Bar Brawl

Basic Information

The Bar Brawl is a classic trope where a fight breaks out in a bar, and quickly spreads from the original angry parties to everyone else in the bar. In movies, Bar Brawls have an amazing ability to never result in serious injuries for the participants, while at the same time destroying tons of scenery and props. The most important part of a bar brawl (other than the contagious way it spreads to the whole bar) is the use of Improvised Weapons. Liquor Bottles, Mugs, Chairs, Table, even Windows are fair game.

Related Tropes:

• Check Please
• Grievous Bottley Harm
• Hero Insurance
• Kung Shui
• Window Pain

Locations for the Bar Brawl:

• Bad Guy Bar
• Brothel
• Dance-Hall
• Fighting Pub
• Old-Timey Saloon - You'll know the fight is getting serious when The Piano Player drops that hinged cover over the keyboard, grabs his sheet music, and heads for the door.
• Ye Olde Tavern

Sources

Bibliography

1. TV Tropes Wiki

Game and Story Use

• A Western just isn't a Western without a good Bar Brawl.
  • Of course, unless your game mechanics differentiate between lethal and nonlethal attacks, it may be hard to get PC Antiheroes to play nice.
• Also popular with the military, where troops at liberty have been known to throw down pretty much at random with any other distinct group (Different regiment, different branch, different service, different nationality…) - this traditionally ends with provost units pouring in from all directions…
• Bar Brawls are breaking out all over town. No one's been badly hurt, surprisingly enough, but the damage to bars and the public peace is starting to have a bad impact on the local economy and nightlife. What's happening? Is it a virulent meme, an evil curse, a rage-inducing disease, or something weirder yet? Only the PCs can find out.
• Note that this is a somewhat cinematic trope - at least to the degree that no-one is seriously hurt. Increased stringency will quickly lead to some serious injuries even without the improvised weapons - with them, well, when you hit someone with a real chair, unlike a prop chair, they are more likely to break than it is. Likewise, real glass tends to cut people up really quite quickly…