Essentially chaps and chapettes, I'm at that fun point in my fic where I'm writing fourth year or The Triwizard Tournament.

Some take their own spin on the canon tasks, which is normally alright - never seen anything truly spectacular - or they go bat shit insane and create their own like in Knowledge is Power by Fettucini (At least that was his name when I was reading it, he changes his name every now and then.)

I have an unique problem and I think I need the help of DLP's own brand of ingenuity/madness.

My fic has James alive and well - sort of. He's working as an Auror, Quidditch Pundit.

He's on a Auror led risk assessment - which comes from my own personal pet peeve that a potentially catastrophic diplomatic event between three major countries (and their schools) wasn't dealt with by anyone from The Ministry other than Ludo freaking Bagman, Barty Crouch and their respective Departments.

Just come on.

So what excuses can I find to allow craziness like dragons, lake diving and mazes of doom?

Or you could offer some ideas for original tasks and I can throw questions at you cus I'm struggling to think of anything other than duels. I had partner things planned but that didn't work in my mind.

 

It's easy enough to explain it; dangerous tasks are traditional. Wizards set a lot of store by tradition.

 

True and loads of pure-blood wizards and witches against one Auror isn't exactly going to go in the minority's favour.

 

The audience wants a good show. Battling dragons is much more fun to watch than a daisy-picking race.

 

Depends on the daisies.

 

The small ones you see by the road.

Though large, magical, carnivorous daisies with an appetite for flesh would be pretty interesting, actually.

 

Man-eating daises - could put those in the maze.

Yeah battling dragons is always bad ass but the problem is it's been done so many times I'd probably wind up unknowingly ripping someone's idea off.

I'm already giving JK the finger by having James alive and Sirius never being in Azkaban. I don't wanna piss somebody else off while I'm at it.

 

What makes this a weird question for me is that reworking the Tri-Wizard is one of the best ways to demonstrate your creativity and writing talent- getting tasks from others is like asking for people to tell you their ideas for inventions because you want to have a patent.

Rather than offer tasks, I'd recommend reading a few of the better ones that others have invented (JBern's The Lie I've Lived being the obvious starting point).

Aside from that, you should look for inspiration from themes- most of the tasks had a fire-water-earth aspect- or by plundering other stories about deathtraps and challenges. Whatever you choose, make sure that the challenges have an open-ended aspect. There should be more than one way to solve them using magic (or even not using magic). If you choose new tasks, try to make them audience-interesting, too. This was where Rowling fumbled after the first task, as there was nothing for the cheering sections to see or encourage after the start of the second and third tasks.

I wouldn't include direct duels except as a tie-breaker, but that's me. I'd save the ideas for personal combat for an actual combat later in the story.

As for James' concerns, he might want to protect Harry but he'd also know that asking for safer tasks as an official would humiliate Hogwarts and British Wizarding society. Asking as a father would humiliate him and Harry. He wouldn't do it. He would, absolutely, coach Harry with every cheat and trick he could think up, asking for ideas from Sirius and Remus as well.

 

True enough on the reworking the Triwizard Tournament tasks being one of the best ways to be creative but when you're writing your own novel and screenplay for your university course, inspiration for Harry Potter can be a little hard to come by as all my best ideas get re-worked into my original work. Lame excuse I know but it's true.

Besides, if anything brought up here was used in the fic I'd give credit where credit was due. I'm not that much of a bastard.

Hmm, you may have a point on the re-reading bit as well. Other than JBern - which will be the first thing on my to read list - are there any other stories you can reccommend for research?

I'll be looking myself but looking for good Harry Potter fanfiction about the Triwizard Tournament is time consuming and/or soul destroying. Everywhere I look people start after Harry's 4th year.

I'll keep the themes in mind as well and thanks for the thoughts on James.

 

Okay, I'll bite.

...

A few wonderous ideas for tasks:

Mountainous terrain in the Hogwarts area where magic is not allowed at certain points on the mountain (thus making physical fitness an important part of the task).

A task where the competitors are forced to overcome extreme temperatures and/or weather... For example, strong winds over an icey path immediately followed by a walk through an active volcano.

Some type of puzzle that needs to be solved in order to receive an important glimpse at the next task. This would need to be early on and make it extremely difficult for someone who doesn't beat the puzzle to win the next challenge. (Bonus points if Harry fails at the puzzle but still wins the next challenge)

A task that requires teamwork where the points are based not on the success itself, but how easily the two competitors work together. (Easy set up for a Harry/Fleur relationship or a Harry/Cedric friendship, imo)

A task involving broomsticks and sharp reflexes, which makes sense as Ludo Bagman is one of the people pushing the tournament.

Out-witting a dangerous creature that isn't a dragon... or, if you're feeling randy, dueling a dangerous creature to the death.

A task that tests how talented each wizard is at each aspect of magic where one point is given to the student that is the best in each category: Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Defense, Dark Arts, Astronomy, and if you want to bore people to death, Muggle Studies.

