Black knight's mystery tournament

The Mystery tournament has powerful effects for the group clan in and out of it: besides fun for those who take part in the fighting but even for the audiences, it is a team building effort not at all based just on role playing, it is useful for attracting new recruits if broadcasted across the four corners of the Old World or wherever you might live in with Youtube minstrels &Twitch aoidoi and what not and it is a cool diversion from the usual tournaments as it is charged with stories, imagination and surprise, not only up to the participant to shape, but by design.
Moreover the tournament has the power to generate lore for your community.

During the process, bystanders will keep on guessing who's who, and if tournament is open might lead to peasant or low-born to achieve (rare) great deeds and gain recognition, or if it's a case of a noble winning on the black knight, to a new seasonal\annual title.

Happening only once a year, such tournament (mode) is right to be or the closing chapter of the biggest tournament your group has as a separated attached event (can be connected to November 1st, the first day of the year or near it, a date that is important for the evil purging of your realm calendar lore, or else...), or to be a stand alone chapter, happening always on a specific date, will generate directly lore for your group creating a stronger sense of community bound from the history of the realm they directly shape.

Such themed event has a cathartic lore value and also apotropaic magic meaning as "evil needs to be purged out of the realm", the leaders, the masses want to know the next solar year will be void of any negativity.
The participants will be role playing in it, they are not the actual evil or good, it's all about a "masked" tournament to the bone.

Depending to the lore you are catering to, of course things can\have to be adapted or will just work as presented.

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DEVELOPMENT OF EVENTS:

The king or queen or highest of your community picks the black knight (she\he or her\his direct squire to offer the highest leader some entertainment too after all with the benefit of the surprise, will be the sole person knowing in advance the identity of the valid warrior interpreting such malicious subject", unless your leader is pleased already by witnessing the outcome of the tournament and wants to know ahead of others who's who) interpreter, choosing among volunteers from the nobles or other deemed acceptable categories of your realm. The discriminant is skill in fighting.
No peasants, or other just-in members (but this depends anyway from the lore of your community and non written rules).

The Mystery knight will:
-Keep his health damaged by the encounters with a normal health pool (or reload it to 100% after the first cannon fodder phase: a part of the tournament where average fortune seekers try to beat the black knight \ mystery knight, in vane)
or
have access or to a large health pool
or
reload to 100% after every single combat duel and have a health similar to others.

If lower class level "cannon fodder" elements are among the participants to the combat\tournament the tournaments starts on ground, then goes on, with nobles challengers on horse (joust or else) or if without lower class participants (unlikely to win) phase can start directly nobles\squires Vs Mystery Knight on sword(...) ground fight.

The presence of all these options in one Mystery knight tournament will allow for a plethora of fights which will only help make the experience more entertaining.

Imagine in a joust, if the horse was struck down, having the mystery knight not getting off his\her steed while instead the "good" challenger of the realm getting off for a peer fight instead showing honor...

It would all narrate and fill the space of content and values without a word to be spoken or... we could end up surprised, who knows? Maybe the end justifies the means.

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Tournament requirements:


PARTICIPANTS:
.At least 5 participants + a "black knight"
(nobles should feature their squires to mix up things, as they will be wearing full cover helmet or chainmail or whatever masking them and any particular sign, but their heraldry).
.A few low born cannon fodder peasants or however it is for your realm can take part at the start in sort of low attention tournament ("warm up"). But be careful, even the cannon fodder could win the day setting incredible renown to her or his name across the realm.
(no special dress for them (just no head protection, hood or anything can be carried from the latter ones).

DESIGN MOD\ ART:
.Specific equipment (skin) for the main mystery knight, something that reinforces difficulty to recognize such as something that covers body curves and also dissimulates his\her height.
This design is about taste, lore constrictions etc too, but the figure of the character should be quite bolstered due to the skin and changed by the armor as much as it is possible, so to hide under such thing any identity. (if design modding has limitations, then also having the handpicked mystery knight go in the settings and change it's body values to tallest while instead freedom is left in terms of body shape, massive or thin)

LOCATION:
.The usual joust location of your duels will be perfect, as the formula of the black knight mystery tournament already is quite entertaining. Commentator and participants as well non combatant bystanders will be completing the picture of the mystery fights.

