# Tips/ideas wanted for running a royal ball/banquet situation



## NewJeffCT (Jul 23, 2008)

I am looking for some information on putting together a royal banquet type of event.

The players are getting up in level (7-8 range now, in a 3.5E campaign) and have saved a large town on the border of the kingdom from being overrun by the forces of the evil theocracy on their border. Plus, they solved the mystery of the Duke’s assassination and also rescued the Duke’s younger brother (now slated to be Duke) from certain doom.

Since the players had to then go to the capitol city of the kingdom, the rescued Duke-to-be gave them a message for the king, which included some glowing references about the heroics of the PCs. (It has been a bit of a dark campaign so far, so I wanted something for a bit of a change of pace, before it gets really dark…)

After delivering the message and hearing the PC’s story, the king was impressed and invited them to attend the royal banquet and/or ball the next night.

I had planned on the king making a public proclamation about the PCs’ heroism and have some NPC interaction planned, but want it to be a generally pleasant experience for the players. Of course, if the dwarf gets drunk and insults the queen or something, it won’t be quite so pleasant… 

So, my questions are as follows:
1)	Would the king make that type of proclamation, or would they possibly have a bard tell the tale in a story/song?
2)	Other than servants or possible other honorees, I would assume that most attendees are members of the nobility. Is this correct?
3)	Would the proclamation or bard’s tale come before the meal, or after, or between courses?
4)	What other events would occur during a royal banquet type of event?
5)	Anything else you can add?


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## jinnetics (Jul 23, 2008)

There is an embassy ball you could raid in Eberron's adventure Whisper of the Vampire's Blade (IIRC), and the OGL module from Penumbra called The Last Dance.


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## FalcWP (Jul 23, 2008)

Well, if the banquet was already slated and the PCs are being invited... what was the original purpose of the banquet?  Was someone else to be honored, and, if so, are they going to feel slighted if they lose or have to share the limelight?

As far as who would make the proclamation - are they merely being acknowledged, or are they getting significant rewards?  How important is the Duke to the King - a relative?  A very minor noble?  The more important the Duke, the more likely the King is to thank the PCs himself.'

Other than the PCs, servants and nobles, anyone of significant importance could be in attendance.  Local merchants (the rich ones), other heroes, foreign emissaries, clergy, bards... and maybe a few oddballs, as well.

As far as things to do beyond eating and dancing... well, you've got a lot of powerful people who have just been told that the guests of honor are tough and don't mind working for the nobility.  I'd expect a lot of job offers to be flying around.  And probably not to the entire party - each noble likely has a particular type of person they're more apt to offer jobs to.  The tough Marquess who has been in a dozen battles might seek out the warrior or barbarian, while the seductive Baroness goes to the handsome bard or sorcerer, and the leader of a knightly order speaks with the paladin.  Over the course of the evening, the group might accumulate a number of conflicting job offers that they need to choose from... and be careful that they don't slight any of the powerful nobles while doing so.

Of course, if things get out of hand or the players don't get in to the whole banquet bit, it never hurts to have a fight or two in your back pocket - assassins, demons, whatever fits your game.  Keep in mind that if you have characters that are of a more martial nature, they're at a severe disadvantage without armor and weapons.  Be sure to have an idea as far as damage for improvised weapons they can find in the banquet hall...

Or, consider having a duel - if the players offend someone, or someone offends them.  You could even turn it into a 'team duel' of sorts.  Could be against knights of the realm, retainers of some noble, or another adventuring group.


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## NewJeffCT (Jul 23, 2008)

FalcWP said:


> Well, if the banquet was already slated and the PCs are being invited... what was the original purpose of the banquet?  Was someone else to be honored, and, if so, are they going to feel slighted if they lose or have to share the limelight?
> 
> As far as who would make the proclamation - are they merely being acknowledged, or are they getting significant rewards?  How important is the Duke to the King - a relative?  A very minor noble?  The more important the Duke, the more likely the King is to thank the PCs himself.'
> 
> ...




Thanks, a lot of good ideas!


