Iron DM 2009 - all matches

[Radiating Gnome]

I'm hoping to get this judgement completed so I won't have to write the summary for this round . . .
Now, in the finals, predictably, a seriously close match to judge.

Goin' Fishing (GF) vs. Operation Lightning Storm (OLM)
[sblock]
Ingredients:

Evil Healer.
In GF, we have Ebon Grai, the healer who is evil. In OLM, we have the Royal Wight and the Purifier. I find I'm intrigued by Ebon -- he seems a bit improbable, but there could certainly be some entertaining RP opportunities along the way (as he charges his own conscripts for healing? Really?). The Royal wight is not much of a healer, as far as I can tell, and the Purifier's interpretation of "evil healer" as "one who heals evil" (as opposed to the more obvious "an evil being who heals") doesn't quite work for me. It feels stretched to fit the ingredient. POint to GF.

Purple Wights
In GF, the purple wights are purple because of the odd flow of blood and fluid under their skin. in OLM, the purple wights are wights who smear themselves with a purple paste (made from red and blue fungus, no less). I liked both solutions to the ingredient. I was going to give an edge to OLM on this one, although it's a slight one, because of the way the color is related to the lightning energy/lightning fort in a sort of stretched way, but then it dawned on me that the purple bruised flesh of the wights in GF are related to the underdark jungle's moist climate . . . call it a wash. You guys both had a good run with this one.

Military Draft.
This one is tricky. GF takes a much less obvious path, putting the PCs in charge of the draft, not making them draftees, as would be the solution I would have expected. My first reaction to that choice was negative, however -- it seems to cut against everything that D&D is all about -- why would Ebon need this pack of people to go into what amounts to a fairly typical dungeon setting? Yes, he has trumped up his argument so he can build his wight army, but it seems to break the central conceit of the game -- that the game is about heroes doing heroic things, out on their own in the wilds where normal folk will not tread. And here we have them herding a pack of normal folk into the wilds. It could be fixed easily -- the draftees could be artisans and laborers needed for a project they will have to complete to extract the trident (although, in that case I can see we might have lambasted you for not making the draft truly military . . . ) . . . . but, that's not quite what we get here.

On the other hand, in OLM, the draft itself is pretty much what I would have expected, the PCs are drafted to complete a mission. The military draft element does produce some good humor and structure for the mission, but it doesn't really take me someplace all that new. I'm going to give a slight edge to OLM on this one, but I already regret it -- I'm much more intrigued by the differentness of the draft in GF.

Trident of Fish Command.
Okay . . . the Trident of Fish Command in GF is used to control the Kuo Toa. In OLM, it's used to control the Skywhale. I find myself snarkily wondering if a skywhale is any more a fish than a true whale is. Both entries have it. I'm going to give an edge to GF on this one -- albeit a slight one, because the trident in OLM, while it has the capability of commanding fish (or whales), that's not it's primary purpose in the adventure.

Underdark Jungle.
Both entries had it. Both were mushroom jungles. Both had very interesting business (in GF, the moist jungle setting causes mushrooms to grow on wights; in OLM, part of the adventure involves gathering specific mushrooms to make the LPF paste.). Call it a wash.

Lightning Fort.
Again, both entries had it. But the lightning fort in OLM has more lightning in it, it feels like. The one redeeming bit of lightning in the fort in GF is the bit where the wights that trigger lightning attacks are shocked into their natural, living state for a moment -- that's cool, creepy, and fun. OLM painted the lightning on with a pretty thick brush, giving everything an electric charge like a whole forest of 12-year-olds in socks on a wool carpet. I'm going to call this one a wash, too.

Usability
My only real problem with GF is the nature of the draft -- which is also one of the things I find most interesting in both entries. It's a tricky proposition, turning the nature of this sort of heroic fantasy on its head and making the PCs a party to that change. When I think about how I would run this with my group, I can only imagine that there would have to be a lot of railroading and narrative control to make this whole sequence happen -- after all, it all hinges on allowing Ebon Grai to bring his cohort of conscripts. Everything that is interesting and cool about this adventure -- and I find this adventure more interesting and cool than OLM -- hinges on that one decision. And I have a hard time imagining selling it to players -- and keeping it sold to them as the nature of Ebon's plan unfolds. To get to that final scene, full of wights and controlled kuo toa, the PCs have to ride along all the way, and that feels like it's going to require a lot of railroading in many games.

OLM, on the other hand, can be used pretty much as it stands -- it feels like a setting dropped in right out of Glen Cook's Black Company books into the underdark, and all the PCs need to do is walk by to get wrapped up in it. I wish a bit more were done with the lightning and the LPF-15 paste -- if a creature is knocked into a water source, for example, does the LPF factor wash off? Does some of it? That could make for some interesting encounters.

Writing/Creativity.
They're both quite good. On a purely personal preference level, I'm more interested in the scenes and the moments in the game that are created in GF -- those mushroom-covered wights getting shocked into life for a moment, etc. It's a weird, wild bit of fun.

The bottom line . . .
Ingredients were little help -- most of them I saw as dead heats. I gave a edge to OLM for usability, and an edge to GF for creativity/evocative presentation. In the end, I'm going to go with the adventure that I find more evocative and interesting, over the one that doesn't risk some big flaws.

I'll give my judgement to Wik, for Gone Fishin'.
[/sblock]

 

[phoamslinger]

this one's going to take some work.

edit: and so it did:

[sblock]Wik’s Gone Fishing vs Iron Sky’s Operation: Lightning Storm

Ingredients:
Underdark Jungle
Lightning Fort
Evil Healer
Military Draft
Purple Wight
Trident of Fish Command

I was curious how you were going to slap these together. on too many contests, I’ve seen a solid adventure but the ingredients are just tossed in as window dressing. or used as a mcguffin, or in some other way that some other ingredient could have been inserted and the players would have been none the wiser. finally this is not the case (at least at first glance) and I actually have to make a judgment against two entries that have learned the rules of the game. apparently this is more work for me now. maybe I shouldn’t have told you what I was looking for, so as to keep the judge stuff easier. if I am going to judge this one, I decided I needed to come down a bit harder on each ingredient to determine a “he’s doing better” at the end. so,

The Ingredients
Evil Healer:
Wik gives us Ebon Grai, a medic who is masterminding the plot to give him an unbeatable army not to conquer with but to become wealthy with. I like the non-cliché there. Iron Sky gives us a background mission to Heal Evil. in his item summary he mentions “Royal” Bolt as an evil healer, but I went back and double checked and didn’t really see anything to substantiate this one. IS, did you intend to make Bolt into a cleric? because his clerical abilities should have drawn some mention elsewhere if that were the case. I didn’t see this, so point to Wik.

Lightning Fort:
Wik gave us a dwarven fortress which has become electrified because of the Kua Toa. Iron Sky gave us a fortress that was built intentionally to discharge lightning throughout the area and has changed it’s environments on both planes because of it. point to Iron Sky

Military Draft:
Iron Sky gave us two pompous generals who draft the party into their military organization. IS have you ever played or run Paranoia? your mission briefing I’m planning on stealing and reading verbatim the next time I run Paranoia because I can just see the players scrambling to decipher stuff and getting everything totally confused. Wik, your military draft reverses this and puts the party as doing the drafting and having to deal with all of the consequences that came out of it. Wik’s Draft is perhaps a bit stronger, but the comedy implied in Iron Sky’s military clichés compensates enough that I’ll call this one tied.

