I've recently been putting a lot of work into preparing my campaign's Flood Festival, and along the way I've worked up several events. Some of them are based on ideas from the book Tournaments, Fairs, and Taverns (available as a download on rpgnow.com, and I recommend it), but I've often given things my own spin, and I've also added in what NPC's might compete, made up a prize, and so on. My hope is that I can make someone's job easier. I'll add to this in future posts as I finish up other events.
First up:
Obstacle Course
10 race increments, skill or ability check for each one. The contestant with the highest total score is the winner. Each contestant make checks normally for a number of increments equal to his Con -5 and after that takes a cumulative -1 to each check each increment. Possession of the Endurance feat increases the number of increments with normal checks by 4. Possession of the Run feat gives a +2 to each dash check. Contestants get a +2 or -2 to any movement checks (everything except Balance basically) for each 10’ of movement they get above or below 30”. Each 20 points separating contestants represents an increment’s distance between them.
Increment 1: Dash (Strength check). Add Initiative bonus as well.
Increment 2: 20’ Rope climb. There are 5 knotted ropes available to climb, so the 5 best performers in increment 1 make a normal check, and each group of 5 after them gets a cumulative -2 to their check. But this climb check is made to gauge speed, not to beat a DC.
Increment 3: Standing jump across a 9’ gap (DC 18). Failure means the contestant falls into a waist-high pit of grease. He takes a -10 on the increment, and all future Strength, Balance, Jump, and Climb checks suffer -4 due to the slipperiness of the grease, until it gets washed off in the swimming increments.
Increment 4: Jump down from 20’ ledge (DC 12). Failure causes 2d6 damage.
Increment 5: Dash balancing across icy ground (Balance DC 15; the ground was magically frozen by the priests of Kord). Failure indicates a fall, and the contestant subtracts 10 from their score.
Increments 6-7: Swim across a long pool. 2 Swim checks.
Increment 8: Climb a rough 10’ rock wall and drop down the other side (DC 15). Each failure subtracts 15 from the contestant’s final score, and he cannot advance until he beats the DC. His successful check gets added to his final score
Increment 9: Jump low hurdles (DC 12). Failure causes 1d3 damage. Failure by more than 5 means the contestant subtracts 10 points for the increment.
Increment 10: Dash (Strength check).
Winner receives a golden broach, shaped like a fox, worth 25 gp. Wearing it grants a +2 to Charisma checks in Cauldron for the rest of the Festival, +4 to worshippers of Kord.
Possible Contestants:
Fario (strong for 8 inc’s, Init +3, Str +2, Bal +3, Climb +4, Jump +4, Swim +4)
Zachary Aslaxin (strong for whole race, Init +1, Str +1, Bal +1, Climb +1, Jump +1, Swim +1
Cora Lathenmire (strong for 7 inc’s, Init +2, Str +1, Bal +5, Climb +1, Jump +4, Swim +4)
* Cora will try to trip one of the party if she thinks by doing so she can help Zachary win; Atk +6 vs. Touch AC, then opposed check Str vs Str or Dex.
Jil (disguised as in Ch. 2, strong for 7 inc’s, Init +6, Str +0, Bal +4, Climb +0, Jump +2, Swim +0)
I had Jil start the race by goosing a male PC at the starting line and making him make a Concentration check to add his Initiative bonus. This went over very well :-).
Skylar Krewis (strong for whole race, Init +0, Str +2, Bal +1, Climb +8, Jump +6, Swim +6)
Divide the remaining contestants (assorted kids and ordinary citizens) into 3 groups, and do three separate checks for the groups (strong for 5 rounds, Init +0, Str +1, Bal+1, Climb +1, Jump +1, Swim +1)
My players had a ton of fun running the race, and our urban ranger lost to Skylar by only a couple of points in the last increment.
I'll add other events in other posts.
Next up:
Tug-of-War
I borrowed some elements of the game mechanics from the Burning Wheel/Mouse Guard system.
