?)

Zero Gonzo. Make my Rpging Gonzo-free.

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Depends on what sort of gonzo and how well I feel it is done, and how much logic & cause & effect and plausibility remains.

That I haven't even seen and don't know without reading up what the last three titles on the poll are, might be some indication.

I have run and played in some bizarre settings, but it really depends on the nature of it.

None of the levels in the poll mean anything to me.

Gonzo needs to be smart and have a point, and has to be spaced out to be effective. Just throwing in elves with underpants on their heads who worship black velvet Elvis paintings is funny for two seconds and then quickly becomes tiresome when next you meet a talking alarm clock who lives in a septic tank and sells magical macrame.

I like a good bit of the wild and weird, but I'm not so big on wacky or silly... gonzo horror with few overt attempts at comedy.
Games/settings that seem very staid don't usually grab me... RQ/Glorantha being an example despite its Ducks.
BRP and GURPS in general tend to be a bit po-faced and I feel the need to add gonzo to them... pull ideas from the weirder corners of the OSR.

Good gonzo: Erol Otus paintings. White Plume Mountain. Island full of dinosaurs and giant lizards. A race of talking mushroom-men. Ant-people with psychic powers. An entire plane of crap.
Bad gonzo: "lol monkey biscuits lol i'm so random." 1990s "zany" humor.

I prefer the weird and bizarre to the goofy. But when it comes to weird, turn it up to 11.

I wanted to do a Kung Fury campaign, and I have an idea on my settings idea board for "Steampunk viking airship pirates fighting Pteradon riding nazis". I think we know where I stand

Quote from: fearsomepirate;990890Good gonzo: Erol Otus paintings. White Plume Mountain. Island full of dinosaurs and giant lizards. A race of talking mushroom-men. Ant-people with psychic powers. An entire plane of crap.
Bad gonzo: "lol monkey biscuits lol i'm so random." 1990s "zany" humor.

Yeah - Gonzo (weird) is great but gonzo (silly) I have no interest in.

I have a sense of humor and all, but my day is filled with the consequences of stupid human tricks, and I don't need that in my gaming.

Erol Otus art level of Gonzo.

I put Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas level.

What I mean by that is a surrealistic or weird experience that is limited in time, ie. a weekend.  Going to other planes, spirit quests, HeroQuest, Astral Travel, all that kind of stuff I expect to be weird, if not gonzo.  Stuff like White Plume Mountain or Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, weird stuff up to altered states of consciousness and perception, not saturday morning cartoon comedy played at 11 24/7/365 during a campaign.

None, dear God please.

It really, really depends on what game I am playing...and what the game was pitched as.

If we're doing steampunk? Yeah, I expect airship pirates to show up at some point. Clockwork robots, too. Spring-heeled Jack. Bring it on.

If we're doing Cyberpunk 2020, then it had better not turn out that magic and psychic powers are real.

If we're doing a gritty "you'd better buy rope and a tinderbox and keep track of your iron rations" D&D game...well, it's going to turn into Planescape when we get high-enough level, right?

Don't tell me we're doing Unforgiven and then deliver Wild Wild West. Don't tell me we're doing Wild Wild West and then deliver Unforgiven, either.

Quote from: K Peterson;990865Zero Gonzo. Make my Rpging Gonzo-free.

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Didn't take long for that to come out.

Personally, the more the better.  As long as it's CONSISTENT. s'all I ask.

I love Gonzo in my games, but it's at the Fear and Loathing level.

Or more specifically, things like Trainspotting or The Young Ones, as I have mentioned in other threads.

I'd probably work on it through the Over The Edge game system, as someone else suggested.

Quote from: Voros;990922I prefer the weird and bizarre to the goofy. But when it comes to weird, turn it up to 11.

That'd be me as well... If it's a bizarre but cool setting then I'll probably like it a lot. But I'm not into 'zany' stuff.

Something like Conenberg's movies would be cool for me.

In a one-shot--sure.

In an ongoing campaign--hard to imagine an acceptable level. Maybe if it's well-contained. Like the details of some of the set-piece elements in Vornheim--are they gonzo? However, when a game takes on an "anything goes" attitude, I don't see how you don't end up with "rule of cool", which is probably going to kill my long-term interest.

Talking grizzly bears with laser eyes. Mobile trees that shoot Mark V blasters. Gamma World was the perfect level of 'gonzo' in my opinion.

