For my next campaign, I'm thinking of having the party meet at what is essentially a royal wedding where something goes wrong to lead them into the plot. It would be a massive city-wide celebration (to explain why commoners are attending).
What I'm looking for are things for them to do at the wedding that aren't the actual ceremony itself.
I've started campaigns at festivals in the past with contests, games, etc... but in my group, that's been done to death at this point. So "festival games" is out. But I would like something skill related for them to do during the festivities. I'm just drawing a blank at what to do!
Give each of them (or the group) a reason to try to get better seats at the event. Have a bunch of social options with relevant nobility that can earn favor and thus, better seat offerings. Maybe one noble wants to talk about the pre-festivity snacks and how they were made; maybe another is having an issue keeping their children in line and needs someone to find where their little terror wandered off to before the child causes some trouble; maybe a house guard needs someone to run interference with a noble that their charge really doesn't want to even see before the wedding.
Just think of some stuff that could cause interesting social interactions among the wedding guests and what exploration options those might open up. Maybe toss in a physical challenge or two, and see if they do enough stuff to generate enough good will to get what the players want out of the scenes.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
First thing that comes to mind... they find themselves roped into catering. Like... a bunch of caterers got sick and suddenly the guy running everything is so desperate he's willing to hire anyone who seems at least mildly competent. Maybe that could even be the catalyst to get them there in the first place... like the caterer might already know one of the players and asks for their help.
At this point you could have a series of challenges related to that... players could be using their combat skills to chop food, maybe they have to entertain visitors, and the catering angle also opens them up to having reasons to be visiting parts of the castle that they wouldn't normally be allowed into... they're just "the help" now, after all, so it gives them an excuse to be in back rooms or other places where shady types might go to discuss things.
Depends on the kinds of characters. I could see a rogue crashing the wedding to pick pockets and steal silverware. A cleric might be involved in the ceremony, a fighter or paladin on guard duty, looking for that pickpocket who crashed. The barbarian is part of a delegation from a nearby clan, gets bored and starts a drinking contest, a bard could be part of the entertainment.
I have a few ideas, but I need to know what time period your story takes place in, and also the theme of your adventure. For example, fantasy or horror.
Its your typical generic medieval fantasy. I haven't finished fully expanding the world yet (its gonna be a bit before it starts) so not much established lore yet
Also, I don't know my party yet other than one's gonna be a thieving rogue and the other a pugilistic cage-fighter monk. This is still the early stages of planning so idk what the other 4/6 are gonna be yet lol
There could be an associated tournament (jousting, melee, etc.)
Have you ever been to a Ren Faire? That could be a source of ideas.
The other thing is that, since it's your world, you can make up any wedding customs you like. Any contrived scenario you want to put the PCs on the spot is legit. A dozen commoners are selected by lot to attend the royal ceremony? The burning of the Summer King? A hundred kegs of beer are rolled into the city commons, and all work is suspended until it's gone? Whatever. Why? Tradition.
TransformerDDS has a point. If your group has done the competition part of the festival to death, have them be part of the organization. There ought to be enough jobs that they don't even have to be on the same one.
One of them could be a hired hand to help handle the animals for the circus. Another one could have been hired by a baker to sabotage their competition to make it more likely for them to get royal patronage. One could be a waiter, another could be running a carnie game scam, someone could be the acolyte helping the priest that is going to perform the ceremony. One could be there because it is a good opportunity to try to court their crush, maybe one has to do a delivery for a tailor that ran late on an order. Someone is the stagehand for the bard performance, with dreams of being the one in the limelight some day. One of them could be a courtier helping with last minute preparations, the ring bearer (the wedding bands are magical and likely to be stolen) or a friend of the couple.
As for things to do, go full "let's try to make this the best party ever but everything goes wrong". Some foreign dignatary brought a zoo of exotic animals and a local druid is advocating for their freedom. The bakers guild made a bunch of chocolate golems for the children to fight for candy and one developes sentience. An artificer is scratching his head because for some reason the flying fire spitting platform he made as a stage for the main bard performance is malfunctioning and the illusionary terrain scroll that they were going to use to make the area around it look like deep space is missing. One of the two cloud giants back up dancers has stomach ache. The water elementals at the fountain are having too much fun splashing the guests and they have to dodge the water because they don't have a change of clothes. A group of Pixies got drunk on the punch and are turning people into animals. Someone mistook a Nilbog for a jester and brought them in. A secret message has to be delivered to the bride so someone has to distract the bridesmaid. The king got sick because of nerves and needs medicine. A prince from another kingdom decided to freaking crash the wedding and now they have to communicate to the other guests about the change in seating arrangements. A Knight is in love with the Princess and plans to object at the last moment so he has to be stopped before he causes a scandal. There is a disguise competition and a group of Kobolds brought a mechanized dragon.
