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HappyDMing
2021-08-29, 08:48 PM
Hi! In my actual campaign i want my players to participate in some sort of big tournament, worldwide known, and in that the price is a very special one (like one relic with cool in game mechanics). And i really want it to feel different than the usual "medieval festival" and i'm not compelled to the idea of a martial arts tournament like in Dragon Ball Z (because only combats and specially 1 on 1 combats sounds kinda repetitive and boring for TTRPGs in general).

So, for those who know the reference, i like to think of it as the test to becoming a Hunter in Hunter x Hunter (anime). So...i was hoping that maybe together the community could come up with some creative ideas for encounters that might challenge the players in ways they don't expect, but feel thematic in a "finding the worthy" way.

Example non-combat event - "SECOND CHANCE"
The teams have to rescue animals being hunted down by dinosaurs in an isle, wounded and in risk of dying, bring them back to the arbiters base and stabilize them. The team who get to save the most animals wins. (It should encourage the use of survival, nature for finding medicine, of course medicine skill and many others. It is a non combat event but there is room for fighting predator if it feels appropriate)


Format of the tournament
It is a Teams Tournament. The party of PCs is a Team. The other teams should feel unique and have their thing:

- A team of steampunk dwarves using unique and unchecked technology in their favor
- A team of rogues and illusionist that cheats in any possible way to win
- A team of tabaxi resembling the Thundercats
- A team of Tian Xia Monks where each member manipulates a particular element (like Avatar)
- A team of a single old lady...that always wins, but competes/fights at the same time as the PCs, so they never get the chance to see how she does it, and only hear the audience chating about how amazing the fight was across the city
- And so on...



Rules: (for now)
- It is forbiden to kill
- In some fight scenarios, you lose if you left the arena or surrender
- If all members of a team fall uncouncious, the team loses

The first event (As a bonus)
To begin the tournament, the players find an organizator that tells them that there is a qualifier event in order to enter the tournament, and that it consist of providing rare ingredients for the opening feast ceremony. Then begins to name all kind of crazy ingredients already delivered, only to end up saying that it's still missing some Roc Eggs. The party then have to manage to find and get said eggs...only to find later that there was not such event, and the tournament has no requisites for entering. Not only that, but the first event has already begun! And is a race to a certain destination, and the party is at least one hour behind! (Later they will find that the organizer that tricked them is from the team of cheaters).

In summary
I would love to read your opinions, as well as other ideas for Teams, rules and events.

Quertus
2021-08-30, 10:58 AM
- A team of a single old lady...that always wins, but competes/fights at the same time as the PCs, so they never get the chance to see how she does it, and only hear the audience chating about how amazing the fight was across the city
- And so on...

The first event (As a bonus)
To begin the tournament, the players find an organizator that tells them that there is a qualifier event in order to enter the tournament, and that it consist of providing rare ingredients for the opening feast ceremony. Then begins to name all kind of crazy ingredients already delivered, only to end up saying that it's still missing some Roc Eggs. The party then have to manage to find and get said eggs...only to find later that there was not such event, and the tournament has no requisites for entering. Not only that, but the first event has already begun! And is a race to a certain destination, and the party is at least one hour behind! (Later they will find that the organizer that tricked them is from the team of cheaters).

In summary
I would love to read your opinions, as well as other ideas for Teams, rules and events.

I mean, my characters don't tend to enter such events without "a man on the outside" (and one on the inside, if they can manage it). So we'd know what the old lady did.

Also, if we're the first ones there, we get the whole list, not just "roc eggs". And whoever was going to get what we got has to *try* to get something else.

HumanFighter
2021-08-30, 12:18 PM
I think this sounds like a really fun idea, HappyDMing. In my experience as a GM, I always tried to get a tournament event going for my players. They almost always joined it, but it was always disappointing and not that fun somehow.

Another idea for an opposing enemy team could be a single guy with a number of magical stones strapped to his belt and/or his bandolier. These magical stones contain powerful magical creatures and when he throws them stones on the ground and calls out their name, the creature is unleashed and fights for him against the PCs. (A pokemon trainer, I know lol :smallbiggrin:)
Anyways, he could start out small with a pixie, then a unicorn, then a demon, maybe even a dragon. A cyclops, a gorgon, and maybe a giant scorpion.

Also another team could be a squad of dark wizards who are all psychopaths and are out to kill the enemy team, just for the fun of it, or maybe for religious reasons. To avoid disqualification, they create magical copies of their victims so it does not appear that any murder took place. These "clones" act a little strangely, but u could pass off the excuse that it was just brain damage from the fight.

As for the magical relic prize at the end (if the PCs win) I would get a feel for what the PCs need or want and then determine what it is based off that. Don't want to give a magical sword of chaos or something to a team of wizard-only PCs, for example.

HappyDMing
2021-08-30, 06:20 PM
I think this sounds like a really fun idea, HappyDMing. In my experience as a GM, I always tried to get a tournament event going for my players. They almost always joined it, but it was always disappointing and not that fun somehow.

