Chapter 3:

The Tournament

So maybe your player characters haven't earned the fame and glory which should get them a castle of their own yet. Maybe the thought of chasing a dragon, even a little one, is still the stuff of their dreams. What does the would-be knight do in such cases?

Well, organized competitions or tournaments are a great way for the player characters to "mingle" with the local nobility and show off their stuff. It may be that a good performance in, say, the archery contest will earn the character the right to marry the prince or princess of the realm. Once everyone knows how good you are, fame and glory are only a few steps away!

High Holidays

All societies take time off for one reason or another. Usually these official holidays are: religious (if one religion is truly dominant in the area), agricultural (commonly at the equinox and solstice), or political in nature. In the latter case, they often mark the founding of the country or some great victory of war or revolution. Usually, one can count on one officially recognized holiday every other month or so.

Religious holidays rarely involve either fairs or tournaments. These are traditionally times of fasting and personal sacrifice to one's church. They are always placed on days significant to the given religious calendar (i.e. the death of a saint, the resurrection of a god, the founding of a new order). Holy knights, like paladins, tithe their incomes to the church during ceremonies held on these occasions. They also spend a lot of time seeking guidance from both their local priest and their patron deity.

Visions of great quests often come at such soul-searching times. Agricultural holidays are celebrated by the rich and the poor, and there will be both common fairs and a royal tournament held to mark such occasions. Those marking the harvest in autumn and the end of the planting season in spring usually last for a week at a time, while all others last but a day.

Political holidays are times of private parties, town parades, and local noble tournaments. Unless the political deed had great significance to the realm and the king in power, no royal tournament is likely to be held on this day. In essence, towns hold large Market Days on these days, supplanting the need for the usual monthly Market Day.

Private Celebrations

Occasionally a lord or king will be particularly blessed during the course of a year. Some examples of such blessings include a wedding, birth of a first born heir (or any royal prince or princess), major victory in war, successful truce, or the defeating of some ancient lingering menace to the realm, like a dragon. Often this involves only the lord in question throwing a lot of money and food around at the next Market Day. However, the local lord may wish to sponsor a tournament or fair. He might want to graciously invite the new ally or vanquished foe to attend. He might just want to show off his new son, or give a big sendoff to his departing heirs.

Tests

Sometimes a king or lord feels the need to test his knights, especially if there has been a lack of war recently, or too many incidences of cowardice or bumbling. There might even be a regularly scheduled test every other year or so, depending on the size and nature of the campaign.

Challenges

Whether as a friendly competition between two rival lords, or as a hostile challenge between two knights in dispute (see "Personal Challenges"), challenges make for the most interesting of tournaments. For example, the royal archery tournament depicted in the film "The Adventures of Robin Hood" was held for the sole purpose of identifying and trapping Robin Hood, well-known as the "finest archer in England."

It is also a great way to lure an enemy's finest knights into ambush, or away from something they are protecting. However, such an evil deed is most unsporting and would only be attempted by a black knight. Fortunately for the plotter, the code of chivalry requires that any charge or challenge be taken up. Since a tournament is another form of combat, and combat is glory, no knight can refuse such a challenge. But that doesn't mean the knight cannot be prepared, i.e. bring along some friends in case of trouble, put his lands on alert status, etc. Naturally, this assumes he knows or suspects that the challenging knight is up to something.

Local Fairs

Local fairs are like carnivals and circuses are today. All manner of strange and exotic beasts and monsters are paraded before the mystified public. There are games of chance like the dagger toss, dunk the peasant, and chasing a greased pig with prize money tied around its neck. There are competitions for chopping down trees the fastest, catching the biggest fish, baking the best pie, racing horses, ale guzzling, and a variety of sporting events, including tossing horseshoes and medieval versions of soccer and stickball.

Noble Tournaments

Noble tournaments are very rich in adventuring opportunities.

Unless the tournament is private it is always open to the general public as well as the nobility. However, the very types of competition leave little room for nonprofessionals to earn any honors. If they do prevail, however, the prize monies are enormous--often enough to allow a serf to retire or buy his way into the yeoman class.

These affairs are attended by the nobility, first and foremost. The food is prepared by gourmets, the tents are of the finest linens, local cavalry troops ride by on parade, and all of the knights and nobles are trying to outdo each other. However, the real competition is down on the field, and that is what everybody has come to see.

Squires and would-be knights compete in their own jousts. These contests are round robin events, with the victors of each contest moving on to the next round. Note that the competition is open to rich and poor alike. Officials inspect all lances before the competition and no contestant is allowed to battle without a shield. All such contests are conducted under nonlethal rules and use blunted lances.

Winning such a contest often gets the victor and his lord much prestige, and sometimes a better home. Another lord may offer to "take over the knight's training" for a hefty sum if the winner is already a knight-in-training. Or, the rogue squire or warrior who wins might get an offer of patronage from a noble house interested in training knights. In any case, the reward money is usually enough to encourage the victor to further competitions in the future, wherein he might just make quite a name for himself.

The main joust is also round robin but open only to knights of the realm. In addition, each knight chooses a lady to champion. If he wins honorably, the victor brings honor to his name, the lady he has chosen, and the sponsor of the tournament. Disgracing the joust, either by killing an unarmed foe, harming or killing a mount, or in some other manner, is considered a "Loss of Family Honor" or worse (see "Falling from Grace").

