Interactive Carnival Games

Hey! I am trying to write the next session of my campaign, which has a political medieval theme, and the characters are going into a town which will have a carnival happening. For this, I've been researching both normal carnival games and violent games played throughout history. I have ideas for the more violent games, but as far as regular games have gone, I've only found things along the lines of tic-tac-toe and other stuff like that. The problem with this is that I want these games to be very interactive, and for games like that it would pretty much be me telling the players to role an intelligence check a few times. In my friend's campaign, there was a festival and the games were rolling based, but also included things like rapping and speed-rolling, which all of us found very fun. Let me know if you have any ideas for games and how I could make them more interactive!

Gambling is always a solid option because got don't have to worry about how to run it using the rules of dnd-- you just run a game within the game. 

My go-to gambling game is a simplified version of 21 with d10's. Each player puts down a certain amount of gold per hand and rolls 2d10's to represent your first two cards, and to "hit" you just roll an additional d10 each round until you think you've gotten as close as you can to 21 without going over. 

The beauty part is it's relatively simple so you're not wasting game time explaining it (especially if the rogue should already be an expert on this kinda thing) but it's got enough risk/skill factor to still be interesting. 

Somebody asked a similar question a while back or so, so if it's okay I'm just gonna copypasta the responses I gave them....

The Lobster Race:  A relay race with two teams of four runners each who each run a 90' leg (like around a baseball diamond). But instead of carrying and passing a simple baton, the runners have to carry and pass a live lobster! It's just a bunch of Athletics checks really. Each runner rolls athletics, lower roll goes their movement speed, higher roll goes their movement speed + 5 feet. But each time they roll athletics they also roll a d6. If they roll a 1, that runner gets bit by their lobster, causing them to move only half their movement for that roll. Just tally the distance each team goes until one team reaches 360 feet. 

The Ring Toss:  For one copper piece you can try to throw three rings onto the upright fishing poles standing 15 feet behind the counter. It's just three Dexterity checks, but the DC keeps going up because at first the poles are stationary, but once you start throwing the rings and hitting the poles, the poles start flexing and swaying. So the 1st roll is DC 15,  2nd roll is DC 20,  3rd roll is DC 25. Two successes wins a small prize, three successes wins a bigger prize. 

Fish in a Barrel:  This is basically cornhole but with live fish. There are two sets of barrels filled with water and fish set 20 feet apart. Each contestant must reach into their barrel, grab a live fish, and throw it into the barrel 20 feet away. Just set a timer for 30 seconds and have the two players roll Dexterity checks as fast as they can. Whoever beats the most DC 20 rolls in those 30 seconds is the winner. 

The Fool's Joust:  Imagine a simple split rail or rope fence marking off a 25 foot diameter piece of ground. The contest is between two teams of two players each. On each team, one person sits on the other person's shoulders. The person on bottom (the Mount) is then blindfolded. The person on top (the Striker) is handed a pugil stick (a 5 foot long thick staff with a padded leather ball at each end). The objective is to knock the opposing Striker off their Mount. When the bell rings, each Mount makes an Athletics check. Whoever rolls higher, their Striker gets to attack first, making one attack roll (using Strength, Proficiency is at your discretion). Then the other Striker gets to make one strike, but at disadvantage. The Armor Class they're aiming for is 10 + the higher Dex modifier of the two opposing players. Whichever team scores 3 hits first wins. If you really sell it with the descriptions of the hits and misses it'll be hilarious. My players loved it. 

Oh, and of course the people in the crowd bet on the outcome. So the players who are watching might win or lose some money based on how well their friends do. 

My recommendation is to not make the games interactive. That's not what your players are here for -- they're here to play D&D, and simulated carnival games are unlikely to hold their attention for long. (Even if one or two get into it, the odds that nobody is stitting there being bored are not great.)

I would instead focus on making the role-playing in and around the games interesting. Make the NPCs colorful, and arrange for the PCs to have reasons to interact with them. Only actually use any kind of mechanics on games when the players are trying to achieve something by playing, whether it be making money gambling, flirting with the person running the game, or getting a chance to talk to a contact inconspicuously. 

I don't enjoy doing this but I do have a supplement for carnivals/circus in my signature. 

What I will say about designing such activities is that it's often about figuring out the scam. Most of these types of games have some scam or other involved which uitilise psychology against the customers.

