D&D Encounter: Rivals, Music, and a Brawl

How to use this encounter

You can easily drop the following encounter, “Rivals, Music, and a Brawl” into your game. It presents a fun challenge for a party of any level. The encounter is only potentially dangerous for characters of second level or lower. However, even then, the centerpiece of the encounter, a tavern brawl, should never truly turn deadly. Bystanders will rush to stabilize unconscious characters, and brawlers never attack a downed character.

The encounter will take approximately 30 minutes to run. You can place the encounter in any tavern in which your party has a drink or stays the night. Otherwise, modify, tear apart, or reskin this encounter to fit the needs of your game.

Encounter overview: Two rivals meet in a tavern

This encounter takes place in a tavern called the Shouting Goose. The hotshot dwarvish bard Hurdrum L’Dahr is in the middle of his evening performance when another famous bard enters the tavern: Ompheliar Graystar, a rugged dragonborn. The two performers are bitter rivals, and each has their own fierce supporters in this bar. Tensions rise quickly, and a full-fletched brawl ensues.

The party can either participate in the fighting by picking the side of the bard whose music they enjoy most, or they can try to leave the bar unharmed amidst the developing chaos.

Encounter hooks: Musical trouble

The encounter can occur in any tavern the party visits. During their stay, Hurdrum L’Dahr performs his famous songs. The party can learn of the potential conflict between Hurdrum and Ompheliar by overhearing conversations or talking to other patrons. The night before Ompheliar performed in the Shouting Goose, and about half of the patrons prefer the older dragonborn’s hard-boiled shanties over the up-and-coming dwarf’s smooth ballads.

Running the encounter: To fight or not to fight?

After the characters had time to learn about the rivalry, the encounter truly begins. Ompheliar and his band of weathered musicians enter the bar. Ompheliar taunts Hurdrum with a “Bah! This is what you call music? There’s no heart in it, no soul! Let me show you how it’s done!” The dragonborn then immediately breaks into one of his famous songs about the hardships of a sailor’s life. Half of the tavern stand up and sing along. Hurdrum is visibly furious, and begins a hit song of his own, prompting the other half of the Shouting Goose to sing along to the dwarf’s song.

At this point, the characters can sense that the situation is about to turn violent. Supporters of the two opposing musicians are taunting each other all throughout the bar. The barkeeper quickly stows away expensive bottles behind the bar. The characters could intervene at this point by:

Calming down the patrons in the Shouting Goose.
Stopping the performance of one or both of the singers.
Overwhelming one side by loudly singing along with one of the two fan groups.

With high enough Charisma Ability checks, the characters might succeed in calming tensions in the tavern before a brawl breaks out.

Otherwise, as the first chorus of both Ompheliar’s shanty, and Hurdrum’s ballad begins at the same time, the whole tavern descends into chaos.

The brawl

This isn’t your everyday tavern brawl. Everyone in the Shouting Goose fiercely supports one or the other musician, and so there is fighting everywhere. Chairs and tables are flipped, punches and kicks are thrown, and all the while the two musicians, Ompheliar Graystar and Hurdrum L’Dahr, encourage their supporters by singing at the top of their lungs. A scene of utter musically violent chaos unfolds.

Joining in the brawl

If the characters decide to join in the brawl, you can ask the players to pick a side, based on their character’s musical preference. This gives the players a chance to show off a new aspect of their character’s personality: their taste in music. Do they prefer the rough-and-tumble hard rock shanties of the dragonborn? Or the easy-listening smooth “hit songs” of the dwarf?

If the characters fight, each of them finds themselves confronted by one supporter of the opposing musician. Use the thug stat block for a brawling fan but describe their different appearance along these lines:

If a character supports Hurdrum L’Dahr, they are attacked by a rugged human, dragonborn, or halfling who shouts the shanty into their face, and fights with a broken off table leg, a chair, or their fists (use the mace’s stats of the thug).
If a character supports Ompheliar Graystar, they are attacked by a well-dressed human, or half-elf, or an enraged dwarf who attack with ornamental weapons, walking canes or expensive bottles of wine (use the mace’s stats of the thug) while singing along to Hurdrum’s ballad in a bright and clear voice.