Thanks! My players know about this tournament and are eager to participate. I've build up quite some expectations around it and its prize. But, it still is a side event in my actual campaing. Altough it should at least represent for them the opportunity to gain XP. They'll be entering the tournament at lvl 8 and i assume they could end it at lvl 10.
I also happen to have two 3D printers...so i'm printing every miniature for the games to clearly represent NPCs and monsters, and for this tournament i'm printing some scenery to make another cool event. The tournament is based on a pathfinder adventure (Fists of the Ruby Phoenix) and in that, the event is hosted in honor to a legendary powerful sorceress. And because of that, i think that fun magic stuff could be used in at least one event. Mi idea for one is "Escape from the everchanging dungeon": I've printed a lot of modular dungeon tiles (with walls, columns, doors and stairs), and i'll randomly pick a number of them to build medium spaces for them to move...any time they advance through a door i will build at random more dungeon and dismantle the previous set. If they go back, the dungeon isn't as it was just before. They escape only by exiting trhough 4 different colored doors (also picked at random) and in between they can come across other teams and even creatures lost in this unstable dimension.


Another idea for an opposing enemy team could be a single guy with a number of magical stones strapped to his belt and/or his bandolier. These magical stones contain powerful magical creatures and when he throws them stones on the ground and calls out their name, the creature is unleashed and fights for him against the PCs. (A pokemon trainer, I know lol :smallbiggrin:)
Anyways, he could start out small with a pixie, then a unicorn, then a demon, maybe even a dragon. A cyclops, a gorgon, and maybe a giant scorpion.

This is a really fun idea! and one that goes perfect with mi idea of a single old lady team winning all her encounters. Instead of the typical necromancer/summoner i could use this and have everybody laugh with the reference.


Also another team could be a squad of dark wizards who are all psychopaths and are out to kill the enemy team, just for the fun of it, or maybe for religious reasons. To avoid disqualification, they create magical copies of their victims so it does not appear that any murder took place. These "clones" act a little strangely, but u could pass off the excuse that it was just brain damage from the fight.

I thought about this before and the idea of disqualifying the murderous team also appeals to me, because if they got disqualified for killing a PC, they would blame the PC's team and further try to kill them in the city or infiltrated in another event (like the random-dungeon).


As for the magical relic prize at the end (if the PCs win) I would get a feel for what the PCs need or want and then determine what it is based off that. Don't want to give a magical sword of chaos or something to a team of wizard-only PCs, for example.

For sure! The prize should be a well balanced item or items that improves the party chance to succeed in the main quest, but not as such as to break the game, because they still have 10 more levels to go.

HumanFighter
2021-08-30, 07:26 PM
For sure! The prize should be a well balanced item or items that improves the party chance to succeed in the main quest, but not as such as to break the game, because they still have 10 more levels to go.

Good, good. Glad you're choosing to make it a balanced reward, cuz I've had in times in the past, on more than one occasion, given my players too powerful of rewards and it cost me and the campaign in general in the long run.
Also, glad you liked my pokemon trainer idea :smallbiggrin:

Bohandas
2021-08-31, 01:50 AM
*Some kind of pentathlon-esque event that clearly started out as somebody's to-do list (make sandwiches, do laundry, fix roof shingles, etc)

*survive retrieving an item from behind a heavily trapped corridor

*rap battles

*competitive eating

*competition to see who can be first to light a fire simply by praying over the kindling like in [redacted]

*the competitions from the slow cart kingdom sequence from Journey to the West

*groin kicking competition like in the South Park episode with the giant robotic Barbra Streisand

*escape rooms

*tic-tac-toe, or rock-paper-scissors, or some other children's game treated with the intensity and histrionics of the main game in an anime like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, or Beyblade

*crime pentathlon- steal the thing, bribe the cop, hide the bodies, beat the stoolie, frame the patsy

*allingator wrestling

*dinosaur rodeo

Ameraaaaaa
2021-08-31, 05:11 AM
One of the teams could be a literal giant triplets are always at each others throats but deep down they do care for each other.

Another idea is a team that's literally just the entirety of the population of a small town except children. What they lack in adventuring skill and experience they make up for in numbers teamwork and applying their individual mundane skill sets that they have mastered to a superhuman degree in unexpectedly useful ways.

A potential task can be having to climb the worlds tallest tree which just so happens filled with tons of bees.

Another challenge could be a literal talent show.

Maybe one challenge is having to figure out how to open a unbreakable briefcase. You have one hour to find out the number lock and maybe you get one hint.

Pauly
2021-08-31, 08:58 PM
If there is a religious component to it you can do:
- Build a new temple in one day. Best temple, as judged by the clerics win, losing teams have to dismantle the temples they made.
- Transport the massively huge roof beam from the forest to the temple across what effectively is an obstacle course of mountains and rivers. First team to safely deliver a beam wins.
(These inspired by IRL festivals where wooden temples get rebuilt every 10 years or so)
- complete a pilgrimage around a circuit of [large number] of temples and making appropriate offerings and prayers at each.
-Alternatively carry a statue around all the temples in a city, so the statue can get blessed at each temple. Narrow streets and competing teams will cause confusion and delay.
To make these events more interesting they have to be done while wearing traditional robes which have to be kept clean.

