DM Tools - Taverns

"There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn" - Samuel Johnson

Taverns are always a popular place for adventurers to unwind. It's up to the DM to come up with some quirks and flavor to make each tavern original and to keep the players immersed in the atmosphere. Sometimes though you just hit a creative writing block and don't know where to start.

The following page is intended to give you some ideas to keep taverns as a fun place for travellers to go.

Tavern Generators

There are a number of Tavern generators out there that you will find with some quick Google searches. I quite like the "Not Another Tavern Generator". It comes up with some great details for a tavern and is useful if you want something quick. You can then use the rest of this page to tailor it to your liking.

Tavern Names

"It's all in the name" - Wendy Carroll

There's only so many Ye Olde Tavern's in the Wold! Try these tables to come up with a name that's a little different...

Name Format

#	Name Order
1	Adjective Noun Title
2	The Adjective Noun
3	The Adjective Noun Title
4	Noun & Noun
5	Noun & Noun Title
6	The Noun & Noun
7	The Noun & Noun Title
9	The Adjective Title

Nouns

#	1-10	11-20	21-30	31-40	41-50	51-60	61-70	71-80	81-90	91-100
1	Ale	Bat	Cougar	Dwarf	Goblin	Leech	Narwhal	Pug	Sloth	Walrus
2	Alligator	Beetle	Cow	Eel	Halfling	Liontaur	Otter	Quail.	Snake	Wand
3	Antelope	Boot	Crab	Elephant	Hamster	Lizard	Owl	Rabbit	Spider	Weasel
4	Armadillo	Bow	Crocodile	Elf	Hat	Llama	Ox	Rat	Sword	Wench
5	Arrow	Bull	Crow	Ferret	Hawk	Lobster	Panther	Raven	Tiger	Wine
6	Axe	Camel	Dagger	Flamingo	Horse	Lord	Peacock	Rogue	Toad	Wizard
7	Baboon	Cat	Dog	Fox	Jackal	Meerkat	Pelican	Scorpion	Tortoise	Wolf
8	Badger	Clam	Donkey	Frog	Jester	Mole	Penguin	Shark	Tower	Worm
9	Bard	Cobra	Dragon	Gnome	Lady	Monkey	Pig	Sheep	Turkey	Wyvern
10	Basilisk	Cockroach	Duck	Goat	Lamb	Moose	Pony	Shield	Vutture	Yak

Adjectives

#	1-10	11-20	21-30	31-40	41-50	51-60	61-70	71-80	81-90	91-100
1	Adorable	Brown	Dead	Flatulent	Heroic	Loud	Orange	Red	Singing	Undead
2	Ancient	Burning	Delightful	Gentle	Hiding	Lucky	Peach	Repulsive	Skinny	Unlucky
3	Angry	Calm	Discrete	Giant	Holy	Magical	Pink	Roaring	Sleeping	Wealthy
4	Big	Chubby	Drowning	Glorious	Hungry	Moist	Pompous	Rusty	Slimy	Wet
5	Black	Clever	Drunken	Gold	Itchy	Naked	Powerful	Sacred	Slow	White
6	Bloody	Clumsy	Eager	Gray	Jolly	Navy	Prickly	Salty	Smiling	Witty
7	Blue	Colossal	Elegant	Greasy	Laughing	Nervous	Proud	Scrawny	Sticky	Yawning
8	Brass	Confused	Famous	Green	Lazy	New	Purple	Silent	Stubborn	Yellow
9	Brave	Copper	Fancy	Grumpy	Lively	Noisy	Quiet	Silly	Tiny	Young
10	Bronze	Crying	Fat	Happy	Lost	Oily	Rainbow	Silver	Ugly	Yummy

Title

#	1-10
1	Bar
2	Tavern
3	Pub
4	Club
5	Inn
6	Lounge
7	Den
8	Lodge

Tavern Features

"A tavern is a place where madness is sold by the bottle" - Jonathan Swift

Expand upon the 'bar, tables and fireplace' and give your tavern some character and something else for the party to check out...