Also, you'll notice that in this and other events I've named some Town Guards; I've actually worked up a pretty involved roster of guards for Cauldron, which I'll maybe post in another thread sometime. Feel free to make them faceless guards if you like.
Rules: 4 people to a side. The rope is suspended over a 4’ ditch full of crimson dye (a "river of blood"). Each team starts out 10 feet from the pit. For each round of the contest, the teams will make opposed Strength checks, but by a variant system. Each team adds all their Strength scores together, subtracts 40, and then divides by 2. Then for each round, each team rolls the resulting number of d6. Any 5 or 6 counts as a success. If the result is a tie, the teams don’t move. If one team scores more successes, the other team is pulled 1 foot toward the pit for each point in the margin of success. Once one team has pulled the other team 11 feet, the first member of the losing team falls in, and the team’s total Strength score gets recalculated. Another team member falls in for every additional 3 feet of movement. The game is over when either all team members have fallen into the pit, or the remaining team members let go of the rope.
Competing Teams:
The Stormblades: Zachary, a Lathenmire smith brought in as a ringer, Cora, Todd. (12, 20, 13, 12 – 8 dice). The smith will drop the rope rather than go into the pit.
Town Guards: Cressyk Axeface, Sergeant Oskar Crooknose Voll, Pressan Small, Thervain Urjak (17, 15, 12, 12 – 8 dice).
Stonecutters: A group of laborers (16, 13, 12, 11 – 6 dice).
Cuthbertines: Tercival, an appropriate PC if possible (a random acolyte if not), Ruphus, and Jenya (20, 12, 11, 10 – 6 dice). (We had a PC who owed Jenya a debt, so she pressed him into service.)
Kordites: An assemblage of Kordite priests and acolytes, including Hralka Darkbrood (a town guard with a crush on Hranleurt), 2 male humans, and a female human (17, 14, 12, 12 – 7 dice).
Circus perfomers: A strongman, an animal tamer, a bearded lady, and a halfling stilt-walker (20, 14, 13, 11 – 9 dice). If the stilt-walker gets pulled in to the ditch, he can try a DC 10 Reflex save to stay standing on his stilts and keep pulling on the rope. It’s a DC 15 save to get back out of the pit still on the stilts. His Reflex save is +8.
The members of the winning team each receive a crimson-dyed cloak with 2 crossed golden thunderbolts embroidered on the back. Each is worth 30 gp, and wearing one gives the wearer a +2 to Charisma-based checks in the city for the rest of the month (+4 with worshippers of Kord).
And then there's:
Halfling Toss (rules largely drawn from TFT, with historical details, named contestants, and halflings added.)
This event celebrates the daring feat of Surabar’s halfling friend Findas Fullbelly, who was launched from a catapult into the window of Surabar’s tower to deliver a desparately needed scroll. The halflings are thrown at a target floating in the lake. The target is AC 10, and floats 20’ out to start (4 range increments, -12 to hit for anyone without Far Shot, for whom it is -4). If multiple contestants make it, the target gets moved back 5’, and this repeats until only one contestant remains.
Willing Halflings:
Gretchyn Tasshyk (orphanage)
Revel Summerglen (Guard medic)
Tipys Surefoot (Surefoot Livery)
Berry Surefoot (Tipys’ son)
Contestants:
Patch (+2)
Sergeant Oskar “Crooknose” Voll (+5)
Todd Vanderboren (+6)
Fario (+6)
Prize: A halfling-made leather necklace made of intricately knotted cords and beads. The wearer gets a +1 bonus to all Charisma-based checks in Cauldron for the rest of the month, and +4 for checks with halflings in Cauldron. The winner is also expected to take the halflings to the nearest tavern and buy them a round of drinks.
