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Daxtreme
2013-03-08, 06:19 PM
Greetings people,

This is my first post on the forums, I have been lurking for a while now.

So there goes: I have a party of level 10 adventurers comprised of a sorcerer/incantrix with 8 intelligence, a dwarven defender with 34 AC with 8 wisdom, and a critical-oriented two-handed greatsword fighter with 9 dexterity. It is a house rule of mine that any character must have at least one of his stats below 10, no matter what the dice rolls give you at start.

They have received an invitation to a tournament, as they have been gaining more and more fame through their quests. They have notably saved a nation-wide drought, overcame all sorts of threats in towns throughout the kingdom, and more recently, obtained a wish via a Noble genie (lucky :P) which gave them a castle ready-for-use, so they're now pretty famous.

They have received an invitation from the freak tournament organizer (A high-level Psion), and they have to take a boat to the tournament locale, Mortal Kombat-style.

Now, I wouldn't want that tournament to go DragonBall-style, which is basically, fight, fight, fight, fight, get in the Finals, then fight and win/lose for great justice.

I was wondering if any of you guys had encountered a similar situation before and had odd ideas that ended up really nice/worked well with their players. :P

Of course I plan to have a tournament oriented in combat, but not only that, you know... I am all for interesting ideas. I am currently facing the "white page syndrome" on this :smallconfused:

Edit: More details: I had the idea of having the tournament take place in the Astral plane, since the high level Psion is an outsider from the astral plane. It would also diver the attention from standard competitions and open the field for exotic ones. :)

Slipperychicken
2013-03-08, 06:42 PM
You can include other events, like:

Jousting.
Wrestling.
Boxing.
Archery (farthest shot, most accurate, most hits in given time, etc).
Racing (on foot, swimming, and mounted).
Magic-contests. (Summoned-monster duels, Counterspelling, etc)
Free-for-all melee. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melee) (depends on how you handle all the NPC's turns)
Competitive eating (probably Con checks with awesome description).
Competitive drinking.
Throwing (like with a Discus).
Weight-lifting contests (heaviest load, endurance).

And so on.

Someone might try to sabotage the PCs, like trying to poison them or give them defective equipment, leading to some detective-work to expose the culprit.

ArcturusV
2013-03-08, 08:25 PM
You can also go with the Rokugani style Court Challenges and such. This to show that they aren't just "barbarians" but giving the players a chance to prove they are the sort of well rounded, cultured people that other nobility could consider their peers (Depending on setting of course).

So you can have various contests in more "Courtly" arts, as in actual arts. Competitions in Poetry, Rhetoric, knowledge of obscure law or the ability to debate one another, a visual art of some sort, etc.

Which depending on how your players built up might be nigh impossible for them to win by standard rules and procedures requiring them to get creative.

Daxtreme
2013-03-08, 08:42 PM
You can include other events, like:

Jousting.
Wrestling.
Boxing.
Archery (farthest shot, most accurate, most hits in given time, etc).
Racing (on foot, swimming, and mounted).
Magic-contests. (Summoned-monster duels, Counterspelling, etc)
Free-for-all melee. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melee) (depends on how you handle all the NPC's turns)
Competitive eating (probably Con checks with awesome description).
Competitive drinking.
Throwing (like with a Discus).
Weight-lifting contests (heaviest load, endurance).

And so on.

Someone might try to sabotage the PCs, like trying to poison them or give them defective equipment, leading to some detective-work to expose the culprit.

There are some great ideas in there. Some of them wouldn't exactly fit, I will update OP with more details. Thank you!

Thanks Arcturus as well, neat stuff!

Minitroll
2013-03-08, 10:37 PM
I'm a big fan of the tournament being a bit chaotic. First, everyone is armed with their chosen weapons and brought into a giant arena. Then, the master releases some sort of giant monster and says 'the 32 who are left standing enter Round 2!' A few people simply run from the monster- maybe a rogue you can plan for them to deal with a few attack to meet a gruesome end. The party has to deal with the chaos and most likely with people trying to make sure they drop. Then, the games turn to smaller games- 1 on 1 or 2 on 2 with Intelligence excersizes, Harry Potter 4 style Mazes, each wrestling a summoned demon of tremendous size and the first to pin the demon wins, with disqualifications for losing.

It also depends on what you want to happen to the losers- death? Possible life? If it's death, which is more exciting, what would the PC's do when, in the final round, 2 are pitted against each other in a fight to the death? It could be very exciting.

bigstipidfighte
2013-03-08, 11:49 PM
I'd recommend giving the Tournaments, Fairs and Taverns sourcebook a read if you get the chance.

As for a specific idea, mimicking the Naruto Chuunin exams could be cool; each team starts with either a Golden or Silver McGuffin, and to advance to the next round you need to bring one of each kind of McGuffin to the Tower of Danger at the center of the tournament area. Be sure to play up the Astral Plane's subjective gravity when designing terrain.

A Royal Rumble where each PC gets a random entry number and then has opportunities to try and get a more favorable entry could be interesting.