Underdark Jungle:
here we start to get into the ugly ingredients. I realize that the Underdark implied Mushrooms when I put the ingredient in there. that is something that has been done over and over in so many games I’ve seen, I was wondering what would be the result. Wik gave us a mushroom jungle, yet still referred to it in places as a mushroom forest, including the fungal forest. Iron Sky also gave us a fungus jungle, but the additional descriptions of the life forms that have moved in really made his jungle come alive more in the story and it became a more integral part of his adventure. point to Iron Sky

Purple Wight:
when I was putting this one in, I was thinking back to that David Eddings novel where the king gets drowned in a barrel of wine and when they bury him, his corpse is purple from the pickling. so I knew of at least one way to make a wight purple; I was wondering what you would come up with. Wik’s idea that the blood congealing in a newly made corpse made a lot of sense. Iron Sky’s wights that spread purple paste on them to resist the lightning also worked, but wasn’t as strong. but Iron Sky also pulled Purple White out of a hat and incorporated it as well. I’ll give Wik a slight edge for this one.

Trident of Fish Command:
this one I expected to see just tossed in somewhere. Iron Sky made it the only means of easily gaining access to the Lightning Fort. Wik pulled Underdark Jungle and the Trident together and got Kuo Toa! as an opponent. Iron Sky gets an edge because I was impressed with Wik’s intuitive leap there that quite caught me by surprise. like he mentions elsewhere, once he made that connection, everything else just fell into place.

so we have Wik with one and an edge, Iron Sky with two and an edge. I really like both entries, so let’s keep looking.

both are quite useable, have adequate formatting and development, hooks make sense, etc, so I’m going to call all that a wash. and you both have cross connections all over. Iron Sky has a few word plays going and incorporates them as well into his entry. slight edge to him.

Wik has an Evil Healer who’s using the people of the Draft to make his Wights to seize the Trident from the Fort through the Jungle.

Iron Sky Drafts the party to use the Trident to get through the Jungle to fight the Wights in the Fort. and possibly Heal the Evil too

Wik’s sentence is just a tad bit stronger than Iron Sky’s. point to him.

which leaves us with a relative two plus two for Wik, two plus one for Iron Sky.

Essentials (namely how critical to the adventure is it that this item be used and not some other one):
the Trident: yes on both
the purple wights: neither of you went into why it had to be wights instead of zombies or some other undead. no points. Wik's blood clotting was stronger on why they were purple than just a bit of body paint. nod to Wik.
the Draft: both equally strong parts of the overall. nod to both.
the Jungle: Iron Sky's Jungle was full of life (which jungles are very much so). he
made it come alive with his fish. nod to Iron Sky
the Lightning Fort: another nod to Iron Sky. it HAD to be Lightning. Wik's could have just been a dwarven fort on the hill.
Evil Healer: Wik gets the nod for this one, Evil mastermind who can raise dead while posing as the group medic. Iron's was ok, just nowhere near as strong.


judging is really all very subjective when you come down to it. when I read your entry Wik and especially when Iron Sky was saying it was like slamming his head into the wall to make things work, I knew your opponent was going to have to really come up with some cool mental pictures to overcome your entry. but his Military briefing, his Lightning Fort, and his Jungle did just that. you’ve written a solid adventure Wik, and I am strongly tempted to give it to you as a technical win. but Iron’s very weak Evil Healer was offset by what I saw as a weak Jungle and Fort on your entry. so I could easily go either way choosing one or the other.

my decision:
while I think Wik's Gone Fishing would involve the party more, I think Iron Sky’s adventure would be just a little bit more fun to play or to run. so Iron Sky’s Operation: Lightning Storm gets my vote for this round.
[/sblock]

 

[Nifft]

[sblock]You both have crafted solid scenarios. You both have a pair of stand-out excellent ingredient uses. Let's look at those first:

Underdark Jungle: Iron Sky gets a point here. Very evocative, brings the exotic location to life. Wik, your jungle is more plausible, but less usable: in my experience, only a minority of groups are interested in the challenges of wilderness survival, let alone supply-train logistics and disease among the troops. Still, the sulphur-charged deluges atop the warm pools covered by fungal matter... also very cool.

Lightning Fort: Iron Sky gets his second point. Wik, I like the idea of a fort turned electric by the strong presence of the kuo-toa -- but if it's so full of them already, why don't they already have the Trident?

Evil Healer: Wik wins this one. Ebon Grai is a work of evil genius. I don't hate the Paladin "healing evil", but it's not as great, and not nearly as central. Ebon Grai is just plain awesome: "Be brave. This will only hurt until you die."

Military Draft: Wik edges out a point here. Frankly, I love both. Wik, the idea that the PCs are on the "recruiting end" is going to be a (hopefully welcome) novelty to the players, who are usually the ones being talked down to by some jerk with a crown. Iron Sky, your crowned jerks are so well done that they absolutely buck the cliche, but your use of "draft" is less central -- in Wik's scenario, the draftees are the responsibility of the PCs, and the Evil Healer is able to be Evil precisely because the PCs care about the NPCs they drafted. Iron Sky, your (hilarious) military commanders could be dark cloaked figures who meet the PCs in a bar. Great military flavor, insufficient centrality of "draft".

Purple Wights: Both are okay. I like Wik's wights, but I also like the "royal purple" of Iron Sky's wight. If we took away Iron Sky's military commanders who spell stuff out, his purple-painted wights could be a great survival clue to the PCs. Point to Wik for deeply creepy flavor.

Trident of Fish Control: Wik, your Trident is basically a plot-point, but it's a good one, and it sets up a massive battle climax of PCs + their previous foes vs. their previous ally + the troops they drafted, which is a nice twist. However, the idea of using flying planar fish to breach an underdark lightning fort is awesome. I have no idea how I'm going to steal that, but mark my words, I will.

... and that would leave us tied. Feh.


Evocative flavor: both got this in spades. The jungles are both nice, and both sets of shepherd NPCs are also surprisingly cool. Of those, Ebon Grai is a fairly good tie for the Sparkrift Jungle, so again... feh.


On to usability: large time investment for Wik's scenario (all those draftees), but quite the payoff, and good DM advice smoothes that complexity significantly. Iron Sky, I wish you'd given a good justification for why Bellows isn't willing join the PCs. Not that I want the shepherd NPC to join them, but I want a plausible reason for why he's staying behind. That said, his plan of attack is great. Once more... feh.


Since both of you did really great work, it comes down to who dropped the ball the most times in terms of plot holes. Wik, I don't like how the reasoning behind the Lightning Fort negates the reasoning behind the Trident remaining unclaimed. Iron Sky, I feel that your Military Draft was weak to the point of being contrived, even if the military flavor was great. If your jungle vegetation wasn't hinted at by the purple wights, that would have been another point against you, but their coloration is central enough, given its tie to the other ingredient.