I have to admit I don't know exactly what counts as gonzo and what doesn't.

I enjoy RIFTS, which some people call gonzo.  But everything more-or-less of belongs in the strange genre mash-up on a post-post-apocalyptic Earth.  Certainly, some material presented in the books is quite over the top/quirky/strange, but is it gonzo?  I don't know.

I'd say the more outlandish stuff in RIFTS comes close to Transmetropolitan, a comic I thoroughly enjoyed to begin with but soured on by the end.

Frankly it depends on the day.

Sometimes I'm really in the mood for it, other days I'm not.

But if I'm in the mood - go ahead and go apeshit with it.

I just like how the highest level is reserved for Venture Bros.  As it should be.

I greatly enjoy gonzo RPGs and weird fantasy, but I don't like silly RPGs except as one-shots. I doubt I could do a Paranoia campaign as much as I love doing one-shots with the Computer and its laser-happy friends.

More than Fear & Loathing, less than Transmet-- Transmet without the bowel disruptors and talking dogs, essentially.

Quote from: RPGPundit;990792So, what's the most Gonzo you'd be willing to have in a campaign and still play?

I haven't seen those movies so I can't say.

What level of gonzo is it where one character calls out "Yoohoo, anyone here?" accidentally right in front of the secret guard post. And the guards end up thinking the characters are their relief, and Cave Catering is born when the players decide to cook for the guards and put a sleeping drought in the food?

Quote from: Dumarest;990877None of the levels in the poll mean anything to me.

Me too. No wonder we get along, even when we disagree. :p

Yeah, we need to have some idea of what "Gonzo" means here.

In my current AD&D (more or less) campaign, the players are currently exploring The Temple of the Duck But Not Really Of The Duck. They're here to figure out how find a Doom Duck and cut out its heart while it's still living. If anyone's curious, here's the figure I'm using for the Doom Duck (http://www.ebay.com/itm/1987-Takara-Battle-Beasts-Hasbro-Action-Figure-Run-Amuck-Duck-Vintage-/292218223589?hash=item4409903be5:g:7uIAAOSwlndZF47C).

They come to the main room, and they see murals on the walls of adults in duck suits, pointing and laughing at children in obvious distress; in the room are various challenges, all of which would be hard for children to complete. Failure leads to a whipping (1 hp damage). There are six such (magical) challenges connected to the walls, and the players generally figure out that they somehow relate to a secret room in the Temple.  

The next room over is filled with six types of small-sized torture devices, obviously used at some point in the past. Another room has a bunch of child-zombies in it.  Another room has giant-sized  duck nests, long unused (clearly people were using them, though). There's a duck-automaton which goes "quack" at the heroes...and goes berserk when they try to speak Common at it.

I'm leaving some details out but...what of the above is gonzo? Grimdark?

Quote from: Tod13;991327Me too. No wonder we get along, even when we disagree. :p

I agree. ;)

Quote from: Doom;991346Yeah, we need to have some idea of what "Gonzo" means here.

Yeah...

I enjoy a little gonzo from time to time--if for nothing else, to remind everyone at the table that the experience is somewhat of a lark.  However, a little gonzo goes a long way.  A whole adventure of it is too much for me.

I don't know what Gonzo means. Like somebody said above I really enjoy Rifts which has been called Gonzo but we've never thought of that because we don't know what Gonzo is.

Quote from: Ulairi;991472I don't know what Gonzo means. Like somebody said above I really enjoy Rifts which has been called Gonzo but we've never thought of that because we don't know what Gonzo is.

I just looked at the voting options, and I just realized, I have no idea what any of them represent.  I might have seen a Wes Anderson movie for example, but I don't care enough about celebrity news to know who he was/is.  I THINK Transmetropolitan was a comic?  Wasn't the main lead a man by the name of Spider Robinson?   That's all I know of it.  Never interested me.

Venture Bros. is used as a joke among my friends, but I've never seen it.  Is it a movie?

I'm being very serious, I'm obviously out of touch with these things.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;991482I just looked at the voting options, and I just realized, I have no idea what any of them represent.  I might have seen a Wes Anderson movie for example, but I don't care enough about celebrity news to know who he was/is.  I THINK Transmetropolitan was a comic?  Wasn't the main lead a man by the name of Spider Robinson?   That's all I know of it.  Never interested me.