Next up:
Obsidian Avenue Race (based on TFT rules with some tweaks)
Contestants race the length of Obsidian Avenue, beginning and ending at the Temple of Lordly Might. The street is lined with cheering crowds braving the weather. The race consists of 20 increments; for each increment, the contestants make a Strength check, adding +2 for every speed increment over 30’ and +2 for the Run feat. Eventually the runners tire; they are fine for a number of increments equal to their Con score (doubled if they have the Endurance feat), but after that they must beat a Fortitude check for each increment with the DC equal to the number of increments run so far. Failing the check means the contestant has to stop for a rest for a moment and scores no points for that increment; their Con status then resets.
If it looks like one of the party is in close contention with Zachary at the end of the race (i.e. within 20 points), Annah Taskerhill will use a scroll to cast grease from the sidelines, trying to make the party member fall. The party member must make a DC 14 Reflex save to stay upright. If she makes it, she takes a -5 to her score for that increment. If she doesn’t make it, she gets no score for that increment. If any of the spectator party members were watching at the finish line, they can make a Spot check to catch Annah casting the spell, and report her to Hranleurt. In that case, if Zachary won, he is disqualified. If someone else won, Hranleurt apologizes for the interference, but won’t change the result.
Contestants:
Fellian Shard (Str +1, Con 12, Fort +3)
Zachary Aslaxin (Str +1, Con 16, Fort +8)
Cressyk Axeface (town guard)(Str +2, Con 16, Fort +5)
Naelana Casimil (town guard)(Str +2, Con 28 with Endurance)
Patch (Str +3, Con 10, Fort +0)
Prize: The winner receives a corded belt, embossed with silver studs, and bearing a silver buckle with a charging bull engraved in it (worth 35 gp.) The belt’s wearer gains a +2 to Charisma checks inside Cauldron for the next month (+4 with worshippers of Kord).
This looks very nice. I might just use some of your challenges for another campaign, thanks.
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I have a race done up, but may use your rules.
As an aside, I also added a duel, which consists of 32 contestants, in an NCAA tournamet type bracket. Also am doing a riddle contest at the temple of Nethys (replaced Wee Jas) and a swim race. I plagerized someones idea of a Water Polo match on the lake called Crater Ball..it's pretty cool...and of course, Delves Demonskar ball...
I'm glad you both found some useful stuff! Here's a couple more:
Archery Tournament
We will assume that a preliminary round has eliminated all but an elite group of bowmen. The contestants fire from under a tarpaulin, but the targets are exposed to the weather. (If you want to be fancy, you can have wizards from Bluecrater Academy on hand to set up transparent walls of force around the targets so the crowd can watch from up close.) For the championship round, each contestant will fire 5 arrows at a a target 100' away. If there’s a tie, the targets are moved back 100’ and the remaining contestants fire another 5 arrows. Repeat until a winner is declared.
For each target, score as:
AC 10: Outer ring, 1 point
AC 15: Middle ring, 3 points
AC 20: Inner ring, 5 points
AC 25: Bullseye, 10 points
Critical hit: Bullseye, split arrow, and impress crowd
Each round, roll 1d4 for weather (the weather is intermittently gusty and rainy):
1: Rain and strong wind (-6 to Atk)
2: Rain (-4 to Atk)
3: Strong wind and light shower (-2 to Atk)
4: Mild winds and light shower (no penalty)
Possible Contestants:
Todd Vanderboren: mwk comp shortbow (Str +1), range 70', Atk +6
Hralka Darkbrood War 1 (female half-orc in town guard): longbow, range 100', Atk +5 (Weapon Focus)
Caravan Guard 1 War 3 (male elf): mwk longbow, range 150', Atk +6 (Far Shot)
Caravan Guard 2 War 3 (female halfling): mwk longbow, range 100', +8 (Weapon Focus)
Pochar Bloodfeather, War 1/Exp 3 (local bowyer and fletcher, male half-orc): mwk longbow, range 100', +7 (Weapon Focus)
Kyan Winterstrike Wiz 1/Ftr 6/ArcArch 1 (female elf): mwk longbow, range 100', Atk +13 (Pt Blk Shot, Weapon Focus, enhance arrow +1)
If you consider using Kyan, it's a chance to do a touch of foreshadowing with a character who is otherwise pretty invisible in the campaign. She's got a pretty severe advantage, though, even with some levels of Arcane Archer stripped away, so assuming she's winning, I'd plan to have judges notice her enhanced arrows with a detect magic spell and disqualify her, setting off some kind of tirade or threats on her part.