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## The_Warlock (Jul 23, 2008)

NewJeffCT said:


> So, my questions are as follows:
> 1)	Would the king make that type of proclamation, or would they possibly have a bard tell the tale in a story/song?
> 2)	Other than servants or possible other honorees, I would assume that most attendees are members of the nobility. Is this correct?
> 3)	Would the proclamation or bard’s tale come before the meal, or after, or between courses?
> ...




1) Think about how the PCs are going to be introduced. Is there a mingling period before the King arrives, or must guests transit the ballroom to the King's seat and offer their greetings and loyalty, or does a major domo see that all guests are seated for a feast first, the King then enters greets all guests as a group, and then reserves special attention for afterward?

If the King is paranoid or wary of intrigue, the third is more likely, at which point a bardic rendition during dinner of various important guests may be the method, with more satirical productions pointing to those who are out of favor.

If the King is looking for allies and loyal citizens in the times ahead, the personal greeting might make more sense, at which point the seneschal may make a grand announcement of each guest as they approach the king, and the king can make any specific thanks or proclaim people (esp the PCs) as heroes, etc etc. As much for recognition as to throw off the established intrigues in the crowd by pointing to a new set of "players".


2) One would generally assume the nobility are the primary attendees. However, anyone with a extraordinary wealth, lands, or political pull could be considered: Leaders of Merchant Guilds; Diplomats from other countries or city-states; representatives of various churches - especially those of the King's preferred faith, or those who specifically oppose the enemy theocracy; and depending on how magic is treated, reknowned wizards. 

3) See 1 above, depending on how the feast and ball are arranged. It's also possible to make sure the PCs are introduced first by announcement, but have the King call upon those to be honored later in the event. Personally, I'd have it occur early if you want to focus on interactions with NPCs early, later if you want to add some tension as the various entrenched nobles and politicos avoid the PCs while they try to discover WHO the PCs are before engaging them directly in converse. 

4) Depends on the tenor of the kingdom - but various types of dancing; story telling, music or riddle competition; chases through a manicured hedge maze; and of course lots of private conversations, intrigue, and the like.

5) Having run a couple of similar events, the party will inevitably split up - keep everything moving - only deal with each player for a few minutes before moving on to the next. You'll definitely come back around, but it keep everybody involved.

5a) Spiteful gossip mongering, illicit trysts, very specific thefts of family heirlooms, asassinations (discrete & overt), espionage, duels of honor - all these and more.

EDIT: Lunch ninja'd - never go to lunch with a post half finished...


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## jdrakeh (Jul 23, 2008)

Be certain to introduce the hockey mask killer when they least expect it! 

Sorry. I spent all night watching Friday the 13th movies.


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## FalcWP (Jul 23, 2008)

Another thought (admittedly, lifted from the _Firefly_ episode _Shindig_)... The PCs are now respectable enough to get in to this ball.  Other folks are not.  Said other folks may desire the ear of someone at the ball, and approach the PCs to act as middlemen.


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## NewJeffCT (Jul 23, 2008)

jdrakeh said:


> Be certain to introduce the hocky mask killer when they least expect it!
> 
> [size]Sorry. I spent all night watching Friday the 13th movies.[/size]




And, also the Spanish Inquisition! Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.

Their chief weapon is surprise.

Surprise and fear.

Their chief weapons are surprise and fear...


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## NewJeffCT (Jul 23, 2008)

The_Warlock said:


> or does a major domo see that all guests are seated for a feast first, the King then enters greets all guests as a group, and then reserves special attention for afterward?




thanks - lots of good ideas here.

BTW, we have one female PC in game (7th level, C/G nature goddess follower) - would a rakish young noble make a pass, or would that be beneath him since she is not a member of the nobility?


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## FalcWP (Jul 23, 2008)

NewJeffCT said:


> thanks - lots of good ideas here.
> 
> BTW, we have one female PC in game (7th level, C/G nature goddess follower) - would a rakish young noble make a pass, or would that be beneath him since she is not a member of the nobility?




All depends on a few things.

