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IRON DM 2023 Tournament Thread
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<blockquote data-quote="Gradine" data-source="post: 9209616" data-attributes="member: 57112"><p>I must once again apologize for the delay. It's been a hell of a weekend (not even counting the ****** trial!). But then, we've also got a hell of a Championship Match. So let's wrap it up.</p><p></p><p><strong>Judgment for Championship Match: [USER=7023840]@Snarf Zagyg[/USER] vs [USER=11760]@Whizbang Dustyboots[/USER] </strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Rules and Readability</strong></p><p></p><p>Both entries come in well under the 2000 word limit, and came in on time. All rules have been observed.</p><p></p><p><strong>Adventure Flow & Potential</strong></p><p>This is my subjective "what did I generally like/dislike about the adventures" section of the judgment. "Notes From a Tavern" (hereafter "Tavern") is yet another TTRPG spun entirely out of wholecloth by Snarf, and promises to be something of a chaotic experience of universe re-writing. Personally, I've rarely been a fan of PvP in TTRPGs, but this appears to be the fun kind of PvP (ie, sabotage and chaos) rather than direct action, much like Paranoia. I wonder if the character motivations are meant to secret; it doesn't appear to be the case, but I could imagine holding those back for an added dose of confusion. All in all, it's a well-considered and thematically tight game.</p><p></p><p>The Dungeon at the End of the Multiverse ("Dungeon") on the other hand, is a multi-layered epic-level adventure, culminating in one hell of a climactic final battle. It's definitely the far more "traditional" of the two submissions, as traditional as a Kirby-esque cosmic romp gets, anyway. It's not quite as thematically coherent as its competition, but then, it's a lot easier to hit that consistent theme when you're building the game from scratch.</p><p></p><p>All in all, these are two extraordinarily great championship adventures. I'll hold off on my personal judgment until the end, though.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Ingredients</strong></p><p>You can give us this much; we certainly didn't make it easy on you! Let's see how these two entries tackled these ingredients.</p><p></p><p><em><strong>Guardian Goose</strong></em></p><p>I will have to say I was somewhat disappointed on this one from both entries. In "Tavern" it seems mostly there to satisfy the ingredient requirement; the guardian could have been pretty much anything here without making much difference at all. I like the use just a little better in "Dungeon", in that a giant cosmic goose guarding the end of the universe feels just that slightly more on brand with the cosmic superhero vibe, mixed with a little bit of Animorphs as well. It's also tied together with another ingredient, which is usually a plus.</p><p></p><p><strong><em>Flooded Cavern</em></strong></p><p>Both adventures have caverns, and both are certainly flooded. Beyond a perfunctory fulfilling of the brief, I don't see much to separate the two. Both are thematically appropriate to their respective settings. "Tavern" says the subtext of the cavern's metaphor out loud, but let's be honest, an adventure is a technical manual more than it is a work of fiction. So points for that, at least. </p><p></p><p><strong><em>Hollow Peg-Leg</em></strong></p><p>In contrast, both adventures gives us great Hollow Peg-Legs, though I have to give the slight edge here again to "Tavern", to giving us a traditional piratey pirate with an actual peg leg, which puts it just a touch above the very strange (though again, thematically appropriate!) wooden goose leg. The deal-breaker? Multiple references to the wooden "foot". Maybe I'm wrong here, but it seems to be a peg leg should just be a lone peg.</p><p></p><p><em><strong>Elemental Orchestra</strong></em></p><p>This element is used to pretty great effect in "Dungeon"; it's an obstacle for sure, and one that is going to be relevant to any party, and extremely relevant to many of them. I can see Snarf shaking his head, yet another feather in his "no bards ever" cap. This how how you love to see an ingredient used. Snarf's use of "Earth, Wind, and Fire" is incredibly clever, and I want to give it more credit, but it doesn't help that (a) "Orchestra" doesn't quite fit here and (b) the band serves as a reward for one (or a third) of the players, but is otherwise never actively relevant to the party.