Hosting a Feast

[Ritzo]

So my players are about to enter a feast held by the local Ruler in his keep. They received invitations via various methods, and was curious as to some ways to keep their attention.

The point: The local lord will conducting tests on invitees to determine a new secret soldier battalion that will lead a fight against a neighboring kingdom. He only wants the best of the best, and 4 of the members were invited by means of games and tournaments. One archery contest, A Knife throwing contest, a Ball and Cup game { Who will serve as a scout}, and a strong man.

How could I tell them this essential plot point and throw a game to prove their skills? Also, what are some unique awards that I could give them for being selected by the Ruler? I don't want to break the game, so preferably no OP and Game Breaking Magical artifacts please. THANKS!

-Ritz

[Douche]

Oh wait, you mean ball & cup like the street hustler game, where they need to keep their eye on the cup with the ball in it. I thought you meant that childrens toy of a cup with the ball attached on a string, where you flip it up and catch it.

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/media/8974/cup-and-ball.jpg

Anyway, I don't know how you could make a compelling test of skill without it just boiling down to dice rolling. I don't suppose you have a dart board or one of those carnival hammer games laying around, do you?

[JackPhoenix]

As for awards, prestige, titles and land make good rewards.

If my group succeed in the current adventure (which will involve keeping an ancient god-like demon imprisoned, saving tens thousands of people from zombie plague and averting a war...at level 5), they will be rewarded with titles and the ownership of a village and an abandoned keep they have cleared of kobolds before (sort of...they made a deal with the kobolds to keep them out of trouble and lied about the results). It's a win/win situation: The characters gets rewarded, the rulers won't have to spent their gold, bind the otherwise uncontrollable adventurers to the land and the chain of loyalties, and get the economy of an ruined region going without effort on their part (the characters won't have to pay taxes for one year to have time for repairs, recruitment and getting the abandoned iron mine (infested with kobolds) to work, they will also defend the area from possible threats).

[Madbox]

How does this sound?

For the archery and knife throwing contests, small pouches of coins are tossed into the air in front of a wooden wall. 1st-3rd place, determined by who pins the most to the wall, gets to keep what they hit, and 1st place gets a silver dagger or 10 silver arrows, maybe make it a +1 dagger/shortsword or bow if you want something magic.

For the ball and cup game, make the "ball" be gems, top placers get to keep them, first place gets a dungeoneer's or explorer's pack and a healing potion, or a Cloak of Elvenkind for low to mid level magic.

Strongman contest: That carnival game where you try to ring a bell by launching a weight off of a see-saw by hitting it with a sledgehammer. Only instead of a bell, it just goes all the way up a tower, with markings on the side. Three highest get coins based off of how high they got, and top place gets a silvered warhammer (if you want non-magic) or a +1 warhammer (for low to mid level magic).

[solidork]

How does this sound?

For the archery and knife throwing contests, small pouches of coins are tossed into the air in front of a wooden wall. 1st-3rd place, determined by who pins the most to the wall, gets to keep what they hit, and 1st place gets a silver dagger or 10 silver arrows, maybe make it a +1 dagger/shortsword or bow if you want something magic.

For the ball and cup game, make the "ball" be gems, top placers get to keep them, first place gets a dungeoneer's or explorer's pack and a healing potion, or a Cloak of Elvenkind for low to mid level magic.

Strongman contest: That carnival game where you try to ring a bell by launching a weight off of a see-saw by hitting it with a sledgehammer. Only instead of a bell, it just goes all the way up a tower, with markings on the side. Three highest get coins based off of how high they got, and top place gets a silvered warhammer (if you want non-magic) or a +1 warhammer (for low to mid level magic).

They already did the contests to get them to the feast, I think.