CharlesRyan
Adventurer
Warning! Melodrama follows! (Lengthy melodrama, at that!)
My principal campaign is an OGL homebrew, but I’ve been borrowing liberally from 4E concepts. One system that works as well (maybe even better, given the greater skill diversity) in 3E as 4E is the skill challenge, and I’ve used them to good effect over the past few months.
So the heroes are coming up on the Feast of Saint John, also known as midsummer’s night—a time of “idle plays and japes, carolings, the making of fool countenances, smiting, wrestling, dice, football, blind-man’s buff, bowling, cockfighting, and baiting.” And a lot of drinking. The heroes and locals just finished a two-session-long battle defending their local castle, and I wanted a denouement—a light-hearted scene to wrap up that tough adventure before heading into the next meatgrinder. And I thought the celebration would be a good chance to strengthen ties with local NPCs and maybe spawn an interesting subplot or two. So I set the scene up as a skill challenge, motivating the players with the reward of a Plot Die (a small mechanical bennie in my game) each should they succeed.
The festivities began in the afternoon after mass. The players suggested things they might do in their carousing with the locals: the chevalier won an arm-wrestling competition (a success!); I think there was a footrace and some drinking games (more successes). The magus attempted to entertain some children with a story of their adventures, illustrated with illusory characters, but he’s a confused and flighty sort who barely understands other human beings, let alone children, so that ended up a distinct failure.
Then D_____ decided to run with the jape angle. He had the magus magically change his appearance to that of Lady M_____ (another PC), then went around making comments that Lady M_____ might later find embarrassing. He was, of course, quickly cornered by Lady M_____, who marched him back to the magus and demanded the illusion be dispelled. When the magus failed his dispelling check badly, he concluded in his confusion that he had misunderstood, and instead changed Lady M_____ to look like D_____.
The spells were otherwise harmless, and would naturally expire at dawn, so at this point we’re looking at a “hilarity ensued” situation and little else. But then two independent subplots, which I had set up many moons ago with no real expectation of this level of drama, collided with the evening’s events.
Lady M_____ had months ago been tasked by her prima to find a husband for her maid, C_____ (an NPC). To make a long story short, C_____ had been the intended sacrifice of a black mass in an earlier adventure, and so long as she remained a maiden was in danger of another attempt. If she were married (and hence demonstrably no longer a maiden), that danger would be removed. Unfortunately C_____ was uninterested in any of the potential suitors Lady M_____ thought appropriate—in fact, C_____ was in love with D_____.
All fine and dandy, and headed in an obvious direction, except for two roadblocks:
This issue churned the plot for some time. Voices were raised and tears were shed. There was much hustling about and an equal amount of slinking and eavesdropping. Hilarity did, indeed, ensue.
I called the jape a success and the heroes won their skill challenge. And C_____ was married on Lammas day to the newly-knighted (by PC Sir S_____) D_____. The distant sound of rumbling was surely just summer thunder.
It was the most intense and enjoyable social encounter I’ve ever been part of (and in 30 years of gaming, I’m pretty sure the first PC marriage); my wife (Sir S_____ in this game) later compared it to a certain San incident roleplayed by Stan! that has become part of gaming legend in our circles. Closer ties to local NPCs? Check. Interesting subplot? Check. Good time had by all? Check.
Go skill challenges!
My principal campaign is an OGL homebrew, but I’ve been borrowing liberally from 4E concepts. One system that works as well (maybe even better, given the greater skill diversity) in 3E as 4E is the skill challenge, and I’ve used them to good effect over the past few months.
So the heroes are coming up on the Feast of Saint John, also known as midsummer’s night—a time of “idle plays and japes, carolings, the making of fool countenances, smiting, wrestling, dice, football, blind-man’s buff, bowling, cockfighting, and baiting.” And a lot of drinking. The heroes and locals just finished a two-session-long battle defending their local castle, and I wanted a denouement—a light-hearted scene to wrap up that tough adventure before heading into the next meatgrinder. And I thought the celebration would be a good chance to strengthen ties with local NPCs and maybe spawn an interesting subplot or two. So I set the scene up as a skill challenge, motivating the players with the reward of a Plot Die (a small mechanical bennie in my game) each should they succeed.
The festivities began in the afternoon after mass. The players suggested things they might do in their carousing with the locals: the chevalier won an arm-wrestling competition (a success!); I think there was a footrace and some drinking games (more successes). The magus attempted to entertain some children with a story of their adventures, illustrated with illusory characters, but he’s a confused and flighty sort who barely understands other human beings, let alone children, so that ended up a distinct failure.
Then D_____ decided to run with the jape angle. He had the magus magically change his appearance to that of Lady M_____ (another PC), then went around making comments that Lady M_____ might later find embarrassing. He was, of course, quickly cornered by Lady M_____, who marched him back to the magus and demanded the illusion be dispelled. When the magus failed his dispelling check badly, he concluded in his confusion that he had misunderstood, and instead changed Lady M_____ to look like D_____.
The spells were otherwise harmless, and would naturally expire at dawn, so at this point we’re looking at a “hilarity ensued” situation and little else. But then two independent subplots, which I had set up many moons ago with no real expectation of this level of drama, collided with the evening’s events.
Lady M_____ had months ago been tasked by her prima to find a husband for her maid, C_____ (an NPC). To make a long story short, C_____ had been the intended sacrifice of a black mass in an earlier adventure, and so long as she remained a maiden was in danger of another attempt. If she were married (and hence demonstrably no longer a maiden), that danger would be removed. Unfortunately C_____ was uninterested in any of the potential suitors Lady M_____ thought appropriate—in fact, C_____ was in love with D_____.
All fine and dandy, and headed in an obvious direction, except for two roadblocks:
- Lady M_____ knew that C_____ was actually of noble birth (a distant though illegitimate niece of Eleanor of Aquitaine, even, making her a relative of Richard Coeur de Lion!)—a fact even C_____, an ostensible orphan, didn’t realize. Rough-and-tumble armsman D_____ was hardly a suitable match.
- D_____ believed that he might actually already be married, to a faerie lady of some power. The actual facts concerning this wedding are hazy (it comes from character backstory, not a past adventure), but he has a ring, a dowry, and the very real worry that at some point a band of angry Fey are going to show up on his doorstep. Was it a legitimate marriage, or a Faerie prank? Answer hazy; try again later.
This issue churned the plot for some time. Voices were raised and tears were shed. There was much hustling about and an equal amount of slinking and eavesdropping. Hilarity did, indeed, ensue.
I called the jape a success and the heroes won their skill challenge. And C_____ was married on Lammas day to the newly-knighted (by PC Sir S_____) D_____. The distant sound of rumbling was surely just summer thunder.
It was the most intense and enjoyable social encounter I’ve ever been part of (and in 30 years of gaming, I’m pretty sure the first PC marriage); my wife (Sir S_____ in this game) later compared it to a certain San incident roleplayed by Stan! that has become part of gaming legend in our circles. Closer ties to local NPCs? Check. Interesting subplot? Check. Good time had by all? Check.
Go skill challenges!
Please substitute some random names already, reading about Lady M_____ and D___ makes my eyes bleed and is very confusing.
