There is no 'i' in team.

[Urban Spaceman]

Hello creative people.
I’ve hit a bit of a wall whilst designing a forthcoming adventure, and am hoping that some of you fine folks can lend a hand by chucking some ideas my way.

The scenario is that the characters are going to a tournament held by a crime lord, which also acts as a recruitment opportunity for teams to join his “court” (he sees himself as a King).
As such, there will be some games going on which the players will be entering in order to prove themselves to him (it’s not important to my problem, but the characters don’t actually want to join, they are there to snoop around for some intel). The games are also entertainment for the guests, somewhat like a medieval tournament.

I created 2 team events for them to take part in.
One is a combat based game, where 2 opposing teams have to fight each other in order to get one of their team successfully across a playing field and in to the opponents starting area. This will be multi-stage knockout style competition, which will give the players the chance to use a variety of skills, and use brains as well as brawn.

Initially I was going to have a skiff race as the second competition, and planned for it to get a little out of hand, with dirty tactics being used by some other teams.
However, I have realised that this type of race is almost exactly the same as what I was planning to do in a future scenario, as the characters have been to Sevarcos and were invited back for the Festival of the High Winds.

So, I need another team based event for them to take part in.
Ideally, this will be different from the combat game mentioned above.
It will be a chance for them to work together against the other teams (possibly against all the teams at the same time).
It will provide a chance for one or more teams to use ‘dirty’ tactics.
Naturally, it will also need to be fun and exciting for the players too!

I’ve been flicking through some of my sourcebooks for inspiration. So far the only possibility that leaps out is the BlastBoast 2000 from one of the Adventure Journals. Anyone got any other ideas?
Has anyone got experience of the BlastBoast, and can offer feedback on it?
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"The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't."

[Bren]

For thought, rather than look for a Star Wars idea look at real world sporting events. The first sport you mentioned sounds like a rugby/football analog where the team mate is in effect the ball.

Think about other team sports. Then think about how a Hutt or other crime lord would "improve" the games. For example

• Relay race - spice it up by having the "runners" use walkers. An open light walker like the AT-RT would be good since an actual baton pass could be used.
  
• Ice hockey/Water Polo - but instead of being on ice or in the water the players are on repulsor hover boards with a maximum 1-2 meter ceiling over deep water...filled with dianogas. They have some kind of ball they have to get in a goal. To make it really crazy - instead of a ball like in water polo use a thermo detonator with a timer. When the timer goes off, the game is OVER!
  
• To bring the crazy to your rugby game, instead of getting a player onto the opponent's side use an Ewok as a football. No points scored if the Ewok is dead on arrival.
  

[Urban Spaceman]

Love the Ewok idea
You are right on my thinking for the first game. A kind of rugby/speedball/griffball style idea, with guns and barriers which will favour a tactical approach to attack and defense.

Aside from that, both good suggestions (especially as none of my players have bothered with Swimming, despite all nearly being drowned twice).
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"The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't."

[atgxtg]

Some possibilities:

-You could have jousting, using lances and speeder bikes. They did it in the first Clone Wars animated series. The lances are tournament style designed to break or give rather than injure. Those who are hit must soak the damage or be knocked off their speeder. THe damage could be based off the collision table/speed (instead of adding STR).

-You could have them try to catch rings with their lances.

-Some sort of target shooting contest.Each target would have a base difficulty, set by the range. Meeting the difficulty results in a hit, worth 1 point. Really good attack rolls mean hitting an inner ring and scoring more points. Each contestant could get 5 or 10 shots and the one with the most points wins.

+DIFF: Outer Red Ring (1 point)
DIFF+6: Outer White Ring (3 points)
DIFF+11: Inner Red Ring (5 points)
DIFF+16: Inner White Ring (7 points)
DIFF+21: Bullseye! (10 points)

-Challenges: One of the PCs has to fight one of the "King's" thugs. THis could include some NPC who bears a grudge. Or a young punk who wants to make a name for himself.This could be with lethal weapons or with stun weapons. It get better if you can get the PCs personally vested in the outcome.

-A Hunt: Everybody goes out hunting. The one who bags the biggest game creature wins. You can have a lot of fun here deciding just what the prey is. Womprats? Rancors? Dragons? You could even make it a moral dilemma for the PCs if they end up hunting sentients. Maybe they have to try and help the prey escape--without being obvious about it.

-A drinking contest. Who knows what might happen to somebody who passes out in the lair of a crime boss?

-A singing contest, or other chance to use some performance skill that most characters are terrible at.

With a these events there should be some motivation for the PCs to want to win. Maybe the Crime Boss will be more cooperative if the PCs win; Maybe there is a rival for whatever the PCs are after; maybe the Crime Boss has a daughter (pretty, plain ugly, or just a really exotic alien) who can be swayed by prowess on the field, or whom falls for the PCs and now the PCs must try to discourage without looking too badly in front of the crime boss.

If the Crime Boss is really warped, he could make everybody go through this with archaic arms, armor, and mounts. He could get his kicks watch everyone fumble around with old equipment that they have no familiarity with.

[Urban Spaceman]

Some nice idea there too, atgxtg.

I might use the drinking contest as a side element to the feast I'm planning for the first night (a chance for all the teams to size each other up).
Of course, this could lead to the one-on-one duel, as it's very easy to cause offense when drunk!

The crime lord himself is definately cruel and twisted (although he tries to appear kindly, it's an act that fools no-one except himself). Therefore the competitions will usually include the risk of injury or death.

I like the idea of a hunt. I am looking to include a rescue of his slaves as part of the story (in fact, the slaves are former allies of the characters, and this reveal is one of the major plot points).
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"The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't."

[Bren]

[atgxtg]

[mdlake]

[vanir]

this thread was hilarious! great ideas there guys