Re: Bralian Olympics

>From what I remember about the ancient Greek Olympics, they were men only and all the
competitors were naked! Maybe you might not want to make it too historically accurate to
the *original* Olympics!

:-O

However, you might want to concentrate on the idea that many competitive events might be
based on things that would be useful in combat. I think that was part of the motivation
for the first Olympic games.

Archery and hammer, discus and javalin throwing and other target based events can be taken
from any of the weapons commonly used in wildspace. Even spear or axe throwing could be an
event if you want. I'm sure that the Giff would be the current Olympic record holders for
most black powder weapon shooting events. The Giff certainly would have the most
competitors.

Boxing, wrestling and martial arts (originally introduced by Shou Lung) would almost
certainly be in an Olympic Games. Races would probably be grouped with similar sized races
in events like this (just like the weight system used in boxing competitions).

Some sort of non-lethal weapons combat would probably be involved. This could either be
based on the rules of medieval tournaments or alternatively use safer versions of weapons
(like kendo swords).

Not all the events would be pure combat skills. Some would be based on physical endurance.
A marathon is a bit hard to organise on Bral as the streets would be too crowded, but
perhaps some smaller running events could be held on the underside of Bral. (Athletics
events might even make a good opportunity for someone to make an escape attempt).

Don't forget team events. Things like football (UK or US versions) seem too modern but
anything involving a goal, some sort of ball, two teams (maybe mounted on horseback or
something else). The tug of war could be a good event as it doesn't *feel* too modern.

I've seen military competitions where two teams have to move a gun carriage from one place
to another place. The winner is the first team to get the gun into the new place and fire
it. You could possibly have some sort of event like that.

The nature of the Bral itself gives you a couple of new possibilities:

Firstly, you could use zero gravity for some events. If you emptied out one of the docks,
it could be used for zero gravity wrestling, swimming.

Secondly, you could use the sides of Bral for climbing or diving events.

Finally, you could possibly set a few events in wildspace itself.

The most obvious things would be ship racing. If you had spelljamming races, a lot of this
would come down to the power of the helmsman as well as the ships helm. However, you could
have unpowered races in boats that only have oars. A race that starts ten miles from Bral
and ends in the docks might be interesting.

Here is an idea for an Olympic wildspace event: Dragon Racing.

What is dragon racing? From *our* point of view it is a race over a certain distance
(probably travelling past every planet in Sprialspace/Bralspace). Each competitor riding a
Radiant Dragon. Anyone who is able to bring a Radiant Dragon can enter.

>From the *dragon's* point of view it is a chance to show off to other dragons (including
dragons of the opposite sex that they want to impress). Each dragon has to carry a rider,
who also serves as their navigator. Dragons would have a varied set of strategies for
picking a "dragon rider". Some of them that value the opinion of humanoids would search
out the best pilots and work as a team. Less friendly dragons would looking for someone
small and light that wouldn't slow them down too much. Greedy dragons might sell off the
right to ride in the race to a wealthy noble.

You could make the event a bi-athlon style event, with the dragon's rider taking four
shots at a target on a spelljamming vessel orbiting each of Sprialspace's worlds. If this
was done, the dragons would be more dependent on the riders, so would have to ally
themselves with a crack shot if they wanted to avoid time penalties from missed targets.

This event may not be especially popular with the general populace, as they would only get
to see the final unless they are rich enough to charter a ship to follow the dragons.
However, even if the event isn't popular, *nobody* is going to be brave enough to tell
Radiant Dragons that they can't enter the Olympics!

I like the 1936 idea. It is a shame that you don't have the leader of the Scro hosing the
events and having to give out medals to elves. Maybe you can bring in some other negative
things from the Olympics (although you will have to be careful not to offend someone if
you are basing things on real events).

Just as real athletes cheat in events by using drugs you could have someone try to cheat
by using magic. Obvious magic like boots that double your speed would be easily spotted,
but would people notice that someone has some sort of plus 1 effect enhancing their
performance.

You could also have assassins try to give competitors mild drugs or poisons that will slow
them down on the big day. Equipment could be sabotaged so that it breaks or doesn't work
properly. Something could even be replaced by a cursed magical item that looks identical.
Alternatively an athlete could be targeted by a charm spell and forced to loose. If you
want to get really nasty then you could have someone try to kidnap or kill competitors.

I can't wait to see what you do! The games sound like a lot of fun. I think that some of
the events could even be used as the inspiration for some sort of simple board game. One
that people could play when they don't have the time to arrange a proper RPG session or if
some players can't turn up to a session.

David "Big Mac" Shepheard
Virtual Eclipse Role Playing Club
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/virtualeclipselrp/links/d20_system_001071937434/Spelljammer_001071430476
http://virtualeclipse.aboho.com/

----- Original Message -----
From: "George "Loki" Williams" <chaos93@?????????.net>
To: <SPELLJAMMER-L@??????.???????.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2004 9:40 PM
Subject: [SPELLJAMMER] Bralian Olympics


> I am getting ready to run the Planar Church of Olympus' first Olympic Games
> on Bral. Anyone out there have any ideas or input?
> I will show my work soon, right now I am just using the article from BTM to
> organize the various events, setting up special encounter charts for the
> Rock and preparing for a few PCs who will be competing. This should make a
> good scenario when all is done, and I will happily post my data. I am going
> for a bit of a 1936 feel (my campaign is in the middle of the Unhuman Wars
> II) with the Elven Navy and Scro Tarantula Fleet making a show of playing
> nice so Andru does'nt cut them off from Bral.
> Comments invited.
> -G
>
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