Mini Encounter Contest - Heat 8 [final primary round]

Kalendraf · Jun 14, 2002

Thanks for the feedback!

Thanks for the feedback so far!

Nail wrote:
...But the gnoll druid seemed like an after thought, rather than a rivetting NPC around which the encounter was based. Sorta like: "Oh shoot, I gotta stick a cool NPC in here too, ta satisfy th' rules!"

I'm not sure why it came across that way. Gurnar was the original aspect here upon which everything else was based as I wrote this. Maybe the encounter page doesn't emphasize him enough? The character details were supposed to explain his importance, but it was tough to cram everything in there.

Nail also wrote:
And his motivation for approaching the party ("Me need silver") seems pretty weak.

The idea here was that the gnolls have been living on their own in the woods for some time and have no way to deal with this newest threat. Perhaps it seems a bit contrived, but it looked like a plausible option the gnolls might try as they find just how difficult it is to kill this hound. The silver arrow idea was from an old 1E campaign situation I remembered as I wrote this.

Nail also wrote:
The location is really not at all present here: could be the PCs camp, could be the Yeth Hound's cave....but it's not clear which the author meant ta be "the location, separatable from the PCs". This one is a good encounter...it's just not following the guidelines of this contest.

I'm very guilty of not making the location easily separable from the encounter. My bad. I didn't fully understand what was intended when I read the rules and wrote this up, and encounter info drifted into the location as a result. FYI, the location is basically "this neck of the woods" and is intended to span the entire hunting range of the Yeth Hound, so it includes the Hound's lair as well as the camp site(s). I didn't make a map since I was ill and home from work with a 103 degree fever when I was writing this and just didn't have energy to make one. I'm not looking for a mercy vote here, just explaining that I wasn't in my best state of mind as I typed this one up.

die_kluge wrote:
What I would have liked to have seen here is some follow-up plots involving the gnolls, and maybe a map to the Yeth Hound. Possibly some information on where the Yeth Hound came from would have been nice as well.

I really would have loved to include that info, but alas the 3 page limit meant something had to be cut. A background of the Hound was there in the original version before I started pruning it down. As for follow-up plots, I hoped that the information in Gurnar's description would help somewhat even though it is fairly limited.

Any additional feedback would be appreciated as well. Thanks again!

Seule · Jun 14, 2002

Here's my comments. As always, I'm likely to be harsh, the good points are usually less obvious than the bad points.

Hunt of the Black Hound: No real location, cool concept, good use of NPCs. I'd run this as I like playing with the preconceptions of my players, and the setup screams first ambush, and then werecreature.

Kommag's Box: Nothing too special, but has potential as an RP encounter. Makes for a good weaponsmith in a medium-magic world. Plus a Dwarven Wizard is just cool.

Wanderers of the Forest: Nothing special. Nothing really stands out, nothing is really bad. Not a memorable NPC or location, really.

In Rage And Still Waters: This is a nice one. Cool location, cool NPC, and an encounter that comes natuarally out of the combination of the two. They are both useable independantly, and that means this is an excellent submission in my opinion.

Man Against Beast: Another one similar to Rage and Still Waters: a (slightly more) cool location, a (slightly less) cool NPC, and an encounter that follows natually from the combination. Well done.

Harmonies in the Snow: Odd, didn't really appeal to me. Cutesy I guess would be my description. Followed the rules though, as far as I can remember them. Not much to do though, more of a 'look at the cool stuff and neato person here' than anything else.

Revenge: Boring. Basically, a standard evil mage attacks the party on a standard road, for unspecified reasons. I can do better myself, simply because I can use NPCs that the characters have already met.

Interrupt the Arms: The setup is contrived except in a small number of campaigns, and the NPC is boring, and the location is almost nonexistant.

The Stairwell: The organization is non-standard, and there's no NPCs detailed. What NPCs there are are intrinsically connected to the location, which is basically a big trap. It's useable, but not what I think the contest is looking for.

Old Jamiben the Hermit: Extremely cool NPC, I wish I had thought of this. Not much of a location though, and the encounter itself is mostly some ideas and options than an actual encounter. The NPC makes up for it though... although I'm not a fan of the divination blocking and reality quake (!) options, I'd not use 'em.

The Black Orb: A cool location, and a somewhat interesting NPC, both useable separately. I'm particularly impressed with the combination of lethality potential balanced with the NPC not wanting to kill the party. I'm concerned however that fighter types will be at a severe disadvantage at least at first, until their stats acclimate. Neato.

There are several quite good encounters in this group, and I have a hard time choosing between them.

--Seule

smetzger · Jun 14, 2002

I voted for In Rage because:
1) It had a synopsis.
2) The synopsis peaked my interest and was well written.

Nail · Jun 14, 2002

Hey Kalendraf:

Kalendraf said:
Nail also wrote:
And his motivation for approaching the party ("Me need silver") seems pretty weak.

