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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gradine" data-source="post: 8163966" data-attributes="member: 57112">Judgement for Round 2, Match 1: humble minion vs. el-remmenDue to the nature of my convalescence I've had a lot of time to reflect on these two entries. Both are quite good adventures, which make extremely different takes on these very tough ingredients. I will say that, on initial read, one of these adventures stood out a little more to me, and repeated readings have not shaken me from that initial judgment. However, this is a contest primarily about the ingredients. So let's break down each ingredient, and how it's utilized in [USER=5948]@humble minion[/USER]'s "The Playwright and the Praecipua" (hereafter "Playwright", because I am not typing that other word dozens of times) and [USER=11]@el-remmen[/USER]'s "The Fate of the Firebird" (hereafter "Firebird").Redundant OgreRight away we see that this was going to be a tough ingredient to use. How to make a Redundant Ogre, rather than a Redundant Orc or Redundant Elf? "Firebird", sadly, doesn't answer these questions. In truth, we could do a quick Find+Replace of Ogre with Elf and have to change little; using Orc would require no change at all. "Playwright" wisely veers from D&D/folklore to use the workplace definition of Ogre (and one that seems especially prevalent in academia, though that may just be my own experience), and it works great. There's a problem here too though. Ffoulkes may have an ogrish personality in the background, but by the time the players interact with him, he's not the put-upon academic chair he once was. Whatever twisted creature he's become, it's certainly not an Ogre in any definition I'm familiar with. Virxorex could very well have been any race in contrast to Alerut, but at least the PCs have to deal with him in some way while still, ostensibly, being an ogre. And he does present an interesting challenge/opportunity to the PCs, which adds a great wrinkle to the adventure. Still, this ingredient in "Playwright" does tie into Ffoulkes' motivations and actions, which the players do need to deal with, so it's not too bad here.Bardic CollegeBoth authors here went the term in the academic sense, and wisely connected it to the "redundant" aspect of the previous ingredient. That's a good weaving of ingredients together. That said, do the colleges in nature need to be particularly bardic? And I think that both authors do an okay job of selling that. The clever twist of Bardic = Shakespearean in "Playright" is appreciated, and while some knowledge of the Bard's works can help the investigators out here, I had hoped for some of the later challenges to be more related to that Bard. "Firebird" gives us many interesting musically themed set-pieces, but the connection is a bit more tenuous here. I'll come back to this later.Dark ParagonThis one is close, but ultimately it goes to "Playwright". The clever use of darkness as recurring aspect of the antagonistic being, as well as how it ties in to the Binary Suns puzzle in how the investigators need to cross the Praepicuasidoai (I got called to task a few years back for adhering to Eberron naming conventions in an Iron DM entry, no I'm not still bitter about that why do you ask?). "Firebird" similarly ties its Dark Paragon to (one of) the Binary Suns, but again the connections are more tenuous.Binary SunsI've mostly covered how I feel about these in the above entry. The suns are obviously a bit more present in "Firebird" and contributing to the ticking clock that lends the stakes and urgency of the adventure, so that does make it a stronger use overall.Cursed SwordThis reminds of the "Divine Pestilence" ingredient I had in the previous match I adjudicated. In the case of one of the uses of that ingredient, it was more accurate to call what was there a "curse" than a "pestilence". Similarly, the sword in "Playwright", while providing clever investigators some measure of knowledge, is less central to the story, and more importantly not really cursed in the way I understand that to be. Infected might be a better fit? Meanwhile, "Firebird's" sword is definitely cursed and constantly present as the main antagonist of the adventure. It even asks of the PCs a difficult sacrifice, which leads to the probably the best moment of "Firebird". I have a lot of questions about this sword, things I'd like to know but that the adventure doesn't see fit to answer, but I'll get back to that too.Stuck ElevatorI went back and forth on this. The elevator in "Playwright" that takes the investigators where they need to go and essentially traps them there is a staple of the genre, but doesn't offer much in the way of actual interaction. On the other hand, I went back and forth a lot on whether an "elevator" controlling a ship's "altitude" makes much sense in, you know, space. But ultimately, Spelljammer's gonna Spelljammer, and I could wrap my head around it. The way this ties into the sword and suns above (and the choice/sacrifice one of the PCs must make) makes this a pretty solid ingredient use. But again, there are questions unanswered that leaves these connections fraught.Name LevelPerhaps the strongest ingredient in "Playwright" and the weakest in "Firebird". Valiant effort, but as I've pointed out in my previous judgment, if you have to change