DM Sol_train
Squire
Back behind the screen 20yrs post 2E
Posts: 33
Favorite D&D Class: Druid (Pathfinder Wolf-shaman)
Favorite D&D Race: Human
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Post by DM Sol_train on Nov 3, 2015 19:45:45 GMT
I'm going to be running a Maplefest in the elven village two of my players came from and starting to put together skill challenge type events. Since we have a Fighter; Archer; Cleric/Sorc; Rogue, I'm going to shoot for a mix of raw martial talent and skills so they all have a chance to shine. I'm letting the two players (my 6 and 8 year old) come up with what "Maplefest" is like.....since they both grew up there and wanted to go back to see their families during this festival.
Has anyone done this and what kind of rules/roll setup did you use beyond the obvious Skill Check vs DC?
So far we're planning on the following but haven't worked out specifics of how each event will be played out.
Since a large part of the towns trade is cutting and shipping logs down river to the capital city 50miles away I figure lumberjack style items would be guarenteed. So timbersport events: Timber Climb Log Rolling Boom Run Log Toss
And since its a Maplefest (for sapping/syrup). Syrup Chugging Tree Tapping Relay Squirrel Races (inspired by DM Chris' Wolf-racing)
And Elves - so obviously some archery and sword play contests.
...looking for some other ideas from festivals, carnivals you've run in your games.
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Post by whipstache on Nov 5, 2015 22:10:32 GMT
I'm about to start running my first campaign as dm and the party is starting at a festival/carnival. So I'm curious what other people will add.
I'll try to post something on Monday. Sounds cool!
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DM Sol_train
Squire
Back behind the screen 20yrs post 2E
Posts: 33
Favorite D&D Class: Druid (Pathfinder Wolf-shaman)
Favorite D&D Race: Human
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Post by DM Sol_train on Nov 6, 2015 5:02:09 GMT
For the game play I'm going to have a couple NPCs ready to go that are the same, 1 or 2 levels/skill ranks higher than the best player's stats, and we'll assume after the first "round" of each competition that player advances with those NPCs to what would be the finals. The players who's characters aren't competing in the finals can roll one of the NPCs in the finals. I'm thinking maybe the local champion having +3 or +4 ranks, so if the PC takes 2d nothing lost and if they win, they've really accomplished something.
UPDATE: After tweaking the games a little before actually using in my game here are some basic mechanics that I feel you can use for any type of skill game to give the PCs a sense of competition, but also a chance to win since they are the heros the story is about after all. For NPCs I used the best PC's base modifier for the appropriate event, subtracted 2 and then randomly added 1d4 back to allow for possibly better NPCs, but still within reach of PCs to win event.
BASIC Mechanics: 1. Start with a DC which your best PC will succeed on a roll of 5 or higher. IE: PC has +5 climb, so base climb speed per round is achieved on a DC=10. 2. Add options to increase your progress towards goal by 20-40% for a +5 DC per increase. IE: add 1d4 per round climb for each +5DC the character wants to try. So attempting a base climb speed +1d4 is a DC15 climb check. 3. Set catastrophic failure at 6 or worse. IE: failing climb check by 6 or more results in fall; failing by 5 or less just results in 0 feet climbed. Here are the description and mechanics for a few of the Maplefest games (Updated based on actual play for my 3rd level characters) Tree Climbing: Climb 30’ pole as fast as possible without falling. Mechanics: Make a DC 12 climb check to move at climb speed add +5 DC for an additional 1d4 climb per round. Players put both hands under table place dice they plan to roll in one hand 1d20 plus any additional d4 they intend to try; all players hold out closed hand and drop dice at same time. This allows individual tactic to be hidden until dice are dropped. Spring Board and Cleave: (see video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=awf4NiEN_oc) Using a timber ax, chop a small v-cut in tree approx. waist height above the ground and wedge a 5’long 6”wide plank into it; climb on the plank; chop another v-cut at waist height from plank you're standing on, wedge another plank into the new v-cut and