Compelling festival session

[birdchili]

Anyone got some suggestions on how to run a great session during an urban festival?

I've got "Tournaments, Fairs, and Taverns" and will source it for games and such, so I'm not hurting too much on that front.

My players haven't been in town for long, and I haven't really given them a lot of time to explore about. I'm considering having a friend of theirs be a tour guide during the session (which would help keep the group from splitting up too). I want to give the players some freedom to participate where they will, and give opportunity to develop some plot hooks that already exist.

What I'm worried about is that the festival doesn't really "hang together" as an adventure. I've considered flying through the festival in an hour or two of game time, and then proceeding to something a bit more conventional, but I feel that would be a missed opportunity to spend some time developping the city (which is very-much the centre of the campaign for the time being).

So... anyone willing to share clever thoughts/experiences that would allow for some freedom for my players to party about, but still provide some sort of unifying thread or greater adventure? I'm already worried that this session is going to be hard for me to run.

What makes a really memorable festival session for players?

 

[adwyn]

What I've found is important is first to ty together the plot with what is being celebrated. Celebrating peace would involve the threat of war, a harvest festival might be endangered by a crop destroying swarm of insects, that sort of thing.

Next I come up with various events for the festival and treat each the way I would a room in a dungeon. I then set up a timeline for the events, allowing a few hours between each event to allow party time to rest or go off on their own. No matter what the PC's do, I usually can connect it to an ongoing event.

For continuity the same NPC's should keep reappearing where appropriate. Not just important civic leaders, but a cook for example could be encountered at the market, later visiting the same alchemist as a PC, again in a crowd, and finally overseeing the meal at the climactic grand ball. There should be more than one of these people and they help remind players that the events are connected.

The final encounter is also important. Grand balls, parades, weddings, public orations - just remember to pace the event to what the players are doing and try to tie the theme together with the encounter, at least in the begining. If its a costume ball the PC's should take to the dance floor serepticiously seeking out the villain. Parades go well with chases, that sort of thing.

 

[EdL]

Gotta have a midway and/or contests. Archery, axe/dart/knife toss, wrestling, some kind of magic and skill contests. Make sure that there is something for each character's area of expertise (or as close to one as you can get) so they'll each have a chance of winning a prize. It doesn't really matter what the prize is, a GP, kewpie doll, whatever. It's the bragging rights that count. (Or losing out to some kid.)

 

[MavrickWeirdo]

How about if some religious factions of the town don't approve of the festivities?

Meanwhile several bands of “gypsies” have gathered for the celebration.

Then the Hunchback is chosen “King of Fools”…

What do you mean, “That’s not very original”?

 

[birdchili]

It's a highsun festival (midsummer/solstice) in a culture where the church of the sun is the dominant religion...

The city is a frontier town (more like a city-state)... A populous, double-walled fortress on a lake and river at the bottom of a canyon (the walls span from canyon wall to canyon wall (with the river flowing through) and the lake fills the entire chasm witdth at the other side). Topside is sparsely populated with smallish walled compounds (former nobles and merchants/traders). Summer is important as spring floods make the river unnavigable, even further isolating an already isolated community. As most food is imported, spring can be a nervous time on bad years. Most citizens wouldn't venture out of town due to safety issues (monsters and all, of course). The town tends to a strong LN alignment, with people willing to put up with a lot of rules and burreacracy in order to secure safety. The solar church would be more LG and is pretty-much the spiritual leader and hospital.

Power in town is with the church and a plutocratic council of guild representatives.

There's no obvious villain for this session... The main bbeg (that my players are aware of) just escaped destruction at their hands and is temporarily out of their reach (in the lake). There are a number of leads my players may follow-up on, but nothing that would obviously allow for an "adventure" within the confines of the festival.

I've got some ideas for mini-events and contests - mainly for providing flavor for the town and letting my players do something that isn't hugely disgusting (they've been tracking evil through the town dump for the past few sessions - vile). I don't, however, have a good idea for a narrative that can tie the festival together.

 

[kigmatzomat]

I had an excellent fair early IMC and it was unplanned; I just pulled it off by the seat of my pants. Recreating that feel takes a lot of work.

If you want it to be compelling, it needs to hit the PCs in their interests. Look at not only your player's classes but what kind of encounter they enjoy.

