I say this in part nostalgia and in part of knowing what works in my nearly two decades of role-playing. Tournament RP's are the lifeblood of most combat-oriented sections and sometimes you don't even need to build it up to a tournament arc. Sometimes just starting with the tournament is [i]fine[/i]. The tricky part is figuring out the setting, determining the writing expectations/requirements, and loosely (or specifically) describe the technological level and magical options of said setting. If it's a multidimensional tournament you can skip the last step. Getting worked up about a tournament RP being a product for a prize, bragging rights, or another docket on the leaderboards is something people should avoid.