Greetings!

In some kingdoms of my campaign world, the various kingdoms sponsor seasonal noble tournaments, often held in the larger cities, or a prosperous town not far from a large city. Such noble tournaments can typically attract enormous crowds, whole caravans of merchants and exotic goods, and many different kinds of entertainers, dancers, and musicians. Beyond such social and political adventures which may be pursued in such environments, of course, are the martial exploits of the professional tournaments. Jousting knights on horseback; champions engaging in melee combats; as well as archery and wrestling competitions attended by others. Prizes of considerable fortunes may be offered, as well as fine suits of armour, excellent weapons, glorious warhorses, and also on occasion, beautiful women from noble houses.

Fierce reputations of various knights can be forged over several seasons of attending the noble tournaments, creating tense and sometimes bitter rivalries between knights.

With such noble tournaments in mind, have you used them in your campaigns?

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Quote from: SHARK;1118200Greetings!

In some kingdoms of my campaign world, the various kingdoms sponsor seasonal noble tournaments, often held in the larger cities, or a prosperous town not far from a large city. Such noble tournaments can typically attract enormous crowds, whole caravans of merchants and exotic goods, and many different kinds of entertainers, dancers, and musicians. Beyond such social and political adventures which may be pursued in such environments, of course, are the martial exploits of the professional tournaments. Jousting knights on horseback; champions engaging in melee combats; as well as archery and wrestling competitions attended by others. Prizes of considerable fortunes may be offered, as well as fine suits of armour, excellent weapons, glorious warhorses, and also on occasion, beautiful women from noble houses.

Fierce reputations of various knights can be forged over several seasons of attending the noble tournaments, creating tense and sometimes bitter rivalries between knights.

With such noble tournaments in mind, have you used them in your campaigns?

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Your world would be a lot of fun to play in. These things are fun and help set the atmosphere for the game, it brings it to life when you include cultural things.

Quote from: ElBorak;1118208Your world would be a lot of fun to play in. These things are fun and help set the atmosphere for the game, it brings it to life when you include cultural things.

Greetings!

Thank you, Elborak! I think noble tournaments also provide a good background for things going on between knights, paladins and so on. It brings a sort of competition and political dimension to their relationships with others. In addition, there are also other contacts to be made, quests to be uncovered, and great prizes to be won for glory!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Quote from: SHARK;1118200Greetings!

In some kingdoms of my campaign world, the various kingdoms sponsor seasonal noble tournaments, often held in the larger cities, or a prosperous town not far from a large city. Such noble tournaments can typically attract enormous crowds, whole caravans of merchants and exotic goods, and many different kinds of entertainers, dancers, and musicians. Beyond such social and political adventures which may be pursued in such environments, of course, are the martial exploits of the professional tournaments. Jousting knights on horseback; champions engaging in melee combats; as well as archery and wrestling competitions attended by others. Prizes of considerable fortunes may be offered, as well as fine suits of armour, excellent weapons, glorious warhorses, and also on occasion, beautiful women from noble houses.

Fierce reputations of various knights can be forged over several seasons of attending the noble tournaments, creating tense and sometimes bitter rivalries between knights.

With such noble tournaments in mind, have you used them in your campaigns?

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Dark Albion has a section on tourneys, mostly for encounters and adventure seeds.

Also, if you want to learn more about the Aristocracy (though not directly related to tourneys), there's material on that in RPGPundit Presents #74: Medieval-Authentic Aristocracy.  There's also RPGPundit Presents #30: Courtly Events and Intrigues, which is included in the Medieval Authentic Old School Companion.

I sometimes have noble tourneys, but more often I have carnivals and other slightly lower class celebrations. There are still feats of strength, wrestling and fencing matches and even the ever-popular chariot racing! As they are open to non-nobles, PCs often join in, and people they meet/beat/are beaten by can turn up as important NPCs in the future - with a ready-made opinion of the PCs. I even had someone win the caber-toss, much to the chagrin of the local barbarians! They almost ended up as enemies, but a drunken fistfight ended with friendship and a blood-bond.
Tournies et al are a great opportunity for RP, intrigue and combat and a great way to introduce important NPCs to a campaign.

I'll note that in medieval-authentic contexts, all those kinds of contests were strictly divided between the aristocracy and the commons. There were contests for the commons and others for knights and nobles.  Commoners didn't joust, and in tourneys there was a special battle for commoners known as a "bohort" (which was incredibly bloody). You didn't see aristocrats engaging in Shrovetide Football.

Bohort (or buhurt) is still going. Kind of. This is stolen from Wikipedia: "Historical Medieval Battles (HMB) or Buhurt [1] (from Old French béhourd: "wallop")[2] is a modern full contact fighting sport with steel blunt weapons characteristic for the Middle Ages.[3] Armor and weapons have to follow regulations on historical authenticity and safety published on official Battle of the Nations page.[4]"

Here's a link to the Battle of the Nations website.

Some people are crazy, I guess.