Maybe a town herald crashes the wedding because of a disaster, and the players need to help? Of you wanted to go the violent path, you could have a gatecrasher kill your best friend and you must get revenge? There are many paths to go, and I hope you choose the right one. Good luck!
I had one of my campaigns start at a wedding. My players were all employed by either the venue or the bridal/grooms party. One was a chef helping with the catering, one was a hired guard, one was a bard in the band, etc.
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***Happily Forever Dungeon Master***
Trying to be active in the community and help those in need
Maybe there is a jealous lover they have to stop from kidnapping the bride or subtly sabotaging the wedding.
The musicians are sick and they have to step up and do an impromptu performance. I am thinking about Nacho Libre right now.
All the guests are expected to bring some sort of gift to the couple and the characters could explain what their gift is after being given a budget.
They ran out of wine and all they have are jugs of water...
There is an old Welsh tradition where a newly wed couple ride an old, reliable farm horse from the wedding to their home without guiding it at all. Maybe there is a similar tradition where the wedding doesn't start until the couple arrive separately on different horses but they cannot guide the horse at all. The horses should know the way but something, whether it be bandits, a scorned lover, a mischievous fey, or fate, has led the horses off course and the worried king sends the party out to find them.
A large ballroom dance could happen and the characters have to make several ability checks to see if they can get through it without making a fool of themselves. The results might affect their charisma checks with the NPCs. A history check could be done to remember the steps of this traditional dance, a performance check is done for obvious reasons, an acrobatics check is done to see how well they perform some of the more complicated moves, a deception check is done to cover mistakes, and maybe throw some Dexterity saving throws in when their partner does something unexpected.
A rich lord has his eyes on one of the players and is trying to marry off one of his awful daughters to them.
A joust or archery contest would fit in a royal wedding.
The royal family celebrates the occasion by throwing buckets full of gold coins off the balcony. The commoners throng the streets below in hopes of collecting some of the wealth. If the characters aren't connected to the royalty and are low on cash they might try to get at some of the coins and have to resist being trampled and crushed by the mob.
One of the players is the ring bearer and they either have lost the ring, or they have to make it through the wedding without losing the ring.
Maybe there is a jealous lover they have to stop from kidnapping the bride or subtly sabotaging the wedding.
I think that @The_Summoning_Dark has a good idea. For a longer, more drawn out adventure, you could allow the kidnapper to take the bride to a far away location, and your players must attempt a long, dangerous rescue
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For my next campaign, I'm thinking of having the party meet at what is essentially a royal wedding where something goes wrong to lead them into the plot. It would be a massive city-wide celebration (to explain why commoners are attending).
What I'm looking for are things for them to do at the wedding that aren't the actual ceremony itself.
I've started campaigns at festivals in the past with contests, games, etc... but in my group, that's been done to death at this point. So "festival games" is out. But I would like something skill related for them to do during the festivities. I'm just drawing a blank at what to do!
Give each of them (or the group) a reason to try to get better seats at the event. Have a bunch of social options with relevant nobility that can earn favor and thus, better seat offerings. Maybe one noble wants to talk about the pre-festivity snacks and how they were made; maybe another is having an issue keeping their children in line and needs someone to find where their little terror wandered off to before the child causes some trouble; maybe a house guard needs someone to run interference with a noble that their charge really doesn't want to even see before the wedding.
Just think of some stuff that could cause interesting social interactions among the wedding guests and what exploration options those might open up. Maybe toss in a physical challenge or two, and see if they do enough stuff to generate enough good will to get what the players want out of the scenes.
First thing that comes to mind... they find themselves roped into catering. Like... a bunch of caterers got sick and suddenly the guy running everything is so desperate he's willing to hire anyone who seems at least mildly competent. Maybe that could even be the catalyst to get them there in the first place... like the caterer might already know one of the players and asks for their help.
At this point you could have a series of challenges related to that... players could be using their combat skills to chop food, maybe they have to entertain visitors, and the catering angle also opens them up to having reasons to be visiting parts of the castle that they wouldn't normally be allowed into... they're just "the help" now, after all, so it gives them an excuse to be in back rooms or other places where shady types might go to discuss things.
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Depends on the kinds of characters. I could see a rogue crashing the wedding to pick pockets and steal silverware. A cleric might be involved in the ceremony, a fighter or paladin on guard duty, looking for that pickpocket who crashed. The barbarian is part of a delegation from a nearby clan, gets bored and starts a drinking contest, a bard could be part of the entertainment.
I have a few ideas, but I need to know what time period your story takes place in, and also the theme of your adventure. For example, fantasy or horror.
Its your typical generic medieval fantasy. I haven't finished fully expanding the world yet (its gonna be a bit before it starts) so not much established lore yet
Also, I don't know my party yet other than one's gonna be a thieving rogue and the other a pugilistic cage-fighter monk. This is still the early stages of planning so idk what the other 4/6 are gonna be yet lol
There could be an associated tournament (jousting, melee, etc.)
