Bar Room Brawl!

In Deathblow magazine issue 3, Gav Thorpe wrote an article outlining expanded rules for Alehouse locations.  This included a "Sophistication Level" of the establishment, a new Alehouse Table, and rules for conducting bar room brawls.  I intend to include a brawl as an interlude in the mini-campaign, and just finished some solo playtesting of these fun rules.  I'm writing the condensed version of the rules here for reference, as well as a few tweaks that I think made the brawl more exciting.

The first tweak relates to picking up and using improvised weapons.  Having to forgo your attacks for the whole turn just to look for a table or bottle to grab is too severe, IMO!  I'll play it so you can roll to look for the improvised weapon of your choice, and if you find it you get to attack with it that turn.  If not, you can't make a normal attack.

The second tweak relates to how improvised weapons can be found.  Since I downloaded a great free floor plan for the tavern, I want to make use of the terrain.  So, to locate a bottle, table, hot soup, or plate, you need to be positioned in a square that has some portion of a table in it.  To locate a chair, you need to be in a square that has some portion of a chair or stool in it.  You'll still need to roll as indicated in the rules to pick up the improvised weapon.

Finally, I'm adding some simple logic for the Joe Public NPCs in the tavern when the brawl gets going.  The article has some nice rule of thumb about who they will attack.  But I'll give them a chance to try and grab an improvised weapon as well.  If they're in a square containing a chair they'll try to grab the chair on a 1 or 2 of 1D6 roll.  Otherwise, if they're in a square containing a table they'll try and grab a bottle on a 1 or 2 of a D6.

As stated in the article, the brawl ends with either all the Warriors are at zero Wounds, there is no one left to fight, or the Watch arrives.  Each turn roll 2D6 and deduct the tavern's Sophistication Level.  If the number is less than the number of turns played out, the Watch arrives.  If this happens roll 1D6.  on a 1-3 the Warriors must each pay 2d6x10 Gold damages.  On a 4-5 they are seen as trying to restore order, and are rewarded 2d6x10 Gold each.

For each Joe Public that a Warrior reduces to zero Wounds, they can make a standard Gold roll (x10) to see how much they collect.