Barbarian Olympics

[iwatt]

My Uthgardt (FR) campaign is rolling along quite nicely, and to shift from typical hack'n'slash wilderenss adventuring, I decided that most tribes get together for a huge feat each shieldmeet (every 4 years). I was wondering what contests I could have. The archery contest is a given (with increasing levels of diffciculty as per CW). It goes something like this:

1st round: 250' straight shootout (5 arrows). 1/2 eliminated.
AC 7----> 1 point
AC 9----> 2 point
AC 13---> 4 points

2nd Round: The target is attached to a pendulum, which is set in motion. This increases the AC by +5. 1/2 eliminated
AC 12----> 1 point
AC 14----> 2 point
AC 18---> 4 points

3 Round: Another pendulum is as added, increasing the difficulty. The archer must hit the same pendulum with all arrows ( -4 Attack penalty unless archer has the precise shot feat). 1/2 eliminated

4 th Round: Archer must fire all his arrows as fast as possible 1/2 eliminated. Same points as before, plus a bonus of:
<6 seconds---> +20
<12 seconds---> +15
<18 seconds---> +10
< 24 seconds--> +5
> 24 seconds -> No bonus

5+ th round: Increase the range by 250' each time until all are eliminated.

So I went to alot of detail for the archer, I was wondering what other events I could have? I was thinking of an obstacle course (jump, balance, climb checks) but was having a hard time coming up with a setup.

Any other ideas? other events?

 

[Moulin Rogue]

Those ESPN "tough guy" contests are a goldmine of inspirations for "barbarian Olympics". How about that one where they have to lift big boulders onto pillars? Also:

Wrasslin'
Log Throwing
Tug-of-War
Cliff climbing
Ritualistic hunting?
Swimming

 

[Phineas Crow]

Greataxe Throwing (Game of Strength)

Objective: To throw a greataxe (or other convenient heavy object) the farthest.

Game Mechanics: I would run the game by pairing up all the contestants and rolling opposed strength checks for each pair, the winners moving to the next round, repeating the process until there is one final winner.


Stone Mile (Game of Constitution)

Objective: To run a mile while carrying a sack of heavy stones.

Game Mechanics: d20 movement rules don't work well for races, so what I would do is break the race into 6 segments, For the first segment the contestants make a Constitution check DC 10, anyone that fails begins to slow down and is given a -2 score, each following segment the Constitution check DC is increased by 2, with each failure incurring a -2 penalty to the contestant's score. If, after all 6 segments, there is a clear winner then they win the race. However, if there is more than one contestant with the highest score (i.e. least penalties) the race enters a final dash segment.

During the final dash to the finish line all the contestants with the highest score roll opposing Constitution checks, the highest check result becomes the race winner. If multiple contestants have the highest result they tie the race, passing the finish line at the same exact time.

 

[Dark Jezter]

My Uthgardt (FR) campaign is rolling along quite nicely, and to shift from typical hack'n'slash wilderenss adventuring, I decided that most tribes get together for a huge feat each shieldmeet (every 4 years). I was wondering what contests I could have.

Two words: Elf hurling.

Back to being serious, though, wrestling is always a good contest. Two wrestlers enter a 20x20 "ring" (which is actually just a big square drawn on the ground), and are stripped of all weapons, armor, and other items that might give them an edge. To win, one of the wrestlers must...

Grapple his opponent and hold a pin on him for an entire round.

or

Deal enough subdual damage to knock his opponent unconscious.

or

Bull-rush his opponent out of the ring.

 

[random user]

My players stay out! It's for your own good, it's nothing super useful to know beforehand, but you'll like it more if it doesn't get spoiled for you.

Highlight below to read. Apologies to everyone else, it's just that this is coming very soon for my campaign and I think it will be fun if they can't think of what to do beforehand, and I know they read these boards.


I have a party of 6 people, and here are a couple things I'm planning on doing for a gathering they are going to. I'm sure you can adapt it for a single person (or maybe make it a team thing).

Log-riding. All 6 of my players are going to have to ride a log as it careens down a hill for as long as they can. Every 10' there is a DC (5 + 5*(every 10' increment)) balance or strength check (player's choice). Thus at 30', the 3rd check, the DC to stay on is DC20. The next check, 40', is DC25. Here's the catch. All 6 of my party members are going to have to be on the log. As long as 4 members stay on, they can keep going down. Here's where it gets complicated and they get to start thinking:

- the players will have to be in a single file order on the log.
- The DC roll is first made by the person in front, second by the second, etc.
- Before each roll, each person can say if they are going aid the person in front, aid the person in back, or aid themselves. If they aid someone in back or front of them, for every 2 they beat their DC by, they can add 1 to that person. If they aid themselves, they get a +2 circumstance bonus to their roll.
- If someone falls, the player behind them has to make a DC15 strength or balance check to stay on the log or else they fall and the person behind them has to make a check too.

Again, once the third person falls from the log, that's their distance.

Here's the other one I've thought out.

I call it shooting gallery, or whack-a-mole, for lack of a better term.

I'm going to put out a battlemat, and put up a couple random walls. Also, the battlemat squares will be 10' (with 6 players I need the room, with less 5' squares will probably be fine.)

They can start out in whatever position they want. Everything about placement and duration is going to be pre-generated (but random). IMC, this is done by magic. If you have a low magic world this won't work for you (or you will have to figure out another way to implement it).

In random spots at random times during 1 minute (10 rounds), 25 targets will appear. They are AC14 and have 8 hit points (adjust for level and power of course). Each target has the following properties, randomly determined:

- location: it will be somewhere on the battle mat, perhaps next to wall, perhaps in the open, perhaps in a corner.

- time that it appears: the 25 targets aren't coming at fixed intervals, so there can be none out or lots out at a time. Also, they can appear in the middle of a round (like on init 12 or something like that) rather than just at the top of the round.

- time that it stays up. Some are going to only be up for a short bit. Others will be up for longer. I'm going to tell my players the formula so they can get some idea of how long things will stay up. I'm going to roll 8d6 + 5. Then I'm going to take that number and divide it by 25 to get the number of rounds it will stay up. The remainder will be the additional initiative ticks it stays up. IE if I end up rolling a 32, and I've randomly determined that this target is popping up at round 3, initiative 12, then it will stay up till round 4, initiative 5.

(Yes, I'm getting a script to do all the calculations for me.)

The party gets one point for every "kill" they get in the 10 rounds plus however long it takes for the targets to disappear naturally.

The other things I've thought about including (they aren't strictly for barbarians but maybe they will give you an idea: log tossing, high or long jump, archery, some kind of hunt.

 

[iwatt]

Those ESPN "tough guy" contests are a goldmine of inspirations for "barbarian Olympics". How about that one where they have to lift big boulders onto pillars?

check. But please sir, speak game mechanics to me Straight Strength checks to get thre rock up, with decreasing points for time intervals? I've got it: 5 pillars, each higher than the other,:Increasing DCs of difficulty (10 DC 12 DC 14 DC 16 DC 18 DC 20). Each rock has two attempts:
first try: 2 point
second try: 1 point

Same structure as the archery contest (i.e half the contestants eleiminated, i can generate medians for random samples of strength scores). Each round changes the size of rocks (increases DC by 2)

Wrasslin'

check. Straight elimination until the top following the rules ghiven by Dark Jezter. Only change I'd is go 1 Dimensional: Instead of 20'x20', I'd go for a 20'x5' log over a muddy pond. Conditions to win:

- Trip Opponent into pond
- Subdue him with nonlethal damage:
- Pin him for 1 round: Then succed at A strength 15 DC check. You just tossed your guy into the pond as well.
- Bull rush him out of the log.

Log Throwing

check. Use Phineas Crow rules (TM)

Tug-of-War

Check: Straight on opposed strength checks. 3 per team: One strong guy, 2 aid another guys: Every 1 you beat your opponent roll y means you dragged the closer by 1'. muddy hole is 10' wide. Contestants start 15' away from the pond:

Cliff climbing

Check. Just have it be a60 ' tall cliff. No safety net. This game isn't for weaklings. Straight up race up the wall. first 20' DC 10. Second 20' DC 12 third DC 15.

Ritualistic hunting?

Sounds cool. But how would you handle it?

Swimming

check. But Anybody have any ideas besides atraight up swim checks.

 

[Moulin Rogue]

Sounds cool. But how would you handle it?QUOTE]

Howzabout:
The quarry could be non-native to the area, or marked by paint or a magical sign (so it could be "the golden boar" or "the silver deer" or something like that). Or the rules could simply be that any animal already in the forest is fair game. If it's a big long contest, there could be more than one quarry and each tribe could be a "team" trying to catch the most, sort of like a scavenger hunt (or a "Survivor" challenge!).

Each hunter (or hunting party) uses the Track feat rules until they catch onto something and then catch up to it. Then it goes round-by-round as the hunter makes Move Silently and Hide checks vs. the quarry's Listen and Spot, until the hunter initiates combat with an attack or the quarry detects the hunter and tries to flee.

Either there's a set amount of quarry to catch and the contest ends when enough of it is brought back to declare a winner, or there's a time limit of say, sunrise to sundown to catch as much as you can.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I could see some lumberjack sports being barbarian - log walk, axe throw, pie eating, beer drinking, even singing.

 

[Orius]

Got to have a drinking contest somewhere.

 

[Moulin Rogue]

And to mix it up in a swimming contest some more, how about some barriers that require the swimmer to go under the water and through an opening in order to advance. The swimmer has to dive to look for it, maybe with Spot checks to sight it or Dexterity checks to feel for it. But if he doesn't find the opening in X number of rounds, he has to come back up for air before trying again, costing time.