Venture Bros. is used as a joke among my friends, but I've never seen it.  Is it a movie?

I'm being very serious, I'm obviously out of touch with these things.

Venture Brothers was a cartoon from like 10+ years ago that was a play on the old Johnny Quest cartoons. It's funny but I don't know what makes it Gonzo. I was a big fan but  the show came and would disappear for like years before coming back. It's like 14 years old now so I don't even know what happened to it.

The older I get the more Gonzo I can handle.

When I was a tween in the early 80's I hate the Gonzo elements in Gamma World. I took the setting very seriously and worked hard to make it make more sense and be more serious. Same with rules systems for that matter. House rules were heresy for me.

But as I've aged I've begun to understand what those old grognards at the time found so much fun and entertaining. I'm not for Gonzo 24/7 but it is fun in the right setting DCC/MCC/Gamma-World/Paranoia.

Quote from: Ulairi;991490Venture Brothers was a cartoon from like 10+ years ago that was a play on the old Johnny Quest cartoons. It's funny but I don't know what makes it Gonzo. I was a big fan but  the show came and would disappear for like years before coming back. It's like 14 years old now so I don't even know what happened to it.

SO it's a spoof of a child's cartoon?  Huhn.

So not to you, Ulairi, but can anyone explain to me what makes it 'Gonzo'?  Rifts is Gonzo, even played straight, but that's what makes it fun for me.

Depends on the system/setting and my mood. After my cancer surgery all the ganzo. During my chemotherapy all the ganzo plus 50 percent.
Mutant Future much ganzo
D&D 5 some ganzo.
White Star rpg a lot of ganzo. (see Space Ducks)
Stars without Number no ganzo.
Traveller no Ganzo
Some games are made for ganzo and some are not. I place no moral judgement on how you pretend to be an Elf/Alien/ Super Hero and so on.

Quote from: dungeon crawler;991582Depends on the system/setting and my mood. After my cancer surgery all the ganzo. During my chemotherapy all the ganzo plus 50 percent.
Mutant Future much ganzo
D&D 5 some ganzo.
White Star rpg a lot of ganzo. (see Space Ducks)
Stars without Number no ganzo.
Traveller no Ganzo
Some games are made for ganzo and some are not. I place no moral judgement on how you pretend to be an Elf/Alien/ Super Hero and so on.

What do knives have to do with it? https://ganzoknife.com/

Quote from: Ulairi;991490Venture Brothers was a cartoon from like 10+ years ago that was a play on the old Johnny Quest cartoons. It's funny but I don't know what makes it Gonzo. I was a big fan but  the show came and would disappear for like years before coming back. It's like 14 years old now so I don't even know what happened to it.

Venture Bros. is gonzo as fuck.  It's the only one on the list that represents a pure embodiment of the ideal.  Wes Anderson as gonzo?  C'mon, Wes Anderson is quirky.  I don't see any gonzo there.

But Venture Bros. is basically a mash-up of every pulp genre.  Super science, sorcerers, super heroes, Blackulas, evil organizations and henchman support groups...need I go on?  It's also got lots of light irreverent humor and tons of violence.  Venture Bros. is more gonzo than Thundarr fighting Galactus on top of a roller rink.

Gonzo is fine, as long as everyone knows it's gonzo, and it's intentional. If we're all playing a serious game and some ass-clown busts out some gonzo bullshit then expects it to fly - especially the GM - then look out.

Bonus bullshit points if he tries to tell us it's completely normal.

I like weird, but I like in-universe weird, if that makes sense? It all makes sense within the bounds of the setting and the tone is pretty consistant.  High-gonzo, to me, involves massive tonal shifts and out-of-universe references, often to humorous effect.

Quote from: cavegirl;991948I like weird, but I like in-universe weird, if that makes sense? It all makes sense within the bounds of the setting and the tone is pretty consistant.  High-gonzo, to me, involves massive tonal shifts and out-of-universe references, often to humorous effect.

So that's how you define Gonzo?  Fair enough.  But it begs the question what does the OP mean with the term.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;991949But it begs the question what does the OP mean with the term.

The best guess I have is to take a look at some of the campaign logs posted on Pundit's blog. A recent DDC campaign update (http://therpgpundit.blogspot.com/2017/09/dcc-campaign-update-dont-judge-me-i.html), for example. Or maybe this Traveller one (http://therpgpundit.blogspot.com/2015/12/traveller-campaign-update-kung-fu-dog.html).

