PDA

View Full Version : Tavern adventures!



Inyssius Tor
2007-06-24, 09:32 AM
We're all familiar with the tavern. In fact, we're so familiar with it that I don't need to waste any time describing it; you all know which one I'm talking about.

Anyway, I was reading... some thread... the other day, and the discussion shifted to whether it would be possible to play a campaign that takes place entirely inside the ubiquitous tavern.

Anyone have any ideas? I can think of a few short adventures, but nothing that would have any length...

Ranis
2007-06-24, 09:51 AM
That depends on your definition of "Campaign," some people consider a campaign 1-20, some only a few short adventure story arcs.

Kurald Galain
2007-06-24, 09:53 AM
Depends. Callahan's Crosstime Saloon could make it worthwhile.

Attilargh
2007-06-24, 10:09 AM
There's this unbelievably big (possibly infinite) extraplanar inn that is described in a couple of Volo's Guides (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/downloads). But that might not be what you're after.

Okay, how's this: The heroes go to a tavern, anger a powerful wizard and get themselves (as well as the tavern) shunted to another plane, where every door out leads to a different version of the same tavern. In one they could meet themselves chatting with an angel, whereas in other the tavern could be burnt to a ruin, and infinity can be glimpsed through the roof Now they have to find the wizard and "persuade" him to return them home.

PlatinumJester
2007-06-24, 12:02 PM
The tavern could have a huge wine celler which could be a secret entrance to dwarven drugs ring HQ. Crack Dwarves are so funny.

TheWarBlade
2007-06-24, 12:09 PM
I remember one pdf on WotC's site...a nice inn...that wanders....if you entered you would see all these outsider creatures Sigil in inn format. Well when you exited again you would be on another plane and the inn would be gone.

Tallis
2007-06-24, 12:21 PM
A heavy roleplaying type game could take place in a tavern. Maybe the tavern is a frequent spot for political intrigues to take place. Shady deals with ambassadors, spys, assassins, smugglers, etc.
How about a murder mystery? Someone's been killed and you must find out who did it. Meanwhile the body count is rising.
The tavern is the sight of a spacial rift and is slowly being sucked into the far realms. You're trapped inside. You must find a way to close the rift while fighting off the other patrons who've been warped by the planar energies, creatures who've come through th erift and the cultists who caused it in the first place. The whole time you have to worry about the energies effects on you.
Awizard has cursed you to never be able to leave the tavern. Just for fun he summons creatures to attack you and puts plots in motion to torture you. Hopefully you'll evntually find a way to break the curse.
It would be hard to do a reasonable long term campaign completely inside a tavern, but you could certainly center the right kind of campaign arround one.

Mike_Lemmer
2007-06-24, 12:32 PM
I think an extraplanar tavern would be the way to go. Set up a large one in Sigil, City of Doors, catering to creatures of all shapes, sizes, and alignments. Make the PCs workers or hired mercenaries. But make it more than just a tavern. You want a place someone could conceivably live their entire life in: baths, gardens, elegant dining halls, brothels, a main hall for special ceremonies, like funerals and marriages.

I'd use Miyazaki's Spirited Away as a basis; an excellent portrayal of an otherworldly giant bathhouse.

GoblinJTHM
2007-06-24, 12:40 PM
I've heard people try this once and never try it again. :P Don't write too far ahead.

Callix
2007-06-24, 04:04 PM
The World Serpent inn is a WotC web enhancement for this idea, but I prefer the version from Midkemia: Honest John's. An extradimensional inn where those who wander the planes can get a drink and find some other people who aren't trying to kill them. John goes to some lengths to ensure that his guests aren't trying to kill each other. But he doesn't have to eb infallible :smallsmile:. See Raymond Feist's Magician etc. for more info.

GoblinJTHM
2007-06-24, 04:05 PM
that inn sounds a lot like a planar sphere

Overlord
2007-06-24, 05:56 PM
I tend to think that if an adventure starts in a tavern, it should end in a tavern. I think the tradition murder mystery interlaced with much barfighting would be a good plan.

Charity
2007-06-25, 04:33 AM
That was me that was.

Anyhow, the idea was to run an ordinary D&D campaign (at least 10 levels of advancement) within the confines of 4 walls. It seems too tricky to me, I think it will require either a Dr who, a Trapdoor (http://www.toonhound.com/trapdoor.htm) ,or a Mr Benn (http://www.toonhound.com/mrbenn.htm) mechanic to enable the full gamit of D&D encounters. Only the Trapdoor mechanic follows the within 4 walls remit.

Cartoons, eh what can't they explain?

nerulean
2007-06-25, 09:32 AM
I would say an entirely tavern-centered campaign would be possible, but it would have to be roleplay heavy. Yeah, you could get a couple of fights, but if you wanted those four walls to stay standing for very long then you can't have high level adventurers fighting inside them more than once a month or so.

I'd do something with underworld politics. Perhaps the adventurers are actually the bar staff or hired security of the tavern that's used as a hub of gangster activity, or perhaps they're approached by some crime lord to keep an eye on the tavern and report back by magical means on what's going on there. There could be subterfuge and intrigue, and finally a reason for a divination specialist.

Even then, though, I'm not sure how long you could spin it out for. Four or five sessions in the same building would start to get tedious unless you were an amazing group of storytellers and the PC and NPC interactions were of astonishing quality.

Roupe
2007-06-25, 10:46 AM
I could envision a campaign where the PCs are the bar staff of the tavern, where they keep themselfs informed of the local & nonlocal gosips of the town/area/country. A rumormill in short.

They have some
rowdy visitors prone to bar brawl,
some "friendly" competitors, both among the staff & others (competitor establishments)
adventure groups telling tales of their adventures looking for info to find more
mysterious patron guests,
suppliers
city guards
--
Another is a gaming session, where the adventures are guests, trying to get drunk (drinking contests),flirt with waitresses, find rumors & kill time.

Recursive
2007-06-25, 11:12 AM
Anyway, I was reading... some thread... the other day, and the discussion shifted to whether it would be possible to play a campaign that takes place entirely inside the ubiquitous tavern.
Except for the opening scene, of course, where they all meet in a dungeon.

goat
2007-06-25, 12:22 PM
After a battle against a wizard that they just about won, your party were shrunk to the size of insects. By hitching a lift on a cart, you've managed to get into town, where you were dumped into the beer celler with the rest of the cart's contents.

You must now make your way through the basement, fighting off bugs, mice and rats, all of which are massive compared to you. You have to avoid the attentions of the owners' cats, make your way up the stairs to the ground floor, swim across puddles of watery beer (con damage if you swallow any...) avoid/fight/get thrown out the wizard's henchman who escaped and has followed you back to the pub through some magical means and finally somehow talk to your friendly wizard contact who lives upstairs so he can get you back to normal size.

Of course, casters will ruin this completely.

Roupe
2007-06-25, 01:17 PM
Of course, casters will ruin this completely.
Well, less so if the casters spell effects where same in proportion to their new mini size...