Suggestion need: Tournament arc

[CheertheSecond]

I have already posted the first part of the tournament arc so as much as I want to pull out, I can't.
Hence, I need some advises to get out of this writing block.

My intention for this tournament is to give the reader and the protag the general idea of where she stood on the world. Hence, she doesn't approach this tournament with winning as her goal but more like a studying opportunity like taking a mock exam.
I finished introducing some of the major characters that are essential to the protag but now I don't know what to do next. I don't want this to be a long arc since the protag is the same as me and she would find it boring if something was not directly related to her which means it would be out of her character to try to do more than she needs to do, and if she doesn't do enough stuff the readers will be bored.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

Hence, she doesn't approach this tournament with winning as her goal but more like a studying opportunity like taking a mock exam.

Ah. Perfect.

Someone cheats and beats her, round one. She's obviously being very arrogant about this, so that leaves her open to a cheat shot. It's a tournament, so there are rules to abuse. For example, one of my players had started a tourny with a bunch of rules, like, If the opponent's mount is killed they automatically win. This was to stop people from targeting the other person's mount.

So one of the players brought five horses and killed each horse as he began the joust.

Nothing said WHO killed the mount, just that it died.

The audience was enraged, but he was from another kingdom and WANTED to piss everyone off. And, well, you cant hardly change the rules in the middle of the contest. Next year, the rules were different.

 

[sanitylimited]

why is the protagonist the protagonist and not a side character? since her motivation to join the tournament is weak af, you could use it as an oportunity to develop a goal for the mc. ie learning all the fighting styles of the top 10 participents.

 

[LunaSoltaer]

If the opponent's mount is killed they automatically win. This was to stop people from targeting the other person's mount.

So one of the players brought five horses and killed each horse as he began the joust.

Nothing said WHO killed the mount, just that it died.

Youd have to have some crazy ovaries to kill the horse you rode in on, since it'd be beyond easy to point out that a horse the opponent wasn't actively riding is not their mount, and if it were, why the fuck were they riding in on Not Their Mount?

as for the prompt: if your character would be boring in tournament, throw in a side plot that forces them to resolve it during their downtime. For example, someone took something vital from her (maybe a trickster mentor?) and she has to track down and get it back, improving her skills in the process just in time for a good showing in her bout.

 

[Deleted member 113259]

I have already posted the first part of the tournament arc so as much as I want to pull out, I can't.
Hence, I need some advises to get out of this writing block.

My intention for this tournament is to give the reader and the protag the general idea of where she stood on the world. Hence, she doesn't approach this tournament with winning as her goal but more like a studying opportunity like taking a mock exam.
I finished introducing some of the major characters that are essential to the protag but now I don't know what to do next. I don't want this to be a long arc since the protag is the same as me and she would find it boring if something was not directly related to her which means it would be out of her character to try to do more than she needs to do, and if she doesn't do enough stuff the readers will be bored.

If she's doing a tournament she doesn't think she can win, she doesn't have the resolve to be a good protagonist. She should lose round 1 to a fellow extra.

 

[BearlyAlive]

Ignore those "MC has to win tournament by fighting their rival in the final" screams. That's a clichee, and a bad one. Even OSP did a video on that one...

If she's more the analytical kind of person rather than the typical "Me fight. Me smash. Me win cuz me protagonist (and with the help of the power of PLOT and friendship)" tournament arc MC this could be a good introduction to her fututre fighting style. Maybe she's the observe & exploit type or she's into turtling and wars of attrition or she's the sneaky assassin type that's naturally disadvantaged by direct 1-on-1 fights? Maybe she's close-quarter among mages and needs to find a way to overcome the distance. Even if she's already has a style as long as there's the drive to learn and/or outright copy others, there's more important stuff to gain than victory. There's a lot more reasons to let her lose the tournament than to win other than "B-Butt MC NEEEEEEEEEEDS TO WIN!!!111111!!" Measuring yourself against people you know are stronger than you is a great way to find your own shortcomings and the abilities you need to develop.