I've read a few of these on the rare occasion that I look at his blog, or seen some of his posts in G+ communities. I don't know if they fully qualify as "Gonzo". They usually elicit a WTF is this shit? reaction from me, and they seem ridiculous as shit. Maybe they're gonzo.

Quote from: Edgewise;991640Venture Bros. is gonzo as fuck.  It's the only one on the list that represents a pure embodiment of the ideal.

Could you explain what the platonic ideal of gonzo is? Because I know what everything on the list is, but I don't see how they're arranged in any kind of order. What are the criteria for gonzoness? It seems that some posters in this thread think it means "surreal" and others think it means "zany slapstick".

My own definition leans toward surreal and psychedelic. When I think of gonzo scenery, I imagine Jack Kirby's cosmic comics or Moebius or Ralph Bakshi's "Wizards".

Quote from: K Peterson;991966The best guess I have is to take a look at some of the campaign logs posted on Pundit's blog. A recent DDC campaign update (http://therpgpundit.blogspot.com/2017/09/dcc-campaign-update-dont-judge-me-i.html), for example. Or maybe this Traveller one (http://therpgpundit.blogspot.com/2015/12/traveller-campaign-update-kung-fu-dog.html).

I've read a few of these on the rare occasion that I look at his blog, or seen some of his posts in G+ communities. I don't know if they fully qualify as "Gonzo". They usually elicit a WTF is this shit? reaction from me, and they seem ridiculous as shit. Maybe they're gonzo.

Well, he thinks they're gonzo. That much is clear from his writing. The problem is that he boils so much down into a blog entry that I can't tell if it's just relentless "hey this is gonzo!" one thing after another, which is how it reads, or if it just comes across that way due to his condensation of a session into a few paragraphs. The way it reads, I'd run for the hills rather than be subjected to it as for me it gets old very fast and nothing is gonzo or strange when everything else is equally odd and goofy. But again, that could just be how it comes across in print. Less is more when it comes to "gonzo."

Quote from: Dumarest;991969The problem is that he boils so much down into a blog entry that I can't tell if it's just relentless "hey this is gonzo!" one thing after another, which is how it reads, or if it just comes across that way due to his condensation of a session into a few paragraphs.

Then I guess it's up to the Image Latakia - smoking man to provide some answers, and a definition.

Quote from: RPGPundit;990792So, what's the most Gonzo you'd be willing to have in a campaign and still play?

AD&D 1e has enough gonzo in it. See also Thundarr the Barbarian.

Quote from: Xuc xac;991968Could you explain what the platonic ideal of gonzo is?

I can give my own definition for this admittedly imprecise term.  For me, gonzo is best described by a set of traits:

- genre blending
- indulgent and fun
- unsubtle and in-your-face
- irreverent and humorous
- violent without being dark
- self-aware without being self-parody

That sort-of captures it for me.  Something might still be considered gonzo without hitting all of these, and maybe there are a few other aspects that I'm forgetting.

Quote from: Doom;991346Yeah, we need to have some idea of what "Gonzo" means here.

It's difficult to define "gonzo" without presenting multiple examples for comparison.

It's not just a measure of general weirdness--it's that, correlated with a measure of how many elements that are at least implied to be out-of-genre are likely to show up.

Let me take a shot at this. Let's say I'm pitching a game where we play Samurai.

Gonzo Level 1 is the premise, played straight. So we're in ancient Japan, and the PC's are going to be Samurai. They may be sword-wielding warriors, or they might simply be wealthy aristrocrats--Samurai means both of those things. We're aiming for historical and realistic though--so no magic, monsters, or time-travelers. If Ninja show up, they're going to be historically-accurate Ninja, darn it. Dramatic sword duels, political intrigue, and warfare are the order of the day.

Gonzo Level 2 is the premise, plus any weirdness you want to include that is thematically related. So we're playing Samurai, and there are going to be Ninjas, and they're going to be guys that are dressed in black pajamas and can mystically turn invisible. Martial arts that allow superhuman feats are on the table. There might even be monks with magical or spiritual powers, and we might sparingly run into a Kitsune or something, but it will be played for mystery and subtlety. We might not actually be in Japan--we might be in a fantasy land based on Japan. Someone somewhere probably has a magical katana created by Masamune.