Prize: A golden arrow presented on a red velvet cushion (worth 35 gp). The bearer gets a +2 to all Charisma-based checks with citizens of Cauldron for the rest of the month (+4 with worshippers of Kord).
I've also been developing an NPC, Barg the half-orc, who runs the small stall, Meat on a Stick, which is shown on the map for the Umber Hulk encounter in Ch. 4. He's a dedicated and talented cook, and a pretty wise character, but not terribly smart or clever. (I've made lots of goofy ads for his business in my newsletter, the Cauldron Stew, which you can find on the RPGenius SCAP page. Anyway, I have Barg put on a Name-the-Meat contest during the festival. Here's the rules I came up with:
Barg’s Name-the-Meat Contest
Barg’s Meat on a Stick is tucked away behind one of Maavu’s warehouses on Magma Avenue (see the map for the Umber Hulk encounter in Ch. 4), and for this event he sets out a big long table on the street with a walled-off cooking area behind it from which several mouth-watering smells of grilling meat waft. He will accept as many as 6 competitors for the contest, which will have 4 rounds. During each round, he will give each contestant a sample of a different meat, and ask them to identify its source. Right answers score 5 points. If there is a tie at the end of 4 rounds, Barg will give the last contestants an extra challenge; if all pass it, he calls it a tie and rewards them all. Giving a right answer requires passing a Wisdom check, to which can be added ranks in Knowledge (nature), Profession (cook), or anything else someone can make a case for.
Round 1: Sauteed giant leeches (DC 12)
Round 2: Fried roc legs (DC 12)
Round 3: Roast triceratops tripe (DC 14)
Round 4: Owlbear sweetbreads (DC 16)
Tie-breaker: Grilled rust monster (DC 20)
The winner(s) get memorial skewers with “BARG’S” stamped on their handles (worth 5 sp each), free meals at Barg’s for a month, and a garishly colored tabard that says “I Named the Meat at Barg’s Meat on a Stick!”
Contestants:
Vhalantru (+1, really just there to eat the unusual meats)
Jenya (+3)
Ike Iverson (+5)
Shensen (+9)
Artus Shemwick (+10)
We just finished the Tug-of-War at our last meeting, and we should get to the Halfling Toss and the Name the Meat contest this weekend. They loved the Tug-of-War, were on the edge of their seats, and went crazy when they beat the Stormblades in the finals. They were also extremely impressed by the way Tercival was able to carry his whole team by himself with practically no help, and were making comments about not getting into a fight with that guy ;-)
Some of my players are also talking about offering to help Barg with his advertising campaign. He's turned out to be one of their favorite NPC's, and they haven't even visited his stall yet.
*Yoink*
That stuff is really handy. I'm planning on using the Demonskar Ball event, so I was struggling to fill the two weeks before the ball from the festivals start with something (aside from a mid-festival trip to the Lucky Monkey). Assuming the PCs don't manage some other way, I figured I'd set the Kopru Ruins after the ball (assuming the PCs don't get too clever!)
I looked at the drinking contest on that SC resource site, but I decided if I wasn't careful trying to adapt it myself as a spread sheet would take more time than it was worth. But your contests are right in the middle ground of being more than dice-rolling contests and being too fiddly. Nice.
Name-the-meat (as you added Shensen) will potentially provide some foreshadowing with a first meeting with her, which I think could be quite useful itself (I set the contest in my timeline about five days before the PCs will go there.)
The only sad part is that if all goes as predicted, most of my PCs are going to be casters, so they consider many of the events beneath them...