Swallowtail Festival Games
Alright as it stands there isn't much detail on the things going on during the festival. At this point it covers the opening speech, lunch, and evening dedication ceremony and bonfire. That's really not much of a festival. Where are all the games and other things happening? What are the pc's to do during the day to occupy the time? I've come up with some games and such to keep them occupied. It also provides for a way to give some more background info.
The Devil Hunt
Do you have what it takes to bring down the infamous Sandpoint Devil and keep him from menacing the surrounding area? Take a shot and see. This is an archery range setup on the beach down by the Lighthouse. Two large targets, with silhouettes of a scary looking winged horse on them, are set up 50 yards away from a firing line. The bull’s-eye is about where a horse's heart would be. There are bigger concentric circles around the bull’s-eye.
One copper piece per play. Using the longbows provided, fire two arrows at the target, scoring the best one. Hitting a bull’s-eye wins a small pie. Hitting anything else wins progressively cheaper trinkets for each band outside the bull’s-eye, with nothing for a miss. Hitting AC 20 gets a bull’s-eye, each band out side that is AC 18, AC 16, AC 14, and AC 12.
This game is being run by Jodar Provolost (CG male human Expert 1/Ranger 3), an older balding Varisian with black hair, a big thick black mustache, and a noticeable big belly. He is a mediocre carpenter, but is considered one of the best hunters in Sandpoint. He is friendly, but has lots of bad jokes, and particularly likes telling his (untrue) stories of his encounters with the Sandpoint Devil. The pies have been provided by Alma Avertin from Sandpoint Savories. They aren't her best work, but they are good enough for what they are.
Sheriff Hemlock has asked Jodar to quietly make note of anyone who scores a bull’s-eye, or gets both shots in either of the center two circles, so that he can later approach them about joining the militia. Jodar asks anyone who wins his or her name and then announces quite loudly "Attention! Insert name has done Sandpoint a great service. He or she has slain the Sandpoint Devil! Here's your pie!"
The Goblin Toss
Three Goblins have found their way into your house and are tearing the place up! Grab them and toss them into the fireplace before they can destroy everything. This game is a simple bean bag toss setup in the middle of the Sandpoint Market square. A board is setup with lines of three holes. The board is 10 feet from a throw line. The closest hole is the largest and the farthest hole is the smallest. There are buckets of beanbags sewn to look like Goblins by each of the three stations. Each bean bag has a Goblin name printed on it.
One copper piece per play. Take three Goblins and try to toss them into a fireplace. Kids have to try and hit the biggest and closest hole, which is AC 10. Women use the medium sized hole, which is AC 12, and adult men use the smallest and furthest hole, which is AC 15. The bean bags have a range increment of 10' and there is no non-proficient penalty. Get all three in and win a small bag of venison jerky. Anything less gives a cheap trinket. Something Swallowtail related most likely. Nothing for not getting any in the fireplace.
This game is being run by Daverin Hosk of Goblin Squash Stables. He's getting perverse pleasure out of the idea of tossing Goblins in the fire. It's for this reason that he has written a Goblin name on each beanbag, just so he can desecrate some Goblin's memory even more. It's well known his hatred of Goblin's and nobody is surprised to see this game. Chod Bevuk of the Sandpoint Meat Market has provided the venison jerky for the prize. It is quite tasty and next to Ameiko's salmon, it is the talk of the event. Unfortunately there's been lots of young children asking their parents if the jerky is really made of Goblin meat from the Goblins they threw in the fireplace, like Daverin says it is. Some adults have heard the rumor and actually believe that it is Goblin meat!
The Lighthouse Smash
Who needs a Lighthouse without a light? The old Lighthouse has become an eyesore; let's knock it down so we can use the stone to build something new. This game is set up at the end of Junker's Way next to the Lighthouse. It has a table with nine square stones stacked on it in a pyramid shape. Three on the bottom, two in the middle, and one on top. There is a firing line 20' from the tables. Using the mini-catapult, try to knock down the stack of stones within three shots.
