How can I successfully GM a session or two set in a fancy ball?
Any of you tried this before? Any of you played through one? What did you like, what went poorly, and what would you change/wish you could have done? Any memorable stories? I'm also very interested in seeing if any games have mechanics for this sort of thing. Social combat I guess?
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Just make sure there is some kind of combat so that the adventurer characters have something to do.
Why can't every kind of character engage in socializing for a change?
it went SO poorly.
The female player refused to play along.
>playing a witch
>tries to get into a shoving match with a brickshit house.
It could of been SO good.
>pirates
>airships
>badguys forced wedding
>new orleans
>Skull island
>Rinoman guards.
Its like losing a loved one.
this is the sad truth to the vast majority of players you will have to GM for. They only care to kill shit since it doesn't require higher brain function and roleplaying capabilities.
that being said, one trick that I saw was extremely interesting and works quite well is setting forth a timetable of events that will occur should the PC's do nothing to interfere with them. That way, you can have the plot moving around them and if they're completely oblivious to it, they won't see the machinations of your game running in the background and will have to deal with whatever consequences you have set forth for them (i.e. noble dies in the ball, a meeting is held that changes the power players, etc). If they catch on, it will be rewarding because it's through their own skill and wit that they are now a part of the play.
Of course, you should still have ways for them to enter this play if they aren't necessarily charisma focused characters or don't have the ability to roleplay well enough to get in through their own means, like they have the chance to see two figures retire to an empty room, a glint of a knife in the middle of the ballroom floor, or they're just in the right place at the right time. Make it fun for them, but make it rewarding as well, don't hand it to them.
You sound like you could use a drink, so in lieu of that tell us more
Help us not repeat the same problems
Sorta, we have.
>PC's are a rogue, a monk, and a bard.
>City (mainly) adventure.
>PC's rent a small store
>Open a bakery
>Steal valuable recipes and ingredients
>Cater lavish parties
>Make duplicate items of value, swap the duplicate for the real item during party
>Lots of ranks of dancing, etiquette, etc
>Years before rich party goers know they robbed
>Good time
Hmm yes, I also am quite tired of the dreary plebeian need for action and dramatics
What kind of boor would write a story about a ball with action behind the scenes
Who's that, Shakespeare? That must be the man who mucks the outhouse
Idiot
Literally the easiest setpiece to design.
Social characters out front wining and dining marks
Combat characters in the back stealing the loot
Ok backstory first. Im not sure if you can fix anything rather then just have players who play along.
Our airship captain vanished one day, the whole campaign was to hunt him down.
Are party was (and still is)
>A Weather Witch
>A Body Builder angel (barbarella 1968)
>A rigger teenager orphan zombie
>A magpie lookout
>A wooden robot native amarcan
>A grease monkey (mechanic who was a monkey)
We turn up to a tavan where we used to drink to find that its been taken over by a pirate lord who has been taking over SKULL ISLAND, a floating new olreands that due to magic is always at that time just before the sunset, at an alarming rate.
We got what we needed from the tavan and did a quest before coming back to save the madam who ran the place and raised the teenager zombie.
We find out that the pirate lord has a super weapon and is forcing the governors daughter to marry him.
We are also looking for an old shipmate of the captains who is in jail under the lords mansion.
The group takes a week and sneaks in to the ball, half the party go to take out the super weapon at that time too. The Magipie, Zombie and Witch get dressed up to the nines with masquerade masks.
Everyone was there, all the important people, the pirate lord strongest retainers as well as OTHER pirate lords. The witch was meant to make a make a distraction while the magipie sneaked downstairs. I cant remember what the zombie was doing, but it was something.
She just refused to dance with someone and instead said im going to push him over. She failed and not wanting to cause a fuss the guy just left.
The zombie ended up feeding the horn player a peanut sending him into shock. Then got on stage and jonney-b-goode that shit up.
It just put a downer on the whole session.
Tried this once, went pretty well. I drew a lot of inspiration from the ball segment of DA: Inquisition.
Basically, I had players ditch their social skills, and instead gave them a temporary modifier based on their behavior. Successful interactions increased the modifier, and making an ass out of yourself lowered it. Rolls consisted of a d20 roll, plus that modifier, others based on the character.
It was a half-decent way for our murderhobo to socialize and not completely fuck it up.
ITT OP tries to figure out how to GM the prom he never went to
;_;
How did you play out the parties? Did you write your own rules like the d20 user?
Now you're just being pedantic. You know fully well that the worst kind of player is the one who only wants to hit things, with no taste for non-combat. They call them murder hobos for a reason
>this is the sad truth to the vast majority of players you will have to GM for. They only care to kill shit since it doesn't require higher brain function and roleplaying capabilities.
It's more to do with the expectations of the game I think. I would get frustrated at a session of pure high society intrigue when everything on my character sheet is about going into caves and killing monsters.
Bang on with this one. They need an objective.
Additional tips:
Have some fitting dance music to play quietly in the background.
Expect the whole thing to go tits-up. Also remember that any scenery you describe will be used as a weapon, cover, or method of traversal.
Have your wits sharp. All the who's who will be there and they've all been playing manipulation games since they could talk. Any lowborn among your party will be looked upon with some disdain, too.
Dangle the end game for this chapter in front of them but make it too risky to take at first opportunity. Wise players will wait for an opening. Brash players will rush for it and will make a hell of a story. Both are good outcomes.
Not fancy balls specifically but I've done plenty of bottle episodes of this sort. My advice would be:
>hand out a map of the venue at the start
>prep a ref sheet for important characters, and maybe put the incidental colour characters on there as well.
