101 Taverns

[IronWolf]

[Note - This was orginally placed in the Citadel Adbar in the Realms, I removed some of the things that tied it directly to that city to make it more generic. I have some fluff worked up on the barkeep and serving woman, but it looks like this thread is about just the tavern.]

Hammersmasher's Ale House

This dwarven establishment is just below the city surface (no real dwarf would turn to the surface for a drink). It is quite popular, drawing in a fairly diversified clientele, dwarves come here after their days in the mines and at the forges as well as human's and elves who come down from the surface.

This is less of a building than a large, finely crafted stone chamber, only thirty feet or so below ground (its a 5 minute brisk walk to be back at the surface). Its location helps hide the fire and belching above ground so familiar to the surface city as well as the smells that turn many away.

The door is made of stone, an intricate series of carvings the proprietor is quite proud of. (the carvings are an intricate series of geometric designs and several raised depictions of mugs overflowing with ale, the stone has been tinted various colors to paint a more vivid, but not obtrusive picture).

The interior is a great room with the bar off to the left. A door to the kitchen is just to the left of the bar. Towards the rear of the great room is another wall that has an open doorway to another smaller meeting room (still of decent size in and of itself). The room is lit with lanterns burning every ten feet or so and hanging from the ceiling. Circular tables (of sligthly lower height than normal) make up most of the seating in the center of the room. A row of booths follow the right hand side wall, each with curtains to be pulled across that desire more privacy. The booths seat four comfortably, six if you squeeze in.

A large stone fireplace is towards the rear of the room along the dividing wall. The fireplace is two-sided and can be seen from both the main great room and the smaller meeting room.

 

[D+1]

Just in case you're looking for a new name for a tavern or inn:

http://home.earthlink.net/~duanevp/dnd/inns.htm

 

[hazardjsimpson]

The Cracked Mug...

My Chain is the Griining Goblin. It has a funny picture of a goblin grinning as its sign. Inside is the a rather basic and no descript inn and tavern but it caters more towards the locals then travlers.

For some great inn, see Booki of Taverns by Necromancer, exzcellent book.

Is our local 'chain' -- there's one in every town, with a cheery sign of an overflowing mug with foam dripping from the chip/crack in the lip....

Ahh, The Cracked Mug... Many a good night in there, I tell ye.

 

[BlueBlackRed]

The Golden Grog.

A pile of a tavern that caters to unseemly humans and dwarves that are too much of a problem for the standard dwarven keghouses.
The grog is watered down, thieves love you, and replacement chairs are overpriced.

In other words, the perfect jumping off point for a certain type of adventure.

 

[Stone Angel]

Our chain has simply become "The Magistrate" with the house band of elven punk rockers known as "Mithral Shirt".


The Seraph of Earth and Stone

 

[Aust Diamondew]

"The Rusty Nail"
One of the most poorly cleaned and maintained establishment. The owner, Leechwart the one Eyed orc, prides himself on only selling the cheapest quality of beer.

 

[Warehouse23]

Coming from a Shadowrun background, my favorite bar name is "The Murdered Mime." Somehow, I see the name porting to D&D fairly well. Mimes should have a limited life expectancy in any city of the realm...

 

[Nightcloak]

Tankards Away

This tavers is actually an old merchants ship still ancored at the docks. You enter in the side at the dock to a large common room of fine drinking and music. Private rooms are available in the stern, while suites for sleeping are available in the bow. For those who wish to partake in the fine dinning available, tables are on the deck overlooking the bay.

No one knows how the owner secured pernament docking here, but popular rumor has it he was "gifted" the deed to that dock when he helped the local authorities with a crisis in the past. Also beware his steel-eyed daughter. She's quite beautiful but also a high level arcane caster. She insures nothing happens to her father's ship and keeps an eye on all visitors. Local thieves are quite scarred of her and go so far as to leave patrons of the tavern alone when they travel home at night, no matter how easy the mark.

 

[reason]

...

The Wayward Visitor

The Wayward Visitor stands at the outskirts of Port, where the Road of Stones meets the Coast Road and travelers pause to take in the view of the city, bay and cliffs. It is a rough but sizable inn and stables, an unusual structure built of worn stones taken from the old city wall.

The Wayward Visitor is owned by the Ammanene Unsharee, known in some circles as The Cursed. Her storied past in the Enclave as swordswoman, sage and member of the Emerald Company is reflected in the clientele, staff and regular visitors. Odd, talented, outcast, well-connected and unusual folk seem to find their way to the Wayward Visitor more often than one might expect. For all that, Unsharee is rarely seen - like most Ammanene, she has little to do with mortal society. The very existence of an establishment like the Wayward Visitor under the auspices of an Ammanene is a something of a mystery.

Port cityfolk and the insular landsmen shun the inn of The Cursed; it has a bad and not entirely undeserved reputation amongst commoners. The Farthest Inn spills into the Wayward Visitor - the winding passages, shadowed rooms and hidden alcoves of the interior almost seem to encourage it. Visitors here are stranger and more different than most from the near Farthest. It is not just a matter of oddly colored eyes, unusual scents, strange clothing and an unrecognized language. Some of the rough and tumble folk in Port - from the militia, Seafarers' Guild, noble family retinues or less reputable groups - treat a drunken night at the Wayward Visitor almost as a rite of passage.

One Visitor in particular has been in the Wayward Visitor for as long as any of the staff, and is as much responsible for the reputation of the inn as any. It stares from darkened corners, red eyes and long teeth buried in a brutish body, like an overfed Neth dipped in pitch. It drinks ale on the house and causes no trouble. There are many interesting stories as to its origin and associations, but no one who knows the truth is saying anything.

Reason
Principia Infecta

 

[reason]

...

The Woodwyrm

Leaning ramshackle against the thick landward wall of the Shipwrights' Hall, the Woodwyrm looks like nothing quite so much as the remains of a great ship fallen to the ground from a great height. Every part of the tavern is built of driftwood, old planking, keels and beams, lashed together with lengths of rope.

White-sashed Seafarers' Guildsmen, shipwrights and drunken thugs from the docks raise a great noise within the Woodwyrm each night, telling tales and singing the old songs while draining casks of Landsmen grain spirits. The preserved remains of unlikely fish float in great glass bottles above the bar; scorched, stuffed spined eels hang over the central firepit. The Woodwyrm has the stench of a drunk glowfish Lost in the Low Marsh, but is undeniably popular. The tavern has burned down twice in living memory - it was built again in a few short weeks on both occasions by eager seafarers and dock folk.

Reason
Principia Infecta