Dwarven Festival - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Dwarven Festival

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
kylarus
Mar 04, 2009 12:13:39 In the game I'm running, the party has come across a group of dwarves who've been separated from dwarfish kind for millennia. The party has now met up with them and the time period is about a month off from the celebration of "The Chaining of Mual-Tar." I need some more activities for the festival.

At the moment, I'm tempted to have the party participate in a mock battle of the event, as the party has several elves and humans in it and the Dwarven city is completely homogeneous. The battle would have players take on the visage of Moradin, Corellon, Bahamut, Pelor and the earliest heroes journeying with them and have them fight a mock version of Mual-tar. The crowning moment would be when Moradin, realizing the inneffectiveness of his weapons, grabs Mual-Tar by the horns and wrestles him down, allowing Bahamut, Pelor and the adventurers to chain him down, while Corellon takes aim and, using his arrows, forever blinds Mual-Tar to the material plane and allowing it to form.

Another event I want to do is a sumo wrestling event (coming from elder runes that mean "Dwarf" and "toss.") which would be a huge thing as traditionally, it's the winner of the event that portrays Moradin during the re-enactment.

All in all the ceremony would be a week long, representing the week long struggle before Mual-Tar's chaining.

Any ideas on how to conduct the events or any other events I can have them participate in. Outside of drinking contests.
#2
arco_versipellis
Mar 04, 2009 14:49:47 Th events should correlate to the "Chaining." From what I gather, Mual-Tar is some monster the dwarves formerly imprisoned; I'm going to go with giant as an example.

Kinsmen: While many events are for individuals, other events are group projecs where the clans seperate into teams. The winning clan earns prestige for the following year.

Blessings and Wards: Priests perform rituals on the masses, and they gather large crowds to hear their message of faith. Each event (feasts, songs, or contests) may be associated to a different god, or perhaps the different days of the feast.

Fasts and Feasts: In the last days of opression by Mual-Tar, the rebel dwarves had few supplies. Out of ale and with but scraps to eat, starvaion loomed. However, after the chaining, the dwarves feasted for days on the giant's stores, lasting nealy a week.
For a week before the festival, the dwarves fast and drink nothing but water, as their ancestors once starved. Then, they begin a week of drunken feasting to celebrate the hard won freedom.

Song and Dance: In the week prior, the dwarves chanted of days of oppression, but the festival is full of lively drinking songs as well as odes to great heroes. This may be a good time to let the forgieners have a spotlight in a noncombat encounter. For example, the elves lead the dwarves in one of their traditional songs.

I would recommend making the ontests skill challenges. Perhaps sumo wrestling is Acrobatics (to escape), Athletics (to reflect strength), and Endurance (to reflect constitution). Don't forget dwarves are wise and have no combat hobbies. I am thinking a Wisdom-based guessing game or riddle cotest, with History, Insight, and Perception (to spot the sweat on his brow as you get closer to the answer).
#3
stompie5
Mar 04, 2009 15:17:50 Malt beer, roaring fires, red meat off the bone...
#4
kylarus
Mar 04, 2009 19:52:00 First, thanks for the responses and aid!

To specify, it's the Mual Tar from the Dragon Article here. I plan on it spanning a couple of sessions.
Today I compiled a list of what I may include:
A Mock Battle depicting the Chaining.
Sumo Wrestling: More to emphasize the movement that allowed Mual-Tar's chaining.
Drinking Matches.
A Forging Competition: linked to the forging of the chains.
A Tafl competition: Old Norse/Irish chess style game.
Go: The game of control.

A bit more background I forgot about: Mual-Tar is a Primordial. The event doesn't commemorate its killing, just its binding and blinding. The event will also have added significance as there will be the first elves/eladrin the dwarves have encountered in near forever. The dwarves are unaware of any animosity the races may share.
#5
stompie5
Mar 05, 2009 13:50:09 If Dwarves are craftsmen in your world, you could have blacksmiths create their best weapons or armor to present to the king/leader. The blacksmith who's weapon/armor is chosen will be famed as one of the best (a weapon worthy to battle Mual Tar). The blacksmiths could also present some other cool item.

Please post how the festival turns out, for I'm rather intrigued.
#6
kylarus
Mar 06, 2009 13:19:08 The first of the events was the Sumo/Subak games. The players had a lot of fun with it.

Set-up was a 8x8 circular ring(radius of 4) with the competitors starting at diagonal from each other. Initiative as normal, no powers or basic attacks. Object is not to kill or KO the opponent, but to move them out of the ring.
Attacks instead are Str vs Fort, Dex vs Ref and Wis vs Will.
Str attacks push the opponent 2 squares or pick up the opponent(grab them and then force move on subsequent turns).
Dex attacks you to swap places with the opponent or pull them one behind you.
Wis attacks allow you to shift 1 as immediate interrupt and put them in your previous square when they attack you (A feint).
On the edge of the ring, combatants are able to make Str or Dex attack vs either Fort or Ref to perform a hip toss and remove the enemy from the ring that way.
I allowed at one point when someone made an insane acrobatics check to escape a grab to take a free attack and push the enemy one square (jump out of grab, boot to the head)

