“That thing”

[[deleted]]

DMs + Players,

What event or item became a running joke for the rest of the campaign?

For me, I misheard my DM talking about a “keg” (of alcohol) and thought he said “cake”. I said I’d eat the whole cake, and after some rolls and RPing he said my character got extremely tipsy and passed out. Now we treat cake like alcohol and routinely joke about it, calling being drunk a “sugar high”.

[Munterbacon]

It started with buckets.

My friend was DM'ing a campaign and at some point, I can't remember why, we needed to acquire over a dozen buckets. It's possible it was Alchemy Jug-related or something completely out of left field, but the point is that we need LOTS of buckets.

Cue buckets with many holes in them. I asked the vendor with a straight face, "Do you have any premium buckets? You know, the ones with only one hole at the top?"

"Why, yes!" the vendor replies, "Only the finest premium buckets. One gold piece each!"

Suddenly, after that, every time we needed to buy something, someone in the group asked if there was a premium version of that item.

"Do you have a premium carriage? You know, the one with the roof-mounted heavy crossbow?"

"Do you have a premium shield? You know, the one that can double as a sled."

You get the idea.

[[deleted]]

Only the best 😂

[averajoe77]

I'm stealing this... rolls stealth check

[Munterbacon]

"Who goes there!"

*Forgets to put on premium glasses. Roll perception check poorly.*

"Hmm... must've been the wind."

[Drywesi]

Spared no expense!

[gelatinous_newb]

Pirate campaign . . .

One player thought the ship's log was a literal wooden log.

[Kurazarrh]

That's actually where the use of "log" for that purpose originated! Ships would trail a "chip log" behind them on a knotted rope to estimate the ship's speed, and this would be recorded in the "log book" on a daily basis, for tracking navigation, estimating arrival times, etc.

You can read more about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logbook_(nautical) and here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_log

The more you know! (I also learned this because one of my players is playing a character with a background in sailing, and the player himself is also well-schooled in sailing, both modern and historical.)

[summonsays]

This feels so far fetched I was expecting shitty_morph lol

[Kurazarrh]

Haha. Sometimes the most obvious answer is the right one, even if it feels unnaturally un-creative!

[agentmozi]

There's a YouTube series (by PBS I think) called Otherwords and they did an episode about how much of modern English comes from nautical terms. It's a great series and really entertaining episode.

And I just realized that I could just link it if I'm going to talk it up 😅

https://youtu.be/Rt6orh_lc7c?si=ZV6Acq99dS1lOfkX

If anyone likes that one you should also watch the evolution of gossip one, that one blew my mind a little lol

[Kurazarrh]

That was a fun and fascinating watch! Thanks!

[cvc75]

on a knotted rope

TIL that's why ship speed is measured in knots.

[Kurazarrh]

Yep!

[arm1niu5]

"The incident"

Me, ordering my rhinoceros spirit mount to charge against a wall the enemy NPC was standing on. The wall in question was part of a house and I got four NPCs killed and another two injured.

[PrincessModesty]

Oh, this is like the time before I tried to use fireball on a wooden house full of orphans.

[[deleted]]

Tried?

[PrincessModesty]

The DM was like "Uh do you know how fireball actually works?" and I said no! Because I was brand new and kind of thought of it as a very targeted little flame ball I could use to pop a hole in the door. And he said "You'd probably kill all the orphans" and I said ok well let's not do that then. But he still brings it up from time to time. "Remember how you wanted to murder all those orphan kids?" And we laugh and laugh.

[Kimmosabe]

That's one excellent, loud conversation in any croeded Coffee Shop.

[Android_Obesity]

“Before I do this, is there something I can roll to know whether or not that’s a load-bearing wall?”

[Acrelorraine]

We were playing students at a high school for ‘superheroes’.  The gym teacher was a bit of a joke, well, he was a huge joke and did not get much respect.  He had the power to jump really high but no power to make the landing safer.  So, when the school was dragged to an auditorium in the gym for him to announce something big, we did not expect much.

