How are 'Tournament' adventures run?

[Brund the Decrepit]

Well in all my years of gaming I have never played in a 'tournament' adventure and I am curious how these are run differently from 'non-tournament' adventures. I have a lot of 1ed. adventures that state they were originally run as tournaments. etc.

Are you given the pre-generated characters and are set with a time limit?

Thanks for any replies as I have always wondered but were to ashamed to ask..

 

[der_kluge]

Download the Goodman Games player's packet. There's a link in the News on this site today. It will help explain the process.

 

[Brund the Decrepit]

Download the Goodman Games player's packet. There's a link in the News on this site today. It will help explain the process.

Thanks der_kluge, that is what got me thinking about tournaments. I will check it out!


-Brund the Tournament Noob

 

[kenobi65]

Particularly in the case of the old 1E AD&D modules, some of which were originally modules for what was then known as the AD&D Open, here's how it would have worked:

- The players are given a set of pregenerated PCs; they need to sort out which player gets which PC.
- The game is under a time limit (typically, 4 hours, which is the standard "time slot" for most gaming conventions). The goal is to accomplish as many of the module's goals as possible within that time limit.
- In the case of the AD&D Open, it's a three-round tournament. The top-scoring teams (from the standpoint of what they got done, and how long it took to do so) advance to the next round. (And, you advance as a table.)

As far as I know, the D&D Open (which runs at GenCon Indy) is now the only RPGA event that works this way. It used to be that the RPGA ran a lot of other "Classic" modules (i.e., pregenerated PCs), that weren't as "competitive" as the Open (these other Classics are often a lot more about role-playing, and a lot less about meeting goals; excessive role-playing in the Open tends to keep you from advancing).

However, the explosion in the popularity of the Living Campaigns, and then the D&D Campaigns, has pretty much killed the Classic format; other than the Open, I don't think that RPGA has released any other new Classic modules in a couple of years.

 

[BlackMoria]

Tournament modules are structured much like other modules except that the group gets points for meeting certain 'objectives'. That said, as a player, you never know what these objectives are....just the overall objective.

Tournament modules however play very differently that your normal Friday night game.

You have a set amount of time (usually 4 hours) to do everything. The clock starts when you arrive and the DM gives his briefing. Because of the time crunch, some groups eschew using maps and minis (cause drawing out the map and using minis takes up time) and do a number of other time saving tactics.

Role playing is light to non-existent. You don't get points (usually) for how interesting you played your character.....its all about the objectives, which tends to be enemies defeated and information acquired or some action undertaken. Needless chatting up the this or that NPC wastes time.

Expect a sense of urgency....if the party bogs down debating whether to undertake this or that course of action, expect the more experience tournament players to 'cut to the quick' and get the party moving forward in the adventure.

Usually, dead is dead. Most tournament modules are in the 5th-7th level range so if you character dies, don't expect the others to cart your body off to the local temple for raising (you don't have the time or the resources to get it done). Some tournament modules allow for the recovery of 1 or 2 people but my limited experience is, if you die, you get to be a spectator for the rest of the time slot.

Be organized. The clock starts as soon as the DM outlines the scenario and passes out the pre-generated characters. The clock stops 4 hours later and your group is scored. What you do in that 4 hours is up to you.

I had one group take their entire 4 hours getting themselves organized and dealing with the first two encounters. Needless to say, they didn't score highly....