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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
IRON DM 2020 Tournament Thread
- Thread starter Rune
- Start date
Wicht
Hero
Very nice @el-remmen,... the main problem is that the Round 2 matchups will very likely be time-availability determined...
Also I will be judging match 3.
Also I will be judging match 3.
el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
That's part of what I mean by updating.
Rune
Once A Fool
What @Wicht said. The winners from one pool go into the next.
Just so everyone knows, I am (and will be) keeping track of this stuff in the OP (but not with visual representation). That includes links to each entry and judgement. Rounds 2 and 3 will be hidden behind spoiler tags, so as not to reveal the previous rounds’ outcomes to those reading through.
SWARMING IN THE SUNTOWER
Ingredients: Divine Pestilence, Fool's Errand, Triple Cross, Civilized Magic, Rampaging Gnomes, Flowering Tower
A small fantasy adventure for lower-level characters (levels 3-5) who would be heroes.
The PCs are approached by a pair of gnomes, Gertrude and Gareth Gimbleberry, who describe how they’ve been forced from their home, the Suntower in Shina, by swarms ("mischiefs") of rats. They weep, Gareth unable to speak for sorrow, and ask for help to recover it. They have tinkered together a device, which if placed in the top room of the tower will deal with the problem. The Gimbleberries offer what they can, a case of six magical potions that will cause the drinker to shrink to half their size for several hours, and sets of earplugs for everyone.
The device. The mechanical device itself is a sphere with handles, the size of a small shield, requiring a free hand to carry. The gnomes will warn the PCs how sensitive it is, and claim it is a humane (“gnomane”) way of clearing the rats (it’s CIVILIZED MAGIC; like Clarke’s third law, where technology becomes indistinguishable from magic), issuing a sound that will drive them away.
The sitch. The gnomes are lying, and the quest is a FOOL’S ERRAND. The Gimbleberries—not their real names—don’t think themselves evil, but they want the rats killed and the tower for themselves. The device is a bomb, and will release a cloud of toxic gas cloud that will kill everything as it settles to the ground. The gnomes are not concerned about saving the PCs. If the job is accepted, the PCs may spot anomalies, both in the bomb (if examined closely) and by the behaviour of the rats.
Approaching the tower. Over a river, through the woods, on an apparently unused trail that seems overgrown with new foliage towards a hidden but verdant grove named Shina. The gnomes will lead the players, if desired, but remain on the edge of the clearing. The PCs may encounter a swarm of rats en route, but the rats only attack on the gnomes, if present. If sent away or their help is not accepted, the gnomes follow at a distance.
The Suntower. In Shina’s centre is a giant sunflower (a FLOWERING TOWER), 12’across, with rooms and a spiral staircase carved inside. A medium-sized creature must squeeze to climb above the ground floor (though they have their potions if needed). Each of six floors has a single room, and if there were furniture or decorations, they’ve been removed (nothing was seen outside).
The rats. Each swarm has gained a kind of sentience, especially attuned to nature. Each Suntower swarm is a Druid (a DIVINE PESTILENCE), with each operating instinctively and capable of casting spells: healing each other, sprouting entangling or spiky plants, or speaking to other animals. Swarm druid level (d12): 1-6 level 1, 7-9 level 2, 10-11 level 3, 12 level 4. There are 1-3 swarms per floor. The top floor, nearest the flower itself, is a nursery, with thousands of ratlings feeding on the sweet water from exposed phloem in the stalk. The rats will fight to defend their home, but will try to flee up or down the stalk before being killed.
Double crossed. If the players realize the rats’ nature before setting the device, some rudimentary communication can be established. The highest-level surviving druid they’ve encountered will join with them to seek justice from the gnomes. Otherwise, if triggered, the device’s 10-by-10 toxic cloud will slowly descend floor by floor, killing rats and potentially PCs as well (earplugs do not help). If communications are established, the players can discern the gnomes’ motivations: they want the grove and the tower for themselves, and hoped that the PCs would get it for them.
