Remember backs when conventions featured tournament events? They seem to be a rarity these days. I know one reason being that they require players to commit a great deal of their schedule to a single event ran throughout the convention. However I always enjoyed the element of competition. If several GMs were willing to come together and run an old style 1st edition AD&D (or "Basic" D&D) tournament, would it interest people? I ask, as I would love to organize such a multi-session tournament event under the DGS flag in a fashion reminiscent of the old Wintercon tournaments. Maybe using one of the old tournament modules such as from the C series (The Ghost Tower of Inverness, Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, etc...) or having the GMs running it write a new and unique module (perhaps using the Cave of the Unknown mentioned in B2). Thoughts?
We have had original AD&D adventures run as single round " tournaments" at GC III & IV. I am collaborating with Jim Ward to bring a 2 rounder to GC V. I would like to see it yearly as a 2 or 3 round tourney.
Sounds great Luke! After speaking with Michael and Colin, we are considering something similar to a one round event. It will be a 12 hour tag-team ran game broken up into 3 separate events featuring a single module and ran back to back over the course of a single day with each 4 hour section ran by one of us. Our idea, at least to this point, is to list the 3 sections as 3 stand alone events but for those wishing to slog it through from beginning to end, they will be given priority at the table. Michael is already working out prizes and we are in the midst of deciding upon a module.
Very nice! I think it will be well received. Do it early and you might have a few people doing the marathon event.
So we have it narrowed down to these five classic modules. What we'd like now is to know which one you think would go over best as a 3 part tournament done in one day. Again, the way it would work is that the module would be ran in three consecutive sessions over the course of one day. Each part would be it's own event, and players would not be required to participate in all three, though for those willing to do so, they would be eligible for the grand prize. So in no particular order... X3 Master of the Desert Nomands L2 The Assassin's Knot I2 Tomb of the Lizard King S2 White Plume Mountain WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun
I think White Plume Mountain would be excellent for splitting up in that fashion. You could structure it so that a session would end when each artifact was recovered (Wave, Whelm, and Blackrazor).
I really enjoyed The Forgotten temple of Tharizdun. It would be a great module to run IMHO. If I can convince Len to come to Gary Con, then I would vote for L2. Maybe he could run a session or two!
I think the old style tourneys would work if there were GMs lined up to run tables for those who do not advance. Players commit the time to the tourney (maybe three slots) and are guaranteed three slots of games whether they do well in the actual tourney or not.
Agreed Mark, and this was something Colin, Michael and I discussed. We decided that if someone signed up for all three slots, they would be allowed to play all three. So if you had signed up for all three sessions and your character died, you would be allowed a new character. However, for point scoring, if you died and had a new character, this would effect your point scoring. We are still working out scoring though. With that said, if additional runners wanted to participate, we could have multiple tables going for the tournament. We'd need to ensure we had enough runners though if we did open more tables. Right now, we have three runners, Michael, Colin and myself. That is enough for one table in three events. So for a second table running the three sessions, we'd need three more runners. It would be awesome to have Len Lakofka run one session. Then I think we'd obviously use L2 Assassin's Knot. If anyone is interested, just let us know and we'd be happy to set up a second three event table.
Discussions among the Castles & Crusades Society (TLG fan group, not the original C&C Society) members about running a C&C tournament are on-going. Not clear whether it will be a one-round tourney similar to the AD&D tourney at GC III & IV, or a multi-round affair yet. I'll poke the appropriate folks about getting in touch with Luke soonish to get the ball rolling.
The DGS Tournament adventure has been decided upon, this year we will run Len Lakofka's L2 The Assassin's Knot! Murder most foul! A small ruby, a leather button, and a golden lute string are your only leads. Can you follow them to the heart of The Assassins Knot?
I talked to Lenard and he won't be able to make GC V although he said GC VI is much more likely. I was hoping to have him there to see or even run a session of L2. Drat!
I will white plume Mountain as a regular event then since Assassins Knot will be the tourney module. Maybe another module as well. Looking to add another classic module to list of events, Joe
After some further discussion, we have decided to hold off on L2 until Gary Con VI, when we hope to see Len. So instead we will be running another fun module, B9 Castle Caldwell and Beyond!
If I were to run a session or two of straight-up Lost Tamoachan, would there be interest? It's the Origins 1979 tournament module. You probably know it (slightly changed) as C2. It's designed to be run as a two-hour game, although I think I'd want a three-hour slot for it, in that, if I have to pause to look something up, the clock stops.
I have run AD&D tournaments at the last two North Texas RPG Cons. It was something that just had to be at an old school con. While I love multi-round tournaments, they can be difficult to run at smaller conventions. Players are sometimes very hesitant to commit to multi time slot or day events. It looks like you are planning on a single round event which is probably the way to go for now. The only other thing that jumped out at me was the fact that you want to run a published TSR module. I would think that might cause some problems as most every player has access to, or has played, those early TSR modules. Or are you going to change them up significantly? Either way, I love the idea of an AD&D tournament. Back in the day I really looked forward to them at Gen Con and the Michicon/Wintercon days. So long as I am at GCV this year, I am in!