Kudos to both of you. My vote goes to Iron Sky... barely.[/sblock]

Summary & links later, I gotta go drink.

Both of you: damn good work. It makes the judge's job hard, but in a very good way.

Thanks, -- N

 

[Nifft]

The whole reason I set up the "last dude writes the summary" thing was so I would be motivated to finish early, and thereby avoid this duty. (The best planned lays, etc. So here I am.)

We all locked onto slightly different tipping points, but we all agreed that our work was not made easy by the high quality of both entries. Once more, job well done.

The victory to Iron Sky was well earned, but IMHO it could have easily (and justifiably) gone either way. It's a bit stressful in retrospect being the decisive vote, but that turns out to be far easier by not looking at the other two first. So, if one must procrastinate, let it be in looking at the co-judges entries.

Now... on to THE FINAL MATCH!!!

 

[Nifft]

Round 4, Final Match
Damned Alley
Non-Reflective Mirror
Sleeping Watcher
Giant Mafia
Flying Piranhas
Rod of Fumbling

Bonus Ingredient:
Flaming Dragon

 

[Iron Sky]

MF! Posted in the wrong fricken thread again. Sorry folks, need to pay more attention.

 

[Iron Sky]

The Far City

This adventure is designed for a party of 26th level characters. It takes place in a city on the borders of the Far Realm, at the bleeding edge of reality.

Background
The Far City is called by some the Last City, for it is said when one leaves all civilization and all that is known behind and travels to the end of one the worlds, there can be found the Far City, on the border between reality and chaos, astride the boundary with the Far Realm. It is ruled by the Cosa Nesunna, a race of aberrations that not only pull the strings from behind the scenes in the Far City, but have a massive network of "coscas" (families) that silently pull the strings behind the criminal organizations of all the Planes.

The Far City
The Far City is massive, both in spread and in the scale of the buildings. The Cosa Nesunna as a race are all massive in stature so most buildings of the Far City are built to the scale of fifteen foot-tall beings. The Far City has no unified architecture, except for the the abject lack of unity. Some buildings are ramshackle collections of stone, or bone, or wood while others are sprawling, labyrinthine structures that weave under, over, or through other structures. Some are towering obelisks of living flesh while others are massive abominable constructs that roam the city or fly low through the haze of the purple sky. The winged piranha mark of the Cosa Nesunna is emblazoned all over the city.

The sky of the Far City is a gateway to the Far Realm, a swirling purple mist beyond which can be seen the faint glimmer of the ancient stars. Occasionally, massive and terrible things can be seen just beyond the Barrier Mist, creatures that blot out a hundred stars and reach longingly through the Mist that marks the dividing line between the Far Realm and the Far City.

In the center of the city is a massive Pedestal, atop which sits a hundred-foot tall statue of a massive, deformed dragon that blazes with unholy flame, bathing the city in a pale ever-shifting light. The statue is called the Sleeping Watcher and it is rumored that it is a representation of the god-thing that created the Far City, watching over its realm as it slumbers.

The Far City has no day or night, per-se. Instead, every six hours it has a shift. During the “day”, the city follows most of the “rules” familiar to those who live on the Material plane. When it shifts, however, all that changes. Gravity reverses, sending anything unlucky enough to be caught outside plummeting upwards to the waiting grasp of the Things Beyond the Mist. The Mist itself weakens slightly, bathing the city in the energies of the Wyrd. During shifts, fires burn cold and shine no light, the population of the City transforms into creatures from dream and nightmare, stones gleam and mirrors lose their luster, wood melts and wax becomes as strong as steel.

Whatever one interacts with seems to suffer the effects of the shift the most. Left unattended, most objects are only slightly changed. When directly interacted with, their reality bends to the point of breaking.

The only light during the shift is the pale purple glow of the Mists above.

After a shift, everything returns to the way it was before the shift, though anyone killed remains dead, anything destroyed is still destroyed, etc.

Tens of thousands of creatures dwell in the city. Most are aberrations such as illithids, beholders, aboleths, but there are a scattering of all sorts of other creatures that have found their way there – some by accident, some as slaves, others finding their way their after bouts of insanity. During the “day”, the city is abustle with activity, though much of it is unfathomable or seemingly random to sane beings. The PCs are as likely to see an illithid selling clothing made of human skin as they are to see a mutated halfling painting bizarre patterns on a chull's shell with glowing paints.

There is little water in the city and what there is runs through dirty canals, thronging with deadly piranha, the favorite and symbolic fish of the Cosa Nesunna.

The Cosa Nessuna themselves are easily recognizable by their size (most are over 15' tall), their winged piranha tattoos, and by the deference with which even the most horrific monstrosities pay them. The Cosa Nessuna themselves are otherwise widely varied, borrowing features from all sorts of other aberrations – lack of symmetry, tentacles, eyestalks, lack of eyes or limbs, levitation, etc.

Leaving the Far City during the “day” is as simple as casting True Portal or some similar ritual. Attempts to use any rituals during a shift are impossible however, as ritual components become corrupted by the effects of the shift.

The Sleeping Watcher
The leader of the entire Cosa Nesunna is the Wyrd Dragon known as the Sleeping Watcher. He never leaves the Far City, guarding over it like a jealous god. His presence, like the Lady of Pain's in Sigil, prevents gods from entering the Far City unless he allows them in willingly, ensuring his dominion over the city.

Generations ago, using eldritch powers and pacts with Things Beyond the Stars, he began unraveling the Veils that separate the Planes. Rifts and Planar Tears became common and the whole of reality began to pull apart at the edges. The Gods sent their mightiest heroes on great quests to somehow keep the Veils from coming apart. Their stories have long since passed into legend, the most prominent among them that of Velos Sostenador, a mighty Aspect of Vecna who used his secrets gleaned from his god to find his way the Far City. There he made a secret deal with the Cosa Nesunna and returned with the Rod of Everhold(see below).

While slumbering, the Sleeping Watcher dreams of the Far City, seeing all that transpires but unable to effect it until the next shift. During the shift, the Sleeping Watcher's statue becomes flesh and the Sleeping Watcher's burning flames go out. A glowing barrier forms over the Pedestal upon which he sits during the “day”, keeping intruders out. He becomes as cold as ice, his fire internalized, and he vanishes from sight as he travels about the shifted Far City. His Wyld Breath burns reality itself, melting and transforming what it strikes into whatever the Sleeping Watcher wills.

Mechanically he is a level 30 solo lurker that is invisible even to effects that normally pierce invisibility such as the True Seeing spell. Only when viewed in the reflection of a mirror can he be seen. While in statue form he is, for all intents and purposes, indestructible, and anything that comes close to his Pedestal takes massive fire and radiant damage.

The Damning of Velos
With the Rod of Evergrasp in one hand, anything can be grasped in the other and no mortal or divine power can force the release of the holder's grasp, including his or her grip on the Rod. Velos returned from the Far City and grasped the Veils themselves in his hand, holding them together with the power of the Rod. In return, Vecna granted him immortality.