Big trouble in little Shina. When the PCs emerge from the tower (some still shrunk by potions) – either having murdered the innocent circle of rat druids or having made a pact with them – the Gimbleberries are waiting to clean up any survivors (TRIPLE CROSS!). They have been (chemically) enlarged to twice their previous size, and hold embiggened weapons. They attack as furiously as grown gnomes might (RAMPAGING GNOMES). If either one falls, the other will attempt to flee.
If the PCs survive, remaining rats will be grateful and heal any wounds. PCs can keep remaining reduction potions, and there’s an extra growth potion to be found on Gertrude Gimbleberry (again, not her real name).
Ingredients: Divine Pestilence, Fool's Errand, Triple Cross, Civilized Magic, Rampaging Gnomes, Flowering Tower
A small fantasy adventure for lower-level characters (levels 3-5) who would be heroes.
The PCs are approached by a pair of gnomes, Gertrude and Gareth Gimbleberry, who describe how they’ve been forced from their home, the Suntower in Shina, by swarms ("mischiefs") of rats. They weep, Gareth unable to speak for sorrow, and ask for help to recover it. They have tinkered together a device, which if placed in the top room of the tower will deal with the problem. The Gimbleberries offer what they can, a case of six magical potions that will cause the drinker to shrink to half their size for several hours, and sets of earplugs for everyone.
The device. The mechanical device itself is a sphere with handles, the size of a small shield, requiring a free hand to carry. The gnomes will warn the PCs how sensitive it is, and claim it is a humane (“gnomane”) way of clearing the rats (it’s CIVILIZED MAGIC; like Clarke’s third law, where technology becomes indistinguishable from magic), issuing a sound that will drive them away.
The sitch. The gnomes are lying, and the quest is a FOOL’S ERRAND. The Gimbleberries—not their real names—don’t think themselves evil, but they want the rats killed and the tower for themselves. The device is a bomb, and will release a cloud of toxic gas cloud that will kill everything as it settles to the ground. The gnomes are not concerned about saving the PCs. If the job is accepted, the PCs may spot anomalies, both in the bomb (if examined closely) and by the behaviour of the rats.
Approaching the tower. Over a river, through the woods, on an apparently unused trail that seems overgrown with new foliage towards a hidden but verdant grove named Shina. The gnomes will lead the players, if desired, but remain on the edge of the clearing. The PCs may encounter a swarm of rats en route, but the rats only attack on the gnomes, if present. If sent away or their help is not accepted, the gnomes follow at a distance.
The Suntower. In Shina’s centre is a giant sunflower (a FLOWERING TOWER), 12’across, with rooms and a spiral staircase carved inside. A medium-sized creature must squeeze to climb above the ground floor (though they have their potions if needed). Each of six floors has a single room, and if there were furniture or decorations, they’ve been removed (nothing was seen outside).
The rats. Each swarm has gained a kind of sentience, especially attuned to nature. Each Suntower swarm is a Druid (a DIVINE PESTILENCE), with each operating instinctively and capable of casting spells: healing each other, sprouting entangling or spiky plants, or speaking to other animals. Swarm druid level (d12): 1-6 level 1, 7-9 level 2, 10-11 level 3, 12 level 4. There are 1-3 swarms per floor. The top floor, nearest the flower itself, is a nursery, with thousands of ratlings feeding on the sweet water from exposed phloem in the stalk. The rats will fight to defend their home, but will try to flee up or down the stalk before being killed.
Double crossed. If the players realize the rats’ nature before setting the device, some rudimentary communication can be established. The highest-level surviving druid they’ve encountered will join with them to seek justice from the gnomes. Otherwise, if triggered, the device’s 10-by-10 toxic cloud will slowly descend floor by floor, killing rats and potentially PCs as well (earplugs do not help). If communications are established, the players can discern the gnomes’ motivations: they want the grove and the tower for themselves, and hoped that the PCs would get it for them.
Big trouble in little Shina. When the PCs emerge from the tower (some still shrunk by potions) – either having murdered the innocent circle of rat druids or having made a pact with them – the Gimbleberries are waiting to clean up any survivors (TRIPLE CROSS!). They have been (chemically) enlarged to twice their previous size, and hold embiggened weapons. They attack as furiously as grown gnomes might (RAMPAGING GNOMES). If either one falls, the other will attempt to flee.
