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Sports in your world

Surad

Minstrel
I'm going to be honest and say this. I'm not a sports person. I love to exercise and I do martial arts (non-competitive, but I guess I could get into MMA if I wanted), but when it comes to sports, it's a rare thing that I take interest in them. There was that one exception when I went to a boxing tournament to watch a dozen matches of boxers having at one another, and a single college football game, but that was it.

That being said, sports are still a massive part of human culture. Sports probably started out as a way of keeping people fit for things like war and hunting, and maybe other activities, and were very localized. In fact, it wasn't until the late 19th century that sports were really formalized and their rules really set. Take for example football/soccer. Up until the 1870s or 1880s, there were countless variations based on region, until someone decided to set the rules.

So here's my questions: In your settings/worlds, how prominent are sports? What kind of sports do people play? Do you make up your own sports, transplant real world sports to your world, or make sports that are variations on real world sports?

I did make one sport that's basically a variant of association football. I changed the playing field, the ball, and a few of the rules. Since my world has a few non-human species, I had to create rules for them as well. I haven't gotten to the free kicks (and variations thereof), but if I was to make a video game of the story, the inspiration would be clear.
 

Tom

Istar
Oh, I love sports.

My nomadic tribes have a game that's a little like modern polo, but it's much more violent and chaotic. I had a lot of fun coming up with its rules and play, as I used to work at a stable (I quit after being injured by a spooked yearling, but I digress) and love riding and working around horses.

For a Viking-like culture, I researched a Viking ball game called knattleikr. Nobody knows the exact rules of the game, but there's a general consensus that it's similar to games such as rugby and American football. In the sagas it's described as a violent, helter-skelter game, with sometimes deadly fights erupting when plays were debated. Perfect for my Barlanders!

I also have some kids' sports and games, such as a sitting-circle game called ekurshai that's a little like a cross between Hot Potato and the American folk singing game Closet Key.
 
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Gryphos

Auror
So far in my WIP I've only made casual references to the sports of my 19th century-inspired steampunk world. For example there's 'Fieldscrum,' which is basically rugby (I just couldn't call it rugby because rugby is named after a real place in our world), played often at universities. In the cities bare-knuckle boxing is very popular, with the more 'refined' people members of society preferring fencing. I also decided to include jousting, because I thought it would be kind of cool to see it used in a non-medieval setting as pure sport in itself with professionals who weren't just knights doing it for a hobby.
 
I live in a part of the world that is completely sports mad (Melbourne, Australia - they hold games here of sports that aren't even played in this state) so even though I'm not a big sports fan in general, I agree that sports are an important part of any society. It's a form of ritualised combat that allows people to blow off aggression without anyone (or rather: as many people) dying, and it gives a visceral experience to the spectators as well. Not to mention just being general entertainment and tension relief.

Given all of that, I'm bemused to find that when I look at my own work, I have entertainment pastimes - like animal baiting, or the hippodrome - but I've mostly left out sports that are played. Something to consider!

And incidentally, when I say "not a big sports fan in general", I mean, "I am a huge cricket fan in specific" - to share a bit of nerdery, my favourite element of the formation of the official rules of cricket (in 1744, for the record) is the Double Touch rule, which was brought in because of multiple fatalities in the early part of the 17th century, ruled "death by misadventure". Read the full delightfulness on wikipedia: Hit the ball twice - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Hmm... I wonder if I could write a fantasy novel about cricket...)
 

Surad

Minstrel
I live in a part of the world that is completely sports mad (Melbourne, Australia - they hold games here of sports that aren't even played in this state) so even though I'm not a big sports fan in general, I agree that sports are an important part of any society. It's a form of ritualised combat that allows people to blow off aggression without anyone (or rather: as many people) dying, and it gives a visceral experience to the spectators as well. Not to mention just being general entertainment and tension relief.

Yeah, sports can be elevated to a near-religion status thing. I was in Paris AND London during the 1998 World Cup. It was unbelievable. Not only was it everywhere, every single time England had any kind of movement towards the cup, people would be outside bars drinking and chanting for England. Paris was even crazier, since they actually won. During the semi-finals/finals, the streets were deserted in the middle of the day, and you didn't even need a TV to tell you what was happening... the whole streets just erupted into cheers if France even came close to scoring.

