Post originally by Sir Knight at 2003-12-25 14:45:25
Converted from Phorums BB System

Hmm. I gotta wonder about the RPGA sometimes. All I've ever heard about them besides their own paid ads has been negative, and sometimes very negative (which sounds pretty one-sided, but might also say something about the organization. Lacking another side to the story besides glowing ads, I can't really tell who's right). The whole Living City thing has been labeled as farcical and pedestrian by critics, with badly written official products and stiff, real-world consequences (read 'penalties') for character behavior in-game and in-character. The Living Force experience for the Star Wars D20 game seems to be written to similar standards (though I've never seen any reviews for Living Force). This sounds to me like an admonishment to stay away, stay far away.

The only Role-playing tournament I've played in besides a Deadlands event a few years back was a knightly tournament played to D&D 3rd rules (Wizards of the Coast products only). The entire event was competitive, and everyone knew it from the start. The entry fee of $20 ensured that the half-hearted weren't interested, and the prize was a replica sword from the film "A Knight's Tale". The whole event was themed from that film, and every character brought to the table needed a herald to announce them (we played our own heralds) and a set of entrance music for the first appearence in each event. We competed for first and second place in the joust, the sword on foot, and the mace on foot. All characters were 10th level, no magic allowed, and the ability to ride and participate in mounted combat was an absolute must.

It was quite a show. We had an uneven number of players, and at least twice a knight came out of the loser's bracket to win first place (the joust and the sword). Every character was somewhat unique, and the whole thing came down to a joust-off to take the final prize. Although there was only one winner in the end, all of the players hung around to see who the final winner would be. Everybody was on the edge of their chairs, cheering the criticals and wincing in sympathy at the critical failures right to the very last die roll, and not one player went home disappointed at having come to the contest.

This, in my opinion, may very well be the best kind of Role-playing competitive game. Everyone knows that it's a competition from the very beginning, and no one has an unfair advantage in a more experienced character or Brian Van Hoose style metagaming and rules-lawyering. So there's no conflict between the people who are there to tell in-character stories and the ones who are there to garner tons of experience points and swag at the expense of their tablemates. While cross-purposes may make for good stories, if they aren't played properly they can destroy groups and turn a fun game into a vicious argument. I really don't think people go to conventions to shout at each other, so it seems to me that this kind of conflict should be avoided, for the good of everyone. But I can't speak for everyone.