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104. Three brightly attired children (two human and one gnome) carrying clothe-covered picnic baskets trying to interest the patrons with fresh baked goods. These young entrepenuers have been encouraged with a wink and nod by the innkeeper. He maintains a close eye on the young'ns as they learn.
Child 1: Ari, Human female, daughter of the baker down the street, whom the innkeeper is trying to woo. Knows all her mum's salespitches and is the brains behind this money maker. Skill: Sense Motive +1, Diplo +1
Child 2: Juhn, Human female, BFF, originally hanging around bakery to beg/steal to supplement her very poor meals at home wherever that may be, the bakery saw an opportunity and "hired" her to hawk some of her day-old stuff. Skill: Sense Motive +1, Bluff +1
Child 3: Hupicallo, Gnome female, following the scents of fresh baked goods, she became enamered by the displayed results. The baker couldn't get rid of her despite her efforts, so she apprenticed her and hasn't regretted it yet. Craft(baker):+2
Something like this one?
Thanks. Hadn't seen that before.
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105. A woman wearing a thick hooded cloak and heavy equipment, with no skin showing and only her voice - though it cracks and grumbles oddly - discerning her gender. If viewed from the right angle there's a strange glow from within her hood and behind the mask she wears. The cloak is black, sandpaper rough, and warm to the touch.
[Perception] The woman is an Ifrit under her disguise.
[DM] Szhara is an Ifrit Cavalier in hiding. A rash of arsons in the noble district recently has her fearing she will be implicated, despite the fact that her fiery powers are rather limited and she isn't a spellcaster.
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107) A group of four gnomes are gathered around a table towards the back, playing a dice game. Occasionally the sound of their laughter rises to be audible throughout the tavern.
[Perception] They seem to be gambling on who pays for the next round.
[Knowledge: Local] They're merchants who come in here just about every week, unless the trade caravans are out. Rumors say they're supplementing their income with rigged gambling and other shady dealings.
[Charisma] They can be persuaded to let travelers join in their game.
[DM] The game they're playing is one they made up over the years, and the rules have gotten very complicated. They're not swindlers, however, and if a stranger gets some lucky rolls they'll pay up. if the PCs want to pay, have them roll opposed [Profession: Gambler] checks to see who pays whom how much. Alternatively, have the PCs play a dice game if you happen to know one-- Liar's Dice or 10,000 would be a good choice.
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A friendly typical male peasant with a broad face. He is jolly, work is actually great with the good harvest. No monsters are killing him or his family.
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108) Young, wiry adolescent with a diplomatic satchel walks in covered with sweat and roaddust. Barkeep quickly yells a food order back into the kitchen while pouring a watered down mead for the youngster. The barkeep scans the tavern for hostiles/nosy/curious folk; subtly running a little bit of interference. She quaffs down the two mugs of liquid, takes the wrapped meal, drops a chit and departs just as quickly on a fresh horse. The whole scenario takes, at most, five minutes.
Knowledge local
Easy: Tavern is located along trade route, diplomatic couriers are common. Interference or causing delay is punishable.
Med: Tavern owners along the route know the drill. The chit is for reimbursement and extra security for the establishment.
Hard: There is almost always a fresh horse stabled just for thier use. If not, the next best horse is appropriated under eminent domain of the kingdom, while the tavern keeper makes nice with trade or coin. Alternately, he directs owner to possible next stop to collect his exhausted horse.
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110) You overhear an abrupt, muttered converation between a stocky man and the innkeeper. As the man strides out of the inn the innkeep pockets a small leather bag sat on the bar. Sweat beads his forehead.
111) With a dull thud a half-orc across the room plants his head on the table. His pair of drinking companions shrug at each other, pick him up under the armpits and drag him toward the door.
[Perception] Both the men dragging the half-orc are armed.
112) There are a dozen or so women sat at a table, talking and laughing loudly. They are dressed, bizarrely and unconvincingly, as everything from pirates to fairies. All of them are very drunk, and there is a danger they may start singing.
[Perception] The half-elf with a pair of costume fairy wings on her back is also wearing a white veil. She's likely getting married in the morning.