Months ago, the Sleeping Watcher managed to lure Velos to the Far City. Cocky in his immortality, Velos had no fear of the Cosa Nesunna or even the Sleeping Watcher. He brazenly strode down a narrow street that led to the Sleeping Watcher's Pedestal. He was there, walking between the narrow, pirhana-filled canals along-side street when the Far City shifted.

Along with the usual madness associated with a shift, the Rod of Evergrasp transformed into the Rod of Fumbling. Velos dropped the Rod and the Sleeping Watcher swooped down, unleashing his burning, reality-searing Wyld Breath, causing the god's legs to melt and meld with the stones of the of the street. The shifted and now-winged piranhas flew from the canals, stripping the screaming god down to the bone in seconds.

There he has remained, the Sleeping Watcher's monstrous capos gorging on and gaining power from the ever-regenerating blood and flesh of the god during the “day”, his flesh constantly eaten away by the flying piranhas of the Alley during the shift. In his thus-weakened state, Velos is damned to his terrible fate unless the Sleeping Watcher takes pity on him(not likely) or someone rescues him.

Once the Far City shifted back after Velos's Damnation, the Sleeping Watcher had the Rod of Evergrasp returned and hidden away atop his Pedestal, a ritual cast over it that hides it from all methods of perception or divination unless he breathes his Wyld Breath upon it. He then returned to his watching over his city, plotting, and directing the Cosa Nesunna.

The denizens of the city have named the narrow street Velos occupies the Alley of the Damned, most creatures ignoring its gruesome sight, the more monstrous and/or depraved creatures gathering to watch the never-ending, grisly god-feast. Velos's name is largely forgotten and they just call him “the Damned”.

Hooks
1) Emissaries of the gods most closely followed by/favoring the PCs approach the legendary PCs and directly request their help to find the long-missing Velos and his Rod of Evergrasp.
2) The weakening Veils between the Planes have torn holes in the Material Plane and the PCs hear of it (and hopefully decide to do something about it). If they don't the PC's favorite tavern, castle, city, etc. goes spiraling off into a massive rift to the Abyss.
3) A powerful friend of the PCs had a member of the Cosa Nesunna approach him or her, directly or indirectly, demanding protection money and has requested the PCs help.

Bullet Point Adventure Summary
0) Hooks
1) Finding the Far City
2) Information Gathering on Cosa Nesunna, Velos, and the Sleeping Watcher
3) Retrieving the Rod of Evergrasp

1. Far Out, Man
Hook 1 should be used regardless, 2 + 3 just might add more justification for the PCs going there if they are for some reason not listening to the gods. They will, of course, be rewarded handsomely if they succeed for the fate of the Planes hangs in the balance.

As Epic level characters, they should have immense resources at their disposal. The very existence of the Far City is known to few – even some of the gods don't know of its existence – and, of those few who do know of it, even fewer know how to get there. The PCs will find themselves in a difficult skill challenge, using their resources however they can to learn of and find the Far City.

The finding of the City could be a mini-adventure in itself, perhaps including tracking down elusive Cosa Nesunna agents and trying to find a way around the magic Omert à – the vow of silence about Cosa Nesunna that all members undertake upon initiation – or tracking down those rare few individuals who have been to the Far City and know how to return. Failures might draw the attention of powerful Cosa Nesunna hitmen and hired assassins or result in encountering increasingly dangerous planar instability as the Veils pull apart.

Regardless, they will eventually learn that they must travel “as far from any other city as you can go and there is the Far City” and/or that “it is the furthest place from anywhere, right on the furthest edge of reality”. How they actually achieve this largely up to player ingenuity, perhaps finding a way to fly up to the edge of space, traveling to the depths of the Abyss or impossibly deep into the Elemental Chaos or diving deep into the Astral Sea. The DM should reward player creativity in achieving the task.

Abberrent creatures can get to the Far City easily, some of the more powerful ones able to walk a thousand steps from anywhere and step into the Far City on their thousandth step. The PCs might discover this fact and use it in their plan to get to the Far City, carried on the back of a massive aberration or creating a ritual to slip in behind the aberration as it steps to the edge of reality.

It will also involve learning a bit of the City's shifts, forcing the PCs to track down and/or create a ritual that will ward them from the worst of the shift's chaotic effects while they are there – if the PCs don't want to transform back and forth from a jellyfish or a living boot every 6 hours, that is.

2. To Infinity – and Beyond!
Once the PCs find themselves in the Far City, they will likely have a bit of adjusting and information gathering to do. This will likely be a skill challenge, but again could be a mini-adventure of its own. They might face random attacks from the city's inhabitants, but if they defeat enough of them, word will spread and the population's attitude will shift to one of indifference to them and they can start gathering information.

As they investigate, they will discover the following rumors:
* There are no real laws in the Far City, except for one unspoken rule: don't cross the Cosa Nesunna.
* The Cosa Nesunna are the power behind criminal organizations across all the Planes and the Far City is their home city.
* All criminal organizations, if not outright run from the shadows by the Cosa Nesunna, at least pay them protection money.
* The Cosa Nesunna can get you almost anything that exists anywhere – for a price.
* Every six hours, the “day” ends and everything shifts in the Far City. Some things turn to their opposites, others into mutated forms of themselves, still others into something entirely random. Also, gravity reverses and those who are caught outside during a shift “fall” up to be consumed by the Things Beyond the Mist.
* The Sleeping Watcher is the statue at the heart of the city that provides the burning light of “day”. Even approaching the base of the Pedestal upon which it sits could sear a red dragon.
* They say that the statue is of the near-god, the Sleeping Watcher, that rules the Far City.
* Some say the Sleeping Watcher dreams of all that goes on during the “day” and during the shift it “takes care of” anything it doesn't like that is happening in the Far City.
* Some say that even if the Sleeping Watcher is killed, it simply returns to the Pedestal in statue form and cannot be truly destroyed.
* During the shift, they say that the Sleeping Watcher's statue dissapears and that the Sleeping Watcher itself can only be seen in the reflection of a mirror. This is unfortunate since the shift makes all mirrors dull and non-reflective.
* The Damned is some god that didn't follow up on his side of a deal with the Cosa Nesunna and is now a vivid example of what happens to even gods that break their deals with the Family.
* Whatever the Sleeping Watcher took from The Damned, it is said that he magically hid it on the Pedestal near the base of his statue – and no one has any hope of finding it unless the Watcher breathes upon it.
* Anyone who tried to somehow rescue The Damned from the Alley of the Damned would probably face the wrath of not only the Cosa Nesunna, but the Sleeping Watcher himself.
* Also during the shift, a glowing barrier protects the Pedestal. They say the only way through it is along the Alley of the Damned.

The PCs now face one of two options(barring radical PC creativity, of course):
1) Try to negotiate with the Cosa Nesunna for the Rod of Evergrasp.
2) Try to fight the Sleeping Watcher and/or the Cosa Nesunna.

3a) Can't We Just Talk This Over?
The Cosa Nesunna won't negotiate away the Rod of Evergrasp unless Velos's side of his deal is paid as well as a new price for giving it away a second time.

For Velos's debt, they must learn of and tell a secret from each of the gods. To get the Rod of Evergrasp a second time, they must procure full rights and access to an Astral Diamond mine for the Cosa Nesunna.

