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

[Sparky]

Took me a lot longer to actually get the whole thing on paper than I thought, but mine is up now. It is really pure 4E, so if you don't like 4E, just give it a FAIL and move on.

Shhh... don't provoke the curmudgeonly judges.

 

[Atras]

Shhh... don't provoke the curmudgeonly judges.

Ha! After reading phoamslingers anti-4E rant in his judgement I almost decided to call him as a Bedridden Troll and just say screw it to the whole thing. Win or lose, it was a fun experiment for me.

 

[CleverNickName]

Ha! After reading phoamslingers anti-4E rant in his judgement I almost decided to call him as a Bedridden Troll and just say screw it to the whole thing. Win or lose, it was a fun experiment for me.

Oh come on...would you really forefit the game just because the judge said he doesn't like 4E? That seems a bit rash. This is supposed to be about storytelling, not game editions.

[SBLOCK=BTW, I liked your submission.]The foot-removing trap was a stroke of genius, and I like the concept of a psychotic bard. I would have liked to have seen some more flavor and backstory, though, specifically on how and why the bard is so nasty.

And how the heck did you have the time to do all of this?! I barely had enough time to type my entry, let alone stat out my villain. You've even got a map in there, for crying out loud! Your time management skills are impeccable. Best of luck to you, sir![/SBLOCK]

 

[CleverNickName]

My entry is up.

S-block'd in case any judges are lurking about.
[SBLOCK=I saw what you did there.]I like the tandem use of the word "troll" in there, how you use it as both a monster type and a fishing technique. This seems to be a pretty useful tactic in the Iron DM contest.

And I like the whole "murder mystery" thing you've got going on. And having the troll be bedridden by a massive case of acid reflux disease was just brilliant. Well-played.[/SBLOCK]

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

If you are spending time on your entry worrying about what edition it is for, you probably need to pull back and refocus.

Plot, pacing, characters, theme, mood... you need nothing edition-specific to win.

 

[Atras]

Oh come on...would you really forefit the game just because the judge said he doesn't like 4E? That seems a bit rash. This is supposed to be about storytelling, not game editions.

[SBLOCK=BTW, I liked your submission.]The foot-removing trap was a stroke of genius, and I like the concept of a psychotic bard. I would have liked to have seen some more flavor and backstory, though, specifically on how and why the bard is so nasty.

And how the heck did you have the time to do all of this?! I barely had enough time to type my entry, let alone stat out my villain. You've even got a map in there, for crying out loud! Your time management skills are impeccable. Best of luck to you, sir![/SBLOCK]

Like I said... "almost". Considering that a full paragraph was spent trashing the only edition of the game I know well, I was pretty worried, basically figured that I was doomed regardless.

[SBLOCK]You entry is good too. I felt that you made a better use of the troll ingredient than I did, and the river delta, for that matter.

As far as time management, I was able to get most of it typed up when I was watching football. The basic idea came to me as soon as I saw the ingredients (and looked up what Ioun Stones are). I figured that the wiki entry for Ioun Stones that I saw was purely 3rd Edition, and I was tempted to come up with some new kind of magic item, but I liked what I read about them. I had planned on doing more with the Troll, and expanding out the river travel, but those things had to fall by the wayside. I really feel that my whole entry is going to leveraged on the villain - which is why I took the time to make a stat block for him.[/SBLOCK]

 

[Nifft]

Regarding edition stuff... there is an ioun stone in the 4e PHB, several others in 4e supplements, and they've been in D&D (in basically the same form) since 1e.

Cheers, -- N

 

[CleverNickName]

Like I said... "almost". Considering that a full paragraph was spent trashing the only edition of the game I know well, I was pretty worried, basically figured that I was doomed regardless.

[SBLOCK]You entry is good too. I felt that you made a better use of the troll ingredient than I did, and the river delta, for that matter.

As far as time management, I was able to get most of it typed up when I was watching football. The basic idea came to me as soon as I saw the ingredients (and looked up what Ioun Stones are). I figured that the wiki entry for Ioun Stones that I saw was purely 3rd Edition, and I was tempted to come up with some new kind of magic item, but I liked what I read about them. I had planned on doing more with the Troll, and expanding out the river travel, but those things had to fall by the wayside. I really feel that my whole entry is going to leveraged on the villain - which is why I took the time to make a stat block for him.[/SBLOCK]

[SBLOCK]I'm not very familiar with 4E; I only had the books for a month or so. But I thought I remembered something about ioun stones being in there. EDIT: Ninja'd by Nifft.

For what it's worth, I would have loved to see you create a custom magic item on the fly for 4E, using a 3E magic item as inspiration. That would demonstrate a flexibility and familiarity with the elements that not all DMs have...a very Iron DMish trait.[/SBLOCK]

 

[Wicht]

Took me a lot longer to actually get the whole thing on paper than I thought, but mine is up now. It is really pure 4E, so if you don't like 4E, just give it a FAIL and move on.

It seems to me that participlants should refrain from thinking this way and even more from commenting this way. Now if you lose you're going to wonder whether it was the edition, or the fact you made the judge irritated at you. If you win its not a problem for you but you're going to make the other guy wonder whether it was because the judge tried too hard not to show favoritism. On the whole it seems a bad idea to drag any aspect of the edition war into this contest. Just assumet he judges will do the best they can in their own way.

 

[Atras]

Regarding edition stuff... there is an ioun stone in the 4e PHB, several others in 4e supplements, and they've been in D&D (in basically the same form) since 1e.

Cheers, -- N

That's hilarious that I didn't even notice them in the PHB - thanks for pointing them out. I haven't hit anything near Epic tier, and so haven't looked at such high level items. I prefer the items I used anyway - even if they are a little overpowered for the level they are being used at.

It seems to me that participants should refrain from thinking this way and even more from commenting this way. Now if you lose you're going to wonder whether it was the edition, or the fact you made the judge irritated at you. If you win its not a problem for you but you're going to make the other guy wonder whether it was because the judge tried too hard not to show favoritism. On the whole it seems a bad idea to drag any aspect of the edition war into this contest. Just assume the judges will do the best they can in their own way.

Yeah, I really can't disagree with any of this. Despite my fear with phoamslinger's bias blurb, I felt that he did a good job judging the round in which his edition-slam appeared. I just expressed my concern about edition in reference to his (per your bolded line) and put up what I came up with per the line following it. I have no doubt that, win or lose, phoamslinger will describe why the winner and loser are chosen. I just feel bad about kicking up all of this noise with a poor attempt at being self-deprecatory.