Example: Party at the time consisted of of bard3/rogue2, rogue5, wizard4/cleric1, cleric5, fighter5, and a druid5. They had loot to sell at the fair, several packhorses worth of jewelry, art, mundane weapons and armor (They love bandits).

They manage to get a stall at the fair and throw together a tent with fabric no one else wanted to buy (pink and green stripes). The bard plans on handling most of the selling with the fighter providing visible muscle.

The rogue visits the local guild to check in and is informed that during the fair the guild actually handles security; the town pays a reasonable amount for the effort and the person who catches a thief gets part of the fines. Normally they wouldn't hire someone their first year but since they have a merchant's stall he'll give the PC a chance.

The cleric handles most of the basic paperwork and then goes on ale & candy bender, offering up benedictions and rock candy to any who approach. The wizard dickers for magical supplies and participates in the illusion crafting contest.

The fighter has a bit of fun in the brawling tournament while the bard competes for a masterwork fiddle in the bardic tent.

I had the fighter lose to the local weaponsmith (a retired half-orc barbarian adventurer) who took a shine to the PC and has become their favorite supplier of things that do pain. The judge of the performance tent was the local lord, an elf who crafts instruments as a hobby.

A few pickpockets give the party some excitement and, since they were bright enough not to use lethal force, kudos from the local guilds.

Whenever possible I'd have things in proximity so the performance contest was going on during the illusion and brawling events so the bard saw no reason not to use his inspirational abilities on his allies. You'll note I didn't hook the druid; the player was having trouble with the character and eventually switched so for this encounter he pretty much just wandered around with the others. Hey, you can't always win for everyone.

 

[MavrickWeirdo]

Small child falls into swolen river, is heading for the dangerous rapids, when suddenly...

Whatever happens next will be "The Talk of the Festival", and set the tone of the celebration.

 

[Shallown]

I look at this sort of set up as a time to exam the small things since the big things like saving the world are done in most sessions.

Things like

Making moral choices on a small scale. PC sees a child stealing food who is obviously in need of it.. what do they do, what dod the do if the child is caught etc.

A PC is accused of thieving.

Run into an old friend with news from home. ( I did this one at a fair once. The PC had just up and left his home without telling anyone. He was a noblemans son and his parents had been killed but he lived as a ranger so the other PC's were surprised when a friend of the family saw him and was shocked he was alive and made a big fuss over him and his lands and such. Eventually the characters had to go to his home town and do some Role playing to straighten out a political problem there.

Someone mistakes them for party of the festival organization since if they are new in town their being dressed up like adventurer's would draw attention to them as non-natives.

Local Power players try to gain favor with the party by inviting them to a party. Up and coming adventurers may be useful to someone.

The important point is look at what the PC's and players like and make the scenes personal and interactive.

later

 

[birdchili]

Would a bunch of interesting, but unconnected encounters make for a good session?

I keep thinking that among the shopping, contests and sightseeing that's going to be happening, having a thread that ties the day together would make things interesting.

I've considered having a guiding NPC friend invite them to compete in some sort of grand team event, with a new match every few hours... It's not likely that the pcs (2nd level) could realistically come out on top here, but it might be fun. I'm uninspired for a good event though (combat of some sort is the most obvious, but seems somewhat pedestrian). Not having a chance to really win kindof puts a damper on things too.

I'm also considering a conspiracy by an enemy of a tavern-owner friend of the pcs to slander his business (bards singing songs about the roaches in the food, the ugliness of the owner's server daughters, etc...) A few planned encounters here would give the pcs lots of lattitude to get the guard involved, or take the law into their own hands (likely to be an inter-party-conflict on this front, actually)

The more I think about this session, the more I know it's going to cause my brain to melt to run it.

 

[EdL]

I've considered having a guiding NPC friend invite them to compete in some sort of grand team event, with a new match every few hours... It's not likely that the pcs (2nd level) could realistically come out on top here, but it might be fun. I'm uninspired for a good event though (combat of some sort is the most obvious, but seems somewhat pedestrian). Not having a chance to really win kindof puts a damper on things too.

A tog-o-war with a mud pit between the competing teams. This is fair and lets the Sorcerer/Wizard(s) shine... maybe. (Prestidigitation can be most useful here.)