I personally never understood the spontaneous power-up trope and how it always happens during tournaments. Having your character reflect on their own mistakes is almost always a better way for character growth than the spontaneous gratification of "I need it. I get it. I instantly master it. I win!"-mentality of modern Shounen. I mean even Son Goku, the most OP tournament character ever, lost more tournaments than he won. At least in OG Dragonball. Before Z besmirched the Shounen genre and tournament arcs for generations to come.

 

[ThrillingHuman]

I have already posted the first part of the tournament arc so as much as I want to pull out, I can't.

make the tournament rigged, get her to quickly pull out and use it to introduce a future supporting character or something

 

[TheEldritchGod]

Youd have to have some crazy ovaries to kill the horse you rode in on, since it'd be beyond easy to point out that a horse the opponent wasn't actively riding is not their mount, and if it were, why the fuck were they riding in on Not Their Mount?

I'm simplifying it.

 

[EternalSunset0]

I have already posted the first part of the tournament arc so as much as I want to pull out, I can't.
Hence, I need some advises to get out of this writing block.

My intention for this tournament is to give the reader and the protag the general idea of where she stood on the world. Hence, she doesn't approach this tournament with winning as her goal but more like a studying opportunity like taking a mock exam.
I finished introducing some of the major characters that are essential to the protag but now I don't know what to do next. I don't want this to be a long arc since the protag is the same as me and she would find it boring if something was not directly related to her which means it would be out of her character to try to do more than she needs to do, and if she doesn't do enough stuff the readers will be bored.

You can probably have the protag learn something in round 1, face off with some characters, and maybe take a loss round 2 or so, before proceeding to the other half of the arc which is concurrent with the tournament.

Should be decently long, but you can trim the arc to be shorter. Maybe have the protag and the one who beat her discuss something with the organizers, so you can push forward with an uncovering conspiracies mini-arc that will have personal stakes for your protagonist and allow you to do some worldbuilding. All while the tournament concludes or gets prematurely interrupted off-screen.

 

[CheertheSecond]

Ignore those "MC has to win tournament by fighting their rival in the final" screams. That's a clichee, and a bad one. Even OSP did a video on that one...

If she's more the analytical kind of person rather than the typical "Me fight. Me smash. Me win cuz me protagonist (and with the help of the power of PLOT and friendship)" tournament arc MC this could be a good introduction to her fututre fighting style. Maybe she's the observe & exploit type or she's into turtling and wars of attrition or she's the sneaky assassin type that's naturally disadvantaged by direct 1-on-1 fights? Maybe she's close-quarter among mages and needs to find a way to overcome the distance. Even if she's already has a style as long as there's the drive to learn and/or outright copy others, there's more important stuff to gain than victory. There's a lot more reasons to let her lose the tournament than to win other than "B-Butt MC NEEEEEEEEEEDS TO WIN!!!111111!!" Measuring yourself against people you know are stronger than you is a great way to find your own shortcomings and the abilities you need to develop.

I personally never understood the spontaneous power-up trope and how it always happens during tournaments. Having your character reflect on their own mistakes is almost always a better way for character growth than the spontaneous gratification of "I need it. I get it. I instantly master it. I win!"-mentality of modern Shounen. I mean even Son Goku, the most OP tournament character ever, lost more tournaments than he won. At least in OG Dragonball. Before Z besmirched the Shounen genre and tournament arcs for generations to come.

You can probably have the protag learn something in round 1, face off with some characters, and maybe take a loss round 2 or so, before proceeding to the other half of the arc which is concurrent with the tournament.

Should be decently long, but you can trim the arc to be shorter. Maybe have the protag and the one who beat her discuss something with the organizers, so you can push forward with an uncovering conspiracies mini-arc that will have personal stakes for your protagonist and allow you to do some worldbuilding. All while the tournament concludes or gets prematurely interrupted off-screen.

A bit about my protag.

She has a lot of hit points (10-15 times people her age and level) but she got a drawback. She only heals as fast as a normal person. People in this world heals a broken bone in days instead of weeks. She can last very long in a fight but after a fight, it takes a long time for her to get back to her optimal condition (depending on the wounds she got during the battle, of course). This is why consecutive fights are very bad for her especially when she hasn't developed any high-damage skills yet.