climb onto it; Cut completely through the top of the tree approx. waist height above the plank you're standing on. Mechanics: v-cut = AC15 melee attack with ax (damage = 1d8+STR minus 3 for hardness), 5 damage required to get large enough v-cut to wedge plank; Option: successfully hit AC20 to automatically do the v-cut; DC15 climb check (or acrobatics; players choice) (if you fail by 5 or less try again next round; 6 or more fall and out of competition); Final Cleave AC15, damage 1d8+STR minus 3 for hardness, need 10 points of damage to cleave off. Easiest to track this if each player writes :Wedge (5 damage); Climb; Wedge (5 Damage); Climb; Cut (10 Damage) on scratch paper before starting. Log spinning: Log spinning: 2 competitors walk out on floating log, when signaled to begin each tries to spin log knocking the other off by Hopping, Popping, or Stopping to gain advantage. Mechanics: Player’s do “paper/rock/scissors” to simulate their characters Hop, Pop, or Stop. On a tie = no advantage; winner = advantage (roll 2d20 and keep best). Opposed Acrobatics check simultaneous, beat opponent by 10 to knock them off, or if either rolls a 1 or 2 they fall off regardless. Boom Run: each competitor faces a line of several slender floating logs chained together going out into river, competitors run out touch end of last log and run back without falling. 60ft out and 60ft back, fastest across wins Mechanics: Simultaneous DC15 Acrobatics checks. Success = move base or DC20 to add d10 (players put dice in hand in secret, either D20 only or both 20 and d10 and then without shaking drop dice simultaneous (this ensures people don’t know your strategy. fail by 5 or less, only move ½ base, 6 or more and fall. Archery Contest: shoot targets of increasing range, last person to miss wins. Targets must be hit square enough that they tip over to count as a “hit”, targets that fail to tip over are considered a miss. May chose a smaller target at each range, and not required to tip it over. Mechanics: First round target is AC10 to hit and need 2 or higher on a d6 to knock over; or +3 AC to hit smaller target but not need knock over. Increase range by 50’ (add AC1) each round. No strength bows; players select dice in secret, hold in closed hand and drop/roll on table simultaneous. Maple Syrup Chugging: Competitors each have 4 pints of maple syrup, the first to consume (and keep down) all 4 wins. Mechanics: 1st pint = DC 10 Con check to chug ½ or DC17 to chug at one time, if you fail the CON check make no progress, and have to make a DC12 Fortitude save or throwup and be out of contest, if you succeed on Fortitude save, you can keep trying to chug that pint until you make the CON check, and then move to next pint; Increase the CON DC check by 1 each pint but Fortitude save stays at 10, winner is first to finish all 4 pints and not throwup.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2015 1:28:32 GMT
A quick comment on games of skill in RPGs... If it's just a straight skill check, it's not really a game. Any event where the players can make choices that impact the outcome will be more fun, even if that choice just modifies the skill check. Each choice should have an actual or near zero-sum impact. That is, it provides a (potential) benefit, but at a (potential) cost. A slight exception to this is cheating. If you have the opportunity to cheat, it should provide a great benefit at no real cost. The cost instead is the risk of getting caught and disqualified.
Your tree climb is a good example of a game of skill involving choice. Do you want to try moving faster at the risk of stalling or falling, or move slow but steady? Log spinning has zero choice, however. See if you can insert more choice into this one.
One of the easiest ways to insert choice into a minigame is to give it the old rock-paper-scissors schema. In the log spinning example, you might have the choices, "accelerate, brake, hop." If both players take the same action, the contest is unmodified. If one accelerates and the other brakes, the accelerator takes a penalty on his roll. If one brakes and the other hops, the braker takes a penalty. If one hops and the other accelerates, the hopper takes a penalty. You might even allow opposed insight vs deception contests to determine which action the opponent will take. You should randomly determine which action the NPC will take each round, but allow him to change his action if he wins the insight vs. deception contest.
