Unseelie Ball

[Xihirli]

Long story short my players have managed to get invitations to a ball being thrown by the Unseelie Court. I want it to be grandiose but simultaneously bizarre. I have a few ideas of my own that I’m not married to, so I ask the playground:
What sort of ballroom would this be? How might I manage the atmosphere, the music? What’s being served, and what creatures might approach the party?

[nickl_2000]

Which seasonal court is holding the ball?

[Xihirli]

The Winter Court, under Queen Mab.

[JellyPooga]

I'd cast *Summon Ninja_Prawn*...always a good shout when it comes to anything Fey related.

If it's Winter Court, then creepy, dead and/or ice related is the go-to. Inspiration from "A Nightmare Before Christmas" (or anything Tim Burton, for that matter), or even the likes of "Frozen" could be good. Some reading you might want to look into include Rothfuss' "Kingkiller Chronicles", "Green Rider" by (I forget the author, off the top of my head) and, indeed, any of Pratchetts Witches series, but "Lords and Ladies" in particular.

[Temperjoke]

One thing to consider, are the players going to the ball as guests, or as entertainment for the guests? That would shape a lot of the interactions. Another thing to consider, do the other guests know the answer to the aforementioned question?

If they are considered guests, then there will probably be the usual polite conversation and subtle power-jockeying with the other guests based on ranking among the Unseelie, with the usual attempts to get favors from them and involve them in their power struggles against other fey.

If they are considered fair game for entertainment, the PCs lives are going to be in danger from dangerous pranks (probably not outright attacks given the setting), as well as the aforementioned favors/power struggles.

If they are entertainment, but the other guests don't know it, you'll have the favors/power struggle, but the host may also put in subtle dangers to the PCs, and watch with amusement at the uncertainty and chaos the introduction of these new pieces to the game causes their court.

Just my two cents on it, anyways.

[Nagog]

A few notable individuals that may be invited to such a ball, if such individuals exist in your world: The Queen of Air and Darkness (Unseelie Fey, pretty obvious invitee if not the host), the Raven Queen (In some renditions, the Raven Queen and the Queen of Air and Darkness are one and the same), Lolth (Spider goddess of the Drow. Considering the elves are, in some canons, fey, this may be a controversial choice), Also consider populating the party with a mix of dark fey (darkling, quicklings, etc) intermingled with fallen or even simply cordial fey. Depending on the relations between the Seelie and Unseelie Courts, they may be a good number of Seelie Fey there as well.

As for the locale, there are a number of interesting quirks to the Unseelie that may make some locales more appealing than others. For example, most, if not all, of them should have Darkvision, and in the case of Darklings, light physically harms them, so the ball may be held in total darkness. As Darkvision does not process color, the typical lavishness of a formal ball must be expressed through senses other than sight, perhaps through the music? Perhaps there is another area where finely crafted scents are on display for attendees to sample?
Clothing of those in attendance will also be beautiful in shape and form moreso than in color as well for the same reasons.

[RickAllison]

Long story short my players have managed to get invitations to a ball being thrown by the Unseelie Court. I want it to be grandiose but simultaneously bizarre. I have a few ideas of my own that I’m not married to, so I ask the playground:
What sort of ballroom would this be? How might I manage the atmosphere, the music? What’s being served, and what creatures might approach the party?

I'm going to take some inspiration from Changeling: the Lost

Ballroom: Play up fairy tales. Disturbing masquerades of characters from myth, some familiar and some very, very strange. Think of the elaborate cosplays of conventions, but with more dark fantasy. One example that could be really cool is the Thunderbird and the Underwater Panther of Amerindian myth. The mask is of a bird that stretches back into a wing-like cape that sends off sparks of lightning and thunder as the user walks about or dances, while the skirt of the dress is a fabric of water that has a living coeurl sewn into it, which moves about, lashing out at anyone that gets too close.

Atmosphere/Music: Take some inspiration from the link in the spoiler. The Feywild is unbridled creation without a hand to really lead it, and the fey aren't as good at creating new things so much as imitating them. So use music and such that are familiar, yet twisted, off, real yet also different.

Spoiler: Sinister Disney Music

Show

Perhaps watching the video is a bit... disorienting. But the music is great.

Served: Emotions. Rather than having some exotic meats or fruits, when the party takes a bite of what looks to be a spring roll, they are tasting innocent bliss. What looks to be a chocolate bowl with a red fruit filling is actually hatred boiling over into murderous rage. Find some fun looking dishes online that you can use for inspiration and then find some emotions you can tie to them that will wig your players out. The champagne could literally be human misery, and these fey are feasting on it (literally).