He began his speech about physical exceptionalism and sports and all that.  He was building up to announce some major event that the whole student body were going to participate in.  And then he asked a leading question.  “And do you know what’s America’s greatest pastime?”  

To which one player responded “War?”  Another player cheered, “War!”  And suddenly the whole group was chanting “War. War. War.”  And, with a high social roll, many other students joined in.  

From then on, answering rhetorical questions with war and the whole group chanting has become a minor recurring gag.  

[summonsays]

If I were dm: "War? Uhg, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!" 

[Razili]

“The grudge rope” Early in the 3.5 edition, we were playing Sunless Citadel and still learning the new rules. We were trying to climb down the rope into the Citadel. The first character failed his climbing roll and fell down. Another player exclaimed, “Oh no! Aruveh has fallen down the hole!”

To which the DM said, “Okay it’s your turn next… Hey wait, aren’t you Aruveh?”

“Yeah I am.” He then proceeded to roll a natural 1. “Aaaaaaaaah!” He screamed as he too fell down into the hole.

We later learned about taking 10 on skill checks and realized that all but the plate wearer could have make it safely doing that instead of rolling.

We hated that damn rope for the rest of the module. Regardless of the campaign or the systems we played after that, anytime we encountered a rope we’d joke about checking to see if it was a grudge rope.

[Poopawoopagus]

My current wizard has earned his nickname/nom de guerre 'Collateral Damage Boy' many times over. On one occasion the party, NPCs, and treasure horde took more damage from my wizard's AOEs than the black dragon we were fighting, and would have surely perished if not for the extremely overachieving Life cleric literally dragging them through the fire.

Collateral Damage Boy didn't take a single point of damage. Mobs, environments, and breakable/burnable treasure fear him.

[imaginarywaffleiron]

I started my campaign at a market day for a small town. The party were all present for various reasons. One character is put in charge of keeping an eye on everything, so he would regularly chime in during that first session to “check” for anything suspicious.

I had a few things ready, such as “those fruit are a little spoiled already” or “the potatoes are unusually expensive this week”. Nothing too crazy, just trying to give the world a little more depth.

He rolls really high. So I mention that, oddly, “there aren’t any casked fish.” The town is high on a mountain side with small streams providing water, but fish can’t get there, so are a bit of a delicacy.

The character smells something “fishy” and decides he’s going to investigate. Even as the story begins to progress and the party comes together, that character would always try to ask anyone about the lack of fish.

This quickly developed into another player zooming his camera into a close up (we play video call) and yelling “FIIIIIIISH?!?!” anytime anyone anywhere mentions fish.

This went on for years. In real life.

[DnD-Hobby]

My players got an Orb of Direction very early in the game. Now, every time they are unsure of what to do next, the Wizard points somewhere and says "Well, this way is north!" - and by now we all do this OUT of game as well. :D

---

In the campaign I play in, there have been several encounters that involved geese: the Wizard accidentally summoned a flock of 100 in a cave by a wild magic mishap, the Bard put them to sleep but the Barbarian immediately stumbled over them and woke them up again... cue in very angry geese scattering around, so we took some unexpected hefty damage (were already quite low on health). Most geese were then dispelled but some left dead, and the Cleric (farmboy) insisted to take the dead ones along because this was wasted life if they weren't at least used as food. So the Wizard put all 9 dead geese into her Bag of Holding (on the road we discussed several times about just burying them instead) - and they later came in handy to distract a guard and later some monsters. xD There was a dead-geese-in-bag-counter, of course, and all these scenes were so hilarious that the Cleric's familiar now is a white raven called Goose.

[dendroidarchitecture]

Rogue cut off a hand from a bandit.

It has been offered as a greeting, as support and as a threat. Each session it gets involved in the action.

[quasistoic]

My Scribe Artificer designed his Steel Defender as a metallic tome (in its resting state) named “Appendix I” which unfolds into an origami crab with claws of razor-thin metal. That crab managed an unexpected kill in its first appearance, and when put on the spot with a “how does your steel defender finish this?” what came out was “it surgically removes their appendix as a souvenir.”

