The PCs have been invited to a royal wedding as honored guests. The reason the PCs are honored guests is because earlier in the campaign they recovered the lost crown that can only be worn by the true king, which greatly aided the prince's efforts to depose the false king and claim the throne. The quest to retrieve the crown was undertaken at the behest of the woman who is to become queen. The wedding is between her and the king.
Of course, not all is well within the realm. For starters, many of the king's supporters disagreed with his choice of queen and tried in vain to persuade him to choose someone else. Some of them even discussed a possible assassination of his betrothed, but abandoned that plan when they couldn't get the PCs on board. They'll all be at the wedding.
The one encounter possibility that I've got planned for is the fact that the queen-to-be has invited her step-son and his family to attend the wedding. This is ripe for scandal since she appears to be a woman in her mid-to-late twenties while her stepson is in his mid-sixties. There were already rumors that she wasn't all that she appeared and this has the potential to inflame them. (I've already established her true nature though, and regardless of what happens at the wedding it won't be revealed.)
There are other prominent individuals in the realm who are dissatisfied with the new king but they aren't invited. Certainly isn't outside the realm of possibility they'll try to have an agent(s) infiltrate the wedding.
Those are the ideas I have so far, so any inspiration would be appreciated. Individual PC encounters would be welcome as well, since there's going to be a lot going on and they'll eventually go mingling on their own.
You couldn't lose by reading through Pathfinder's Social Conflicts rules. Scroll down about half way to check out Verbal Duels. This is from the Ultimate Intrigue book. I'm at work right now, and don't have time to offer more help.
Helping allied royalties and nobels avoiding scandal is a classic. You mention such a case, except the queen-to-be seems to willingly and knowingly place herself in a scandalous position. I don't know how you inteded the PCs to help her or in any other way take part in this situation.
Placing enemy nobels in scandals are classic too. Maybe one of those who suggested assasination?
Big events can be places to play out old beefs. Someone, possibly a PC, is challanged to a duel. That sort of thing.
Maybe someone performing a importand function at the wedding has fallen ill and the prince needs someone to step in. He might ask a PC to perform the function or asks the party for assistance in making the decision.
Three fairies show up and bestow three blessings on the happy couple's firstborn-to-be: good looks, charm, and that on their sixteenth birthday they shall prick their finger on a spinning wheel and fall asleep forever!
The PC face(social person or whoever the nobles like most) is asked to make a toast
Find a diplomatic way to resolve cultural difference(IE: dwarven drinking/wedding song)
Musicians haven't shown up. Party bard is asked to fill in
2 women both want to dance with the same PC. Conversation hints this is a running cat fight
Dress malfunction. Party member is asked to retrieve a replacement. They "forgot" to mention the security measures
Drunk npc buddy raises a ruckas
Gossip. Could make for some interesting moral choices or plot hooks
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Some good ideas there.
I'm providing an aditional one.
What about one of the King's detractors wanting to have him exposed as a bad host at his own wedding to undermine him?
He might go on some small sabotage during the wedding to make it look like it's badly planned. It can come from changing names in the tables so known enemies sit together, adding some awful flavor to some of the food, etc.
@Cuup - Yup I had those in mind. I'll have to look at them again to see how difficult they are to use.
@Blymurkla - The encounter with the step-son is designed more to be informative than the basis of some social conflict. Although rumors will most certainly arise from his presence, and the PCs will have the opportunity to dispute or reinforce those rumors.
@Dastis - I like those ideas. The two women one in particular since one of the PCs has been the beneficiary of bards spreading the tales of his heroic deeds through the land and also happens to be looking for a wife.
@Kileanna - I like this. Though more likely that it's the queen they'll try to undermine, but given the circumstances it's very plausible since assassination got taken off the table.
I think I may try to design some individual encounters tailored to each PC. The two women one works well for one, while I'll try to think of others for the other PCs. Here's what I have to work with:
- A human barbarian looking for a wife. The two women who want to dance with him scenario works great for him.