At this point, the PCs will likely decide that paying either of the demands will be difficult to impossible and probably decide on plan B (take them out). If not, they face an epic side-adventure to track down each of the gods and convince them to divulge a secret, then somehow get the rights to an Astral Diamond mine.

If they somehow accomplish all this, then capos of the Cosa Nesunna will gladly hand over the Rod of Evergrasp “to be loaned until it is no longer need and is discarded”. They will then hand it over in front of the Alley of the Damned, a moment before the Far City shifts. The Rod of Evergrasp becomes the Rod of Fumbling and will fall from the PCs hands. The Sleeping Watcher himself will sweep down and swat it down the Alley of the Damned with his tail (since he can't pick it up either without dropping it) and telepathically pronounce “You cast aside the Rod and so our deal is complete. Cosa Nesunna reclaims the Rod.”

This will probably push the PCs to the brink of violence. If they don't attack immediately, the following “day” the Cosa Nesunna will present them with a new deal: “bring us a weapon that can slay the even a god and we will give you the Rod”.

If the PCs return to the gods, they will refuse to give Cosa Nesunna such a weapon and suggest the PCs find “an alternate method of dealing with the problem.”

If the PCs attack immediately, they will face an invisible dragon mutating them with its breath weapon and launching hit-and-run attacks through its city. If they go for the Rod, they will fumble it as soon as they do so, all the while under attack by swarms of massive god-fed flying piranhas that can chew through steel as though it were flesh. If they run, the Sleeping Watcher will track them through the city and, if they elude him, will face the Cosa Nesunna hunting them during the “day”.

3b) I Guess Not
If the PCs spent any time gathering information, they will quickly see they can't take on the Cosa Nesunna directly. Aside from being a small, well-organized army of giant aberrations, they are also well equipped, being intra-planar arms dealers and all. Their only real option is to take on the Sleeping Watcher himself during the shift.

First the PCs must contend with the conditions of the shift, especially random attacks from the mutated creatures the population of the Far City become during the shift, attacks from massive flying piranhas every time they go near a canal, and the hazard of reversed gravity.

In order to combat the Sleeping Watcher effectively, they must first craft mirrors that will work during the shift. There are two real ways of doing this. Option one is to build a mirror during the “day” that is purposely non-reflective, so when it shifts it will reflect normally. Option two is two wait until the shift to build a mirror, though the chaotic conditions of the shift will make such a task far, far harder (metal turning into rabbits or wine, tools floating away or transforming into wheels of cheese, etc).

Once they have the mirrors, they must reach the Pedestal so they can get the Rod. If they can fly, they risk being spotted by the Sleeping Watcher, so they will likely face an inverted scramble, leaping or flying from the underside of the balcony of one building to the window of another then across the ceiling and on the underside of a bridge to another until they reach the Pedestal.

Once they reach the Pedestal, they will find a glimmering, impassable, impenetrable shield of energy around it. At the end of the Alley of the Damned is the only way through. Passing through the Alley, they will face attacks by the monstrous flying piranhas mentioned above and the pathetic cries of The Damned. After they make it through, they must fall, climb, or fly “down” to the top of the Pedestal. There they will find the Sleeping Watcher waiting for them.

In the course of the following fight, not only do they face a dragon they can only see through the mirrors they hold – a dragon whose breath weapon mutates their limbs into uselessness or fuses their lips or fingers together so they cannot perform magic – fighting him in the reversed gravity of the shift, but they must also try to get him to blast as much of the top of the pedestal as possible so they can locate the Rod.

Every time his Wyld Breath hits the Pedestal, treasures or powerful items veiled by the same ritual as the Rod will be revealed, until finally he uncovers the Rod itself. If the PCs fall, fly, or are pushed into the barrier around the Pedestal, they take damage and are hurled back from it back towards the Pedestal.

The Sleeping Watcher will also make the fight more difficult by targeting the PC's mirrors with claw or tail attacks to break them.

Once they defeat him, they will have the Rod. If they wish to travel with it in the city, they will find it difficult, since the Rod falls from hands, slips from packs or wrappings, and, if secured somehow so it cannot be fumbled, causes whoever bears stumbling and trip when walking, drop their packs and weapons, etc. If they wait until “day”, it becomes the Rod of Evergrasp again.

Since the only way out of the Far City is to use some form of teleportation ritual and rituals fail when cast during a shift, the PCs must wait until “day” to get out. They then will find the Sleeping Watcher back in statue form atop the Pedestal with the Cosa Nesunna soon mobilizing to take the PCs out.

If they attempt to free Velos, they will likely find the only way is to cut him free from where his lower body melds with the stones of the Alley (he'll regenerate it back later). They must, of course, fight off another wave of flying piranhas as they do so.

If they flee with Velos, he will eventually be restored and will take up the Rod again and again hold the Veils together.

If not, they must find someone else to take up the task... but that is for another adventure.

Regardless, the gods will reward the players handsomely in (almost) any way the PCs desire and the party will have again performed heroic deeds that will resound in legend.

Future Adventures
The Sleeping Watcher and Cosa Nesunna are far from destroyed. They will likely become strong adversaries for the PCs for the remainder of the campaign, launching attacks on the PCs, their allies, and their reputations. The PCs might track down and destroy the agents of the Cosa Nesunna across the Planes, assault the Far City itself, search for some way to destroy the Sleeping Watcher once-and-for-all, or try to find a permanent solution to the unraveling of the Veils.

Ingredients
Damned Alley: The street where the god Velos lost the Rod of Fumbling, now endlessly devoured by Flying Piranha as an example to any who would break their word to the Giant Mafia.

Non-Reflective Mirror: The only way to effectively see and fight the the Sleeping Watcher.

Sleeping Watcher: The leader of the Giant Mafia, a Flaming Dragon, and owner of the Rod of Fumbling.

Giant Mafia: A giant plane-spanning criminal organization composed of giant aberrations.

Flying Piranhas: The creatures that endlessly devour the god Velos in the Damned Alley. Also the symbol of the Giant Mafia.

Rod of Fumbling: What the Rod of Evergrasp becomes during a Far City shift, it's properties used to the Sleeping Watcher's advantage if the PCs try to negotiate for it.

Flaming Dragon: The Sleeping Watcher who, while sleeping, burns with unholy fire bright enough to light the whole of the Far City and whose burning breath weapon can burn the fabric of reality itself.

In a Sentence:
The Flaming Dragon, called the Sleeping Watcher and leader of the Giant Mafia, “loaned” the Rod of Fumbling to a god who broke the deal and was lured into the Damned Alley where he is now endlessly devoured by Flying Piranhas until the Sleeping Watcher can be defeated with the aid of Non-Reflective Mirrors.

 

[InVinoVeritas]

Hell’s Close

An adventure for 4-6 PCs of character level 4-6.

Prologue

This encounter occurs while the PCs are traveling to a new city they have not visited before. While they sleep (it can be in an inn, outside, or wherever) the encounter occurs.

The PCs find themselves in a small, cramped alleyway. The buildings rise up on either side, and cross over the top of the alley, making a closed space. A single torch provides poor illuminates a sign on the wall: Hell’s Close. Beyond the alleyway, it rains, and a slick shimmering surface on the flat stone reflects the land outside.

