Iron DM 2009 - FINAL MATCH - it's over!

[Iron Sky]

Great entry IVV. The description in the alleyway sequences is especially well-written and evocative.

The pictures were well used too - the last one is especially cool. I know it's a massive ice sheet, but it sure looks like some bleak elemental plane.

It kinda sucks to be an NPC in most RPGs, but this adventure especially. 3/4 of the friendly NPCs meet their demise in some terrible fashion! (I'm assuming Squort becomes giant food, but whatever use a cloud giant has for a halfling can't be pleasant).

I didn't even think to include pictures, even though I had several that were inspiration for mine during the brainstorming process(attached below).

Looking forward to seeing the judgments!

Edit: I just realized that my Sig would make for pretty decent ingredients in one of these challenges! Maybe I'll make a Iron SH Challenge - give 15 element ingredient list and people have a year to write a Story Hour about them.

 

[Nifft]

Those are some very different entries!

I may have to sleep on this one.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Sparky]

Good luck, gents!

 

[Radiating Gnome]

Well, looks like the early bird doesn't have to summarize the worm.

My judgement landed first, here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/plots-places/266192-iron-dm-2009-all-matches-5.html#post4998108

Thanks to both of you -- I really enjoyed both entries immensely. And thanks to everyone who played . . . you all rock!

-rg

 

[phoamslinger]

Those are some very different entries!

I may have to sleep on this one.

Cheers, -- N

...and thus, as the penguin slept in his penguin bed, the crafty slinger of phoam crept into the igloo and slid his judgment upon the submissions desk. when the penguin awoke, he would find that it would be he who wrote the final summary of the EN World Iron DM of '09. wishing pleasant dreams to the penguin, the slinger snuck back out again...

 

[Nifft]

...and thus, as the penguin slept in his penguin bed, the crafty slinger of phoam crept into the igloo and slid his judgment upon the submissions desk. when the penguin awoke, he would find that it would be he who wrote the final summary of the EN World Iron DM of '09. wishing pleasant dreams to the penguin, the slinger snuck back out again...

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Links updated, summary soon.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Nifft]

Summary is up. It's interesting how we all voted.

Once more, thanks to all contestants. Hope to see this contest become a more regular thing.

 

[InVinoVeritas]

Thanks, Nifft, for running this whole thing together.

Iron Sky, that was an excellent final round, and congratulations!

I think I can work on the plot there--for example, the party can retreat to the piranha tank room to regroup and strategize, and the giants are too large to follow. There would still be ways to trick the giants into breaking the flagstone, but I suppose I should have given hardness/hp to the flagstone and described what would happen if the PCs shattered it instead of the giants. Enchantment spells could help here.

Hey, perhaps they would have to find one of the mirrors in the Night Realm and escape back to the real world that way. That could work. Nifft, you're right that Hell's Close could fall. Since everyone except Alora was dead anyway, the loss wouldn't be so great, and ushering Alora back to the real world would be interesting.

I think the one other thing I think about in my games is my preference for lower levels. To be honest, I've never played/DMed a game where the PCs were higher than 5th level for the last decade. Even the cross-eyed beholder wouldn't require high-level characters, since none of the monsters presented were there to be fought. The side effect is that I'm no stranger to otherwise "impossible" scenarios. I've played an unarmed, unarmored first-level halfling fighter who actually came really close to defeating an ogre mage singlehandedly (I pulled a scroll case off his belt, and jammed it down his windpipe when he tried to eat me, then tried to bull rush him off the edge of a pit while he was choking... didn't quite work, but everyone watched in awe). Since I've always felt that there was a lack of low-level adventures (I feel it all the time), I try to build my adventures that way, with the full expectation that some challenges are not meant to be directly defeated.

I really want to thank the judges for running this. I've now got a few items that I'll want to build for other adventures, and have become more confident in my adventure writing ability. And I've got to go flesh out the Family of the First Sun now.

 

[Iron Sky]

Thanks IVV and great round to you as well. I didn't even get the dual-meaning of Fairy/Flaming Dragon until it was pointed out - and I love word plays! I got a laugh out of it.

A huge thank-you to the judges for running this whole contest. It was a huge creativity-stirrer for me and has me interested in writing adventures again vs. winging/ad-libbing 95% of my DMing. Until this thread, I hadn't actually written an adventure since our last 2e campaign that ended just before 3e came out! That's going to change in the future, methinks.

I think the one other thing I think about in my games is my preference for lower levels.

Up until 4e came out, I shared the preference. Now I have far less problem with higher levels since 4e makes it so much easier to run and play. My SH campaign also was the first time I was comfortable with "over-the-top", fantastic settings; a good transition to 4e as well.


A few comments on the summaries, there are two things I did want to say in my Giant Mafia's defense.

From the thefreedictionary.com:

gi·ant n.1.
a. A person or thing of great size.
b. A person or thing of extraordinary power, significance, or importance

I aimed for my Mafia to fulfill both definitions and I'm thinking from the summaries, the judging focus was mostly on the first definition and not on the second(exception: phoamslinger). A mafia that controls the majority of crime organizations everywhere from behind the scenes fits definition b, even my use of definition a wasn't as integral. IMHO IIRC FWIW OMG LOL .

As for "Mafia-ness," its name was Cosa Nesunna(latin for "No Thing") vs the real mafia's Cosa Nostra("Our Thing"). They bolth collect protection money and deal in weapons, have the Omerta code of silence about mafia dealings, are run by capos, etc. I had hoped when writing it that sprinkling these "flavor bits" through-out would obviate the need to spend 2 pages of precious written real estate of detailing such things. Not sure how I could have done that differently without using up another page or two.


I also left out NPCs and further details since my entry was 7 pages long already (still gun-shy from my 1st-round 13 page behemoth). I had/have tons of ideas to fill up the Far City with, but I figured you guys didn't want to wade through a 20-page final entry. Besides, the Far City itself wasn't an ingredient, so I figured I wouldn't get credit for further embellishment anyway...

Nifft, you're totally right about those rumors. A couple like the ones you pointed out were pretty blatant info-drops - "Hey PCs, here's something you need to do later! I can't figure out a better way of letting you know what to do when you are there, so HERE!" If I spent more time polishing this one, there'd probably be better and more subtle way of getting the info to the players.

Edit: I was also originally thinking of using aboleths too, then changed my mind (for some reason that I don't remember at the moment). I really have no idea why I didn't, especially with the piranha canals (that I added later). Would make alot of sense.


Anyway, that's all just minor squibbly-bits.

Radiating Gnome, Nifft, phoamslinger, you guys volunteered to invest your time to run this and put in a lot of time and effort to make it happen. For that I am grateful.

Thanks also to everyone who participated, I really enjoyed reading through your entries. This thread was like an explosion of creativity.

Looking forward to the next Iron DM - as long as it isn't too soon, I need time for my brain to recover! I also throw my name in the hat for judging the next one, if you guys are looking for more people.

 

[InVinoVeritas]

Cosa Nessuna did give me a laugh, Iron Sky--that was clever.

I'll have to take a look at how 4e runs in high levels--I've never played or run anything in 4e, and I honestly don't know how to get started.

And mad props to our judges, too; phoamslinger, Radiating Gnome, and Nifft, that's a lot of work you dedicated to make this happen. I might just be willing to help judge next time.