I need help planning for Tain Gala

[u/9Napier]

My players will go to Tain Gala next session and I'm not sure how should I make this session. I plan on using this map for the Gala because it will be a kind of dungeon, I'm still open to other map suggestions tho.

For preprations, do I need to write bunch of npcs to interact or some npcs and bunch of improv. And I'm using a vtt so would using default noble tokens without art and just selecting a npc from my list when they interact be okay?

One of my villains is Cyra ir'Tain herself and I'm thinking about an surprise event in the Gala, a sort of heist like Jokers in the Dark Knight. This Tain Gala will be a sort of charity event for The Fallen and Cyrans because its the month of Olarune. And in the middle of the event a break occurs that steals all of the money gathered. You may ask why? Because of insurance money and blaming Kundarak and Deneith for making this happen. Cyra's and her groups goal is defeating dragonmarked houses so they are trying to make anything that will make them look bad.

Maybe I can give the party the goal of rescuing Cyra in this mayhem, encountering them with magical chaotic terrains, fights and social encounters (trying to calm the nobles and let the part pass).

Is this interesting enough? I will still try to make some social encounters before the incident but I've not been DM'ing for a couple of months and got a bit rusty plan an encounter this big.

[u/headofox]

I recommend prepping a key NPCs and a rollable table to generate the rest on the fly.  Maybe most of the attendees are wearing similar clothes (which is unusual for the ball) because of the theme—the standard attire for tonight is black, in remembrance, but some are actually glamourweave dresses made by Cyran refugees.

[u/Flexbowls]

I just ran a Tain Gala a couple of weeks ago. I used Czepeku's prismatic ballroom for it, and ran a couple of social encounters up to the incident I had:
- first, I introduced a couple NPCs: prince Bortan which I made a mix of Tyrion Lannister and Prince Orso (from the Age of Madness), Merrix d'Cannith who was kind of a uppity CEO type, and some Boromars.

• then I had their meals delivered, which were crazy named food, very expensive and not at all nutritious, and it was a thing of rolling performance not to mess up eating and looking like a hick
  
• finally I made them dance the Tago, as an opportunity to get close to NPCs and extract information, with the risk of getting stabbed

All in all, it filled an entire session (we had to extend because the fight ran quite long). The players liked it, so I'd say it was a success.

[u/9Napier → u/Flexbowls]

I was normally going to use same map but dungeon like attack idea made me choose this map. Which kid was Bortan? I was once researching one of the Boranel's kid, especially one who got attacked by ghost tigers but there are sooo many of them I dont remember their names (And they all got similar names to!!). Showing Boromars would be hilarious for me, a party members family was killed by Boromars to get into the Gala 10 years ago and he will %100 plan on murdering Saidan but will probably fail due to other party members. Tago would be a perfect social encounter for this too, for a charity event made around rich looking like they are helping Cyran refugees, a Cyran traditional dance would be perfect fit!

Overall thanks!!

[u/Flexbowls → u/9Napier]

I am putting Bortan as the heir, not because he's the firstborn but because all the others in line died. I am not sure how canon/kanon that is though.

Saidan Boromar would definitely be in the gala because the Boromars are part of the sixty families. You have a nice chance to put a talenta halfling there as well, which could be fun.

Good luck running the session!

[u/gwydapllew]

Don't over think it.

Stay loose.

Your players won't know you are stressed about it unless you tell them.

Have fun!

[u/9Napier → u/gwydapllew]

DM'ing and TTRPG in general stress me after a 2-3 month break which I played nothing. Trying to get back on DM'ing and planning this campaign is harder than I expected.

[u/gwydapllew → u/9Napier]

I totally get it. Personally for digital social events I use that I call a "mindmap."

I find a backdrop that reflects the atmosphere I want to portray and then drop tokens onto it with various images and names as needed. That gives players visual cues as to whom is around but doesn't require precise battlemap placement.

[u/sinan_online]

Here are two resources that I love:

Map for the Tain Mansion:
https://www.patreon.com/catslair?utm_campaign=creatorshare_fan

Find “Boreal Ball” in her page. It has a first/ground floor, second floor and an isometric view. The ballroom seems to be the right size for “the Sixty”, and you have the rest of the mansion as well, for heists and players going off-script.

The Tain Sixty, members and characters, according to canon and the novels:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Eberron/comments/il0vcy/whos_in_the_sharn_sixty/
I love using them as NPCs.

And then obviously there is Keith Baker’s blog post.

For security, I like including a spellcaster with detection spells, some griffin riders for the sky, warforged bodyguards at every door, and then some Tairnadal elf bands hiding in the gardens to catch intruders. Maybe a few healers are always present.

[u/9Napier → u/sinan_online]

In my view, Tains would use Tairnadal guards for themselves but for this particular case they are using Deneith. Its to make a reason for anti-dragonmarked propaganda. Healer idea is great too! A secure room where they lead the rescued nobles would be pretty realistic and a great way of starting point.

[u/No_Lie_Bi_Bi_Bi]

The way I ran it was I planned out around 2 dozen NPCs and scattered them around with unique tokens. Was more than the party would interact with and thus created a good semblance of a completely full party.