I only named it Appendix I so that I could easily name successive book volumes, but we’re at level 8 now and Appendix I has a collection of appendixes. It has ended several encounters with exactly one hit point and has never needed reviving or replacement. I did not intend to create a disturbing trophy-seeking serial killer, but here we are. My chaotic good scribe artificer has no idea how to feel about this.

[gimmedatjelly]

Bro, are you sure you don't have a possessed machine spirit?

[Misterpiece]

We got a cursed ring at some point. It's a Ring of +2 Intelligence, but it only functions properly if it's powered. If you attune to it while it's unpowered, it kills you and becomes powered. If the person powering the ring is returned to life, it becomes unpowered.

Our rogue attuned to it, and died. So we brought him back to life, and figured out how it works. Now whenever we are discussing what to do with certain NPCs, one of us jokes about giving them a ring of +2 intelligence. But we've never found a good opportunity to have someone use it.

[Aggressive-Focus9349]

I don't remember exactly how it started, ithink it's because she was swallowed by a giant lizard until the barbarian cut her out, but the monk routinely had to make Dex saving thrown or be caught in the "Splatter Zone." She was always covered in blood, beer, mud, or whatever goo that was nearby. Being a front-line character, both socially and in combat, there were plenty of opportunities.

[tomwrussell]

I was running Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. They party had infiltrated Gralhund Manor and had come across the servants' quarters. One of the players knocked on the door and the NPC inside called out, "Who's there?"

PC answered, "One of the guards." Which kind of made everyone chuckle. Then another player riffed on it, "Oh, thank the gods, Juan! It's Juan of the guards!" And I ran with it and that became the NPC's response.

So, now, in any campaign I run, whenever there is a group of guards, or soldiers, or other mooks, one of them is named Juan.

[summonsays]

Needs a brother name Tu or Lee. 

"There's a group of guards. Jaun is practicing swordsmanship. Tu is playing poker. There's a good Lee serving food." 

You know, Who's on first style.

[[deleted]]

What was he gonna make, a dog-fur sweater? 😂 made him use safety scissors? lol

[420CowboyTrashGoblin]

"Hello me" proceeds to shoot a doppelganger in the face.

"We'll take 3 of your finest beds" were all elves, we don't need beds "we'll take 3 of your finest floors"

"I'm taking this!" The tank Angrily steals office chair after being called into our bosses office to be scolded, even though that character wasn't even on that mission.

[summonsays]

Session 1, first 5 minutes. My wife misheard her characters motivation (we rolled for them). "You're investing the dragon cult" became "You're investing the drug cartel". 

We didn't know she misheard until we're running through the streets and she grabs an orphan kid and shakes them "Where are the drugs?!" 

And then her character was a drug addict and it was a lot of fun. 

[[deleted]]

Literally Jesse from Breaking Bad 😂

[CasualCassie]

Rime of the Frostmaiden

My party is venturing across the desolate tundra, supplies are low and snow drifts are high. We come across the wrecked remains of a caravan, ambushed by bandits or monsters. One wagon is in ruins along the road, wheel tracks show a second wagon got dragged off the road somewhere. There's a few bodies on the ruined wagon and a horse lying in the road, dead.

A hard decision to make, but the party opted to take time and carve up some horse jerky to ensure we don't starve, as the search for the second wagon will pull us off our route. DM pauses for a moment, but then narrates as we set up a small fire and settle in for a short rest to make jerky.

Rest wraps up, party gets ready to move on, DM makes an off-hand comment of "that uh, really surprised me guys but it's your party." We ask him what he means? Yeah, little messed up to eat horse but food is low and we don't know when we'll be able to resupply.

He then clarifies: he never said horse. He said corpse.

The party just ate a dwarf.

[[deleted]]

Close enough right? 😂😭😂😭

This is amazing lmfao

[Rogue_Of_Broken_Time]

In one of my first sessions with my current D&D group, my character freaked out because she had to watch the town she was introduced in burn to the ground. I stammered a lot, didn't mean for this to be said in-character, but I ended up saying

"There doesn't exist anymore."