HappyDMing
2021-08-31, 09:19 PM
If there is a religious component to it you can do:...

Hey thanks! Those are Great suggestions. In fact, you gave me an idea maybe not for a new event, but for making the first event more flavorful. The race that I was thinking could be a mix of your events. Maybe half the team needs to keep building a shrine while the other half is retrieving the beam, and one player is running through the city purchasing the traditional robes...or figuring out new outfits that they think praises the Spirit of the legendary host best.

Telok
2021-08-31, 09:25 PM
* Stock a dungeon. Each team gets some number of teleport stones that will port them somewhere, wait an hour, and port them back. They pop close-ish to something dangerous & dungeon appropriate, but instead of killing whatever they stumble across they have to identify it before capturing / luring / barganing / herding the danger to the stone, and from the stone to the dungeon. For fun, the stones are 800 pound disks in places around the city and the dungeon is outside of the city.

* Pin the tail on the doppleganger. There are 5 times as many dopplegangers in the city as there are teams. Each team gets a list with one lead per doppleganger, and has to find a particular doppleganger. But there's no links between the hints on the list and the doppleganger they have to find. So 5 teams get a list of 25 hints (1: a baker who uses no flour, 2: a horse and a green hat, etc.) and a target (the six fingered doppleganger). Find your doppleganger and get them to wear an enchanted cloak. No clues to what the cloak will do to the doppleganger when its worn.

* Epic bar crawl. This one involves behind the scenes math to set up. Each team gets a map to all the bars, taverns, inns, and other drinking establishments in the city. Each team member has to visit every bar and have at least one drink within a time limit (a week?). The math comes in where you have to work out the number of bars & average distances so ten to twelve hours of walking each day and X number of drinks over the time period is just barely doable with exhaustion & hangovers, but where going faster will result in alcohol poisoning and possibly death.

Pauly
2021-09-01, 01:29 AM
Hey thanks! Those are Great suggestions. In fact, you gave me an idea maybe not for a new event, but for making the first event more flavorful. The race that I was thinking could be a mix of your events. Maybe half the team needs to keep building a shrine while the other half is retrieving the beam, and one player is running through the city purchasing the traditional robes...or figuring out new outfits that they think praises the Spirit of the legendary host best.

The reason why I suggested a religious component is that some of the biggest festivals IRL are either explicitly religious, or have a religious start that has been buried under layers of other traditions (eg Halloween, Mardi Gras). Your players will accept a long standing big festival with a religious tone as being part of the world lore, whereas a cool but random tournament feels like a DM insert. It creates a reason for the festival to be long running and famous.

If you do a google search along the lines of “weirdest religious festivals around the world” you may be able find some more inspiration for things you can stitch together and give a fantasy twist.

HappyDMing
2021-09-01, 07:22 PM
The reason why I suggested a religious component is that some of the biggest festivals IRL are either explicitly religious...

Well, in that case the tournament already has it's reasons. There once existed a powerful Sorceress almost without equal in the world, the great Hao Jin, also called "The Ruby Phoenix". She lived a really long life and dedicated most of it to collect relics all across the world and even other planes. At her death, she passed down the order that her collection should be handed to worthy champions in tournaments held every 10 years. So it is not religious, but one could say honor-based.

Prime32
2021-09-09, 02:28 PM
Team ideas, some of which might be combined:

One or more teams that aren't interested in winning the tournament, but in recruiting the other contestants somehow (perhaps forcibly). E.g. one team is actually a necromancer and a group of disguised zombies, or there's a body-stealer running around. Or maybe one team is from a poor region that could really use some decent magic-users.
A team that cheats by having additional members beyond their official roster. Maybe an ally is helping them from the audience, or they're swapping out members to better suit each challenge, or one of their members is actually two guys in a trenchcoat.
The "strongest" team is secretly working with the organisers, and has all the contests rigged in their favour (because the organisers don't actually want to hand over the prize). This team is genuinely good even without the cheating, but with it they're practically invincible. The referees have not been informed of this, though they might develop suspicions.
A team of celebrities who enter the tournament as a means of self-promotion.
A team that befriends the PCs and then becomes unable to field one of their members, which will get them disqualified unless one of the PCs with similar abilities disguises themselves and takes their place. Then they unexpectedly get paired up against the PC team - the PCs now risk disqualification unless they get their teammate back, but revealing the deception will get them both disqualified. Then at the last minute a friendly NPC runs into the stadium disguised as the missing PC, yelling "Sorry I'm late!". If the contest is rigged, then the organisers may have noticed the disguise and set up the match in an attempt to screw with the PCs. Losing this round will not result in elimination.
A weak team that was supposed to throw their next match, but abruptly changed their minds and decided they want to compete for real. They turn to the PCs for help.