Adventure Idea- Contest

[Half-Orc Rage]

I have been running D&D for a couple people from work who never played it or any other rpgs before.It has been fun for me to DM since they are still new and impressed by everything. I am worried that all I am doing is running dungeon crawls, and would like to have some adventures that involve other things besides hacking through bad guys.

One idea I have is some kind of Olympic style contest, only for adventurers. For example, I know the one player would jump all over being in a drinking contest. Mechanically, this would just be a series of fortitude saves as the participants got increasingly drunk. Or if I had a riding race (since the druid has a riding dog companion) I would do ride checks, maybe dex checks for the dog to run faster, con checks. That much I can handle, however I would want there to be some kind of strategy to it and not just dice rolling.

I would like for there to be some kind of antagonist, either a rival group of adventurers, or maybe someone trying to rig the contest. I am not opposed to this ending in combat, I just want the players to know they can do other things in D&D besides kill monsters.

[Elfin]

Well, good starts for non-monstery roleplaying stuff are characters' personal goals. I'd recommend asking your players about their characters' objectives and what they'd like to do - and build a quest revolving around those.

[Ravens_cry]

Well, good starts for non-monstery roleplaying stuff are characters' personal goals. I'd recommend asking your players about their characters' objectives and what they'd like to do - and build a quest revolving around those. But what if my cleric wants to raise a chapel to their god to be a place of contemplation and study?:smalltongue:
Joking aside, I agree with what I am sure you mean. I like having goals. I like even having conflicting goals. Been able to have an effect on the world and not just be a rich well armed hobo who is only interested in the next shiny is part of why I enjoy this hobby so much.

[TinselCat]

If I was going to try something like this I would add a level of bizarreness to every contest.

Here's what I might add to the two contests you mentioned.

Drinking contest:
There's more than one type of drink available, but they're unlabeled. Large tankards, small tankards, all colors of the rainbow. Some, naturally are more potent than others. I might let the player make some variety of knowledge check to learn about some, but the DCs will vary and be high. One might make him sleepy, another might hurt him - but another one might purge the alcohol from his system. Every two or three tankards he'll make a fortitude save - using the modifiers that I attach to different types of drink. If that's too easy, cover all of the lids so he doesn't know which is which until he drinks it.

Race:
This I'd make more of an obstacle course. Jumping, ramps, tunnels, pitfalls (not too deep - don't want to kill anyone), quicksand, puddles. Jump checks, reflex saves. But the course would also have multiple paths; it might fork on the other side of a layer of quicksand, and the player will have to pick one. If the player ever waits too long to make a decision, the dog chooses for him, or balks and they loose time. Since some routes are longer than others, a high dex or con check to run faster will ensure that, even if he takes a longer route, he still has a chance to come out on top.

That's how I'd spice up the contests. Hope that sparks some ideas.

[Necro_EX]

If you have Complete Warrior you can try running something similar to the Alabaster Cup.

That was actually my first experience with DMing and it turned out pretty well. Of course, I had to M. Knight Shamamamaleyan the hell out of it. Turned out the manor they were at had a couple of vampires there and one was killing off the competition to make it easier so he could win the lady's hand in marriage after all was said and done.

It was great, I had a player completely obsessed with one of the NPCs.

[Half-Orc Rage]

You know, I have Complete Warrior and didn't even think of that. I had looked up feats and stuff in it but haven't actually read the book in years.

I don't know what goals they really have, I encouraged them to maybe get a house or something but they just go from tavern to tavern. I think they are still pretty new at the game and just go along with whatever I put in front of them, which on the one hand makes it easy to run adventures, but on the other hand I'd like to see more character development.

[OracleofWuffing]

Races of Stone has rules for Goat-ball, could be a nice starting point. Actually, that section on Goliath Life has stuff for other competitions you might want to look at, but Goat-ball somehow stuck out in my head as being more unique than the rest.

[Ravens_cry]

Races of Stone has rules for Goat-ball, could be a nice starting point. Actually, that section on Goliath Life has stuff for other competitions you might want to look at, but Goat-ball somehow stuck out in my head as being more unique than the rest.
Is it anything like Buzkashi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzkashi)?

[OracleofWuffing]

No, it's more like catch meets dodgeball on whacky terrain.