The Tavern: A Small Game of Telling a Tale of Adventure in A Tavern

In this small storytelling game, you and one or more players are characters telling a tale of an adventure they went on together in a tavern.

STEP ONE: Name Your Character:

Fill in the blank:

Name, the adjective noun.

(Example: Istvan, the brave archer.
Example: Griselda, the practical princess.
Example: Zedrax, the clever kobold.)

OR

Name, the category noun.

(Example: Django, the pirate captain's son.
Example: Gertrude, the witch's apprentice.
Example: Abrisham, the dragon's spy.)

STEP TWO: Then, choose 5 phrases from the list below that your character would do well with if they had to deal with it (which we call Advantages), and 3 that they wouldn't do well with if they had to deal with it (which we call Disadvantages).

--Melee combat
--Ranged combat
--A magic spell
--A powerful ritual
--A magic item
--A trap 
--One or more monsters
--Meeting a new person
--Making a new friend
--An old book/scroll/map or some other potentially useful thing
--An antagonist 
--A message from the divine
--A dangerous area
--Some treasure
--An escape
--Discovering a secret
--Competing in a contest
--Persuading someone 
--Being very stealthy
--Tricking someone
--Finding the path
--An amazing work of art 
--An important victory
--A hurried retreat
--A determined guardian
--A tempting temptation
--An astounding revelation
--A transformation
--Something scary
--Defending
--Remembering an ancient legend
--Negotiating
--Helping each other
--A thrilling rescue

STEP THREE: Now that you've finished making your character, it's time to tell the story. It starts with one player posting their character saying:

"It all started with:"

Now roll 1d100 (or 1d34, since that's possible on RPOL) and finish the sentence with what comes up.

1--Melee combat
2--Ranged combat
3--A magic spell
4--A powerful ritual
5--A magic item
6--A trap 
7--One or more monsters
8--Meeting a new person
9--Making a new friend
10--An old book/scroll/map or some other potentially useful thing
11--An antagonist 
12--A message from the divine
13--A dangerous area
14--Some treasure
15--An escape
16--Discovering a secret
17--Competing in a contest
18--Persuading someone 
19--Being very stealthy
20--Tricking someone
21--Finding the path
22--An amazing work of art 
23--A definite victory
24--A hurried retreat
25--A determined guardian
26--A tempting temptation
27--An astounding revelation
28--A transformation
29--Something scary
30--Defending
31--Remembering an ancient legend
32--Negotiating
33--Helping each other
34--A thrilling rescue
35-100: just roll again

Then roll 2d6. If the phrase is one of that player's 5 advantages, add 2 to the roll result. If the phrase is one of that player's 3 disadvantages, subtract 1 instead.

If the roll is:
--10 or better: explain what form the phrase takes, and tell how the characters deal with it well.
--7 to 9: explain what form the phrase takes, and tell how the characters deal with it only kind of well.
--6 or lower: explain what form the phrase takes, and tell how the characters have a lot of trouble dealing with it.

This should take 3 or 4 sentences.

STEP 4: Then, it's the other player's turn to post, doing everything in Step 3, but starting with:

"After that we did something that involved:"

and then rolling again.

It is suggested that the story be brought to an end after each player has taken 7 turns, although the players can agree beforehand, or during the experience, to make it last longer, or less time.

In the end, since the characters are alive "in the present" to tell the story in the tavern, the story should end with the characters being triumphant, partly triumphant, or at least getting away in one piece...
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:45, Fri 09 Apr 2021.

21:36, Today: phantom rolled 16 using 1d34 ((16)). - Discovering a secret
21:38, Today: phantom rolled 7 using 2d6 ((3,4)).


We fled the Zombie beetlemen, several of the Paladins with us.  We rode hard to a nearby monastary for safety.  The holy ground seems to stop the zombie beetlemen.  But they were quickly surrounding us.  Zeddy and I spoke to the Paladins and the Monks.  The Abbot of the monastery said he was familiar with Ebez and his foul magic.  He showed us a book, Zeddy and I recognized the some of the language. The Abbot said that this book held the key to stopping the zombies, but he couldn't read it.
Zeddy and I took the book and based on what we learned from the Beetle Queen, we were able to start a translation.  We completed it and gave it to the Abbot.  He smiled and gathered the monks and paladins.  He began the ritual.

Dusty looks over the listeners in the tavern, all waiting with bated breath.

Zeddy and I headed for the gate and peered outside.  While the monks and paladins worked their magic.
Pale green lightning began to flash striking the zombie beetlemen, we saw the queen rise to the front, mere 100 ft from the gate.  Glowing green and looking even scarier.  Then the chanting stopped and the day grew as dark as a moonless night.  Then a horrible shreiking came from the monks and paladins followed by a pillar of swirling purple and green light blasts up into the gathered clouds.  Then the same colored lightning rained down blinding us with its intensity.  After a few moments, the storm stopped and our vision cleared.  Outside the zombie beetleman lay destroyed.  We opened the gate and went out to check.  They were all dead, again.

I told Zeddy to ready some horses and I went back to the Monks and Paladins, but they all appeared dead and the abbot was missing.  I checked each one and they were all gone. I grab their coin purses, and ran to Zeddy.  We need to go now!  I mounted and we fled...

Round 5 is yours.
Fyi, unbeknowst to Dusty and Zeddy, the revived Ebez.  That was our failure