The alleyway of Hell's Close
​

A human woman appears at a doorway in the alley. She has long, black hair, pale skin, and piercing blue eyes, nearly white. She wears a long, white nightgown, and is barefoot. She speaks: “I am Alora, and we are in danger. Please help us…” She then shuts the door, hiding inside. The door proves to be a secret door, and melds into the stone of the building.

Suddenly, at the mouth of the alley, the shimmering surface changes. It grows opaque, smoky. The city beyond fades away, turning to the black of night. A sense of vertigo occurs, as if the entire alley became unmoored, and floated adrift in some dark, forbidding river. Then, a huge hand rises through the smoky slick stone, white as the moon. The rest of the figure emerges, a huge man, three times normal height. He is white, almost ghostly in color, and he wears the skin of a giant jaguar.

He speaks: “Welcome to the land of the Night Realm, the Family of the First Sun, the World of Tezcatlipoca. Your souls shall feed our Maimed Lord forever.”

Let the fight begin. This is Jagganath, an evil cloud giant. Any attacks the players make should appear to be relatively trivial to him. He does not reach far into the alley on account of his size, however. As they fight, more giants rise from the stone behind him. Hopefully, a PC will think to look for the trigger to open the secret door. As the search starts, Jagganath reaches above the PCs, and tears off a section of wall at the mouth of the alley. The PCs manage to find the latch at ground level to open the door, just as the massive stone block is launched at them like a spear, with no space to dodge…

…and the PCs wake up, where they fell asleep, safe. No one around them has heard of Hell’s Close or Alora.

Chapter 1: Flim Flam

Once the PCs reach the city, during their initial exploration, they find a street performer, a tall gangly fellow, in a jester’s costume, complete with bauble.

Flim Flam
​

He spots the PCs, introduces himself to the crowd as Flim Flam and proceeds to perform tricks for the gathered people. He will engage the PCs in embarrassing tricks for the pleasure of the crowd. If the PCs attempt to accost him, or ask him about Alora or Hell’s Close, he points his bauble at the closest PC, shouts, “Bazoom!” and the magic of his bauble (actually a Rod of Fumbling) takes effect. He then runs off, expecting to be followed. (If necessary, have him steal a coin purse from the PCs.)

He runs quickly through the crowd, down confusing streets. He uses the Rod of Fumbling as necessary to keep the PCs from catching or killing him. Eventually, he ducks down a covered alleyway and disappears. When the PCs approach, the do not find Flim Flam, but they find a sign on the wall: Hell’s Close.

In the alleyway, the PCs find it identical to the alley in their earlier dream. Indeed, a little searching reveals the trigger and secret door, just where it was in the dream.

Inside, there is a room, 30’ wide and 60’ long. The first 5 feet are solid ground, falling off into a deep pool of water 20’ deep, all 30’ wide, and 40’ long. A thin bridge, only 1’ wide, spans the pool. Torches line the walls, keeping the room lit. Flim Flam cries out, “Aw, nuts!” and retreats back across the bridge. If the party tries to follow, Flim Flam points the Rod at them and shouts, “Careful! Wouldn’t want to slip and fall now, would we?” He pulls a shank bone from a large 5’x10’ tub of offal, and throws it into the water, and (regular, non-flying) piranhas leap into a feeding frenzy to strip the meat off the bone.

“That’s enough, Flim Flam.” A high pitched voice responds. Fluttering into view is a tiny dragon, held aloft by shiny platinum-colored butterfly wings. “I am Kookajib, and we mean you no harm. Please, watch your step.”

Kookajib is a faerie dragon, and the leader of the denizens of Hell’s Close. The alley is home to a number of misfits and odd characters. She introduces Flim Flam again, and then Squort, a portly Halfling who looks oddly fish-like. Squort raises the piranha both to protect Hell’s Close and sell to others—the local thieves’ guildmaster keeps a tank of piranha just to keep his lackeys in line. Then emerges from beyond the room a waifish young woman with black hair, bright blue eyes, and a white linen nightgown. As Kookajib introduces her, she responds, “Yes, Kookajib. We have met before.”

Chapter 2: Alora

Alora leads the PCs back behind the piranha tank. There is a hallway with a number of small, cell-like rooms, each packed with the poor. Alora explains that she is a seeress, able to travel to the future and across space in her sleep, appearing to others in dreams. She has been carefully watching Hell’s Close as she sleeps, and discovered that something, some group of giants, wishes to pull the whole community into their netherworld. They are using reflective surfaces as their portal between the two worlds. Unfortunately, she does not understand how this operates.
She offers to show the PCs another scene from the future, but everyone must fall asleep in order for her to enter their dreams. Should they agree, they are given a claustrophobic space in which to sleep. Flim Flam agrees to keep watch to make sure that nothing happens—“Or gets stolen! Honest!”

After everyone dozes off, they find themselves in a dark room. A candle is lit, in front of a mirror. A small figure moves in the room, but then the mirror goes hazy. It fills with smoke, becoming fully opaque.

“O Tezcatlipoca!” a voice begins, “O Smoking Mirror! I beseech you, take these souls, fill us with your night!”

The mirror clears, revealing a large, white face—a different one from the earlier dream. “You are alone?”

“O yes, great master, all is as it should be!”

“You have sold the fish to the Guildmaster, this is good. He works for us, now, he sees the power of Tezcatlipoca. He is running the rackets in this city, getting the mirrors placed, building the network for the Family. We shall prove our power now, pull Hell’s Close into Tezcatlipoca’s Night Realm, and claim its souls for us. Do you have the recent payment?”

The small figure takes a sack of coins and thrusts it through the mirror. A giant hand claims it.

“Very good. The Family will reward you well. Remember, anyone who breaks a mirror will be fed to the fish! This city will deliver their payments to us, or we will pull it all into the Night Realm!”

“But I fear your plan, master! What if everyone breaks their mirrors?”

“We can appear through any reflective surface; water, glass, anything... And only if we break the mirror, will we be barred entry to your world! That will not happen!”

“Yes, master, Tezcatlipoca is emperor, and the Family of the First Sun are his monarchs!”

Suddenly, a door is heard opening, and light streams in to reveal Squort as the small figure!

“Fool!” calls out the giant, a hand bursting through the mirror to grab Squort.

The party awakens.

Chapter 3: Squort

Kookajib joins the awakened party to track down Squort. They reach his room and open the door.

“Fool!” calls out the giant, a hand bursting through the mirror to grab Squort.

Squort is pulled through the mirror in the first round. Kookajib tries to stop the giant, but slams against the solid smoking mirror. In the mirror, the face of the second giant, Polyphemio, grins. He will keep the PCs from approaching the mirror by reaching through to grab anyone possible. In the next round, Polyphemio will call out, “What have we here? A bug? Burn!” A large gobbet of alchemist’s fire launches through the mirror to cover Kookajib, who bursts into flame. “Aaah! Water! Put me out!” Kookajib flies out for the piranha tank. This gives the PCs the chance to shatter the mirror.