113) A bookish, greying elf sits in the corner with a glass of wine and a sheaf of scrolls on his table. He scribbles on the parchments between sips and seems thoroughly absorbed.
[Diplomacy] He is a fairly reclusive local scholar, drafting a history of the town. Spending an hour talking to him will allow the party a small bonus on Knowledge (local) checks during their stay.
114) A well-dressed woman sits alone with a large glass of wine. She occasionally glances at the door, looking a mixture of perplexed and frustrated. She is obviously waiting for someone.
[Perception] She appears to have two coinpurses. A small, smart, everyday one and a larger cloth bag that seems to contain a lot of money.
[Knowledge (local or nobility)] This woman is a minor local noble whose family has suffered a number of scandals. There are rumours her brother is being blackmailed.
Doting ^^
116) Wrapped up in a black cloak which covers his body this Dwarf has one hand on the table clutching a tankard of ale as he grumbles to himself. His black beard covering most of his face hiding his lips from view.
Perception: You see a small red squirrel sitting on his knee, eating a piece of bread while with his free hand he plays with a coin though he struggles since he appears to be missing a finger.
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118) A brother and sister sit at the bar, where the brother pays for a coconut full of some unidentifiable drink, while his sister buys a lime, puts it in the coconut and drinks them both up, prompting the brother to buy another coconut that she then puts a lime in and drinks. This cycle continues about forty times, long into the night, until the sister has a terrible stomachache.
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120. An argument breaks out loudly. A stocky human man in his forties seems to be defending an adolescent girl behind him; the 2 look similar. Many patrons are angrily decrying the girl as evil. While the PCs look on one takes a mug to the man while another reaches for the girl who cringes away. As she does there is a brilliant flash of light and her attacker barely misses, clutching at his eyes.
For the GM: the man is Brune, a local rat catcher. He's a lout and a drunk but he loves his neice Vanya. His neice meanwhile is just beginning to develop sorcerous powers from the Fey bloodline. Vanya is also Brune's apprentice in the rat catcher's guild.
121. Three old men sit hunched over a game board, studying it intently. They sip odd tinctures. One of them finally moves one of the pieces; simultaneously the sound of thunder can be heard outside.
122. a young female grippili preaches loudly that a flood is coming and the world will soon be drowned. A half-orc nearby punches her in the face, knocking her out cold.
123. Several mangy cats can be seen lounging around the bar; perched on empty shelves, pacing in the corners, or pawing at rugs hung on the wall. One makes eye contact with a PC and refuses to look away.
124. An old female halfling wanders into the bar, a heavy basket of apples on her hip. She is shabbily dressed and her hair is mangy and unkempt. She is selling the apples, three for a copper. The other patrons avoid her almost religiously.
125. A human lad, no more than 11, bursts into the bar crying out for a "Master Havlek". Several patrons glance back to an old dwarven smith, drunk in the corner and snoring loudly.
126) A group of humans and dwarves in heavy travelling clothes sit at a table talking loudly, their faces ruddy from the elements. There is a pronounced weariness in their bearing despite the outward exuberance.
[Perception] You notice ropes, harnessess and heavy walking boots. These are mountaineers.
[Diplomacy] These guides have led a small caravan of spices and rarities across a nearby mountain pass. They share tales with you and offer up a couple of rather dangerous shortcuts that may reduce the time on your next journey, if you risk it.
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127) A minor scuffle makes you look up from your drinks. The Innkeeper shouts "get out!" and shoves an unkempt man toward the door. The man glances back, thinks better of it, and slinks into the night.
[Perception] You overhear a conversation from the next table about the man causing trouble here last month, leading to him being barred.
130. a young Halfling male, with curly brown hair and a pleasant smile, offers to chill anyone's wine or mull it with spice for a silver. If obliged he uses Prestidigitation to achieve it.
131. a table of human laborers soiled with masonry dust sits solemnly for an evening meal; one of them offers a toast to their fallen brother Kalegg. [Diplomacy] Kalegg was killed that day when a load of stones suddenly broke loose from a crane.
