Feast and Fellowship

Here's one of my best pro-tips for life: if you want people to show up to your "thing", provide food. Don't underestimate how much people love food. If you're struggling to put a group together to play some Aesir, try offering up some food. It works wonders.

Turns out the same trick works in RPG's! Some friends and I were playing GURPS (don't @ me) and the scene settled on a celebratory feast. The RP that emerged from that scene alone set the course for the rest of the campaign! Relationships and dynamics formed out of that roleplay became the memes of the rest of the game. And I learned something that day that I've kept in my pocket until now.

The Feast has been called "the total social phenomena". It's not about the food, it's about bringing folks together. Many western European homes of the Iron Age were single-room structures centered around a cookfire, or at least a hearth fire of some sort. Fellowship has always been important to these cultures and I needed to make sure to include it, but also program a way to extract some roleplay from everyone at the table. Especially at large tables, it can be easy for the shy, quiet players to lose their fair share of the spotlight to the gregarious, outgoing players. 

My solution is called "Feast & Fellowship", and it's a special Preparations or Passage action that groups can agree to take during those phases of the Episode.  First, everyone either spends 1 coin or one of their actions for that phase, then Hird spends 1 day's worth of Supplies for a big meal. Everyone has to show up to the Feast: the Hird, their Carae, the crews of the ships, even some locals might come! It's a big event! Put up some tents! Light a bonfire! Mechanically, each PC will walk away with an extra healing draw, 1 XP, and the crews and ships gain a point of health... but that's not the important bit:

In addition to whatever topics may organically rise, every PC asks one question of the group. The question is always asked in such a way that the answer is someone in the Hird. If coming up with a question fills you with dread, I've got you covered! The 3 components of your character (Cause, Corruption, and Competency) each came with some pre-made questions that you'll find on the back of your character sheet. Here are the questions that come with a Faithless, Enigma Magiker:

Each combination of Cause, Corruption, and Competency will yield a different set of questions. The other caveat is that someone must answer, and honestly! This answer is revealed to the PC's over the course of the event, perhaps not in so many words, perhaps shared by a confidante, or whispered in a corner, but the PC should write that answer down. What follows is up to the individuals. There should be some kind of consequence. 

This action is my attempt to foster intra-party social dynamics, for good or ill, in a way that fit the touchstones of the game. I think I first head of it in a tweet or a blog but I can't remember which one anymore, but I can't take credit for the original idea. I've kept it in my tool bag ever since. I would love to hear how it plays out in your games!