Running a tournament, advice wanted

[Buff Orpington]

As part of Deeside Defenders' Gauntlet weekend I have agreed to run a Frostgrave competition on the Saturday. I'd appreciate advice on some specifics.
How long should I allow per round? I would like to get 3 or 4 rounds played during the day. 3 is probably more realistic unless people are prepared to play into the evening and some will want to be going home.
Playing on 3' x 3' layouts how much room should I allow for books, lists, dice rolling etc. This is important as we have to hire the tables. More space means more tables or fewer players, either way it puts up the cost.
Following on from that, how much would people be prepared to pay to enter? All we seek to do is cover the cost of tables and set up a small prize fund.

The event will take place on Saturday July 2nd at the Wings Sports & Social Club at the Airbus factory in Broughton just outside Chester. I'll put up links to the club website as soon as we set up the page for next year's event. Expressions of interest in coming along would be welcome.

Thanks

[Awesome Adam]

While a standard game of Frostgrave is 3'x3' with 6 treasures, if you are looking to run a speedier tournament version, you could try 3 treasures on a 2'x2' gaming area. All treasures placed along the center line of the battlefield. Players deploy their models just off of the edge of the battle area.  Allowing 4ft of space for each setup should allow everyone enough room, but I guess you could get by with as little as 3ft per setup if you were crunched for space. 

[Knightofspades]

Dont play in it yourself.

[Daniel36]

I'd say don't make it a tournament. It's not a tournament game, why make it one?

Rather, clearly state that it is a gaming day, meant to sponsor the acquisition of some scenery, and to incentivize people come up with a different solution for a prize. You could still have a tournament-ish element though. You could say that whoever has the highest level wizard at the end of the day wins some kind of really special treasure that they were looking for.

That's what I would do anyways.

[monkeylite]

Maybe put a turn limit in, if you're worried about timing and over-running.

[PhilM]

Yeah, not sure a tournament for Frostgrave is ideal for showing the strengths of the game, rather a series of linked games with unique Scenarios and Treasures against different opponents would be cool?

[Irishvince]

I have been toying with the ''Campaign in a day'' format which seems to fit more this game than tournament play.

I would organize a day where you play 4-5 games with a fix amount of turns (4 seems to be good) over the course of 6 to 8 hours and the winner is the Wizard with the most XP in the end.

I would probably create special scenarios for game 2 and 5 just to keep the players on their toes and I would allow players to bring a total of 15 models they could play/hire.

The one downside of this is that you need a metric crap tons of terrains and monster miniatures for random encounter.

[monkeylite]

I have been toying with the ''Campaign in a day'' format which seems to fit more this game than tournament play.

I would organize a day where you play 4-5 games with a fix amount of turns (4 seems to be good) over the course of 6 to 8 hours and the winner is the Wizard with the most XP in the end.

I would probably create special scenarios for game 2 and 5 just to keep the players on their toes and I would allow players to bring a total of 15 models they could play/hire.

The one downside of this is that you need a metric crap tons of terrains and monster miniatures for random encounter.

Yeah. You could have the special scenarios with themed monsters to suit your collection, like all zombies in one game, say, if you have a load of zombies. And you could also ask players to bring any suitable random monsters (and treasure tokens) they might have, to help out.

You could also set up each table with its own scenario, and then work out a system whereby everyone gets to play different scenarios each game. So hopefully every player, by the end will have played a different opponent and a different scenario, every game. Eg, Player A and Player B play on table Z, then Player A plays player C on table Y, while player B plays player D on table X, etc.

[Coenus Scaldingus]

Four games seem like a good number; 5 requiring too much time while 3 places too much emphasis on a single lucky game. Roughly an hour and a half is probably enough, but include reasonable breaks in between to allow people to sort their warband out and spend their gold wisely. Time limits mean that you'll have to divise a ruling as to how unclaimed treasure is divided - does carrying it count, or does it have to be off the table? Both have their pros and cons.
As for the random encounters, I'd construct a new table with the available figures, preferably from an identical pool available at each table. Some cheap skeletons, wolves, a single larger demon or worm etc. Table sizes around 4'x4', with a 3x3 play area centrally but to one side, i.e. with a 6" strip at each player's edge to place the die (wanted to say dice here, but no more than 1 required of course!), measuring tape, figures that left the table etc., and a full foot next to the play areas for books and all the paperwork.

As for the final goal, judging the winner based on experience may place too much emphasis on killing enemy wizards, and anybody succeeding in that goal will have a large advantage over others. Thought it might be fun to create a treasure table for the event, containing all the prizes available. One roll on the table for each treasure collected during the day, and the person with the most experienced wizard gets to roll first. Prizes would just be some random creatures and models, perhaps those used in the event or leftovers, a nice bit of scenery, useful things like that. As everybody would certainly collect some treasure during the day, nobody goes home empty-handed, but those who did well get more things and first picks.

[Irishvince]

Thought it might be fun to create a treasure table for the event, containing all the prizes available. One roll on the table for each treasure collected during the day, and the person with the most experienced wizard gets to roll first. Prizes would just be some random creatures and models, perhaps those used in the event or leftovers, a nice bit of scenery, useful things like that. As everybody would certainly collect some treasure during the day, nobody goes home empty-handed, but those who did well get more things and first picks.

I really like this! It goes well with the gathering treasure aspect of the game. Consider the idea stolen for when I actually get to do a game day.

[Buff Orpington]

Thanks for all the ideas so far, much appreciated and please keep them coming. I'm considering putting a 75 minute limit on actual game time with a 15 minute window for paperwork and post game actions, that should ensure that we get four rounds in. The ranking by XPs is really only there to ensure that the strong bands get strong opponents after round 1. The level of prize value probably won't be that great unless I get lucky in finding sponsors. I like the idea of something for everyone but I'll have to see what's in the kitty.

Terrain is always going to be an issue, I can probably supply enough for two tables and the club could do something similar. I'll be begging, borrowing and stealing for the rest.

Related to that, has anyone ever managed a suitable layout for the Library scenario? It seems to me that what is needed is a labyrinth with 4 entrances. It could probably be done on a 2D floorplan but you would need a shedload of something like Dwarven Forge corridors to do it in 3D. As it happens I know someone with a shedload of Dwarven Forge. That's an idea.

[Buff Orpington]

Dont play in it yourself.

Absolutely, I'll have enough on my hands.

[Irishvince]

[...] but you would need a shedload of something like Dwarven Forge corridors to do it in 3D. As it happens I know someone with a shedload of Dwarven Forge. That's an idea.

I know many people have done it with papercraft bookshelves (like the ones in the Old Heroquest boardgame). It's probably something that could be cheaply (if you have the time) scratchbuilt. 

[JohnDSD2]

See the thread 'Adam's Frostgrave Scenario Discussion' a kind member has posted some printable bookcases.

[Awesome Adam]

There is a printable version of the Heroquest Book shelf in the thread, and then the images you need to make these


Link to thread here