My party will be coming upon a traveling fey circus soon. Alongside the main performances is a carnival of games, shops, etc. I want to set up games that have an in-person equivalent, so my players can actually participate in some mini-games for a fun, light-hearted session. Here's what I have so far:
Pie-eating competition for the characters = Chubby Bunny challenge for us.
Some sort of card game = mini game of War.
Horseshoes = Quarters (coin-based drinking game).
Bean bag toss = Bean bag toss.
Can anyone think of other games that could a) appear in a carnival, and b) have a translating mini-game at the table for us? These would ideally take less than 5/10 minutes. Thank you all so much!
Well there is the classic game of apple bobbing, you just need a big bowl, some water and something they can grab.
There is the old scam game of find the lady, which you just need three cards for.
Splat the rat could be good if you have a tube, something to drop through it and a stick.
You could get hold of the oversized boxing gloves and people could challenge you for something. If you are short of space you could do a thumb war or an arm wrestle.
Quoits is sort of like horseshoes and it might be fairly easy to get hold of a set.
With a d100 you could do a tombola. They can buy numbers and if you roll those numbers they get a prize.
Maybe cook some fairground food like hotdogs or popcorn. They can spend in game money and you can give them some.
My homebrew game world has a fairgrounds, called Northgate, which is basically a flea market, county fair, traveling circus, trade station, den of ill repute. Off near one edge is "The Fools Joust". It's just a circle of short rickety post & rail fencing about 25 ft in diameter around a mud pit. Two teams of two people each enter. On each team one person rides on the other person's shoulders. The person on bottom is then blindfolded, and the person on top is handed a pugil stick (basically a 5 ft long staff with a hard leather ball at each end). When the whistle blows, the object is to knock the opposing top person to the ground.
The mechanics are as follows: Each team's bottom person rolls an athletics check at the start of each round. The winner's top person then makes one melee attack (using their Str modifier). The AC of each team is 10 + the Dex mod of whichever player on that team has the lower Dex score. Then the other team's top person makes one melee attack, but at disadvantage. Damage is not calculated. Instead just keep track of how many hits are landed. Describe each hit as theatrically as possible, and on the fourth successful hit describe the losing team tumbling over into the mud and the crowd going wild.
Of course, there's a lot of gambling at The Fool's Joust, and there's always a dwarven beer cart nearby. After all, that's where the money is!
(Come to think of it.... maybe you shouldn't act this one out at the table.)
I did a variety of things in a village fair, all of which were done with dice except one, which used a prop and was done at the table.
I belive (it was a while ago) they were:
a greased pole (3 dexterity checks of DC15 to get across)
a test your strength machine (strength check)
guess the weight of the giant pumpkin (insight check)
a Drinking competition (constitution checks)
a ball-and-bucket game, which was rigged (any dex roll failed, even nat 20). Players could report or extort the guy running it.
a "magic cup" riddle, using a pithagorean cup I made as a prop. it was a very cool physics demonstration! Clues given with intelligence rolls.
a fortune teller (plot device)
I would probably also add a punch-bag machine which tests your unarmed skill. AC10, how much damage can you deal with 1 punch? potential for hilarious nat1 outcomes!
Look up five man's morris, a historical sailor's board game kind of like knots and crosses. I can easily see a savant running a booth at a carnival. To make a real set all you need is paper, a pencil, and some coins. Or, if you're going for serious authenticity it may be one of the easiest games to handmake from wood.
A fun card game is 31, but you could play a single round to make it short. (look it up on coolmath, comes with rules)
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Hi, I am not a chest. I deny with 100% certainty that I am a chest. I can neither confirm nor deny what I am beyond that.
I used to portray Krathian, Q'ilbrith, Jim, Tara, Turin, Nathan, Tench, Finn, Alvin, and other characters in various taverns.
I set up some target practice kinda deal, you pay to play, and if you can shoot a target from however far away, you get money. adjust price, rewards, and AC as needed.
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Good morning/afternoon/evening, everyone!
