Poison Joke

In case your group encounters Poison Joke at some point, I'm trying to come up with a table of effects (something akin to the Tons of Fun table). I haven't come up with too many ideas yet, so feel free to add you own as you see fit. These effects should be applied subtly if possible, only showing up some time after exposure. Curing them could happen through either a successful History or Heal check (either knowing the correct herbal remedies, or figuring them out). Finding someone who knows the cure could work too.

1. Pony is reduced to 1/10th size.
   
2. Pony's tongue swells up comically, causing extreme difficulties in verbal communication.
   
3. Pony's voice changes completely.
   
4. Pony's hair grows extremely long and unkempt, causing difficulty seeing and moving.
   
5. Pony's become extremely uncoordinated, to the point of tripping over their own hooves.
   
6. Pony's mane disappears entirely.
   
7. Pony grows to twice their normal size.
   
8. Pony becomes entirely colorless.
   
9. Pony's mane and tail become extremely eye-catching colors.
   
10. Pony becomes extremely noisy while performing even simple tasks.
    
11. Pony becomes cross-eyed and has trouble focusing.
    
12. Pony's coat become striped like a zebra's.

These are mostly suggestions, and Ponyhandlers are encouraged to come up with their own tables. Poison Joke seems to work on the insecurities or pride of its victims, so tailoring it so that it directly affects something important to a character will probably have a lot more impact than simply rolling a random effect (though getting a completely random effect might be more fun).

Any thoughts or suggestions? Do we even need something like this with the Tons of Fun table already in place?

I personally interpret Poison Joak as affecting the pony's cutie mark in some way. I.E. Fireflare, an OC that I have yet to translate properly to this system, has a special talent of precision; when she gets Joaked she becomes as floppy as a fish.

Masterweaver wrote:I personally interpret Poison Joak as affecting the pony's cutie mark in some way. I.E. Fireflare, an OC that I have yet to translate properly to this system, has a special talent of precision; when she gets Joaked she becomes as floppy as a fish.

No, I just realized that can't be right. Animal caretaking isn't the opposite of deep voices, nor is the opposite of partying a swollen tongue. It's more like something that's important to them is subverted.

Pinkie: her love to talk subverted by a swollen tongue.
Applejack: her strength subverted by becoming tiny.
Fluttershy: her shy personality subverted by the deep voice (okay, this one isn't as strong a case as the others)
Rainbow Dash: her love of flight subverted by her wings becoming upside down (one of the cases where it does relate to Cutie Mark, as do the next two)
Rarity: her love of beauty subverted by hideous green straggly hair
Twilight: her love of magic subverted by a floppy horn

The Warrior of Many Faces wrote:

Masterweaver wrote:I personally interpret Poison Joak as affecting the pony's cutie mark in some way. I.E. Fireflare, an OC that I have yet to translate properly to this system, has a special talent of precision; when she gets Joaked she becomes as floppy as a fish.

No, I just realized that can't be right. Animal caretaking isn't the opposite of deep voices, nor is the opposite of partying a swollen tongue. It's more like something that's important to them is subverted.

Pinkie: her love to talk subverted by a swollen tongue.
Applejack: her strength subverted by becoming tiny.
Fluttershy: her shy personality subverted by the deep voice (okay, this one isn't as strong a case as the others)
Rainbow Dash: her love of flight subverted by her wings becoming upside down (one of the cases where it does relate to Cutie Mark, as do the next two)
Rarity: her love of beauty subverted by hideous green straggly hair
Twilight: her love of magic subverted by a floppy horn

For Rarity, the green hair was Trixie. Poison Joke essentially gave her long, messy dreadlocks.

Flutterknight wrote:For Rarity, the green hair was Trixie. Poison Joke essentially gave her long, messy dreadlocks.

Really? I thought it was green. Point still stands, though.

The Warrior of Many Faces wrote: Fluttershy: her shy personality subverted by the deep voice (okay, this one isn't as strong a case as the others)

I would say subverting her gentle personality myself.

I would recommend a personal touch to this, desiging a new one for each character, however that requires the dm to understand each player and character, and has to be planed for in advance, whereas a ramdom table is easier to just throw in and you can get some good laughs from it. Maybe a mix of the two? A random table indicating what part of the pony is affected, and the dm can figure out how.

