Tumult in Travar

[etherial]

[Flowswithdrek]

The scope of the tournament is only limited by imagination. There are a load of sources of inspiration that I tapped into when putting the tournament section together for the Travar book. To get that wacky feel for the tournament I thought of crazy TV shows like Ninja Warrior, Takahashi’s Castle, It’s a Knockout, Crystal Maze etc etc. Then think about adding in magic, unusual monsters, medieval devices and weapons and of course Earthdawn.

Also, utilize the 3rd dimension to give you flight options similar to the Quidditch game from Harry Potter, or objects or platforms that float or drift about with referees on them. Platform games like Super Mario, Manic Miner, or even board games like Snakes and Ladders can give you a ton of ideas for a tournament. An element of traditional sports can also be used. You also need to balance brain with brawn, and windlings my need their wings clipped depending on the concepts of the tournament.

So, how about some kind of multi-level network or array of pathways and bridges of solid light with some kind of goal in the centre of the middle level? Where any bridges in the network intersects to create a split in the pathway there is a puzzle or challenge that needs to be completed before the champions move forward. Get it right and the Champions can choose any bridge and it will go dark, anyone/thing on it plummeting to the ground or some other place that makes the opposition’s challenge harder. Get it wrong and the bridge the champions are on goes dark instead. The bridges might also randomly pivot each round to an adjoining bridge creating a new pathway, or slowly rise or descend, turning into stairs, slides etc. Winning a challenge could also give some control over this to the champions. Each puzzle should be different – brain teaser, impress the crowd, battle two armoured fire breathing billy goats called Josh and Panda, etc. Add in some points scoring or time count down for each challenge for extra fun. So each success the other champions have should slow your champions and vice versa, so you should get several rounds out of it, especially if there are multiple teams. Anyone looking like they will get to the final challenge will have the other teams using their success to slow them.

A few other thoughts. The people of Travar want to be entertained, so they need to be able to see what is happening. If the champions impress the crowd, give them a bonus, if they cheat and are caught, give them a penalty. There should be an interaction between the crowd and the Arena’s magic, it’s not just a circle of sand for spilling blood. Champions of the Tournament are as close as Travar comes to having a military force so deaths should be kept to a minimum. Travar as written goes into this in more detail, but when deaths occur they should be dramatic and maybe have some politics or long running rivalry behind them, or be a mystery that requires a bit of investigation leading to an entire adventure itself.

Also winning the tournament should be difficult and it should be something the player characters come back to again and again, this will give them real satisfaction should they eventually win it. They only have to perform well to have merchants queuing up and offering them work or hiring them as champions for the next year's tournament.

Hope that helps

[Richard]

Great and exciting ideas!
Thanks!