Town Fair: Great adventure setting, but what should be there?
- Thread starter Arravis
- Start date
kigmatzomat
Legend
Things you should probably add in:
Temple events. All the town's temples should have some special event be it an orgy, planting ritual, animal sacrifice, or planning on messing up another temple's event.
Religious zealots & cultists. FR has a lot of cults (depending on the timeline) and several rather competitive deities. Think street preachers and the guys with "The end is nigh" cardboard signs mixed in with that Steve Martin huckster preacher character.
Change of government rite. Fairs would also end up being the final act of outgoing minor officials; Miss Wingmay, ploughman, forager, possibly tax collectors.
Inductions/try-outs. Guilds and organizations of all form should have entrance events. Apprentice smiths trying to make journeyman, bards trying to become a royal archivist, weavers looking for their stripes, etc, etc. There should be lots of displays and blue-ribbon "arts & crafts" contests.
Temple events. All the town's temples should have some special event be it an orgy, planting ritual, animal sacrifice, or planning on messing up another temple's event.
Religious zealots & cultists. FR has a lot of cults (depending on the timeline) and several rather competitive deities. Think street preachers and the guys with "The end is nigh" cardboard signs mixed in with that Steve Martin huckster preacher character.
Change of government rite. Fairs would also end up being the final act of outgoing minor officials; Miss Wingmay, ploughman, forager, possibly tax collectors.
Inductions/try-outs. Guilds and organizations of all form should have entrance events. Apprentice smiths trying to make journeyman, bards trying to become a royal archivist, weavers looking for their stripes, etc, etc. There should be lots of displays and blue-ribbon "arts & crafts" contests.
Silver Moon
Adventurer
In my campaign we have an annual fair, that I am now in the middle of DMing the 6th time we've done this. The winner of the fair's competition becomes honorary mayor for a year and get's their weight in gold (which, since they have to stick around for the next year, they spend all of locally). Competitions begin with 8-person teams, then split to 4-person teams, then 2-person teams and lastly 20 to 24 individual competitors. Competitions usally include a mix of non-leathal weapon and fighting skills, and silly things like pie-throwing, drinking, and pig catching contests. We've sometimes even had singing and art events.
For this year's fair I have incorporated a dozen games from the Tournaments, Fairs and Taverns PDF and it is working quite well. The town spent most of the year building a "Squashgoblin" arena (dwarven bowling with a giant boulder) for the 4-person team events, and it went over extremely well.
One other special event that I didn't see listed anywhere above is the spellcasting competition. This is especially good if you have some playing characters who specialize in illusionary magic. The key is to make the players describe in detail exactly what they are doing to dazzle the crowd.
Note: You may find that this event is not for anybody. Four of my players abosolutely love role playing out this fair, but I also have two players of the "give me a monster to fight" school who make it a point to skip these games.
For this year's fair I have incorporated a dozen games from the Tournaments, Fairs and Taverns PDF and it is working quite well. The town spent most of the year building a "Squashgoblin" arena (dwarven bowling with a giant boulder) for the 4-person team events, and it went over extremely well.
One other special event that I didn't see listed anywhere above is the spellcasting competition. This is especially good if you have some playing characters who specialize in illusionary magic. The key is to make the players describe in detail exactly what they are doing to dazzle the crowd.
Note: You may find that this event is not for anybody. Four of my players abosolutely love role playing out this fair, but I also have two players of the "give me a monster to fight" school who make it a point to skip these games.
Last edited:
Dr. Strangemonkey
First Post
Most medieval fairs, or at least the better ones, featured I fabulously showy and fantastic religious event.
And when I say showy and fantastic, I mean showy and fantastic. By the time you got a fair out of these events the priests were just around for the sacraments and the whole thing was being run by various economic interest trying desperately to outdo each other.
We have scripts from some of these spectacles an they put Shakespeare and Greek Theatrical festivals to shame for length and insane theatrics.