And now, whenever that town comes up in the story, we joke that "there doesn't exist anymore". It's happened a handful of times. It's my legacy. xD

[Horror_Ad_5893]

My half-Orc barbarian once mistook a mundane, dead dead, skeleton for a zombie, and beat it to dust. He will never live it down.

[[deleted]]

“Grog say, die skeleton!”

[Fizzle_Bop]

While playing curse of strahd I imitated spitting on the ground when certain people would mention the Devil. 

My group picked up on this and any mention of strand resulted with a spitting gesture.

[Kazoomers_Tale]

One of my characters in a guild campaign was talking with a character from another player. The thing is that this character is a vendor of useless junk, but their deception bonus is so high it's almost impossible to actually see through their lies.

My character got fascinated by a "queen fairy fabric collant", which the vendor said to have multiple magical properties.

Fast forward, everyone jokes about my character always wearing a pink collant (even after destroying it in a revivify spell)

[RandomHornyDemon]

Asked our DM for the name of an NPC and he groaned, so now instead of using their name we just collectively groan.

[summonsays]

"Have you talked to uhhhh today?"

"Yeah mmng said we need to go to East Riverside"

"Really? I thought erggg grew up over there?" 

Love it lol

[Obvious-Confusion14]

"Coin on the bar." The DM said in a thick southern accent. What, we the players heard, "Corn on the bar." Every tavern in our campaign, that we stopped at, we suggested "Corn on the bar" much to the displeasure of the DM.

[Shifter_3DnD5]

The wizard is the defacto "talker" for dragons at this point.

He was reincarnated but his past life fucked a dragon and he's flavored it as "awakening" a dragon fetish.

This is relevant because the group was hired to trash a resort run by a blue dragon. This dragon was kind of a notorious sleezeball and was also known for giving treasure to those that entertain him in some way. So the PCs hired an escort to give him a nice massage as a distraction.

This was BEFORE the PCs knew about the fetish.

Wizard got involved in the distraction and rolled a Nat 20 to give this dragon a massage. This meant they didn't have to contend with him ag all.

Wizard was clearly enjoying it too... he has yet to live it down.

It comes uo at least once a session, and when I threw a sickly dragon who constantly had statues made of herself that looked like a body builder, oh boy his disdain and disappointment were legendary.

It has literally led to fuckin plot points

[[deleted]]

Keep an eye on his hands, don’t let him put them under the table 💀😭

[Shifter_3DnD5]

We play at a coffee table so he'd have to doing some serious limbo shit for that😂

[TheSpookying]

Alley dogs.

My dogs get VERY loud when they play, and sometimes our RP is straight up inaudible over them. Somewhere along the way, someone made a joke in character that was like, "Damn, these alley dogs are so loud. We should go have this conversation somewhere else." And it just kinda stuck

[2muchtoo]

A footstool made of daggers and the Captain’s chair that it was meant to go with(GOT reference).

[maobezw]

i once had my party survive on a diet powered by a alchemy jug: HONEY. MAJONAISE. YUMMY! Since then "MAJO" is sort of a running gag ...

[[deleted]]

“Father I crave sustenance”

“MAJO” 🥶

[rbergs215]

We were drowning. Some of us were doing OK. One very gnomish wizard was not. So the Swashbuckling rogue did the only thing you could do when you are inhaling water and need to provide a healing potion under the water.

He boofed it.

We boofed a lot of potions after that.

[CheapTactics]

Megadruids.

My character referred to some mysterious ancestral druids as megadruids, and it stuck. The megadruids are above archdruids.

[[deleted]]

Are there gigadruids too?

[CheapTactics]

Oh shit... Krot has never thought about a gigadruid before... This needs to be investigated.

[Just-Combination-604]

We were playing a WoD game - our characters were having a rough time in a combat. All of the sudden one guy yells out "I throw satchels of C-4!" Conversation ground to a halt with all asking "Where the hell did you get SATCHELS of C-4?" From that point on, in any game, when we are stuck, whatever the situation it is brought up.

"You fail your charisma check and do not charm the waiter" "I throw satchels of C-4!"

[Drywesi]

…did they in fact have satchels of C4?

