Tavern Brawls are THE BOMB!

[demiurge1138]

I've never started a campaign with a tavern brawl, but I nearly ended a campaign with one...

I run a reptiles-only homebrew, and the party's waiting for their ship to be repaired in an enemy troglodyte city. The first stage of the bar fight- it started with a glamered character shaking the wrong trog's hand- wasn't too exciting, a few rounds and a lot of opponent casualties.

Then the police showed up.

Several rounds of poison gas grenades and "Mercystiks" (merciful warmaces), only one character has escaped and the rest are being hauled to the clink for a short break before their excecution. The ensuing jailbreak killed all but one character and lasted three sessions.

Demiurge out.

 

[Breakstone]

Wow. Talk about an old thread...

By the way, there was a rather good barfight just recently. The fighter wandered into a bar, looking for a fight, but he didn't know that three of the bartenders were secretly demons. So after slamming a stool over a drunkard's back, one of the demons-in-disguise punches the fighter... for 15 points of damage.

The player looks down at his character sheet and says, "Uh, if I spend a Hero Point, can I say my character healed himself since he entered town?"

It turned out the character had 5 hit points left.

Good times, good times.

 

[Psychotic Jim]

By the way, there was a rather good barfight just recently. The fighter wandered into a bar, looking for a fight, but he didn't know that three of the bartenders were secretly demons. So after slamming a stool over a drunkard's back, one of the demons-in-disguise punches the fighter... for 15 points of damage.

And the blacksmith wouldn't happen to be a man-eating platinum dragon, would it ?

 

[Demmero]

Have you fine people out there had any good tavern brawls lately? If so, what happened and why?

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

My human female runaway/prostitute/exotic entertainer who's trying to turn her life around and become a legitimate bard stands on the edge of a bar brawl currently. The best part of the whole situation is that the DM included the following in her Code of Conduct for the players, regarding consequences of their actions:

"You walk into town and go into the local tavern. Someone looks at you cross-eyed and you take up the closest bar stool. You then proceed to introduce the barstool to the face of the offending patron. A bar brawl ensues and the local law comes in. Guess what? You started it, so guess who's going to jail and possibly losing some of his possessions to fix the damage to the bar? YOU!!!"

So, here's what happened: Newly-arrived at a small town and short on cash, my bard decided it would be wise to try to perform at a local inn for room, board, and whatever coins the locals might toss her way. She approaches the innkeeper, who takes one look at her and decides she's more qualified to be a prostitute in one of the back rooms. My bard politely refused the offer, and the innkeeper said it was a shame, because he had a good eye for the ladies. My bard shot back that he looked more the type to have a good eye for sheep and turned to leave. The innkeeper laughed, said my bard had spirit, and then gave her a parting pinch and slap on the backside.

Needless to say, that couldn't just be ignored....

I figured it had already been a rough day for my bard (more than half the party brought into -hp land after an attack from a pack of wolves), and the innkeeper had just broken a pair of cardinal rules: first, he'd had the audacity to say "No" to my bard, and second, he'd touched the goods before paying

So my bard whirled around and sang an insulting little ditty (actually a Daze spell), and when the innkeeper's face went all stupid and confused, she grabbed a mug of ale off a nearby table and poured it over his head. Then I made sure to drop a silver piece on the table of the man whose drink I'd wasted. I was rather happy with myself.

I'd forgotten about the new guy.

It was his first session in the game, and his character had followed mine to the tavern to make sure she'd be safe and not get into any trouble (Ha!). He'd stepped in to lecture the innkeeper on how to treat a lady after the pinch and slap, but after my bard had poured the ale over the man's head, the new guy decided to add an exclamation point by pushing the innkeeper to the floor.

The session ended with the tavern going suddenly silent and all the patrons glaring at the two troublemakers. The DM also saw fit to point out that we were a long ways from the front door....

So I'm expecting some bar-brawling fun next week. Of course, I'll try to sweet-talk or otherwise Bluff my way out of it and let the new guy take the beating for me

 

[Deceitfulelf]

Well neither of these are recent(taking place in 2nd Ed days), but they were fun so I'll list 'em.

I was playing an assassin with skills in herbology, poisons, and healing. The dm let me start with some herbs, one of which speeded up natural healing. However this herb as amplified the effects of alchohol as well as serving as a mild hallucinogen. Me, being the smartass I am decided to have some fun. While in one of the local taverns I bought a big keg of ale from the barkeep, mixed a good amount of the herb, and called to everyone in the tavern "Free Beer!" Everyone in the tavern is singing my praises, while the Dm is shaking his head and vowing never to let a player have a unique herb again. Well as you can imagine a bar fight started out while everyone was getting a lot drunker faster then normal. But it wasn't a normal bar fight, cuz people started fighting things that werent' there, or screaming that the pixies are gonna get em. Also, I didn't let the two other players in on the joke and they partook of my seeming generosity.

Another time I was playing with another Dm who was fleshing out his world and started us out in a city where a peace conference was commencing. It was Elven city and they were working out a treaty with the Ork nation after many years of war between the two. I was playing on Ork at the time and when we walked into the local tavern we saw it split literally in two. Orks on one site, Elves on the other. Again I decided to have some fun and went to the bar on the Elven side. There was a dwarf sitting there and in a very gruff voice told me to get my own kinds side. I didn't take kindly to that so I dumped my ale on his head. As can be imagined he didn't care for that and a major brawl started between the Elvens and Orks in the tavern, which spilled over to the city as a whole, which then caused the war to start all over again. The Dm still has that event as part of his worlds history, he calls it the War of the Spilt Ale. I think with pride that I left such a mark on his world.