For more sports like activities consider this. If a Eurocentric mediaevalesque setting then most sports of the day arise from practicing or preparing for war rather than athletic displays of skill. The Scottish Caber toss has some disputed origins, but one such origin is that it was a training exercise for castle assaults. Developing the sport could be seen by the idiotic English lords of the time as a quaint local activity which allowed the men to show of their strength to a fascinated public. In truth it was preparing for an assault where moats might need to be crossed, or walls might need to be scaled. And so being able to toss a caber accurately and from a distance would be a valuable skill. Of course, there's scant evidence for this theory, but it is a possible origin for such a sport.

Even non-European activities like Japan's Suikawari tend to have theories that attribute the origin of the activity to a martial prowess demonstration. Some claim that this game where a player is blindfolded and attempts to crack or split a melon open with a stick stems from practice by samurai. Once again evidence is at best shaky, but hopefully my point comes clear.

If your fantasy setting uses traditional games or historically inspired games consider how they might be martial prowess in one for or other.

Ayup, I'm gonna dump all of my carnival games on you now. Make sure to make your own table of carnival prizes/trinkets :D

• Fish in a Barrel - this is basically cornhole but with live fish. There are two sets of barrels filled with water and fish set 20 feet apart. Each contestant must reach into their barrel, grab a live fish, and throw it into the barrel 20 ft away. Just set a timer for 30 seconds and have the two players roll Dexterity checks as fast as they can. Whoever beats the most DC 20 rolls in those 30 seconds is the winner. 
• The Ring Toss - for one copper piece you can try to throw three rings onto the upright fishing poles standing 15 feet behind the counter. It's just three Dexterity checks, but the DC keeps going up because at first the poles are stationary, but once you start throwing the rings and hitting the poles, the poles start flexing and swaying. So the 1st roll is DC 15,  2nd roll is DC 20, 3rd roll is DC 25. Two successes wins a small prize, three successes wins a bigger prize.
• Pie eating contest - One Constitution check for each pie. DC starts at 8, then increases by 2 for each pie. If you fail a check by 10 or more, you throw up and are disqualified. If you roll a 20 or higher, you pull ahead by 1 pie and 1 failure is removed. Otherwise, a loss indicates that you falter. The DC still goes up afterward, and once you reach 2 failures, you just can’t go on and you tap out. Ties are ruled by who got the higher check (and therefore ate just a bit more).
• Drinking Contest - One Constitution check for each drink. A character can chug a number of drinks equal to their Constitution modifier before they must make a Constitution saving throw against poison with a DC of 10 + the total number of drinks consumed. On a failure, they gain one level of drunkenness (see here).
• Arm Wrestling - Opposed Strength checks. If you succeed on two in a row, you slam the other person’s hand down. Natural 1s and 20s grant disadvantage or advantage on your next roll.
• Music Competition - Opposed Performance checks. You can only play an instrument you're proficient with. Three rounds, best two out of three gets the crowd’s favor, but high rolls might still win you some gold anyway from fans.

The link I put in here also has some more carnival games. Here's the trinket table that I had (haha you missed out)

1. A spent Ardent Crystal shard intricately carved into the shape of a smiling sun, which still smells faintly of ozone and cheap candy.
2. A clockwork moth with colorful paper wings that flutters weakly for 30 seconds when wound, casting tiny, flickering shadows.
3. A pair of rusted goggles with stained-glass lenses that tint the depressing grey city streets into vibrant shades of magenta and gold.
4. A handheld music box that plays a tinny, upbeat tune, though the internal gears are visibly packed with glowing crystal dust to keep it running.
5. A string of edible cavern-berries dried and dusted with sugar, saved for months to be used as a bright, bittersweet festival necklace.
6. A tiny lead soldier wearing a crudely painted, bright red holiday coat, holding a speck of glowing crystal as a make-believe lantern.
7. A hollow glass marble containing a drop of liquid phosphor that glows with a warm, comforting amber light when shaken.
8. A small sheet-iron shadow lantern with crudely punched starlight patterns that projects a dancing constellation onto stone walls when a candle is placed inside.
9. A mechanical firefly crafted from scrap copper, with a tiny, hollowed-out Ardent Crystal cage in its abdomen to hold a glowing ember.
10. A hollow glass marble containing a drop of liquid phosphor that glows with a warm, comforting amber light when shaken.

Yeah, just roll a d10 to see what prize they get. Not every game would have a prize of course, that's up to you. Also, you should probably make up some food or crappy vendor stuff. Again, I come to your rescue.

• Blue-frosted cupcake
• Candied apple on a stick
• Euphorea cookie (saucer-sized cookies dusted with particles of faerie dragon euphoria gas)
• Eveningberry wine (a sweet, nonalcoholic drink)
• Pixie tarts (powdered candy in little cups)
• Sugar-glazed button mushrooms

Feel free to make your own :D