From simple village fairs to grandiose and fabulous tournaments, competitive sport is a fun way for your PCs to show off to the locals without destroying the town. These events usually have prizes for the various contests along with a grand prize for the overall champion. And they offer a great opportunity to gain the attention of nobles or wealthy patrons.

Here are six competitions for you to use. Most of these events could take place over several days of heats, if the competitive field is large enough. The crowd of any large sporting event quickly picks out its heroes and villains. Often the most handsome hero is the darling of the crowd, but it could just as easily be the enemy who opposes the local lord’s unpopular son. The cheering or heckling crowd can be an integral part of the event, and woe betide anyone caught cheating by using bull’s strength or similar magic to enhance their skills.

Toss the Hammer

The hammer is huge and heavy, made of iron with a great stone on the end of a 6-foot shaft.

In order to throw the hammer, have each contestant make a Strength check along with a ranged attack roll. Subtract 10 from the contestant’s Strength check result to calculate the total distance thrown (in feet). Use the ranged attack roll to judge accuracy. If the contestant hits AC 20, the hammer went in the right direction, and the full distance counts. If the hammer missed AC 20 but hit AC 15, the throw was slightly off. Reduce the distance traveled by 25%. If the hammer misses AC 15, reduce the distance by half.

Each contest uses the best of three throws, with the longest single throw winning.

You could allow local experts to have special skill in hammer hurling or other contests, and give them up to a +4 bonus on their Strength checks.

Tug-O-War

The rope is about 4 inches thick, while a 10-foot-wide pit filled with fresh fertilizer separates the two teams. Teams of three members compete in this challenge. The team member with the best Strength score makes the check while his team members attempt to aid him. Each successful opposed Strength check pulls the other team 2 feet toward the pit. Each team starts the competition 6 feet from the edge. The rope has a break DC of 28; if both of the check results equal or exceed this, the rope breaks and the match is declared a draw.

Note that if this contest lasts more than 10 rounds, each team member needs to start making Constitution checks (DC 10 +1 per previous check) to avoid becoming first fatigued, and then exhausted.

Throw the Spear

Of course, no ordinary spear would suffice for this game. This 12-foot-long spear is gigantic, difficult for a Medium character to lift, and fashioned of iron.

The spear throw works in the same way as the hammer toss (above), except that the penalty for missing the target AC is doubled.

Weightlifting

This contest uses anvils, lead ingots, and troughs rather than ordinary weights. The winner is the contestant that successfully lifts the heaviest thing over his head. Each contestant gets two tries to lift each weight.

Each higher weight requires a progressively harder Strength check. The first weight is a coping stone (DC 10), then a small apprentice anvil (DC 14), then a lead ingot (DC 18), then onto a full anvil (DC 22) and finally a stone trough (DC 26). If somehow the competition goes on beyond this point you may wish to consider using horses, cows, or other animals, or perhaps huge dolmens or great stones hastily retrieved from nearby stone circles.

Toss the Caber

The caber, a huge tree trunk with its branches stripped off, is difficult to lift and balance, let alone toss. It is nearly 18 feet long. Tossing the caber is not only difficult, it is rather dangerous as well.

In order to lift the caber, a contestant must make a DC 15 Strength check, followed by a DC 10 Balance check. If he fails either of these checks he drops the caber before he can attempt to throw it. Once he has lifted it, he makes a DC 20 Strength check to throw the caber. The highest successful Strength check is the winner. If a contestant ever rolls a natural 1 while handling the caber, he fumbles it and drops it on himself, taking 2d6 points of bludgeoning damage.

Hurling Horseshoes

A popular children’s game, this event is less about strength, and more about good aim and a steady hand.

The horseshoes must be hurled onto a peg at varying distances. A horseshoe’s range increment is 5 feet, and the peg’s AC is 15. Horseshoes are considered an improvised weapon, so most characters will take a –4 penalty on their attack rolls.

If both contestants hit (each is allowed three throws), the target is moved back another 5 feet. This process is repeated until one of them misses more throws than the other.

Archery

A typical archery target has an outer ring (AC 15, worth 1 point), an inner ring (AC 20, worth 2 points) and a bull’s-eye (AC 25 worth 5 points). Each round consists of five shots. This contest is usually one of the most popular at the fair, with several rounds each eliminating half of the contestants. When only eight remain, the target is moved back one range increment after each round.

Running Races

Use opposed Constitution checks for distance marathons, and opposed Strength checks for sprints. Give characters with various speeds a bonus or penalty on their check for each foot by which their speed differs from 30. (So a barbarian with a speed of 40 would have +10, while a halfling would have –10.) Occasionally races introduce obstacles to make things more interesting. These could include pits to jump over, walls to climb, balance beams to negotiate, or even monsters to overcome.

Adventures at the Games

Contests, tournaments, and fairs make a great backdrop for adventure hooks. The influx of visitors, the huge prizes, and potential glory draw a heady mix of people from across the world. Here’s one possible idea to get you started:

The Feud

The Fores and Bafly clans have been at odds for centuries. The two dwarf clans from neighboring valleys have disputed the line of a border for generations. The conflict rarely leads to open hostility, but clans hotly contest each event at the annual Lord Grubbin Games held under the dark cliffs of Mount Grubbin.

This year the feud heats up as Deles, the daughter of the Fores clan’s chief, falls in love with Tulg Bafly. The two meet at the games and decide to elope. Their disappearance leads to accusations of murder, and after a bitter exchange a battle breaks out. It is eventually halted by the appearance of a bloody Deles clutching a crushed flower, sobbing uncontrollably. Tulg has been slain by an evil werewolf dwarf, the bastard son of a similar union between the two dwarven clans years ago. And Deles has become part of his pack…

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By Richard Pett
By Kyle Hunter