From: mittle@watson.ibm.com (Josh Mittleman)
Subject: Re-creating period tournaments
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 92 17:31:57 GMT
Organization: IBM T. J. Watson Research

Greetings from Arval!

A couple days ago, I offered to post a series of articles on ways to
re-create period tournaments in the SCA.  I received lots of enthusiastic
response.  

I'm going to post articles on three or four types of re-creations, plus a
bibliography of references useful to someone interested in re-creating
tournaments.  Today, I'd like to start by explaining what I think is
necessary in running a new kind of tournament.

A re-creative tournament can have two aims: providing lots of fighting with
less interference from the list officers, and creating a grand medieval
pageant.  These two goals can be served by the same tournament, but they
can also be at odds.  It is important that the participants understand what
they are trying to accomplish before they start.  For example, a
re-creation of a late-period tournament might well turn out to be more
ceremony and procession than fighting; it must be understood that it is a
display, almost a piece of theater, intended more for the spectators than
for the participants.  This is not the kind of tournament I am going to
discuss; I'm more interested in organizing tournaments at which the
fighters get to do all the fighting they want AND experience a piece of
medieval re-creation, and at which the spectators have more fun.

You can't hold a tournament without fighters, so the first consideration
must be giving the fighters what they want.  Fighters want to fight.  Most
fighters don't care so much about prizes, over-all winners, and all that;
first and foremost, they want to get in lots of fighting.  Most of our
standard tournaments are focussed on winning; I think that this is a
negative influence, and I believe that many fighters recognize it as such.a
Most fighters like having some structure to a tournament, as long as it
doesn't get in the way of the fighting.  This is why I'm so surprised that
the elimination tournament is so common in the SCA; it is a classic example
of the structure getting in the way of the fighting.  Most fighters are
eliminated in the early rounds, they only get to fight when and where the
list officers choose, and the late rounds drag on until a winner is finally
chosen.  Granted, the eliminated fighters can go off and get in some extra
fighting on their own, but I think that points out that the tournament
itself is failing to provide them what they want.

When I design a re-creative tournament, I try to consider how the fighters
will re-act to it.  Are the rules too complicated to explain at the last
minute?  How will they limit the fighters?  How will they allow the
fighters to choose their own fights?  What kind of competition do they
allow?  Is there enough incentive to participate?  Is there too much
incentive to win?  Does the tournament allow a variety of forms of combat?
Is there an incentive to engage in the full variety?  Does the tournament
give the fighters a chance to try anything new?  Is there any strategic
element beyond individual performance?  

The earliest medieval tournaments were essentially un-organized.  they
ranged over a large, ill-defined area, for an ill-defined period of time.
Fighting was conducted wherever and whenever the combattant chose.  This
set-up allowed the fighters complete freedom, but offered very little
opportunity for participation by anyone other than the combattants.  As the
tournament became a popular activity in the courts of western Europe, there
grew a desire for individual combattant to display their prowess to
spectators.  Too many SCA tournaments suffer the same problem: They don't
hold an audience.  There are only so many times any non-fighter is going to
want to watch a series of straight-forward single combats; most of the
audience at most tournaments that I've attended is the fighters themselves
and some of their ladies/lords.  The other gentles at the event usually
wander off to do something else.  What a pity!  The tournament was a major
form of entertainment in the Middle Ages, and it clearly wasn't just
because medieval courtiers liked to watch guys bash each other over the
head with swords.  The tournaments were designed to be good entertainment.
Very frequently, our tournaments are not.

Can we get other people actively involved in the tournament?  Can we add
pageantry and other features which will make them more interesting to
watch?  

These questions can be a good start toward designing an effective
tournament, whether you are trying to re-create some style of medieval
tournament or not.  In order to make your tournament a good re-creation,
you need some knowledge of medieval tournaments.  The very best starting
point for learning about the medieval tournament is Richard Barber &
Juliet Barker, "Tournaments" (New York: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1989).  This
book is a very good survey of the history and development of the tournament
throughout medieval Europe.  It contains an excellent bibliography, is
heavily illustrated, and includes a good level of detail.  I'll compile and
post a more detailed bibliography within the next couple weeks.

===========================================================================
Arval Benicoeur                                       mittle@watson.ibm.com
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca