Here's a quick premise: The party in my campaign is in a very large and very old city, a capital of a somewhat (geographically) small country. Every couple years they host what can only be described as a sort of olympic tournament. It serves several purposes for the nation and city: it creates considerable income, it fishes out prospective "agents" that the government can evaluate during the games and possibly hire in, it boosts morale and competetion within the populace, and lastly is a great source of entertainment and celebration.
Anyway, so it just happens that this event (called the "Tournament of Champions") is about to take place, and egads! the party is getting swept into it. I've got my external plot hooks set, the general idea of how the games will run, and how this will tie in to outside events later on, etc. My problem is I'm having difficulty actually fleshing out the various "events" the party will compete in (both as a group and individually). Enter this thread, stage left.
The events all use point systems to determine rankings, and winners of events are declared based on these rankings (first, second, etc). There is no overall winner of the games (officially, anyway), kind of like in real life olympics: countries can get the gold for basketball and the 100m dash, but there's no official ceremony or medal for "most gold medals" or "gold medal for overall performance". People register in the games as individuals or as a party. Most events overlap and accept both types. Everyone gets their own point count, and people in a group also share a group score. Some events pit the contestants versus eachother directly, others put them up against obstacles, but all events are competetive. As you can see I've got the logistics and math for the point system figured out, the real meat of my problem is the actual events. Here's a couple genres I've considered which would classifify the different games, along with a couple examples:
* Person-to-Person Gladitorial Combat. The city has an ancient colluseum (like Rome's: about as old but not as run down) and they now host (usually) nonlethal combat for the games. Points are granted from judges for combat effectiveness as well as style. The PCs actually already fought this against a party of NPCs in our last session. Fairly straightforward, though there can be variations large enough to revisit this idea as another event.
* Obstacle Course. This will basically be a small dungeon crawl created by powerful wizards. This will incorporate many facilities, and is very much suited for parties. The entire 'dungeon' will be staked out with scrying spells, affixed so that crowds may watch the action in a stadium as though it were a movie screen. A large amount of points can be gained if the obstacles (which range from traps to monsters to puzzles) are negotiated well. In the end there will probably be a confrontation against something nasty (possibly a dragon). There are other possible versions of obstacle courses, another idea I had was imprisoning the party without any of their equipment (as though they were captured), and leaving them to their devices to get free (points for escaping, extra points if they recover all their stuff, even more if they obtain more equipment, etc).
* Tests of Skill. This is a broad category, and one that I'm having the most problems with. These will be a variety of individual events where different types of skills will be tested. Archery, logic puzzles, crowd entertainment, and mechanical problem solving would be some examples. I don't want them to be extremely class-specific, but definately broad enough that not everyone is suited to compete in each. For example: an archery contest where the center of a target has an AC of 25, the next ring is 23, etc. Everyone gets 5 shots, and each ring has a number of points attached. Then have trick shots where a slew of targets will move around eachother and each archer must hit the correct target (spot check + shot) to score maximum points. Perhaps a Stag Hunt where a large section of the nearby forest is used as a hunting ground, where the stag let loose and is worth a large amount of points if taken down with a bow. Another example: A treasure hunt, full of riddles and puzzles (worth points based on correctness and time taken to solve), and a general test of speed and wits to find the 'treasure' (divination spells are allowed but measures are taken against them being used too directly).
For the "Too long, didn't read" crowd:
I need ideas for olympic-style "games" the PCs can participate in, individually or as a group. Different tests of skill, wit, strength, and teamwork, pitted against other people, creatures, objects, or concepts (like a riddle), whatever. I've listed some obvious examples above, but 'thinking outside the box' is very much encouraged (I'm having a hard time doing so with this). Some point system must be attached, but that's pretty easy to add in so don't worry too much about it. And death is frowned upon in the games, but it is meant to be dangerous, and there are plenty of ways to circumvent actual permenant death, so it also isn't that big of an issue.
