Iron DM 2010 Discussion Thread

[InVinoVeritas]

Here's the judgment for Round 1, Match 5.

Thanks to both participants! I had to think about the adventures and ingredients in particularly odd ways, I found. Well done.

 

[Wicht]

Congragulations Green Dice.

 

[Wicht]

Wow, that was a lot of fun! I am totally going to steal this and run it as a little side-trek adventure.

I didn't want to comment on this before the judgment but thanks CleverNickName for the compliment. The best one can say about an adventure seed is that it makes one want to use it.

 

[Green Dice]

IVV, thank you for the judging. I appreciate all your feedback. I'll take what you said with me into the next round.

Wicht, you did a great job. I enjoyed reading your story. You put up quite a fight.

 

[CleverNickName]

I didn't want to comment on this before the judgment but thanks CleverNickName for the compliment. The best one can say about an adventure seed is that it makes one want to use it.

It is just so easy to use...it can fit into almost any game world with minimal adjustment. One could drop it in as a quick little side-trek if desired, or one could run it as a stand-alone series of adventures. Either way, it has enough suspense and action to keep everyone engaged for as long as you like.

But that said, I agree with IVV's judgment. You made the best use of two ingredients in your entree, but the others were more like garnish. GD's adventure used all of the ingredients equally.

IVV, thank you for the judging. I appreciate all your feedback. I'll take what you said with me into the next round.

Congratulations! You just won a very tough round. Best of luck going forward.

@both contestants: if you could have changed one ingredient into something else while writing your adventure, which one would you change (and what would you have changed it into)?

 

[CleverNickName]

Man, what a busy weekend. I have limited internet access on the weekends, and I am WAY behind on my yard work, etc. Plus, this was the first sunny weekend in Portland in like forever, and there were several World Cup watch parties and barbecues to attend.

But enough excuses. I'll pick up the pace.

-----

Only two more matches remain in Round One! We have seen some incredible entries so far, especially over the weekend. Let's take a closer look!

Spoiler

I try to be impartial in this competition. But apparently I need to try harder, because Pro Paladin's adventure "Good Clean Fun" just might be my favorite adventure I've seen so far in the competition. You don't see enough solo adventures these days, IMO, and you almost never see them for D20 Modern. This one is straightforward, with lots of horror, suspense, intrigue, and slimy evil buckets. And the whole thing was written in like, nine hours. I still can't believe it.

But that's not to say that Waylander the Slayer's entry wasn't good. "The Loving Daughters of Khalid Shah" isn't a modern horror story; it is the retelling of a classic love story, with lots of action and intrigue and delicious Arabian flavor throughout.

Pro Paladin serves up some smoky Texas (chainsaw)-style barbecue; Waylander gives us a spicy Middle-eastern curry. Both are quite delicious...but if you saw them on a menu, which one would you order for dinner? It would come down to what you are in the mood for at the moment, I suppose. It might be hard to adapt a solo D20 Modern adventure to most peoples' game worlds. The same could be said for an Arabian-style culture, but not nearly as much.

PBartender has his work cut out for him.

Speaking of which, let's give it up for our three judges. It is hard work, reading all of these adventures, reviewing them, and writing pages-long critiques. And they do it for us, to help us refine our craft and make us better writers. So thanks, guys! I'd give you all some XP, but apparently I have to spread some love first.

 

[humble minion]

Interesting set of ingredients in the latest round! I don't envy the contestants (well, actually, I do, cos they're still in the competition and I'm not! )

I have to admit I'm a bit ambivalent on the really quirky ingredients like The Dark God's Dirty Dishes. Might just be me being unimaginative, but it seems that something so specialised and bizarre will pretty much inevitably become the focus of the entry by the sheer virtue of its unusualness. Is this a limitation on creativity, or a test of it? I'm not really sure, personally.

There seems to have been a real focus this year on ingredients which point towards non-traditional-D&D adventures. I'll be fascinated to see what the contestants do with this batch...