The tournament arc I am talking about is also not the first tournament. It was the second one. She had to go through a selection tournament before this. She barely managed to be selected, but some guys pulled the string behind the scene which caused her to have to fight more during the selection tournament which at the end, still meant she was the winner. However, her condition was worse than she initially predicted. This was why she had no confidence of winning the tournament arc against other contestants who joined the event with their full health bar. Moreover, she had no reason to do so because 1) the tournament had no prize that she desired, 2) she applied for both of the tournament because she severely lacked information about how strong people fight in this new world she reincarnated in, 3) she didn't want to overexert herself because a serious injury would force her to delay her training to after the injury was fully healed which also meant a longer time until she obtains a high-damage skill.

 

[Deleted member 113259]

A bit about my protag.

She has a lot of hit points (10-15 times people her age and level) but she got a drawback. She only heals as fast as a normal person. People in this world heals a broken bone in days instead of weeks. She can last very long in a fight but after a fight, it takes a long time for her to get back to her optimal condition (depending on the wounds she got during the battle, of course). This is why consecutive fights are very bad for her especially when she hasn't developed any high-damage skills yet.

The tournament arc I am talking about is also not the first tournament. It was the second one. She had to go through a selection tournament before this. She barely managed to be selected, but some guys pulled the string behind the scene which caused her to have to fight more during the selection tournament which at the end, still meant she was the winner. However, her condition was worse than she initially predicted. This was why she had no confidence of winning the tournament arc against other contestants who joined the event with their full health bar. Moreover, she had no reason to do so because 1) the tournament had no prize that she desired, 2) she applied for both of the tournament because she severely lacked information about how strong people fight in this new world she reincarnated in, 3) she didn't want to overexert herself because a serious injury would force her to delay her training to after the injury was fully healed which also meant a longer time until she obtains a high-damage skill.

consecutive fights are very bad for her

After reading about your protagonist she's still super boring, but I amend making her lose in round one. If she's super durable but the problem is consecutive fights then she could probably tank her way through one or two no-names only to be exhausted by the time she fights someone who's actually important.

 

[CheertheSecond]

After reading about your protagonist she's still super boring, but I amend making her lose in round one. If she's super durable but the problem is consecutive fights then she could probably tank her way through one or two no-names only to be exhausted by the time she fights someone who's actually important.

It's not the fight I am particularly worried. I am in a writing block because I want to give her something else to do during the tournament since 1) winning the tournament isn't her goal but information is and 2) as mentioned the tournament is but a way for her to connect with people and get more knowledge, the fight should not be the primary focus.

 

[Deleted member 113259]

the fight should not be the primary focus.

Don't write a tournament arc then.

 

[AnonUnlimited]

The reason I like Pokémon is because the tournament itself doesn’t have interruptions most of the time. I only remember it happening once.

All the other anime has these interruptions that are annoying because we don’t get to see the winner.

 

[Deleted member 113259]

The reason I like Pokémon is because the tournament itself doesn’t have interruptions most of the time. I only remember it happening once.

All the other anime has these interruptions that are annoying because we don’t get to see the winner.

Dude Pokemon screws it's protagonist over in most of the tournaments he's in.

Not exactly an example I'd use for good tournament arcs.

 

[AnonUnlimited]

Dude Pokemon screws it's protagonist over in most of the tournaments he's in.

Not exactly an example I'd use for good tournament arcs.

But he won.

 

[Deleted member 113259]

But he won.

Yeah one time with a fake league and another time in the last series he was in when they were cool with retiring him.

 

[AnonUnlimited]

Yeah one time with a fake league and another time in the last series he was in when they were cool with retiring him.

Sorry I only watched the part he won.

 

[BearlyAlive]

It's not the fight I am particularly worried. I am in a writing block because I want to give her something else to do during the tournament since 1) winning the tournament isn't her goal but information is and 2) as mentioned the tournament is but a way for her to connect with people and get more knowledge, the fight should not be the primary focus.

Do you have any (potential) 'party members' or main characters in the tournament? If yes, make it about them and MC noticing them or somehow getting involved with them.
Or use it to showcase minor antagonists, factions or maybe just some random facts you can later build on. You'd be surprised how blindsided most people are by things being foreshadowed during a tournament arc of all things. Otherwise you could just use MC spectating it as an excuse to lore-dump the rules of your world and how MC is an abnormality to it if you haven't done that already.