Tournaments

[Harroghty]

I read Lylena's latest post about Tempus's tournament with some disappointment. There were only four entries!

I have always enjoyed tournaments, but there has been a waning level of interest in them over the years. I have not run a joust tournament in some time because while I once would have maybe eight competitors it has waned down to three or four the last time. The same appears to be happening to the general category type tournaments. I always assumed that the joust was just too narrow an interest to pull a big group, but apparently it is something bigger than that because the Tempuran tournaments are open to just about anyone with a weapon.

So the question that I pose to the group at large is: what would be fun?

[Gwain]

Using an area like the fighter's tourney grounds or the Waterdeep Fair would be a good way to attract a crowd interested in watching or participating in a spar. The only issues would be finding imms or story council members to supervise throughout the day and coding to bring the areas up to date.

[Tamryn]

What about some sort of group or team combat rather than one-on-one?

[Aldren]

I agree with Tamryn - Some very good examples of these in the past have happened, especially the War Games that Briek hosted some time ago where there was a clear goal in what to accomplish, and teams were left to use some creativity.

I agree that over the years, interest in these types of tournaments have waned. I believe this is mostly due to the format remaining mostly unchanged - Dude A vs. Dude B and one person moves on. We all know the combat system involves dice being rolled and, at times, luck plays a giant factor. If we made fighters fight 3 rounds, for example, before being disqualified, this would entice people who don't think they stand a chance against some of the more renown fighters to stick around and hope their luck or tactics change in the coming rounds.

I think, overall, we just need more variety. Jousts, when first implemented, had immensely high turnout rates - It was something new: a new way to score, a purpose for someone to stand around and score, and even bards would act as heralds.

Let's get things on a fresh page again, and hopefully this will get some renewed interest in these sorts of events.

[Gwain]

What about some sort of group or team combat rather than one-on-one?

I believe that they called those a mele, where you have a man-made obsticle and a free-for-all fight. It was quite brutal and the last man/group standing would win. I'd be all for it.

[Mele]

Melee? Mele means song. ;)

Tamryns ide is fab.

[Orplar]

I know I've heard several folks offer interest in a grand melee. I also know that there was a pugilism event in the works, I dont know if thats still a go. But that sounds grand too

[Enig]

I think a lot of this can be put to player apathy in general, however. The last bardic festival for instance, had literally zero submissions before hand and it allowed for any type of art ie., singing, writing, dancing, juggling, magic shows, etc. The three entries were a result of my strong-arming a few attendees to come up with something impromptu.

This Feast of Ice event that was fully catered and set up?
viewtopic.php?f=72&t=16079

Zero people showed up to it. Not a single attendee.

If players (in general) want to take part in events they'll succeed, elsewise they won't, but there isn't too much organizers can do to force things aside from just going ahead anyways and hoping for the best.

[Gwain]

Melee? Mele means song.

Tamryns ide is fab.

Melee Though my signature forgives all my spelling mistakes

[Mele]

You were just thinking of me. :)

[Rhangalas]

As far as tournaments go, I think a gladitorial PC vs. monster would be more fun than PC vs. PC. You could have each combatant fight a bracket of different monsters that increase in difficulty or you could separate the combatants into teams and have them fight a bracket of multiple monsters that increase in difficulty - like hobgoblin swarms and so forth.

Also, coin is very easy to come by for most established characters. Newly rolled PCs most likely aren't the target demo for an event like this, so a prize of coin probably won't draw as much interest as something like a unique item or spell/skill gain.

I guess the main issue for this would be that you would need divine intervention to run the event.

Edited to add that the events themselves could be part of the problem of no one showing up. Just about all of the events are religious festivals and goodly religions at that. While back in the day there were maybe 3-4 evil players and the other 17-20 were good, I'm now logging on to see a huge increase in evil characters, but the majority of the current events are still for good-alignments like paladins and rangers. Now... if there were an event to summon a glabrezu and have it raze Berdusk... I'm game.

[Gwain]

This could be a good use for the village areas in Thay or the gladitorial areas of Zhentil keep.

[Harroghty]

I think a lot of this can be put to player apathy in general, however.

To follow up on Enig's post, I agree that there is less player interest in events in general. Is part of this that we have not brought newer players into the fold of group events? Some newer players come from other styles of play, but I would like to think that we can maintain RP as something more than window-dressing.

[Anguin]

I almost never attend events because they are scheduled at times when I cannot play. I usually cannot shift my schedule around much. Perhaps there are other players with similar situations.

If an event occurs while I'm on, I'd love to be involved! If appropriate, I mean. Many events seem to require specific character types or religious affiliations, or advance planning. They don't seem to be super-inviting to new players, I think. A tournament is only of interest to me as an observer, in most cases. Ditto with a poetry contest. If I don't have a ranger, I'm not going to the next ranger meet and greet.

Mele has done a nice job with the quest board - a wide variety of quests that appeal to all sorts (even newbies!) and offer appropriate rewards. I think it would be better supported RP events could be designed in the same way. (I'm not sure how to do that, but maybe someone smarter than me has some ideas).

[Tamryn]

I The last bardic festival for instance, had literally zero submissions before hand.

I didn't have a bardish character last time this came up, but I'm sure Tess would make an appearance if it happened again.

Barding is fun. Everyone who doesn't do it should do it.

[Tyeslan]

What about some type of sort of SC run gladiator tournament with various types of monsters? Of course within limits of monsters, but it would be another great way to get a bit of a change up, and it could even work with one vs monster, up to groups of four vs stronger monsters. Just another idea to throw in the pot!

Kind of like Rhangalas said, but it could be something that an SC person could potentially run, unless an imm would be able to handle monsters of some sort

[Grenwyn]

I need to roll a bard... I keep coming up with ideas but I have yet to roll them all together into a character.

For me, it's a lot of what Anguin said; I don't usually rearrange my schedule for game events. If they're running at a time when I'm around, and I'm running an appropriate character at the time, I'd be happy to stop in.

I was planning on entering the tournament when I first heard about it, but some IC stuff came up and the character I was going to enter lost interest in the idea. I just didn't have any other characters running that would have been interested.

I can say that at least one of my current characters would have been interested in a multi-character PvP/PvM match.

[Solaghar]

I think in general we need to look at bigger rewards for participating in events. Coming in first place in medieval tournaments was a huge, huge deal and even defeating a single person in combat meant you had a claim on their armor, weapons, horse, which they'd then usually ransom. People could come out of these things hugely enriched. In a similar vein, if we offered some larger rewards for people participating, they might be more inclined to take part.

[Enig]

Adding better rewards will almost certainly work in the short term but will require indefinite escalation to continue being effective as the items offered become less rare and sought after.

Regarding tournaments in particular I feel that they'd be served by having multiple level brackets available. I can't be sure but I suspect that a few people aren't joining these events because they know they don't stand a chance against Nerian/Harroghty/Cahir. These types of events tend to be the most popular, since we have a lot of bravado-filled characters out for glory, but there isn't much glory in getting stomped by a much older character with little to no effort. Uniquely powerful rewards would exasperate this, as the strong get stronger.

Better incentive, I think, is something non-tangible but still worth bragging about. Having the WD crier shout out the name of the latest tournament victor, for instance, or etching the names of tournament champions into a plaque at the Field of Triumph, or Swordspoint Abbey, or where have you.

[Diritas]

I can't be sure but I suspect that a few people aren't joining these events because they know they don't stand a chance against Nerian/Harroghty/Cahir.

*cough* Ahem. Sorry. Something in my throat. Tastes like... pride or arrogance or something. Odd.