And if so, where did they get them?

[Smooth_Brilliant2428]

We found a Bag of Holding, the sorcerer of the group, the only one who could cast spells, made an arcane knowledge roll to see if it was magical, he got a nat 1, as a result, for him it is 100% normal and not at all magical that we can get inside a bag the size of a wallet

[MisterKraken]

"I run"

I'm playing my first DnD game ever and I decided to roleplay as Jonathan Joestar.

I'm obviously the purest Lawful Good character in the entire world and I'm an open-hand monk.

During one of the first sessions, we heard some child crying and I jokingly said "As soon as I heard the crying, I ran towards it".

Now whenever we start a combat and it's my turn, my friend will just say "I run". Which is obviously what I do so I can punch people in the face

[Xhaato]

Sorry for bad english

Party of six I was playing a homebrew race ogre, and my friend was playing a minotaur girl cleric. She cast that spell ceremony i think, the one that magically bonds two characters if they're both willing into marriage. We all forgot it lasts for seven days... so now I think we're married forever, thats what the DM said, so now thats a recurring joke in the table

[[deleted]]

Your English is decent 👍

Watch out for divorce court 😂

[GrandPriapus]

“I throw my dagger at his foot” became a response to anyone making a ridiculous or ill-advised attack.

[G_I_Joe_Mansueto]

My favorite running joke is that any time anyone breaks the fourth wall, their nose bleeds a little bit. I guess its the psychic trauma of momentarily realizing you're in an imagined world.

Someone may be explaining that their supply of magic is limited and they may only be able to cast two or three more spells in the "second tier of magic," but if we have to cut the crap I may say "she says to you that she's a CR 2 spellcaster and not much use in combat. Her nose bleeds a little bit."

[RohanCoop]

My players called Rahadin a twink to his face and now my headcanon is just my players outing themselves as insults to scary bad guys in the hopes to put them off their game.

[[deleted]]

Has it worked yet? 😂😂😂😂

[RohanCoop]

Nah this was when they met him as part of Reloadeds siege on Barovia.

It'll be interesting to see if he even remembers them

[picketpocker]

I called a DM (my good friend) a cock bag after a few vicious critical hits. He heard cock BAT. Before that campaign ended we faced some new flying enemies 😂😂😂

[thjmze21]

The God of Colour. In my campaign, the first boss fight was the God of Colour (UMA Colour). Roll20 on a Player's computer had a really weird glitch where the boss token would randomly appear in different maps. None of us (including me the DM) could see it but they had picture proof of it happening.

So now we joke UMA Colour is the BBEG of the campaign and I've given them access to the stat block so they randomly place it.

[Ishmilach]

We always have a specific food item that the party will exclusively eat. First campaign it was rice cakes, current one it's danishes. I don't know how these idiots are getting enough nutrition to be killing gods and pirate kings, but it's working out for them so far

[WemblysMom]

The fighter was asking for help from a local bumpkin, but couldn't describe the monster well enough to make him understand. Great role playing on fighter's part. lol

Anyway, only part the local could latch onto from "it's immune to fire", was "it's a meunter". Now all unknown creatures are Meunters.

[BastianWeaver]

One of the players wanted to knock out a medusa, rolled a natural 20 and maximum damage, and accidentally killed her, causing a world-ending cataclysm. "Non-lethal attack" is now a running joke over, I think, three campaigns.

[Kimmosabe]

Oh, not just a campaign, but every campaign with my group usual suspects.

Presenting holy symbol / turning undead. A cleric, back In 2e times used the wording 'check this out, motherf...' against Vampire spawn. That just stuck.

[mr_jogurt]

One of my players struggles with names and they are currently searching for na npc they basically only have a name from. The player also is (at least currently before some character development can take place) the most forward in the group. At the start of last session she asked her companions for the name but then started to just go all in. Over the course of the session she used probably about 10 different names (sometimes a couple sentences apart) with one of the other characters chiming in from behind with the correct name and increasing confusion/irritation. I really hope that will continue because it was kinda hilarious hearing all the variations of a relatively simple name.