</p><p></p><p><strong><em>Legendary Door</em></strong></p><p>This is not terribly used in "Tavern", but the "Legendary-ness" of the door is more semantic than actual in this case. "Dungeon" gives us, again, exactly what we're looking for. It's a door, and it's legendary. It's straightforward, sure, but an ingredient doesn't need to be mind-bendingly clever to be good.</p><p></p><p><em><strong>Cured Orc</strong></em></p><p>I like how "Tavern" uses this one, and definitely appreciate at least one contestant getting the pun involved in this ingredient. Still, I don't really get the sense of why the meat needs to be Orc (other than to match the pun, I guess). "Dungeon's" Orc is a bit more Orc-like (in spite of its enlightened-ness), but significantly less Cured. I guess he's been reincarnated quite a few times, but that's not quite the same thing.</p><p></p><p><em><strong>Time and Space Bomb</strong></em></p><p>When I came up with this one I was hoping for more of a play on a "Time Bomb" but I guess "Time and Space Bomb" reads universal apocalypse all around. Does both adventures have one? Yes. Do they both make their respective bombs central and constantly relevant throughout for the players? Yes they do. So still, well done to both challengers.</p><p></p><p><strong><em>Captivating Toy</em></strong></p><p>"Dungeon" gives us something that is definitely Captivating, but I don't really get much of a sense of Toy from it. It seems incredibly powerful for a toy! "Tavern", though, gives us the very game of D&D itself, which now holds the players hostage. We've seen very good ingredient usage in this match so far, but this one goes over the top to great.</p><p></p><p><strong>In Conclusion</strong></p><p>As I tally up the points I've assigned, I see that "Dungeon" has the barest of leads in ingredient usage. And the more I dug into the adventure, the more I realized that the thematic inconsistency was, in essence, the genre trapping as a whole. This kind of epic and trippy cosmic adventure <em>should </em>be a little incoherent. And overall, I think it's the stronger adventure as well. There is, however, one glaring issue that needs to be addressed. "Dungeon" borrows its structure from something like "Inception", with each step through each demi-plane taking the players deeper and towards their destination. The problem I have, though, is this: the deeper we go, the <em>less weird </em>things get. We start with a massive cosmic goose made of space stuff and, somehow, wood, with a portal to a demi-plane in its peg-leg... but we ultimately end with a straight up fight against a two-phase final boss in front of a big tree. The scale and wonder and strangeness only shrinks with each level. Is this a glaring enough problem to tip the scales for me?</p><p></p><p>[SPOILER="The Final Judgment"]</p><p>I'm going to be very honest: I have changed my mind on this match so many times. With every past match I've judged, even as close as I knew they were and would end up becoming, I still more or less knew who I was going to go with after the ingredient pass. Not this one. I've bounced back and forth many times, and even as I'm writing this sentence, on the cusp of declaring my vote, I'm still not <em>entirely </em>sure I've made the right decision. But make it I must, and thus, I will.</p><p></p><p>The issues I mention above are troubling, but not enough of a deal-breaker to ruin the adventure for me. It snuck up on me more and more how much I really did like "The Dungeon at the End of the Universe", and even that big "issue" I'm stuck I'll admit is a personal thing. In this case, I am going to vote for "The Dungeon at the End of the Universe", and thus [USER=11760]@Whizbang Dustyboots[/USER], as the champion of Iron DM 2023.</p><p></p><p>Dang it guys, I thought I told you it was my turn to the odd woman out. But it seems yet again I am the tie-breaker. [USER=7023840]@Snarf Zagyg[/USER], you've walked a tight rope in bringing us not just adventures but whole games round in and round out, and one can hardly argue with your success. Yours was a championship caliber entry, it just was up again one that was just ever-so slightly better, in the balance. I would advise you to focus less on the fun, clever, twists, but again, it's hard to argue that they haven't served you well so far. Also, you beat me that one time, and with Paul Hollywood of all the gods damned people, so who am I try to give you advice? You'll win one of these soon, I have no doubt.