Kookajib, aflame, flies into the entry hall with the piranha tank, and dives in—just as the water’s silvery, reflective surface becomes cloudy and smoky. The water churns with the piranha as it grows choppier.

The voice of Polyphemio booms forth from the pool, “Welcome, bug, to your new home! Your soul shall serve Tezcatlipoca forever! He has plans for you, as he has plans for these fish!” Flim Flam calls out to the PCs, “Come on! Get out while you still can! I’ll hold off any giants!” With a flourish of his bauble, he adds, “ The bigger they are… The harder they fall!”

As soon as the PCs cross the bridge (or it becomes apparent they won’t), the smoky water bubbles and bursts forth with the piranha, held aloft on platinum butterfly wings. They swarm Flim Flam, knocking him into the water and devouring him mercilessly—his Rod of Fumbling of no use against this foe. Once the piranha are through with Flim Flam, they attack the PCs.

The water is too choppy to be a large enough surface for the giants to emerge, but the water cannot be shattered like a mirror. Dumping the contents of the offal bin into the water, however, will fill it with blood and remove the mirror-like quality of the water, shutting off the gateway to the Night Realm. Once the gateway is shut, someone can swim to the bottom of the pool safely (except, perhaps, for piranhas) and retrieve the Rod of Fumbling. It will be very useful in the final encounter.

Chapter 4: The Family of the First Sun

Back out in the alleyway, the sounds of rain can be heard past the alley mouth. The smooth stone surface appears slick and reflective in this environment. Suddenly, at the mouth of the alley, the shimmering surface changes. It grows opaque, smoky. The city beyond fades away, turning to the black of night. A sense of vertigo occurs, as if the entire alley became unmoored, and floated adrift in some dark, forbidding river. Then, a huge hand rises through the smoky slick stone, white as the moon. The rest of the figure emerges, a huge man, three times normal height. He is white, almost ghostly in color, and he wears the skin of a giant jaguar.

He speaks: “Welcome to the land of the Night Realm, the Family of the First Sun, the World of Tezcatlipoca. Your souls shall feed our Maimed Lord forever.”

This time, the fight is for real. Two more cloud giants emerge from the stone behind Jagganath. Although the cloud giants still cannot fit down the close, they can lob boulders down it. Also, since the new reflective surface is a stone street with a sheet of water, it is not easily shattered. If the PCs manage to fight their way past the giants, they find that they, and all of Hell’s Close, are no longer in the city but in a large, silvery-black plain with nothing to see for miles. Despite a cold, silvery sun in the sky, the land does not appear to be lit brightly by it, stuck in an eternal night.

The Night Realm of Tezcatlipoca
​

However, the Rod of Fumbling can solve this. If a cloud giant is targeted by the Rod of Fumbling while holding a large stone high in the air over his head, the giant slips and falls, dropping the stone over 25’ to the ground below. This will shatter the flagstone, and destroy the mirror. Thus, the giant will have destroyed the mirror, banishing them, and returning Hell’s Close to the real world.

Epilogue

Alora still lives, and will continue to care for the people of Hell’s Close. The PCs can now go and scour the city for the Thieves’ Guildmaster, and prevent racketeering operations throughout the city on behalf of the Family of the First Sun. Through her seeress power, she can be a source of help for the PCs or a hook for future adventures.

The Family of the First Sun can remain a threat in the background, emerging in different cities, and performing much the same function. They are a clan of evil cloud giants who will attempt to open up portals to Tezcatlipoca’s Night Realm throughout a city, and threaten to pull the city into the Night Realm unless they are paid protection money. They will typically find a slum and pull it through to demonstrate the power they hold.

Rod of Fumbling

When pointed at a target and the command word is said, the Rod of Fumbling causes the target to drop whatever he or she holds, and to slip and fall prone. There is no saving throw, but magic resistance does work. It takes a standard action to activate the Rod of Fumbling.
Moderate enchantment; CL 12th; Craft Rod, Daze, Grease; Price 5,000 gp.

Flying Piranha

Use the Hawk stat block, but the Talon attack is a Bite attack instead. They have a Swim speed of 60 ft. and can breathe water.

Tezcatlipoca

Tezcatlipoca was the Aztec god of deceit and the night. Also known as the Smoking Mirror, he was the world’s first sun, and created a race of giants to populate the world. This world of the first sun was eventually destroyed, and devoured by jaguars.

From Wikipedia:
Tezcatlipoca
Myth of the Five Suns

Photo Credits:
Alleyway by C.W. Thomas.
Jester by Ljubica_R.
Night Realm by (Erik).

A Giant Mafia is Damning an Alley through Non-Reflective Mirrors and a Sleeping Watcher tells the party, who can stop this by use of a Rod of Fumbling protected by Flying Piranha so imbued by the reaction of a Flaming Dragon.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

Okay, well, this is it.

[sblock]
I think everyone can see that these are both very creative, cool scenarios -- and both are very different approaches to the ingredients -- but, lets get down to brass tacks. We're comparing The Far City (FC) by Iron Sky to Hell's Close (HC) by InVinoVeritas.

Ingredients.

Damned Alley Okay . . . in FC, we have an alley or street in which Velos the immortal has been trapped by the wyrd dragon, divested of his rod, and left to be gnawed to the bone each day all-prometheus-like by flying piranhas. It's a powerful visual, it's very, very cool, but it's a bit off -- I mean, clearly it's Velos who is damned, not the alley. It's not as strong as it could be.

Meanwhile, in HC, the damned alley is an important part of the setting -- it's where the adventure starts and ends . . but I'm missing exactly in what way it's been damned by the giants. It has been targeted by them, because that's where the entrance is to the faerie dragon's lair is . . . but that's hardly damned. So, a weak point for FC.

Non-Reflective Mirror - Both entries use this ingredient very well, by and large. And, interestingly enough, both have mirrors that transition and either become reflective or unreflective. In FC, the players can only see the wyrd dragon through mirrors during the shift, so they have to be non-reflective mirrors before the shift . . . and that's pretty cool. In HC, the mirrors are normal mirrors that become non-reflective, either through their own magic or something else -- and that allows the giants to pass through into the world.

In the end, I think they're both pretty good, although the mirrors in HC are used more importantly, so for this ingredient that gives HC a slight edge.

Sleeping Watcher - I love the image of the dragon sleeping in the center of town, dream-watching everything that goes on. FC has a good use here. HC's dream watcher, on the other hand, is a exposition device more than anything else. And, while the dreams are used well to foreshadow and provide information to the PCs -- and it's a very cool use of the sleeping watcher ingredient -- it's not quite as strong as the dragon. Edge to FC.

Giant Mafia - Both entries kinda drop the ball on this one. Both include powerful organizations of bad guys that are plotting . . . but in both cases I don't see how the organizations are necessarily mafias. In FC, the "mafia" is the plane-spanning aberration group . . . but the city is also described as having no real law or controlling social structure -- and if that's the case, how is this group of aberrations criminal? If there are no laws to break, how can they conspire to break laws?

In HC, there is a hint of criminal organization in the network being used to distribute the mirrors around the city. And it's obviously being directed by giants. But, gags like "anyone who breaks a mirror will be fed to the fish" don't quite make it a mafia operation . . . and the traditional line is to say someone "sleeps with the fishes" anyway . . .