When I ran it, the players were real excited as I ran four separate matches at once and allowed each to be creative with their manoeuvres. This led to four very different matches.
#7
stompie5
Mar 06, 2009 14:31:17 Mmmmm sounds like good stuff.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 kylarus Mar 04, 2009 12:13:39	In the game I'm running, the party has come across a group of dwarves who've been separated from dwarfish kind for millennia. The party has now met up with them and the time period is about a month off from the celebration of "The Chaining of Mual-Tar." I need some more activities for the festival. At the moment, I'm tempted to have the party participate in a mock battle of the event, as the party has several elves and humans in it and the Dwarven city is completely homogeneous. The battle would have players take on the visage of Moradin, Corellon, Bahamut, Pelor and the earliest heroes journeying with them and have them fight a mock version of Mual-tar. The crowning moment would be when Moradin, realizing the inneffectiveness of his weapons, grabs Mual-Tar by the horns and wrestles him down, allowing Bahamut, Pelor and the adventurers to chain him down, while Corellon takes aim and, using his arrows, forever blinds Mual-Tar to the material plane and allowing it to form. Another event I want to do is a sumo wrestling event (coming from elder runes that mean "Dwarf" and "toss.") which would be a huge thing as traditionally, it's the winner of the event that portrays Moradin during the re-enactment. All in all the ceremony would be a week long, representing the week long struggle before Mual-Tar's chaining. Any ideas on how to conduct the events or any other events I can have them participate in. Outside of drinking contests.
#2 arco_versipellis Mar 04, 2009 14:49:47	Th events should correlate to the "Chaining." From what I gather, Mual-Tar is some monster the dwarves formerly imprisoned; I'm going to go with giant as an example. Kinsmen: While many events are for individuals, other events are group projecs where the clans seperate into teams. The winning clan earns prestige for the following year. Blessings and Wards: Priests perform rituals on the masses, and they gather large crowds to hear their message of faith. Each event (feasts, songs, or contests) may be associated to a different god, or perhaps the different days of the feast. Fasts and Feasts: In the last days of opression by Mual-Tar, the rebel dwarves had few supplies. Out of ale and with but scraps to eat, starvaion loomed. However, after the chaining, the dwarves feasted for days on the giant's stores, lasting nealy a week. For a week before the festival, the dwarves fast and drink nothing but water, as their ancestors once starved. Then, they begin a week of drunken feasting to celebrate the hard won freedom. Song and Dance: In the week prior, the dwarves chanted of days of oppression, but the festival is full of lively drinking songs as well as odes to great heroes. This may be a good time to let the forgieners have a spotlight in a noncombat encounter. For example, the elves lead the dwarves in one of their traditional songs. I would recommend making the ontests skill challenges. Perhaps sumo wrestling is Acrobatics (to escape), Athletics (to reflect strength), and Endurance (to reflect constitution). Don't forget dwarves are wise and have no combat hobbies. I am thinking a Wisdom-based guessing game or riddle cotest, with History, Insight, and Perception (to spot the sweat on his brow as you get closer to the answer).
#3 stompie5 Mar 04, 2009 15:17:50	Malt beer, roaring fires, red meat off the bone...
#4 kylarus Mar 04, 2009 19:52:00	First, thanks for the responses and aid! To specify, it's the Mual Tar from the Dragon Article here. I plan on it spanning a couple of sessions. Today I compiled a list of what I may include: A Mock Battle depicting the Chaining. Sumo Wrestling: More to emphasize the movement that allowed Mual-Tar's chaining. Drinking Matches. A Forging Competition: linked to the forging of the chains. A Tafl competition: Old Norse/Irish chess style game. Go: The game of control. A bit more background I forgot about: Mual-Tar is a Primordial. The event doesn't commemorate its killing, just its binding and blinding. The event will also have added significance as there will be the first elves/eladrin the dwarves have encountered in near forever. The dwarves are unaware of any animosity the races may share.
#5 stompie5 Mar 05, 2009 13:50:09	If Dwarves are craftsmen in your world, you could have blacksmiths create their best weapons or armor to present to the king/leader. The blacksmith who's weapon/armor is chosen will be famed as one of the best (a weapon worthy to battle Mual Tar). The blacksmiths could also present some other cool item. Please post how the festival turns out, for I'm rather intrigued.
#6 kylarus Mar 06, 2009 13:19:08	The first of the events was the Sumo/Subak games. The players had a lot of fun with it. Set-up was a 8x8 circular ring(radius of 4) with the competitors starting at diagonal from each other. Initiative as normal, no powers or basic attacks. Object is not to kill or KO the opponent, but to move them out of the ring. Attacks instead are Str vs Fort, Dex vs Ref and Wis vs Will. Str attacks push the opponent 2 squares or pick up the opponent(grab them and then force move on subsequent turns). Dex attacks you to swap places with the opponent or pull them one behind you. Wis attacks allow you to shift 1 as immediate interrupt and put them in your previous square when they attack you (A feint). On the edge of the ring, combatants are able to make Str or Dex attack vs either Fort or Ref to perform a hip toss and remove the enemy from the ring that way. I allowed at one point when someone made an insane acrobatics check to escape a grab to take a free attack and push the enemy one square (jump out of grab, boot to the head) When I ran it, the players were real excited as I ran four separate matches at once and allowed each to be creative with their manoeuvres. This led to four very different matches.
#7 stompie5 Mar 06, 2009 14:31:17	Mmmmm sounds like good stuff.