Looking for Social Encounters [..about EL 10]

[Three_Haligonians]

Hey folks,

Here is the situation: The PCs enter a large town filled with nobles. One of these nobles, the very centre of the social scene and beloved by all, has passed away - leaving a sizeable estate and no heir. The town, to honour the late philanthropist, has decided to hold a benefit auction of all the deceased possessions, and has included a performance of their favourite opera at the concert hall.

Part of the estate is a large selection of fantastic and elaborate clothing. One of the pieces in one of the articles is the McGuffin the PCs need.

Ok, that's the backdrop. What I need to do is come up with a number of "encounters" and challenges the PCs can face to gain XP for the scenario over all. The party should be around level 10 and this should take them to level 11 - the DMG tells me this should be about 13 or 14 encounters.

What kind of things can I create to fill those "encounter slots"? It's a pretty combat heavy game, so I want this adventure to be the "social heavy" aspect - especially to reward the players whose characters are more designed for that kind of thing. Technically, by RAW, a successful Diplomacy check against a Level 10 Aristocrat to get what they want is overcoming a EL 10 challenge, but I don't want to do nothing but that.. it is boring.

So, what kind of social encounters have you created? or even used? What kind of things should I be on the look-out for? I know that I should have some combat (I don't want to ignore the fighter-types) but what other problems might arise?

Oh, and they don't all have to be EL 10 obviously, a few smaller ones that "add up" are perfectly acceptable.

Thanks

J from Three Haligonians

 

[roguerouge]

I posted this earlier last year, but the site no longer keeps track of subscriptions.

My player out!!!!

You want to have a ball.

Skill checks are your encounters. Have success in one lead to bonuses in others, failures lead to penalties. The goal is to end the evening with a high prestige by making a good first
impression, establishing your popularity through your dance card, making conquests on the dance floor, avoiding scandals, avoiding getting snowed by social climbers, and getting the good opinion of a handful of key targets.

First impressions: Disguise check to start off: higher the check, the more fashionable you appear. Give incentive for buying nobility outfits (+2 to check) and masterwork disguise kits (makeup, the really kickin' dress). This is the first impression she makes on high
society. This influences the next encounter...

Filling out the dance card: in high society less than a century ago, women wore a bracelet with a little book attached to it, where they would pencil in their dance partners. As it was considered rude to take up a woman's entire dance card, a full dance card indicated popularity in a circle where that was power. Have GInfo checks to figure out who would be good partners to dance with, along with Knowledge: nobility to i.d. notorious womanizers, bores, the society woman you have to impress, the lech, and the best catch or conquest at
the party. Some bluffs or diplomacies to get suitors to ask her to dance. Make it a tough diplomacy check or hide check to avoid the lech or the oaf or the bore.

Dancing: Have perform checks to indicate her grace on the dance floor for several dances. Intermingle a balance check to deal with the oaf who steps on her foot or hem of her dress. Bluff check to avoid revealing that she's been goosed by the lech. Diplomacy checks to positively influence the attitude of those people who's good opinion matters. Knowledge: nobility to know what topics are appropriate and with whom.

He likes me!: Have sense motive checks to figure out which one's genuinely interested from the legions who are interested in scoring points in high society. Diplomacy checks to make conquests (a.k.a. draw interest from male suitors, nothing physical).

Appraise checks to i.d. what jewelry, clothing, and art work are actually praise-worthy. Failure indicates poor fashion sense and can lead to penalties in social interactions.

 

[skelso]

D&D has precious few mechanics for Social interaction.

Have you considered using Gather Information as part of a mingle and gossip type thing to gather sufficient dirt on someone to help Intimidate them, which somehow or another leads them further along the trail to their McGuffin?

You'll probably need disguise checks. Also, probably forgery could come into play. Maybe somehow incorporating the dance book thing roguerouge mentioned.

Knowledge (local) could come into play.

I think the main thing you'd have to do in a situation like this, though, is call for loads of bluff and diplomacy checks, but then based on what they say and do, give them situational modifiers. The situational modifiers are what can make it fun, because the players are actually doing something and not just moving from npc A to npc B making a successful diplomacy check at each point to navigate the social maze.

Hope this helps.

 

[Mistwell]

Encounter 1: Gain Invitation. To gain entry, you must be either a known person of wealth (which they are presumably not, since they are not from that town), or get past the bureaucrat in charge of invitations. The bureaucrat in charge will likely require proof that the party is of good moral character and has sufficient wealth, so he needs an established noble to vouch for them.

Encounter 2: Get Vouching from Noble, or bypass. To vouch for them, the noble might ask them to perform a small task for them, or to donate to the local temple, or to identify the difference between fine art and cheap art, or something of that nature. Alternatively they could forge a letter from a noble, or bribe an underling, or attempt to bribe the bureaucrat in charge of invitations. Once they have the invitation...

Encounter 3: Discover Who will Bid Against Them. While at the pre-auction event, the party hears a rumor that someone else is interested in bidding against them for the Clothing Item they need, and that person has the cash to outbid them. They will need to discover who this person is (let's call them Countess X), and find out how to prevent Countess X from outbidding them. Essentially, this means they need to find another item that Countess X is already interested (let's call it Diamond Necklace) that will come up for auction before the Clothing Item, and then the party will need to bid that Diamond Necklace up enough to insure that Countess X will not be able to outbid them anymore on the Clothing Item later. However, they cannot overbid on Diamond Necklace, since they run the risk of winning it by accident, in which case they would alternatively need to try and trade the Diamond Necklace for the Clothing Item and persuade the Countess X to agree to that deal.

Encounter 4: The Auction. The party finds out that, in addition to the Clothing Item, another really useful magic item comes up for bid first. But they might not have the cash to afford both, and need to make a decision on bidding for the Magic Item and running the risk of losing out on the Clothing Item. If they move fast and made contacts earlier in the crowd, it's possible they could obtain a loan from someone there quickly and bid on both items, with the need to perform a task for the loaner later.

 

[Whimsical]

You should check out The Demonskar Ball. It's all about an extended social interaction adventure. Lots of ideas to steal. My players loved it.

 

[Three_Haligonians]

Man.. you folk rock!

Your input is very much appreciated. I think I'm going to go with a system of "do the prep work" to gain a bonus on "social roll" which in turn adds more bonuses on the next roll and so forth.

Feel free to add more ideas and thanks so much

J from Three Haligonians