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herrhauptmann
2011-09-19, 11:48 AM
Getting started on making a new campaign.
Rather than start them at a bar or tavern, I'm going to start them at a mage fair.

Now, a mage fair is the sort of thing to delight young and old alike. You can watch wizards participating in mage duels, and wager on the outcome.
Then the attractions! The games! The rides! It's the sort of thing you'll remember for the rest of your life!

Ok, so obviously I feel the magefair should be like going to the circus as a kid, but better.
There will be the mageduels (rules from MoF).
The circus aspect. Instead of a some ponies prancing in circles, it might be pegasi or that [Cold] subtype horse from MM2 flying through the air.
The Carnival aspect.
Rides, contests, etc.

But what might the rides be? And the contests?

I've got just two ideas from a 'magefair' a friend ran when he was DM.
1)Talk with Gerti.
Walk into a tent, this old lady asks you if you want to talk. And if you say yes, she transforms into a giant and hits you. You hit her back. If you succeed, you win. If you manage to hit her first swing, you win double. All damage is subdual and you get a free drink to recover.
2)Feed. THE. DRAGON!
It's a tiny psuedodragon, pay a nickel and you get to feed it some grain or something. Like going to feed ducks at a pond.
3)Summoners chairs.
Everyone sits in chairs, and a bunch of summoners call forth random creatures using Summon Monster X, and send them at the participants. Last participant still seated (and alive) wins.
Sounds great, until you realize you might get trampled by a half dozen T-Rexes at level 5.
4)Swordsmanship contest.
Giant block of granite. Try and split it with your sword. Person to make the biggest cut wins.

What else could I put in for the players to try?
It's a mage fair, so feel free to go nuts with the hilarity.

SamBurke
2011-09-19, 11:53 AM
Mage Hand Lifting Contests. Who's the buffest mage around? YOU ARE! If you can lift a six pound block with a five-pound spell.

Food. It must have food. Maybe "Prestidigitate-Your-Own-Meal?" exhibit?

Waterpark. Using Create Water and other druid spells. Using Water Level (forget the actual name...) for a wave-maker!

Wrestling/fighting/sparring. For those poor, poor, melee types to have fun.

Bards singing, dancing, telling tales, and making out. Necessary for a festival.

Maybe a Druid Gladiator Ring? You get as many animals as possible out of them and fighting at once. Imagine the Bear possibilities!

Rides... Levitate would be good, using Tenser's Disk for seats.

Maybe a "Basic Magic" lesson, teaching kiddos a cantrip?

This is fun!

SamBurke
2011-09-19, 12:18 PM
Also, dare I say it... a Magician might be in order.

But, on a serious note, illusionists might steal the show.

cattoy
2011-09-19, 02:56 PM
5-H club displays of magically enhanced animals. do NOT feed the animals.

Goblin Market! Beware the brute squad.

Petting Zoo! Don't pet the fire elementals without protection.

Exotic/Extraplanar fashion show. It's EPIC.

The well-guarded fully enclosed tent wherein Succubi show off a form of the Perform skill you've probably never seen before...

herrhauptmann
2011-09-19, 03:07 PM
5-H club displays of magically enhanced animals. do NOT feed the animals.

Goblin Market! Beware the brute squad.

Petting Zoo! Don't pet the fire elementals without protection.

Exotic/Extraplanar fashion show. It's EPIC.

The well-guarded fully enclosed tent wherein Succubi show off a form of the Perform skill you've probably never seen before...
Hmmm, a goblin market. I think I'll try and steal the 'faerie market' from the Books of Magic. A giant swapmeet type thing... Swap 2 years of your old age, in exchange for your hearts desire. It's like having fun with wish spells all over again.
As for the adult only section? Well, I've been to Thailand and seen the ping pong ball trick. These ladies, cannon ball trick. :smalleek: After midnight only.
Given how little um, 'personal interaction' most male mages get, it's amazing how lifelike they get that illusion...
Actually, I'll keep that last one on reserve depending on who attends. One player (male) already has a tendency to make the sluttiest, most hideous female characters possible.

Mage Hand Lifting Contests. Who's the buffest mage around? YOU ARE! If you can lift a six pound block with a five-pound spell.

Food. It must have food. Maybe "Prestidigitate-Your-Own-Meal?" exhibit?

Waterpark. Using Create Water and other druid spells. Using Water Level (forget the actual name...) for a wave-maker!

Wrestling/fighting/sparring. For those poor, poor, melee types to have fun.

Bards singing, dancing, telling tales, and making out. Necessary for a festival.

Maybe a Druid Gladiator Ring? You get as many animals as possible out of them and fighting at once. Imagine the Bear possibilities!

Rides... Levitate would be good, using Tenser's Disk for seats.

