Greeting from Saltmarsh!
I am running my weekly campaign tomorrow night and, in honor of the Olympics, the local Temple of Kord will be hosting a series of contests just outside the city walls. I got the idea of a series of games after reading the Campaign Workbook section of Dungeon #132. There are some cool games mentioned, and I'm working on developing a marathon/obstacle course for my team of PCs to participate in.
I need some help brainstorming some additional games. Most of the ones mentioned in Dungeon are strength-based, and will work quite nicely, but I'd like to come up with some additional games geared toward my Dex-heavy PCs.
All suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.
Let the games begin!
[Dum . . . Dum . . . Da Dum . . Dum . . Dum . . Dum . . .]
T
P.S. I'm using Saltmarsh as it's presented in the new DMGII. My group is using it as a home-base for an ongoing campaign of mayhem and destruction. Just FYI for your old-schoolers out there. Peace!
You've gotta do the Cross-Marsh Repeating Crossbow Biathlon!
Each player is provided with a repeating crossbow. They must race across a mile of marsh, then shoot five bolts at a target. Repeat three times.
Invent the rules as you see fit. Penalties should be applied to the shooting phase based on how well or poorly they did on Fortitude checks during running.
This is good for high dex, high con characters, espescially those with the Run feat. If you're just looking for Dex, an archery competition is always good.
Have a delegation from the lizardfolk participate and really change things up. :-D
Bola-throwing.
Javelin/spear casting.
Swimming.
Biatholon with trekking through the swamp followed by a target shoot.
Log rolling (you know, where you balance on a log and roll the log around with your feet and try to stay afloat).
Yachting-style event (if I remember correctly, there's a harbor for this kind of event).
Spear-through-rolling hoop.
Bullfighting.
Wrestling, grappling, boxing (think judo, Greco-Roman, good ol' fisticuffs).
Swimming...with armor on (and see if those armor check penalties make sense now! :-D )
Rope climbing (think of the "Tower" style military training with ropes dangling from it).
Umm...that's all I got for now.
How about something like a race involving long thin poles placed across pits of mud/tar/feathers and the PC's must balance across and avoid the greesy parts, claim a flag/token from the other side and then get back across to their home base before the others? And the local children get to throw rotten tomatoes and cabbages at them.
Midway through the games, the Saltmarsh City Watch will conduct a raid of the quarters of the PC's, looking for illegal potions of haste and dispel exhaustion. The PC's coach will bolt, leading the City Watch on a desperate chase through the marshes before being captured trying to ram the City Watch's flatboat.
Synchronized feather falling.
Oh, man. You need to have the Agrocrag! I guess it's just technically a rock wall that one would have to scale but you have to say the name of the game in a crazy Australian accent.
Now let's hit...THE AGROCRAG! Crikey!
Or track down that old Mayan themed game show from the Nickelodeon channel in the early nineties where you had to collect idols and scale rope bridges and dodge animated statues and sometimes the middle aged guards dressed up in ceremonial costume would grab one of the nine year old contestants and make them give up their idols. That would be cool.
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The orc ShotPut (distance and accuracy)
Sheild Luge (use a tower shield to negotiate a bobsled type run, either icy or Greased)
Helmet Hurl ( throw a spiked helm through/into a target)
Goblin Bobsled (rough-hewn logs hollowed out and made to resemble bobsleds with carved rams on the front to smash through flimsy barriers which slow the sled down more if they are hit at a wrong angle/speed)
and the ever popular CURLING!!! No changes necessary!
FH
Midway through the games, the Saltmarsh City Watch will conduct a raid of the quarters of the PC's, looking for illegal potions of haste and dispel exhaustion. The PC's coach will bolt, leading the City Watch on a desperate chase through the marshes before being captured trying to ram the City Watch's flatboat.
LOL!
The Dragon issue on Gnomes (somewhere between 290 and 310) had some gnomish contests in it--ideal for small, dextrous characters. Edit-- #291
I have a vague recollection of a recent article, maybe in the Dungeon DM workbook section at the back, detailing various contests of strength and endurance, like the caber toss and such. If you've ever been to a Highland Games, you'll know such contests are quite fun.
Well, the games went off without a hitch. From the recent issue of Dungeon, I pulled the hammer toss, tug-of-war, archery, and I designed my own marathon where the PCs had to race through a nearby woods. They encountered a Grey Render, there protecting some local furries, and they ran right by him. Several characters took home the red belt of Kord (they were the local sponsor of both the games and the team of PCs) and earned much fame and fortune.
All in all, it was a great time. I checked this forum Friday min-morning, and there weren't any replies at that time, so I went with what I had. But the ideas you've thrown out will come into play most definitely when the games roll around again next year.
Thanks to all, and happy gaming!
Of course for your next Olympics you might consider the Challenge of Champions series of adventures...
Cheers
Llowellen