132. Snerd The Elder, the local know-it-all drunk, is staggering through the bar. He's a scraggly old half-elven man with wild gray hair. For a drink he'll answer questions though the answers may or may not be right.
133. An owl swoops in through an open window and alights on a nearby cloak peg. No one seems to take much notice. The owl stares at the party pointedly.
133. Zombies. It's Undead Server Night at the Skull and Rose Vinhaus, a goth tavern run by a female necromancer named Eldra Blackblood.
134) An emaciated man in the corner gulps down a bowl of stew, barely chewing. Finishing, he tears ravenously at a chunk of bread and drains his mug before looking around for more.
[Perception] There is a stack of eight or so empty bowls beside him.
135) A sad-eyed half-elf girl wanders from table to table with a basket of flowers. She tries to sell you a Carnation for a silver piece.
136) Above the bar is a banner announcing a beer festival today! There are a dozen guest ales from around the region, and the Tavern is buzzing with curious locals in various states of inebriation. The Landlord appears happy but distracted by the extra custom. He recommends a golden, hoppy ale from a village to the North.
A well known and feared bounty hunter walks in and begins looking around the common room intently as the place falls silent.
139) On a small stage at one end of the Tavern a Bard sits playing a Harp. She plays well, but none of the Tavern patrons seems to be paying attention. It is a strange, sad tune that feels familiar.
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139) On a small stage at one end of the Tavern a Bard sits playing a Harp. She plays well, but none of the Tavern patrons seems to be paying attention. It is a strange, sad tune that feels familiar.
When running this I'd play Zeplin's Stairway to Heaven.
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142) A middle-aged balding man in conservative dress. He's short, thin, timid, has a neatly trimmed moustache, and is in every way the most milquetoast, unimpressive man you could ever meet in a tavern... except that his right eye is missing and a large scar runs across the socket. If asked about the scar, he'll whimper and complain that he doesn't want to talk about it.
143) Standing at the bar are three human men, talking and drinking. The tallest of them looks drunk and is visibly swaying. His companions look concerned, occasionally patting him on the shoulder and offering a quiet word.
[Perception] The drunk man's eyes are red from crying.
[Knowledge (local)] The local carpenter lost his wife recently and has been hitting the bottle pretty hard. His brother and apprentice are worried him.
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144. Mildred the Temperate: a woman dressed in formal and somber attire enters the tavern and immediately kneels in the doorway. She makes an appeal to all occupants of the facility to abstain from the sin of alcohol and the wickedness that follows (drunkeness, violence addiction and sloth, etc). She then begins singing hymns and refuses to be moved. Knowledge: Local, Religion - Mildred is a member of a burgeoning Temperance Movement led by local religions and women of the region due to an increase in alcohol consumption and resulting crimes.
A young man dressed in plain, brown, robes with a staff sitting against the table besides him keeps mumbling something and waving his hands over an empty mug. After each attempt, he curses and repeates this odd behavior...
GM: He's a young wizard trying to turn his mug into what he calls an Everfill Mug. It is always full of ale. He keeps failing. The tavern owner used to kick him out but realized that he's been unsuccessful for so long and is unlikely to succeed at his task. Now he's the butt of jokes at the tavern and is trying to succeed just to spite everyone.
147. A woman with a hood up and a veil over her face sits in the corner sipping red wine. Perception reveals 2 odd things about her: she has a forked tongue which flicks out to taste the air and something is writhing beneath her hood and veil. She does not radiate evil.
148. a male grippili bard makes his way through the bar singing about rainbows; there is a banjo strapped to his back.
149. It's LADIES night! A "priest" of Cayden Cailean leaps onto the bar, works a Purify Food and Drink spell into a drawn out blessing to all the patrons, and calls out that all ladies drink free by virtue of the clergy! Knowledge: Religion reveals this is a bluff; the cleric is merely trying to quickly cover the fact that a keg of ale has gone bad. Although it's now safe to drink it is sour and skunked but many of the townsfolk don't care since half of them aren't paying.