1)  Obviously, attractiveness plays a part.
2)  What the noble is looking for - a dance?  Sex?  Or an actual relationship?  In the first case, its certainly acceptable - guest of honor and all that.  In the second, and especially in the third, it depends on social customs in the kingdom.


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## Set (Jul 23, 2008)

I've been having similar thoughts about trying to make a banquet/ball interesting for the last module of the Freeport trilogy.  Twelve Council-members, the Sea Lord, family members, a few random nobles, the major domo, the head of the wizard's guild, the head of one or more influential temples, the party...  There's gonna be a lot of NPCs floating around!

The party has an animal companion and a familiar that will need to be 'stowed,' and at least one of the partygoers (the head of the wizard's guild) also has a familiar, so I'm going to designate a front room, much like a 'cloak room' to be a familiar / companion 'parking area.'  As I'm introducing Gnomish ambassadors from the land of Iovan, reknowned for their Gargoyle familiars / slaves, the 'parking area' is going to include a full-sized Gargoyle (the Ambassadors Improved Familiar) and a pair of Grotesques (Small-sized Gargoyles, familiars to his two aides-de-camp, one of whom, a dour-looking Gnome in black and silver robes, has been assigned to stay with the gargoyle-kin and make sure that they don't get into any trouble).  I'll also have a few other random familiars, a bored-looking Siamese cat and a Flying Lizard (Freeport's answer to seagulls, tiny sized pterodactyls).

Once in the party, elven minstrels will be playing some quiet music, enough that it can be heard, but doesn't require the quests to be shouting to each other.  Halflings will bustle about with drinks and trays of food, working for the halfling major domo.

I'd already had one of the party members purchase a magical longsword in town (trading it for a mithral chain shirt and a magical rapier) from a noblewoman who has a nightlife as a cat-burglar.  Mid-party, the character will be confronted by a member of the Council, who will recognize the sword (weapons allowed, but peacebonded, it's a rough city and none of the original pirate founders were keen on travelling unarmed in each others company...) as his grandfathers weapon, which was stolen from his home a few months ago!  The noblewoman he purchased it from happens to be at the party as well, but any accusation against her is doomed to failure, unless the party can prove she is actually moonlighting as a thief.  I've set it up so that they can indeed do this, as she has commisioned a special dress of silk with a leather bodice tooled with fine metal filagree from the wizard characters mentor, a powerful Transmuter.  The character has seen the dress, which has been enspelled to transform into a leather bodysuit and thieves tools (the silken elements turning into 50 ft of silk rope), during it's creation, and might recognize it and be able to speak a command word (which he knows, since his mentor demonstrated it to him while she was showing it off) and cause the noblewoman's gear to transform into her 'working clothes.'

Hopefully this will add a little drama to the scene, and the character will be able to get a replacement for his magical sword from the embarassed family (while the Councilman gets his family heirloom back, unless the Councilman thinks it would be funner to let the character keep his grand-dad's sword and have the noble family owe him a favor, so he can put the screws to them...).

For more cosmetic stuff, a town magistrate (a priestess of Wee Jas) will get into a snarky argument with the Sea Lord after he brags about how the succession line passes through his family.  She'll point out that technically it passes through one of two noble families, not just his, and he'll just as snippily remark that it *would* pass through one of those two families if the patriarch of that other family had any interest in women...  Polite snickering will result, until the priestess comments on the Sea Lord's own lack of an heir, and whether or not he and his hulking bodyguard will ever get around to providing Freeport with an heir.  Said bodyguard (a fellow councilman, actually) will need to be restrained from attacking the judge, and his wife will storm out angrily (but not be noticed by anyone, despite her drama, only pissing her off further, since everyone is watching eyes wide to see how the drama between Sea Lord and Magistrate plays out).

Other than that, and the party getting to meet a few Councilmen (including the man whose sword was stolen, who will be a major player in a later adventure, Arias Soderheim), the head of the wizard's guild, make an enemy (the Stormcrest royal family) and possibly make some friends, as well as be introduced to the Iovan Gnomes and their Gargoyle servants, the ball seems kinda dull, and I plan on moving through it pretty quickly, as my players aren't really into that sort of thing.