Winning a royal joust often earns the knight the position of Royal Champion, meaning sometimes that there's going to be a new Captain of the Royal Guard, Lord High Chamberlain, or Lord High Marshall in the realm. At the very least, the knight earns the right to hold the next royal tournament at his castle. If he decides not to do so, for whatever reason, there is no loss of honor, and the tournament returns to the royal castle the next time. The knight retains the title of Royal Champion until the next royal tournament. Note that the result of lesser jousts has no bearing on the standing of the Royal Champion, although a number of losses to the same rival might boost the betting odds the next time around. Sometimes, for show, the winner of the open joust competes against the winner of the royal joust, but usually the former backs down without loss of honor, deferring to his obvious superior, the

Royal Champion.

Magic items of all kinds are permitted at a joust, but anything which is deemed dishonorable by the list officials cannot be used. Some examples would include any item that removes the chance element to the game (i.e. a lance that never misses, or a shield that always blocks). Such an item, if discovered after the joust has begun, causes the wielder to forfeit automatically. A minor "Loss of Personal Honor" ensues (see "Falling from Grace"), as it is the knight's responsibility to be fair. Some jousts even go as far as to ban magic altogether, providing their own lances and suits of armor for the combatants to wear.

Quick Jousting Rules

To run the actual combat of a joust, each knight should have a blunted lance, a horse, and a shield of some kind. Naturally, the riding or horsemanship non-weapon proficiency is required in order to safely ride the horse, but proficiency in the lance is not a necessity, although it never hurts.

Each knight squares off at opposite ends of the field, or on either side of the list (a long low fence). Lances are levelled as the combat-ants charge one another, but no initiative is required, as both lances are of equal length. A simple roll to hit is all that is required and any rider so struck must make a successful horsemanship proficiency check or be forcibly dismounted. Whoever is still up wins and gets to move on to the next round. If both riders remain viable competitors, they turn and charge again. This continues until somebody falls. If both knights are dismounted simultaneously, both are removed from the tournament.

A natural 20 automatically dismounts an opponent, while a natural 1 strikes the opponent's mount (doing half normal damage). This is a dishonor to the knight and he must forfeit the contest. However, since it is obviously accidental, no further punitive action is taken and no significant loss of personal honor ensues.

Personal Challenges

In the case of a personal challenge between two knights, the lances are not blunted, and a fallen knight is not out unless he begs for mercy or is knocked unconscious. The knight on horseback has the advantage because of his height above his opponent and the length of his weapon. The fallen knight can only use his sword, and any roll of a natural 1 means the horse is struck. Unlike the fairness shown above, this is a serious loss of personal honor, and means the loss of the challenge and possibly other repercussions as well.

Two challenging knights taken to the ground are provided with maces or hammers for the continuation of the battle. Whoever is up and alive at the end wins, and he has the choice of slaying his foe, or granting him mercy. Usually, a knight grants mercy.

Archery, because of its usefulness, is practiced by both elves and men alike. Depending on the degree of integration, tournaments may be open to all comers. If the tournaments are separated, half-elves may compete in either (if they are allowed to compete at all). Archery contests are run a little differently. Usually, the royal contest is held first, again in round robin fashion. However, the last 3-5 archers (depending on the size of the tournament) do not finish against each other, but rather challenge all comers, noble or poor. The competition again proceeds normally, this time until a victor is chosen. Note that the archer is not accorded the kind of honors a Royal Champion receives, except in the case of the elven kingdoms, where the Royal Archer and the Royal Champion are accorded equal status (and as mentioned earlier, might well include women). As with the joust, magic items or spells that render the game unfair are grounds for forfeiture of the competition.

Quick Archery Rules

Each of the competitors is allowed to fire three arrows at medium range (giving everyone a -3 to hit penalty) at a target treated as AC 10. Each contestant is judged only by his best shot (i.e. his highest total rolled "to hit," including all bonuses for specialization, dexterity, and magic). After all shooters have launched their best arrows, the archer with the best shot of them all gets to move on the next round. In the case of a tie, the targets are moved to long range (i.e. -6 to hit) and each contestant gets one additional arrow. The firing of single arrows continues until the tie is broken. Any natural 20 is a perfect bulls-eye and automatically beats any other arrows that round, no matter how high the "to hit" roll. Any roll that totals 20 or higher including bonuses is clustered near the center, and if a natural 20 is rolled at such a time, the arrow splits the best shot (i.e. highest rolled "to hit") on the target and wins.

Holy Debates

While priests have little to fight about, they do tend to make excellent debaters, as they are supposed to be wise and learned. Usually, the debates will center around a specific question, like "why are we here?" or "what is the true nature of good and evil?". They tend to avoid questions of politics and never directly confront each other about their faiths. While such events are not well attended by the uneducated, they draw more than their share of sages, luminaries, and the like.

Wizardry Competitions

Wizards engage in new spell competitions, showing off the latest creations from the laboratory. Spells are compared within spell levels, and originality is more important than improving on an existing spell. Note that most wizards never sell their spells afterwards, no matter how many offers they get, as the envy they receive is reward enough to a wizard and his sponsoring lord (if any). Those that do sell their secrets often risk giving the competition a big boost for next year! In particularly powerful campaigns, there might be royal competitions for best new magic items, categorized along the lines of the tables in the AD&D 2nd Edition "Dungeon Masters Guide".