Gonzo Level 3 is even more open. It's the premise, plus weird shit implied by the premise, plus extra stuff that the GM finds appealing. Someone might get to play a Ninja or even a Kitsune. Yokai and mystical martial artists are plentiful. You can start the game with a magical katana created by Masamune. We might fight Shaolin monks, or confront one of the Ten Thousand Immortals, who has mastered Daoist alchemy. We might have period-appropriate guest stars from other lands--a plate-armor wearing knight from medieval Germany, perhaps. Expect a fire-breathing half-Oni Ninja at some point.

Gonzo Level 4 is anything that could remotely be connected to the premise. The Daoist alchemist might have built clockwork robot minions. There's a portal to Jigoku that Bakemono are pouring out of, and the Tengu have teamed up with the Yeti to shut it down. Dim Mak, One-Inch Death Punches, Vibrating Palms, and wire-fu swordsmen flying through the air are things you see in every session. A talking Tanooki Ninja who rides around on a kite is an acceptable player character. Samurai warriors with indestructible swords regularly slice war boars in half. It's not quite anything goes, but it's getting close.

Gonzo Level 5 is anything goes. Wicked Daimyos summon Ninjas made of solid shadow. Time-traveling gunslingers show up to battle Cthulhoid entities from beyond the stars. The Terminator shows up, and the only one who can help us stop him is Mr. T. Gamera is the friend to all children! You can never be certain that your Samurai PC isn't about to be beamed onto the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.  


Personally, I like to keep my games somewhere between Levels 3 and 4.

Quote from: Koltar;990845Really depends on how you define 'Gonzo'.

Well, the point of the examples given in the poll are meant to reflect the spectrum of what I define as Gonzo.

Quote from: Ulairi;991490Venture Brothers was a cartoon from like 10+ years ago that was a play on the old Johnny Quest cartoons. It's funny but I don't know what makes it Gonzo. I was a big fan but  the show came and would disappear for like years before coming back. It's like 14 years old now so I don't even know what happened to it.

Um, Venture Bros. is still on. Their latest season was last year, if I recall correctly.

Quote from: Edgewise;991640Venture Bros. is gonzo as fuck.  It's the only one on the list that represents a pure embodiment of the ideal.  Wes Anderson as gonzo?  C'mon, Wes Anderson is quirky.  I don't see any gonzo there.

The Life Aquatic is quite gonzo.  Hell, just about anything with Bill Murray in it tends to be at least a little bit gonzo.

Quote from: K Peterson;991966The best guess I have is to take a look at some of the campaign logs posted on Pundit's blog. A recent DDC campaign update (http://therpgpundit.blogspot.com/2017/09/dcc-campaign-update-dont-judge-me-i.html), for example. Or maybe this Traveller one (http://therpgpundit.blogspot.com/2015/12/traveller-campaign-update-kung-fu-dog.html).

I've read a few of these on the rare occasion that I look at his blog, or seen some of his posts in G+ communities. I don't know if they fully qualify as "Gonzo". They usually elicit a WTF is this shit? reaction from me, and they seem ridiculous as shit. Maybe they're gonzo.

Yes, both of those campaigns were/are very gonzo.

My games always run the extremes, either not at all gonzo, or highly gonzo. My Wild West campaign has practically no gonzo in it (well, except for Paddy the bear, but he's an actual historical fact). Dark Albion had only a tiny bit of gonzo, mostly due to stuff the PCs themselves put in.

My DCC game is the most Gonzo RPG campaign I've ever run. It might be the most Gonzo RPG campaign anyone has ever run, period.

Quote from: RPGPundit;992822Well, the point of the examples given in the poll are meant to reflect the spectrum of what I define as Gonzo.

Too many of us weren't familiar with the movies.

And for Koltar's post, where would my example from the first page go? (Gonzo for us is really the PCs interactions with the NPCs.)

Quote from: RPGPundit;992822

Quote from: Koltar;990845Really depends on how you define 'Gonzo'.
Well, the point of the examples given in the poll are meant to reflect the spectrum of what I define as Gonzo.

Oh, well based on that definition my answer has to be Blue. No, yellow....

Quote from: Bren;993039Oh, well based on that definition my answer has to be Blue. No, yellow....

No, no, no. The answer is always fish.

Quote from: Tetsubo;993054No, no, no. The answer is always fish.