So please, if you have any ideas, even vague ones, please post them so I can hopefully become inspired. Any questions as to what I'm asking for, just say so and I'll do my best to clarify. Also, any links or references to material that would give me help is appreciated, though I've looked through some myself (and my budget is a little tight). Thank you.
Anyway, so it just happens that this event (called the "Tournament of Champions") is about to take place, and egads! the party is getting swept into it. I've got my external plot hooks set, the general idea of how the games will run, and how this will tie in to outside events later on, etc. My problem is I'm having difficulty actually fleshing out the various "events" the party will compete in (both as a group and individually). Enter this thread, stage left.
The events all use point systems to determine rankings, and winners of events are declared based on these rankings (first, second, etc). There is no overall winner of the games (officially, anyway), kind of like in real life olympics: countries can get the gold for basketball and the 100m dash, but there's no official ceremony or medal for "most gold medals" or "gold medal for overall performance". People register in the games as individuals or as a party. Most events overlap and accept both types. Everyone gets their own point count, and people in a group also share a group score. Some events pit the contestants versus eachother directly, others put them up against obstacles, but all events are competetive. As you can see I've got the logistics and math for the point system figured out, the real meat of my problem is the actual events. Here's a couple genres I've considered which would classifify the different games, along with a couple examples:
* Person-to-Person Gladitorial Combat. The city has an ancient colluseum (like Rome's: about as old but not as run down) and they now host (usually) nonlethal combat for the games. Points are granted from judges for combat effectiveness as well as style. The PCs actually already fought this against a party of NPCs in our last session. Fairly straightforward, though there can be variations large enough to revisit this idea as another event.
* Obstacle Course. This will basically be a small dungeon crawl created by powerful wizards. This will incorporate many facilities, and is very much suited for parties. The entire 'dungeon' will be staked out with scrying spells, affixed so that crowds may watch the action in a stadium as though it were a movie screen. A large amount of points can be gained if the obstacles (which range from traps to monsters to puzzles) are negotiated well. In the end there will probably be a confrontation against something nasty (possibly a dragon). There are other possible versions of obstacle courses, another idea I had was imprisoning the party without any of their equipment (as though they were captured), and leaving them to their devices to get free (points for escaping, extra points if they recover all their stuff, even more if they obtain more equipment, etc).
* Tests of Skill. This is a broad category, and one that I'm having the most problems with. These will be a variety of individual events where different types of skills will be tested. Archery, logic puzzles, crowd entertainment, and mechanical problem solving would be some examples. I don't want them to be extremely class-specific, but definately broad enough that not everyone is suited to compete in each. For example: an archery contest where the center of a target has an AC of 25, the next ring is 23, etc. Everyone gets 5 shots, and each ring has a number of points attached. Then have trick shots where a slew of targets will move around eachother and each archer must hit the correct target (spot check + shot) to score maximum points. Perhaps a Stag Hunt where a large section of the nearby forest is used as a hunting ground, where the stag let loose and is worth a large amount of points if taken down with a bow. Another example: A treasure hunt, full of riddles and puzzles (worth points based on correctness and time taken to solve), and a general test of speed and wits to find the 'treasure' (divination spells are allowed but measures are taken against them being used too directly).
For the "Too long, didn't read" crowd:
I need ideas for olympic-style "games" the PCs can participate in, individually or as a group. Different tests of skill, wit, strength, and teamwork, pitted against other people, creatures, objects, or concepts (like a riddle), whatever. I've listed some obvious examples above, but 'thinking outside the box' is very much encouraged (I'm having a hard time doing so with this). Some point system must be attached, but that's pretty easy to add in so don't worry too much about it. And death is frowned upon in the games, but it is meant to be dangerous, and there are plenty of ways to circumvent actual permenant death, so it also isn't that big of an issue.
So please, if you have any ideas, even vague ones, please post them so I can hopefully become inspired. Any questions as to what I'm asking for, just say so and I'll do my best to clarify. Also, any links or references to material that would give me help is appreciated, though I've looked through some myself (and my budget is a little tight). Thank you.
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. Well, if we do that then I'll also add an event where the contestants have to see who can infuriate the elf with belittling insults first 