My party will be coming upon a traveling fey circus soon. Alongside the main performances is a carnival of games, shops, etc. I want to set up games that have an in-person equivalent, so my players can actually participate in some mini-games for a fun, light-hearted session. Here's what I have so far:
Can anyone think of other games that could a) appear in a carnival, and b) have a translating mini-game at the table for us? These would ideally take less than 5/10 minutes. Thank you all so much!
Well there is the classic game of apple bobbing, you just need a big bowl, some water and something they can grab.
There is the old scam game of find the lady, which you just need three cards for.
Splat the rat could be good if you have a tube, something to drop through it and a stick.
You could get hold of the oversized boxing gloves and people could challenge you for something. If you are short of space you could do a thumb war or an arm wrestle.
Quoits is sort of like horseshoes and it might be fairly easy to get hold of a set.
With a d100 you could do a tombola. They can buy numbers and if you roll those numbers they get a prize.
Maybe cook some fairground food like hotdogs or popcorn. They can spend in game money and you can give them some.
My homebrew game world has a fairgrounds, called Northgate, which is basically a flea market, county fair, traveling circus, trade station, den of ill repute. Off near one edge is "The Fools Joust". It's just a circle of short rickety post & rail fencing about 25 ft in diameter around a mud pit. Two teams of two people each enter. On each team one person rides on the other person's shoulders. The person on bottom is then blindfolded, and the person on top is handed a pugil stick (basically a 5 ft long staff with a hard leather ball at each end). When the whistle blows, the object is to knock the opposing top person to the ground.
The mechanics are as follows: Each team's bottom person rolls an athletics check at the start of each round. The winner's top person then makes one melee attack (using their Str modifier). The AC of each team is 10 + the Dex mod of whichever player on that team has the lower Dex score. Then the other team's top person makes one melee attack, but at disadvantage. Damage is not calculated. Instead just keep track of how many hits are landed. Describe each hit as theatrically as possible, and on the fourth successful hit describe the losing team tumbling over into the mud and the crowd going wild.
Of course, there's a lot of gambling at The Fool's Joust, and there's always a dwarven beer cart nearby. After all, that's where the money is!
(Come to think of it.... maybe you shouldn't act this one out at the table.)
Anzio Faro. Protector Aasimar light cleric. Lvl 18.
Viktor Gavriil. White dragonborn grave cleric. Lvl 20.
Ikram Sahir ibn-Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad. Brass dragonborn draconic sorcerer Lvl 9. Fire elemental devil.
Wrangler of cats.
I did a variety of things in a village fair, all of which were done with dice except one, which used a prop and was done at the table.
I belive (it was a while ago) they were:
I would probably also add a punch-bag machine which tests your unarmed skill. AC10, how much damage can you deal with 1 punch? potential for hilarious nat1 outcomes!
love the fools joust, that's getting looted!
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Remember there are usually bad things that happen at a place where you can eat Fey food.
The classic armwrestling contest. First three successes in a row wins.
Get some jumping beans (do they even sell those any more) and the first one that moves wins.
Ring toss - Do the beer drinking before to make it challenging.
Cinnamon challenge - look it up on youtube.
Ball in the cup- try to land a ball on a string in the cup in the fewest tries.
Look up five man's morris, a historical sailor's board game kind of like knots and crosses. I can easily see a savant running a booth at a carnival. To make a real set all you need is paper, a pencil, and some coins. Or, if you're going for serious authenticity it may be one of the easiest games to handmake from wood.
A fun card game is 31, but you could play a single round to make it short. (look it up on coolmath, comes with rules)
Hi, I am not a chest. I deny with 100% certainty that I am a chest. I can neither confirm nor deny what I am beyond that.
I used to portray Krathian, Q'ilbrith, Jim, Tara, Turin, Nathan, Tench, Finn, Alvin, and other characters in various taverns.
I also do homebrew, check out my Spells and Magic Items
"That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange eons, even death may die"
I love this idea, I was laughing as I read it and might try to include it at some point in my campaign
I set up some target practice kinda deal, you pay to play, and if you can shoot a target from however far away, you get money. adjust price, rewards, and AC as needed.