SR3m Knightly Tournaments (modern edition)

KNIGHTLY TOURNAMENTS

A Guide to Jousting & Tournament Combat

(Modern 5E Compatible Version)

Plus Three Combat Scenarios

The thunder of hooves and the roar of the crowd.
The deafening clash of a lance striking metal.
Salute your opponent, because it’s time to joust!

“I love the swelling of pride I feel at the Invocation! The rush of excitement when I’m hitting a shield on the Tree of Shields. The pounding of my blood as my mount and I rush forward, the tilt blurring in my vision. It’s all so grand! Well, all apart from the cry of “Atteint!” and the landing hard on your arse on the hard packed earth of the list”
- Sir Jeffries, Knight Errant

Hello and welcome, adventurers and Game Masters!

This guide focuses on setting forth rules for simulating medieval tournament style mounted and mêlée combat for use with the current version (5E) of the world's greatest roleplaying game, although its rules (focused on alternating ability checks) are compatible with most fantasy RPGs. The pageantry and show of jousting and tournament combat is always a grand spectacle in most medieval campaigns based on our historical past, and this guide aims to help you and your players integrate that style of combat into your games. Whether it is chivalrous combat for sport or combat to the death, we hope to put the GM and players straight into the action with a rules light approach to this style of combat.

The rules portion of the supplement includes a glossary of tournament terms; rules for tournament combat, both mounted and on foot; an option tournament "fame point" system to track your player's renown; and information on tourmanement specific arms and armour, including several new mundane and magical items specific to tournament play (e.g. field and full plate armour as well as magical horseshoes, lances, and battle standards)  

This supplement also includes three tournament combat scenarios, so your players will be strapped to a warhorse and hammering down a list at their opponent or charging into a tournament mêlée in little to no time! These scenarios take place in three separate kingdom’s within the author’s published campaign world of Terrans: the nations of Jarlburgh, Alderburgh, and Dùn Bhriste. The three scenarios are as follows:

1. Testing One's Mettle: Challenge à Plaisance: Your players will be contestants in the yearly grand tournament of the village of Dùn Cluain! If you win this tourney you'll lay claim to a great reward: a treasure map!
2. A Test of Honour: Challenge à la Guerre: The player(s) will face off against a dark knight who has captured a group of druids, with the intent of selling them into bondage in the Under-Realm. Can you defeat him to earn their freedom?
3. To Save Eskatorp: Challenge à la Mêlée: The players are captured by marauders who have seized the village of Eskatorp! Their bloodthirtsy leader offers the players a choice: engage in a grand mêlée against him and his troops, with the victor departing in peace, or face excecution. Some choice, eh?

This book is intended to evoke the excitement and thrills of tournament combat, with players facing three different types of challenges in the included scenarios, and it sure to please discerning GMs and players everywhere! I originally wrote these rules for use with OSRIC and similar 1E retroclones (that version may be found here: LINK), but I saw a need for tournament rules compatible with the modern game, so I have adapted my rules to work in that ruleset. While the modern game does provide simple rules for mounted combat, they are very basic and present little challenge and add no flavour to the experience. Thus, to bring the excitement back, I am reintroducing the 1E concept of special “ability saving throws” (wherein the player must roll their ability score or lower on a d20), and the primary focus of my jousting rules is alternating ability saving throws.

In addition to this supplement, your purchase also includes a free copy of the latest Starry Knight Press Catalog, which has information on all of my modules and supplements, as well as new monsters, new magical items and maps of the known portions of the sphere of Terrans where my campaign take place.

Louis "sirlou" Kahn
Starry Knight Press
January 2022