Maybe like this:

1. mane- can be straight, fritzy, dyed, bleached, shrunk, grown
2. mouth- pitch changed, swollen tounge, sentaces come out wrong
3. Coat- colour changed, zebra stribes added, pattern appears, feathers grow.
4. Size- shrink, grow, parts shrink or grow, shrink and grow at random times
5. Wings/horn- inverted, flopy, uncontrollable, missing
6. Hooves- too big, too small, no balance, cant stop dancing

And so on.

Prof. Charles Hoofington wrote:

The Warrior of Many Faces wrote: Fluttershy: her shy personality subverted by the deep voice (okay, this one isn't as strong a case as the others)

I would say subverting her gentle personality myself.

I would recommend a personal touch to this, desiging a new one for each character, however that requires the dm to understand each player and character, and has to be planed for in advance, whereas a ramdom table is easier to just throw in and you can get some good laughs from it. Maybe a mix of the two? A random table indicating what part of the pony is affected, and the dm can figure out how.

Maybe like this:

1. mane- can be straight, fritzy, dyed, bleached, shrunk, grown
2. mouth- pitch changed, swollen tounge, sentaces come out wrong
3. Coat- colour changed, zebra stribes added, pattern appears, feathers grow.
4. Size- shrink, grow, parts shrink or grow, shrink and grow at random times
5. Wings/horn- inverted, flopy, uncontrollable, missing
6. Hooves- too big, too small, no balance, cant stop dancing

And so on.

Ah, yes, gentle personality makes more sense there. Thanks!

Also, I like this new chart idea, so long as it can be made to work with a die roll. If we have nine possibilities, we're kinda in trouble unless we roll a d10 and ignore any rolls of 10.

I am sure that between us all we can come up with at least 10 results. I mean, i came up with a new table and 6 possible results for it on the spot. Well, #5 needs reworking at the least so it can affect earth pones as well, and maybe the other races. We can add things like eyes and tails, maybe cutie marks (i count 9 now) and i dont know what else. Maybe on a 10 you roll twice, rerolling any further tens? So you have two ailments instead of one. Or on a ten theres no effect- you got away this time!

Any one got anything to add? I'm just bouncing ideas of the wall here.

Again, I prefer letting the DM decide what the Joak does. Giving it a table makes it seem... random. Joak is implied to be at least a little analytical.

Prof. Charles Hoofington wrote:I am sure that between us all we can come up with at least 10 results. I mean, i came up with a new table and 6 possible results for it on the spot. Well, #5 needs reworking at the least so it can affect earth pones as well, and maybe the other races. We can add things like eyes and tails, maybe cutie marks (i count 9 now) and i dont know what else. Maybe on a 10 you roll twice, rerolling any further tens? So you have two ailments instead of one. Or on a ten theres no effect- you got away this time!

Any one got anything to add? I'm just bouncing ideas of the wall here.

Eyes and Cutie Marks seems good, although I'd think that tail would fall under mane. Maybe innards, such as uncontrollable vomiting or constant hunger? As for #5, maybe it disrupts the basic magics of the race. For example, it would disrupt Earth Ponies' connection with the earth, while Changelings would lose control of their shapeshifting and Griffins have their wings affected as with pegasi.

I think your right about tails and manes, however i think affecting innards is a little gross for the setting. Also, griffins shouldnt be lumbered with the same set of problems as pegasi, maybe they have there claws blunted instead, or instead of roaring they meow?

Edit:

Masterweaver wrote:Again, I prefer letting the DM decide what the Joak does. Giving it a table makes it seem... random. Joak is implied to be at least a little analytical.

I agree, but i feel that requires significant prep time to get right and some people like myself are very bad judge of character, making such a task seem difficult (especialy when i dont actualy have any characters to effect). With the framework of a random table, even if all it does is choose a body part to be affected, helps focus ideas for a quick and fun game. But yeah, i do favour the personal touch.

Prof. Charles Hoofington wrote:I agree, but i feel that requires significant prep time to get right and some people like myself are very bad judge of character, making such a task seem difficult (especialy when i dont actualy have any characters to effect). With the framework of a random table, even if all it does is choose a body part to be affected, helps focus ideas for a quick and fun game. But yeah, i do favour the personal touch.

Which is why the use of Poison Joke should be a relatively mid/late game encounter. That way, players have time to create their own personality and really flesh them out. For the player who always tends to be the first one in the door, give him "Random Friction," where he will randomly have and not have friction whenever he tries to move or stop. For the player with the silver tongue... give them a silver tongue (or a polka-dotted one!). Etc.

