Irish Inspiration: Good Craic

The Irish are known for their fellowship and friendliness. Maybe it’s a stereotype, but as stereotypes go that’s not a bad one to have. And that friendliness and sense of fun is infectious—last week I spent my nights hanging out with Aussies, Israelis, Germans, and French until the wee hours of the morning (something that did not always occur in other places I’ve hosteled). And let’s not forget the music—live performances in almost every bar with no cover every single night of the week. I was in heaven.

In D&D, the habit of pumping strangers for information in taverns and inns is so ingrained we rarely think about why most people go to bars—for fellowship, friendship, and distraction. And while many social interactions might be glossed over in the interest of pacing—“After two days of searching, you hear a rumor that the Winter Blade entered the city only yesterday”—it’s worth occasionally slowing down to actually spend some time in the characters’ favorite inn, tavern, or festhall.

Here are some tips on keeping the ale pouring freely:

Make bards the stars. Unless your bard has tragically misspent his skill points, he’s likely to have the most ranks in Performance in the joint, along with a pretty darn good Charisma. People are going to beg him to play and sing. Patrons are going to want his attention, respect, and affection (and will compete to get it). He is going to be the life of the party. So let him be.

For even more fun, you can play this for a running gag. Imagine your party’s three-foot-tall halfling being able to get a drink in any establishment, while the fighter twice her size is habitually refused service, or perhaps can’t even make it to the counter!

Similarly, some DMs like to set up rival adventuring groups as foils for the PCs. If so, make sure they have a bard—particularly if the party doesn’t have one. Watching their rivals scoop them on rumor after rumor will drive your players absolutely nuts.

Encourage—and reward—players for good performances. Whether it’s a use of the Performance skill or simply good role-playing, players who put resources into social encounters (whether skill points or time spent role-playing) will both have more fun and should benefit accordingly. If the party’s gnome evoker took the time to learn the fiddle, make that expenditure of cross-class skill points worth it.

If it’s an encounter, it can have an Encounter Level. Anyone who has survived middle school knows that social encounters can be more chill-inducing than any wight. If your party bests a foe in a conversation, a negotiation, or even a flirtation, it may be worth an experience award.

Have a night in a bar where nothing happens. It’s perfectly okay to role-play a night out at the bar and have nothing of significance happen. In fact, this is something you should do. Not too often, of course—there are orcs that need slaying—but every once in a while. This forces your players to really act in character for long periods of time rather than relying on dice rolls, and gives you insights into the characters that can be useful later on. Plus, when players and characters come to truly like and loathe certain NPCs, you know you’ve really developed a living, breathing world and not just roughly sketched a setting.