There's also a movie from the early 80s with Stallone called Victory that was about a group of POW trying to make their escape while they were being challenged to a football/soccer game by the Nazis. The movie ended with the team actually abandoning their escape attempt so they can defeat the Nazis in the game. After my experience in 1998, I can wholeheartedly believe that such a thing can happen, even in wartime occupied France.

(Hmm... I wonder if I could write a fantasy novel about cricket...)

Why not? Fantasy novels don't have to be about major world/life changing events. I'd be interested in seeing slice-of-life novels purely concerned with stuff like sports. Heck, maybe a fantasy version of Rocky would be in order. :)
 
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I can only recall two mentions of sports in fantasy stories (quidditch and a kind of dangerous dodgeball in the Laws of Magic), so as far as I know it's certainly something that's not done often. In both cases the sport affected the MC's social status.

What I have to say about the topic in general is to keep it relevant, don't go wild with it because it will distract from the story.

Thinking sports (any thinkable variant of chesslike games) on the other hand I've seen a lot more of.
 

Surad

Minstrel
I can only recall two mentions of sports in fantasy stories (quidditch and a kind of dangerous dodgeball in the Laws of Magic), so as far as I know it's certainly something that's not done often. In both cases the sport affected the MC's social status.

What I have to say about the topic in general is to keep it relevant, don't go wild with it because it will distract from the story.

Thinking sports (any thinkable variant of chesslike games) on the other hand I've seen a lot more of.

I remember while reading Wheel of Time, characters from all over were constantly playing Stones, which was a variant of Go. It would be interesting to make multiple board games for people to play. You'd need something like go or chess, but why not simpler games like nine-men-morris? NMM is an ancient game that goes back at least to 500 BC. Chess also has countless variants. I used to play Korean chess to a fair degree many years ago.

But yeah, putting sports into a world can be tough without making it appear a major info dump. Maybe you can hint at what's going on. Like have it be a major background event with the characters interacting with the players, even playing the game with them for a while. If done right, I think it would add a lot of life to the world and just make it more interesting.
 

SaintPandemonium

New Member
In the world of my WIP, the national sport of the Kingdom is where people ride equines on a track hitting metallic balls with pitchforks. There's also a dangerous yet elegant martial art practiced by everyone from the elite down to the commonfolk. All I will say is that it involves chains, dual broadswords and copious amounts of blood. It's considered a "game of honor" and that distinction is so stressed because its roots come from dishonorable times. In the old days many noblemen and noblewomen enjoyed mermaid-hunting until the witches put an end to that.
 
@saint: I would rethink your national sport. Broadswords and even chains aren't something that are that accessible and dual broad swords is another issue. I'm not sure about your equine sport either, what would be the point of hitting the ball around the track? And the only equine sport I know of is polo and in polo they have small, handy hammers. A pitchfork isn't meant to be wielded with one hand.
 

SaintPandemonium

New Member
I didn't adequately explain the riding sport--I just gave an overview. Having six players to a team creates a separation between 'Riders' and 'Runners', with armored runners protecting two of the four individual goalposts. It is the most physically demanding as they use nearly every part of their body, except their feet, to keep the ball from entering their goalposts. The armor they wear is made by alchemists who "possess knowledge" (stolen from the work of witches) of how to make it sturdy enough to withstand repeated hits from the ball. Riders have more reign, racing around the circular field and the pitchforks they use are lighter than the farming tool one is used to seeing, enabling them to use it with one hand if need be. Though I have considered changing the pitchforks to something similar to a bludgeon, though not as heavy. Its specific rules haven't been completely fleshed out because it's not something at all necessary for the plot just yet, but I'll have to sit down and actually make it work before long.

The martial art I spoke about is only practiced within the confines of a formal training school. But unlike the sport above (which is considered more elitist), it's open to people of all economic backgrounds. It is the homestead for the kingdom's warrior class, collectively called the Komyai.
 
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Penpilot

Staff
Article Team
I'm Canadian, so hockey is major part of my life. I play other sports too like softball.