Still, since the giants were working against the established order in the city, they can be construed as criminal . . .call it a weak edge for HC.

Flying Piranhas - Both entries had them. They were actually used in pretty much the same way. It's a wash.

Rod of Fumbling - Both entries used the rod prominently. I think the Rod in HC leads to a weakness with the entry I'll talk about later, but in as much as it's a part of the adventure, I think that the use of the rod in HC is actually more prominent than the one in FC, where the Rod is the object of their quest -- and despite the detailed backstory could be almost anything. Edge to HC.

Bonus Ingredient:
Flaming Dragon. Both had dragons. In HC, the faerie dragon becomes flaming when it gets pelted with alchemist's fire . . . which kills it, of course. And in FC, the big bad at the end is the flaming wyrd dragon. In both cases, the flaming isn't important or even used much in the story, so I'm not giving anyone bonus points for this one.

Creativity/Evocative Writing/Etc.
These entries, once you step back from the specific ingredients, are some of the best, most creative, interesting scenarios we could hope for in this sort of forum. If I were going to give an edge to either entry, it would be to HC for not relying heavily on backstory that ends up being for the GM's eyes only, but that's a small thing.

Usability
I like both of these adventures, at heard -- and there's a ton of great, creative energy going on here, the sort of stuff that is exactly what Iron DM is all about. Any entry is going to have flaws and problems, of course, since it amounts to a sketch and draft, so it's not surprising that, when you really dig into these the flaws start to appear.

FC is a cool adventure, but a huge portion of the entry is backstory that may or may not be communicated to the PCs. One of the strengths that I see in HC is that the exposition, delivered mostly through dreams, gives the PCs the bits they need to know in a more evocative way -- and we don't need a huge backstory to explain the plot going on behind the scenes for the DM -- it's all laid bare.

However, HC has a tragic flaw. The adventure is designed with one specific path, one solution in mind. It reads to me like a plan for a computer game rather than an RPG -- something where the PC can go back to a save point and try something again and again until he figures out the trick to beat the encounter. The entire scenario leads to a point where the PCs need to trick the giants into breaking the "mirror" surface of the slick stone during the final battle -- and the way to do that is to have the rod of fumbling, recovered from the piranahs after the fool's death.

FC's final battle is also gimmicky. The PCs need to get the dragon to breath on his own pedestal. But the adventure does not have a prescribed solution for that stunt. But there isn't a single right way to handle that problem -- the PCs will have many powers and tricks up their sleeves, and the adventure only sets the goal for them leaving it up to their own creativity to find the solution. And, given a diversity of parties, there should be a diversity of solutions.

Final
In the end HC has a slight edge in ingredients thanks to the more integral use of the Rod of Fumbling . . . but, at the same time, that integral use is the biggest problem I see in either entry -- and the lynch pin of the playability problem that I see in HC. HC reads like a cool story, not so much a cool adventure. In a story, we don't worry that there should be multiple solutions to a problem, because the author will pick the one he wants. But in a rpg, if there's only one path to success the players don't get to make real choices and solve real problems, the game becomes an exercise in going through the motions.

FC has it's own problems, but because it seems more playable. My vote goes to FC, and it's author Iron Sky.
[/sblock]

 

[phoamslinger]

Damned Alley
Non-Reflective Mirror
Sleeping Watcher
Giant Mafia
Flying Piranhas
Rod of Fumbling

Bonus Ingredient:
Flaming Dragon

IS versus IVV. and to work.

[sblock]

regretably, it seems that I'm better at tearing down entries than I am in building them up. one of these two had a fatal flaw that really tipped the scales and made my decision for me...

Damned Alley
IS gave us an Alley which was the ongoing site of the god Velos’ destruction, IVV gave us an Alley which was actually going to be Damned. I feel a slight (paper thin) edge to IVV on that one, only because of the literal-ness of his interpretation.

Non-Reflective Mirror I was really curious how this would be done (and was half expecting to see a Vampire pop up somewhere and was pleased when this didn’t happen). IS gave us mirrors that don’t work when the party needs them and the need to build non-working mirrors deliberately so that they will work later. IVV gave us the smoking portals and reflective pools. both were creative usages of the ingredient and were equally core to the adventures. a tie on this one I think.

Sleeping Watcher
how can someone watch if they’re asleep? through dreams and visions appears to be the answer. a tie here as well.

Giant Mafia
IS gave us a race of giants that are the Organization behind all organization (an appropriate 26th level opponent). IVV gave us a family of cloud Giants who are working with the underworld to seize power. I found IS’s giant mafia to be just a bit more thematically like the Sopranos/Godfather/Goodfellas than IVV’s. point to IS.

Flying Piranhas
another ingredient I wanted to see how it was done. IS’s piranha shift and can fly. IVV’s piranha eat the dragon and gain its wings once the world shifts into the land of the night realm. again both are using a similar reasoning for the ingredient, in this case a planar shift transforms the fish. tie.

Rod of Fumbling
both entries have the Rod of Fumbling as the key that solves the adventure. tie again.

Flaming Dragon
yes flaming means burning and both your dragons burn at one point or another. but there’s another connotation for flaming that is quite inappropriate. therefore I will give an edge to IVV’s flaming fairy dragon, for putting together an excellent play on words without actually implementing an ingredient that might offend.

* * * * *

I could type up another couple of pages, but I think I will need to give this round to Iron Sky. from the ingredients I could tell that this one was going to be tough to call. it was going to be the secondary considerations that were going to really make or break this particular contest, and the usefulness of the adventure is what’s really going to sway it for me today.

The Far City is immersed in flavor and imagery which I liked a lot. but more importantly, he presents the party with a situation or a mission and then allows them to take whatever paths they want to. Hell’s Close (as in Closing the way to Hell or that Hell IS Close – nice title) has equal amounts of creativity, but felt very railroady to me. I mean, the adventurers are drawn into Hell’s Close, are introduced to the NPCS, are read several sections of boxed text for the dreams, and then are given the opportunity to figure out that they need the magic item at the bottom of the piranha pool to one-shot solve the problem.

InVinoVeritas, you tied the ingredients together well, pulled some interesting references (Aztec Mythos) into your adventure, and had a very good story laid out which could make for a fun evening’s adventure… unless the players don’t figure it out. in which case you’d have a group of 4th to 6th level adventurers trying to fight off an invasion of cloud giants as they were pulled into a Hell dimension. like pulling an adventuring group into Ravenloft (which I did in a campaign once), your adventure could seriously derail a campaign into a very strange place, which might be interesting all by itself, but it really goes outside of the adventure you wrote. I would have put your adventure closer to 14-16th level in order to open up more options for the players. but then, by giving them more options you open up the possibility of them going outside the tightly scripted storyline you wrote.

Iron Sky, all of the adventures that you put together for this contest have been creatively out of the box, enjoyable to read, easy to visualize and a story line I wouldn’t mind throwing at a group of players one of these days. I’ll throw my vote for you as the Iron DM for this contest, and add that I think it’s well earned.

now we just wait for the other judge… [/sblock]