- An human inquisitor who follows the god of secrets and magic (I'm running a homebrew setting). He tends to prefer keeping a low profile but given his deity interesting secrets - particularly magical secrets - arouse his interest.
- A dwarf cleric who follows the NG god of the sun. He's pretty self-righteous and dedicated to the cause of good and enjoys sticking his nose into matters when he thinks he has the moral imperative to do so.
- A human sorcerer who's the reluctant party face due to having a high charisma. She's good-hearted if a bit hot-tempered and tends to blab a bit too much once she gets going. The king [before he claimed the throne and proposed to the queen] tried to casually seduce her into a one-night-stand earlier in the campaign because she's quite the looker. The queen is aware of this and will be keeping an eye on her.
- A dwarf cleric who follows the LG god of justice and righteousness. She actually hasn't been invited to the wedding directly but will be welcome as one of the PC's guests. Like the other dwarf she's pretty devoted to good but isn't as nosy.
- An elf magus who follows the same god as the inquisitor. She also wasn't invited but will be welcome as one of the PCs' companions. She's very paranoid but has poor intuition and gets suspicious of the wrong people/situations.
I think I may try to design some individual encounters tailored to each PC. The two women one works well for one, while I'll try to think of others for the other PCs. Here's what I have to work with:- A human barbarian looking for a wife. The two women who want to dance with him scenario works great for him.
- An human inquisitor who follows the god of secrets and magic (I'm running a homebrew setting). He tends to prefer keeping a low profile but given his deity interesting secrets - particularly magical secrets - arouse his interest.
- A dwarf cleric who follows the NG god of the sun. He's pretty self-righteous and dedicated to the cause of good and enjoys sticking his nose into matters when he thinks he has the moral imperative to do so.
- A human sorcerer who's the reluctant party face due to having a high charisma. She's good-hearted if a bit hot-tempered and tends to blab a bit too much once she gets going. The king [before he claimed the throne and proposed to the queen] tried to casually seduce her into a one-night-stand earlier in the campaign because she's quite the looker. The queen is aware of this and will be keeping an eye on her.
- A dwarf cleric who follows the LG god of justice and righteousness....
I think the Barbarian should find no women willing to dance with him (make him work to find one).
I think having some "officials" of an unknown faith hinted to be nefarious as the show-runners could be interesting intrigue. Maybe hint that the last minute elements were not necessarily gotten completely legitimately. (Either they cut costs, or the Brides demands were too great).Have the bride or Groom get cold feet and need to be talked up or chased down.
False rumor of a runaway bride/groom leading to a wild goose chase.
Guest invitations were sabotaged, now guests must be invited in person with insults reduced. Someone is to blame, and someone will pay for the damage done.
the officiator has his own agenda (loyal to the old king, but installed by tradition so cannot be easily removed).
A monstrous humanoid guest has arrived in traditional garb and seeks to present traditional rites/sacrifices/ceremonial battle/performances rather inappropriately.
There are far more gifts than guests, and no one knows how some of them got here, there are also a lot of servants never reported from duty, yet here they stand...
Have an NPC fall for your shy characters, and be constantly seen watching them or outright bothering them (stealing small objects out of affection). This could cause much annoying for those who WANT that attention and don't get it.
You could have a secret police type guard, a relic member or anew man loyal to the couple who is performing the same investigations as the PC's. A shadowy character who is always near trouble.
Weddings have decorations, banquets, perhaps ceremonial rites, speeches, toasts, many superstitions (wear blue, Bride must always be escorted, never see the dress, certain flowers are taboo, cannot sleep in the wedding bed the night before, must have certain foods/drinks present, locations must be visited to honour ancestors, permissions granted by parents/siblings/lords/religious leaders, order of guest greetings denote honour, Grooms best mans sword must always be worn, rings must be blessed, proofs of deeds presented, tours and introductions to combined kingdoms/commoners necessary, if certain taboos are done [drop a jug of wine, speak a phrase, crinkle a holy book page] then the counter action must be done).
Sounds fun.