Kobold Think Tank
Tabletop RPG advice for little dragons

Using Stage Plays In Your Campaign

by Brandon Gregory

Graphic of a well-dressed actor of South Asian descent holding a skull and delivering a monologue

Stage plays are a big part of historical pop culture and offer fun interactions for your players and a unique place to meet with and observe NPCs. From having players improvise parts of a play to using a play as a backdrop for important events, there are many ways to use them in your campaign. Here are some guidelines for effectively using plays in your game.

Having Players Participate in a Play

Having a participatory play can be a nice change of pace for most tables, especially if it helps them accomplish a goal. This depends on your table’s comfort with improvisation, but there are some things you can do to make a play into a fun event for your players.

The DnD adventure The Wild Beyond the Witchlight has an optional play section that gives the players lines that they must use and asks them to improvise the play around the lines. While this can be fun, it’s very improv-heavy and doesn’t provide much guidance. When I ran that module, I re-wrote that section to instead use cue cards to give a rough idea of each scene and let them improvise the details.

Here’s the complete play I ran for the players:

The play was the main route to accomplishing the goal of the session: to retrieve a personal item from a hag. The audience and NPC actors participated in the play and reacted to the players’ actions. The party consisted of a Paladin, a Ranger, and a Bard, so Persuasion, Survival, and Performance checks gave each of them a chance to shine. This became a memorable session.

For the battles, I ran them as normal battles, tracking hit points and limited character resources like spell slots. I allowed the players to use any spells or abilities they had as a part of the show and gave them the effects of a long rest after the play. This gave weight to their actions in the play without detracting from what they could do afterward.

That said, my group is very comfortable with improv—the players included two improv comedy actors and a podcaster. If your group is less comfortable with improv, you might take an approach similar to Final Fantasy VI and turn it into a slight memory game, asking each player to remember a detail or two about who they talk to or what action they take in the play. Couple this with some skill checks and you’ve got an interactive play with little improv required. Give the players a point for a success (either remembering the correct action or passing a skill check), and give different rewards based on their final score.

The key to success with a participatory play is the rule of cool. If you plan a puzzle with only one solution, you’re in trouble if the players don’t do that one thing. Allow the players to run the play and change your plan based on what the players do. If you plan a dragon fight and your players instead want to talk the dragon out of fighting, allow them to try that approach with skill checks. You usually want them to succeed, and you always want them to have fun.

Using a Play as a Scene for Important Events

Sometimes a play isn’t something the players should participate in directly but is instead a backdrop for some other plot point. The party might need to contact a noble or kidnap a celebrity, and a play provides a unique setting for that. You can make that interesting by having not only the theater but also the play itself be an important part of the scene.

The “play within a play” plot device has been used in Shakespeare plays as well as Final Fantasy games, and for good reason: it’s a great way to provide foreshadowing for your campaign. Having a play that mirrors the plot of your game can allow the DM to hint at what’s to come or provide a dramatic parallel to the party’s actions.

One great pop culture example of using a play for foreshadowing was the play toward the end of Avatar: The Last Airbender. The play hit on various plot points the party had dealt with throughout their journey and took a meta look at them, such as completely skipping over a mini-arc that fans widely regarded as the worst. In the end, though, the play took a turn for the serious by showing what would happen if the party failed in their task.

In TTRPGs, you should avoid using plays as a lore dump. Either summarize the play or (even better) get the players to participate in the play. Have players play either recurring NPCs or each other (pro tip: have players play other players’ characters for maximum satire) to give this a meta-parody feel like in Avatar. This makes it easier to work in a little bit of foreshadowing at the end of a play.

Plays can also be a parallel for party actions. If the party learns that there’s a plot to assassinate a noble, sneaking into a play about killing a king can be a good backdrop for warning the noble and trying to get her to safety. The same play can also work as a backdrop for assassinating the noble. If the party needs to kidnap an actor or singer, a play is the perfect setting to do that.

Plays can also be an important part of the party’s plan. The opening of Final Fantasy IX featured a play that provided a cover for a group of thieves to kidnap a princess, and the “actors” had to adapt when things didn’t go as planned. More simply, players can use the play as a cover for their actions. A fight scene on stage might mask the sound of an actual fight nearby, or the party might impersonate theater staff to get close to someone well-guarded.

When using a play as a setting, focus on things that can only happen in plays. Tell a story or have the players participate. If the scene could just as easily play out in an open market or manor, do that instead. Plays do provide some unique opportunities, though, and can be used to create some memorable scenes.

Making a Play Part of the Culture of Your Game

If you’ll be using a play in your campaign, introducing it before you need it can help the players engage. Even if you don’t plan to set a scene in a play or have the players participate, plays can be a great way to make your campaign feel more alive. Plays provide a way for you and your players to make in-game pop culture jokes, as well as a way to communicate a lot about characters based on their reactions to plays.

It’s easy to imagine centers of commerce and politics in a game world—an open market and senate building, respectively. But for the citizens of a town or city, there’s much more to life than shopping and politics. A theater can serve as the cultural center of the town. Citizens can talk about saving enough money to see a play there twice a year, or others might talk about going weekly just to be seen. Actors and actresses become local celebrities and provide plot hooks. A large enough theater might become a cultural hub for surrounding areas as well. Having a cultural center for your town gives a lot more opportunity for NPCs and player characters to seem more like real people.