the ingredient to make it work (in this case, changing "Name Level" to "Named Level") it changes from the ingredient we gave you into something else. Meanwhile, the power of names and shapes in Cthulhu mythos are very prevalent, and "Playwright" puts it to get effect here.All told, we're fairly close on ingredients, with maybe the slightest of edges to "Firebird" here. It's interesting, because while I've read and re-read these entries multiple times, and even gone over each of these ingredients over and over in mind, it took the writing of this to change my initial impressions of these two adventures. I had originally sold "Firebird" short here, but really writing this out and seeing the ways the ingredients play together, and the variety of interesting choices and puzzles, makes this a very strong adventure indeed. Perhaps even more interesting than the fantastic but fairly linear "Playwright".One would think that, given these past two paragraphs, my choice for winner is going to be pretty obvious. But I keep coming back to those tenuous connections, and all of those questions I had. In "Playwright" every element serves the piece thematically. Nothing seems out of place. It's like a well-put together jigsaw puzzle. The puzzle in "Firebird" on the other hand, seems like it was completed by <a href="https://youtu.be/rzpuCSZFhIg?t=137" target="_blank">Winston</a>. Some oddness and out-of-place-itude is to expected given Spelljammer, but apart from the Bardic Ogres, and maybe some of the musical undead, there's nothing here that wouldn't be out of place in a more traditional fantasy adventure. No... where these elements most seem out of place is with each other. Part of this is a structural thing; the Deva appearing to exposit at the PCs about the phoenix egg is also the first time we, as the reader, learn about this egg, which doesn't even get explained to us, the reader, until the end of the adventure. Some of it is some very confused world-building. Why would a sword, forged in a sun of pure negative energy, be ultra-destructive to constructs, of all things? Shouldn't it particularly dangerous to beings of positive energy like... life? But it feels necessary here in the way its used to gum up the works. Why does Alerut need to sword to lead him to the Symposium? Is that an unlisted power of the sword? Does Alerut already know, considering he's set up all of this from the start? Does the sword know it, and only tells Alerut? And let's go back to the egg. Where did it come from? Why is it what powers the Symposium's Helm? Why doesn't the Helm just work on its own, like with other Spelljammers? Why does it have such specific reactions when introduced to these specific suns? If there's a connection between the phoenix egg and these suns (and perhaps both tying to the sword) it would begin to clear up a lot of these loose connections. But try as I might, I cannot find it within the text. Which is a shame, because these three items form the linchpin of the story the adventure is trying to tell. These connections could have provided context clues to how to solve the final conflict. Instead, a literal deus ex machina (at the beginning of the story even!) to essentially spell out what's going to happen. It's a disappointing wrapping up of what is otherwise a very strong adventure.But is it enough to sway my ultimate judgment?[SPOILER="Final Judgment"]Let's take another look at the ingredients.On the surface, as individual elements, "Firebird" has, perhaps a slight edge. But really, only in quantity. If I were attaching more specific numerical quality, I would guess that would tilt the balance back towards "Playwright". That's because all of the puzzle pieces fit so nicely together, thematically. "Firebird" does a nice job tying its ingredients together to, but the connections are not natural. The pieces don't really fit together, thematically. And while some of that can be chalked up to the gonzo nature of the setting, many of these ingredients relate to the thematically and tonally confused climax that, is in all ways, deadly serious.And sadly, that makes the difference for me.[USER=11]@el-remmen[/USER], you've probably judged more of these contests than I've even been a part of. I have no doubt that you'll grace us with your presence again, if this is in fact your last round here (there's still two other judgments to go, and I haven't even read the other!). We'll have to see how the other judges feel. In either case, I'm in no position to give you advice here. Instead, I'll wish you the best of luck.This judgment, then, goes in favor of [USER=5948]@humble minion[/USER] and "The Playwright and the Praecilum" What you've done is weave together a difficult set of ingredients into an incredibly cohesive, interesting, and fun adventure. Other than your missteps with Cursed Sword and Redundant Ogre (which was clever, but buried in backstory not particularly relevant to the players), you did a lot of things right here. Even the other ingredients you lost on, you only lost because [USER=11]@el-remmen[/USER] used them better than you. And you're never going to win them all. This was a definite step up from your previous entry, which was pretty good in its own right!In either case, I'm excited to see what either of you bring to the final round![/SPOILER]</blockquote>

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