Maybe a "Basic Magic" lesson, teaching kiddos a cantrip?

This is fun!
The whole idea for the mage fair, was so that there could be magically prepared food. And thus, a semi plausible reason to have a Calzone Golem (check last thread I created).
Actually hadn't thought of doing a water park. Hmmm....
Bear boxing? You, box with the bear. (http://nerf-this.com/not-fisticuffs/)
I like the cantrip idea class too.


Thanks everyone, keep'em coming.

edit for link (took forever)

Winds
2011-09-19, 03:14 PM
A petting zoo with extraplanar creatures. Well-guarded.

An addendum to the melee fights: a tag-team fight where a melee and caster team up. The melee type gets buffed up (say, one minute's worth of buffs?), then sent in to fight another team.

Write up a list of magical knick-knacks: nothing to interest an adventurer (unless they like to pull a MacGuyver with it), but fun for mundanes or kids. For example, combine the rod of wonder and Prestidigitation-a 'wand' that causes a random Presti. trick.

Have a showing of certain PrCs using passive abilities to perform-naturally, there won't be many willing to showcase these, but an Elemental Savant or 2 making a spectacle of their 'attack' forms would make a great show.

Per the rides idea-lesser flight spells. Have a flight spell cast on you that allows you to fly at a 10 or 15 foot speed.

A haunted house! Plenty of minor spells in the book could be used to make one. Minor images, Ghost sounds, maybe even more 'combative' spells like Phantom Threat.

flumphy
2011-09-19, 03:26 PM
Shows of magebred or other magically-enchanced livestock. Sure, your players probably won't be any more interested in them than I was as a bored child in an agricultural area, but never underestimate the chaos a bunch of frightened animals can cost.

Depending on the time of year, a contest to see which farmer grew the biggest pumpkin. With the help of magic, you could probably get ones huge enough to carve funhouses out of for the kids afterwards. Also, this would provided fuel for the PUMPKIN OOZE!!!!

Baking contests.

Illusionist contests.

Again, depending on the time of year, a corn maze. Or maybe something just set up with the maze spell...

Geigan
2011-09-19, 03:48 PM
A familiar contest? Kind of like a pet grooming competition for familiars to show off the what loyalties can be obtained from the most exotic of creatures. I imagine it would focus on both the owner and it's familiar as their bond is just as important as the actual familiar.

Perhaps a trick display where a mage shows off his "amazing" accuracy with magic missiles to those ignorant of the fact that they will auto hit their target.

Games of summoner's chess abounds.

Maybe the fair grounds are actually hosted in good faith by several epic mages who interpose parts of their personal demiplanes onto the designated area, just to show off their abilities to play god.

A game of Guess what's in the Bag of Holding, where they only tell you the number of items and the weight contained. Most correct number of items guessed gets a prize. Have several bags with different themes. Household, adventuring gear, different foods, etc.

prufock
2011-09-19, 05:10 PM
Reminds me of a plot hook I ran once. There was a citizen with a "monster menagerie" who charged for a look at his collection. The problem: some people in town got killed in brutal, animalistic fashion, and were blaming his "pets" for the deaths. Upon investigation, however, the party discovered that the "monsters" were all fakes. The cockatrice was just an underfed chicken, the "baby dragon" was a lizard with phony wings, etc.

Alleran
2011-09-19, 06:45 PM
A fireball throwing contest for mages. Basically, whoever makes the biggest, hottest fireball, wins.

You could also check out some old AD&D stuff for ideas. Forgotten Realms has a frequently-occurring (well, once a year, anyway) Magefair. I think examples of what goes on at one are in one of the Volo's Guides (possibly All Things Magical), and there's also a short story ("Elminster goes to the Magefair") that has examples, and some scenes where they're actually at said Magefair.

Randomguy
2011-09-19, 08:24 PM
Also whoever throws it the farthest. So basically however has the most metamagic feats. (Or is the best at illusions. :smallamused: )

Capture the flag: not in the normal way, but everyone has to get one flag from the top of a tall tower. First one to bring it back (or summon something to bring it back) wins. Cue an abjurer dispelling everyone's spells.

Summon monster chess: Each round a judge calls out a number, and the players summon monsters from that list. (So if the number is four, you can use summon monster 4, or summon monster 5 or 6 to get several monsters from the list. 10 rounds of summoning (while the monsters fight) and then last person with monsters standing wins. (Sucks to be summoned, though.)

Cooking contests: Whoever can transmute a block of secret ingredient into the most edible and tasty result using one particular transmutation (other spells allowed too) wins.

Build-a-warrior contests: the wizards are each given a pebble and told to transform it into something that can be forced to do battle against the other wizard's pebbles.


