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IRON DM 2020 Tournament Thread
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<blockquote data-quote="Gradine" data-source="post: 8169342" data-attributes="member: 57112"><p><strong><u>Judgement for Third Place Match: Iron Sky vs. el-remmen</u></strong></p><p></p><p>Well, these are both really fun. I'll save the more detailed comments for after the ingredients. I'll be referring to these adventures as "Litho" and "Island" respectively.</p><p></p><p><strong>Ship Mast</strong></p><p>The ship-masts as landmarks to travel across the island in "Island" between the two shipwrecks is a pretty clever usage of this ingredient overall. "Litho" has the pirate captain cut down the mast of the PC's ship to scuttle it. There's a paragraph under the "Pursuit" heading that seems like it should've been earlier in the adventure, and it kind of muddies the timeline around this. There was more than way to scuttle the PC's ship (and note, the adventure does not allow the possible that the PCs can save their vessel), but the Mast ties in with another ingredient (Laser Sword) so that helps it a bit.</p><p></p><p><strong>Dinosaur Bandits</strong></p><p>I'm disappointed that both entries generally use this ingredient to create bandits who steal dinosaurs, rather than dinosaurs who <em>are </em>bandits. "Island" tries to sneak this in at the end but it doesn't really work. In either case... yeah, both entries have bandits, and those bandits steal dinosaurs, and they play a central role in the adventure.</p><p></p><p><strong>Lone Survivor</strong></p><p>I'm not particularly happy with how either entry uses this. "Island" features two actual survivors. Sure, we're led to believe, for a while, that Captain Konti didn't make. But she also had been hyped up through most of the adventure, and I never believed for a second she would have died off-screen. So, that gives us... two survivors, which if I'm doing my math correctly is <em>not </em>a <em>lone</em> survivor, so "Island" doesn't actual feature this ingredient. "Litho" gives us a captain that's also a lone survivor, but he's only the lone survivor because he murdered all the rest of his crew. That makes him lone, yes, but it also doesn't really make him a "survivor" so much as a "murderous backstabbing a-hole". He's not really forced to "survive" anything himself.</p><p></p><p><strong>Golden Egg</strong></p><p>MacGuffins! One has magical evolutionary power for... reasons, and the other is full extractable gold for... reasons. Of the two I think "Litho" definitely does a better job of pulling this off in a way that makes it make sense to be both golden and an egg. It of course makes the egg valuable, and the creature that hatches from it (and thus, presumably, capable of producing more eggs) even more valuable. It serves the adventure well, and it presents a clear and meaningful choice for the PCs at the end. "Island's" egg has no reason to be gold at all, and only symbolic reason to be shaped like an egg.</p><p></p><p><strong>Rough Transition</strong></p><p>A "rough transition" is, by its definition, rough. Having the egg sliced open certainly qualifies as traumatic... or at least it would have been had the lithovorisaur not been perfectly fine hatching in that manner. There's no consequence to it the action, and had the pirate captain not sliced the thing open it wouldn't have really changed anything at all (the egg could have begun hatching on its own, after all). It seems to be a moment that exists solely to satisfy the ingredient. "Island's" uses are far more clever and interesting, but they don't seem to be as directly relevant to the PCs in this case.</p><p></p><p><strong>Laser Sword</strong></p><p>Laser swords are super cool. And they're cool here, in this adventure. The laser sword plays a more central role in "Litho", and it ties directly into several of the other ingredients, strengthening together an overall weak set (Ship Mast, Rough Transition). But it doesn't ultimately feel like a necessary piece. One the other hand, the laser sword in "Island" may as well be any other type of weapon, or no weapon at all, considering the PCs aren't likely to fight Ashrozo. On the other hand, dinosaur jedi are frakking awesome.</p><p></p><p>As I said, these are both very fun adventures. "Litho" is a bit more railroad-like than "Island" (both have a fairly linear plot structure, I'm referring here instead to the PC's not being able to stop getting shipwrecked.) That said, it opens up at the ending with the PCs essentially getting to decide their own reward, and the potential ramifications of their choice. "Island" is a bit more open-ended in its travel but about as linear in structure until the end, when the PCs essentially have to decide what to do with Dino Monk and his people (to say nothing of the complications Captain Konti can provide if she gets loose). It's a gonzo twist with a surprisingly deep moral quandary- what to do about allowing a new advanced sentient civilization to grow and flourish in the world. The adventure offers little advice in the way of alternatives, which is a weakness of the piece overall, but one can infer that that Ashrozo might be convinced to keep his people contained the island, or perhaps find a way to fix his Spelljammer/vessel so they can travel to find a more appropriate home (or perhaps even help them find their original home, considering it is implied that the regular dinosaurs aren't native here either).</p><p></p><p>[SPOILER="Final Judgment"]</p><p>These two adventures are pretty even overall. That said, I think that "The Island that Time Forgot" edges out [USER=60965]@Iron Sky[/USER]'s "Lithovorisaur" slightly on ingredients and just a little bit more in terms of the overall quality of the adventure. It's just a little bit more open-ended in its structure and conclusion, and just a little bit more interesting in its set pieces. So that is my pick for the winner of this match and [USER=11]@el-remmen[/USER] for 3rd place for his competition. We'll see what our other judges think![/SPOILER]</p><p></p><p>e: Adding the names of the contestants.