TECHNICAL NEEDS and HOUSE RULES:
(for full immersion of also the participants):
Hard rule (but temporary: solely for the extent of the Black knight tournament)
-Temporarily change names at least of a small group of your clan members (at least 10), in particular the nobles, and not of the peasants or low-born members if they might take part to it too. An example would be BNT (Black knight tournament, like this the entire internet will know this is happening, this will serve as a passive announcement tool indeed as this kind of name change happens only during this evil banishing cathartic tournament, nobles and clan leaders never change their name, but all will have to do it during this also to make for trolls impossible to spoil the fun, but not just for this purpose, as already explained). So it could be [BRE] BNT, [VSC] MKT, etc.
or
(not verifiable, thus based on trust):
-If you can trust all, set the game in no HUD, which is also a good option if members are trustable ones (since unfortunately the game as a standard doesn't have a server set rule in order to limit the HUD nor the game seem to have a proper "granular" freedom of choice of what to load as Heads up display and impose it to all server members by admin choice, as it is in Arma or other games then the first option might be the only feasible one). Who spoils the fun will be buffoon for next 365 days and banned from any tournament.

-Nobody will be able to talk, but the commentator and set aside the bystanders chit chat (this is also to support the unidentifiable presence under the armor of the heraldry carrying challengers whether they are nobles or in their place their squires, of course not to reveal who is the mystery knight nor him\her will be able to talk, and also to push tension.
(an outright not-joining the common voice chat tournament channel would be a feasible alternative too).

-a "role playing" commentator not just for the audience in case of VOD or live stream\podcast, but also to keep high the tension for the combatants and describe what is happening, announce the challengers.

-house rule (nobody but the non combatant bystanders can speak in team speak better as their talk power can be set has hard setting, but discord will work anyway if your clan\group uses it)

Avoiding tournament frauds:
(the "Good"-representing challengers against the black knight, would be as explained in the guide still veiled by helmet and the best armors their dukedoms\fief\territories can offer.
Not being a full list of all nobles between them, anybody could be the black knight, yes, even someone duke\lord who's own side is facing him as a squire.
Someone could think a problem might arise from this but with the following lines it is explained why it's not the case.
Only the black knight will know if he's facing his own side, this and only in this specific case (this is why to avoid betting or reward frauds the black knight should reveal himself if beaten and the judgement of crowd and high ranking bystanders and warriors participating will be able to clear out by having witnessed the effort of both if there had been an on purpose death of the black knight in front of his own side... so accusation can also spring out of this but if honor is in the realm this should not even be an option).

A way not to test the black knight honor would be to make the Mystery tournament specific black knight skin designer to make sure that all (of the Good's Challengers) use a same "Black knight tournament" armor (for the Good side), aka replicas.
But this would remove a cool spicy and honor elements from the experience which is another reason to keep your eyes peeled to the fighting because everyone would be the referees in their own right!

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OUTCOMES of the tournament:

Myster knight beaten is a good omen, mystery knight non beaten bad omen.


Back to mystery knight conclusions:

A) If the mystery knight is beaten the character impersonating him\her that far, will come back to the duel court and will not load the helmet as he\she spawns, so will reveal his\her identity in the court.
The crowds and general surprise, the commentator will deem the evil pushed away from the realm for an entire year and the feasts may begin.

B) If the black knight survives all encounters unbeaten, this will be a bad omen for the realm and anyway even if unbeaten the knight will go in the back somewhere the map of yours allow for a unnoticed death just to reload in to reveal his\her identity, or what could also be done which is even cooler is not revealing the identity, so the black knight will be staying on the field and feats will begin but sure that for 1 year everyone will check more their shoulders, stay away for poisoning or any other malicious halo moving across the realm to stay safe.

A positive thing of not revealing, beside other positive effects, is that the next year such Black knight role could be covered even by the same member, as nobody would know it, people would start guessing for an entire year who was behind the armor...


The option of no reveal if black knight win puts much more tension in the necessity of winning and can be much more tasteful as an outcome, but it depends on your vision.

Another option is: having the bystanders pushing in a noisy fun scene deciding by loud "vote" if the black knight has to be revealed or not, and in which combat outcome this might be an option is up to you to design.
It's up to your realm leaders to which I Léonard depose the power to choose always, as I am just an humble "hot water" inventor.

Alternative and full overhaul:
The things can completely be put upside down by making this tournament made of 1 undisclosed identity (in Bretonnia case "Gilles Le Breton") knight fighting against an unknown series of black knights: where he\she will have to survive against all odds.
The meanings and beauty understandings are up for grabs.


Enjoy.


For me all this is very true, as strong as my beliefs on the beauty of co-designing are.

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The tournament design inspiration came to me from the reading of this article and learning about the Bretonnia experience I am part of as a Peasant since 2 months.
However this guide besides mentioning some Bretonnian lore elements is NOT official part of the [BRE] clan.


sources:
https://warhammerfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Black_Knight_(Folklore)
and its sources: White Dwarf 215 (US)
1a: pg. 55
1b: pg. 56
2: Warhammer: Perilous Quest - Bretonnian Tourneys
3: Warhammer: Quest for the Grail
4: Questing Knight (Novella) by Anthony Reynolds

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Thank you