I recently was able to participate in something very interesting, that as far as I'm aware hasn't been done since around the time I was born (the mid 1980s). If you read the old gaming magazines it was something that anyone who went to a Gaming Convention between 1975 and 1985 would have been familiar with, even if they were not brave enough themselves to test their mettle at it... The Competitive D&D Tournament!
I'm not the only one who's been fascinated by the idea of turning what most people would say is a "game you cannot win" into something not only competitive, but with indisputable scoring that clearly demarcates the winners from the losers from the dead. Polyfamous, the founder of the Living Urf Gaming Club, recently put together a tournament module for the elite players of this most auspicious digital club. To further ensure fairness in a way that Gaming Conventions of old could not, instead of all three teams being run simultaneously, Poly is running 1 team each week. The three teams the club put together are:
1) The Globo Gym Purple Cobras: Jake, Nekro, Matthew, and myself
2) Generation X: Brig, Josh, Rdubs, and Krafty Matt
3) [Team Name Undecided]: Snufkin, Rump, Hollyfelled, and Angry Steak
The session would be played using Barrows & Borderlands, the teams were given 4 Level 6 character types to choose from (and could run multiples of the same type if they so chose), and 200sp to buy equipment for the trek from the Barrows & Borderlands equipment list. The 4 character types available were: Sword and Board Fighter, Musketeer, Cleric, and Werebear. The Goals/Scoring for the Tournament are as follows:
1) Each team has 3 hours to complete the dungeon, for each minute early they finish all players will receive 10 points
2) For destroying the source of the Undead 1,000 points.
3) For sanctifying the shrine of the Dungeon 500 points.
4) For each Artifact of Vakhar recovered 250 points.
5) Each point of value of Gold recovered from the Tomb will be worth 1 point (and can be divided as the surviving players see fit).
Since the tournament is still ongoing, I won't give too many details about how the Purple Cobras tackled Vakhar's Grief, but will give some highlights (things may be changed to not give my opponents an unfair advantage from reading my blog). The Purple Cobras decided to compose our team as Golden Locks/White Goodman the Cleric (Jake), and 3 Bears named Lazer (Matthew), Blazer (Nekro), and Me'Chell (myself). Our thinking was to have the three ridiculously strong bears be the hammer while the Cleric stayed back to heal up the frontline as required; due to their strength we also reasoned that the bears could take the hit from any traps we encountered and still be dangerous enough if we encountered a room full of skeletons.
We entered the tomb, Jake as the only character in human form, was our caller, Nekro and I were both mapping; to keep the pace of play moving Poly was rolling all the dice. We were logical in how we followed the trails from room to room, always barring any spare doors, doubling back to investigate them later. On the first level we encountered a spooky but ultimately harmless bedroom, a couple of monsters hiding in plain sight, a few nasty surprises and traps, and after a few times investigating the same area, the stairs to the lower levels of the tomb. Once down in the bowels of Vakhar's Grief, we followed the snaking corridors to an ornate throne room that was suspiciously empty. On our guard against the standard tricks, we went forward to investigate an ornate throne covered in jewels and gold relief work, our mapping indicated a possible hidden room behind the throne. Blazer volunteered to use his bear strength to push the throne aside to see if there was either a trap door beneath it or a pressure plate under it that would reveal the treasure room; little did we know there was one last trick of old Vakhar to guard that secret door and when Blazer pushed on the throne he activated a cloud of gas failed his save and died instantly. Unfortunately for us Blazer was also the one carrying the Bag of Holding with all our loot and gear in it, at this point my mic had been muted (a train had passed earlier and I had forgotten to unmute myself) so my idea of having one of us grab the dead Blazer by the feet and drag him from the cloud of death was unheard by my teammates. Jake decided that since he had on a Ring of Protection that gave him a bonus to Saving Throws, he would attempt to retrieve the Bag from the dead Blazer's neck; unfortunately he also succumbed to the deadly cloud. At this point it Lazer and I could either run for our lives and admit defeat, or screw our courage to the sticking place and attempt one last time to recover the gear of our departed friends. Lazer leapt forward and by the barest of margins dragged out the lifeless Cleric and Bear; and because many of the items we would need to complete our quest were located in that bag and too fine or small for massive bear paws to wield Lazer changed back into his human form donned the dead Cleric's armor, weapons, and gear. By the time the change was completed the cloud had dissipated and a small staircase was revealed, we struck a torch and went down once more into the darkness, found a landing, and another set of stairs going up into the void on our map. Once we reached the top of the stairs we found a hoard of gold, gems, magical items, and a large Skeletal Warrior guarding an evil font; surely the animated remains of old Vakhar himself! Me'Chell rushed in and tackled him in a bear hug, and while Vakhar was pinned Lazer ran forward to dump a couple vials of Holy Water into the font then turned to help me bring down the large skeleton. After a tense combat, Vakhar had been vanquished, and the shrine had been sanctified. Now we needed to find the source of the Undead; we returned to the throne room and looked at our map, there was one door we had seen but hadn't investigated. We returned to that door and read an ominous inscription on the frame; the room contained terracotta warriors arranged in ranks, and in order to cleanse the energy infused in them by an ancient Necromancer we must cast the "Divine Arm-Launched Exploding Device of Great Holiness" in amongst them, destroying them all, and once destroyed the Undead throughout the rest of the tomb would drop lifeless to the floor. So I knocked open the door as Lazer began the ritual, hurling in the exploding device, we took cover on either side of the door; a great light burst forth from the door-way and a shriek was heard throughout the Tomb that quickly transformed into complete silence, "so silent you can hear your own hearts pounding in your ears."
Goals completed, we retraced our steps and escaped the Tomb, with 40 minutes to spare; the Purple Cobra's final score was: Matthew and myself as the survivors 3315 points each (we had elected to split the treasure evenly), Jake and Nekro 2500 (for what of the adventure they completed before death). It was a fun evening and the pressure of not only trying to complete all the goals, but also explore the dungeon and find as much loot in 3 hours was a great challenge and I totally understand now why this was such a common thing at Gaming Conventions in the first decade of the Hobby. It really does push you to the limit of your abilities as a gamer, but that's not to say the whole experience was nothing but meta-gaming knowledge; there were plenty of opportunities to roleplay thanks to some of the inhabitants of the Tomb that Poly put in there and paying attention to the descriptions he gave allowing us to solve some puzzles (or how keeping good maps allowed us to find the treasure room and shrine). If you have a Club full of Elite Gamers, you should try to put together your own tournament to see who is the best of the best and can crown themselves Club Champion!
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