PDA

View Full Version : DM Help Who's coming to a dinner at the palace?



Teagana
2019-08-23, 04:15 PM
So my player just saved the crown prince of the realm from a necromancer who hoped to use his soul to ascend to lichdom.

They brought him back to his mother, the queen, who is most grateful, and promised the players a bunch of money, a keep, and some favours. The wizard wanted to look through her library, she knows someone who can deal with a cursed item the fighter is stuck attuned to, and also, she invited them to dinner at the palace.

Aside from the royal family, which consists of The Queen, her mother, her sister, and her three children, who else would be present? Maybe some members of the nobility, maybe some powerful merchants, maybe some important church people...

Gallowglass
2019-08-23, 04:22 PM
So my player just saved the crown prince of the realm from a necromancer who hoped to use his soul to ascend to lichdom.

They brought him back to his mother, the queen, who is most grateful, and promised the players a bunch of money, a keep, and some favours. The wizard wanted to look through her library, she knows someone who can deal with a cursed item the fighter is stuck attuned to, and also, she invited them to dinner at the palace.

Aside from the royal family, which consists of The Queen, her mother, her sister, and her three children, who else would be present? Maybe some members of the nobility, maybe some powerful merchants, maybe some important church people...

Are you intending to introduce a plot hook for another adventure?

- extended members of the nobility. Note that most of them would be busy at their own baronies, but it was standard in some feudal societies for representatives of the noble families (second sons and daughters) to live at the royal court, perhaps serving as functionaries for the royal family.

- representatives and ambassadors for foreign powers. There would always be some on site, usually for months or years, while negotiating trade deals and pacts.

- royal viziers. staff wizards and high priests of the important faiths.

-- any foreign prince or high ranking noble who is trying to be the new king. You mentioned the queen, but no king, so I assume the king is dead. So there would be dozens competing to be the new consort of the queen.

comicshorse
2019-08-23, 04:45 PM
To go another way there but not partaking of the dinner will be : impeccably turned out, silent and very heavily armed members of the Palace Guard. Elite warriors to a man.
Efficient and good looking servants. Flitting silently between guests and seeing to everyone.
And spies. Who will, of course, look and act completely like members of the two above groups

Evil DM Mark3
2019-08-24, 02:57 PM
Ok, using a range of medieval courts as source of inspiration, first, an event like this is an EVENT, so the answer is everyone:
*Every last landed noble of baron rank or higher that isn't under the King/Queen's displeasure.
*Ambassadors from every other major nation.
*The Royal Staff, in the real world most of these would have been nobles anyway save for the people with the really technical jobs like Master of Hunt or jobs where having any personal power is a problem, like Coffier (keeper of the keys to the king's money).
*Various religious heads.
*The Crown Prince's cronies, who are likely trying REALLY hard to get back in his good graces after adventurers saved him.
*Litterally anyone with enough money and a child that needs marrying off.
*Merchants, bankers and other wealthy types, likely in exchange for debts getting written off.

Of course this is all a little daunting. If a massive guest list isn't your idea of fun how about looking at it like this. The PCs will be guests of honour, probably at high table. Such circumstances are more important if there are FEWER people involved, so I imagine that the High Table might be even something as simple as:

Queen
Crown Prince
Crown Prince's spouse/betrothed, if any
The Party
Carefully chosen high ranking nobles (or possibly foreign ambassadors) intended to act as pleasant dinner company for each member of the party.


Everyone else is on lower tables and, unless asked up by the Queen, are staying there. The serving staff is probably headed by The Royal Steward in person and is likely the children of high-ranking nobles. Rather than name them all you can just say "As you are escorted to high table you pass before the assebled gentry and aristorcracy of [NATION]. About 500 of the noblest lords, wealthiest merchants, most cunning wizards and most pios preists watch you pass."

Then just focus on making The Dwarven Ambassador "You can allways trust a scion of the mountains!", The Dutchess of The Nine Hills "I haven't had this much fun since my last husband died!" and so on as intesting as possible to have dinner with.

Teagana
2019-08-30, 06:56 PM
Are you intending to introduce a plot hook for another adventure?

- extended members of the nobility. Note that most of them would be busy at their own baronies, but it was standard in some feudal societies for representatives of the noble families (second sons and daughters) to live at the royal court, perhaps serving as functionaries for the royal family.

- representatives and ambassadors for foreign powers. There would always be some on site, usually for months or years, while negotiating trade deals and pacts.

- royal viziers. staff wizards and high priests of the important faiths.

-- any foreign prince or high ranking noble who is trying to be the new king. You mentioned the queen, but no king, so I assume the king is dead. So there would be dozens competing to be the new consort of the queen.

