Sunday, April 3, 2011

All Fools' Day: A Rogue's Revelry

April Fools' Day, otherwise known as All Fools' Day has just passed and I thought...hmmm how would a rogue take advantage of this day to pull some pranks on his buddies.

This day actually was first recorded back in 1392 in the days of Chaucer.  Readers misunderstood and incorrectly translated "Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two." thinking it was the 32nd day of March, which in essence is April 1st.  In Chaucer's tale, the vain cock Chaunteleer is tricked by the fox.  The rest is history.

I thought I would dream up little things that the rogue could use to prank his party members on this tricky little day.

  1. Replace the fighters sword with a wooden one:  During the night the rogue can stealthily pull the fighters sword away and replace it with a wooden replica of the same weight(magically) and size.  Imagine the encounter the next day.  He charges into battle and on the first hit the sword breaks.
  2. Steal the wizards familiar: In the evening, by magical means, the rogue would steal the wizards familiar, and organize a treasure hunt to gallivant all over the town to try to find him.
  3. Hire the Kings' Guard to arrest the PC's: The rogue would communicate with the King that he would like to pull one over his party members eyes.  It would cost quite a bit of money but would be well worth it. The setup would be the following:  The party would be accused of entering the castle un-welcomed and spending the night defiling the princess.  Witnesses place the party members as culprits and they are subsequently thrown in jail until midnight.  At midnight, the rogue would reveal his deception and run for his life.  
  4. Cheat the high rolling party member out of all his earning: The rogue would show up disguised to the local gambling hall as a rich  gambler who is looking for someone to pit his fortune against.  The rogue would then use his super duper stacked dice against his unsuspecting party member.  He would try to take all of his money.  The party member would then get extremely drunk and be hungover the next morning feeling sorry for himself, only to find all of his money next to his bedside.  With this joke, a lesson can be taught to the irresponsible party member.
  5. Steal a party members clothing while bathing: The rogue would wait for the opportune moment to take the clothing and then go to the town square and hang the party members loincloth on the flagpole or the announcement board.  The rogue should be sure to leave a cryptic message as to where this article of clothing is left. Hide the remainder of his stuff under his bed and leave a note to the location of the rest of his clothing at his home after he leaves to go find his underwear.
  6. Freak the crap out of a party member: Pay two or three pregnant maidens show up at the party member' doorway claiming that he did this to them and the demand compensation.
  7. Tip the latrine: If the party member in question has an outside latrine, wait till they are in it and tip it over.  Classic prank.
This really is a day for rogues and playing practical jokes is a good way to ease some of the stress of constant adventuring.