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Gradine, post: 8169342, member: 57112"] [B][U]Judgement for Third Place Match: Iron Sky vs. el-remmen[/U][/B] Well, these are both really fun. I'll save the more detailed comments for after the ingredients. I'll be referring to these adventures as "Litho" and "Island" respectively. [B]Ship Mast[/B] The ship-masts as landmarks to travel across the island in "Island" between the two shipwrecks is a pretty clever usage of this ingredient overall. "Litho" has the pirate captain cut down the mast of the PC's ship to scuttle it. There's a paragraph under the "Pursuit" heading that seems like it should've been earlier in the adventure, and it kind of muddies the timeline around this. There was more than way to scuttle the PC's ship (and note, the adventure does not allow the possible that the PCs can save their vessel), but the Mast ties in with another ingredient (Laser Sword) so that helps it a bit. [B]Dinosaur Bandits[/B] I'm disappointed that both entries generally use this ingredient to create bandits who steal dinosaurs, rather than dinosaurs who [I]are [/I]bandits. "Island" tries to sneak this in at the end but it doesn't really work. In either case... yeah, both entries have bandits, and those bandits steal dinosaurs, and they play a central role in the adventure. [B]Lone Survivor[/B] I'm not particularly happy with how either entry uses this. "Island" features two actual survivors. Sure, we're led to believe, for a while, that Captain Konti didn't make. But she also had been hyped up through most of the adventure, and I never believed for a second she would have died off-screen. So, that gives us... two survivors, which if I'm doing my math correctly is [I]not [/I]a [I]lone[/I] survivor, so "Island" doesn't actual feature this ingredient. "Litho" gives us a captain that's also a lone survivor, but he's only the lone survivor because he murdered all the rest of his crew. That makes him lone, yes, but it also doesn't really make him a "survivor" so much as a "murderous backstabbing a-hole". He's not really forced to "survive" anything himself. [B]Golden Egg[/B] MacGuffins! One has magical evolutionary power for... reasons, and the other is full extractable gold for... reasons. Of the two I think "Litho" definitely does a better job of pulling this off in a way that makes it make sense to be both golden and an egg. It of course makes the egg valuable, and the creature that hatches from it (and thus, presumably, capable of producing more eggs) even more valuable. It serves the adventure well, and it presents a clear and meaningful choice for the PCs at the end. "Island's" egg has no reason to be gold at all, and only symbolic reason to be shaped like an egg. [B]Rough Transition[/B] A "rough transition" is, by its definition, rough. Having the egg sliced open certainly qualifies as traumatic... or at least it would have been had the lithovorisaur not been perfectly fine hatching in that manner. There's no consequence to it the action, and had the pirate captain not sliced the thing open it wouldn't have really changed anything at all (the egg could have begun hatching on its own, after all). It seems to be a moment that exists solely to satisfy the ingredient. "Island's" uses are far more clever and interesting, but they don't seem to be as directly relevant to the PCs in this case. [B]Laser Sword[/B] Laser swords are super cool. And they're cool here, in this adventure. The laser sword plays a more central role in "Litho", and it ties directly into several of the other ingredients, strengthening together an overall weak set (Ship Mast, Rough Transition). But it doesn't ultimately feel like a necessary piece. One the other hand, the laser sword in "Island" may as well be any other type of weapon, or no weapon at all, considering the PCs aren't likely to fight Ashrozo. On the other hand, dinosaur jedi are frakking awesome. As I said, these are both very fun adventures. "Litho" is a bit more railroad-like than "Island" (both have a fairly linear plot structure, I'm referring here instead to the PC's not being able to stop getting shipwrecked.) That said, it opens up at the ending with the PCs essentially getting to decide their own reward, and the potential ramifications of their choice. "Island" is a bit more open-ended in its travel but about as linear in structure until the end, when the PCs essentially have to decide what to do with Dino Monk and his people (to say nothing of the complications Captain Konti can provide if she gets loose). It's a gonzo twist with a surprisingly deep moral quandary- what to do about allowing a new advanced sentient civilization to grow and flourish in the world. The adventure offers little advice in the way of alternatives, which is a weakness of the piece overall, but one can infer that that Ashrozo might be convinced to keep his people contained the island, or perhaps find a way to fix his Spelljammer/vessel so they can travel to find a more appropriate home (or perhaps even help them find their original home, considering it is implied that the regular dinosaurs aren't native here either). [SPOILER="Final Judgment"] These two adventures are pretty even overall. That said, I think that "The Island that Time Forgot" edges out [USER=60965]@Iron Sky[/USER]'s "Lithovorisaur" slightly on ingredients and just a little bit more in terms of the overall quality of the adventure. It's just a little bit more open-ended in its structure and conclusion, and just a little bit more interesting in its set pieces. So that is my pick for the winner of this match and [USER=11]@el-remmen[/USER] for 3rd place for his competition. We'll see what our other judges think![/SPOILER] e: Adding the names of the contestants. [/QUOTE]
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