Mini Encounter Contest: Heat One

reuben · Mar 7, 2002

Wow! I am stunned! Truly gobsmacked.

I have just discovered that my meagre little entry won the heat and I honestly can't believe it.

Thanks to all those who took the time and trouble to read all the entries and to vote.

The other entries were all great but I particularly liked an unexpected visitor, l'amour de erinyes and harmonies in the snow. I am sure that I will find a place for each of them in my campaign at some point in the future.

I only entered cos I figured that it would be nice to be part of placing something creative on the net for people to download instead of just downloading other people's stuff myself all the time. I had not ambitions for my little entry whatsoever.

Like some others that have posted I would be very intrigued to understand why people voted for "put to the sword"!

Thanks again to all

Reuben

Mistwell · Mar 7, 2002

Reuban:

Congrats!

I think most people liked your entry because of the ethical challenge it forces the players to deal with. It's not about killing evil, but about grappling with a culture completely foreign to your own. That's something we should see more of in D&D. After all, there are literally hundreds of races of intelligent beings in that world, and they will all likely be quite different, culturally, than the others. It's a challenge players should face.

-Mistwell

roversaurus · Mar 8, 2002

Why

I never got the chance to vote. I didn't have an account.
I've read them all. Unfortunately I didn't have the time
to make my own entry.
But the first time I voted for "Put to the sword".

The last poster, Mistwell, said my thoughts better than I could.

I liked it because it was small and easily understood. It gave
the party several interesting things. A small mystery about the
lizard man culture. There was some combat, and you could
make it tougher if you wanted to. There was role playing.
A moral delema.
There was a whole new tribe and culture to learn about.
To become allies or enemies.

A great little idea that could be changed to fit any campaign.

I liked the Harmonies one.
Catch as catch can was an ok idea. I thought it was
goofy that he got tangle in the line. But I might add
a dedicated fisherman trying to catch the big one.
Erinyes was a good NPC bitter love story.

Can't wait to vote in the next heat.

http://home.indy.rr.com/ahwmrklas/dnd/summary.htm

FireLance · Mar 8, 2002

Congratulations on winning the first heat, Reuben.

I have an entry in the contest myself, and I found that the most challenging part of it (apart from the page limit) was to make all the elements (encounter, location and NPC) interesting, independent and reusable.

I liked the encounter in "Put to the Sword" because it presents a dilemma that challenges the players as well as the characters, and is independent and reusable apart from the location and NPC. For higher-level parties, the NPC could be a stone giant instead of a lizardman, for example.

However, I thought that allowing the NPC to survive could have increased the interesting and reusability factors. The "one-armed fighter" concept could have been played up, and there could be many roleplaying opportunities if the PCs heal him and help him overcome his depression. Terva could become a recurring NPC - he could try to develop a one-handed fighting style, quest for a regenerate spell to heal himself, fall under the influence of the Hand of Vecna, etc.

MooseHB · Mar 12, 2002

Re: Hey!

die_kluge said:
I doth protest! The poll has been closed 5 hours early. The first post was posted on 12:05 (my time, I guess) on the 5th, and now it's the 6th, a 7:05 (my time) and the poll is closed.

That doesn't even include the time that the NEWS was posted on the main page, probably cutting the time that the poll even existed by a much larger margin.

I didn't even get to vote for my own entry!

Not that it would have made any difference, mind you, but it's the principle of the thing.

Nor did I, unfortunately.

It looks not to matter, but I am disheartened that for two weeks I awaited any word as to the resumption of the contest, and after a two-day hiatus from the boards, I find voting closed on mine and the other heat one entries. Oh well...