Olgar Shiverstone
Legend
Great way to begin a campaign: not "You all meet up in the tavern, when ..." but instead "You're in the middle of a bar fight in the tavern, when ..."
Has anyone made good bar fight encounters?
- Thread starter Noumenon
- Start date
Rel
Liquid Awesome
Several years ago I kicked off my Eberron campaign with a bar fight. It was a Halfling run bar in the bad part of town and a rival (Goblin) gang instigated a bar fight that they used as cover to murder the bar owner.
It worked out well because the first few rounds were just fisticuffs and then the PC's began to notice some of the goblins at the back of the bar using knives. So they had to fight their way over there to see what was going on and engage the Goblins while still being attacked by unarmed drunks.
I closed out the fight by having a Dwarf Guard Captain bust in with some troops to break up the fight. The PC's (the only ones still standing who were holding weapons dripping with blood) were held for questioning and that's how the party originally got together (with a wink and a nod from the players of course).
It worked out well because the first few rounds were just fisticuffs and then the PC's began to notice some of the goblins at the back of the bar using knives. So they had to fight their way over there to see what was going on and engage the Goblins while still being attacked by unarmed drunks.
I closed out the fight by having a Dwarf Guard Captain bust in with some troops to break up the fight. The PC's (the only ones still standing who were holding weapons dripping with blood) were held for questioning and that's how the party originally got together (with a wink and a nod from the players of course).
Saeviomagy
Adventurer
I would suggest that
1. bar fights start in packed bars. Use the human rabble minion and fill the bar end-to-end with them.
2. Put lots of terrain powers in: you want the "slide a guy down the bar" power, the "put the huge spitoon on the guy's head" power (possibly even by stomping on a loose floorboard), a falling chandelier, a balcony to hurl people off of and tables to overturn.
1. bar fights start in packed bars. Use the human rabble minion and fill the bar end-to-end with them.
2. Put lots of terrain powers in: you want the "slide a guy down the bar" power, the "put the huge spitoon on the guy's head" power (possibly even by stomping on a loose floorboard), a falling chandelier, a balcony to hurl people off of and tables to overturn.
OnlineDM
Adventurer
My first ever encounter in a role playing game was a bar fight. It was unscripted, too. Our party met in a bar (cliche, but half of us were first-timers) and encountered some humans arguing with some dwarves. The humans had been hired by the dwarves to clear kobolds out of the dwarves' mine, and the dwarves were refusing to pay the humans because they said there were still kobolds in the mine.
We intervened, and the dwarves offered us the job. The humans got upset, so my no-charisma wizard tried to calm things down with diplomacy. I rolled a natural 1. The human took a swing at me, my goliath friend jumped into the fray, and the battle was on.
It was a quick and easy fight, but we ran it as an actual encounter and it led to some of the best role playing we had in that campaign. My wizard used Mage Hand to pick up an unattended tankard of ale and dump in on one of the humans. My wife's sneaky ranger looted one of the unconscious humans when no one was looking, rejoicing in her clandestine bonus of 5 gold pieces. This battle also started my wife's character's long-running animosity toward my character, as I Thunderwaved three bad guys but also hit her character in the process. Oops.
In short, bar fights can be fun, especially if the players see it as a chance for some cool role playing in a battle where the outcome is never seriously in doubt.
We intervened, and the dwarves offered us the job. The humans got upset, so my no-charisma wizard tried to calm things down with diplomacy. I rolled a natural 1. The human took a swing at me, my goliath friend jumped into the fray, and the battle was on.
It was a quick and easy fight, but we ran it as an actual encounter and it led to some of the best role playing we had in that campaign. My wizard used Mage Hand to pick up an unattended tankard of ale and dump in on one of the humans. My wife's sneaky ranger looted one of the unconscious humans when no one was looking, rejoicing in her clandestine bonus of 5 gold pieces. This battle also started my wife's character's long-running animosity toward my character, as I Thunderwaved three bad guys but also hit her character in the process. Oops.
In short, bar fights can be fun, especially if the players see it as a chance for some cool role playing in a battle where the outcome is never seriously in doubt.
green slime
First Post
Sure, some of the patrons are low life humans with not a level to their classless mono-existance. All takes is one NPC of decent level to create a more insteresting scene. Doesn't Trevidor the Terrible deserve a relaxing drink with his favourite wench after a hard week's pillaging and plunder across the four counties?
What about all the other NPC adventurers? Mercenaries? Off-duty guardsmen?
Trevidor will probably be perfectly happy to avoid the fisticuffs, until someone accidentily knocks his table over, spilling beer onto his breeches....
What about all the other NPC adventurers? Mercenaries? Off-duty guardsmen?
Trevidor will probably be perfectly happy to avoid the fisticuffs, until someone accidentily knocks his table over, spilling beer onto his breeches....
pukunui
Legend
We had a really awesome bar fight in our 4e game not so long ago. We went into the bar to find some sage guy we needed to pump for info, only he was drunk and didn't want to leave. So the dwarf runepriest picked him up and threw him over his shoulder. The old guy started kicking and squirming and knocked some half-orc chick's drink over. So she started arguing with the dwarf, calling him puny and such. So the dwarf pulled out his axe. And that's when the fighting started. My avenger singled out the half-orc and took her down pretty quickly. One of her cronies got beat up and tried running out the door, but one of the other PCs dramatically leapt out the front window, landing prone in the broken glass but still able to fire off a shot/spell (I forget which) that took out the fleeing guy. Another PC went after a crony who'd gone behind the bar and had started throwing bottles of alcohol at him. The guy lit the bar on fire next, but the PC dramatically leapt over it and brought the whole shelf of alcohol down on the NPC, knocking him out.
It was one of the coolest, most dynamic and most FUN D&D encounters I've ever experienced in any edition (and that's saying a lot, because I'm not a big fan of 4e).
It was one of the coolest, most dynamic and most FUN D&D encounters I've ever experienced in any edition (and that's saying a lot, because I'm not a big fan of 4e).
Rel
Liquid Awesome
Nothing to do with an actual barfight but this reminds me of how I started a "preview adventure" for my last major campaign:
The PC's are hanging out in a bar and a guy walks in looking to hire a handful of sellswords to embark on a dangerous and epic adventure. The PC's and several other patrons step forward offering their services. Everyone is hired...except for the PC's. Then another guy steps up and says, "If you're still available, some Kobolds have stolen a few of our sheep." So that's the adventure they went on.
Later when I started the actual campaign it started in the same bar. This time the PC's were the ones chosen for the epic adventure. As they walked out of the bar, leaving behind the crestfallen PC's from the preview adventure, the Paladin says, "Watch out for rats." Because they had a hell of a hard time with some giant rat swarms in the preview adventure. ;
Noumenon
First Post
Hey, there's an interesting idea. Make the bar full of important personages and treat them as terrain that you don't want to get knocked into.
Pukunui has good ideas for terrain too -- the breakable front window, the tippable shelf, the pickuppable bottles.
pukunui
Legend
Yeah, it was definitely one of the most dynamic fights I've ever had.
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