Creatures: Go nuts with intelligent, but powerful creatures as guests and weaker, exotic creatures as servants. For anyone who isn't too proud, this is the perfect place to build connections for a grab at power with someone who won't be directly conflicting with you. You probably won't see a Beholder there, but it's a great excuse to pull out some weird enemies. Yuan-ti Anathemas, Skull Lords, yugoloths, djinni, etc. Just look through Tome of Foes or Volo's Guide for inspiration, quite a few might spark some interest. For a main event, the Unseelie hosting it might have captured a powerful elemental like a Zaratan, or an astral dreadnought, something huge and powerful that the fey can torment. And if it breaks free then all the more entertaining. Look up the Rakdos cult from Ravnica for inspiration here.

[Ninja_Prawn]

I'd cast *Summon Ninja_Prawn*...always a good shout when it comes to anything Fey related.

Only if you placate me with sugary treats and pressed flowers!

To be fair, a lot depends on how exactly you're representing the courts, what 'unseelie' means in your setting, etc. I don't know much about your game, so it's hard to make useful suggestions.

Some random ideas for game-mechanical things you could do:

• The entire ball takes place on an ice rink - difficult terrain if you're not wearing skates and you have to be in constant motion if you are.
• Random items of food are either poisonous to humanoids or have magical effects. Could make use of the wild magic surge table.
• Everyone talks in rhyme, obviously. NPCs will pretend they can't hear you if you don't.
• Use the rules for extreme cold on DMG 110.
• Fey creatures think age-changing magic is funny.

If you're looking for more content, you could check out our Fey Folio and Tundra books, or flick through my Tumblr for free monster stat blocks.

[JellyPooga]

Only if you placate me with sugary treats and pressed flowers!

I just assumed that they were the material components of the spell, consumed by the casting

[Justin Sane]

If you have enough time to prepare, both Summer Knight and Cold Days, from the Dresden Files, contain two separate Unseelie parties.

On the 1st, the scene that sticks out the most is the performer that dies while playing - it was, quite literally, the best performance of his life.

The 2nd focuses more on the politics and rules of the fae - their bizantine rules of conduct make the dichotomy between a lawful and a chaotic society quite clear.

[Xihirli]

Thank you all for your help!
Honestly I'm still ironing out the feywild details myself in regards to the setting, I wasn't expecting them to arrive for another two sessions at least (normally players stopping to buy magic items is such a surefire bet), so that's another thing to add. Basically I dislike the idea that the Seelie are good while the Unseelie are evil, so I've decided to go with the version where the Seelie are Lawful Neutral (think Green Knights who ultimately are just testing the knight's virtue) while the Unseelie are Chaotic Neutral (with pranks and mayhem), with both being about equally capricious and cruel, with Titania keeping many bards enthralled at her court and Mab having no specific atrocities in my mind yet but still being Mab.

When I saw the rhyming advice I had two thoughts: one, that is going to be tough to improvise and I wasn't planning on writing a sonnet about saying "hello, come have some wine" and two, I have to do that now so thank you for that one.

The "eating feelings" I am certainly going to implement and I'm sure I can find some good Gaelic dishes to be the physical parts of the meal.
I'm pretty sure I'm going to make it an ice rink as well, though that bumps a little bit with my plan of having precious gemstones making up the floor in the design of a dragon Mab killed... no, actually ice is clear. That's perfect I'm gonna do it.

The music advice is great, I will add it to the disturbing fey playlist.

Whether the PCs are considered guests or entertainment varies by PC. Only one of them has any fey blood (half-drow) and another will have some specific protection from Mab as they are her entertainment, but the rest are fair game to be turned into babies or poisoned and given cryptic clues about the antidote.

Thank you all for you'll help, I'll certainly keep referencing this as I build the ballroom.

[Nhorianscum]

For some reason I really want Mab to have a "not-christmas" tree decorated with mortals who have earned her mild-irritation sealed into glass spheres with only an inlet for food and water up top. (Edit: Or maybe they just asked a fae for food and shelter)

The ball lasts until the last one drowns in it's own waste.

[Ninja_Prawn]

When I saw the rhyming advice I had two thoughts: one, that is going to be tough to improvise and I wasn't planning on writing a sonnet about saying "hello, come have some wine" and two, I have to do that now so thank you for that one.

I think, with enough practice, you can probably train yourself to come up with rhymes on the fly. Personally, I mostly do play-by-post, so it's a lot easier.

[Xihirli]

Wow there's a lot in this Fey Folio.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Wow there's a lot in this Fey Folio.

And almost all of it is my work! ^_^ I'm quite pleased with how it came out. The 100-entry wild magic table is a personal highlight.

Many thanks for your patronage!