D&D 5E Party scenes

[Charles Rampant]

Hi all,

I am planning on my next game featuring a challenging (for me) social encounter, the dreaded ‘party goes to a party’ scenario. The players have been invited to attend a party at the Hawkwinter mansion in Waterdeep, in part to give the Waterdhavian Noble Arcane Rogue her allotted spotlight time. What I’d like to do is start a conversation about how people have successfully run this kind of group conversation or party scene, and then see if there is a good methodology that others have developed and which I can use. I mean specifically where there is numerous NPCs in a room, and you want the atmosphere of the players wandering around and talking to people to learn interesting background details and important plot foreshadowing.

I’ve had very little success with this kind of scenario in the past; it always seemed to result just in me and the players staring at each other in confusion, them not knowing what to do, and me not knowing how to prompt them into fun situations. The players had a blank slate and couldn’t meaningfully interact with it, and because they were not doing anything I couldn’t easily improvise off of what they were doing.

To start the ball rolling, my most successful one was an introductory scene for the first council meeting in Rise of Tiamat, where I pretty much just wrote up a half-dozen scripted social events (Archmage disagrees with Elven King over whether to wait and see, Open Lord fields jealous questions from Neverwinter Ruler, etc) and then ran each little event when the players split up to interact with the different people. That seemed to work, in part because I had bits of paper on the table showing who the people were, and so the players could physically interact with them by moving their models near them. However, this method took a lot of work to write up, and didn’t last all that long at the table, so it’s a heavy investment of time to results.

Has anyone else had significant success? If so, what’s your secret? J

 

[Eltab]

Decide on a few outcomes you want from the party - goals the participants have - and work backwards from there.
- Merchant wants to work a deal to buy raw materials. You need a buyer (him) and a seller. You also need a quiet niche in the room where they can talk. Maybe a third party, rival to either main participant, tries to horn in or offer a better deal. Is this transaction above-board or shady?
- Romeo wants a little alone time with Juliet. Can two non-Sneaks get out of a crowded room without anybody else noticing? Is there a place for them to go? Do they want a bedroom or a secluded bench in the hedge garden?
- Milady (hostess) has arranged for a secret contact to sneak into the manor. You need a quiet room where nobody else will disturb the contact. Does the contact walk in the front door as an invited guest, or does he climb the ivy-covered wall and clamber in a window? (Is there a secret identity involved?)
- Several gossipy old biddies are looking for something to talk about. Feed them a story - rumors about the PCs, say - and let the PCs in on the conversation. Are the rumors true or false?
- A drunken nobleman is hovering near the punchbowl and bothering the other guests. The PCs can do Milady a favor by persuading him to move elsewhere. Or they can tick off Milady by causing a scene.
- Ruling noble wants to get a final Yes or No from a recalcitrant lesser lord. The lesser lord wants some task (dangerous or maybe dirty) done first - and the PCs have the skills to do it. The ruler comes to the PCs during the social time and asks for their help / offers them a quest.

 

[iserith]

Give the important NPCs personal characteristics (traits, ideals, bonds, flaws) and a goal or secret agenda they are pursuing. Set their starting attitude toward the PCs to Indifferent or Hostile. Discovering traits, ideals, bonds, flaws, or agenda during the interaction and then using them in a smart way grants advantage on checks made to resolve attempts to influence the NPC's attitude or getting them to do what the PCs want when such an effort would have an uncertain outcome. Provide XP whenever the PCs change an NPC's attitude to Friendly.

More importantly, the players need to have goals for their characters at this party and some or all of the NPCs present need to stand in the way of those goals. And the players need to know that they can earn as much XP for making these NPCs friendly as they might otherwise get for defeating a monster in combat.

Check out the rules for Social Interaction in the DMG as well as the XP guidelines for non-combat challenges.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

For my part, I think of it as a mini-sandbox for the PCs to wander about. Even if there’s one main goal, there’s also other stuff going on that should be interesting.

I also find that it helps to keep thinking of it like you’re in combat – each PCs gets a turn. Whether you go around the table or actually roll for initiative, I find this helps prevent table dominance issues and everyone talking at me all at once.

 

[iserith]

I also find that it helps to keep thinking of it like you’re in combat – each PCs gets a turn. Whether you go around the table or actually roll for initiative, I find this helps prevent table dominance issues and everyone talking at me all at once.

Agreed - sharing the spotlight is important in my view. If someone is being a wallflower, have an NPC approach THEM. I find scenes where the PCs run around interviewing cagey, quirky NPCs to be tiresome. The PCs are adventurers whose job is to go forth into the world to boldly confront deadly perils and return with the fruits of their efforts to share with the community. That is the archetypal human story. To that end, the NPCs should be the ones interviewing the PCs! They're the ones living such interesting lives.

 

[Charles Rampant]

Decide on a few outcomes you want from the party - goals the participants have - and work backwards from there.

A good and relevant point, thanks. So my checklist should include creating a goal or desired outcome for each important NPC.