Your reference escapes me. Also, and I did not know this, apparently the answer is always pork (http://theanswerisalwayspork.com/).

Quote from: Bren;993062Your reference escapes me. Also, and I did not know this, apparently the answer is always pork (http://theanswerisalwayspork.com/).

You were unlikely to get the reference as the reference was my wife. When she gets a computer survey call, she always answers each question with 'fish'. Fish is a good absurdist answer.

Quote from: Tetsubo;993089You were unlikely to get the reference as the reference was my wife. When she gets a computer survey call, she always answers each question with 'fish'. Fish is a good absurdist answer.

Do she do that even on the Likert scale questions? You know, "On a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being...."

Quote from: Bren;993097Do she do that even on the Likert scale questions? You know, "On a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being...."

Correct. She isn't fond of computer surveys and enjoys throwing a wrench into their data.

Quote from: Tetsubo;993099Correct. She isn't fond of computer surveys and enjoys throwing a wrench into their data.

How does she do on the Voigt-Kampff scale?

Quote from: Tod13;993024Too many of us weren't familiar with the movies.

I weep for this generation.

Quote from: Dumarest;993102How does she do on the Voigt-Kampff scale?

Fish.

Quote from: RPGPundit;992826Yes, both of those campaigns were/are very gonzo.

My games always run the extremes, either not at all gonzo, or highly gonzo. My Wild West campaign has practically no gonzo in it (well, except for Paddy the bear, but he's an actual historical fact). Dark Albion had only a tiny bit of gonzo, mostly due to stuff the PCs themselves put in.

My DCC game is the most Gonzo RPG campaign I've ever run. It might be the most Gonzo RPG campaign anyone has ever run, period.

Our scion ww2 campaign hears this and summons Ru Paul's glittery gauntlet to toss it down through 666 hell dimensions in challenge. I mean, we summoned up something awfully close to Cthulhu, chained together two bombers with the chains of genres and flew through England's Radar defenses, shoved roman scientist-scions into the stomachs of American soldiers mutated into frost Giants, and fought a giant transformer/destroyer ship that was fueled on souls in the North Sea. Also, we rescued 500 POWs and impersonated Hitler.

Quote from: RPGPundit;993773I weep for this generation.

LOL. Dude, I'm _your_ generation. (I think so anyway. I'm almost 50.)

I fell like maybe we're still trying to get a handle on what the spectrum of Gonzo is.

Like...how Gonzo is bog-standard D&D*?

No, that may be the wrong question to start with. Let me try again.

What the hell would not-Gonzo D&D look like?

Because there is some crazy shit in there. I mean, sure, it can look like a straightforward fantasy setting, with wizards and elves and shit...until you get around to Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, where the crashed spaceships, ray guns, and robots show up.




*Assuming, for the purposes of this discussion, that such a thing even exists in some form.

Quote from: Tod13;993839LOL. Dude, I'm _your_ generation. (I think so anyway. I'm almost 50.)

In that case, where the fuck were you?! You've missed out.

I find Anderson too precious, except for Bottle Rocket.

I do like The Royal Tenenbaums bit feel like he's been repeating himself since except for the delightful surprise of The Fantastic Mr. Fox, my favourite Dahl as a kid.

Quote from: RPGPundit;994496In that case, where the fuck were you?! You've missed out.

I was thinking more Buckaroo Banzai, Demolition Man, The Running Man, and Tank Girl. Not sure about the order other than I'm pretty sure Tank Girl is most gonzo.

Or how about North by Northwest, The Tenth Victim, King Solomon's Mines (Allan Quatermain), Young Frankenstein, and Dr Strangelove?

Quote from: Gwarh;991558The older I get the more Gonzo I can handle.

When I was a tween in the early 80's I hate the Gonzo elements in Gamma World. I took the setting very seriously and worked hard to make it make more sense and be more serious. Same with rules systems for that matter. House rules were heresy for me.

But as I've aged I've begun to understand what those old grognards at the time found so much fun and entertaining. I'm not for Gonzo 24/7 but it is fun in the right setting DCC/MCC/Gamma-World/Paranoia.

Funny enough, that's me, but with a caveat:).

Quote from: Xavier Onassiss;991648Gonzo is fine, as long as everyone knows it's gonzo, and it's intentional. If we're all playing a serious game and some ass-clown busts out some gonzo bullshit then expects it to fly - especially the GM - then look out.

