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Aidan305
2011-03-21, 02:06 PM
My party are currently in the middle of a tournament happening over the course of a festival. The battles are interesting enough, and helping the players to improve their own thoughts and strategies, but I'm having difficulty thinking up things for them to do in between battles. There's plot due to happen, but it's not likely to happen for another seven days or so, in-game. The party have an idea that something's up, after hearing a snippet of conversation while en-route back to base after a battle, but I've no idea about what I can do to fill in the time between now and when the event occurs.

Does anyone have any suggestions for ways for me to add in some filler so it's not just: Find out about Opponent -> Meet Opponent -> Battle Opponent -> Repeat

Vladislav
2011-03-21, 02:45 PM
Warning, cliches galore:

Catch the attention/affection of a fair noble lady?
Opponents are trying to launch a preemptive strike, slipping poison into the PCs food? (of course, give them a fair chance to detect this in advance rather than ooopsyouhavebeenpoisonedbye)
A man who lost a lot of money betting on the PC's opponent gets angry and confronts the PC?
A slimy bookie who wants to rig the fight approached the PCs and offers them a bribe to lose on purpose?

prufock
2011-03-21, 03:29 PM
1. Discover that one competitor is planning to cheat in his next battle. His next battle is not against any PC, but an NPC who is an odds-on favourite. The "cheat" should be substantially powerful, and explicitly against the rules. If the cheat works, as it surely will, a PC will eventually have to face this competitor. This gives them some options:

- confront said competitor about the cheating, which might result in hostility or offering to let a PC use the cheat in his next bout
- inform the competitor's prospective opponent
- inform the directors of the tournament
- do nothing
- do nothing now, but concoct some plan to overcome the cheat when a PC has to fight him
- copy the cheat

2: Steal bits of the plot from Martin's The Hedge Knight. The PCs see some poor schlubs getting roughed up by a man/a few men. Maybe one of them hits a woman. PCs interfere, perhaps jump the men. The men should be paying attention to the victims, so they have their backs to the PCs unless the PCs get between them.

In any event, the bully is actually of a noble house (if more than one, the others are just his patsies). PCs are in trouble, especially if they laid hands on him. The noble, feeling his honour has been smudged, has them all arrested. As they are tried, a more level-headed noble suggests the Challenge of the Seven (or whatever number you like, more than the PCs). This is a combat to let the gods decided who is in the right.

So now the PCs have 2 things to do - find some people who will join their team for the fight (it might even be fun to have them go in a man short). These people must be knights or nobles. Then, they actually take part in the challenge.

3. Some kid has seen one of the PCs fight, and wants to be his squire. He might be a little annoying, but maybe he's efficient. Or maybe the other way around - he could be likable but terrible at his job.

In fact, you might combine 2 and 3.

The Big Dice
2011-03-21, 05:20 PM
Track down a copy of the Topaz Championship adventure for Legend of the Five Rings from here (http://heroes-of-rokugan.com/HoR2/scenarios.html). Don't worry too much about the events, but take a look at the way there are encounters and incidents, as well as plots that lead into other adventures from the same campaign, all woven in to things.

Lord Vampyre
2011-03-21, 05:23 PM
You can simply speed up the time line.

dsmiles
2011-03-21, 05:27 PM
You could throw in some silliness (http://geekcentricity.com/2010/10/200-hooks-of-plotting.html), if you like.

LibraryOgre
2011-03-21, 07:03 PM
Another good one is have the PC accused of cheating. Especially if he didn't. But what if someone cheated on their behalf? Say... the day of the contest, the PC's opponents always show up brutally murdered? Not in any way that directly implicates the PC, of course, aside from the fact that it is ALWAYS their opponent.

fusilier
2011-03-22, 02:25 PM
Where is the tournament being held? If near a large castle, there will probably be an associated town. If it's a large tournament there will be many armorers trying to hawk their wares. And if it attracts a large crowd, plenty of other merchants would be at the market. More merchants, typically means more thieves, but also more mundane adventures, like merchants arguing over payment (or lack there of) and loans, etc. PC's could have equipment stolen. Or they could enter into some sort of contract with an armorer, who "loans" them very expensive armor or weapons, with the expectation that he/she will get a cut of the winnings -- then an argument can break out over payment, and the bailiffs get called in.

However, there can be plenty of non-tournament related events that can occur given the setting.