In FR the spectacle would be INSANE, not only would you have to include every religious group in town, no doubt resulting in a myth of such a complicated variety that it took a mage versed in arcano-calculus to storyboard it, but at least one of your economic interests would be the red wizards and then every other economic interest would have to hire their own illusionists, adventurers, and summoners just to compete.
With the spectacle up the numbers of onlookers would go up as well. I mean the point of medieval spectacle was too draw a crowd not only with a spectacle but with a multi-functional spectacle that also sold you things, stole from you, gave lesser spectacles like knife throwers, gave you your military training, legal recourse, and saved your soul. It was the original full service stop.
In FR with so many more services....
...you are talking real fantasy with everything much huger, stranger, more wonderful, risky, and exciting than even the things we get in real life now.
Picture disneyland crossed with Bangkok, the Vatican, and Loviator mistress of pain.
Shaved gorillas are just the appetizers, and pick pockets who go for money the lowest risk....
And when I say showy and fantastic, I mean showy and fantastic. By the time you got a fair out of these events the priests were just around for the sacraments and the whole thing was being run by various economic interest trying desperately to outdo each other.
We have scripts from some of these spectacles an they put Shakespeare and Greek Theatrical festivals to shame for length and insane theatrics.
In FR the spectacle would be INSANE, not only would you have to include every religious group in town, no doubt resulting in a myth of such a complicated variety that it took a mage versed in arcano-calculus to storyboard it, but at least one of your economic interests would be the red wizards and then every other economic interest would have to hire their own illusionists, adventurers, and summoners just to compete.
With the spectacle up the numbers of onlookers would go up as well. I mean the point of medieval spectacle was too draw a crowd not only with a spectacle but with a multi-functional spectacle that also sold you things, stole from you, gave lesser spectacles like knife throwers, gave you your military training, legal recourse, and saved your soul. It was the original full service stop.
In FR with so many more services....
...you are talking real fantasy with everything much huger, stranger, more wonderful, risky, and exciting than even the things we get in real life now.
Picture disneyland crossed with Bangkok, the Vatican, and Loviator mistress of pain.
Shaved gorillas are just the appetizers, and pick pockets who go for money the lowest risk....
Dakkareth
First Post
About the auction part ... at least one big riot is a must -
maybe ...
something got stolen from under the eyes of the auctionator
someone puts a spell on someone else to bid more than he has
a fight breaks out, when it becomes clear, that one of the bidders is a straw man upping the prizes for his employer
on the climax of the fair magic items are sold
two old wizards try to outbid each other for a seemingly mundane statue. When the sums reach the six-figures range it almost comes to blows and magical attacks (or maybe it does, only nobody notices?) until finally one of them gives up and the buyer happily teleports away with his prize. Who the lucky(?) person with a newly gained kingdom worth of gold? Is it real gold at all? Why do the wizards resort to legal means at all, if they could simply take it? What about the loser - does he really give up? And did the winner really *get* away or are illusions part of the affair? And finally what the hell is up with that statue?
maybe ...
something got stolen from under the eyes of the auctionator
someone puts a spell on someone else to bid more than he has
a fight breaks out, when it becomes clear, that one of the bidders is a straw man upping the prizes for his employer
on the climax of the fair magic items are sold
two old wizards try to outbid each other for a seemingly mundane statue. When the sums reach the six-figures range it almost comes to blows and magical attacks (or maybe it does, only nobody notices?) until finally one of them gives up and the buyer happily teleports away with his prize. Who the lucky(?) person with a newly gained kingdom worth of gold? Is it real gold at all? Why do the wizards resort to legal means at all, if they could simply take it? What about the loser - does he really give up? And did the winner really *get* away or are illusions part of the affair? And finally what the hell is up with that statue?
Silver Moon
Adventurer
Another element to toss in is gambling on the competitions. That way, even the players who are not particpating can still get into the events. At our fair the town's leader acts as the bookie, setting the odds for each team and individual participant and acting as the moneychanger. He's good at it too, as they players usually lose more than they win.
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