Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Pub?

Sometimes in life we come across personal challenges or goals that may seem ludicrous in the eyes of others. We all have our own mountains to climb or our white whales to hunt, and after all who apart from ourselves can see any difference between our victories and our defeats? Stumbling blocks come in all forms, whether from outside foes or simple physiology. While standing on big rocks and learning to love the taste of cinnamon can be fine and dandy for most, I have something else in mind.

I have, this past weekend, enjoyed yet another movie penned by Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg. While I won't say that it's the best of their movies, I will say that 'The World's End' is an extremely enjoyable film. In it, a group of high school friends reunite in an effort to tackle one of the last great challenges of their youth, the Golden Mile. The goal of which is to drink a pint of beer in each of twelve pubs in their old hometown of Newton Haven. As with most incidents involving large quantities of alcohol, hilarity ensues. While I'll not go further into the film, I will say my inner GM was taking notes.

The old saying goes that every good adventure starts in an Inn. What if we take that to the logical extreme? A good adventure that takes place in an inn. Better yet, several such establishments. A bohemian death march. A town full of pubs, bars, inns, taprooms, taverns, saloons and rathskellers and the singular goal of having a drink in each of them before you wind up at the bottom of your bar-stool. One of the greatest pub crawls of our time! Your bar tab shall be recounted in the annals of history!

This could make for an interesting diversion between adventures just at the core concept. Something to pass the time and allow for characters to unwind a bit, or maybe even as a singular outing while some players are absent. Then again you could go the full nine and spice things up a bit. Add in a relevant plotline or two to tie it to your overall scheme. Throw in a competing group of adventurers, or general assorted ruffians. (I should really market a box of those: Assorted Ruffians. Now in multiple sizes - Goon, Thug, and Mini-Minion) Maybe the event is organized and the last man standing gets the shiny McGuffin. There's plenty of room to improvise.
Looks like an adventurous group to me.
Now the next question is what to do to make this an actual challenge? Some game systems have rules for alcohol use. If your chosen system doesn't then some house rules aren't entirely out of the question. You may want to look into using some poison/disease effects as temporary impairment. Possibly some bonuses and/or minuses for chugging your drink versus taking your time. Maybe some temporary attribute impairment whilst under the influence. You could always borrow some rules from another system. Slugfest Games even has a nice Guide to Inns and Taverns as a third party supplement to Pathfinder which has some variant rules for intoxication as well as some very detailed stuff for these kinds of places.
Ice cream?

Of course we already discussed adding in other flavors so let's dive back into that. Add some challenges in-between locales. As PCs make their way to other drinking holes, some of the other patrons may get rowdy and pick a fight. Maybe the streets become more treacherous as drunken adventurers amble their way in and around some of the darker, less tourist-friendly areas. Carts and their requisite animals may become obstacles to those who can barely keep their footing. Throw in a time limit for good measure. Any barfly worth his salt is well aware of the dreaded last call. Get inventive! Turn the ordinary into the extraordinary! Make a mountain out of the mundane!

And remember: Friends don't let friends Stay Classy!

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