Prof. Charles Hoofington wrote:I think your right about tails and manes, however i think affecting innards is a little gross for the setting. Also, griffins shouldnt be lumbered with the same set of problems as pegasi, maybe they have there claws blunted instead, or instead of roaring they meow?

Maybe mental states, then. Paranoia is fun, or maybe an inexplicable obsession with muffins. I like the claws blunted idea.

My personal headcannon regarding Poison Joke is that its a plant with a special "do something nasty" poison in it.

Basically, plants have to defend themselves against things that eat them. Grass does it by just reproducing alot, cacti grow spines to keep animals from ripping them open to drink their tasty water, carrots and potatoes put most of their starches below ground where most animals won't eat them and just regrow after the tops get eaten, and jalapeno peppers fill themselves with spicy flavor to deter animals from eating them.

Problem is that animals adapt. Desert birds will pull out the cacti spines and dig nests in the side of the cacti, pigs and rabbits will dig up carrots to eat them, and humans acquired a taste for jalapenos and started making salsa out of them.

The Poison Joke on the other hand said, "Alright, ya gits! We all see how da ponies an animals are all makin' salads outa da other vegetables. Well, we'll show'em by using a poison so nasty dat NOPONY is gonna try eaten us! Anypony so much as touches us boyz and we'z gonna make'em PAY! It's gonna be a WAAGGGHHHH!" (any yeah, I just imagined the Poison Joke talking like Orks from Warhammer 40k).

Basically, the poison in Poison Joke is a magical one that "does something nasty", no matter what pony or animal gets hit with it, the poison will adapt and hit them with something that will make them regret touching it. If they are a shy pony who doesn't like talking, it will make their voice unbearably weird to embarrass them. If they consider themselves strong, it weakens or shrinks them. If they gathered up the poison joke to make a salad, it will taste like rancid horseapples and then curse their tongue so everything else they try tastes like sweaty feet. Poison Joke doesn't necessarily care about being funny or cruel, it just hits you with something that encourages you to avoid it in the future.


As for in-game effects, maybe have a variety of general poison effects that target well-known traits (like pegasus flight, magical ability, or strength) and then also some flavor text. Like if it hits a pegasus then it reduces their ability to fly and then you say something like "Your wings are on backwards", "all your feathers fell off" or "you are now covered in cloudstuff, drastically slowing you down and making you look like a sheep".

So its more like:

Target takes a reduction to their most used trait or ability, and then gets flavor text describing it in detail.

Fallow Field wrote:The Poison Joke on the other hand said, "Alright, ya gits! We all see how da ponies an animals are all makin' salads outa da other vegetables. Well, we'll show'em by using a poison so nasty dat NOPONY is gonna try eaten us! Anypony so much as touches us boyz and we'z gonna make'em PAY! It's gonna be a WAAGGGHHHH!" (any yeah, I just imagined the Poison Joke talking like Orks from Warhammer 40k).

Sooooo muuuuch win there...

He does have a point though. That tactic worked for a lot of real-life plants too, including the one Poison Joke is based off of.

For effects, I agree with most of what's already said about Joak's "rationale", and that it's better to wait till you have a better idea of your character's personality before you introduce it. However, I think humor is also very important; the plant was made the way it is for the express purpose of humor. I mean really, they could have just as easily used plain ole poison oak, and still delivered the morale of that show just as easily. But their changes added a level of silliness that must be made use of in this setting. Maybe we might make a tamer version that isn't as rationalized, or perhaps slightly less random (meaning, a given patch always produces the same effect, the party just doesn't know what it is yet) that would provide the silliness and simple to understand challenges, without a need for too much prior character development.

As for the number 10 on the table. I would say if you roll a ten it simply affects you in a general way instead of a specific part or character element. Like Applejack's, for instance; it affected all of her, not just mane or eyes or personality. Or the zebra stripes example I saw earlier; it doesn't affect just a hoof or your nose or your voice, it affects your whole body.

</3cents>

Some interesting possibilities for Poison Joke.

And THAT, Subjectz, is how you necro.

For poison joke, I mostly just do silly things related to the PCs.

one PC is like the shadows. He becomes neon.
Another pony hates superheroes. His coat becomes a supersuit.
A third is literally named Shiny. He becomes black as coal.
A fourth is very down to earth and loves plants. She got potted.