A tiny extra for Rough Nights & Hard Days (Patreon)

As I mull the ramifications of yesterday's combat stress testing, and the fact that I've somehow convinced myself to revisit every major modifier in the game to speed play, I figured I'd make a quick post about pubs in the Empire.

Because, really, the thought of carefully replacing and rebalancing every modifier is enough to send me to drink.

So, here's a tiny snippet I originally wrote when I was writing the Pub Games section in Rough Nights & Hard Days a book I built with WFRP master Graeme Davis with help from the wonderful Bee Scerri.

The following was never used as I self-excised it, largely because it was mostly obvious material that no one needed. It was written for myself as I was researching the different pub games I could add to WFRP4. So, here for your delectation, is a tiny bit about Empire pubs. Useful? I'll leave that up to you to decide.

A Pub Is A Pub Is A Pub

Although words such as ‘inn’, ‘tavern’, and ‘pub’ are often used interchangeably, each word has a discrete meaning in the Empire, although provincial differences blur these lines. The following are the most common terms used to define your local ‘pub’.

Bar: A taproom with a long counter to accommodate as many customers as possible. Common in larger towns and cities, bars rarely have table service.

Coaching Inn: an inn that also caters to patrons arriving by coach. Coaching Inns have stables for tired and fresh teams of horses, and many have buildings to protect coaches from the elements.

Inn: a pub or tavern that also offers lodging for travellers. Some inns have stables for patrons’ horses.

Lounge: a well-appointed taproom with an admission fee or higher priced drinks. Entertainment is always provided: typically dancing, singing, comedy, or drama. Some lounges offer earthier diversions, including strip shows and more salacious alternatives. The last are common in areas with strong Taal and Rhya worship.

Pub: short for ‘public house’, a pub is a ‘house’ with a licence to serve locally-made beverages to the ‘public’, typically beer, wine, or cider. A pub is usually attached to a single brewer or vineyard.

Snug: a small private room with access to the taproom, typically through a counter. Its use comes with a fee or higher priced drinks. Usually used by those looking for privacy, or by the nobility and the rich.

Taproom: the room where alcohol is served. Taprooms usually have bare floorboards, perhaps covered with straw or sawdust to soak spills and spit. Pub games are usually offered, but entertainment is uncommon and is sometimes even illegal (some provinces only allow entertainment to be provided with a lounge licence). Most taprooms have table service, unlike bars.

Tavern: A ‘free house’ that has a licence to sell any alcohol, not just local offerings. Taverns are often closely related to local merchant guilds.

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And that's it! Told you it was a short one. Figured I'd post it here as my mind runs numbers and statistics as it contemplates the different ways rules work.

More on that in a later post...

Andy Law
13/08/2022