Given the nature of the city, I imagine that everybody and their dog eats fish and seafood day in and day out, so the fancy banquet would have *none of that.*  Everything would be imported, and likely preserved through expensive means, since these former pirates want nothing that reminds them of the heavily salted meats or hard breads of sailor fare.

If your banquet is set in a city with a similar local fare, it might also be a status symbol to avoid that food completely (or just have a single dish, as a nod to tradition, which everyone ignores, wanting to savor the stuff they can't get locally, and their hosts wanting to 'show off' by providing fare that they may never have seen before, leading to some crazy exotic dishes like hummingbird's tongue broth or fillete of bullette).  An offering that is downright illegal or dangerous, such as fogu or absinthe or drow pallor ale (rumored to be made by cutting toxic mushrooms with spider venom, in a precise balance so that the effects cancel out!), could add some spice to the affair, as could various narcotics such as pipeweed or snakeweed or dreambliss or whatever.

Depending on the area and customs of beauty, women (and men) might accentuate, and exagerrate, certain traits.  Since a deathly pale coloration was considered fashionable, certain noblewomen would take arsenic to make themselves look pale.  Chinese noblemen would grow their fingernails to ridiculous and unwieldy lengths, part fashion and part to prove that they never needed to actually *work* with their hands.

In a fantasy world, this could be taken to extremes, as alchemical solutions could create fantastic cosmetic changes, such as flourescent tattoos or hennas, elaborate claw-like nails, hair that writhes and adjusts itself, or changes colors or style, or an eyewash that causes the user to appear to have glowing eyes, or eyes of solid black.  Clothing could be similarly enspelled, either through alchemical treatments that make it change colors to suit the surroundings, or actual magic that allows one outfit to become another (and, in the long run, save the nobleman a lot of money, as he won't have to spend 1000+ gold buying a new outfit for each party, although he'll still need to hire someone with a tailor's eye for detail to configure the outfit for him, so that it's the height of fashion...).

The more magical the society, the likely that such things will exist, with alchemical incenses burning in the corners, and cooling breezes circulating gently on the dance floor.  The 'musicians' might be animated wooden mannequins, painted exquisitely and wielding masterwork instruments, enspelled to play tunes demanded of them.

In a more martial community, such as Karrth, in Eberron, dances might be militaristic and precise, moving in formations like a line-dance, with sharp turns and sudden stops, a demonstration of control and orderly synchronized action.  Fancy uniforms and victorian gowns might be the standard, or perhaps even a unisex uniform-like attire for everyone.

Entertainment might include less dancing and music, and the 'court' could revolve around a central depression where some sort of historical drama is re-enacted, or popular play, or acrobatics display, or animal act, or, for a grittier setting, some sort of combat arena, perhaps ritualized and nonlethal, perhaps bloody and quite final.  Perhaps it started as a dueling arena, where young nobles would challenge each other with rattan swords to 'first welt' and degenerated into a pit where slaves are thrown to hungry lions, or perhaps it started as a bear-baiting ring, and has only become more sedate in modern times, with animated mannequins tearing each other apart, or warforged gladiators non-lethally challenging anyone who is willing to step into the area and provide sport to their peers.

The local wizard's guild may have cast spells on a wall opposite the ruler's seat that allows a minor image to be created at the ruler's (or his vizier's) will, allowing him to project images for others to see, whether maps of nearby lands, or of the city itself, or of some scenic vista, or of some building he wishes to have commissioned.  Perhaps the ceiling is permanantly enspelled to portray a night sky, as if there was no ceiling (or upper floors) at all, to spoil the view, and he might have 'moon-viewing parties' in the style of feudal Japan, where nobles come to discuss astrological events (and gossip, and eat his food, obviously).


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## The_Warlock (Jul 23, 2008)

What Falc said with regard to the female character. 

That said, it also depends on how the rakish young nobleman fits into the social customs of the kingdom. It may not be socially acceptable, but sometimes the younger nobles are more decadent or without care for tradition - they have money to cover up their indiscretions after all. And sometimes being indiscrete is a calculated part of the game.

