Tournament Rules (As In, Rules For Simulating Tournaments!)

For a while I've been bothered by the fact that the Adventurer, Conqueror, King system (ACKS) seems to give fighter-type classes a less inspired domain-management endgame. They get to do all the same basic functions as other classes (trade, stronghold building, and basic economics), but they don't really have any special flavor elements that they don't share with all the other classes. Worse, clerics seem to be able to do all the same things, and do them better, thanks to having larger strongholds that can control more land and population. Fighters ought to be the best at something!

To look at the Platonic ideal of what it means to be a Lord (a name-level fighter with a stronghold), let's look back to the original OD&D booklets, and see what happens when a party of adventurers trespasses on the lands of a mighty ruler from each of the three archetypical classes (this is pre-thief!). From Volume III: Underworld and Wilderness Adventures, page 15:

• Fighting Men within castles will demand a jousting match with all passersby of like class. Otherwise they will demand a toll of from 100 to 600 Gold Pieces from the party. If a joust takes place (use rules from CHAINMAIL) the occupant of the castle will take the loser's armor if he wins, but if the character wins the castle owner will host all in the party for up to one month, supply them with two weeks of rations, and provide warhorses (Heavy) if the party so requires.

• Magic-Users from castles will send passersby after treasure by Geas if they are not hostile, with the Magic-User taking at least half of all treasure so gained, the Magic-User having first choice of magical items and automatically choosing Miscellaneous Magic, Wands/Staves, or Rings (in that order) in preference to other items. Otherwise, the Magic-User will require a magical item from the passersby as toll, and if they have no magical items suitable for use the Magic-User will require a toll of from 1000 to 4000 Gold Pieces. 

• Clerics will require passersby to give a tithe (10%) of all their money and jewels. If there is no payment possible the Cleric will send the adventurers on some form of Lawful or Chaotic task, under Quest. Generally Evil High Priests will simple attempt to slay Lawful or Neutral passersby who fail to pay their tithes.

Here we have the endgame focus of each of three classes. Mages covet magic items above all else. Clerics covet money (ahem, "tithes") above all else. Both of these are well-represented in ACKS, which gives mages all kinds of crafting systems to invest their time and money, and gives clerics lots of revenue enhancing perks.

What do fighters care about? Challenges! High-stakes challenges, where the victors are rewarded handsomely as celebrated new champions of the realm, but the losers are stripped and kicked to the curb. OD&D is mostly concerned with the high medieval period -- hence the special attention to jousting -- but almost every other pre-industrial culture had its equivalent quasi-martial spectator sport: the Greeks had the Olympic (and other) games, the Romans had Colosseum and the Circus, the Byzantines dropped gladiators but doubled down on chariot-racing, and jousts were really nothing more than a more genteel version of free-for-all melees arranged as recreational activity during the Dark Ages.

This aspect of the ancient world deserves a new and improved implementation in the ACKS style.

After floating the idea for new fighter perks on the developer forum, I got mostly recommendations that involved personnel improvements to henchmen or hirelings. For example, the cap on henchmen could be relaxed, or the pool for recruiting them could be expanded. I'd really like to make a system that involves active decisions and resource management, rather than just a passive bonus, for sake of consistency with the highly customizable crafting systems for the other classes.

In my approach, fighters would not only build a physical structure for games (a stadium or something similar), but would also schedule competitive events. This would be in conjunction with the usual "feasts" required for domain morale purposes, as part of the celebration. The events would have different costs, and attract different types of (pre-rolled) contestants. By observing the outcome of each contest, the sponsoring lord (and any visitors from other realms) could learn something about the skills and attributes of the contestants in advance of recruitment, instead of the usual system of hiring henchman and then "rolling them up" to discover if you got a valuable one. A winning contestant would make a good choice for a henchman!

Here's a brainstormed list of different contests and games, some of which might be restricted from a given setting (i.e., no jousting in a bronze-age campaign). The "formula" determines how contestants will place during competition, based on their skills and attributes. Each contest has a base cost of 5000 gp associated with it, which mostly reflects creating a sizable purse of money for the winners as well as the cost of offering hospitality to celebrated contestants. Increasing the purse will improve the number of contestants who arrive to compete. Contestants will only compete in events that match one of the prime requisites of their classes (i.e., a bard would compete in recitation, but a regular fighter would not).

• Horse racing: 1d12 + DEX + STR / 2
• Chariot/harness racing: 1d10 + DEX + STR / 2 + INT / 2
• Jousting: 1d6 + STR + DEX / 2
• Sprinting: 1d6 + STR
• Distance running: 1d6 + CON
• Javelin throwing: 1d6 + DEX
• Wrestling: 1d6 + STR + CON + DEX / 2
• Boxing: 1d6 + STR + DEX + CON / 2
• Gladiatorial combat: 1d6 + STR + CON + DEX
• Hunting: 1d6 + DEX + WIS
• Recitation: 1d6 + CHA + INT / 2

By observing the outcome of many events, a shrewd ruler could identify the most outstanding young warriors in his region of the world, getting an early chance to recruit a potential Lancelot or Hercules. As sponsor, he'd have first right to offer something to a contestant. Of course, rivals might arrive to make offers to any contestant who wasn't successfully recruited, or to try to enter themselves or their own henchmen for a shot at the purse!

I'm try to work this idea out into some more formal rules that include adjustments for level and proficiencies.