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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Radiating Gnome" data-source="post: 5658068" data-attributes="member: 150">All right. Two cool adventures, just to read through.  A lot of very cool stuff here.  We're judging Song of Love and Loss (SLL) and Blood for Blood (BB). And away we go….[sblock]IngredientsI hate that I've become so dependent, as a judge, on the list of ingredients and how they were used by the entry.  I mean, it's really easy mode for the judges, but it's a good way to make sure the judge understands your subtle brilliance, and doesn't just assume you missed an ingredient.  Sooo, anyway . . . .The Required Ingredients:Devilish Smile.  SLL has the devil-in-Orion form casting silent spells, and he has a tell that is his smile -- it works, it's solid.  But BB has left me hunting…and after going through the entry several times I'm just not finding something that fits this ingredient.  So, advantage SLL.Illuminated History.  Both entries have them, they're both magical and handle exposition for the party.  No advantages here. Misplaced Vendetta.  I wasn't super happy with the "misplaced" part of the vendetta between the elves and the orcs in SLL -- I mean, it's there, but IMO it's not really misplaced…. that just felt a little thin to me. It's more mistaken than misplaced -- misplaced implies that there's a place it should be (sure, Orion, maybe, but that's still rings a little off to me.) I know I'm being overly pedantic on that point, so it's only a minor ding.   At the same time, in BB, Arsanthor engineers a vendetta between two noble houses to weaken the city -- the same sort of misplaced (manipulated) vendetta that SSL had.  So, pedantry aside, the two are about the same here as well.  I'm apparently just some grouchy old man waving his arms at passing traffic. Ho hum. Elven Champion Arsanthor is the 400 year champion of champions.  Savarash is there, and is a champion, but his status as champion doesn't really enter into the story as well as Arsanthor's, so I'm going to give an advantage to BB on this one. Grave Robber - Yup. Both got em.Paving Stones of Good Intentions. SLL has them, a bit forced in there as the markers for stages in the adventure -- they don't really pay much role in the story, they're just chapter headers.  But I don't see this ingredient turning up in BB -- if it's there, I've missed it. Advantage SLL.Bonus Ingredients: SLL used the Incredibly Sharp Axe, the Burial Shroud, and the Poetic Wax.  I'm not going to give credit for the axe, though -- the incredible sharpness of the axe is not really used or important to the story here -- it's just attached there to claim credit.  No dice. And the poetic wax didn't really work for me very well at all.  The wax imprisons Asuron, but it wasn't the wax that was singing the song at the end, it was the axe, right?  So, really that's not quite on the mark, either.  (although "poetic wax axe" is fun to say, especially if you've stayed up to late.....)BB used Wax Poetic, Flayer, Burial Shroud, and Ship at sea.  I have to say that I was very amused by the wax lips as a detail in the adventure.  I wish they had been something the PCs would need to use later -- that would have actually made them much more interesting, maybe made them worth something special.  So, in the final accounting, I see SLL has a one ingredient advantage in the required ingredients, and BB has a two ingredient advantage in the bonus ingredients. Of course, the bonus ingredients are there to break ties, so after the ingredients SLL is clinging to a tenuous advantage. Creativity and PlayabiltyI really liked both adventures.  In both there's some interesting things for the players to do. They both have some of the same disadvantages, too -- a lot of story that doesn't involve the PCs directly, and so on.  Both require a flexible enough campaign that some of the history of the nations involved could be used.  I like the historical gladiatorial details and terms in BB -- that was a nice touch.  I also liked seeing a storyline that had some slight branches -- not so much full branches as ways to bring players back to the railroad where they belong, but still, it's rare in an Iron DM entry to see an entry that presents more than a single strand of story.  The final set pieces make an interesting point of comparison.  In SLL, the PCs fight a demon with the magical axe, and rely on the special magic of the axe to defeat him.  In BB, on the other hand, the PCs face a dynamic piece -- a princeling to rescue from execution, and between them a near demigod of a champion, his allies and some starved monsters to boot.  I like both of them -- I'm interested in the idea of the blows of the special magic of the axe gradually imprisoning the target creature (but there are all kinds of ways to game the system -- can the PCs pass the axe from hand to hand on their turns, getting several hits per round that way? ). The arena finale of BB, on the other hand, throws up a nigh-impossible challenge for the PCs to overcome -- a challenge that they'll overcome or they won't based on their own skill as players and the abilities of their characters, not some special single use story-based magic item.  So, in some ways, the finale of SLL is story that the players play through -- story resolution granted by the special magic of the axe. And BB presents a finale that gives the players a tough tactical challenge of gamesmanship.  The difference there -- and the way I feel about it -- probably says a lot about me as a DM and judge -- I'm much more interested and excited by challenges that the PCs have to meet and overcome on their own, without relying on the deus ex machina of a magical axe and it's waxy residue (poetic wax axe, poetic wax axe, poetic wax axe.....).  ConclusionI find this is a really tough call. BB has some real strengths, but I also think time hurt it as an entry -- there are some loose ends that could have been tied up better -- SLL is more polished, feels like a more finished entry.  And it did a marginally better job with the required ingredients.  I was also tempted to deduct points from BB for "elvinity", which made me giggle, I mean, that could be either pointed ears and lembas bread, or huge sideburns and peanut-butter-banana-and-bacon-sandwiches*.  But on most other counts I preferred Blood for Blood, so that's the entry that gets my vote in the finals.  Great work, both of you. I'm really pleased by both entries (and will be stealing elements for my home game).  Thanks for all your hard work, and for putting on an excellent final round.   [/sblock]-john *that's an Elvis reference for you kids who were born after Star Wars was released </blockquote>

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