If the PCs survive, remaining rats will be grateful and heal any wounds. PCs can keep remaining reduction potions, and there’s an extra growth potion to be found on Gertrude Gimbleberry (again, not her real name).
humble minion
Legend
Commentary/reflections on my round
Just a minor rules question for future reference - is the 'an adventure for game system X' text included in the wordcount or not? I assumed it was, just to be on the safe side, but would have cheerfully committed murder a couple of times last night to have those 7 words back
That was brutal. Word count killed me. I last did Iron DM many, many years ago (Half-Elven Mayor and Magic Fruit were two of my ingredients, and there was a vampire involved, though the rest has faded from my memory...) and I don't remember there being a word limit in force then. Once I got the shape of it all, I banged out 1100 words with relative ease and then spent hours and hours and hours trimming it to fit the word count. The Fool's Errand and Triple Cross were particularly hard, because i took them very literally and that led to my plot being complex and requiring a lot of wordy explaining. Piles of stuff fell by the wayside, but i think/hope it's mostly details that can be assumed by inference - that Lobdibble was 'lucky' because he was using magic to aid/ingratiate himself with the PC, that the flowering tower arose atop the party venue because it was a site where revelry was imminent. The other thing i really really wanted to do but couldn't fit in the word count was encourage the GM to use the Buffy season 1 episode The Puppet Show as inspiration/reference. In this, the creepy animated ventriloquist's dummy turns out to be a good guy. If a GM lays seeds that remind their players of the episode, it helps make the animated garden gnome's betrayal at the end more unexpected. Flora as written is actually reasonably historically accurate, if Wikipedia is to be believed.
I think the Divine Pestilence ingredient was the most formative for me. It's such a world-shaking epic-level concept that you have to fight hard not to write a world-shaking epic-level adventure around it, and it's real, real hard to fit one of those in 750 words. I resolved the problem by making the god smaller (part of the reason I chose Buffy as a system was because the setting has throwaway references to ancient minor gods all over the place so Flora need not be a big long-term feature of the campaign after this), @Kobold Stew solved it by playing with words and making the pestilence itself a divine spellcaster, which i thought was a very clever angle.
The other reason it became a Buffy adventure was the gnomes. Why did it matter that it was GNOMES who were rampaging, rather than, say, halflings? What's so special about gnomes? In a D&D setting, perhaps not much, but in a modern setting, then gnomes become garden gnomes and there's an obvious thematic connection between garden gnomes and flowers from the Flowering Tower, and it grew from there.
I think the Divine Pestilence ingredient was the most formative for me. It's such a world-shaking epic-level concept that you have to fight hard not to write a world-shaking epic-level adventure around it, and it's real, real hard to fit one of those in 750 words. I resolved the problem by making the god smaller (part of the reason I chose Buffy as a system was because the setting has throwaway references to ancient minor gods all over the place so Flora need not be a big long-term feature of the campaign after this), @Kobold Stew solved it by playing with words and making the pestilence itself a divine spellcaster, which i thought was a very clever angle.
The other reason it became a Buffy adventure was the gnomes. Why did it matter that it was GNOMES who were rampaging, rather than, say, halflings? What's so special about gnomes? In a D&D setting, perhaps not much, but in a modern setting, then gnomes become garden gnomes and there's an obvious thematic connection between garden gnomes and flowers from the Flowering Tower, and it grew from there.
Just a minor rules question for future reference - is the 'an adventure for game system X' text included in the wordcount or not? I assumed it was, just to be on the safe side, but would have cheerfully committed murder a couple of times last night to have those 7 words back
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Wicht
Hero
Yes. Anything not Title or Ingredient List is fair game for the word-count. And done right, those intro words giving the reader information about the intended system or game-style do a lot of heavy lifting. In your case, they tell us that it is set in a quasi-real world setting with vampires, ghoulies, demons, magic, telephones, computers, raves, and high-school students. If you had not included them, then consider the possible disconnect when one reads the adventure and tries to plug it into a different setting. So, totally fair game for inclusion in the word-count.
Rune
Once A Fool
To be clear, since I am not using a point-based scoring system, I will not always call attention to the word count when it isn’t going to have an impact on the overall judgement (as was the case in match 1, for instance). I very much am paying attention, though.
