RPG Resources for Taverns

Table of Contents:

• Tavern Features
• Tavern Staff
  • Cheap Tavern Drinks and Prices
• Shady Tavern Patrons
• Tavern Customers
• Events
  • Seedy Tavern Events
  • Tavern Games
  • Tavern Songs
  • Seedy Tavern Brawl Starters
  • Seedy Tavern Brawls
• Tavern Bedrooms
• 20 Minor Treasures to find in a Smuggler's Storeroom

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Tavern Games

Arm Wrestling

Popular with barbarians, dwarves and other tough guys, arm wrestling is a simple test of strength between two participants. Each person sits across from the other and places his arm on the table with the elbow bent and touching the surface. The two contestants grip each other's hand with the aim of shoving the other's arm down flat onto the top of the table.

• Each round, the contestants make opposed Strength checks.
• Each successful check moves the opponent’s arm closer to their side of the table. To win, a player must make three more successful Strength checks than his opponent.
• If the contest has not been won after 10 rounds, both contestants must make a Constitution check each round (DC 10 +1 per previous check) to be able to continue wrestling. If both contestants cannot continue, the contest is a draw.

Broom Jousting

A popular game in larger taverns, especially common near knightly orders, castles and training grounds.

• Played in teams of two, one of which is the "rider" and one the "horse." The horse carries the rider piggyback.
• The rider wields a broom (improvised bludgeoning weapon dealing 1d4 nonlethal damage) and tries to hit the other rider. If a rider is hit, the rider must make a DC 10 + damage dealt. Ride check to stay mounted on their “horse.” Failure indicates they fall off.
• If a rider is hit 3 times or falls off his horse, he is out. The winner is the last person still mounted.

Down the Hatch

Down the Hatch is a drinking game more commonly played in poorer communities, as it only requires one mug of drink for each participant. (However, versions that require each drinker to down three drinks also exist). Rather than drinking more than your opponent, the object of Down the Hatch is to drink the same amount, but faster. It requires a minimum of three people – two drinkers and a caller. The drinkers both start with their hands placed flat, palm down, on the table equidistant from the drinks. The caller cues them in with “3‐2‐1‐Down the Hatch!”

• All drinkers make an initiative check to see who can grab a mug fastest.
• Each drinker must hit AC 10 to grab the drink without spilling it. Failure indicates the character knocks the drink over, pours it down themselves and so on.
• Each drinker then makes a DC 12 (+1 per previous check if more than one drink is downed) Fortitude save to get the drink down without choking.
• The winner is the first person to successfully get the drink down their throat. If more than one gets it down, the person with the highest initiative is the winner.

Old Crone

An Old Crone is a painted wooden representation of the head of a nasty‐looking witch or hag, with a clay pipe stuck in her mouth, sitting on top of a wooden pole. Players throw sticks at the crone to try to knock the clay pipe out of her mouth without knocking the head off the pole.

• Each player takes it in turn to throw their stick (treat as an improvised weapon) at the head.
• The clay pipe is AC 18 (hardness 2, hp 2).
• If the thrower misses the pipe, but hits AC 12, he hits the head. On an even‐numbered attack roll, the head falls off and the player is eliminated from the game.

Pitch Coin

Pitch coin is a common game of skill in which the players take turns tossing a coin into a container (a small box, tankard and so on). Normally, each player throws the same value coin, but if the competitors agree otherwise each player may throw whatever denomination they wish.

• Each player in turn tosses a coin at the target (AC 15). A hit indicates the player gets the coin in the container. A miss indicates he missed.
• The winner is the first to make five successful pitches and wins all the coins in the container.

Rise and Fall

One of many common card games played in taverns, Rise and Fall is as much about luck and guesswork as skill. It is played with a standard pack of cards. The aim of the game is to successfully predict whether the value of the next card is higher or lower than the last card showing. For this game, an Ace counts as a one and a face card counts as a ten.

• The dealer deals 10 cards face down on the table, then turns the first over as a starting point. (Roll a d10 to determine each card's value, if cards are not available)
• Each player in turn makes their guess whether the next card is higher or lower and places their bet in the pot. The dealer turns over the next card and the players who guessed wrong drop out.
• The players repeat the previous step until no cards are left or until only one gambler remains. The winner(s) split the pot equally.

