So long story short, decisions the characters in my game made are leading them into a bar brawl. What are some fun things to narrate for bar brawls and what sorts of consequences may befall the characters should they decide to participate?
Well, the consequences are mostly predictable, ie. getting punched in the face. Maybe making an NPC into an enemy. Harsher consequences include arrest for disturbing the peace and spending the night in the drunk tank or getting chewed out by their superior officer, if there is one. But nothing crazy. Use the Star Wars Rule. Once someone gets their arm cut off, the party is over and if you shoot a guy, you tip the bartender, apologize like a gentleman and leave quietly.
Classic things that happen include someone getting body slammed through a gaming table; the piano player carrying on playing all the way through the fight; maybe swinging on a chandelier if it's that kind of establishment. Somebody goes out through the front window. Some big dude lurches in and out of the shot with a chorus girl or waitress or whatever clinging to his back, beating him over the head with a bottle. Someone takes advantage of the chaos to steal drinks. The priest tries to break it up, gets interrupted by a flying bottle, and then smashes a chair over someones head and joins in, etc.
Many of your better bar brawls have a running subplot. The group risks losing sight of the person they're trailing. Someone desperately tries to keep the priceless Ming vase from getting broken, etc. and usually ends up smashing it over someone else's head themselves.
A lot of them reveal something about the town that the characters might not know. Not just the weakness of local law enforcement, but the sides and factions people are on and their relative strength. Starfleet vs. Klingon, ex-Union vs ex-Confederate, rancher vs. railroad man vs farmer. Gang vs gang.
You don't need to put THIS much thought into it, it could just be two dudes punching each other while everyone else places bets,, but if you want make the brawl a big deal, these are some of the classic movie tropes.
So some fun ideas for abilities the people at the bar could have is someone with the bar brawler feat, my personal favorite, or maybe a low leveled drunken master monk.
As for narration, you could say things like a guy picking up a halfling and throwing him across the counter, or someone falling onto a table breaking it in half. Some chaotic bar fight stuff, since a lot of people are going to be drunk and or angry.
If you're one of my players, look away!
So long story short, decisions the characters in my game made are leading them into a bar brawl. What are some fun things to narrate for bar brawls and what sorts of consequences may befall the characters should they decide to participate?
Well, the consequences are mostly predictable, ie. getting punched in the face. Maybe making an NPC into an enemy. Harsher consequences include arrest for disturbing the peace and spending the night in the drunk tank or getting chewed out by their superior officer, if there is one. But nothing crazy. Use the Star Wars Rule. Once someone gets their arm cut off, the party is over and if you shoot a guy, you tip the bartender, apologize like a gentleman and leave quietly.
Classic things that happen include someone getting body slammed through a gaming table; the piano player carrying on playing all the way through the fight; maybe swinging on a chandelier if it's that kind of establishment. Somebody goes out through the front window. Some big dude lurches in and out of the shot with a chorus girl or waitress or whatever clinging to his back, beating him over the head with a bottle. Someone takes advantage of the chaos to steal drinks. The priest tries to break it up, gets interrupted by a flying bottle, and then smashes a chair over someones head and joins in, etc.
Many of your better bar brawls have a running subplot. The group risks losing sight of the person they're trailing. Someone desperately tries to keep the priceless Ming vase from getting broken, etc. and usually ends up smashing it over someone else's head themselves.
A lot of them reveal something about the town that the characters might not know. Not just the weakness of local law enforcement, but the sides and factions people are on and their relative strength. Starfleet vs. Klingon, ex-Union vs ex-Confederate, rancher vs. railroad man vs farmer. Gang vs gang.
You don't need to put THIS much thought into it, it could just be two dudes punching each other while everyone else places bets,, but if you want make the brawl a big deal, these are some of the classic movie tropes.
So some fun ideas for abilities the people at the bar could have is someone with the bar brawler feat, my personal favorite, or maybe a low leveled drunken master monk.
As for narration, you could say things like a guy picking up a halfling and throwing him across the counter, or someone falling onto a table breaking it in half. Some chaotic bar fight stuff, since a lot of people are going to be drunk and or angry.
Also known as CrafterB and DankMemer.
Here, have some homebrew classes! Subclasses to? Why not races. Feats, feats as well. I have a lot of magic items. Lastly I got monsters, fun, fun times.
you might try some of the following resources:
This is pretty good, but is $4 https://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/232320
Also https://www.5esrd.com/gamemastering/monsters-foes/monsters-by-type/humanoids/bar-brawl/
The angry gm articles on encounter building are useful, as well