Given how little um, 'personal interaction' most male mages get...
Only the ones that ban enchantment AND conjuration. :smallwink:

Captain Six
2011-09-19, 08:24 PM
Also, dare I say it... a Magician might be in order.

But, on a serious note, illusionists might steal the show.

An Anti-Magic Magic show? Magicians try to pull off the greatest tricks within dead-magic zones.

dariathalon
2011-09-19, 08:52 PM
I would expand the succubus tent into a full on sideshow. She would of course be one of the attractions, but throw in several other oddities. Results of polymorph gone wrong, victims of curses or cursed items, that sort of thing.

A gambling tent. 1 gp for a shot with a rod of wonder.

A new spell contest. Kind of like the traditional cookoffs many fairs have, Wizards bring their best newly researched spell to show off.

Alleran
2011-09-19, 09:36 PM
Only the ones that ban enchantment AND conjuration. :smallwink:
What wizard in his right mind bans conjuration? :smallconfused:

Eric Tolle
2011-09-20, 02:31 AM
Mock the Monk: a rotating platform with a monk on it, who you can point and laugh.

I'm pretty sure there should also be a Tunnel of Goats.

Vizzerdrix
2011-09-20, 05:51 AM
A haunted house (with real ghosts!)

An effigy master making and selling Fine sized (or smaller) monsters.

A tent filled with feather fall and defenestrating sphere traps or levitate.

A picture gallery, using portals to other planes.

Druids holding races using animate wood on chairs.

Exotic foods and drinks

Apparatus of Kwalish demolition derby!

Ohh! more:

Get polymorphed into a monster and get to "fight" illusionary adventurers to guard your loot.

fireworks using spells.

Classes on craft: Alchemy for non casters.

Radar
2011-09-20, 06:45 AM
Obstacle courses made out of Walls of Force and Tenser Discs put in a complicated movement pattern. Some mighty wizard might even want to test his experimental Ring Gate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal_%28video_game%29).

A trade fair would be a sensible part of the whole thing. Wizards and artificers showing of their latest spells and magical items to potential clients. Related scientific conference might fit as well.

If it's such a big event, some legendary and otherwise celebrated mages are sure to be found there. Some of them might even sign their memoirs or things like that.

Parra
2011-09-20, 10:11 AM
Classic Greco-roman style wrestling but with Belts of Blink

It needs a pie/hot-dog/food eating competition of some kind though I cant think of a way to make it magical

And of course a Fortune Teller

TheThan
2011-09-20, 02:52 PM
You need a fortune teller booth. A wizard (or hag or something), using the divination spell to answer questions about life, the universe and everything. the answer is 49

Another good booth is the mind reader, this guy uses detect thoughts to tell you what you’re thinking.

Late night pyrotechnics (not that kind, get your head out of the gutter), is a must. Gnomes/goblins are great here.

You could have a booth where you pay to have items identified.

Wondrous items showcase. where wizards show off their latest magical items. another great place to show off gnomes.

herrhauptmann
2011-09-20, 03:02 PM
I'm unfortunately going to skip on the fortune tellers and mindreaders.
People always want me to make something up with tarot cards, and I don't know their meanings, so they then get all annoyed if I get something wrong. Or worse, they try to ask something like "Where do I find the villain." Which is kinda hard when there is, as yet, no villain.

There will be a magicmart, but since the magefair is my excuse for the party gathering in certain area, it won't matter. I think as an intro it should work a lot better than "You all go to a tavern and sit together even though you don't know each other."

Starshade
2011-09-20, 03:30 PM
An Sumo like wrestling match, where people can challenge the champion: an Ogre mage with a few adventure levels in some funny class. Non lethal, but magically supported wrestling, with an asian looking Ogre Mage 'Yokozuna' lookalike :smallbiggrin:

A riddle contest with an Sphinx, with some sort of prize if someone can beat it.

cattoy
2011-09-20, 03:41 PM
Cursed Item swap meet. ^_^

herrhauptmann
2011-09-20, 04:03 PM
An Sumo like wrestling match, where people can challenge the champion: an Ogre mage with a few adventure levels in some funny class. Non lethal, but magically supported wrestling, with an asian looking Ogre Mage 'Yokozuna' lookalike :smallbiggrin:

A riddle contest with an Sphinx, with some sort of prize if someone can beat it.

Know any good riddles? All I've got are the ones out of The Hobbit and Book 4 of Harry Potter.

Qwertystop
2011-09-20, 09:51 PM
There's a bunch in Complete Mage or Complete Arcane (I forget which). Among them are rules for varying types of Mage's Duels and doing nonlethal damage with spells without a feat.

deuxhero
2011-09-20, 11:45 PM
Only the ones that ban enchantment AND conjuration. :smallwink:


Don't forget Illusion (Simulacrum).