Yes tournaments are a good way to make money (and win renown and nice equipment) but for a brand new character tournaments are going to be pretty challenging. That's tough if you've spent your time up till then raiding villages.

Whatever story line you imagine for your character, if you want to become an independent king at some point then you're going to need lots of honour and high relations with a lot of lords. The penalties to your honour, relationship with the village and relationship to the lord who owns the village mean its just not worth it.