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DM Sol_train
Squire
Back behind the screen 20yrs post 2E
Posts: 33
Favorite D&D Class: Druid (Pathfinder Wolf-shaman)
Favorite D&D Race: Human
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Post by DM Sol_train on Nov 7, 2015 4:01:42 GMT
A quick comment on games of skill in RPGs... If it's just a straight skill check, it's not really a game. Any event where the players can make choices that impact the outcome will be more fun, even if that choice just modifies the skill check. Each choice should have an actual or near zero-sum impact. That is, it provides a (potential) benefit, but at a (potential) cost. A slight exception to this is cheating. If you have the opportunity to cheat, it should provide a great benefit at no real cost. The cost instead is the risk of getting caught and disqualified. Your tree climb is a good example of a game of skill involving choice. Do you want to try moving faster at the risk of stalling or falling, or move slow but steady? Log spinning has zero choice, however. See if you can insert more choice into this one. One of the easiest ways to insert choice into a minigame is to give it the old rock-paper-scissors schema. In the log spinning example, you might have the choices, "accelerate, brake, hop." If both players take the same action, the contest is unmodified. If one accelerates and the other brakes, the accelerator takes a penalty on his roll. If one brakes and the other hops, the braker takes a penalty. If one hops and the other accelerates, the hopper takes a penalty. You might even allow opposed insight vs deception contests to determine which action the opponent will take. You should randomly determine which action the NPC will take each round, but allow him to change his action if he wins the insight vs. deception contest. That's awesome insight and feed back. I'm going to tweak them all similar to the climb, and will use that hop/pop/stop as well. Thank you!
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Post by whipstache on Nov 8, 2015 14:22:48 GMT
Alright, I was thinking it could be fun to have some midway-type games as well. Knock the cans off the table: you can change the odds of success based on which can they aim at Balloon pop dart throw: the secret is that the PCs must decide to use their own darts in order to win, as the provided darts have been dulled (and an investigation check would reveal this) Hammer the bell: you know the game, git the pad with the mallet, it sends the peg up to the top to ring the bell. The trick to this game would be that the bell has been magnetized (or imbued with some magical property, whichever works for your world), so that you can't actually win. Let your PCs play for super cheap, and offer a good prize, then watch their face when they roll a 20 and still don't win. Just a few ideas.
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GM Yoshi
Squire
Posts: 33
Favorite D&D Class: Warpriest (yes, yes, yes, Pathfinder, Hybrid class, Awesome)
Favorite D&D Race: Oread (Pathfinder race... I know) (Earth Genasi in D&D)
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Post by GM Yoshi on Nov 17, 2015 0:25:29 GMT
I would like to pick all of your brains, if I may.
I have a festival coming up in my campaign that is dedicated to a home brewed deity in my world. The god is Lunred the Wind Lord, he is the god who brings each season at their appointed time, the overseer of change and the master of the four winds. I am having a difficult time coming up with games and contests for this festival. As of right now I have a race that is split into three paths, slow (outside of the city), moderate (through the city streets), and fast (over the rooftops). Each signifying a distinct path of the wind, with their own level of difficulty and failure/reward amount.
I would like to have more at this festival, but I am having a hard time thinking of anything else.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2015 1:44:02 GMT
That's a tough one. One approach is to step outside the box and extend his domain/area of influence outside of strictly wind themed stuff, though I guess that depends on how amenable you are to changing the god for the sake of a varied festival. Cart before the horse, and all that.
As for wind related activities... Here's a few ideas, but I must note I'm having difficulty coming up with meaningful choices for most of them, as per my advice above.
Kite stunts.
Archery related activities, based on accuracy or distance.
The bird count: Includes an entry fee. Event organizers lock up hundreds of birds inside a grain silo or something. At noon, they open it and shoo all the birds out. Everyone who enters the contest has to guess how many birds were released. The person with the closest guess wins half the pot, the other half goes to Lunred church stuff. Simulate with a "jelly bean count jar" guessing game at the table. Generate a series of semi-random guesses to reflect NPC participants' estimates. The more NPCs involved, the greater the pot, but the less likely the PCs will win.
Strongest breath contest: Participants have to blow over weighted objects using their breath alone.
Whistling contest: May the best whistler win! Secretly, there's a similar contest for the other end.
Wind instrument concert: Not really a contest, just an event.
