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MyGURPS - SIFRP Tournaments

SIFRP Tournaments

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The following expands the SIFRP rules for throwing a tournament as your monthly House Action. Two important Wealth Holdings from Out of Strife, Prosperity come up often enough to call for abbreviations:

  • TF: Tournament Field, a Settlement Holding (OoSP, p. 34). Reduces tournament Wealth cost by 1. The optional Competition Culture improvement grants additional Influence (in our games, this scales by size).
  • TM: Tournament Master, a Personage Holding (OoSP, p. 27). Reduces tournament Wealth cost by 1, reduces award cost by 1 each, and increases Influence gain by 2. In our games, this can at most halve overall cost (rounding cost up without a TF or down with a TF), as noted below.

Announcing a Tournament

The House member announcing the tournament to the land must roll make a Status (Tournaments) test to draw the interest of competitors and other Houses. Difficulty is Challenging (9) to throw a local or regional tourney, or Formidable (12) for grand. Having a TF reduces Difficulty by 3. A TM either adds +1B or the TM can make the announcement themselves with effective skill 2D+2B.

The GM should adjust this Difficulty if the area has seen a glut or dearth of tourneys lately, which applies to further tournaments of the same size. For example, a monthly local tourney might gain +3 Difficulty after 2-3 months and +6 difficulty after 5-6 months, but that wouldn't increase the Difficulty of throwing a regional tournament.

  • Critical Failure: Other Houses and important knights decline, and the tournament fizzles. Lose 1 Wealth and gain no Influence.
  • Failure: Attendance is sparse and lacking major names. Base Influence gain is 1d, but roll two dice and take the lower result.
  • Success (1 Degree): A solid showing. Base Influence gain is 1d.
  • Success (2+ Degrees): Turnout is much higher than expected! Base Influence gain is still 1d, but roll one die per degree of success and take the highest result.

Tournament Size

Note that each event won by a member of the tourney-hosting House reduces the effective Wealth cost of that tournament. For example, if you throw a local tourney with 3 events (Wealth 6) but win two of those events yourself, the cost is that of a 1-event tournament (Wealth 4).

"Influence Modifier" is added to the base Influence gain of 1d, as described above.

Local Tourney

Local tournaments are small, drawing no more than 100 knights from lands around your own and hedge knights in the area. Most local tournaments feature a joust and may include a grand melee and archery contest. You can substitute the hand of a lesser daughter for the main prize if desired; this reduces the total Wealth Cost by 2 (without TM) or 1 (with TM).

Wealth Cost:

 StandardWith TFWith TMWith Both
1 Event4322
2 Events5432
3 Events6533
4 Events7643
5 Events8744
6 Events9854

Influence Modifier: -1 with 1 Event, +0 with 2-4 Events, +1 with 5+ Events. A TM adds +2. A TF with Competition Culture adds +2.

Regional Tourney

A regional tournament encompasses the entire realm (all of the Westerlands for example) and may draw upwards of 500 knights.

Wealth Cost:

 StandardWith TFWith TMWith Both
1 Event7654
2 Events9865
3 Events111076
4 Events131287
5 Events151398
6 Events1715109

Influence Modifier: +2 with 1 Event, +3 with 2-3 Events, +4 with 4-5 Events, +5 with 6+ Events. A TM adds +2. A TF with Competition Culture adds +3.

Grand Tourney

A grand tournament is an enormous event that encompasses much if not all of the Seven Kingdoms. These events draw thousands of knights and their entourages and are a great place to encounter the lords and ladies of the most powerful houses in the Seven Kingdoms. Most people will expect at least three full events here!

Wealth Cost:

 StandardWith TFWith TMWith Both
1 Event15141312
2 Events20191716
3 Events25242120
4 Events30292524
5 Events35342928
6 Events40393332
7 Events45443736

Influence Modifier: +5 with 1 Event, +6 with 2-3 Events, +7 with 4-5 Events, +8 with 6+ Events. A TM adds +2. A TF with Competition Culture adds +4.

Note: A grand tournament also offers many chances for a House to earn Glory.

Appropriate Events

If there's only one event, it will invariably be a joust, a grand melee, or possibly an archery competition. Many tourneys will feature all three, possibly along with any of the following. (For rules, see SIFRP, pp. 167-170.)

Aside from those three "main events", other common secondary events include:

  • Equestrian competition
  • Knife or axe throwing
  • Athletics contests (races, pole climbing, etc.)
  • Feats of strength (such as cart lifting)

Some of the above may be unofficial events. These are often encouraged by the House but do not cost Wealth or garner additional Influence.


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