So for a "trial" (see my other thread) I've decided to create a kind of carnival of challenges thing. It's basically just harmless fun. The breakdown is below, but I'd love more ideas or ways to improve it if you see anything.
To players: You must earn 5 medals (one medal per challenge completed). Pick from the following options.
STRENGTH -
Arm wrestle - Competing STR check. Win three times, stronger opponents each time - +2, +3, +4. Losing sets you back one.
Jump across a pit 3x - Competing STR check, beat them without falling. DC 13 Dex to land it. Opponent: +3 str, +3 dex. Losing sets you back one.
Lumberjack test - STR / CON check battle. Every two swings, roll a con or lose a turn. First to 8 completions wins.
Wrestling match - Competing athletics checks, beat them in three in a row to pin them.
DEXTERITY -
Thinning Balancing beam race - Acrobatics check DC 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 moves you forward 5 ft. A fail pushes you back two spaces. If you’ve already managed that portion before, you get a +1 to your roll for each time you’ve done it.
Sneaky sneaky - Get through a location undetected by being exceptionally quiet. A blind man sets on the far side of the room next to an open door. If you fail a sneak check (gets harder the closer you get) then he sayts “I HEAR YOU” and you end up back at the start. DC 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20.
Thief! - You appear in a crowded street. Pickpocket at least 3 people without them knowing. Each time you pickpocket someone, they noticed shortly after, making others more aware of their surroundings. DC 15, DC 18, DC 20. Failing results in them yelling “THIEF!” and a restart.
Archery competition - You have to hit 6 shrinking targets in a row before your competition (Another version of your is the competition). AC 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 22. Missing sets you back one.
CHARISMA -
Boar ride - Stay on a boar for 10 seconds, every two seconds you must make a roll to keep the beast from losing it’s mind which would lead into a Strength + Dex save. You’ll need to make both to stay on.
Give us a show! - Entertain patrons with at least three songs OR jokes. I’ll describe the patrons, you describe the song or joke. If the song fits, you roll with advantage on your performance. DC 13 for song one, 17 for song two, and 19 for song three. Failing sets you back a song.
Hey, can I have that? - Succeed in three persuasion checks. Tell me how you’re convincing them to alter the DC. 1. Can I borrow your wagon to carry horse poop (base 15)? 2. You appear in a town, someone thrusting a large sack of gold into your hands and running off. Immediately a group of guards turn the corner, accusing you and placing you under arrest. Convince them you’re not the thief (Base 18) 3. You appear in a fancy chamber, surrounded by fancy looking folks. There’s a discussion about punishing the townspeople by capturing groups of them and and beheading them publicly and it seems to be well supported. Convince them that’s NOT a good idea (Base 22).
DUNK! - Roll persuasion or intimidate to make the throwers miss (DC 14 intim / 17 pers)! You can use a wisdom roll to determine what they may be most sensitive to. If you succeed on the roll, they will have disadvantage on their roll to hit. Succeed in making five throwers miss to succeed - BUT - every time you get dunked, you take a stacking minus 2 on your next roll. You can reset at any point. Dunk button DC - 16. +5 throw.
Tl;dr. What I did read seems good. Take a look at the Witchlight Carnival and Call of the Netherdeep to see how WotC (and Crit Role) balances things like this as a double check after getting forum advice.
First to say, the idea of coming up with colorful small games to flavor carnivals etc. is really great, but too many of these just rely on a long row of repetitive scaling checks, throwing you back a "field" if you fail, and no "Game Over" condition (except maybe coming in last.)
Most groups i played with like more group/team effort games with a bit of strategy involved. Just my 2 cent.
First to say, the idea of coming up with colorful small games to flavor carnivals etc. is really great, but too many of these just rely on a long row of repetitive scaling checks, throwing you back a "field" if you fail, and no "Game Over" condition (except maybe coming in last.)
Most groups i played with like more group/team effort games with a bit of strategy involved. Just my 2 cent.
For sure. They had a great time with it, complimented it, etc. but it was brought up after that it could be interesting to add more fear of failure by changing up the system a little bit.
For instance, instead of needing each player to get 5 tokens, just make it take a total of 7, but each person is limited to only contributing 2. So if someone fails, they'll need to move and try one of the other 11 games until they get their 2. I definitely wanted people to do more than just two games though, so may be a work in progress with that.
This is just a big part of the story progression, so while they may be able to fail specific games, I kinda need them to overall succeed haha.
And there was some strategy. For instance, a player stripped down and cast fly on himself to get around the sneaky sneaky one. Just slowly flew across the room. Also, players had to RP their heckling of the specific thrower I described for the dunk tank.
