Give me snapshots of Renaissance Festivals

[RangerWickett]

The response in this thread - Give me snapshots of New Orleans - was so great that I decided I'd ask if people could help out with another part of my campaign. Hopefully other folks can benefit from this too.

I just started a modern fantasy game, and the first session was last night. The group was on a bus, and just happened to get into a car accident just outside the 31st Annual Texas Renaissance Festival. The bus driver needs to stop and get the bus repaired, so she collects cel phone numbers and assigns the passengers into groups so she can contact everyone when it's time to get back on the bus. The party is grouped together, and they head into the Ren Fest.

Now, last night I used my own personal experiences at the Ren Fest to try to keep things entertaining, but I realized as the session proceeded that some things might be fun in the real world, but aren't so great in a game. So I'd like some help coming up with interesting things for the next session. Just give me some of your own memories of Renaissance Festivals you've been to, and hopefully suggestions for how to get PCs involved with it.

We did, however, have a great moment when the 5th century knight, displaced to the 21st century, got dared to compete in the joust. He sorta stole the show for the session, so I need to make sure the other PCs get a bit of spotlight. I've got the knight, a charming vigilante, a southern belle dilettante, and an apathetic do-gooder with amnesia and mysterious magical powers.

If you could find a way to make turkey legs dramatic, that'd be great.

 

[sjmiller]

Goodness, what would you like to know about Renaissance Festivals? I have been performing at several for 14 years, and can probably get you maps, pictures, and whatnot from a host of shows. Texas has a nice show in October; the Atlanta show is really tiny, but it is going on right now; Colorado has a great show in June and July; Minnesota has one of the oldest shows, a huge number of stages, and a cast of about 500.

I could take up a lot of room discussing Renaissance Festivals, but I think it would work best if I knew what you were looking to know.

 

[RangerWickett]

Oh, I know about Ren Fests. I go to them all the time (the Texas one in particular is the one I grew up with). But I'm looking for snippets of memories you have, things that stood out as being really cool or really bad from Ren Faires you've been to.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

Lots of crafts for sale, lots of games, roasted turkey legs to eat, human chess, shows on birds of prey (hawks, owls, etc.), lots of character actors, etc.

You should check out the book Tournaments, Fairs, and Taverns for a variety of festival-type games and competitions.

 

[RangerWickett]

You should check out the book Tournaments, Fairs, and Taverns for a variety of festival-type games and competitions.

*grins*

Tournaments, Fairs, & Taverns, written by Peter Ball, Ryan Nock, Russell Morrissey, et. al.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

*grins*

Tournaments, Fairs, & Taverns, written by Peter Ball, Ryan Nock, Russell Morrissey, et. al.

Yeah, I think I've heard of that guy ....

I can't offer you any pictures other than to search the web for various Renny sites. However, I would like to chime in that TF&T is a high quality product and definately worthy of purchase for any DM looking to flesh out an encounter at such an event.

 

[Shadowdancer]

I love going to the Texas Renaissance Festival every year, and Scarborough Faire in Waxahachie in the spring (just went last weekend, as a matter of fact).

Some memorable events (don't know how you would work them into a game).

Once during a Don Juan and Miguel show (comedy swordfighting duo, the Cheech and Chong of RenFests), a little kid with a wooden sword climbed on stage and started chasing Miguel around while Don Juan just stood there and laughed.

(Don Juan and Miguel, and many of the acts at RenFests, get volunteers out of the audience to help in the show. Maybe you could pull that on your PCs. Deb Bob could make them Bob Zombies. Or they could see one or more of the RenFest actors interacting with visitors, and mistake what was going on.)

Another time, while watching the Rogues (scottish pipe and drum group) perform, the cell phone of a young woman standing near the back of the audience rang, and she started talking on it. The leader of the Rogues dashed into the audience, took the cell phone from her, asked who was on the other end, then said, "Well, she's watching the Rogues perform right now. She'll have to call you back later," and hung up. He kept the phone until the end of the show, too.

 

[Rika]

Once during a Don Juan and Miguel show (comedy swordfighting duo, the Cheech and Chong of RenFests), a little kid with a wooden sword climbed on stage and started chasing Miguel around while Don Juan just stood there and laughed.

Oh, oh!! My favorite performers!

At Carolina one year they got a guy out of the audience for the "Blindfolded Bladder, Bust" (Don Juan tries to break 3 ballons that Miguel's holding while blindfolded) who was afraid of balloons. No kidding he ran screaming from the stage and by all reports out the front gate. They kind of stood there in stunned.

At Sterling one year my husband made the guy playing the Spanish ambassador do a double take druning the human chess match by heckling him in spainsh.

At Carolina a performer by the name of Thom Sellectomy made a woman vomit by hammering a nail up his nose.

You know a lot of the things that make it memorable are the kind of things that you just have to be there for.

Arrgh, I wanna go to faire now. Sucks being in Utah.

 

[toberane]

Speaking of Don Juan and Miguel (never seen them, I assume they are riotously funny) reminds me of another great act of legend from RenFests - Puke & Snot.

Puke and snot - http://www.magaga.com - have been performing for years and years at RenFests and other variety venues. They actually started years ago performing with some other friends of theirs you might have hears of - Penn & Teller.

Puke & Snot are equal parts Shakespeare, Abbot & Costello, and the Smothers Brothers. They used to perfor at the Kansas City RenFest all the time, but they stopped a few years back to instead perform at the Minnesota RenFest, which happens at about the same time.

Other things about RenFests that spring to mind:

Lots of women wearing low cut bodices reveling in the fact that they are showing LOTS of cleavage.

Beer. Ale. Wine. Mead. More beer and ale. And ale. And beer.

GIGANTIC ROASTED TURKEY LEGS!

Performers, performing everything from traditional madrigals to bawdy tavern songs about the chandler's wife.

Robin Hood and Little John's quarterstaff duel at the bridge, leading to one or the other (or both) getting seriously dunked and soaked.

One of our favorite performers at the Kansas City RenFest is a group of Pirates called the Jolly Rogers. Pirate songs, sea shanties, and lots of off-color, just barely family friendly skits and jokes.

Another performer who seems to be absolutely everwhere (and who doesn't even make an attempt at Family Friendly material) is Axel the Sot, a very short guy wearing a nightcap who invariably sings the bawdiest songs at the festival - with one exception.

The exception is a song called "Moose" by a group who used to call themselves Wild Mountain Thyme (they've changed members and their name since then, but I believe they still sing the song). An excerpt:

"And it's Moose, Moose, I like a Moose.
I've never had anything quite like a moose.
I've had many lovers, my morals are loose,
But I've never had anything quite like a moose."

And it just goes downhill from there.

In addition to that, there are some of the coolest shops selling some of the most amazing handmade items imaginable, at prices sure to get you writing checks that wil take your bank account into the negative numbers and have you putting off the utility bill until the next paycheck.

And as for ways of getting players involved in the action at a RenFest, I have two words for you: AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION. Every show has some degree of audience participation guaranteed to get the PCs up on stage and embarass the heck out of them.

 

[RangerWickett]

I know Ded Bob very well, or at least I used to. I've kinda forgotten what his act was like, but he'd make a perfect NPC I think. Can anyone help me cobble together a reasonable facsimile of his performance?