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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Radiating Gnome" data-source="post: 5224488" data-attributes="member: 150">Judgement: Round 2 Match 3Green Dice vs. Pro PaladinJudge: Radiating GnomeLet Sleeping Cubes Lie (LSC) vs. Winter's Grasp (WG)Every set of ingredients sets a tone, and this set is no different.  Reading these entries, though, I found I was frustrated by the elides of some of the more difficult ingredients.  It's interesting that certain ingredients, that look simple at first glance, are apparently so difficult to weave in to a final product. Here's what I'm talking about -- look at the Rope Ladder ingredient in both entries.  In WG, we have a very interesting monster, the Rope Golem -- but in the description in the entry, the rope golem provides a rope stair, rather than a rope ladder -- right?  "When it reaches the wall the Golem drops to one knee as if praying, forming stairs with its hand, knee and bowed head." So, that's a cool visual, but it's still a stair, not a ladder.  It would have been easy to write this description differently and make it a ladder, perhaps a ladder up the legs, back, and eventually arms of the golem as it stretches and leans itself against the wall (which would make the wall taller and more intimidating -- after all, if the golem can stoop to make a staircase up the wall and still reach out and swat at defenders, it's not much of a wall; if the golem provides a ladder by stretching out straight, arms upraised, it can be a much taller wall, one the golem on it's own has very little hope of breaching). In LSC, the rope ladder is a dingus used to teleport back to the evil patron wizard's tower. It's described as a ladder, it looks like a ladder, but for all of that, it's purpose in the adventure is never actually to be a ladder -- it could have been a teacup or porch swing for all the difference the actual ladder-ness of the ingredient makes to the adventure.   Admittedly, some of these ingredients are deceptively tough when presented together -- the gelatinous cube and the topiary maze are one example that could be especially challenging -- a creature that is designed to live in stone mazes, and a maze made of plants the creature could eat . . . finding a way to work that challenge out gracefully is what IRON DM is all about. So, anyway, the ingredients. Gelatinous Cube -  In WG, the cube is Zhela, the awakened, psionic, polymorphed gelatinous cube that rules the city for incapable prince.  This guy is an interesting opponent, he never really behaves or acts in he advetnure like a gelatinous cube -- that part of his nature never really matters.  At the end, he is brought out to fight for the city and create a distraction, but he could just as easily have been a dragon.  Good use of the ingredient would have made it important that he was a gelatinous cube, not a coincidence.    In LSC, the city in the adventure was once threatened by a "large" gelatinous cube, which was imprisoned under the city by the sacrifice of Fribarrin.  Now, as the PCs start to explore the city, "small" gelatinous cubes attack from time, making life in the city challenging. In this case, at least, the cube seems to be doing cube-like stuff.  In the background, it was responsible for the cleanliness of the city and throught that it's prosperity.  I wish I had a clearer idea of what "large" and "small" cubes look like -- are we talking the usual D&D size scale?  If so, the typical large creature is horse sized (hardly a threat to a city) and "small" would be kobold sizd -- kobold-sized cubes prowling the city streets trying to engulf the city's cat population sounds entertaining but not quite as dramatic as it was intended. Still, in this case, the cubes are being cubes, so advantage LSC.Topiary Maze - In WG, the evil druid has a maze of plants the players must penetrate.  It's there, it works -- it's not connected well to other ingredients, but it's functional.  In LSC, however, the maze is not a topiary maze, it's the system of sewers and canals under the city, and they're lined with moss and lichen.  Not really a topiary maze at all.  Advantage WG. Selfless Pretender - Both adventures used "pretender" as someone who pretends, rather than as someone who makes a claim to a throne without the appropriate bone fides.  And that's cool, it works.  In WG, the pretender is the awakened, polymorphed, psionic gelatinous cube -- who pretends to be human, servant and friend to the prince, and who fights in his true form to save the city in the end.  In LSC, the pretender is Zaabarrin, grandson of Fribarrin, wizard, and evil wanker who uses the party to further his own evil designs on the city.  The two uses are roughly equivalent, although the deceptive patron is such a cliche, I'm inclined to give a very slight advantage to WG, if we need a tie breaker.  Entitlement - The concept ingredients are usually tricky, and this one is no exception. In both cases, LSC and WG, the ingredient is really part of the background, not the actual adventure the players move through, although it's a more immediate component of Zaabarrin's motivations than it is any of the primary forces in WG.  I don't find either use better than the other, both could have made much better use of this ingredient.   Ring of the Ram - WG makes better use of the Ring of the Ram, making it an important tool and item at several points in the adventure. The ring is used to reach the druid, to weaken the golem, etc. So, Advantage WG.Rope Ladder - I already discussed this one in my intro.  Neither entry has an advantage.  All in all, the ingredients are a pretty close match, but WG seems to be edging out LSC.  Creativity There were things to like in both adventures.  I especially like the rope golem, and I like the imagry of it helping to breach the wall.  Neither adventure really sings to me, overall, though.  The awakened, psionic, benevolent gelatinous cube is, at the end of the day, a little silly -- and the adventure doesn't seem to make use of that silliness, which would have helped.  The trope of the NPC who asks the party to do something for him and who turns out to be the bad guy is a well-worn cliche. In the end, I think WG has an edge here -- there seems to be more there that I haven't seen before.  So, advantage WG. Playability -- Both entries use backstory a whole lot, and there's a whole lot of exposition that has to be delivered to the players, and that they don't get to play through.  I think, though, that there's actually more for the players to do in WG -- in LSC the players move from encounter to encounter without much of their own agency, but WG seems to leave open more space for the players to be creative and engaged, rather than passengers.    So, advantage WG here as well.  Conclusion: Winter's Grasp has edged out Let Sleeping Cubes Lie, so Pro Paladin advances.</blockquote>

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