150. Ozula, a female kobold is extremely comely despite her race and has curves in all the right places. She drifts through the crowd offering to dance with young men for a silver. These dances prove quite provocative and she promises more if the money is right. For the GM: Ozula is a LN female kobold expert (courtesan) 4. She is well trained in any skills necessary for her profession and is appalled if she is treated as anything other than a high-class companion. She works toward her nightly pay using her skills.
151) From the back room you smell cooking food. The aromas of cooking onions, meat, tomatoes and herbs fill your nostrils. As a halfling in an apron pushes through the door to the bar you catch a glimpse of a heavy pot above the fire in the back room.
[Perception] or [Profession (Cook)] Oregano. You knew it.
152) A handsome young half-elf makes his way around the bar. Whenever he approaches a woman or group of women he stops and makes conversation. Most seem both unfazed and unimpressed by him. You get the feeling he may have tried his luck too often in this Tavern, judging from some of the looks he receives.
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153. a haggard young female half-elf in ragged clothing looks half starved. She has an open satchel stuffed with sheaves of crude parchment. She is selling scrolls with arcane cantrips for mere silvers instead of gold. Knowlede: Local reveals she is Bylaphine, the granddaughter of a hermit wizard who lived on the edge of town. She has no family, no skills of measurable worth to support herself with other than a few cantrips and the Scribe Scroll feat. She may easilly become either a hireling/cohort of the party or a villain of the campaign.
154) In one wall of the Tavern you notice a long, narrow, straight corridor, leading off into darkness. A cold, soft breeze blows into the room along it. Out of the other windows in the wall you cannot see any part of the building leading in the direction of the corridor. Looking around outside the building reveals no corridor there. It is as if it does not exist outside the building, only inside it. The patrons and innkeeper either admit ignorance or refuse to talk about it.
(credit to The House of Leaves, a very unsettling book)
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A mime walks in. He doesn't come out.
158. A narrow-shouldered young human lad enters the bar dressed in meek commoner's clothes. Beneath his sandy ringlets the boy's face is youthful yet stern. For some unknown reason no one in the bar will make eye contact with the wisp of a man standing in the doorway and conversation has stopped in lieu of a collective holding of breath.
For the GM: the kid is a N male wizard 13.
Mark, are you publishing this stuff? Your ideas are stellar.
Kellum the Grippli can often be seen in the bay window of the river tavern built on stilts over the Sellen tributary. Once a week he leaves his village and heads for the bright lights of the Inn. He doesn't say much. He is happy the locals and travellers don't mind him being there. He just sits in the bay-window enjoying his pint of Hobgoblin and watching the world go by with his large frog eyes. He has struck up a sort of friendship with Romulus, the rat-folk bargemen, but Romulus is often working on the rivers far west of here.
Normally no-one would think twice about the frog figure sat alone in the bay window, maybe give a double-take but this is the River Kingdoms and anything goes.
But they would if they knew that some scouts of a local boggard tribe noticed Kellum's trips to the inn, reported it, and the tribe has sent a snatch party to get him. This very minute they are sneaking under the stilts and preparing to ambush him when he leaves. Because Kellum is the son of the grippli villages tribal leader and kidnapping him would be good leverage in the boggards ongoing dispute with the gripplis.
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160) A commoner drags a large iron box into the tavern, chained and locked. He approaches the first reasonably tough looking patron he sees, (possibly the PCs) and offers to bet them 10g that they can't open the box, by force or guile. After an hour or so, a large man in hide armor barges in with a massive steel warhammer, points to the commoner, and demands "double or nothing!"
Hey all. Want to get your creative juices flowing in prep for RPG superstar. There used to be a program on the web, that you could enter a number and it would spit out that many tavern encounters. Short little description of people that are in a tavern.
The tavern door bursts open and three dwarves come in, one with his back to the inside of the tavern and two shuffling sideways, carrying a large piece of rock between them. The rock is 3 foot high and 5 foot wide. They drop it in a corner with a crash, wipe their hands on their beards and head to the bar. They then stop half way, have a heated discussion, and one returns to the table where the rock is to guard it. The rest of the eve they never leave the large rock unaccompanied as they have three rounds of Hammer ale. At last orders they carry it outside and away.