Two copper pieces to play. You get three shots. It takes a total of three hits to knock down all the stones. Hitting higher ACs counts as more hits, so that it is possible to knock them down with one hit. Hitting AC 12 counts as one hit, Hitting AC 16 counts as two hits, and hitting AC 20 counts as three hits. The catapults have a range of 50', so there is no range penalty, but there is the normal non-proficient penalty of -4 if someone does not have proficiency with siege weapons. Knocking down all the stones wins a small toy catapult; it amounts to being a slingshot. Anything less provides some other cheap trinkets. No prize if nothing is knocked down.
This game is being run by Aesrick Battlehorn. He's been working on the mini catapult and toy catapults during his spare time all year, in preparation for the festival. The mini catapult is quite a work of art. He's carved it to look like a stone giant with its arm throwing the stone. He suspects that he'll be able to sell it in Magnimar for quite a bit after the festival. It's about 2 foot tall, but functions just as a real catapult, albeit with less range and much less damage. He's worked very hard at keeping it a secret all year, so that he can surprise everyone with it.
He's got a soft spot for the kids and helps the kids aim it so that they can win the toy catapults, negates the non-proficient penalty; much to the consternation of mothers. According to many mother's complaints, "They are just the right size for young boys to shoot an eye out with!" This complaining doesn't stop those same mothers from handing over the two coppers for their sons to play. There is no shortage of boys crying because they've been hit in the head by a flying stone.
Dragon Races
There's been talk of starting Dragon farming in Sandpoint, so we've gotta find out which ones are the fastest so that we have the best dragons! Pick yourself a dragon and pit it in a Dragon Race against your friends.
The final game is located in the Sandpoint Market Square on the south side by the docks just at the beginning of Market Street. It has two double lane tracks set up next to each other with a three-foot wide gap between the two tracks. The tracks are 30' feet long. Near the starting line there is a large cage with 12 lizards in it. Each one has a set of twig and cloth wings attached to their backs. Each one is painted a different color so that they look like little dragons. Without touching the lizards, goad your lizard down the track. Get him to cross the finish line before your opponents and win a prize!
One copper piece to play. Once they have four people with a dragon picked, place them in the starting lanes. At the sound of the whistle, the gates are lifted and you goad your dragon down the track without touching them. To do this, each person racing makes an initiative check and players attempt to goad their lizard in initiative order. The lizards are notoriously difficult to deal with, so you must make a DC 14 Handle Animal check to get them to move. The lizards move 5' on a succesful check. On a failure they do not move. On a failure by 10 or more, the lizard actually moves backwards. The first lizard to cross the finish line wins. The winner gets a big cheap medal that says "1st Place Swallowtail Dragon Races" and 2 Copper Pieces. All other places get nothing and the others get nothing.
This game is run by Gressel Tenniwar. He's running it on the orders of Jubrayl Vhiski, but nobody knows this. Jubrayl is using it to run a gambling scheme betting on the races. Nobody knows it but 9 of the 12 lizards were secretly well fed the night before and they are tired and are even more difficult to move. These 9 are DC 16 to move. The other three are quite hungry and haven't eaten in about a week. These are at normal DC 14. In fact if some raw meat or other small rodent like thing is held in front of them they will be DC 12 to move.
Jubrayl and his men know which three are the hungry ones and use this to fix the betting. Jubrayl has also ordered that one of his men should always try to be in the race each time, so that they can pick one of the hungry lizards in order to hedge the bets even more, but not make a big deal if any group of four really want to race each other. The GM should pick the nine that are well fed. Anyone that watches more than 5 races with one of the hungry lizards can make a DC 20 Sense Motive check to notice that some of the lizards seem more motivated than others. Jubrayl and his men will disappear if it looks like anyone has caught onto their scheme. Gressel will claim ignorance and one of his barmaids will back him up when he claims they are all well fed.
That's what I've come up with at this point, have you done anything similar? What do you think of these?