The better question is, how will other nobles and power groups treat the character after the encounter (whatever it is) with the female character?

In the end, unless the PC presents a front that is completely counter to what the elite consider attractive or exotic, then the nobleman will probably at least ask for the dance, possible more depending on tradition and politics and his position on them, and whether he is genuinely interested or just using the PC as a pawn.

I'd say it's a potentially entertaining encounter.


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## Herremann the Wise (Jul 24, 2008)

NewJeffCT said:


> So, my questions are as follows:
> 1) Would the king make that type of proclamation, or would they possibly have a bard tell the tale in a story/song?



A lot of this depends upon how much honour is being given to the group and what the ball is in aid of. The Queen's birthday ball would seem a good starter if you wished a neutral affair to allow a variety of possible events. As for the PCs, a direct message from the King is obviously the highest honour (and will get a whole raft of noble's noses out of joint). The Bard approach allows the nobles to either positively engage the PCs afterwards or ignore them as suits the noble's stature. Again, I think you need to thread this in to what you have planned in the future for the PCs and what options you wish to present to them. The ball is obviously a fantastic catalyst.



NewJeffCT said:


> 2) Other than servants or possible other honorees, I would assume that most attendees are members of the nobility. Is this correct?



Yes. However, there is no reason why other honoured guests aside from the PCs could not attend. If you wished a competition of sorts between the PCs and these other honoured guests (be it diplomatic or combat orientated), then again, this gives you plenty of leverage to suit all party member's talents.



NewJeffCT said:


> 3) Would the proclamation or bard’s tale come before the meal, or after, or between courses?



Again, it depends upon how much honour you wish to accord the PCs. Really, the purpose of the ball (be it the Queen's birthday or otherwise) should be the signature of the event (and thus accorded prime position). The closer the PCs are timed to this, the greater perhaps the honour. However, I would perhaps think of doing a bard's tale early on regardless, so that the PCs are centre stage of the ball from the outset. This will propel the action of the ball and give everyone (be it PC or NPC) motivation for action (be it good or bad or preferably both).



NewJeffCT said:


> 4) What other events would occur during a royal banquet type of event?



Eating strange delicacies, bard's tales, competitions of strength or accuracy, performances of a variety of types... it really depends on the tenor you are trying to set (exclusive, boisterous, restrained or perhaps just a cavalcade of weirdness and all of the above). I strongly suggest you have a look at the Prince of Redhand from Dungeon 131 (8th module in the Age of Worms adventure path). Whilst not entirely appropriate, it will show you how to run a "ball/festivity" encounter that works and works really well! This is more a ball for a "Mad King", which may or may not suit. However, if you can also get the web attachment on Paizo's website, you will have a lot of "guest" images that are fantastic for your NPCs of note. In fact if you download all the web enhancements for the Age of Worms path, you will have a horde of good images to use for different people at the ball.



NewJeffCT said:


> 5) Anything else you can add?



Focus on the PCs as really, it is all about them. Make sure there's conflict of one sort or another - but try to resist the trite or simple. Make the actions of the PCs at the ball seem important. Make sure there are plenty of agendas at the ball and make them obvious to the PCs (even if they are not obvious to all at the ball).

If you can fill in some more details, I'd be more than happy to offer further suggestions. It's nice to feel motivated to respond to a thread on EN World at the moment. I'm truly sick of people rushing to attack or defend some version of the game. Your thread here is the type of thread that EN World needs at the moment!

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise


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## Hussar (Jul 24, 2008)

Another idea is to use cut scenes.

Place tokens for the PC's around the ballroom.  Add in tokens for various NPC's that might be interesting to talk to.  Then, choose one PC and ask what he/she is going to do.  Give that player about 5 minutes of screen time and then cut him off.  Move to the next player and repeat.  

Continue doing this and make sure to bounce back and forth fairly quickly between PC's.

I've done this before and it has worked pretty well.  You can get everyone involved in interacting with the scene and you avoid the whole "let the face guy do the talking" bit.  Vary up the NPC's and you can appeal to everyone.


