A tournament?

Alrik recently brought up the idea of two groups of players vying with each other to complete a scenario the fastest. So I thought: why not run a full-fledged tournament?

A long, long time ago, role-playing tournaments were a fairly standard part of the convention scene, and many of the most famous modules evolved from tournament scenarios. Why not go back in time a couple decades and resurrect the idea, complete with time limits, scoring and serious bragging rights for the winners?

Thoughts?

Sounds awesome! Count me in.

Count me in as well. :slight_smile:

I can’t explain to you how giddy and happy the thought makes me. It’s like being part of history. Or at least a historical recreation.

Are you up for upping the stakes? If our group wins, you’ll tell me the truth about “Columbia” (I’m still not buying the alien explanation. It has a few holes).
If we lose, I’ll never complain ever again.

didn’t sleep for days

[quote=“GJsoft”]I can’t explain to you how giddy and happy the thought makes me. It’s like being part of history. Or at least a historical recreation.

Are you up for upping the stakes? If our group wins, you’ll tell me the truth about “Columbia” (I’m still not buying the alien explanation. It has a few holes).
If we lose, I’ll never complain ever again.

didn’t sleep for days[/quote]
I already know which team I’m going to join then :smiley:

So are you, -H- and Alrik, dming the first one?

Maybe I will be part of the next dm-team, if we make a second run. :nerd:
(I already have some ideas :mrgreen:)

sounds awesome!

which system are you considering? Something Action Castle like, or something more in the direction of old school D&D (which would be the go-to choice for full historical recreation I reckon :smiley: )?

If it would be two team in the game itself that would compete, I might be interested more.

haha

You mean a 2 group-based PvP one-shot?
I dunno, …

my brainstorming so far:
I currently think about writing a tournament “Clan-based”* one-shot,
to be able to dm it with another gamemaster for 2 groups at the same time,
but it will be more focused on “Victory Points”, then on speed**.

  • something like Legend of the 5 Rings, Vampire the Masquerade / Requiem, Game of Thrones, etc. …

** Maybe finishing it faster will grant a small amount of “Victory Points”, but speed should only be a very small factor to influence winning conditions.

It’s PvP on way or the other as the groups are competing against each other.
But I am not talking about a combat between two groups, rather an “Around the World in 80 Days”-theme where the two groups are able to influence the other groups circumstances.

Getting back to this…

This is exactly the spirit behind this idea.

Sure, a competition like this might be fun for its own sake. But it’s really about going back in time. We’d be recreating what might be the only aspect of RPGs to be truly extinct. In a way, it would be like role-playing that we were role-playing … 35 years ago.

Somehow, that idea seems strangely appealing.

[quote=“GJsoft”]Are you up for upping the stakes? If our group wins, you’ll tell me the truth about “Columbia” (I’m still not buying the alien explanation. It has a few holes).
If we lose, I’ll never complain ever again.

didn’t sleep for days[/quote]
Oh, I’m always up for raising stakes…

(Holes? What holes? I thought the explanantion was pretty convincing…)

[quote=“Darthbinks”]So are you, -H- and Alrik, dming the first one?

Maybe I will be part of the next dm-team, if we make a second run. :nerd:
(I already have some ideas :mrgreen:)[/quote]
Well, I wouldn’t want to draft poor Alrik into a whole bunch of work based on one throwaway remark :slight_smile:

(Besides, then winning might simply be a case of playing with the more forgiving DM.)

[quote=“Auburney”]sounds awesome!

which system are you considering? Something Action Castle like, or something more in the direction of old school D&D (which would be the go-to choice for full historical recreation I reckon :smiley: )?[/quote]
I think Alrik’s Action Castle idea is actually very clever. It’s essentially free of luck, can be DM-ed pretty objectively … seems like the perfect candidate for a competition. The only thing I’d be worried about is that some of the things that are hilarious when playing casually might just be frustrating when playing against the clock, and that such a light and fun might not fit well into a competitive context. Hmm.

I think that would be interesting (and actually have an idea or two of that nature in mind), but probably more for the gaming potential than as an actual tournament. Hmm again.

haha[/quote]
You’re laughing now…

Anyway, since the concept makes GJ, at least, giddy and happy, let’s try to make it happen. I’m thinking about teams of three - once we get a couple of teams together, we’ll be good to go.

Good luck, everyone!

Sounds intriguing. Count me in.

Count me in as well. :smiley:

Same here!

I figured you would be, Simon.

And already gotcha, T. & D. No need to re-up…

That leaves one more open spot before we can give this a go. Any more would have to be in multiples of three.

(Incidentally, this is of course open to all, not just our little one-shot crowd.)

Other thoughts:

Everybody playing on one day (with downtime) or separate dates? Two groups would be doable in one evening.

Random groups or pre-assembled? Could also go by time available.

And if you’re raising the stakes, GJ, what’s your ante if your group doesn’t win? :smiley:

I assume you have me on your list already, but I haven’t posted here, so… :slight_smile:

I think for a Action Castle tournament two GMs running the same thing at the same time should work perfectly. While I see your point, -H-, I don’t think it will be too much of a problem if everyone is not too stubborn about winning but rather wants to have a good and fun competition. I’d be glad to run for the second team.

Ragarding the oldskool tournament I’m not sure if I’d be able to run a game at the same pace as you, -H-. It’s not only luck and being forgiving, but also language and expertise in last century GMing :wink: We can try for sure.

But I like your idea of running it on one day with downtime. Which I think is perfect so the teams don’t need to spend too much time for planning during the active phase with -H- at the table. It’s gonna be super challenging for you though, -H-.

I’m interested if there is a free spot left!

Just can’t make it this week, but I presume this’ll be next week at the earliest anyways, right?

[quote="-H-"]
And if you’re raising the stakes, GJ, what’s your ante if your group doesn’t win? :smiley:[/quote]
I was THIS close!
I’m out of ideas. I can play a whole session standing up if I lose?
Suggestions are recommended.

Looks like we have enough to give this a shot. Thoptes, Darth, GJ, Auburney, Simon, Alrik … hey, wait a minute - you guys look awfully familiar. Hmm … perhaps the rest of the board fears the awesome prowess of the Thursday-nighters?

Well, seeing as this is another experiment, maybe a small group is best. When should we do this? Next Thursday, possibly? We’ll need up to two hours per group, so an early-ish start for at least one group would be good.

As to the teams, should I just draw lots?

Oh, the potential…

Considering I’m still resting from the procedure, I won’t be able to make it for the next 2 weeks.
If you guys are up for it and have enough players, feel free to go for it though.