30 Things happening at a Royal Court

1-Royal Bard. 
A royal bard is plunking away on his lyre and singing a ballad ( here are 30 Bardic Tales to choose from) and being listened to by an audience with various states of enthusiasm, unless you are at the royal court of King Vitalstatistix, in which case the bard is lying bound and gagged in a corner as everybody hates his singing.

2-Royal Jester 

The monarch is being amused- or not-by an entertainer ( here are 30 Entertainers to choose from. Perhaps one of the PCs needs to play the role of jester to cheer up a miserable monarch to gain his or her help in an important matter. Or they need the jester to deliver a piece of very bad news because only the jester can deliver said news safely without getting at best punished and at worst executed for it.

3-You’re under arrest 

Right in front of the other courtiers and the small army of guards and servants who protect and serve them, a high ranking courtier is arrested, stripped of his or her gold chain of office, publicly charged with high treason and dragged away to the dungeon. Either he or she is genuinely guilty of something serious or the monarch is showing everybody in the most direct manner possible who is the boss.

4-Really stupid thing said 

The Queen herself, when talking with one of the courtiers, is heard to say by the PCs “You look for dead man’s shoes- as if anything bad should happen to the King you would have me.” This is predicting the death of the King, which counts legally as high treason. If the PCs don’t report it quickly, they could end up facing treason charges themselves, but if they do, the Queen will probably end up beheaded because of their snitching.

Perhaps it is a set- up and the Queen is testing the loyalty of the PCs to the King, who has given permission for the set- up in advance.

4-Royal Banquet 

A grand royal banquet is taking place using The Magic of Food. Knights made of chocolate and gingerbread hack at each other with gingerbread swords, soups keep on changing colour and various other delicious magic spells make it a sight to enjoy. The King and Queen sit at the head of the table, of course, and the higher the noble rank, the closer they sit to the royal couple.

5-Gambling-anything goes.

A large gambling game is taking place and unusually, cheating is allowed. If caught, it just means no one falls for your tricks.

6-Gambling- cheats beware!

A large gambling game is taking place, but if you cheat and get caught, nobles get heavily fined and banned from the game-and non nobles who cheat get a hand cut off.

7-Drawn sword

Despite it being a capital offence to draw a sword at the Royal Court, somebody has done just that and attacked the PCs with it and now they must try and defeat him without themselves committing the capital offence of drawing their own swords.

8-Sing Song

Several courtiers have clearly drank far too much booze and are singing drunkenly and out of tune.

9-The Dance

A royal ball is taking place with masked courtiers , violin music and lots of intricate intrigue going on behind the scenes. Secret affairs are no doubt taking place here.

10-Archery Tournament 

An archery tournament is taking place, with plenty of shooting with arrows at targets set up in the Great Hall and a Golden Arrow as a reward for the winner.

11-Trial By Combat 

A formal, legal trial by combat to the death between two armoured knights with swords is taking place in front of the King and the Queen and the rest of the Royal Court, after one of the knights publicly accused the other knight of treason.

12-Royal Audience 

The King is receiving petitioners and other such people as part of his role as the final arbiter and the fountain of justice in his Kingdom, serving in affect as a court of final appeal and having the final say on death sentences.

13-Firework Display 

To celebrate the wedding of the King’s oldest son, a grand firework display is taking place in the Royal Gardens and the entire Royal Court is invited to attend. Even the commoners can see the fireworks from afar.

14-Royal Funeral 

The King and Queen’s eldest daughter has died of a fever and lies in her coffin so that the members of the Royal Household and then the rest of the Royal Court, dressed in black, can file past according to their rank. As well as letting everyone pay their respects, this clearly demonstrates that the daughter is dead and helps prevent any would be royal pretenders from getting any traction. Afterwards the coffin will be placed in a marble sarcophagus in the Royal Mausoleum, with anti- necromancy sigils on the side and a marble life size model of the deceased daughter on top.

15-Lost Arrest Warrant 

By chance a PC finds an arrest warrant for the Queen on the floor of a passageway where a careless guard who wasn’t doing his job properly dropped it. The PCs must decide if they want to take it to the Queen and warn her or if they want to hand it to the proper authorities. 

Only the King himself can order the arrest of the Queen. If the PCs warn her in time and she manages to get the King to change his mind and cancel the arrest warrant the Queen will surely greatly reward the PCs, but if she can’t change his decision, then the Royal Guards will be on the hunt for the PCs.