More importantly, the players need to have goals for their characters at this party and some or all of the NPCs present need to stand in the way of those goals. And the players need to know that they can earn as much XP for making these NPCs friendly as they might otherwise get for defeating a monster in combat.

Check out the rules for Social Interaction in the DMG as well as the XP guidelines for non-combat challenges.

Man, the DMG. I read that book cover to come, when it first came out, and yet I constantly am surprised by mention of some part of it that I had totally forgotten about. Well, a quick dndbeyond skim shows the section you're mentioning, and I do like both of your suggestions here. So my checklist should also include some desired outcomes for the players, and mechanical methods and rewards for achieving them.

For my part, I think of it as a mini-sandbox for the PCs to wander about. Even if there’s one main goal, there’s also other stuff going on that should be interesting.

I also find that it helps to keep thinking of it like you’re in combat – each PCs gets a turn. Whether you go around the table or actually roll for initiative, I find this helps prevent table dominance issues and everyone talking at me all at once.

Yeah, I absolutely agree with this. I'm keen to avoid the newer players sitting and waiting for a combat, especially. I think that I'll do the cards and models method again, since that way I can move the cards around to demonstrate that, actually, Lady Roaringhorn has decided to speak to the wallflower PC whether he likes it or not.

Agreed - sharing the spotlight is important in my view. If someone is being a wallflower, have an NPC approach THEM. I find scenes where the PCs run around interviewing cagey, quirky NPCs to be tiresome. The PCs are adventurers whose job is to go forth into the world to boldly confront deadly perils and return with the fruits of their efforts to share with the community. That is the archetypal human story. To that end, the NPCs should be the ones interviewing the PCs! They're the ones living such interesting lives.

Computer game RPGs tend to have the rooms of stunned people - all waiting patiently and passively for your character to complete a circuit and speak to them individually. Best to avoid that. I've also found that players tend to enjoy boasting of their accomplishments to NPCs - I remember one player describing his party's adventures with great gusto to a tavern full of dwarves, with only the most modest prompting from me throughout. One easy way to is have at least one young and impressionable noble who simply must hear what the adventuring life is like.

 

[iserith]

Yeah, I absolutely agree with this. I'm keen to avoid the newer players sitting and waiting for a combat, especially. I think that I'll do the cards and models method again, since that way I can move the cards around to demonstrate that, actually, Lady Roaringhorn has decided to speak to the wallflower PC whether he likes it or not.

Yeah, I mean, nobody is ever surprised when a monster approaches to attack, so why should they be when an NPC approaches to talk? In addition, if the players know that they get XP for killing the monster (and therefore generally welcome monsters to attack them) then they should also welcome the opportunity to flip NPCs to Friendly for the same reward.

 

[Bradley Hindman]

Its absolutely crucial that the PCs have a goal of their own. They need a place to start and a reason to talk to the NPCs. To give an example, I once started a campaign at a high-brow party. This was a pulp game (using Fate instead of D&D) but the principle is the same. The event was a party held by the Nazis in Mexico City. Their goal was a little propaganda to demonstrate Nazi technical prowess, by unveiling a large rock boring machine "designed" for boring railroad tunnels. Each of the PCs started with a small piece of information that not was all that it seemed. One player had discovered that an archeologist/treasure hunter was in the employ of the Nazi. She went to party to find out what the Nazis were really up to. Another, was a spy trying to steal Nazi technology. Another, was trying to ascertain what sort of deal the Mexican government was making with the Germans (if any).

Of course, the borer was actually a vehicle for traveling deep underground, a subterrene, leading eventually to a set of adventures ala "Journey to the Center of the Earth". The scene worked because each player had a reason to go speak with one or more NPCs. Further, each character brought their own particular skill set to the table. One tried to seduce a German engineer into giving a private ride on the subterrene (with the goal of stealing it of course). Another used his contacts with the local criminal element to create a distraction so he could steal documents unobserved. Another, got the archeologist drunk and guided the conversation towards interesting topics. I only used 3 three scripted events (welcoming speech by the lead German industrialist, the unveiling of the subterrene by the German engineering team, and tours through the subterrene as the party continued). I had a few others prepared, but the players were driving enough of the action that I didn't use them.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

I recommend keeping rolls to a minimum and using them to corroborate what the players are saying and doing in character. In my experience if rolling is too front and center, players start relying too heavily on them rather than getting into the social and verbal interaction of the scene.

 

[aco175]

Last party like this my group went to involved a few weapon makers seeking a contract for making weapons for the city guard. It was one of the side quests going on that drew the PCs in. They ended up 'testing' the weapons in a sunken pit under the mansion while the lords and ladies looked on. They ended up using the normal weapons instead of their own and kept flipping the ones that rolled bad to the back of the room and getting more off the table.

After the encounter, they made a friend and enemy in the smiths that they said had good vs. poor weapons. They also had noble backers that got involved. There was also a performance by the bard that got an invite back to perform at a wedding later in the year.