Snail Racing

Snail races take place on a circular “track,” usually a damp cloth on a tavern table. The snails start in the middle and “race” to the edge of the circle, which is usually about 13 inches away. Races start with the shout “Ready! Steady! Slow!” The first snail to reach the edge is the winner. This usually takes several minutes. Snail are painted with racing numbers for easy identification and spectators place bets on the outcome and cheer on their snail to victory

• Roll initiative for each snail at the start of the race (‐2 modifier)
• Each minute, roll 1d6‐2 for each snail. This is the number of inches the snail moves towards the edge. Roll 1d8, to determine the direction in which the snail travels in the same manner as that used to determine a missed splash attack.
• Specially trained racing snails might have a +0 initiative modifier or move 1d6‐1 inches each minute. These snails typically attract much shorter odds

Top That

A communal telling of tall tales, in Top That, each person tries to tell a stranger tale than the last, without going so far that someone declares "I don't believe you!" Each tale‐teller in turn must make a Bluff, Perform (oratory) or Profession (storytelling) check opposed by each listener’s Sense Motive check. A successful check indicates the listener believe the story; a failed check indicates the listener shouts out “I don’t believe you!” The game ends when no one can top the last tale with a better, yet believable one.

Yard of Ale

A yard of ale is a very tall beer glass, wide at the top and with a bulb on the end; it holds two and a half pints. Contestants need to drink the ale or beer to empty the glass as fast as possible.

• Each contestant must make a Fortitude saving throw; highest roll wins.
• Dwarves, innkeepers and heavy drinkers get a +2 bonus on
• Yard Racing: In races featuring a yard of ale, use the rules for Down the Hatch.
  • All drinkers make an initiative check to see who can grab a mug fastest.
  • Each drinker must hit AC 10 to grab the drink without spilling it. Failure indicates the character knocks the drink over, pours it down themselves and so on.
  • Each drinker then makes a DC 12 (+1 per previous check if more than one drink is downed) Fortitude save to get the drink down without choking.
  • The winner is the first person to successfully get the drink down their throat. If more than one gets it down, the person with the highest initiative is the winner.

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Tavern Songs

Charlotte the Harlot

Charlotte, the harlot, the girl we adore
The pride of the prairie, the cowpuncher's whore.

Way down on the prairie where cowflop is thick
Where women are women and cowboys come quick
There lived pretty Charlotte, the girl we adore
The pride of the prairie, the cowpuncher's whore

It's Charlotte the Harlot, the girl we adore,
The pride of the prairie, the cowpuncher's whore.

She's dirty, she's vulgar, she spits in the street
Why whenever you see her, she's always in heat
She'll lay for a dollar, take less or take more
The pride of the prairie, the cowpuncher's whore.

I'll go Chasing Women

Hey, I won't go huntin' with you Jake but I'll go chasin' women
So put your hounds back in the pens and quit your silly grinnin'
The moon is right and I'm half tight, my life is just beginnin'
I won't go huntin' with you Jake but I'll go chasin' women.

Do They Hang too Low

Any old storm, any old port
Life is long, love is short
Better get a woman, get a woman if you can
If you can't get a woman, get a clean old man.

Do they hang too low, do they swing to and fro
Can you tie 'em in a knot, can you tie 'em in a bow
Can you swing 'em round your shoulder like a European soldier
Do they hang too low in the mornin'?

Lads and Lasses

Now that you mention those lasses,
And some of the good lads we’ve known.
My memory goes back to old Lilly
And the nights I thought we had flown.

It’s a long while ago. I’m not sure now
Of the name of that sweet little blonde,
And that lad with the hair to his ankles ‐
I think that they called him Girond.

What became of that luscious lass, Sarie?
Oh! Remember the fox‐faced brunette?
She was working the streets with her sister
And she's not left my dreams even yet.

And a young lad I think was called Ishtak.
The cutest thing I've ever seen,
With a smile any woman would die for,
And a body so muscled and lean.

Wait! I almost missed naming that Keisal.
The one who gave kisses galore,
With a twinkling eye that promised
Everyone so very much more...

The Captain and his Crew

The Captain called to his scurvy crew
Haul up the anchor! It’s time that we flew!
There are ships out there in the open main
Don’t you fancy some gold, so yellow and plain?

The Captain cried to his pirate crew
Away now, away now, sail out in the blue!
I know of an island, I know of a shore
We all will be rich, but I will have more.

The Captain smiled at his rascal crew
He never guessed what they planned to do
Out there in the sea, with a sturdy plank
And a parrot that squawked, Thanks thanks thanks!

The Captain stared at his mutinous crew
As he walked the plank in a smart new shoe
And only much later did the crew get in a flap
When they found that the Captain had taken the map!

Where the Heart Is

Where the wild geese wing
Where the skylarks sing
Wherever the wind cries
And whispers and sighs
There lies my heart

Where the old oak leans
Where the kestrel keens
Wherever animals creep
And linger and leap
There sleeps my heart

Where the sweet stream flows
Where blue ice forms, then goes
Wherever flowers swell
And snowflakes fell
There dwells my heart

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