Have you ever been to a Ren Faire? That could be a source of ideas.
The other thing is that, since it's your world, you can make up any wedding customs you like. Any contrived scenario you want to put the PCs on the spot is legit. A dozen commoners are selected by lot to attend the royal ceremony? The burning of the Summer King? A hundred kegs of beer are rolled into the city commons, and all work is suspended until it's gone? Whatever. Why? Tradition.
TransformerDDS has a point. If your group has done the competition part of the festival to death, have them be part of the organization. There ought to be enough jobs that they don't even have to be on the same one.
One of them could be a hired hand to help handle the animals for the circus. Another one could have been hired by a baker to sabotage their competition to make it more likely for them to get royal patronage. One could be a waiter, another could be running a carnie game scam, someone could be the acolyte helping the priest that is going to perform the ceremony. One could be there because it is a good opportunity to try to court their crush, maybe one has to do a delivery for a tailor that ran late on an order. Someone is the stagehand for the bard performance, with dreams of being the one in the limelight some day. One of them could be a courtier helping with last minute preparations, the ring bearer (the wedding bands are magical and likely to be stolen) or a friend of the couple.
As for things to do, go full "let's try to make this the best party ever but everything goes wrong". Some foreign dignatary brought a zoo of exotic animals and a local druid is advocating for their freedom. The bakers guild made a bunch of chocolate golems for the children to fight for candy and one developes sentience. An artificer is scratching his head because for some reason the flying fire spitting platform he made as a stage for the main bard performance is malfunctioning and the illusionary terrain scroll that they were going to use to make the area around it look like deep space is missing. One of the two cloud giants back up dancers has stomach ache. The water elementals at the fountain are having too much fun splashing the guests and they have to dodge the water because they don't have a change of clothes. A group of Pixies got drunk on the punch and are turning people into animals. Someone mistook a Nilbog for a jester and brought them in. A secret message has to be delivered to the bride so someone has to distract the bridesmaid. The king got sick because of nerves and needs medicine. A prince from another kingdom decided to freaking crash the wedding and now they have to communicate to the other guests about the change in seating arrangements. A Knight is in love with the Princess and plans to object at the last moment so he has to be stopped before he causes a scandal. There is a disguise competition and a group of Kobolds brought a mechanized dragon.
Maybe a town herald crashes the wedding because of a disaster, and the players need to help? Of you wanted to go the violent path, you could have a gatecrasher kill your best friend and you must get revenge? There are many paths to go, and I hope you choose the right one. Good luck!
I had one of my campaigns start at a wedding. My players were all employed by either the venue or the bridal/grooms party. One was a chef helping with the catering, one was a hired guard, one was a bard in the band, etc.
***Happily Forever Dungeon Master***
Trying to be active in the community and help those in need
STR: 12 INT: 12
DEX: 14 WIS: 17
CON: 14 CHA: 14
Maybe there is a jealous lover they have to stop from kidnapping the bride or subtly sabotaging the wedding.
The musicians are sick and they have to step up and do an impromptu performance. I am thinking about Nacho Libre right now.
All the guests are expected to bring some sort of gift to the couple and the characters could explain what their gift is after being given a budget.
They ran out of wine and all they have are jugs of water...
There is an old Welsh tradition where a newly wed couple ride an old, reliable farm horse from the wedding to their home without guiding it at all. Maybe there is a similar tradition where the wedding doesn't start until the couple arrive separately on different horses but they cannot guide the horse at all. The horses should know the way but something, whether it be bandits, a scorned lover, a mischievous fey, or fate, has led the horses off course and the worried king sends the party out to find them.
A large ballroom dance could happen and the characters have to make several ability checks to see if they can get through it without making a fool of themselves. The results might affect their charisma checks with the NPCs. A history check could be done to remember the steps of this traditional dance, a performance check is done for obvious reasons, an acrobatics check is done to see how well they perform some of the more complicated moves, a deception check is done to cover mistakes, and maybe throw some Dexterity saving throws in when their partner does something unexpected.
A rich lord has his eyes on one of the players and is trying to marry off one of his awful daughters to them.
A joust or archery contest would fit in a royal wedding.
The royal family celebrates the occasion by throwing buckets full of gold coins off the balcony. The commoners throng the streets below in hopes of collecting some of the wealth. If the characters aren't connected to the royalty and are low on cash they might try to get at some of the coins and have to resist being trampled and crushed by the mob.
One of the players is the ring bearer and they either have lost the ring, or they have to make it through the wedding without losing the ring.
I think that @The_Summoning_Dark has a good idea. For a longer, more drawn out adventure, you could allow the kidnapper to take the bride to a far away location, and your players must attempt a long, dangerous rescue