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Post by joatmoniac on Nov 17, 2015 2:52:55 GMT
While his name has "Wind Lord" in it you afford yourself a ton of room in that he is the god that is ushers in each season and the honorific "the overseer of change." My immediate thought was a costume contest. The person that can change themselves the most between two costumes, some rules would need to be applied, wins. The other could be who can leaf and de-leaf the fake tree the fastest to represent the changing of the seasons. Who can stand the heat - a more con based test, who can withstand the midsummer sun the longest? Could be a hot fire or a magical effect. Same could be done with the biting cold of winter or the two back to back. Just a couple ideas that bounced around after reading your post. Hope they help.
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GM Yoshi
Squire
Posts: 33
Favorite D&D Class: Warpriest (yes, yes, yes, Pathfinder, Hybrid class, Awesome)
Favorite D&D Race: Oread (Pathfinder race... I know) (Earth Genasi in D&D)
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Post by GM Yoshi on Nov 18, 2015 4:41:39 GMT
Thank you guys that has given me some good ideas to work with
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DM Sol_train
Squire
Back behind the screen 20yrs post 2E
Posts: 33
Favorite D&D Class: Druid (Pathfinder Wolf-shaman)
Favorite D&D Race: Human
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Post by DM Sol_train on Dec 15, 2015 4:26:40 GMT
For the game play I'm going to have a couple NPCs ready to go that are the same, 1 or 2 levels/skill ranks higher than the best player's stats, and we'll assume after the first "round" of each competition that player advances with those NPCs to what would be the finals. The players who's characters aren't competing in the finals can roll one of the NPCs in the finals. I'm thinking maybe the local champion having +3 or +4 ranks, so if the PC takes 2d nothing lost and if they win, they've really accomplished something.
UPDATE: After tweaking the games a little before actually using in my game here are some basic mechanics that I feel you can use for any type of skill game to give the PCs a sense of competition, but also a chance to win since they are the heros the story is about after all. For NPCs I used the best PC's base modifier for the appropriate event, subtracted 2 and then randomly added 1d4 back to allow for possibly better NPCs, but still within reach of PCs to win event.
BASIC Mechanics: 1. Start with a DC which your best PC will succeed on a roll of 5 or higher. IE: PC has +5 climb, so base climb speed per round is achieved on a DC=10. 2. Add options to increase your progress towards goal by 20-40% for a +5 DC per increase. IE: add 1d4 per round climb for each +5DC the character wants to try. So attempting a base climb speed +1d4 is a DC15 climb check. 3. Set catastrophic failure at 6 or worse. IE: failing climb check by 6 or more results in fall; failing by 5 or less just results in 0 feet climbed. Here are the description and mechanics for a few of the Maplefest games (Updated based on actual play for my 3rd level characters) Tree Climbing: Climb 30’ pole as fast as possible without falling. Mechanics: Make a DC 12 climb check to move at climb speed add +5 DC for an additional 1d4 climb per round. Players put both hands under table place dice they plan to roll in one hand 1d20 plus any additional d4 they intend to try; all players hold out closed hand and drop dice at same time. This allows individual tactic to be hidden until dice are dropped. Spring Board and Cleave: (see video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=awf4NiEN_oc) Using a timber ax, chop a small v-cut in tree approx. waist height above the ground and wedge a 5’long 6”wide plank into it; climb on the plank; chop another v-cut at waist height from plank you're standing on, wedge another plank into the new v-cut and climb onto it; Cut completely through the top of the tree approx. waist height above the plank you're standing on. Mechanics: v-cut = AC15 melee attack with ax (damage = 1d8+STR minus 3 for hardness), 5 damage required to get large enough v-cut to wedge plank; Option: successfully hit AC20 to automatically do the v-cut; DC15 climb check (or acrobatics; players choice) (if you fail by 5 or less try again next round; 6 or more fall and out of competition); Final Cleave AC15, damage 1d8+STR minus 3 for hardness, need 10 points of damage to cleave off. Easiest to track this if each player writes :Wedge (5 damage); Climb; Wedge (5 Damage); Climb; Cut (10 Damage) on scratch paper before starting. Log spinning: Log spinning: 2 competitors walk out on floating log, when signaled to begin each tries to spin log knocking the other off by Hopping, Popping, or Stopping to gain advantage. Mechanics: Player’s do “paper/rock/scissors” to simulate their characters Hop, Pop, or Stop. On a tie = no advantage; winner = advantage (roll 2d20 and keep best). Opposed Acrobatics check simultaneous, beat opponent by 10 to knock them off, or if either rolls a 1 or 2 they fall off regardless. Boom Run: each competitor faces a line of several slender floating logs chained together going out into river, competitors run out touch end of last log and run back without falling. 