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A Day at the Faire: Life at a typical fantasy tournament

OUT ON A LIMB
Dear Sir:

This letter is not intended to be
one of sour grapes but is written
with the intent of safeguarding the
interests of all players of D&D.

You will notice a flyer attached
to this letter in regard to a tournament
held in Toronto with the
prizes allegedly sponsored by
TSR hobbies.

Eighteen of us (three teams for
which I can speak) had the extreme
misfortune to waste time &
money playing in this tournament.

Having organized, dungeon
mastered and played in successful
tournaments I know whereof I
speak when I state that this was
the most poorly organized, chaotic
and unentertaining tournament
I have ever had the misfortune
to attend.

Specific examples exist for each
organizational area of the tournament:

Time:
A.
Rounds starting 2½ hours late

B.
Rounds 2 hours long for some
teams — 4 for others

C.
Tournament was overlapped into
a 3rd day when many people
had prior commitments (i.e.
work).

Dungeon Complex:
A.
Descriptions given by the DMs
were highly inconsistent and
many pertinent details were omitted.

B.
In one case such an inconsistency
was held against the players and
their characters were summarily
executed well after termination of
play.

Dungeon Masters:
A.
Were arrogant and supercilious in
their comments (i.e. accused us of
wasting time while we organized 
battle orders, tactics, contingencies
etc.)

B.
Were highly inexperienced.

C.
Ill-prepared (in terms of basic
equipment: Dice, tables etcetera).

Note:
In one case we were told, and I
quote: “you can’t use your own
dice, I’ve had too much experience
with shaved dice.” (I wondered
seriously at the time
whether we were playing for Las
Vegas stakes or just trying to have
some fun).

D.
Took any question as a personal
attack

Note:
We are relatively sophisticated
players, and as a result ask a lot of
seemingly trivial questions which
are really important information
gatherers. We were aware of the
inexperience and tried to explain
our rationale in reasonable
terms.)

E.
Were dictatorial i.e. were not
open to queries based on commonsense
and/or logic. (Which
we always thought were the cornerstones
of D&D).

On my own part one question
of mine led to a 10 minute harangue
by the table DM and head DM
of myself and my team, during
which we all acted calmly, given
the circumstances. We were then
lynched at first opportunity
through the agency of a misleading
description given by the table
DM. (Whether consciously or tinsonsciously
is irrelevant; the bias
was established.)

I must stress that none of us
came with the express idea of
winning, experience puts you
hopefully above that. We didn’t
need the prizes; we just came to
have some fun. I felt that we were
above most of players in ability —
but the only manner in which we
tried to demonstrate it was
through playing — that being
what we came to do. Even though
we were eliminated we gave a
good account and had a good
gut-laugh over the whole thing
when it was over.

This letter would not have been
written, and I regret having to do
so deeply, but a last rather uncalled
for remark by the Head DM
prompted me. I said to him, without
any anger intended, that if he
wanted us back, he’ll have to be
better organized. I was told in return
I’d better get out of there or I
would get my head kicked in.

I have tried not prejudice this
letter, if it sounds like a horror
story it was a horror story.

However, I’m not going to say
that these people should never be
able to hold a tournament again,
as that can only hurt our wonderful
game.

The intent is to:

A.
Protect the players by making
them aware of possible problem
areas

B.
Protect TSR’s good-name i.e.:
TSR canot be held accountable
for people’s action; especially if
they are bull-shitted to by organizers

C.
Make potential tournament organizers
aware of their responsibilities.

I hope you will print this letter
for the reasons outlined above.

Michael J. Sutton,
Ontario, Canada
(The Dragon #25)

P. S.
A tournament guideline should be
established and made available to
potential organizers.
 

Dear Mr. Sutton:
Thank you very much for your
letter of the 2nd. I am quite sorry
to learn of the highly unpleasant
experience you underwent participating
in the D&D tournament
. . . if indeed it could be called a
tournament!

First, let me say that we often
give prizes to groups who sponsor
conventions and tournaments,
doing so to help promote the
hobby in general. We do not ask
special billing when we do so.
These are actual donations to help
the gaming group. I fear we have
no way to control any improper
use of these donations — in use or
advertising — short of refusing to
make them, and that would be
counter-productive.

Sadly, yours is not the first tale
of woe connected with D&D
tournaments. TSR has recently
taken the stand that no tournament
can be “official” unless we
approve or run it, and perhaps we
had better start publicizing this.
We too make mistakes in tournaments,
but not of the magnitude
you relate regarding the Toronto
affair.

As time and information are
crucial in a tournament, your
complaints, if valid, condemn the
tournament to oblivion. I will
suggest Tim Kask publish your leter
and ask the sponsors to give
their explanation of the events 
which took place.  Common sense 
and logic are certainly the keystones 
of D&D, and I am appalled 
to read of the treatment you and 
your associates received.

If you would care to submit
your suggestions regarding a
reasonable set of guidelines for
running a role playing adventure
game tournament, we will certainly
be pleased to consider pub
lishing them in DRAGON. If there
were more well-done fan
magazines, I would suggest that
the subject would be the purview 
of players, but as I doubt the ability 
of the current amateur press to 
handle the subject, I will suggest 
that Tim Kask take this under advertisement 
forr discussion in DRAGON. 
Perhaps that magazine 
could eventually publish a set of 
guidelines for tournament organizers 
and referees.  

I hope that you will be able to
attend GenGon this August, for
Bob Blake always runs a good
D&D tournament for us. Please
let us know if we may be of any
further service.

E. Gary Gygax
(The Dragon #25)
 

Guidelines to Consider
Reasonable entry fees
Reasonable prizes considering fees
Advertising states party size
    * single participant
    * groups of individuals only
    * groups of individuals and teams
    * teams only
Reasonable DM: player ratio
    * Reasonable time per group
    * instructions
    * organization
    * actual play
Reasonable refereeing, clear, helpful, and
    DISINTERESTED
    * no partiality to players
    * no desire to see players fail
Adequate facilities
    * space
    * noise level
Prompt starting, with an adherence to time limits
Control of unruly or disruptive players

RULES
* book rules as nearly as possible
* all exceptions and interpretations on player instruction sheets
* party characters completely prepared and assigned
* head referee to be final judge in disputes
* all variables averaged in order to reduce luck factors
All referees experienced and familiar with the tournament scenario
Wherever possible, two per group (if over five).
(The Dragon #25)