Winning a Joust

[EdOWar]

Reading the jousting rules in Chainmail, I'm a bit confused on who wins a joust, other than unhorsing. Or if two jousters complete 3 rides without being unhorsed, is the joust considered a tie? Or if one rider took damage (or had their helmet knocked off), but the other didn't, does that then mean the injured rider lost the bout?

Chainmail does give some point scoring rules for team-based tourneys, but I'm not sure that'd be appropriate for when a Lord rides out of his castle and challenges the party.

I appreciate any clarification anyone can provide. Many thanks.

[Red Baron]

The two jousters ride three rides against each other if neither is unhorsed. Unhorsing ends the match, and then each rider totals his points. Although the large number of points that can be gained from unhorsing an opponent means that the unhorser almost always wins, it is possible to loose a match by unhorsing your opponent when they have more points than you would gain from the unhorsing of him.

You'll have to make up a scoring system that works for you. Breaking a lance grants the fewest points, knocking off a helm the second most number of points, and unhorsing an opponent the most points.

You'll also have to determine how to deal with injuries. Maybe the injured man forfeits, maybe the injurer must forfeit, maybe both must forfeit, or maybe they both may ride again unless the injured man surrenders.

Also, ignore the "Any Knight who breaks his lance or has his Helm knocked off must assume position 4 during the next ride" rule. This can cause a redundancy where a helm can be knocked off and the rider has no helm.

Finally, the loser must forfeit his armor and warhorse to the winner.

[Deleted]

Jul 3, 2014 15:41:46 GMT -6 Red Baron said:

Also, ignore the "Any Knight who breaks his lance or has his Helm knocked off must assume position 4 during the next ride" rule. This can cause a redundancy where a helm can be knocked off and the rider has no helm.

Tim Kask noted that glitch and proposed the following fix to Gygax. It may be of some use to someone wanting to use the joust RAW. Personally, I like the jousting variant in Dragon #17, it is based on the Chainmail jousting rules but altered to account for the level of the participants.

The jousting table has a glitch in it; I have used it in the classroom, but had to make a modification. As it is printed, if you most assume a steady seat upon breaking your lance or having your helm knocked off, all your opponent must do is aim FP on the next pass and you will automatically be unhorsed. In the classroom, I give the option of assuming 4 or 6.

I have talked to Gary about this and he concurred.

[EdOWar]

So it sounds like there's no official "win" scenario, aside from the point-based system for mass tourneys. I was thinking of something modeled off of A Knight's Tale, where breaking a lance was 1 point and unhorsing an opponent was pretty much like a KO insta-win. I don't know if it's historically accurate, but it's fairly simple to implement.

Thank you for the responses.