The Great Tournament

The Great Tournament is a text-based medieval fantasy role-playing game where players direct a young peasant's journey to knighthood through consequential choices. This interactive fiction app by Philip Kempton is a 180,000-word novel where your decisions in conversations, training, and competitions dictate your fate. Players seeking a deep, narrative-driven experience will find immense value in The Great Tournament's branching storylines and high replayability. Success in The Great Tournament requires strategic thinking, as every selection influences your character's skills, relationships, and ultimate standing in the realm.

Shaping Your Protagonist's Core Attributes

At the start of The Great Tournament, players allocate a limited number of points across four core attributes: Strength, Agility, Wit, and Charm. This initial setup is crucial, as these stats directly influence the success of your actions throughout the game. A high Strength stat, for instance, will unlock more effective training options and improve your performance in melee combat. Players must carefully consider their desired path, whether it’s a charismatic diplomat or a brute-force warrior, as this foundational choice opens some narrative doors while closing others in The Great Tournament.

Training for the Various Competitions

A significant portion of the gameplay loop in The Great Tournament involves preparing for the titular event. Players manage their limited time by choosing which skills to hone, such as archery, jousting, or swordsmanship. You perform this by selecting specific training options from a text menu, like "Practice at the Archery Range" or "Spar with the Master-at-Arms." Each session consumes a day and provides a chance to improve the corresponding skill stat. This progression system is vital, as entering competitions under-prepared in The Great Tournament almost certainly leads to failure and can alter the story.

Navigating Branching Narrative Choices

The heart of The Great Tournament is its expansive, choice-driven narrative. As you explore the realm, you encounter numerous characters and scenarios presented through descriptive text. Your interaction involves reading the story and selecting your response or action from a list of options. A single decision, like choosing to help a merchant or challenge a bully, can have cascading effects, unlocking new allies, creating enemies, or changing your reputation. This creates a highly personalized story where your version of The Great Tournament is unique.

Competing in the Grand Tournament Events

The climax of your journey is participation in The Great Tournament itself. The competition is broken into distinct events: archery, jousting, and a grand melee. Players engage with these events by making strategic choices based on their character's build. For example, in a joust, you might choose to "Aim for the Shield" or "Attempt to Unhorse." The outcome is determined by a combination of your relevant skill level and a hidden random element. Winning events boosts your renown, while losing can send you down an alternate, often more challenging, narrative path in The Great Tournament.

Managing Relationships and Building Renown

Your interactions extend beyond the tournament grounds. The Great Tournament features a relationship system where your dialogue choices and actions affect how key characters, from nobles to fellow knights, perceive you. Building a positive reputation (Renown) through chivalrous deeds and victory makes certain story branches more accessible. Conversely, acting dishonorably can limit your options. Players must navigate this social landscape, often choosing between gaining a powerful ally or a immediate monetary reward, decisions that shape the world of The Great Tournament.

Unlocking One of Many Possible Endings

The ultimate goal of The Great Tournament is to survive the events and achieve a satisfying conclusion to your story. The game boasts high replayability due to its numerous endings, which range from being crowned the champion and marrying into royalty to being exiled or even killed. Your ending is a direct result of your accumulated choices, skill levels, and relationships. This reward loop motivates players to start a new game in The Great Tournament to explore different strategies and witness the many outcomes their actions can produce.

The Great Tournament Part Two: The Captive King

For players who complete the original story, the narrative continues in a paid expansion, The Great Tournament Part Two: The Captive King. This sequel follows the consequences of your reign, challenging you to govern a kingdom now facing new threats. It imports your saved game, allowing your previous choices to directly impact the continuing saga. This expansion effectively doubles the content, offering a deeper and more complex political landscape to navigate, further enriching the world of The Great Tournament.