Hey great, another town to stop at, another inn or tavern.  The Whispering Goat?  The Briny Shrimp?  The Yodeling Kobold?  All I know is, the bard can make a few coin if that Perform roll is high enough, and there's a 50/50 shot there's a mysterious man in the corner.

So what to do to spice the stereotypical fantasy inn?  Sure, there's always fistfight and brawls, but those are par for the course.  How do you make your inn and taverns stand out, more enjoyable, or more memorable?

Just to start things off:
I was reading through XRP's Silk Road, and they mention the Eastern caravanserai, which was used as a shelter along the road for caravans.  Here's a little Wikipedia article that gives a little flavor showing how its different from the usual fantasy inn.  In the more Eastern-culture parts of your game, it might help with the exotic feel for things.

Quote from: Zachary The FirstThe Yodeling Kobold?

I would totally hang out there.

Unless it was false advertising.

Brothels.  With gnome prostitutes.  10 minutes of fun, 10 years of regret.


Cheers,
Roger

The Vigorous Merchant?

I'd sugest Bloody Sam's/Bill's/... from Amber.  With regular name changes.

How different are the drinking holes you frequent IRL?  Use those...

V.

Quote from: RogerBrothels.  With gnome prostitutes.  10 minutes of fun, 10 years of regret.


Cheers,
Roger

if that doesnt sound like a fun place, I dont know what is,

nice tag line..

I always like to throw the "home as an Inn" into my campaigns. Quite often you had inns that were essentially a families home that you paid or did chores to stay at. It makes of interesting interludes and in several cases spawned adventures around facing threst living in the cellar.

Bill

"After a long day of adventuring, come put up your feet at The House of the Randy Halfling!"

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!"After a long day of adventuring, come put up your feet at The House of the Randy Halfling!"

"It was either here or across the street at the Inn of the Ass-Pinching Mimic. I can't drink anywhere I can't trust the chair I'm sitting on ... here at the Randy Halfling you just have to look under the chair all the time."

At one time I customized inns and taverns with a little program that generated random menus, so that PCs would remember somewhere as the charming little place where they washed down stirge stew with green elvish wine.  The prices were variable as well.  "Whaddya mean a beer costs 2 silver in this joint?  That's highway robbery!"

Quote from: jrientsAt one time I customized inns and taverns with a little program that generated random menus, so that PCs would remember somewhere as the charming little place where they washed down stirge stew with green elvish wine.  The prices were variable as well.  "Whaddya mean a beer costs 2 silver in this joint?  That's highway robbery!"

Just to show that I've always been food-obsessed in my world design, I still have an old chart for a specific village inn showing exactly what stews are available, subdivided by season, from when I was 16 years old.

Quote from: S. John RossJust to show that I've always been food-obsessed in my world design, I still have an old chart for a specific village inn showing exactly what stews are available, subdivided by season, from when I was 16 years old.

I demand this be an added feature to my copy of And a 10-Foot Pole.  It seems so incomplete now.

Quote from: S. John RossJust to show that I've always been food-obsessed in my world design, I still have an old chart for a specific village inn showing exactly what stews are available, subdivided by season, from when I was 16 years old.

I hereby dub you Sir Nerdypants.  No, please, no fawning; you're quite welcome.

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!I hereby dub you Sir Nerdypants.  No, please, no fawning; you're quite welcome.

I'm honored But I had two spiral notebooks packed with that kind of stuff ... i could also tell you the exact odds of being able to get a snifter of Trelech Small Beer to go with your Fish-n-Pepper soup or your Chumbrick-and-Ale stew (and the drink availability table wasn't just divided by season; it had time-of-day modifiers as well ...)

Ah ... a warming bowl of Chicken and Red Corn soup, a frothy mug of Forgefire Beer, and one of Mrs. Hogan's special honey-cakes ... Just the thing to fortify a low-level party for a rousing battle with a giant beetle or a group of surly gnolls.

I still make pots of Raljaeger for my gaming group, now and then.

Quote from: S. John RossI'm honored But I had two spiral notebooks packed with that kind of stuff ... i could also tell you the exact odds of being able to get a snifter of Trelech Small Beer to go with your Fish-n-Pepper soup or your Chumbrick-and-Ale stew (and the drink availability table wasn't just divided by season; it had time-of-day modifiers as well ...)

Oh come on.  You've just got to post this now!

Just for a joke, you can have an Inn where the eating is good, the rooms are nice and everything is priced quite nicely, then the next day the PCs find out the food there gave them either explosive flatulence, volcanic diarrhea, or both.:diarrhea:

BTW, I know there's a farting smiley, can it be added to the list?