PunMaster

PunMaster

Flynn Lyton Telemon, on the subject of bird puns:"Canary come out and play?"

The entire Golden Plains, in unison: "GROAN!"

What is it?

The PunMaster is a purely honorary title awarded to the winner of a quarterly Pun Tourney. One title is awarded for each season of the year, e.g., "PunMaster of Spring," "PunMaster of Summer," etc., corresponding to the time of year when that contest is held. It was customary for the PunMaster of the previous season to host the current season's Pun Tourney, and to then present a belt favor to that tourney's winner.

The PunMaster occupies no position whatsoever in the Order of Precedence, and is generally reviled and despised among the populace. It is customary to hurl rotten vegetables or other refuse at the PunMaster... or perhaps it should be.

When Maccalus left the Golden Plains in the early 1990's, the tradition of the Pun Tourney was well-established there, having been brought to the Plains by Boldwen Reinholt when he moved up from the Emerald Hills. Some years later, Maccalus was surprised to find that nobody in the Plains or the Hills seemed to have heard of the PunMaster before. To his eternal shame, Maccalus revived the tradition when he co-founded the Freehold of Five Banners in 2007.

How do you become the PunMaster?

The title of PunMaster is awarded to the winner of a quarterly Pun Tourney, which is hosted by the previous PunMaster.

The host chooses a topic, generally something like "bird puns" or "beer puns." As a rule of thumb, the more mundane the topic the better!

Participants in the tourney usually sit facing each other in a circle. The first victim-- er, contestant-- must then make a pun which has at least an indirect relation to the topic. Once that individual has punned, the contest proceeds to the person on his or her immediate left, and continues around the circle in a clockwise direction.

Each contestant is automatically allowed to "pass" once if he or she is unable to think of a pun. Additional passes may be granted if the contestant makes a 'groaner,' or particularly hideous pun eliciting a groan from the majority of those assembled, or is able to incorporate two or more puns within the same sentence. The validity of groaners and double puns is determined by a majority vote of those within the circle. Once a given pun has been used in a tourney, it may not be repeated and variations of that particular pun are no longer allowed. Any person unable to come up with a suitable pun, and without any remaining "passes," is eliminated and must remove him- or herself from the circle. Play continues until only one dark soul remains-- the new PunMaster.

From Dictionary.com

PUN /puhn/ (punned, punning): the humorous use of a word or phrase so as to emphasize or suggest its different meanings or applications, or the use of words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning; a play on words.