60ft out and 60ft back, fastest across wins Mechanics: Simultaneous DC15 Acrobatics checks. Success = move base or DC20 to add d10 (players put dice in hand in secret, either D20 only or both 20 and d10 and then without shaking drop dice simultaneous (this ensures people don’t know your strategy. fail by 5 or less, only move ½ base, 6 or more and fall. Archery Contest: shoot targets of increasing range, last person to miss wins. Targets must be hit square enough that they tip over to count as a “hit”, targets that fail to tip over are considered a miss. May chose a smaller target at each range, and not required to tip it over. Mechanics: First round target is AC10 to hit and need 2 or higher on a d6 to knock over; or +3 AC to hit smaller target but not need knock over. Increase range by 50’ (add AC1) each round. No strength bows; players select dice in secret, hold in closed hand and drop/roll on table simultaneous. Maple Syrup Chugging: Competitors each have 4 pints of maple syrup, the first to consume (and keep down) all 4 wins. Mechanics: 1st pint = DC 10 Con check to chug ½ or DC17 to chug at one time, if you fail the CON check make no progress, and have to make a DC12 Fortitude save or throwup and be out of contest, if you succeed on Fortitude save, you can keep trying to chug that pint until you make the CON check, and then move to next pint; Increase the CON DC check by 1 each pint but Fortitude save stays at 10, winner is first to finish all 4 pints and not throwup. ** Updated after playing through the first evening and day of Maplefest with my 3rd level group.
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Post by cowboycentaur on Dec 16, 2015 5:08:42 GMT
Since it's an eleven village, maybe a poetry concert? For the literary minded elf who isn't a rough and tumble type? Or maybe the intellectual lumberjack has a few verses of prose to share. At any rate, having the players make up poetry on the spot should be a good time for all involved.
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Samuel Wise
Demigod
Ready to Help...
Posts: 989
Favorite D&D Class: Warlock
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Post by Samuel Wise on Dec 16, 2015 5:42:38 GMT
Since it's an eleven village, maybe a poetry concert? At any rate, having the players make up poetry on the spot should be a good time for all involved. That's always a good idea, especially for the players who enjoy a little creativity. A great example is Caleb's Bard Battle from the episode 55 Story Time.
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DM Sol_train
Squire
Back behind the screen 20yrs post 2E
Posts: 33
Favorite D&D Class: Druid (Pathfinder Wolf-shaman)
Favorite D&D Race: Human
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Post by DM Sol_train on Dec 17, 2015 3:11:12 GMT
Since it's an eleven village, maybe a poetry concert? At any rate, having the players make up poetry on the spot should be a good time for all involved. That's always a good idea, especially for the players who enjoy a little creativity. A great example is Caleb's Bard Battle from the episode 55 Story Time. except then the NPCs (and me) also need to come up with spontaneous poetry. :-). This is good though, the only soft-skill contest I was thinking of was syrup boiling, since my daughter's archer Kateye Whistlebird (who grew up in this village) has chef profession skill. The game session returning to the village was a great rping session as Kateye had left home almost 2 months earlier to seek adventure in Speclurum, and her 7 siblings watching out the window wondering if she was going to make it home for this annual event (Maplefest is a big holy day in the village as well) the party arrived just near sunset barely intime to make it to the bonfire. And Claw Moonsnow (my 8yr old son's elven fighter) also a native of Aerolyth Falls returning 13 years after the death of his father to see his 13 year old brother (a new born when he left), his mother, and his older brother the village blacksmith. Really...really good rping by the younglings....this was one of the most fun GM sessions I've run ever.
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Post by Chickadee (DM Trish) on May 20, 2017 15:16:31 GMT
I just ran my first Festival within a campaign and incorporated a bunch of these games. Thanks so much!! My players LOVED them!!
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