#	Legal	Illegal	Special Feature
1	Baths	Gang Hangout	No booze
2	Casino	Cult Base	Large Deep Pit/Well in Centre
3	Library	Death Fights	Dungeon Entrance
4	Theatre	Drug Lounge	Labyrinth Entrance
5	Dancers	Blackmarket	Undead Waiters
6	Healing	Beast Fights	Imp Waiters
7	Minstrels	Stave Trading	Unseen Servant Waiters
8	Exotic Food	Soul Eating	Ghost Patrons
9	Cheap Food	Cannibal Food	Dragon Bartender
10	Fighting Ring	Body Swapping	Magic Doesn't Work
11	Private Booths	Demon Worship	Self Playing Instrument
12	Drinking Contest	Monster Trade	Self Filling Mugs
13			Sentient Furniture
14			In a Pocket Dimension
15			1-Way Portal
16			Reversed/No Gravity
17			Icy Cavern Interior
18			Forest/Jungle Interior
19			Race Changes While Inside
20			Invisible Clothing & Equipment

Tavern Food and drinks

"Here’s to alcohol, the cause of — and solution to — all life’s problems" - Homer Simpson

The Woldipedia has a page dedicated to drinks in the Wold. The Wold Mixology page includes a list of some regional varieties, as well as some brews you might wish to draw from.

The following tables might give you some ideas for meals that could be found based on the quality of food available.

Squalid (3cp)	Poor (6cp)	Modest (3sp)
Humble pie (filled with tripe or cow heel)	Porridge	Grilled wild boar chops
Acorn soup	Mushroom stew with corn bread	Broiled salmon and potatoes
Rice and peas	Leg of mutton and goose eggs	Roast chicken and potatoes
Green chili stew	Beef stew and sourdough	Smoked sausage, goose eggs and dates
Grilled snake and macadamia	Squash and fish soup	Cheese pie and onion soup
Frogs on skewers	Mutton meatloaf	Baked boar and greens
Onion soup	Rabbit and baked pumpkin	Minted pea soup
Lizard gruel with nutbread	Bread-bowl stew	Baked goat flank
Crisped worm skewers and potatoes	Hot beet soup and fresh bread	Rabbit stew and willow crackers
	Bog-beetle dumplings	Lemming and berry soup
	Wayfarers' cake
	Cooked wolf steak
	Wren pot pie and cattail soup
	Thistle salad with roasted grubs
	Barbecued gopher legs on a stick

Comfortable (8sp)	Wealthy (2gp)	Artistocratic (4gp)
Honey braised boar ribs	Baked pheasant with leeks	Roast stag in antler sauce
Venison and bean stew	Smoked salmon and wild berries	Poached and peppered quail eggs
Buffaloaf and honeyed corn	Chocolate covered ants and roast pelican	Spiced monkey tail and cashews
Rack of lamb platter	Barbecued tiger fish and papaya	Roast heron and chopped sundew
Pork chop & curds	Roast chicken with thyme	Lobster in tomato cream sauce
Elven bread	Stuffed trout, cabbage, succotash and plum pudding	Crab-stuffed lobster tail
Baked loin of pork with gravy	Braised beef and pears with ginger	Roast pheasant in oyster sauce
Roasted cod and mashed potatoes	Meerkat dumplings with sage	Poached duck with farro
Beef steak and kidney pie		Fried ostrich and egg omelet
Clams and garlic
Toasted delfarnbread with spiced snail-butter
Grayling prawns poached with plovers’ eggs in garlic butter

Monster	Underdark
Crunchy critters and grub pudding	Fluorescent fungus salad with cave grubs
Smashed guts and cabbage	Diced blind eel and deep salts
Not-so-old rice in sour goat’s milk	Amber lichen and softrock bread
Fried chunks and lard bread	Translucent crayfish stew
Salted eyes and carrot ends	Crimson moss cakes and cave jelly
Bone and blood mix stew	Crustacean broth with ironloaf
Lettuce, liver, and lung pie	Roasted deep beetles with algae dip
	Toasted salamander in mineral pepper
	Arachnidumplings and fried fungus
	Toadstool steak tainted with myconid essence
	Lobe of grell
	Deep rothe steak

Tavern Fights

Whether or not the player characters start it, an evening of drunken antics can often culminate in a chaotic brawl. The SRD includes a section on bar fights using rules published in "Inner Sea Taverns": "Bar Fight Rules"

Alternatively, the following set of rules might inspire you:

Basics

• You cannot use spells, your weapons, or abilities
• All combatants (including you) in the fight have 11 AC
• All NPCs involved in the bar fight have 15 HP each
• All PCs start with their current HP total
• Your Str or Dex bonus (whichever is higher) is applied to your 1d20 attack roll
• If you become unconscious you are 'out' until the fight is over.

Actions

• All attacks successfully made (by PCs or NPCs) take 5HP off their target, unless otherwise specified
• You can melee attack (punch, kick, smash with chair etc) anyone within 5 feet of you
• You can throw items such as bottles, tankards, chairs etc. They have a range of 1d6 x 5ft. If they do not reach their target they do not damage them. There's always something at hand to throw.
• Instead of attacking you can hide behind tables, the bar, etc. This increases your AC to 16, but you cannot attack during the turn
• You can always grab another drink and swig from it as your action which will add +1 to your drunkenness level
• You don't have to attack at all if you don't want, you can just sit back and watch what happens.
• If you end up out of a window, you must pass a DC 15 Acrobatics check to get back in through it (or you could just walk around to the entrance)

How Much Did I Drink?

