Greyhawk. Jewel of the Flanaess. Crossroads of trade and culture. On any given night, there are a thousand things to do in the city.
But you’re not in the city. You’re on the Plain of Greyhawk and your entertainment options are … limited.
This post is part of RPG Campaign Tour Challenge 2026. Here’s the prompt:
Day 12 – What do people do for entertainment around here? Music? Theatre? Sports? Gambling? What do the adventurers in your campaign do on their ‘day off’? What is there for tourists to spend money on?
Visit Nuketown’s RPG Campaign Tour Challenge 2026 Prompts page for the rest of our challenge posts.
Entertainment on the Plain of Greyhawk
Alain the Wanderer gives a small smile as you wander down Ery Trail, making your way to the next big town, which is really just a collection of hovels. “Entertainment on the Plain of Greyhawk? Most of the farmers are farm’n the ranchers spend their time ranch’n, and the miners are mine’n… and occasionally dying in cave-ins and what have you. ‘Entertainment’ isn’t something they ponder much, seeing as how they’re trying to stay alive and keep their families fed.”
“Not to say there’s noth’n to do on the Plain. In Erybend and High Ery, you’ve got your obligatory taverns. Most people go there at regular intervals to drink, play games of dice and darts, and so on.”
“Sometimes —usually during the high festivals of Neediest, Growfest, Richest, and Briefest — there are gatherings in the Plain towns. Those weeks, you might find carnival-type events with traveling performers coming through to put on games, shows, and similar entertainments. They drink hard and play hard for a a couple days, then it’s back to the farm, the ranch, or the mine for another three months until the next festival rolls around.”
Big City Distractions
“For true fun, what you got to do is head up to the Free City of Greyhawk.
“There, you got options— drinking, drinking, drinking some more.” He looks off wistfully, licks his lips, then continues. ” So many options. The Black Dragon Inn, the Broken Staff, the Griffon’s Nest. But you don’t need to just drink. There is good food. Gambling. Hell, even opera and plays. You think of a distraction, you’ll find it in Greyhawk.”
He smirks again. “But you, yeah, for some reason you’re not headed there. Can’t say I blame you, given that your chances of getting your purses cut are a lot lower on this dirt road we’re walking down. But fun? Yeah, your chances of finding it here are piss poor. Speaking of which, I gotta see a man about a horse…”