Gaming within the game...

[Is Errant]

So... I run an 8 player party, which is the bad news. The good news, is one of my players is a competent DM from D&D 4.0, and has expressed interest in running adventures within my campaign (since I much prefer playing, but when you're the only one who'll DM, ya get stuck). He wants to run some adventures on his own, but we also have the evil idea for a competitive/split/simultaneous adventure, breaking the party into two smaller groups...

One of the thoughts we've had is a simultaneous dungeon crawl, culminating in a minor board game, with the players unknowingly versus each other... Obvious choice was chess, but also I've got the masochistic idea to play a game of Archon (OLD school Commodore 64 game, chess-like, but with live combat). Any thoughts on best ways for implementation/timing/et cetera for such an idea (either the chess, Archon, or straight competitive run) would be greatly appreciated, especially if you've tried this trip afore and have some tips/tricks/do's and don't's. Largest sticking point I can see is how to resolve combat/initiative/movements.

Much obliged, all.

(Rough party notes, all level 5 currently, have a Human Paladin, Dwarven Monk, Halfling Rogue/Fighter, Elf Druid with Bear, Half-Elf Bard, Halfing Evoker, Human Sorcerer, Half-Elf Inquisitor. The alt-DM is the Dwarven Monk, either have him DMPC it for the adventure, or just have him "wander" elsewhere.)

[Anonymous Visitor 163 576]

I've done this. (And MAD props for Archon, Basilisk for the win)

Set it up with a clock. Not initiative, more like an egg timer.

Two groups (and two DMs) run players through the same tournament. Whoever gets farther in the 60 minutes wins.

Then, when time is up, move to the confrontations...

Set it up like the MCAA basketball tournament. Two teams play at a time, but there might be multiple games going on.

With 8 players, it'll work great. That's four 1v1 matches. I'd make it double elimination, so that you don't have a lot of people standing around.

I used an Othello board for the 'arena' but a checkerboard would work too.

[Is Errant]

Shameless bump for more views/possible more responses.

[John Kretzer]

While it would require work....ever heard of Dungeon Crawl?

Stip out the modern aspects of it...the sports aspect of it etc. Just have a evil wizard trap two groups in a dungeon...whoever gets to the middle first wins a great prize.

The wizard is doing this due to a mix of boredom...insanity...and wanting to test out a few new tricks.

As to timing and coorindation....what kind of tech due you guys have access too? Doing it online would be the easiest I would think....but since I don't use those things I have no idea how possible that is.

[Is Errant]

John Kretzer wrote:

While it would require work....ever heard of Dungeon Crawl?

Stip out the modern aspects of it...the sports aspect of it etc. Just have a evil wizard trap two groups in a dungeon...whoever gets to the middle first wins a great prize.

The wizard is doing this due to a mix of boredom...insanity...and wanting to test out a few new tricks.

As to timing and coorindation....what kind of tech due you guys have access too? Doing it online would be the easiest I would think....but since I don't use those things I have no idea how possible that is.

Is a college campus campaign, so would pro'ly wind up using two adjacent conference rooms to segregate, and comm back and forth via laptops/wi-fi. Worst case, just run both in the same room, but would like to avoid that until they realize they are competing against each other.

[zmanerism]

it would be great if you could tell how this all worked out.