 

[nikolai]

Ages ago - in one of the first games of D&D I ever played - I was DMing a group and the adventure started with everyone meeting up in a tavern. Anyway, the Dwarf ordered a drink and then threw it over someone because of some (imagined) slight. A fist fight kicked off, a while later someone picked a stool, it progressed to axes, the city watch turned up and were hacked to pieces, one of the PCs got arrested and the rest of the evening was spent busting him from jail and fleeing into the nearby forest, where the party became outlaws.

They never got around to the adventure, and the poor villagers they were asked to help were presumably all slaughted by goblins and are now lying in unmarked graves. Oh, well...

 

[Breakstone]

And the blacksmith wouldn't happen to be a man-eating platinum dragon, would it ?

Heh heh heh.

Actually, it was pre-planned for this to happen.

Otherwise, it would just be cheap.

 

[Graywolf-ELM]

DM planning a Brawl for my players

I'm DM'ing a very old setting, "Orc's of Thar"(For those of you who know of it, we are not using the whimsical aspect of it) The party is comprised of:

A Goblin rogue
A Goblin Druid
An Orc Ranger
A Shadow Elf Ranger
An Orc Barbarian
A 1/2 Ogre/Orc Barbarian

I'm planning a bar encounter at the next Horde meeting, with 3 rival tribes all partaking in the same bar. I'll be using the drinking feats in the Trusty Taverner's guide to enhance some of the patrons, and a feat that I have modified, from the original Orcs of Thar setting, for bar fighting.(Can I get in trouble for this?)

Brawling(Feat): This skill allows you to fight crowds using anything within reach, knocking opponents off-balance, swinging tables, chairs, etc. Brawling damage is not lethal, it just knocks victims unconscious when reaching 0 hp. A successful check allows you to double damage for each +1 in Strength bonus your character has. Damage is spread among opponents in the same group, up to ten attackers.

The bar will be filled with Orcs, Goblins, Ogre's, 1/2 Ogres, the party, when they come back from their coming of age ceremony, will be members of a tribe that are lower ranked in the Horde, so there will be plenty of fodder to touch off a good brawl.

 

[Kastil]

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

My human female runaway/prostitute/exotic entertainer who's trying to turn her life around and become a legitimate bard stands on the edge of a bar brawl currently. The best part of the whole situation is that the DM included the following in her Code of Conduct for the players, regarding consequences of their actions:

"You walk into town and go into the local tavern. Someone looks at you cross-eyed and you take up the closest bar stool. You then proceed to introduce the barstool to the face of the offending patron. A bar brawl ensues and the local law comes in. Guess what? You started it, so guess who's going to jail and possibly losing some of his possessions to fix the damage to the bar? YOU!!!"

So, here's what happened: Newly-arrived at a small town and short on cash, my bard decided it would be wise to try to perform at a local inn for room, board, and whatever coins the locals might toss her way. She approaches the innkeeper, who takes one look at her and decides she's more qualified to be a prostitute in one of the back rooms. My bard politely refused the offer, and the innkeeper said it was a shame, because he had a good eye for the ladies. My bard shot back that he looked more the type to have a good eye for sheep and turned to leave. The innkeeper laughed, said my bard had spirit, and then gave her a parting pinch and slap on the backside.

Needless to say, that couldn't just be ignored....

I figured it had already been a rough day for my bard (more than half the party brought into -hp land after an attack from a pack of wolves), and the innkeeper had just broken a pair of cardinal rules: first, he'd had the audacity to say "No" to my bard, and second, he'd touched the goods before paying

So my bard whirled around and sang an insulting little ditty (actually a Daze spell), and when the innkeeper's face went all stupid and confused, she grabbed a mug of ale off a nearby table and poured it over his head. Then I made sure to drop a silver piece on the table of the man whose drink I'd wasted. I was rather happy with myself.

I'd forgotten about the new guy.

It was his first session in the game, and his character had followed mine to the tavern to make sure she'd be safe and not get into any trouble (Ha!). He'd stepped in to lecture the innkeeper on how to treat a lady after the pinch and slap, but after my bard had poured the ale over the man's head, the new guy decided to add an exclamation point by pushing the innkeeper to the floor.

The session ended with the tavern going suddenly silent and all the patrons glaring at the two troublemakers. The DM also saw fit to point out that we were a long ways from the front door....

So I'm expecting some bar-brawling fun next week. Of course, I'll try to sweet-talk or otherwise Bluff my way out of it and let the new guy take the beating for me

Oh yes that is my quote and I plan to have some good old fashioned fun. ::snickers:: The shame of it all is they had a place to stay but, as they say, someone didn't see the forest for the trees.

Polish up on your Bluff skill, you'll need it to save your pretty little hide. ;-)

 

[CombatWombat51]

Bar fights are probably the most common combat encounters in my games, come to think of it. Opposed to the other standby's: ambushed by bandits, raiding dragon, undead armies, undead filled tombes, crazed wizards, evil cults, etc. And that all goes for when I DM or play. Even my fighter 12/planar champion 2 recently got in a bar fight. Unfortunately he got the stuffing kicked out of him by some half-orc badass that got 4 attacks per round, and who turned out to be an important and cool NPC. When the party has downtime in town, the wizards go after spells or libraries, the rogues steal things/pick pockets, the clerics hang out at their temples, and the fighters get in unneccesary fights. But, they are bar fights, the vast majority of the time. No weapons, subdual damage, no looting; just good old fashioned brawls.