Taking a Vacation from Adventure

[Seerow]

So, I am DMing a game for players that formed a band early on. They've taken the opportunity to play at various locations as they travel, and made it a point to play for anybody they rescue or help along the way, asking them to spread the good word.

So now we're at a point between adventures where the party has decided to take some time before pursuing more heroic goals to go on tour and really show off.

For a little bit of context, we've been playing through Rise of the Runelords. The party just finished Part 4, and are wanting to do a tour of Varisia hitting all the major settlements and any minor ones they find along the way. But the party members are all on the cusp of level 14 (may very well hit it while on tour), so we're not talking a typical traveling band. This is a group of rock star super heroes who have gone out of their way to spread their fame not just among regular people but also among goblins dragons and giants they've befriended along the way.

Giving some context, the average perform check in the group is around a +40 when they're buffed and rocking out, the highest is sitting at about a +55. They've got a magical portable stage that works as a performance hall for up to 3000 people, and one of them is specialized in illusory lighting effects and uses that as part of the performance and another one has the ability to create limited simulacrums of the party which they utilize mid-performance to have a solo/duet with themselves.

So I'm looking for ideas to help really sell the feeling of them being ridiculously over the top performers. Few things I am looking for:
-Any suggestions for fun music-themed shenanigans. Already considering a Footloose parody and a Devil Went Down to Georgia style event. Would appreciate other ideas.

-Suggestions for what other high level even extraplanar bands might look like. The more out there the better. I am wanting to end this mini vacation with an Extraplanar Battle of the Bands. Group of Oreads who love to rock? Choir of Angels?

-On that note if anyone has heard of or has ideas for a battle of the bands minigame I would love to see it. Would love to have something a little more involved than chucking perform checks at each other.

[Inevitability]

Firre Eladrin are mid-level celestials with bard abilities, you could do something with that perhaps.

Musicians are being targeted by a living Bestow Greater Curse, which renders its victims mute and deaf by shrouding them in magical silence (removing spellcasting is a valid curse, so muteness + deafness should be balanced). Unless the party has access to Miracle or Wish, this is actually very difficult to remove, so perhaps rule that the effect ends the moment the source is slain. Figuring out exactly what is going on will also take some time, as none of the victims can explain what happened to them.

[Biggus]

Given that a Perform check of 25 is enough to gain national attention and 30 may get the attention of extraplanar beings, it seems likely that a band habitually hitting 40+ would cause something akin to Beatlemania. Obsessive (extraplanar?) fans seem likely to become an issue, and governments may become worried about the effect they're having on the nation's youth, possibly even passing new laws to try and curb this.

Terry Pratchett's book Soul Music explores the effect of a supernaturally-good band in a fantasy setting (in a humorous way, of course); you might want to have a look at that if this is an angle you're interested in exploring.

Edit: Lillends and Ruin Chanters (MM5) also have bardic music. Apart from that I think it's just the eladrins.

Edit 2: other monsters with Perform (instrument or sing) include Storm Giant, Cloud Giant, Grig, Nixie, Satyr, Trumpet Archon, Galeb Duhr (MM2), Sirine (MM2), Stonesinger (MM3), Sussurus (MM3), Banshrae (MM5).

[Seerow]

To be clear, for other band suggestions they don't need to be creatures with bardic music, or even who are normally known for performing. Fun off the wall concepts with lots of flavor are preferred. I'm not above bad pop culture references, just bad at them.

Necromancer with a bunch of zombies doing thriller? Golden.

Group of thundercaller bards using perform teslacoil to play Ride The Lightning? Sure why not.

But I'll definitely take a look through that list of performing monsters.

Also love the anti-music curse idea, definitely going to run with something using that.

Good call on the cultural impacts of their band. I was thinking about huge crowds and groupies, but not really thinking about the impacts outside of that, fanboys/girls and secondhand merchandise popping up, imitator bards playing their songs and such. Definitely gonna lean into that.

[Inevitability]

Hit pop star Balor Swift

[pabelfly]

You could have a band of extraplanar musicians challenge them to a music duel.

[Jack_Simth]

You could have a band of extraplanar musicians challenge them to a music duel.
The prize if they win must, of course, be a golden instrument....

Bonus points if the area they end up dueling in is called "Georgia" for one reason or another.

[Inevitability]

The prize if they win must, of course, be a golden instrument....

Bonus points if the area they end up dueling in is called "Georgia" for one reason or another.

Georgia, named after Geo (Earth) and the water nymph Argia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argia_(mythology))! As is obvious from the name, it's an island, inhabited by fey of both water and land.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Seerow
I was thinking about huge crowds and groupies, but not really thinking about the impacts outside of that, fanboys/girls and secondhand merchandise popping up, imitator bards playing their songs and such.

Crazed stalkers, certainly—and also individuals who will claim, either truthfully or not, that the party has stolen their music, lyrics, look, and so on.

That could be a side trip in itself, with the party having to investigate the source of their own lyrics to see if they really did steal them from someone else, or if it’s a setup to get them distracted and away from their adoring public for a while. I could see a rival band manipulating just such a scenario to force the party out of the limelight—leaving an opening which the rivals would conveniently step in to fill.

[Elvensilver]

With the stellar performance-skill of the party, (high above the level required to get extraplanar attention) a lot of fans will come to listen. Like, a lot - hundred thousands, millions, a hundred times Woodstock and all the supply problems there were.

Now, these masses of people (and angels, daemons, inevitables, elementals, ...) will all sweep over the countryside to listen to their favorite band. If that is a sort of problem your party feels comfortable with solving, think of the problems with safety! Bandits and beleaguered farmers waylaying the fans, problems with feeding these hundred thousands of people (ok, mass starvation is pretty grim and maybe not a topic for a "vacation from adventure" ), conflicts between fans from different nations and planes...

[Biggus]

Like, a lot - hundred thousands, millions, a hundred times Woodstock and all the supply problems there were.


Many medieval nations didn't even have a population in the millions, never mind a hundred times Woodstock (which would be about 40 million; in FR the whole vast continent of Faerun only has a population of 68 million).

But you're right, even 100,000 people would cause massive supply problems (and many other problems) in a medieval economy.