The players will need to decide moment to moment where they should be and who they need to talk to, and without visual aids it'll be impossible to keep it straight.
>have multiple plots on the run
one for each of the PCs' objectives here and at least one for a red herring or just incidental chaos
>write a schedule of important events
But as says, this is just how things will proceed if the players do nothing at all. Just keep a checklist like "10.30: the duc de blah drunkenly confronts his wife's lover, 11.00: assassination attempt". You can probably leave the later stages of the evening clear, or pencil in a deus ex machina.
>>write a schedule of important events
Thats a really good idea. But watch the players fuck it up.
Pro tip: Enforce dresscode!
Ceremonial armour is only permitted for serving officers or members of knightly orders IF it is part of their dress uniform.
Weapons WILL be restricted to smallsword/foil/rapier types unless setting and/or characters' backgrounds require other sidearms to be worn.
Bandoliers of darts, throwing knives, alchemical weapon containers, etc, are NOT fashion accessories.
Multiple belt pouches of spell components are not permitted, nor is having a selection of wands in "quickdraw" sheathes allowed.
Holy emblems should be small and discrete so as to avoid antagonising proponents of other faiths.
Clothing should be clean and conform to appropriate standards of coverage ( no studded loincloths for the barbarian!), unless wearing national ceremonial dress as an official representative.
All things I've had to deal with when GMing various games throughout the years...
>Expect the whole thing to go tits-up
But I *want* the party to go well
>*want*it to go well
user, you're dealing with players here...
In the grim darkness of the 41st millenia, there is only flirting, banter, buffets, and waltz music!
>dark heresy
>acolytes are given to a governor for a favor done long ago
>acolytes are tasked by the governor to execute schmucko while he's distracted at a big party for supposed heresy
>acolytes don't buy it
>snoop around find out the schmucko is actually a good guy
>break into governor's office and find incrimination suggesting the governor wants a cover up
>the party is now wanted dead
>after they flee the palace and spend their murdohobo bucks on nice clothes, they come back in a day for the party
>the techpriest tries to make himself look like a magos with a bunch of servants in tow
>"you're not on the list"
>goes on a tirade on how dumbfounded he is that he, the_mostImportant magos in this sector isnt invite
>nigger rolls a natural 1 for persuasion or whatever the fuck the stat is
>"S-sorry m-magos, m-my mistake. Please come in."
>They're supposed to meet with the schmucko due to an arrangement with the wife in an hour
>in the mean time
>guardsman decides to get drunk with a rogue trader, flirt with, and consequently get slapped by a noblewoman
>psyker and other guardsman gorge themselves at the buffet, making friends with a hugefat general in the process
>he later pledges some CAS and heavy armor due to their deep, space-macaroni and cheese forged friendship
>tech priest gets into an argument with a REAL magos
>roasts him on a technobabble roll
after getting the information they need they end up one-shotting the power-armored governor that was supposed to be a boss, so that was fun
no regrets
Love the idea of the map and rundown on important personages. Especially if the PCs are not super familiar IC with the intrigue.
What did the Guardsman say to the noblewoman to get that reaction?
My memory fails me on the specifics, but I recall it being a remark on her breasts.
I would have loved to play it user, that's my kind of setting.
Especially forced wedding, crashing them is my favorite thing in fiction
Diplomacy checks, a few knowledge etiquette checks, a perform check, and some bluff.
We rp'd it for the most part. It was amusing.
>Dm: a couple walk up to get a snack at your table, knowledge nobility to recognize them
>Dm: you know them as minor Lord's of (x) house, roll etiquette check to greet them properly
> You bow deeply, and offer them a pastry
Stuff like that.
We have a big book of clothing we had to pick outfits out of.
>Silk slacks, a high collar tan shirt, custom shoes of seal hide...etc
Had to look the part after all.
Yes, in my Planescape game once. There were 20 important party guests or so. The players had to deduce who was a cultist of Aoskar using social checks (only one allowed per target), and then report what they thought after the party. Mercykillers would descend upon whoever they indicated, randomly killing the target, capturing them, or botching the job. The party managed to not get any innocents killed, but didn't manage to mark all of the Aoskar cultists
>that moonman on the left
youtube.com
Not quite
Went better than expected. They weren't that interested in the party, or their objective, but they were interested in getting drunk with the military officers and throwing bottles at things off the balcony. The best thing I did was make the Ball move into ~3 rooms when the classes (military -
> hard drinking, women -> tearoom, men -> smoking room) sorted out late in the night. It let other party members shine and helped move the action along
>players attending a fancy party
>one of the players is a monk from a far off land, decides to dress in traditional style of his people
>party goes well, players looking for a noble who ratted them out
>monk player gets into a small disagreement with some lesser noble who is a little to drunk
>several poor roles later, noble challenges monk to a duel
>monk accepts, says they will duel immediately
>the 2 step outside while the party-goers crowd around the windows to see, rest of players scan crowd for the rat
>from selected dueling list, the monk selects pistols
>tell him he doesn't know how to fire guns properly, says he is well aware
>duel begins initiative rolled, monk wins
>places arms behind his back
>everyone confused, but he has a shit eating grin on
HFW
>nobleman fires and hits
"I deflect the bullet"
"W-what?"
>pulls out rule book, shows deflect arrow feat works on all projectiles
>Monk proceeds to calmly approach now panicking noble man and knocks him unconscious with several pistol-whips
It's great when level 1 characters get to do cool shit.
>It's great when level 1 characters get to do cool shit.
See, this is one reason I think these kinds of encounters are important, even for fighter characters