Things to do at a ball

[WillieW]

I'd make it a BIG DEAL. Put some pressure on the players. Have a messenger drop by two days before and let them know the king will be dropping by to make sure his agents are taking care of business (and his taxes) properly, and emphasize the consequences if things don't go swimmingly. The king (or his wife, or mother, or some Really Important) likes a good, smooth, quiet party.

Unfortunately, when the king travels, he travels with most of his court, including a small portable tent city of hanger's on whose expenses are expected to be met by whomever happens to be "honoured" to be visited.

If the PCs want to live like lords and ladies, they'll have to shoulder lords' and ladies' financial and social burdens too...

 

[diaglo]

don't forget the ticked off witch who didn't get an invite to the ball.

she places a curse on the place and everyone falls in a deep slumber until true loves first kiss.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

I don't see what the big deal is.

All the people coming to the ball will be aristocrats, probably level 10 or so. The only thing you'll have to do differently is probably lower the overall Challenge Rating when the PCs kill them because they're all unarmed. No different from a dungeon crawl really. You'll be fine.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Have some woman throw herself at one of the PCs and then have her claim that he has sullied her virtue. Have someone choose to champion her and challenge the PC to a duel. If you are into backstory and stuff, you could have it all be a setup by the neighboring Lord who tried to get their lands.

 

[DrZombie]

- Let noone important show up because the PC's are a bunch of armed thugs without any finesse or social grace at all.

- Let nothing important happen. Let it be a night in wich the party can relax, hobnob, chase women or men, get drunk on expensive wine. A night of roleplaying where nothing much happens but the PC's are having fun can be quite nice as well. They'll be edgy because they suspect you of being a RBDM and think something awfull will happen. Then, when nothing happens and they feel secure, hit 'em twice as hard on the next social affair they organise.

- Any of the suggestions above, although not evrything at once.

 

[Kalendraf]

As in any social gathering, people are likely to congregate into certain groups during the event. Some may give their token greetings to all in attendance, but as it progresses, some of these people are naturally going to gravitate together. Here's a half-dozen ideas to run with...

1) Several of the older affluent men head to a side room, a far corner or even outside to enjoy a quieter atmosphere. They light pipes, pour some drinks and begin telling their worn-out tales of past glory. They'll happily keep talking to anyone that will listen. Unfortunately, a couple of them get into a dispute over the facts of who did what during a minor battle years ago. If the party doesn't get involved in calming things down, it escalates to a full duel. One individual is right, and the other is mistaken, but figuring out which is which without causing a big scene will take skill.

2) A very attractive foreign merchant (to this city at least) dances with many of the girls who take a big interest in him. As he dances with each of them he secretly asks many of them to meet him by the stables afterwards, telling them they are his newfound love. He chooses girls who seem unattached to anyone. He's actually a slaver. With the help of his guards, he winds up capturing the girls as they enter the stables, gagging and binding them, then loading them into his wagon in large crates. He immediately heads off to a nearby port to ship them off. The missing women may go unnoticed until the morning.

3) Several of the younger men get together and stage a drinking contest amongst themselves. Anyone is free to join. Afterwards, these drunkards wind up causing all kinds of problems at the ball, getting overly loud, being offensive and so forth. Unfortunately, one of them is considered to be royalty, so kicking them out of the ball is no easy task. The party can try to find an alternate way to make them leave, but they'll need to think it up.

4) A couple of the younger men involved in the drinking contest slip off and decide they must do something completely over-the-top at this ball to impress a couple of the ladies they've got their eye on. Of course, they are pretty drunk, so they come up with an ill-conceived plan of saving the ball from a fire breaking out in the kitchens. One of them lures the cooks outside and the other starts a major grease fire. The fire spreads more quickly than expected and his attempts to douse the fire by dropping a large barrel of water on it has disastrous results, as the grease flies everywhere. Soon the entire kitchen is ablaze. The party will need to work quickly to keep it contained.

If the party is successful, they turn out to be the real heroes. The ones who started the fire attempt to slip out of the party, hoping that no one notices them. If asked, one of the cooks may be able to identify them as "acting suspicious" before the fire broke out. The 2 ladies they were trying to impress wind up falling for the partymembers instead.