• If you have been drinking then roll against the "Drunkenness" table to determine your starting drunkenness level
• All lower numbers also apply to you, as well as the number you rolled.
• At the end of each turn roll 1d20. On a 17 or above, remove one level of drunkenness unless you are at drunkenness zero.

Drunkenness

d6 Effect

1. You have half movement, rounded up to the nearest 5 feet.
2. You take a -2 on attack rolls.
3. On a successful attack you instead hit a random character within attack range.
4. Every 10 feet of movement you must pass a DC 11 Acrobatics check or fall prone onto your face ending your turn. You must make at least 1 of these rolls per turn before any other action.
5. Wait... Didn't you once read on a parchment about "Zui Quan" (The art of drunken fighting)? Yeah, that seems like something you'd have done *hic*. You now get +5 to your attack rolls.
6. You are asleep in the corner

Legendary Attacks

On a natural 20 attack roll you do a legendary attack that will do double damage (like it would in normal combat) but you may also roll against the "Legendary Attacks" table to see what attack you make.

d6 Effect

1. You throw someone out a window
2. You drag someone down the bar / across a table face first
3. You throw the target into the bottles / serving area behind the bar.
4. You grab a nearby wooden broom, snap it over your knee and smash your target with it, causing it to shatter into fragments.
5. You slam someone down on top of a table causing it to buckle completely and the legs to smash off.
6. You jump up and swing off a chandelier to kick your target in the face as you land.

A Typical Turn

• If drunkenness level 4 or above, roll to see if you faceplant onto the floor
• Move if you want (Rolling every 10 feet to see if you stumble on drunkenness 4 or above)
• Decide to either drink, hide, do nothing, or roll to attack
• If attacking describe how you want to do the attack
• Finally, depending on your roll and drunkenness level you can then determine who you're attacking
• If you roll a Legendary Attack, describe it!
• Always roll to reduce your drunkenness level unless it is zero

Tavern Games

When people have partaken of too many drinks, games will surely ensue. The following games have different flavors and mechanics, providing options for you to choose from.

Last Man Standing

Each player rolls a Fort save to resist the effects of the alcohol

If you fail 5 times you pass out

Each time you fail your character will become increasingly intoxicated

• 1 fail = no effect
• 2 fails = tipsy
• 3 fails = drunk
• 4 fails = wasted
• 5 fails = pass out and lose

Last man standing wins

The DC will increase by 2 each round, starting from 10 and capping at 20.

The Long Embrace

Two participants cup their hands with one another with a live scorpion inside. The first to remove their hand is the loser. If the winner still holds the scorpion after the opponent pulls away, he doubles his winnings.

Scorpion sting does 1d2 non-lethal damage per round. A person who sustains 8pts damage has their hand go numb and lets go of the scorpion.

Boss Toss

Two participants stand 6 ft. apart and at the same time each tosses a double-headed axe to the other. The player who drops the axe or bleeds first is the loser.

Reflex Saves start at DC10 and increase by +2 each round. The first person to fail the save loses.

Strong as an Ox

A large animal such as a horse or ox, or other livestock is brought in for a Rope War with a humanoid challenger, with each trying to pull the other over a line. This is popular among half-orcs and barbarians.

The participant makes a strength check opposed by that of the animal. The difference between the results is how much ground is gained in ft.

The larger of the two gains a +4 bonus on the check for every 500lbs difference in weight.

Each tavern has their own rules on how far apart the competitors start"

Ready for Winter

Players fill their mouths with as many walnuts as possible and must pronounce ""Ready for Winter"" the best they can. Variations of this game have included the use of cherries, grapes, acorns, or even coins, in the place of walnuts.

Checks are made vs Charisma. Players may start with as many objects as they choose. Each object adds add +2 to the DC (eg: 5 objects is DC10).

Passing the check allows you to continue adding more.

Failing a check eliminates you from the contest.

Players get a cumulative +2 bonus for each size category they are over medium

Players get a cumulative -2 penalty for each size category they are under medium

The Anvil Crack

This form of entertainment is favored by young minotaurs as a way to prove their great strength. The game involves trying to break an anvil using only ones head. While taking a running start is permitted, the truly strong simply stand in front of the anvil and plough their heads downward onto it. It is a very rare occasion when someone succeeds in the task. More often than not it simply leads to a headache worse than any hangover.

Treat an anvil as hardness 10 with anywhere upwards of 360HP