16-Feats of Magic 

To impress the King and Queen and the courtiers a skilled Court Mage is preforming great acts of illusion.

17-Dark Rumours 

For several days both the King and the Queen have been absent from their normal places at the Royal Court, and there are dark rumours that the King is dying. No one quite knows why, and as it is high treason to “ predict the death of the King “ the rumours can’t be spoken of too openly but circulate as whispers from courtier to courtier. Nobody really knows what will happen next.

18-Dark Rumours II

Apparently outside the capital the peasants have risen in rebellion and a few knights and soldiers who should know better have joined them, and now they are marching on the capital armed with weapons to overthrow the monarchy , murdering any nobles that they catch on the way.The King and Queen and the courtiers are outraged and are preparing a Commission of Array, a summons to the Royal Army to form up, ready to deal with the rebels on the field of battle.

19-Dark Rumours III

There are rumours that the daughter by the Queen’s side is an impostor and the real daughter has died or been secretly murdered after she refused the arranged marriage that the King has recently arranged for her. The rumours might be a load of rubbish, but Dracia Eldren has recently been seen, and everyone knows the tales of what she is said to have done at the court of Queen Yocasta. Be the rumours true or false, the King is trying to crack down harshly on them, by saying that it is high treason to suggest that his daughter is a fake.

20-Dark Rumours IV

There are rumours that the Queen is unfaithful to the King and is pregnant with the baby of a young archer. At first the Queen just said she had eaten far too many chocolates , but as time went on it became clearer that she was pregnant. And it could not be the King’s baby as he was abroad at the time. Now he is back, and wants answers, and the Queen has offered the PCs a lot of money to smuggle her out of the country, as she has no wish to meet the executioner when he is at work and very much likes keeping her head upon her shoulders.

21-Plague!

A deadly disease has broken out at the Royal Court of all places, and now everyone is standing apart from each other trying not to be infected. As most of them are nobles, the King can’t just order everyone put to the sword and cremated to end the infection, unless he wants a civil war on his hands. Nor can he order them to disperse as then the disease will spread death all over his Kingdom and badly affect the tax revenue.

22-Poisoner?

The PCs see someone adding something to someone’s drink. Is it poison, a Micky Finn or something totally harmless? Poisoners are punished by being placed in a pot of cold water that is slowly brought to a boil, but so are those who falsely accuse others of being poisoners wrongly. But the affected person, if the would be poisoner is genuinely guilty, is a high ranking noble who would surely reward the PCs if they save his or her life.

23-Privacy needed

The King suddenly orders all the courtiers to leave. Do the PCs dare  try to hide themselves to find out the secrets of the Royal Court for their own ends?

24-Jousting Tournament 

A jousting tournament is taking place. The PCs could be jousting themselves, could overhear a plot to make sure the King dies whilst jousting, or could just be in charge of making sure that everything runs smoothly.

25-Lord of Misrule 

It is the equivalent of Christmas at the Royal Court, and one of the PCs is picked to be the Lord of Misrule- part Master of Ceremonies, part impromptu jester. He or she wears a paper crown and can order ridiculous orders that the courtiers are expected to obey. Do it right and keep the King and Queen laughing and it is a fast track to advancement at Court, but do it wrong and the PC could end up making some serious noble enemies. They can’t act against him or her during Misrule, but when the period of Misrule ends, PC beware!

26-Royal Wedding 

The Prince is getting married today to a foreign princess, and the PCs must make sure that no assassins, protesters or anyone else can disrupt the wedding.

27-Royal Summit 

Two or more Kings and/ or Queens are meeting today, and the PCs must make sure that no assassins, protestors or anyone else can disrupt the very important summit meeting.

28-Royal Play

A  play of Shakespeareian proportions is being put on at court. Perhaps the PCs must act in it, or uncover an assassin hidden within the cast before he or she can carry out the dastardly deed, or just make sure that everything goes smoothly.

29-Royal Masque 

It’s like a play, but often duller and more didactic. The PCs could be acting in it, making sure everything goes smoothly, uncovering an assassin hidden within the cast before he or she can carry out the dastardly deed, or be trying to climb out of the window without getting caught so they can avoid having to watch the masque.

30-Plotting 

The PCs must either take part in a plot against either the King, the Queen or a great noble or be attempting to foil the plot. What the plot is depends on the GM. It could be anything from trying to get a courtier into trouble to trying to blow up the entire Royal Court with barrels of gunpowder.