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## NewJeffCT (Jul 24, 2008)

Hussar said:


> Another idea is to use cut scenes.
> 
> Place tokens for the PC's around the ballroom.  Add in tokens for various NPC's that might be interesting to talk to.  Then, choose one PC and ask what he/she is going to do.  Give that player about 5 minutes of screen time and then cut him off.  Move to the next player and repeat.
> 
> ...




good idea - but, my group does have a couple of players that prefer to stay out of the limelight.


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## fba827 (Jul 24, 2008)

Come up with 3-4 specific NPCs for them to interact with at the ball.  Nothing fancy, maybe a dnace with one, maybe just a "wow nice to meet you" or a casual conversation with some bored person so aloof that he is talking to one of the guests of honor ("I'm so bored, I hate these things, don't you?  Always some upstart pet of the King to get these awards ...")

Then, not the next adventure, not the adventure after that, but down the road, pick one of those NPCs (the one that the PCs seemed to remember/relate to the best) for part in a future adventure  (maybe they need something, maybe something happened to them, etc)... or maybe they just randomly run in to him/her again in some city somewhere else.

Bottom line -- just plant an open-ended seed that you can use for something far down the road if you need to.


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## NewJeffCT (Jul 24, 2008)

Herremann the Wise said:


> A lot of this depends upon how much honour is being given to the group and what the ball is in aid of.
> 
> If you can fill in some more details, I'd be more than happy to offer further suggestions. It's nice to feel motivated to respond to a thread on EN World at the moment. I'm truly sick of people rushing to attack or defend some version of the game. Your thread here is the type of thread that EN World needs at the moment!
> 
> ...




Thanks - I'm sure the edition wars will continue for a while. I remember similar online back when 3E was coming out... heck, I even remember angry letters in Dragon Magazine when 2E was coming out!

and, I think having their tale told by a bard is likely the way I'll go.

I was thinking of having the banquet/ball be sort of a monthly gathering the king has to honor both some heroes to the kingdom (i.e., the PCs and also one other group I'm thinking of...) and to just impress the visiting diplomats with their wealth and power.


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## NewJeffCT (Jul 24, 2008)

fba827 said:


> Come up with 3-4 specific NPCs for them to interact with at the ball.  Nothing fancy, maybe a dnace with one, maybe just a "wow nice to meet you" or a casual conversation with some bored person so aloof that he is talking to one of the guests of honor ("I'm so bored, I hate these things, don't you?  Always some upstart pet of the King to get these awards ...")
> 
> Then, not the next adventure, not the adventure after that, but down the road, pick one of those NPCs (the one that the PCs seemed to remember/relate to the best) for part in a future adventure  (maybe they need something, maybe something happened to them, etc)... or maybe they just randomly run in to him/her again in some city somewhere else.
> 
> Bottom line -- just plant an open-ended seed that you can use for something far down the road if you need to.




Thanks, good idea - I don't think I could manage interactions with 20-30 NPCs and six PCs.


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## The_Warlock (Jul 24, 2008)

NewJeffCT said:


> good idea - but, my group does have a couple of players that prefer to stay out of the limelight.




Nonetheless, there should be something for them to shine at - they don't necessarily need to have interactions with very powerful or influential people, but they should bget their due time, even if it's spent casing the king's ballroom, looking for exits, or figuring out the political lay of the land with observation rather than interactions.

On a side note...make sure to detail for yourself one or two of the servants. PCs that like to have connections and information channels may make an effort to make inroads with one or more of the servants, or perhaps all of them. It's amazing what the "commoners" get to hear and can pass on to those they consider friends.


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## NewJeffCT (Jul 24, 2008)

The_Warlock said:


> Nonetheless, there should be something for them to shine at - they don't necessarily need to have interactions with very powerful or influential people, but they should bget their due time, even if it's spent casing the king's ballroom, looking for exits, or figuring out the political lay of the land with observation rather than interactions.
> 
> On a side note...make sure to detail for yourself one or two of the servants. PCs that like to have connections and information channels may make an effort to make inroads with one or more of the servants, or perhaps all of them. It's amazing what the "commoners" get to hear and can pass on to those they consider friends.