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Other thoughts regarding the Triwizard Tournament:

Remember what you liked and disliked about the Tournament, expand on the aspects you thought fit and remove the ones that didn't.

If you change one task, change all of them.

Perhaps remove the Goblet of Fire altogether, or failing that, change the circumstances by which Harry's name is called.

If James is to be included, have his input in Harry's life playing a major part on how he performs. Bonus points if his advice gets Harry in a world of trouble at some point and Harry decides to go his own way in the end.

...

TL;DR.

Good luck, yo.

 

I don't think that you really need to do all that much to justify it, it's meant to be a test of skill and courage for the three best young wizards/witches in Europe. You could use the Goblet of Fire as a safety precaution that is supposed to only allow capable people to be chosen. So you explain to James that the people entering the tasks will all be able to perform them safely.

As for some innovative tasks, The Lie I've Lived is the best one, but take a look at The Trischool Tournament by DisobedienceWriter

 

You could also take a look at Harry Potter and the Temporal Beacon. While I wouldn't recommend it normally, it has, in my opinion, particularly interesting Triwizard Tasks.

 

Yeah, we're talking about a world which is totally okay with 11-year-olds flying at hundreds of miles an hour, hundreds of feet in the air, playing a game that involves enchanted iron balls that fly around trying to kill you. All this with almost no safety precautions.

Wizarding ideas of safety are not remotely like Muggle ones. I don't think they consider mundane injuries or risks at all. They can be fixed easily.

If a task involved Dark magic, now, there would be something that would cause a public outcry. When it's a magical threat, rather than a physical one, wizards' sense of safety is a lot closer to that of Muggles.

As for tasks, I won't think of any for you, but I will provide for you the following categories of possible tasks:

1. Creature based.
Pretty self-explanatory. The task involves having to defeat (not necessarily kill) a dangerous creature of some kind. Most suited for testing combat abilities.

2. Terrain based.
The task involves navigating some hostile environment. The challenge can come from the hostility of the environment or the navigation, or both. Most suited for testing the ability to know or learn suitable charms.

3. Enchantment based.
The task involves having to defeat some kind of enchantment or series of enchantments. Best suited for testing the ability to think under pressure, and for strength of mind.

4. Disability based.
The task involves some skill or ability being removed from the participant, possibly even their wand. Best suited for testing strength of will, character, and resilience.

5. PvP feat based
Contestants are directly competing against each other to out-do each other in the performance of some magical feat. Could be a duel, but it could also be something less direct. One example: each contestant has to perform a complex transfiguration: the most impressive wins. However, contestants are permitted to interfere with each others' attempts by any means except casting spells on each other. Imagine: you're trying to transform a pile of sand into an ape when another contestant turns some of the sand into hundreds of tiny spiders which then attack you.

6. Mindfuck
An impossible task which you are meant to fail. The test is not how you beat the task, but rather how well you cope with failure. AKA the Kobayashi Maru test, aka Brock.

 

Instead of their name coming out of the Goblet and being read by Dumbledore, the Goblet conjures bracelets around the wrists of each competitor, which function as something to stop apparation. The bracelets then portkey each champion halfway around the world, and the first task is a race/survival thing, racing through several countries, with the only limits being local laws.

Tasks building on each other would be something I'd quite like to see. We do get it in canon, with the goal from the first task being a clue to the second, but we don't get any more. Keeping (basically) canon tasks, but with a slight change:
Rescue the egg from the dragon.
The egg has clues inside to several different stashes hidden in the Lake, which they have to recover inside a time limit during the second task. Someone without the egg would just swim around and hope for the best.
These stashes would be able to be used in preparation for the third task, and taken in with the champion.


Or go with a theme. It has been raised before, but use the elements. Or the story of Hogwarts being built, or some other legend.

 

I like the idea of using a running theme though the tasks.

One idea could be the stages of life: birth, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, death. Obviously that's more than three tasks, but there's nothing that says there has to be three. It's the Triwizard tournament, not the Tritask tournament.

Other themes:

The Platonic virtues: wisdom, bravery, temperance, and justice. Or, conversely, the seven deadly sins.

The branches of magic: spells, charms, and dark arts.

The senses.

 

Heh so essentially remember I'm dealing with magic and stop being a Muggle? Fair enough, that I can do.

To be fair I think I was just trying to find an excuse to put James and Sirius at the school for the Tournament. Thankfully what I'm writing is a rehash of an old story and hasn't been posted yet.

I'll keep the advise in mind, especially the ones from Taure. I'm liking the idea of not letting the champions have their wands. I'm gonna fuck them around oh so much.

I'm sure I'll be back in a fit of hysteria at some point but until then thanks for essentially cyber-slapping me and for the advice.

 

Honestly, if what you are looking for is advice, you should post your story in the WbA.

 

Don't take their wands. It is the triWIZARD tournament, not trimuggle. Whilst the champions could use potions or enchanted items, I've often felt that those take away from the events. If you really want them to do something 'muggle style', have Harry realise that for whatever task is next his magic won't be enough, so he gets one of those SAS survival handbook style things.

But no katanas.