Iron DM 2010 Discussion Thread

[Wik]

The judgment for round 2, match 4 is posted.

Gah. I hate to say it, but you were dead on the money. I *really* didn't like my submission this time around... totally deserved to lose, and you were a lot nicer towards it than you necessarily had to be.

I kinda figured I was gonna catch grief because what I figured was the most interesting feature of my submission (Sehanine's Tears) wasn't actually an ingredient. And I completely missed how I used "fundamentals" instead of "foundations", or vice versa.... this is what happens when you write half asleep, kids!

Good judging, and I wish Ajanders the best in the semi-finals.

 

[ajanders]

Actually, when I read Wik's entry, two things jumped out at me.
1. Much better use of the tattooed hand than I had.
2. I felt better because I wasn't the only one without much of an idea about what to do with a straw hat. I toyed around with someone from Panama living in a part of Norway called Jar, but I couldn't get that to go anywhere.

The adventure was laid out pretty linearly for three big reasons.
1. I didn't want to NOT wind up with "An Alien in a Jar", getting instead "Alien tricked into Escape Pod" or "Alien converted into Morse Code and beamed into a convenient black hole".
2. I really got into an early Analog mode in this adventure: I like my adventures to feel like movies, or at least TV episodes. I went really old-school here as was shooting for radio serial.
Finding out PBartender actually knew about electricity was kinda terrifying.
3...closely linked to 2. Finance/Operations major, not physics or EE. I was afraid to add too much more science to the story. I suppose it would be realistic to allow high-energy wave communication with the lightning monster, but I was kind of afraid to put the words "realistic" and "lightning monster" in the same sentence: I thought it might crash the boards.

Good Job, Wik. I'll be stealing Sehanine's Tears.

 

[Wik]

Actually, when I read Wik's entry, two things jumped out at me.
1. Much better use of the tattooed hand than I had.
2. I felt better because I wasn't the only one without much of an idea about what to do with a straw hat. I toyed around with someone from Panama living in a part of Norway called Jar, but I couldn't get that to go anywhere.

The adventure was laid out pretty linearly for three big reasons.
1. I didn't want to NOT wind up with "An Alien in a Jar", getting instead "Alien tricked into Escape Pod" or "Alien converted into Morse Code and beamed into a convenient black hole".
2. I really got into an early Analog mode in this adventure: I like my adventures to feel like movies, or at least TV episodes. I went really old-school here as was shooting for radio serial.
Finding out PBartender actually knew about electricity was kinda terrifying.
3...closely linked to 2. Finance/Operations major, not physics or EE. I was afraid to add too much more science to the story. I suppose it would be realistic to allow high-energy wave communication with the lightning monster, but I was kind of afraid to put the words "realistic" and "lightning monster" in the same sentence: I thought it might crash the boards.

Good Job, Wik. I'll be stealing Sehanine's Tears.

I had a very hard time with this set of ingredients, and much like you, I have no scientific background (history + anthropology + first aid, here). So, yeah. I really didn't like how this one turned out for me, but even if I had all the time in the world, I don't think I would have been able to beat your entry.

I mean, the electicity monster is very cool, and the whole thing had this pretty cool vibe to it. I know that, were I running it, I would be focusing on those gangs - a really cool touch.

Best of luck to you in the semi finals!

 

[Radiating Gnome]

I've posted the first judgement on round 3's first match. Remember that all three judges rate each match this round.

-rg

 

[Pbartender]

Finding out PBartender actually knew about electricity was kinda terrifying... ...Finance/Operations major, not physics or EE.

That's part of the reason I went through the trouble of all the advice about using "pseudo-science"... In all my years of DMing, I've found that being able to have the appearance of knowledge in a particular field is almost as good as having that knowledge -- and sometimes better. That skill, no matter what the subject is, is really just about having the right pseudo-vocabulary, and being able to use it. You just have to remember that nine times out of ten, your players won't know what you're talking about either. Or if they do, they probably won't care. For sciencey stuff, Star Trek is a great resource of verbiage.

For a great example of this phenomenon is action, check out this video:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVZ8Ko-nss4]YouTube - Turbo Encabulator - Rockwell[/ame]

I was afraid to add too much more science to the story. I suppose it would be realistic to allow high-energy wave communication with the lightning monster, but I was kind of afraid to put the words "realistic" and "lightning monster" in the same sentence: I thought it might crash the boards.

But that kind of my point... The vast majority of science fiction is actually either science fantasy or space opera, neither of which focus real hard on the science part of it. You can almost treat it like a D&D adventure, but with futuristic window dressing and it doesn't need to be realistic (most times, it shouldn't be). It just needs to sound realistic.



Oh, and Wik... don't sell yourself short. Your tattooed hand more than made up for the straw hat, and the style of the adventure in general was excellent. I also really liked the variation and combination of the "good guy out for vengeance starts going bad" and "a pact with an evil entity goes awry" themes.

 

[ajanders]

Should I have a set of ingredients I'm working with today? It's fine if I don't, but I wanted to not miss things.

 

[InVinoVeritas]

You'll have a list at my usual time, 9pm EDT.

 

[ajanders]

OK.
Yesterday was a little weird, so I thought I might have missed something.

 

[InVinoVeritas]

And...

The ingredients are up.

 

[Pbartender]

My judgment for round 3, match 1 is posted.

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