</p><p></p><p>But ultimately, with a final vote of 2-1, [USER=11760]@Whizbang Dustyboots[/USER] is THE 2023 IRON DM! Congratulations are due!</p><p>[/SPOILER]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Gradine, post: 9209616, member: 57112"] I must once again apologize for the delay. It's been a hell of a weekend (not even counting the ****** trial!). But then, we've also got a hell of a Championship Match. So let's wrap it up. [B]Judgment for Championship Match: [USER=7023840]@Snarf Zagyg[/USER] vs [USER=11760]@Whizbang Dustyboots[/USER] Rules and Readability[/B] Both entries come in well under the 2000 word limit, and came in on time. All rules have been observed. [B]Adventure Flow & Potential[/B] This is my subjective "what did I generally like/dislike about the adventures" section of the judgment. "Notes From a Tavern" (hereafter "Tavern") is yet another TTRPG spun entirely out of wholecloth by Snarf, and promises to be something of a chaotic experience of universe re-writing. Personally, I've rarely been a fan of PvP in TTRPGs, but this appears to be the fun kind of PvP (ie, sabotage and chaos) rather than direct action, much like Paranoia. I wonder if the character motivations are meant to secret; it doesn't appear to be the case, but I could imagine holding those back for an added dose of confusion. All in all, it's a well-considered and thematically tight game. The Dungeon at the End of the Multiverse ("Dungeon") on the other hand, is a multi-layered epic-level adventure, culminating in one hell of a climactic final battle. It's definitely the far more "traditional" of the two submissions, as traditional as a Kirby-esque cosmic romp gets, anyway. It's not quite as thematically coherent as its competition, but then, it's a lot easier to hit that consistent theme when you're building the game from scratch. All in all, these are two extraordinarily great championship adventures. I'll hold off on my personal judgment until the end, though. [B]The Ingredients[/B] You can give us this much; we certainly didn't make it easy on you! Let's see how these two entries tackled these ingredients. [I][B]Guardian Goose[/B][/I] I will have to say I was somewhat disappointed on this one from both entries. In "Tavern" it seems mostly there to satisfy the ingredient requirement; the guardian could have been pretty much anything here without making much difference at all. I like the use just a little better in "Dungeon", in that a giant cosmic goose guarding the end of the universe feels just that slightly more on brand with the cosmic superhero vibe, mixed with a little bit of Animorphs as well. It's also tied together with another ingredient, which is usually a plus. [B][I]Flooded Cavern[/I][/B] Both adventures have caverns, and both are certainly flooded. Beyond a perfunctory fulfilling of the brief, I don't see much to separate the two. Both are thematically appropriate to their respective settings. "Tavern" says the subtext of the cavern's metaphor out loud, but let's be honest, an adventure is a technical manual more than it is a work of fiction. So points for that, at least. [B][I]Hollow Peg-Leg[/I][/B] In contrast, both adventures gives us great Hollow Peg-Legs, though I have to give the slight edge here again to "Tavern", to giving us a traditional piratey pirate with an actual peg leg, which puts it just a touch above the very strange (though again, thematically appropriate!) wooden goose leg. The deal-breaker? Multiple references to the wooden "foot". Maybe I'm wrong here, but it seems to be a peg leg should just be a lone peg. [I][B]Elemental Orchestra[/B][/I] This element is used to pretty great effect in "Dungeon"; it's an obstacle for sure, and one that is going to be relevant to any party, and extremely relevant to many of them. I can see Snarf shaking his head, yet another feather in his "no bards ever" cap. This how how you love to see an ingredient used. Snarf's use of "Earth, Wind, and Fire" is incredibly clever, and I want to give it more credit, but it doesn't help that (a) "Orchestra" doesn't quite fit here and (b) the band serves as a reward for one (or a third) of the players, but is otherwise never actively relevant to the party. [B][I]Legendary Door[/I][/B] This is not terribly used in "Tavern", but the "Legendary-ness" of the door is more semantic than actual in this case. "Dungeon" gives us, again, exactly what we're looking for. It's a door, and it's legendary. It's straightforward, sure, but an ingredient doesn't need to be mind-bendingly clever to be good. [I][B]Cured Orc[/B][/I] I like how "Tavern" uses this one, and definitely appreciate at least one contestant getting the pun involved in this ingredient. Still, I don't really get the sense of why the meat needs to be Orc (other than to match the pun, I guess). "Dungeon's" Orc is a bit more Orc-like (in spite of its enlightened-ness), but significantly less Cured. I guess he's been reincarnated quite a few times, but that's not quite the same thing. [I][B]Time and Space Bomb[/B][/I] When I came up with this one I was hoping for more of a play on a "Time Bomb" but I guess "Time and Space Bomb" reads universal apocalypse all around. Does both adventures have one? Yes. Do they both make their respective bombs central and constantly relevant throughout for the players? Yes they do. So still, well done to both challengers. [B][I]Captivating Toy[/I][/B] "Dungeon" gives us something that is definitely Captivating, but I don't really get much of a sense of Toy from it. It seems incredibly powerful for a toy! "Tavern", though, gives us the very game of D&D itself, which now holds the players hostage. We've seen very good ingredient usage in this match so far, but this one goes over the top to great. [B]In Conclusion[/B] As I tally up the points I've assigned, I see that "Dungeon" has the barest of leads in ingredient usage. And the more I dug into the adventure, the more I realized that the thematic inconsistency was, in essence, the genre trapping as a whole. This kind of epic and trippy cosmic adventure [I]should [/I]be a little incoherent. And overall, I think it's the stronger adventure as well. There is, however, one glaring issue that needs to be addressed. "Dungeon" borrows its structure from something like "Inception", with each step through each demi-plane taking the players deeper and towards their destination. The problem I have, though, is this: the deeper we go, the [I]less weird [/I]things get. We start with a massive cosmic goose made of space stuff and, somehow, wood, with a portal to a demi-plane in its peg-leg... but we ultimately end with a straight up fight against a two-phase final boss in front of a big tree. The scale and wonder and strangeness only shrinks with each level. Is this a glaring enough problem to tip the scales for me? [SPOILER="The Final Judgment"] I'm going to be very honest: I have changed my mind on this match so many times. With every past match I've judged, even as close as I knew they were and would end up becoming, I still more or less knew who I was going to go with after the ingredient pass. Not this one. I've bounced back and forth many times, and even as I'm writing this sentence, on the cusp of declaring my vote, I'm still not [I]entirely [/I]sure I've made the right decision. But make it I must, and thus, I will. The issues I mention above are troubling, but not enough of a deal-breaker to ruin the adventure for me. It snuck up on me more and more how much I really did like "The Dungeon at the End of the Universe", and even that big "issue" I'm stuck I'll admit is a personal thing. In this case, I am going to vote for "The Dungeon at the End of the Universe", and thus [USER=11760]@Whizbang Dustyboots[/USER], as the champion of Iron DM 2023. Dang it guys, I thought I told you it was my turn to the odd woman out. But it seems yet again I am the tie-breaker. [USER=7023840]@Snarf Zagyg[/USER], you've walked a tight rope in bringing us not just adventures but whole games round in and round out, and one can hardly argue with your success. Yours was a championship caliber entry, it just was up again one that was just ever-so slightly better, in the balance. I would advise you to focus less on the fun, clever, twists, but again, it's hard to argue that they haven't served you well so far. Also, you beat me that one time, and with Paul Hollywood of all the gods damned people, so who am I try to give you advice? You'll win one of these soon, I have no doubt. But ultimately, with a final vote of 2-1, [USER=11760]@Whizbang Dustyboots[/USER] is THE 2023 IRON DM! Congratulations are due! [/SPOILER] [/QUOTE]
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