Bonus bullshit points if he tries to tell us it's completely normal.

That's the caveat;).

And I can play with a lot of gonzo, but the more gonzo it is, the higher my higher my other criteria go regarding everything else in the game.

Quote from: RPGPundit;993773I weep for this generation.

Yeah, they should definitely spend more time staring at screens.

Quote from: Tod13;994554I was thinking more Buckaroo Banzai, Demolition Man, The Running Man, and Tank Girl. Not sure about the order other than I'm pretty sure Tank Girl is most gonzo.

Or how about North by Northwest, The Tenth Victim, King Solomon's Mines (Allan Quatermain), Young Frankenstein, and Dr Strangelove?

I don't think he goes for subtle gonzo...seems to like boldface gonzo like talking trashcans fighting spacemen transporting pizzerias to Mars and whatever.

Quote from: Dumarest;994748I don't think he goes for subtle gonzo...seems to like boldface gonzo like talking trashcans fighting spacemen transporting pizzerias to Mars and whatever.

Makes sense. I never thought of it as subtle gonzo, but I think you're probably right. I even thought Logan's Run would quality at a very low level of gonzo, which I thought of because I keep thinking you used to have Michael York from his Musketeer movies (my favorites) as your avatar.

More on point, the gonzo at my table seems to be less in the setting or module and more in how my characters interact with it. (Greeting the orc guards with, "Hello, we're from Cave Catering, we got an order for mushroom fungi vindaloo.")

Quote from: Tod13;994846Makes sense. I never thought of it as subtle gonzo, but I think you're probably right. I even thought Logan's Run would quality at a very low level of gonzo, which I thought of because I keep thinking you used to have Michael York from his Musketeer movies (my favorites) as your avatar.

More on point, the gonzo at my table seems to be less in the setting or module and more in how my characters interact with it. (Greeting the orc guards with, "Hello, we're from Cave Catering, we got an order for mushroom fungi vindaloo.")

I did used to have Michael York as D'Artagnan as my avatar.

Quote from: Dumarest;994897I did used to have Michael York as D'Artagnan as my avatar.

Good to know this once my memory was correct. :-)

Quote from: Tod13;994911Good to know this once my memory was correct. :-)

For a while I also had Gerard Depardieu as Cyrano de Bergerac.

Quote from: Dumarest;994748I don't think he goes for subtle gonzo...seems to like boldface gonzo like talking trashcans (...).

You mean like Daleks?

Quote from: RPGPundit;992824Hell, just about anything with Bill Murray in it tends to be at least a little bit gonzo.

Well, there's not the least bit of gonzo in Lost in Translation.

Quote from: Barghest;994110Like...how Gonzo is bog-standard D&D

Bog-standard D&D with beholders, modrons, gelatinous cubes, and mass-manufactured wands of magic missile is already way too gonzo for me.

QuoteWhat the hell would not-Gonzo D&D look like?

Adventures in Middle-earth?

Quote from: Dumarest;994748I don't think he goes for subtle gonzo...seems to like boldface gonzo like talking trashcans fighting spacemen transporting pizzerias to Mars and whatever.

Most of those on his list were much less subtle gonzo than the ones on my list. The difference is that his had much more obscure pop-culture classics, while mine had more literary stuff.

Quote from: RPGPundit;995623Most of those on his list were much less subtle gonzo than the ones on my list. The difference is that his had much more obscure pop-culture classics, while mine had more literary stuff.

Interesting. Amongst the poeple I know, your list would be "more obscure" than most of my list. LOL Oh well. ;)

Obscurity is in the eye of the nonbeholder.

Quote from: Dumarest;995853Obscurity is in the eye of the nonbeholder.

Evidently, for me yesterday, spelling "people" was also "in the eye..." :p

Quote from: Tod13;995660Interesting. Amongst the poeple I know, your list would be "more obscure" than most of my list. LOL Oh well. ;)

Well, yes, I can understand that. His were more directly nerd-based gonzo. Mine weren't, with the exception of Venture Bros and maybe Transmetropolitan (but even the latter is more niche-intellectual).

I thought intellectual gonzo  would be  Ulysses or Through the Looking-Glass.

Quote from: Dumarest;996732I thought intellectual gonzo  would be  Ulysses or Through the Looking-Glass.

Well, you could say those are "pre-Gonzo".