D&D Ideas — Taverns

D&D Ideas — Taverns

March 12, 2023

Dungeons & Dragons/ Editorial/ Free Nerdy Things/ Game Master Tips

Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is Taverns, you can see the weekly live chat over on the YouTubes. We hang out every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life, and whatever nerdy stuff comes up.

Spotlight

This week’s spotlight is for a friend of the channel who’s made an awesome game, Vast Grimm. You can watch us play it in a one-shot turned into 4 part mini-campaign – HERE

Vast Grimm funded 3 new RPG expansions and mission patches on Kickstarter in less than an hour

After being the first TTRPG to crowdfund on Gamefound and the first full hack of Mörk Borg, Vast Grimm is now introducing its dying universe to Kickstarter fans with expanded rules, additional adventures, and stylish mission patches.

Vast Grimm puts the Punk in art-punk RPGs with loud design, vibrant colors, and attitude.

The First 24 Hours
• 835 backers
• 451% Funded
• 7 Stretch Goals Unlocked
• Became a “Project We Love”

What is Vast Grimm: Into Oblivion?
Into Oblivion expands on the existing ruleset with three new books. Blood Altared: a multi-adventure campaign with additional sub-classes and monsters; Space Raiders: new classes, factions, and a hex crawl set in a region known as “The Graveyard” filled with junker ships controlled by a Space Raider faction; Space Cruisers: includes starship creation rules, space combat rules, and new locations! Along with the new books, the Vast Grimm Mission Patch program is launching with punk-as-frak patches to adorn your sleeveless denim vest or stitch onto your gaming satchel.

Vast Grimm Into Oblivion Features:

FREE “Kickstarter Exclusive” mission patch for backers in the first 48 hours.
3 48-page hardcover books.
2 header patches.
6 Mission Patches.
Vast Grimm core book add-on.
Vast Grimm Bad A$$ GM Screen add-on.

Check out the Kickstarter here!

Delving Dave‘s Dungeon

Build character in your TTRPG worlds by stocking them with fun and unique locations. The tavern is the most tropie of tropes in D&D so don’t skimp here. Since this is this week’s topic it is where I’m going to dive in. Taverns usually become recurring themes if your adventurers tend to return to the same villages, towns, and cities, which is perfect. Lean into it. Or perhaps a throughline that runs through most inns and taverns.

I’m going to take some inspiration from a non D&D TikTok page that shows up on my For You Page, sorry don’t know the name of it. It’s a young woman that goes around to different restaurants that have food challenges. Basically if you can finish a specific amount and type of food within a time limit the meal is free and your name and picture gets put up or something.

Why not have that be a thing in your D&D world? It’s even better if the adventuring party travels a lot and isn’t in the same place very long. This could be a fun common thread they can explore visiting new communities. You can also add some flavor to your D&D game (pun intended) by having different exotic food challenges wherever the player’s characters find themselves. It could be an individual skill challenge for players to undertake in order to receive their meal for free and bragging rights. It could also be an engine to generate side quests. D&D cuisine could come from very dangerous creatures that the locals need help procuring.

Example of a tavern with a food challenge:

Perhaps owlbears in your world lay eggs. Pouched owlbear eggs with rashers of giant boar bacon might be one tavern’s signature meal. During the founding of this town the area was overrun with owlbears and giant boars. These creatures needed to be cleared out. One of the more industrious townsfolk decided it would be a shame to allow the dead owlbears and giant boars to go to waste.

They opened a tavern called “Where Owlbears Dance with Pigs”. The sign is a giant pig and owlbear waltzing together. They have a platter called the “Owlbear’s Nest”. If a single person can eat it within 60 minutes the meal arrives with an hourglass. The meal is free and your name gets carved onto the wall with guests that have completed the challenge. The Owlbear’s Nest consists of a nest woven of giant boar bacon the size of a large basket. Inside the bacon basket is a hardboiled owlbear egg that weighs about 3lbs-5lbs and 6-9 inches long. That is the side to 49 oz owlbear steak.

This is no meal for the faint of heart. The whole meal costs 2 gp, and also comes with a tankard of ale. The ale is served in a special finely made tankard of stylized pewter depicting the tavern’s sign on it. If you finish the meal within the allotted time your meal is free, you get to keep the tankard, and your drinks for the evening are free.

The Owlbear’s Nest Challenge

3 successful skill checks before 3 failed checks.

Can’t use the same skill more than once.

The DC 15

Let the play tell what skills they want to use and how they apply to the challenge and then decide if it is reasonable.

Some skills I’d accept:

Cook’s Utensils
Brewer’s Supplies
History
Medicine
Perception
Performance
Sleight of Hand

From Ted’s Head

What is it about taverns that they become the gathering place for adventurers? It can’t simply be a place to get food and a place to rest. While it is that, it is considered a safe haven away from the things adventurers typically face. Here they can share stories, boast about their deeds and try to one-up those around them. But what makes a tavern a successful place?

The Name. Many people take a color and an object and, boom, you have an inn or tavern. You can have the name mean something or not. The new inn I made called the Green Onion is inspired by a scent from a random smell chart I had sitting on my desk, but I dove head first. The dragonborn who owns it loves onions. He will eat the raw and munch on it like an apple at times. But he makes onion ale which some clientele have grown to favor, and his onion bacon pancakes are a major hit for many, including those recovering from too much drinking the night before. The name of a place should be its heart.

The workers. Yeah you can fill a tavern with random workers and they can mean nothing, but when you put personality into your tavern folk it gives logical reasons why people come back time and time again. If you look at (I know this is dating myself) Cheers, the people connect with the clientele and this makes them look forward to the next time they come back. It is a longing you want to build, that they would rather be here than anywhere else.

The regulars. Every tavern exists, not because adventurers keep them in business, though it could in certain locations, but because they connect with certain locals that keep coming back. Those people mean something to them and should have their own things going on. This is a great way to slowly build up the world with these little puzzle pieces that can link to stories. Just look at them as little side quests that sometimes happen in video games.

The wares. These can be fun, but the food and drink can either be a jumping-off point as I did with the Green Onion or an afterthought. Each should or can have something that is not able to be had elsewhere. Like that Onion Ale. I personally am not into Onions, nor Ale, but I would imagine that idea would resonate with someone out there, and then the idea just builds. So would word of mouth around such things. So try to build up something for each tavern that would be their signature, or if they don’t have one why not. Maybe that will lead to more story or more adventure like a rival stole the recipe . . .

Now if you are running games where the adventurers are in a new tavern every single session rather than returning to a favorite haunt this might be too much prep, but should they decide to favor a place this can be a fun exercise to build up these little nuggets around up the tavern where all your adventures can start.

Go Wild, Do Crime
— and Don’t Let the Humans Catch You!

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