AND other players could RP cheering on their party mates to give them bonuses, etc. to incentivize interaction.
So for a "trial" (see my other thread) I've decided to create a kind of carnival of challenges thing. It's basically just harmless fun. The breakdown is below, but I'd love more ideas or ways to improve it if you see anything.
To players: You must earn 5 medals (one medal per challenge completed). Pick from the following options.
STRENGTH -
Arm wrestle - Competing STR check. Win three times, stronger opponents each time - +2, +3, +4. Losing sets you back one.
Jump across a pit 3x - Competing STR check, beat them without falling. DC 13 Dex to land it. Opponent: +3 str, +3 dex. Losing sets you back one.
Lumberjack test - STR / CON check battle. Every two swings, roll a con or lose a turn. First to 8 completions wins.
Wrestling match - Competing athletics checks, beat them in three in a row to pin them.
DEXTERITY -
Thinning Balancing beam race - Acrobatics check DC 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 moves you forward 5 ft. A fail pushes you back two spaces. If you’ve already managed that portion before, you get a +1 to your roll for each time you’ve done it.
Sneaky sneaky - Get through a location undetected by being exceptionally quiet. A blind man sets on the far side of the room next to an open door. If you fail a sneak check (gets harder the closer you get) then he sayts “I HEAR YOU” and you end up back at the start. DC 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20.
Thief! - You appear in a crowded street. Pickpocket at least 3 people without them knowing. Each time you pickpocket someone, they noticed shortly after, making others more aware of their surroundings. DC 15, DC 18, DC 20. Failing results in them yelling “THIEF!” and a restart.
Archery competition - You have to hit 6 shrinking targets in a row before your competition (Another version of your is the competition). AC 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 22. Missing sets you back one.
CHARISMA -
Boar ride - Stay on a boar for 10 seconds, every two seconds you must make a roll to keep the beast from losing it’s mind which would lead into a Strength + Dex save. You’ll need to make both to stay on.
Give us a show! - Entertain patrons with at least three songs OR jokes. I’ll describe the patrons, you describe the song or joke. If the song fits, you roll with advantage on your performance. DC 13 for song one, 17 for song two, and 19 for song three. Failing sets you back a song.
Hey, can I have that? - Succeed in three persuasion checks. Tell me how you’re convincing them to alter the DC.
1. Can I borrow your wagon to carry horse poop (base 15)?
2. You appear in a town, someone thrusting a large sack of gold into your hands and running off. Immediately a group of guards turn the corner, accusing you and placing you under arrest. Convince them you’re not the thief (Base 18)
3. You appear in a fancy chamber, surrounded by fancy looking folks. There’s a discussion about punishing the townspeople by capturing groups of them and and beheading them publicly and it seems to be well supported. Convince them that’s NOT a good idea (Base 22).
DUNK! - Roll persuasion or intimidate to make the throwers miss (DC 14 intim / 17 pers)! You can use a wisdom roll to determine what they may be most sensitive to. If you succeed on the roll, they will have disadvantage on their roll to hit. Succeed in making five throwers miss to succeed - BUT - every time you get dunked, you take a stacking minus 2 on your next roll. You can reset at any point. Dunk button DC - 16. +5 throw.
Tl;dr. What I did read seems good. Take a look at the Witchlight Carnival and Call of the Netherdeep to see how WotC (and Crit Role) balances things like this as a double check after getting forum advice.
First to say, the idea of coming up with colorful small games to flavor carnivals etc. is really great, but too many of these just rely on a long row of repetitive scaling checks, throwing you back a "field" if you fail, and no "Game Over" condition (except maybe coming in last.)
Most groups i played with like more group/team effort games with a bit of strategy involved. Just my 2 cent.
For sure. They had a great time with it, complimented it, etc. but it was brought up after that it could be interesting to add more fear of failure by changing up the system a little bit.
For instance, instead of needing each player to get 5 tokens, just make it take a total of 7, but each person is limited to only contributing 2. So if someone fails, they'll need to move and try one of the other 11 games until they get their 2. I definitely wanted people to do more than just two games though, so may be a work in progress with that.
This is just a big part of the story progression, so while they may be able to fail specific games, I kinda need them to overall succeed haha.
And there was some strategy. For instance, a player stripped down and cast fly on himself to get around the sneaky sneaky one. Just slowly flew across the room. Also, players had to RP their heckling of the specific thrower I described for the dunk tank.
AND other players could RP cheering on their party mates to give them bonuses, etc. to incentivize interaction.