Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Tournaments, Fairs & Taverns
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Jannica Thales" data-source="post: 2402974" data-attributes="member: 33331"><p><strong>“Your party meets in a tavern.”</strong></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'">“Your party meets in a tavern.” Who hasn’t heard that before? Tournaments, Fairs, & Taverns (TFT) takes a simple game mechanic to bring life to standard tavern encounters and to fill out faires and other such events that the DM might be hard pressed to think of at the last minute. </span></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'">For style and layout, the book neither excels nor fails. I was able to clearly read through it with no distractions. I also have no complaints about the artwork. </span></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'">Competitions revolve around a simple core mechanic. TFT uses “degrees of success” to determine how well a given task is performed. This adds depth to opposed tests and draws out the contest. There is no drama with a simple opposed die roll. That’s fine for combat situations which makes up most of D&D. But when you get to more social event, you see the problem arise. Feats are added to round out the mechanic so that the character can become a grand master in a given event. </span></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'">Classic games such as cards and chases are given a light touch and the book moves on to martial tournaments such as archery and jousting. The martial events are a little more complicated, which is only natural as D&D has core rules built around these things. I liked the two jousting maneuvers given, which adds a potential bit of strategy to the event. </span></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'">The book moves on to tavern games which one might find in a ... well ... tavern. Fire breathing, contests of wits (a nice touch), and even plays are covered. From there we have magical competitions. I have to admit, I didn’t care for “Bhaly” that much as it was just a slightly more complicated version of basketball with spellcasting, but since it only needs five players it might work great for a game based on Harry Potter (there is a sly reference to this). I honestly felt this was the weakest chapter. The games were just a little too trite for me. That said, the D&D fire-and-forget magic system complicates things here. </span></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'">Next is Festival games, which essentially is everything else. These delve into flights of fancy. Squashgoblin is a dwarf-only game, but I could easily envision it being used as comedy relief if the party goes underground and has to gain the trust of a dwarf king or whatever. I would have liked to have seen more party-oriented challenges like this in the book. </span></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'">Chapter Seven is DM advice on how to run a festive encounter. It seems pretty solid enough. Three sample events are given. They struck me as being a notch on the dark side. Fine, of course, I just personally would have preferred to see one light-and-happy faire to balance things out. The book ends with an appendix of what things the party might be able to find at an event. Very useful tables here. </span></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'">This is a solid book covering material that inevitably comes up sooner or later in every campaign. It really helps flesh out a festive event and lets the party “explore” areas that the DM might otherwise have been time-pressed to think of. I will happily give TFT a “low” 5/5. This is not a perfect book, but I am very pleased with it and it does an excellent job of addressing the social aspects of adventuring.</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jannica Thales, post: 2402974, member: 33331"] [b]“Your party meets in a tavern.”[/b] [font=Courier New]“Your party meets in a tavern.” Who hasn’t heard that before? Tournaments, Fairs, & Taverns (TFT) takes a simple game mechanic to bring life to standard tavern encounters and to fill out faires and other such events that the DM might be hard pressed to think of at the last minute. For style and layout, the book neither excels nor fails. I was able to clearly read through it with no distractions. I also have no complaints about the artwork. Competitions revolve around a simple core mechanic. TFT uses “degrees of success” to determine how well a given task is performed. This adds depth to opposed tests and draws out the contest. There is no drama with a simple opposed die roll. That’s fine for combat situations which makes up most of D&D. But when you get to more social event, you see the problem arise. Feats are added to round out the mechanic so that the character can become a grand master in a given event. Classic games such as cards and chases are given a light touch and the book moves on to martial tournaments such as archery and jousting. The martial events are a little more complicated, which is only natural as D&D has core rules built around these things. I liked the two jousting maneuvers given, which adds a potential bit of strategy to the event. The book moves on to tavern games which one might find in a ... well ... tavern. Fire breathing, contests of wits (a nice touch), and even plays are covered. From there we have magical competitions. I have to admit, I didn’t care for “Bhaly” that much as it was just a slightly more complicated version of basketball with spellcasting, but since it only needs five players it might work great for a game based on Harry Potter (there is a sly reference to this). I honestly felt this was the weakest chapter. The games were just a little too trite for me. That said, the D&D fire-and-forget magic system complicates things here. Next is Festival games, which essentially is everything else. These delve into flights of fancy. Squashgoblin is a dwarf-only game, but I could easily envision it being used as comedy relief if the party goes underground and has to gain the trust of a dwarf king or whatever. I would have liked to have seen more party-oriented challenges like this in the book. Chapter Seven is DM advice on how to run a festive encounter. It seems pretty solid enough. Three sample events are given. They struck me as being a notch on the dark side. Fine, of course, I just personally would have preferred to see one light-and-happy faire to balance things out. The book ends with an appendix of what things the party might be able to find at an event. Very useful tables here. This is a solid book covering material that inevitably comes up sooner or later in every campaign. It really helps flesh out a festive event and lets the party “explore” areas that the DM might otherwise have been time-pressed to think of. I will happily give TFT a “low” 5/5. This is not a perfect book, but I am very pleased with it and it does an excellent job of addressing the social aspects of adventuring.[/font] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Tournaments, Fairs & Taverns
Top