I think this is less of a plot hook than tying up the last plot, though the next may be related. Thanks for the list, I hadn';t thought of foreigners.

Teagana
2019-08-30, 06:57 PM
To go another way there but not partaking of the dinner will be : impeccably turned out, silent and very heavily armed members of the Palace Guard. Elite warriors to a man.
Efficient and good looking servants. Flitting silently between guests and seeing to everyone.
And spies. Who will, of course, look and act completely like members of the two above groups

Ok, certainly. The visible guards in plate, and the invisible guards in studded leather. The Queen has many enemies, indeed.

Teagana
2019-08-30, 06:59 PM
Ok, using a range of medieval courts as source of inspiration, first, an event like this is an EVENT, so the answer is everyone:
*Every last landed noble of baron rank or higher that isn't under the King/Queen's displeasure.
*Ambassadors from every other major nation.
*The Royal Staff, in the real world most of these would have been nobles anyway save for the people with the really technical jobs like Master of Hunt or jobs where having any personal power is a problem, like Coffier (keeper of the keys to the king's money).
*Various religious heads.
*The Crown Prince's cronies, who are likely trying REALLY hard to get back in his good graces after adventurers saved him.
*Litterally anyone with enough money and a child that needs marrying off.
*Merchants, bankers and other wealthy types, likely in exchange for debts getting written off.

Of course this is all a little daunting. If a massive guest list isn't your idea of fun how about looking at it like this. The PCs will be guests of honour, probably at high table. Such circumstances are more important if there are FEWER people involved, so I imagine that the High Table might be even something as simple as:

Queen
Crown Prince
Crown Prince's spouse/betrothed, if any
The Party
Carefully chosen high ranking nobles (or possibly foreign ambassadors) intended to act as pleasant dinner company for each member of the party.


Everyone else is on lower tables and, unless asked up by the Queen, are staying there. The serving staff is probably headed by The Royal Steward in person and is likely the children of high-ranking nobles. Rather than name them all you can just say "As you are escorted to high table you pass before the assebled gentry and aristorcracy of [NATION]. About 500 of the noblest lords, wealthiest merchants, most cunning wizards and most pios preists watch you pass."

Then just focus on making The Dwarven Ambassador "You can allways trust a scion of the mountains!", The Dutchess of The Nine Hills "I haven't had this much fun since my last husband died!" and so on as intesting as possible to have dinner with.

That sounds like the better option, I don't want to flesh out every NPC on the list, I like the idea of making the PCs guests of honour, and I hadn't considered the Prince's friends.

Psyren
2019-08-30, 08:36 PM
The "High Table" idea is a really good one. Not only does that allow you to focus on the most important people and keep the rest of the guest list vague while still filling the banquet hall, it also gives you a number of mechanisms for introducing plothooks:

1) Anyone important who is not at the high table has to walk up there, and you'll immediately get the PCs attention when you describe that. This can be a greasy noble looking down his/her nose at the PCs while trying to curry favor with the royals, a noble who wants to chat with them directly, a very frightened servant who quickly drops off an important note while refilling everyone's goblets, or the bard who's serenading their table starts singing a new ditty about dire trouble in the kingdom next door that has been quickly becoming all the rage at court.

2) The royals themselves can be a great source of hooks. Being near to the PCs and far from everyone else, they have plenty of incentive to talk to them, and with the PCs having earned their good graces by saving the prince, said royals might choose to confide in them concerning other problems - doing so at a loud party where fewer spies can overhear than they might at court.

3) You can also hold off and do any plothook stuff after the party. Every noble is going to see that the PCs were up there, and if they have a job they want the party to do, they'll have little trouble tracking them down later. With the PCs getting a place of honor for their deeds, they'll have proven themselves capable to everyone in attendance.

4) Anyone else you want to be important later can simply be background for now - you can describe all kinds of noble house sigils or outfits without expecting that the PCs will want to talk to them all, since they're not in the center of the action, but you can plant all kinds of seeds for later. Consider adding some exotic races or personalities to the party - maybe the Drow have an ambassador present, or maybe there's an Aasimar or even a Celestial there, or maybe someone otherwise unremarkable shows up with an imposing Minotaur or Golem bodyguard. Details like that will stick in the PC's minds for later, even if you have absolutely nothing planned for those threads now.

farothel
2019-08-30, 09:39 PM
If you have the book, or can get it easily, check out some of the Pendragon books. There you actually have rules for feasts like this (as it's often part of the plot and something that can earn you glory, which is quite important in that system). There you even have a deck of cards that players can draw from to see what happens during the dinner.