Lets deal with the ingredients in the order the were given to the contestants, beginning with Window of Opportunity. In TPK we have a broken window in the lantern which the PCs will have to try to enter, if…, and this is I think an important point,… if they are working for the Enlightened thing and flying an airship. Otherwise, as far as I can tell, they will never encounter it. As might be clear in my judgments to date, I find ingredients which may or may not be encountered by the PCs a less than optimal use, and in this case it only has about a 33% chance of ever getting used. In Hag, we have two uses of a window of opportunity, both a bit less literal, but also more within the normal range of the term’s meaning. The second use in particular, as a few moments of battle in the midst of a mine-car race, is a bit scripted, but also highly cinematic. The DM has to hope, of course, that the window passes before they defeat the hag so that they will have to fight here elsewhere. But I think Hag has the clearly better use of the ingredient.
Then we come to the rather interesting ingredient of Nameless Things. I think that Hag has something of an advantage in this ingredient as well, but it’s a closer thing and requires a bit of explanation because in some ways TPK clearly works harder with the ingredient and at first glance the nameless things of Hag seem rather generic, being simply monstrous humanoids without names. Yet,… yet… yet, TPK works too hard to be clever and in a rather rare instance of this, undoes some of its own work because of its offering of a secong go at the ingredient. At the same time there is an elegant kind of poetry and tragedy to the simplicity of Hag’s use. What I mean by this is that the Things in TPK are initially a reference to a kind of counsel; at least, the Norse Things were gatherings for the purpose of governance and I am assuming that this is the implied meaning in TPK; though I must admit it is never spelled out and I am making an educated guess that we are meant to accept the classical understanding. And two of these Things are indeed by design nameless so as to not be subject to magical control. If this was the only use of Thing, we would be good and I might give it to TPK even though it’s a bit muddy that this was the intended meaning. But as we go on in the entry, we then have Thing used in reference to the English idea of a thing, meaning an item. And our attention is called to this use rather pointedly and yet none of these things are unnamed, rather they all are given named characteristics. What these additions manage to unfortunately accomplish is the creation of confusion in the mind of the reader as to the meaning of the first use of Thing as a Norse style counsel. If using a Norse term, stick with that use of the term for the sake of clarity. On the other hand, the things of Hag are humans who, through strange magics, have lost their identity, their humanity, and even their very memories. They are individuals who are bereft of all that makes them who they are, with names stolen by magic, and humanity further stripped away. The fact that the PCs are going to kill many of these things, only to, one hopes, discover what they actually were, that they did have identities and families, becomes a rather powerful thing. So again, advantage Hag.
Which brings us to Weird Magic. Here I have to give the slight advantage to TPK. The weird magics of Hag are mostly just weird because the author says they are. In truth, by most rules as written, there are pretty standard explanations for most of what is done. We shall assume that what is meant is that she calls upon energies that are different from what most other wizards call upon as they bend the laws of time and space. TPK takes a risks by interpreting weird as wyrd, meaning fate magic. Its not a perfect implementation of this, but the whole matter of the PCs having a chance to undo fate is stronger than what Hag offers, so in this case the risk pays off.
But on the Unlightable Lantern the advantage swings back to Hag, which has a rather glorious little malevolent magic item in the lantern, which when it is attempted to be lit, steals your very essence, a little at a time. The lantern in TPK, on the other hand is hard to light, but not actually unlightable, especially as the whole quest of those following the path of enlightenment is essentially to use a radioactive substance to “light” the lantern. Not being able to burn a flame in a lantern due to the wind is not the same as not being able to light it. Though one does wonder whether there is not a simpler, arcane way of lighting the lantern then bringing radioactive ore into it.
On the matter of Occupied Mine, which is truthfully one of the easier ingredients we have something of a wash, as both adventures offer mines which are suitably occupied and integral to the adventures.
And then we come to Old Ways. This is a tricky one because in TPK, the use of the ingredient is not spelled out explicitly (unless I am missing it), and we have to search for the ingredient. But the entirety of the adventure is basically asking the PCs to choose sides between the old rigid ways of doing things, or the new, more innovative and free-form ways. In Hag on the other hand, the old tunnels are just that: old tunnels. I have to give the advantage to TPK here.
And then Faster Car. In Hag we simply have six cars and one of them is providentially faster than the others. In TPK the PCs have the chance to upgrade their vehicle so it becomes faster. In neither case did I think it was particularly a good use. Which is a shame, since, as both adventures are a race, I think more might have been done with the ingredient. So we’ll call this one a wash.
As we get to the end of the ingredients, Hag has a definite advantage, but not an overwhelming one,… so lets move on…