Thanks, good idea.  I already have a bit planned about a serving girl.  ;=)


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## Schmoe (Jul 24, 2008)

I don't have too much to add, specifically.  But I can offer a couple of resources that could be useful.

First, the Shackled City Adventure Path (by Paizo) has a ball in chapter 3 or 4.  While the material in the adventure itself was kind of skimpy, some people did a LOT of work to flesh out the ball and make the event an entire evening's worth of adventure.  I can't for the life of me remember the site where fan contributions are archived, but if you go to the Paizo boards and poke around you can probably find it.  The user behind lot of the best stuff was delvesdeep.

Second, the adventure "Prince of Redhand", from the Age of Worms Adventure Path (also by Paizo), features a banquet held by the ruling Prince.  This adventure has revolutionized how I think about social adventures and events.  I can't recommend it highly enough.

Edit: Here's the site I was talking about above.  You'll need to register to access the archives, but it's free to do so and they don't send out any spam.

Edit2: And here's a link to the thread where delvesdeep converts the Demonskar ball into an all-night event.


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## NewJeffCT (Jul 24, 2008)

Schmoe said:


> I don't have too much to add, specifically.  But I can offer a couple of resources that could be useful.
> 
> First, the Shackled City Adventure Path (by Paizo) has a ball in chapter 3 or 4.  While the material in the adventure itself was kind of skimpy, some people did a LOT of work to flesh out the ball and make the event an entire evening's worth of adventure.  I can't for the life of me remember the site where fan contributions are archived, but if you go to the Paizo boards and poke around you can probably find it.  The user behind lot of the best stuff was delvesdeep.
> 
> ...




Thanks, I'll look it up.


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## CoatRackOfDoom (Jul 24, 2008)

on a recent visit to London, my wife and I visited Hampton Court Palace; the kitchens were the highlight of our trip and we learned about how the feasts, and indeed, even regular meals for hundreds of England's most powerful men and women were handled.  Here's a quote from the website referring to Tudor meals:



> We see from Wolsey's Eltham ordinances that two courses should be served at the table of "the King's Majesty and the Queen's Grace" for dinner. For a first remove, the kitchens served up 15 dishes from a choice of bread and soup, beef, venison, red deer, mutton, swan (alternating with goose or stork), capon, cony, (rabbit), and carp. The remove was completed with a custard or fritters. This was followed by the second remove of nine dishes. These were composed of jelly, spiced wine and almond cream, followed by a selection from practically every bird in the sky - pheasants, herons, bitterns, shovelards, partridges, quails, cocks, plovers, gulls, pigeons, larks, pullets, and chickens. To this, was added lamb, kid, rabbit, venison, and tarts. Supper was a variation on dinner, with the addition of a blancmange pudding, butter, eggs and perhaps quinces or pippins in season.
> 
> During Lent, on Fridays and on meatless days, a 'lighter' fare was set before the King. His first course of a meagre 15 dishes was taken from bread and soup, ling, eels or lampreys, pike, salmon (which ran up the River Thames in Tudor times), whiting, haddock, mullet or bass, sea-bream or sole, conger, carp, trout, crabs, lobster, porpoise or seal, (which counted as fish in those days), custard, tart, fritters and seasonal fruit. The second course comprised nine dishes from a menu of another soup, sturgeon, bream, tench, perch, eels, lampreys, salmon roes, crayfish, shrimps, tart, fritters, fruit, baked pippins, oranges, butter and eggs. The saltwater fish was brought up the Thames to the palace in seaweed packed barrels.
> 
> ...




If you can get your hands on a copy of "The Taste of the Fire", you'll find all kinds of interesting tidbits on the cooking, serving, eating, and traditions surrounding table manners, that could really add some realism to your feast.

For example, leftovers were traditionally handed down to the lesser classes, and so hundreds of commoners would typically be outside the palace looking for a handout when a feast was held.  Another interesting thing to feature would be fanciful entrees prepared by imaginative cooks, such as a chimera created by sewing together roasted meat of several different animals - like some fowl sewn to some swine sewn to some fish.  Mmmm!

Have fun!


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