C6: The Official RPGA Tournament Handbook (1987) is one of the oddest 1E D&D products TSR published. Admittedly, tournaments will forever be a baffling mode of play to me, but I understand why folks might want to jump into one at a con. I do not understand why you would want to run your own tournament in your house, and I just refuse to believe that enough players out there desired that experience to warrant a module like this. The fact that there are no credits in the book doesn’t exactly boost my confidence.
There are two scenarios included. The first is a simple escort mission. The second is a more elaborate rescue mission called “Mines of Moradin,” which had enough of a history on the old tourney circuit that I actually recognize the name (I am convinced the art is reused from something else, though I can’t recall where that might be). They’re…fine. They have notes so you can run them as tournaments, or adapt them to campaign play but they are so nondescript I don’t know why you would want to. I do see how, being somewhat creatively flat, is an asset for tourney play, where you can drive you characters like stolen cars. The relatively blank slate here encourages something that seems rather fun, even. But making tourney play fun means the scenarios are weirdly dull in more traditional play. The C stands for Competition, but the previous entries in the series definitely had lots of tweaks to make them broadly appeal to different types of play. Not so much here.
The rest of the book is rounded out by information on running tournaments. None of it makes a particularly strong case for doing so. Also, man, what is going on with Europe and Africa on the cover. Looks like an asteroid took out Istanbul.
Also the Great Lakes seem to have migrated south. I guess that’s what happens when a globe turns into a die.
I have only played in one tournament at a con, but it brings back such fond memories. The tournament was over two sessions and we were pretty far behind after the first. Then we decided to play like pro’s in the second. Spend zero time deciding which way to turn. “Always turn LEFT”. Ran away from monsters as often as possible. “Just say no”. Got creative enough in combat that the GM let us roll with it. If a vampire poly-morphs into an octopus, does he get 8 touch attacks with “Vampiric Touch”? Probably not according to the rules, but it was such a great idea the GM let us run with it. If a gnome takes on gaseous form and gets breathed in by a young green dragon before restoring his natural state, does the dragon get any armor class being attacked from inside its lungs? The GM wisely decided not to debate the internal biology of a made up monster. The gnome must make some saves against poison but gets to attack against AC 0. With seconds left in the time slot we emerge from the dungeon.
So the guys at Table 2 are celebrating their ‘win’ when our GM runs up to the admin guy and says “My table actually got out of the dungeon. We need to add up the scores again”. And so it was that we snatched victory from the jaws of Table 2.
But yeah, this book kind of lame and I would never run a tourney at my house.
“I would never run a tourney at my house” had me cackling. Great story!