Large Melee Management (Battle Royale)

[kahlzun]

Hi all!

My players are about to journey to a tourney (XD) which among its many events includes a "grand melee". Essentially a battle royale, the competitors start arrayed around a field, and fight until there is only one participant standing.

Obviously, the players want in, and i am wondering how i would simulate the NPC battles going on, as the PCs will obviously not need to fight all (or even most) of the enemies.

I had the idea that when one of the PCs defeats an enemy, treat that as the normal duration of combat, and halve the remaining population, but that seems very obvious and clunky.
I'm looking for any other ideas as to how to manage this, or if anyone else has tried something similar.

Also, if anyone has any clever ideas for other medieval 'carnival' competions in the vein of pie eating competitions or riddle contests or what-have-you

Thanks for any tips,
Sam

[Talverin]

Honestly? No need to leave 'the battle at large' to chance. Figure out who you DO want them to fight... And everyone else gets scrapped along the way through one means or another.

While it can be fun to leave things to chance, I find it better to do so only when the chance will impact things in a meaningful way.

Decide who will fight them, who might (If their battles prove too easy before that point) and who else is just window dressing.

[Dragolord]

This may be of some assistance.

[kahlzun]

This may be of some assistance.

Nice! This should be very helpful, thanks.