5) Two slightly drunk women begin yelling at each other about a missing bracelet, with one claiming the other has stolen her precious and valuable heirloom. Eventually it turns into a full-blown catfight, and many of the drunken males even spur them on. Unless the party moves to intervene, the two ladies claw and scratch at each other and by the end their clothing has been reduced to scraps laying around them, leaving the women exposed to the entire crowd. Unless the party acts before this, a pair of men finally pull them apart and drape them in cloaks. They continue their yelling, but then calm down, finally becoming fully aware of their nakedness and greatly embarassed at the fact everyone witnessed this. The actual bracelet was stolen, but by a male thief at the ball. In fact, he's lifted a few other articles from guests that have so far gone unnoticed. If he's caught, those two women from the original fight now turn their wrath upon him unless they are stopped somehow. Given the opportunity, they take their vengeance by tearing off the theive's clothing and in the process revealing all the stolen items. He attempts to flee, but is easily captured by the guards.

6) A rather unattractive wizard seems to have caught the eye of a beautiful lady at the ball and they spend much of the time together at the dance. Her fiance is concerned that the wizard has cast a charm on her, and wants the party to investigate. DM can run this one of two ways. EIther the wizard has charmed the girl, or he hasn't. To explain the latter, it's possible that the wizard is actually some long lost friend.

 

[Ycore Rixle]

At a ball, you must have a dance contest. As hosts, the PCs are expected to put up a substantial prize. Getting the curmudgeon smith to craft a singing golden songbird prize in a week requires doing him a favor (defeating the night hag who plagues his dreams after he stole, decades ago, her fiendish nymph daughter's heart?)

Anyway, at the dance contest, every PC must make repeated Perform checks. Everyone who doesn't make Perform DC 12 gets tapped on the shoulder. A PC out in the first two rounds is so humiliated that he suffers a -2 on all Diplomacy checks in the surrounding lands for the next year. A PC who makes it to the last couple or two gains respect and prestige, a +2 on similar Diplomacy checks, and an invite to the King's Autumn Fire Ball.

And of course in the middle of the dance contest, the thieves attracted by the ball try to steal the prize.

And when the PCs are doing well in the dance contest, the disgruntled recurring villain who did not get an invite but snuck in disguised as a butler, rolls marbles under their feet.

In fact, I think that's going to happen at the wedding coming up in my Long Island campaign...

 

[jmucchiello]

A neighboring lord and lady arrives with their ungrateful and unwanted daughter to marry her off to the new lords of this manor as required by some obscure agreement made centuries ago. They won't take 'no' for an answer. (Threats of war and whatnot.) And the daughter of course won't take 'yes' for an answer. (Did I mention she was in love with the head-cultist the party slew? Or not.)

 

[jinx crossbow]

Your question reminds me on a 7th Sea evening we have frequently.

Hmm... Costumes? Dancing? Flirting? That's what a ball is all about.

Thats exactly what you need.
e.g. a contest of the PCs who will dance with the most important person this nevening.
Will they invite the King to the ball and why should he come.
Who will get jealous when the ball will be sucessfull.
What will the people do, who think they are also a member of the "Upper Class" but are not invited.

If You want You can also start some medevial party games like blind man's buff

A lot of fun picked with some intrigue.

 

[Hand of Evil]

this leaves me stumped.

Never thought I would see those words in a hong post!

Many balls took place at special events, time of year, wedding, such? This means someone could come to crash the party, say relatives of the big bad?

Then you have Romeo and Juliet - two young lovers, families do not like the match, the young lovers look for every chance to be together and your party is it...now one dies...is it murder?

A storm comes a knocking - weather turns bad and the road washes away, the party has to last a little bit longer are the players ready for it? Add a supernatural creature (Vampire, werewolf or something else) and mix.

Ghost stories - the castle comes alive and everyone has to live out ghost stories.

Spys in the house - money changes hands, papers are switched. Someone is slapped with a glove, a duel is fought. On the body is found important documents, now who is the contact?