In my second novel I had a sport based on magic, but it was a hugely significant part of the setting and my main character's life. I did mention a few made up sports in a few short stories, but otherwise my stories have been devoid of sports.

The thing is if something isn't significant to the story being told then it probably won't get more than a mention, so I don't really have to come up with rules, just a detail or two.
 

CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
Since the only Sports I tend to follow are the different flavours of Cycling or Athletics I think there is limited fantasy opportunity there... unless I was to go political [drug taking, doping, power-plays etc] but then it wouldn't really be about the sport any more...
I don't think games and sports get a good look in in fantasy [or in fiction on general] as for most people they are what you do/watch when you are not doing other things. [I've only seen the films but] I think JKR uses Quidditch well as an example of how HP grows and how other people react to him. It's not just spectacular to watch but the characters and story move on. And I think TP's Cripple Mr Onion card game sounds wonderful but also lets you know that a good player needs skill and nerve to win [which Nanny Ogg as in bucket-loads and she probably cheats - okay she definitely cheats].

TM - Haae your read about Buzkashi a sport called "Goat bashing"...?
 
Now that you're talking about cardgames, the Book of Malazan series is built around a cardgame similar to tarots. And some soldiers play a kind of betting game with those cards, each time they make up the rules themselves.
 
Jousting. Sparring and duels, of different degrees. Horse racing. Contests Of Magic.

It may be that one reason "sports" don't appear as often in fantasy is that more obvious contests like the above do. (For very obvious reasons, the way they show off plot-worthy skills so directly.) And it's easy for writers to fall into the idea that busy or demon-haunted villagers don't have the energy to spare for something more removed from those straight-out demonstrations of power. Or maybe the modern reader's supposed to think that, that "contests" are believably medieval but "sports" feel too modern.

Which is not accurate for any period, of course, and Rowling certainly proved it's not a problem for a good story. (Though some people will miss that point, since after all Potter's setting is still today.) A properly-pictured village would definitely have its pelota or quasi-rugby field.
 
I remember a book set in ancient Greece now about a crippled boy who then goes on to win the (original) olympic spear throwing event, those kind of games are deeply cultural events
 
Since the only Sports I tend to follow are the different flavours of Cycling or Athletics I think there is limited fantasy opportunity there... unless I was to go political [drug taking, doping, power-plays etc] but then it wouldn't really be about the sport any more...

oooooh, but think about applying that mindset - that you have to do everything to improve your performance, that everyone is doing it and you have to in order to be in the same league, that your body is a machine with which you tinker and the side effects might mean that you can't sleep or you die - and then apply it to a system of magic, and that makes my eyes light up with the possibilities. Strung-out mage students learning to mess with their body chemistry like they're messing with reality. Mages being even more dangerous and unpredictable because they might have messed up their meds this morning and might literally explode. The high-stress environment of magic where results, results, results are all that matters.
 

Surad

Minstrel
Since the only Sports I tend to follow are the different flavours of Cycling or Athletics I think there is limited fantasy opportunity there... unless I was to go political [drug taking, doping, power-plays etc] but then it wouldn't really be about the sport any more...
I don't think games and sports get a good look in in fantasy [or in fiction on general] as for most people they are what you do/watch when you are not doing other things. [I've only seen the films but] I think JKR uses Quidditch well as an example of how HP grows and how other people react to him. It's not just spectacular to watch but the characters and story move on. And I think TP's Cripple Mr Onion card game sounds wonderful but also lets you know that a good player needs skill and nerve to win [which Nanny Ogg as in bucket-loads and she probably cheats - okay she definitely cheats].

TM - Haae your read about Buzkashi a sport called "Goat bashing"...?

The thing about drug use and doping is that it is not a new thing. Ever since Ancient Greece, athletes there have tried to gain an edge over their competition by doing something that gave them an advantage, whether it was praying or taking some kind of performance enhancers of the time.

The same thing could apply in a fantasy setting. Ale and wine need not be the only intoxicant. You'd be amazed at what people did in those days to get high, either on purpose or by accident. One example of accidents was that, when grain was ground up for flour, they sometimes did not separate certain seeds that were harvested along with the grain... the results could be interesting, to say the least.
 
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