The idea here was that the gnolls have been living on their own in the woods for some time and have no way to deal with this newest threat. Perhaps it seems a bit contrived, but it looked like a plausible option the gnolls might try as they find just how difficult it is to kill this hound. [/B]

As a player, I imagine I'd be yer worst nightmare, 'cause I'd be asking all 'o th' "continuity" kind of questions. Fer example:

* How did the Yeth hound get to that neck o' the woods? (Isn't it an "outsider"?)

* Why couldn't the gnolls get their silver some place else? After all, they do have real armor and weapons -- where'd they get those from?

* Why don't the gnolls attack us? Why are they different from other gnolls? (Chaotic evil, remember?)

* These four Gnolls are out there, living all by themselves? Why? Where's the rest of the pack?

* etc.

Th' point is: answerin' these questions and any others that go along with it will tighten up th' whole scenario, and it's gonna make the NPC even cooler. You need ta be able to at least B.S. yer way through these questions as yer DMing, and for a contest like this, ya gotta have 'em in there fer us to read about.

*******

As fer th' "character hook": it's pretty weak. It relies on: a) th' PCs not attacking immediately, b) th' PCs have enough useful silver, c) th' PCs being curious and/or blood-thirsy enough t' go after the yeth hound with the Gnolls. If I were playin', I'd be pretty d@mn suspicious of th' gnolls, and not very willing to have 'em at my back during a fight.

And to be honest, I'd think the gnolls would feel th' same way. Here are a bunch of bloody PCs, ones that normally hunt my kind, and now I'm gonna ask 'em to join my band?

....but if you (as DM) answer that, in a convincing and reasonable way.....that would be cool......

-Nail

*** It's really too bad more people aren't voting in th' contest. I can understand why-- it's just too bad.

KDLadage · Jun 14, 2002

I know it has only been a few months, but reading over mine I see about a dozen things I would do differently at this point...

...no, make that two dozen.... damn.

Kalendraf · Jun 14, 2002

Nail, thanks for the questions. I'll take a stab at answering them:

* How did the Yeth hound get to that neck o' the woods? (Isn't it an "outsider"?)

Alas, this is part that got removed in my process of reducing to 3 pages. The history is of this yeth hound is rather simple. A planar traveller found it as a pup, and brought it to this world, however, it escaped soon after gaining its ability to fly. It was driven out of a few past locations, but came to reside in this area mostly unchecked since there were no large settlements or other predators in this area. It's been decimating the local wildlife ever since.

* Why couldn't the gnolls get their silver some place else? After all, they do have real armor and weapons -- where'd they get those from?

Where do you find silver in the woods? These gnolls tend to avoid contact with other races. They received weapons and armor from their original tribe, and have been crafting arrows and makeshift weapons and armor to replace them as needed.

* Why don't the gnolls attack us? Why are they different from other gnolls? (Chaotic evil, remember?)

This is a function of Gurnar's alignment and leadership. He attracted some of the gnolls that were less Chaotic and Evil than most (note the alignments of the small band are all partly neutral). Gurnar's own alignment is due to how he was raised. The "quest" they see themselves on along with Gurnar's own teachings have given these gnolls enough to think about to prevent them from instantly attacking anyone they come across, including the party.

* These four Gnolls are out there, living all by themselves? Why? Where's the rest of the pack?

Gurnar's ideals were too radical for most gnolls. He and his followers have left the original tribe to seek out a new life for themselves. Even now, there is some discontent among his followers (specifically from the neutral evil gnoll), but the quest to hunt these unnatural creatures has become almost like a religion to them. Gurnar's druidic views are somewhat skewed as he actively tries to achieve balance in nature. His quest has lead him to become the roaming hunter he now is.

So my problem appears to be that I just couldn't seem to squeeze enough details into the 3 page limit. It's tough. I'm having a really hard time with the 1 page limit for the WotC world submission too.

Nail · Jun 14, 2002

Kalendraf said:
<snip>.....So my problem appears to be that I just couldn't seem to squeeze enough details into the 3 page limit. It's tough. I'm having a really hard time with the 1 page limit for the WotC world submission too.

Good answers. Now, yer gonna need t' some how let th' PCs know some o' that rambling, without them havin' t' ask so many probing questions! Fer instance: their weapons an' equipment should look old and well used. Heck, that could even be an interestin' way of scarin' th' PC during the initial encounter: "Oh boy.....we're about t' be cut t' peices by Gnoll Barbarians! Lookit how they're clothed in animal skins!"

......anyway, this contest has taught a bunch of us how to better frame our encounters. Although we've been approachin' th' rules as a set of arbitrary constraints, they actually might help some o' us be better DMs. Page limits can be good things......

.....or not.

<shrug>

-Nail