As mentioned above, plays can be an important parallel to story events in your campaign. A play about the tragic downfall of a monarch can be important foreshadowing or commentary on political events, and seeing NPCs react to the play can reveal information about how they feel about similar events in the city. A play with a popular villain might show the town’s moral ambiguity growing over time. A play about two lovers of different races or species (like an elf and an orc) coming together would be a great opportunity to reveal public opinion about such a union. Good fiction mirrors reality, and showing how NPCs react to that is a good indicator of how they’d react to similar things in reality.

That’s not to say that every play has to be serious and literary, though. A production of Karate Bard III can provide some fun characters and one-liners for NPCs and player characters to refer to. If players embrace or reject the play, giving NPCs similar or opposing views on the play can be a good way to introduce characters and their relationships. A fight in the market can lead to a child approaching the party’s Monk or Bard and asking for an autograph, or rowdiness in a tavern can prompt a barkeep to say, “This isn’t Karate Bard III!” Inside jokes in campaigns can make them memorable, so in-game plays can take on lives of their own.

Plays are often the most vibrant form of pop culture in fantasy worlds, so using them can make the world and NPCs feel more alive and relatable. If your party is going to spend significant time in a city, think about adding one to your world.

Sample Plays

Note: These plays contain references to locations from the Forgotten Realms setting. Feel free to replace these with locations from your setting.

The Dirtiest Dwarf of Citadel Adbar

A dwarven play by playwright Marma Munhenn, this comedy of manners (term used loosely) examines dwarven gender norms and culture. Bylnas Strongodor is the dirtiest woman in Citadel Adbar, with a stench so foul she’s kept suitors away for decades. Her mother delivers an ultimatum: find a husband or be cast out of the mining caste. Will Bylnas be able to make herself desirable to suitors? Or will she find a suitor willing to overlook her hygiene? This play holds the record for the most fart jokes in a single play by a wide margin.

Using this play – This requires a certain sense of humor, but if your table is into that, this can be a perfect play for participation. Constitution checks might be required to stand close to Bylnas. The play could also be used as a cover for an activity that might generate a certain smell.

The Human of Beregost

From tiefling playwright Calamity Cartwright, this is a story of race-fueled bigotry with a twist: the entire cast is tiefling actors, save for one human who plays the target of the play’s racism. The human is the last of his kind in the large trading town of Beregost and experiences the mistrust of others who attribute to him the presumed vices of his people that led to their downfall. Many human viewers have said it was a very eye-opening experience.

Using this play – This would be a perfect parallel story for rescuing someone before they are assassinated or kidnapped. It could also be a great setting for convincing a noble that his or her treatment of non-human citizens is harmful.

The Passion of Keyleth and Rhuk

From elf playwright Aramil Amakiir, a story about an elf who falls in love with a half-orc despite the looming war between their two clans. Two endings exist: one showing a tragedy as the two lovers die to be with each other, and another showing peace as their love inspires the two clans to set aside their differences.

Using this play – A Romeo and Juliet-type story works well as a parallel story for a lot of scenes or a rescue plot. This could also be used as a cover for the party to infiltrate a castle for a kidnapping. The two endings allow the party to adapt the ending to whatever they need to cover their escape.

The Virtue of Clanless Delmeriv Kava

From dragonborn playwright Yarjerit Balasar of Harglast, a play about a dragonborn woman who moves into the Southern Ward of Waterdeep and refuses to be corrupted by the villains she meets there. In the end, the villains find a way to twist the law against her, but she refuses to compromise on her morals, and she dies with her honor.

Using this play – This is the perfect setting for rescuing or contacting a noble or old hero, particularly if you have to appeal to their virtue to get them to join you. The twisting of the law in the play is a good parallel to political plots.

Three Women of Beluir

By halfling playwright Paela High-hill, a comedy of manners about three halfling women who fall in love with the same man and struggle to remain friends. When the women catch the man juggling a date with each of them at the same time in the same restaurant, they decide they’re better off without him. Known for its insightful look at gender norms and double standards.

Using this play – This is another great one for participation. Lots of Charisma checks, and possibly some Sleight of Hand or Stealth rolls. The humor in the play comes from unexpected chaos and would provide a good cover for sneaking someone in or out of a location.

Karate Bard

When bad guys kidnap the duke, only one man can save him: Karate Bard, the adventurer who is both a Monk and a Bard. Aided by Clarence the Bloodthirsty Cleric and Fionna the Fairy Barbarian, the play is pretty much 5 minutes of setup and 1 hour of fighting stunts.

Using this play – This is a perfect participation opportunity for a Monk, Bard, or anyone else. Run it as a series of battles, tracking things normally. The constant fighting on stage is also a great cover for any fighting the party may have to do. (Pro tip: Fionna the Fairy Barbarian can be played by anyone. In fact, the bigger, the funnier.)

About the Author

Brandon Gregory

Photo of Brandon Gregory

Brandon Gregory is a web developer and writer in the Kansas City area. He's been playing TTRPGs since 2020 and is involved in the disability-related TTRPG podcast Tales from the Crips. He's into classic movies, mental health, and, of course, DnD. Also, he's in a band. One time, they rocked so hard it killed a man.