 

[Pour]

From what I can tell, the ingredients and the difficulty of their strangeness is the major hurtle of matches (admittedly I only participated 2 years, and never got beyond Round 1, but I've read back logs and it seems to be uniform throughout). Last year I had a 'holy frying pan' or something like that as one of my ingredients, and boy was that hard to pull off haha. Keeping in mind both contestants must use all the ingredients kind of allows for a lot, I think, when reading and when judging. I'd like to think it sort of inspires creativity instead of impedes it. Working with limitations often does that for some designers, instead of being given open and free reign.

This year I had a solid set of ingredients and I still couldn't pull them all off like I wanted hehe. Just the nature of the game. This year is also unique for having a very short time span to formulate and write, too. But from the looks of the entries thus far, most people are unperturbed, hell, these entries have actually been rather outstanding. Keep on keeping on, all!

 

[howandwhy99]

I am ready to go for tomorrow's contest. This is my check in. Tuesday morning is pretty full for me, but I should be available by lunchtime to pick up the ingredients (and hopefully do something with them). But whatever works for the judge will work for me. Please give a heads up on the planned posting time and I'll snag 'em.

 

[CleverNickName]

I have to admit I'm a bit ambivalent on the really quirky ingredients like The Dark God's Dirty Dishes. Might just be me being unimaginative, but it seems that something so specialised and bizarre will pretty much inevitably become the focus of the entry by the sheer virtue of its unusualness. Is this a limitation on creativity, or a test of it? I'm not really sure, personally.

These little zingers are usually my favorite ingredients on the list. I remember the one you are thinking of, the "Flaming Frying Pan of the Master Chef." Myself, I had to contend with "The Symbol of the First Spirits."

You are right; the ingredient can easily become the focal point of the whole adventure if you let it. And that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Here is what I would do, if I were in this round:

Spoiler

Let's take a look at "The Dark God's Dirty Dishes." Now, at first glance, I imagine a big tub of plates, forks, goblets, and so forth, stained from some horrible ritual or something. Why do we care about dishes? What does a Dark God eat? Who is this Dark God, anyway, and why does he even have a collection of dirty dishes in the first place?

I can continue down this road, shoehorning in the other ingredients along the way, and I would probably end up with a great adventure that takes place in, say, the kitchen of Vecna's temple. Nothing wrong with that. But if I deconstructed that ingredient word-by-word, I might find a scenario that allows three or four more ingredients to slip into place a little easier.

The: specific, implies that there is only one.

Dark: could be evil, sinful, or sinister, sure. But this could also mean black in color, or lacking humor, or closed for business.

God's: belonging to or possessed by a superior, supernatural being.

Dirty: not clean. Or: earthy, as in "made of dirt." Or impure, esp. concerning morality or ethics (a dirty politician, or a dirty lover.)

Dishes: could be dining utensils, true. But "dish" is also a prepared recipe, or the act of serving one. It could also be slang for gossip, or slang for an attractive female. In more modern terms, "dish" is a popular brand of satellite TV service.

So if we pick and choose among these different definitions, we could end up with a tub of Vecna's dirty plates and silverware.

...or, a rather loose, seductive trio of succubi that serve Orcus, who must be tricked into giving up some juicy gossip on the temple priests.

...or, a meal made of gravel and soil, to be served to The Dark God...an earth elemental who is worshipped as a god. (Get it? Dishes, made of dirt! Dirty dishes!)

...or, a television station that gets hijacked by a hacker known only as "DarkG0d," who uses the satellite array to transmit smut all over the world.

And so on. In this instance, I would probably go with the succubi.

There seems to have been a real focus this year on ingredients which point towards non-traditional-D&D adventures. I'll be fascinated to see what the contestants do with this batch...

I dunno...maybe. I guess that part of the challenge is to force you to look outside your comfort zone, and try something new.

At any rate, most of what we have seen can be used in just about any adventure style. We have yet to see any highly specific stuff like "Michael Jackson's Thriller Album" or "Space Shuttle Atlantis."

But like IVV said, the competition is young.