Carnival games DC / prizes advice

[Timethyfx]

Hi Everyone,

My first time as a GM is coming up, and I was looking at starting it off with some fun carnival games, but I'm not 100% sure on how to properly balance the DCs, entry fees and prizes. Thematically, higher entry fees would turn away NPC peasants who would barely make silvers, let alone golds and health potions / adventuring gear wouldn't be that great for them to win, as they're not out adventuring.
Should I stick mundane items and have it as more of a RP event, or will it be better to just tailor prizes to the PCs?

What do people think is a good approach?

Characters will be Level 1, I'll preroll the NPC results to save time

Drinking Contest: I stole this one from another forum and it looks fun :-)
10GP entry fancy beerstein for the winner and some ale
No puking!
You must finish the most Ale you can in 30 seconds (3 rounds)
1 beer/round Fortsave DC 10, +2 every subsequent round
2 Beer/Round Fortsave DC 12, +3 Every Subsequent round
3 Beer/Round Fortsave DC 15, +4 Every Subsequent Round

NPC 1 human male Fort2
NPC 2 Dwarves female Fort3
NPC 3 Elfish Male Fort1

STR Contest arm wrestling - last man standing
10SP Entry - Champion Wrestling belt
Must win 2 times from the neutral/starting position.
So if you win one, then opponent wins one, you're back to the neutral position.
NPC 1 Half Orc STR 2 (Barb with rage - +2 STR when raging, -1 when fatigued)
NPC 2 Human STR 2
NPC 3 Human STR1

Ring Toss
10 Silver entry – gets you 3 throws.
5 poles to toss a ring onto - Ranged attack.
Carnival games are rigged, so PCs must also succeed a % roll to succeed.
1 (grand prize) – AC 20 >%60 fancy ring / necklace with jewel
2 – AC 15 >%50 basic gold ring / necklace
3 – AC 15 > %40 basic silverring / necklace
4 – AC15 >%30 basic copper ring / necklace
5 – AC15 >%20 basic copper ring / necklace

Archery
Basic archery contest, use short bow provided (either small or large)
5 arrows, highest score wins. Grand prize masterwork shortbow
10SP Entry
Ranged attack
AC 20 – bullseye (10 points)
AC 18 – inner ring (7 points)
AC 15 – (middle ring (4 points)
AC 12 – outer ring (2 pints)
AC 10 – edge (1 point)
AC<10 – miss (0 points)

NPC 1 + 4
NPC 2 +2
NPC 3 + 1

[AaronUnicorn]

I dig it.

I'd let the carnival prizes remain more "cool sentimental stuff" than adventuring gear. Being able to go around town known as the "Guy who can drink anyone under the table" is just as cool as any +1 dagger might be.

The only thing I question is the 10 GP entry fee for the drinking contest instead of the 10 SP all the others charge.

10 GP is a sizable investment of cash for an average townsperson.

[ryric]

I think your ACs for the archery target are too high - a Fine immobile object (think a thumbtack on the wall) is only AC13. (AC10 -5 Dex +8 size)

Your prices are really high for average townsfolk. 10 sp is the equivalent of about $100-$500 in real world money. Although it's entirely possible for the workers to see adventurers as rubes who get charged the extra big "adventurers have no idea how wealthy they really are" price. Normal folk get charged 1 cp, but that guy wandering around in armor and magical jewelry doesn't realize that 10 sp is 10000% inflation.

[Gulthor]

Check out "We Be Goblins" (it's free) for some amusing contests which could be easily re-skinned into more wholesome activities.

Feast of Ravenmoor has a number of contests should you happen to own it. Carnival of Tears may also be of interest.

[GM Rednal]

For anything involving skills:

Easy: DC 11
Average: DC 16
Challenging: DC 18
Difficult: DC 21
Very Difficult: DC 23

[Timethyfx]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. All the entry fees were supposed to be 10S, not sure why I wrote Gold :-)
I think I'll drop it down to 1S, to appeal more to the NPC.

thanks for the adventure path suggestions, I'll take a look.

I'll also adjust the DC for archery a tad down.

Cheers all :-)