The characters might all pick the same side or be split in their musical affection. You can roll initiative for all participants (grouping the NPC supporters of each musician). Alternatively, if you want to speed things up, you can go around the table instead of rolling initiative. Resolve the actions of each character, and then their individual opponent in the brawl. That way, you narrate individual one-on-one fights instead of running traditional initiative.

You can increase the tension of the brawl by rolling on the complications table below before a player’s turn.

Escaping the brawl

The characters might also decide that they want nothing to do with the brawl. In that case, they have to try to get out of the Shouting Goose unharmed. In the middle of 50 brawling patrons, that is no easy feat. Run the escape from the brawl as a series of Ability checks. Ask the players how their character contributes to the party’s safe escape from the tavern. Then call for an appropriate Ability check, and set a reasonable DC. For example, if a character attempts to clear a path through the brawling fans, you might ask for a Strength (Athletics) or even a Charisma (Intimidation) check, depending on how the player describes their character’s actions.

You can keep track of successes to Ability checks with a progress clock from the game Blades in the Dark. Draw a circle and divide it into four sections. For each successful Ability check, fill in one section. With four completed sections, the characters reach the exit.

If your players are slow to act, or you want to increase the tension of the encounter you can roll on this table of complications as often as you like:

d10	Complication
1	A red-nosed halfling throws a mug of ale into a player character’s face, potentially making it difficult to see.
2	A character is wedged between the massive bodies of a goliath and a half-orc who are in a fierce wrestling match.
3	An opportunistic human teenage girl tries to pickpocket a player character amidst the chaos.
4	Someone has brought a live pig into the tavern, and that pig is now rampaging through the party.
5	A group of rough sailors or mercenaries have locked arms and formed a human wall blocking the characters’ path while shouting along with Ompheliar’s shanty at the top of their lungs.
6	An elderly, mostly blind male goblin is swinging his walking stick in all directions while singing along to Hurdrum’s ballad in a beautifully refined tenor voice.
7	Two half-elf twins, one male and one female, are trying to get their male dwarf friend to safety who has fainted as the brawl began. They desperately ask the characters for help.
8	A noble human woman points at the characters and sends her guards to grapple them, shouting, “It’s them! They were making fun at my friend Hurdrum all night long! Seize them!” She has mistaken the characters for another group.
9	A drunk female gnome shoots her enchanted confetti gun in the characters’ direction enveloping them in a seemingly unending stream of glittering paper strips.
10	A pouch flies free of its owner’s belt, lands right at the feet of one player character, and a two pieces of platinum roll out of it onto the ground. Nearby patrons stop their brawling for a moment, stare at the pouch, look at each other, and then dive for the pouch at the character’s feet.

Encounter elements: Tavern, NPCs, Monsters, and Treasure

Tavern: The Shouting Goose

The Shouting Goose is a mid-sized tavern with a large taproom and a central stage on which Hurdrum L’Dahr is performing. There are a few private balconies arranged along the walls for wealthier patrons. The tavern gets its name from the stuffed goose head that is mounted over the entrance. The head is permanently enchanted, and shouts an insult at each entering patron.

Important NPCs

Hurdrum L’Dahr is an attractive, cheery young dwarf with an elaborate mustache and a voice of gold whose hit songs (mostly cheesy ballads) will have an entire town singing them for weeks after he passes through.

Ompheliar Graystar is a grim older dragonborn who is missing 2 fingers on his right hand but who still plays a mean bass lute. He sings mostly hard-boiled sailor’s shanties that revel in the hardships of a tough life of struggle and strive.

Monsters

The only stat block needed for the brawl is the thug which is a stand-in for the experienced brawlers in the tavern. You can keep the following additional NPC stat blocks handy to represent other patrons of the Shouting Goose if you want a wider range of stat blocks: commoner, noble, guard, goblin, and orc.

Treasure

The only treasure the characters can acquire in this encounter are various trinkets, and coin pouches the brawling patrons might “accidentally” lose during the chaos. Here’s what the characters can potentially find. Adjust the amount of treasure depending on how explicitly a character seeks it out: