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IRON DM 2020 Tournament Thread
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<blockquote data-quote="Wicht" data-source="post: 8169410" data-attributes="member: 221"><p><strong>Judgment for Round 3, Third Place Match [USER=60965]@Iron Sky[/USER] vs. [USER=11]@el-remmen[/USER]</strong></p><p>This match, for third place this (last) year gives us two experienced contestants doing it old-school: six ingredients, one hour, no word limit.</p><p></p><p>Our first entry, Iron Sky’s <strong>Lithovorisaur</strong> (hereafter <strong><em>Rock</em></strong>) is billed as a Weird West adventure. This gonzo, dinosaur-filled chase sequence is packed full of goodness, but I find myself trying to figure out what system would work with it. Deadlands? Spirit of the Century? Cadillacs and Dinosaurs? Dragonball? Can I come back to this later?... I’m going to come back to this later…</p><p></p><p>Our second entry is El-remmen’s <strong>The Island that Time Forgot</strong>. The title is not all that creative, but it does conjure forth warm memories of other stories, including the classic Isle of Dread. Does the entry do anything new? We might come back to this as well…</p><p></p><p>The weren’t a lot of rules to follow this go-around, excepting get it turned in on time, so both entries followed the rules. Let’s dive right into the ingredients.</p><p></p><p>[spoiler=Ingredient Use]</p><p>Our first ingredient, lovingly supplied by the malefic magnanimity of the judges, is that of <strong>Ship Mast.</strong> With sadness I notice neither of the entries had the mast be haunted. Moving on past the cold embers of past sorrows, let us consider how they have been used. <strong>Rock</strong> has the mast broken, in need of being repaired. Unimaginative, but passable. So what does <strong>Island</strong> give us? A mast sticking up out of water marking where a ship sank… and a marker for direction. I am going to give this one to <strong>Rock</strong>.</p><p></p><p>The <strong>dinosaur bandits</strong> of both entries are bandits intent on stealing or poaching dinosaurs or, at least a dinosaur egg. <strong>Island</strong> elevates itself though by hinting at off-world dino-sapiens who have taken up banditry and world-plundering if the PCs make the wrong choices. But this is, unfortunately not actually part of this adventure. It’s a story for elsewhen. I am going to give the nod to <strong>Island</strong> on this one, but really think the dino pirates should have been actually in the adventure! How much cooler would that have been?</p><p></p><p><strong>Lone Survivor</strong> is likewise used a little stronger in Island. In <strong>Rock</strong>, the villain is the lone survivor, though as the text hints that he murdered his own crew, I am not sure this is the right wording. <strong>Island</strong> gives us a lone survivor as a clue, which is cliché, but still moderately stronger.</p><p></p><p>Both entries have really good uses of the <strong>Golden</strong> <strong>Egg</strong>. It is probably one of the strongest ingredients in both adventures. The golden egg of <strong>Island</strong> is an artifact with the powerful ability of giving sentience to dinosaurs. Which is really, really neat… except, did we just invent draconians? Maybe the go-bot equivalent of draconians? Dinonians? The egg in <strong>Rock</strong>, on the other hand, laid by a rock eating dinosaur, which just happens to have rich veins of gold in it… Literally a dinosaur that lays golden eggs. And then to have it hatch, and having the PCs dealing with a rock and metal eating little bundle of vicious cuteness. That’s just golden. So to speak. I am giving full points to both entries for this ingredient, but I do like <strong>Rock’s</strong> just better I must confess, it’s just more fun.</p><p></p><p>The use of <strong>rough transition</strong> in both entries is very different. In Rock it is a giant wave which turns the adventure from being an ocean adventure to being a land adventure. In Island it is the transformation the dino-beings are undergoing. Both have some weaknesses, but I am going to give full points for both.</p><p></p><p>On the other hand, in both adventures the ligh… <strong>laser sword</strong> is the weapon of choice of the primary villain. That’s as much of a wash as could be. Neither is a particularly strong usage, but both are passable, and equally so.</p><p></p><p>As I tally scores, Island has the barest of edges, point wise, but we are going to have to look a little deeper to see if the lead is good enough to win.[/spoiler]</p><p></p><p>So let’s move on and critique the adventures themselves.</p><p></p><p>[spoiler=Usability and Appeal]</p><p>Both of these adventures had only an hour in which to be crafted. We could go easy on them, but this isn’t Aluminum DM,… So let’s start with the negative, especially when it comes to useability.</p><p></p><p><strong>Rock</strong> has a few problems. The chase sequence is too long and drawn out. The whole matter of the dead pirate crew is contrived, as is the villain getting away. The villain’s name, even for a light setting, doesn’t feel right. And the cracking open of the egg is clumsy. Why isn’t the baby dinosaur cut in half? How about having the egg shell, besides having gold also have traces of vibranium, unobtanium, adamantine, or whatever magic metal the setting has, so that energy weapons bounce off? The laser sword rebounds, but not before cracking the egg shell.</p><p></p><p>This isn’t the biggest problem with the entry though. It is called a weird west adventure, but I have no idea what system it is meant to be run in? It is not Deadlands. I don’t recall a weird west setting with this level of gonzo in it. It reminds me a bit of the world of Dragon Ball (not the story-line, but the setting). If there is actually a game system with such a setting I would like to know about it.</p><p></p><p>But what about <strong>Island</strong>. <strong>Island</strong> has a few problems as well. Firstly, its derivative. I already mentioned the draconian connection. The island itself is straight from Land that Time Forgot. There’s not a lot of new stuff here. Even the villain is a straight up jedi riff. All of that is forgivable though if done right.</p><p></p><p>The second problem though is that it buries the lede. We have a decaying empire, dino-poachers, and a new race of uplifted saurian. And then suddenly we have a spell-jammer? Right there, we have a major problem, unless spell-jammers are already a known. But otherwise, it’s a major jump in theme and tone. Once you introduce that sort of thing into a game, it kinda trumps other issues. A new race of dino-people. Cool! But a ship that you can fly to other planets… that’s a whole new world right there!</p><p></p><p>And then there is the presentation. We have a lot of story. I’m not sure we have as much adventure outlined. There’s a few things to do, but mostly it seems to me that it is the opportunity for the PCs to discover a story, rather than a chance to really shape a story.</p><p></p><p>But what about appeal?</p><p></p><p>Island has a lot going for it, appeal wise. Dinosaurs are always fun. The whole new race of dino-men provide an interesting discovery. I could see it being a fun adventure if it was fleshed out and developed a bit more.</p><p></p><p>On the other hand, we have Rock. I don’t know what setting it is meant for, but I really want to find out. And if there isn’t one yet, there should be. It sounds like straight up fun. There’s a few problems here and there which knock it down a point or two, but then we get to the image of a rock eating, metal chewing dinosaurling, and all that potential for cute hilarity, and you just know that everyone involved would be having a great time.</p><p></p><p>So where does that leave us?</p><p></p><p>[/spoiler]</p><p>What is our final verdict?</p><p></p><p>[spoiler=”Judgment”]</p><p></p><p>The end-score is actually a little closer than I thought they would be when I first read through them. But in the end, I am going to have to go with fun. My judgment, for the reasons stated above, and based on my semi-arbitrary scoring system, is that Iron Sky’s Lithovorisaur makes him the winner of this match in my estimation.</p><p></p><p>Let's take a moment and see if the other judges have weighed in...</p><p></p><p>They have, and my judgment is the one odd out... So congratulations to El-remmen!</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong><u>Lithovorisaur</u> (Rock)</strong></p><p><strong>Rules 6</strong></p><p><strong>Ingredient Use</strong></p><p>Ship Mast 1.5</p><p>Dinosaur Bandits 1</p><p>Lone Survivor 1</p><p>Golden Egg 2</p><p>Rough Transition 2</p><p>Laser Sword 1<strong> (total 8.5/12)</strong></p><p><strong>Useability 4</strong></p><p><strong>Appeal 5</strong></p><p><strong>TOTAL SCORE 23.5/30</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><u>The Island Time Forgot</u> (Island)</strong></p><p><strong>Follows Rules 6</strong></p><p><strong>Ingredients</strong></p><p>Ship Mast 1</p><p>Dinosaur Bandits 1.5</p><p>Lone Survivor 1.5</p><p>Golden Egg 2</p><p>Rough Transition 2</p><p>Laser Sword 1<strong> (total 9/12)</strong></p><p><strong>Useability 3 </strong></p><p><strong>Appeal 4</strong></p><p><strong>TOTAL SCORE 22/30</strong></p><p></p><p>[/spoiler]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Wicht, post: 8169410, member: 221"] [B]Judgment for Round 3, Third Place Match [USER=60965]@Iron Sky[/USER] vs. [USER=11]@el-remmen[/USER][/B] This match, for third place this (last) year gives us two experienced contestants doing it old-school: six ingredients, one hour, no word limit. Our first entry, Iron Sky’s [B]Lithovorisaur[/B] (hereafter [B][I]Rock[/I][/B]) is billed as a Weird West adventure. This gonzo, dinosaur-filled chase sequence is packed full of goodness, but I find myself trying to figure out what system would work with it. Deadlands? Spirit of the Century? Cadillacs and Dinosaurs? Dragonball? Can I come back to this later?... I’m going to come back to this later… Our second entry is El-remmen’s [B]The Island that Time Forgot[/B]. The title is not all that creative, but it does conjure forth warm memories of other stories, including the classic Isle of Dread. Does the entry do anything new? We might come back to this as well… The weren’t a lot of rules to follow this go-around, excepting get it turned in on time, so both entries followed the rules. Let’s dive right into the ingredients. [spoiler=Ingredient Use] Our first ingredient, lovingly supplied by the malefic magnanimity of the judges, is that of [B]Ship Mast.[/B] With sadness I notice neither of the entries had the mast be haunted. Moving on past the cold embers of past sorrows, let us consider how they have been used. [B]Rock[/B] has the mast broken, in need of being repaired. Unimaginative, but passable. So what does [B]Island[/B] give us? A mast sticking up out of water marking where a ship sank… and a marker for direction. I am going to give this one to [B]Rock[/B]. The [B]dinosaur bandits[/B] of both entries are bandits intent on stealing or poaching dinosaurs or, at least a dinosaur egg. [B]Island[/B] elevates itself though by hinting at off-world dino-sapiens who have taken up banditry and world-plundering if the PCs make the wrong choices. But this is, unfortunately not actually part of this adventure. It’s a story for elsewhen. I am going to give the nod to [B]Island[/B] on this one, but really think the dino pirates should have been actually in the adventure! How much cooler would that have been? [B]Lone Survivor[/B] is likewise used a little stronger in Island. In [B]Rock[/B], the villain is the lone survivor, though as the text hints that he murdered his own crew, I am not sure this is the right wording. [B]Island[/B] gives us a lone survivor as a clue, which is cliché, but still moderately stronger. Both entries have really good uses of the [B]Golden[/B] [B]Egg[/B]. It is probably one of the strongest ingredients in both adventures. The golden egg of [B]Island[/B] is an artifact with the powerful ability of giving sentience to dinosaurs. Which is really, really neat… except, did we just invent draconians? Maybe the go-bot equivalent of draconians? Dinonians? The egg in [B]Rock[/B], on the other hand, laid by a rock eating dinosaur, which just happens to have rich veins of gold in it… Literally a dinosaur that lays golden eggs. And then to have it hatch, and having the PCs dealing with a rock and metal eating little bundle of vicious cuteness. That’s just golden. So to speak. I am giving full points to both entries for this ingredient, but I do like [B]Rock’s[/B] just better I must confess, it’s just more fun. The use of [B]rough transition[/B] in both entries is very different. In Rock it is a giant wave which turns the adventure from being an ocean adventure to being a land adventure. In Island it is the transformation the dino-beings are undergoing. Both have some weaknesses, but I am going to give full points for both. On the other hand, in both adventures the ligh… [B]laser sword[/B] is the weapon of choice of the primary villain. That’s as much of a wash as could be. Neither is a particularly strong usage, but both are passable, and equally so. As I tally scores, Island has the barest of edges, point wise, but we are going to have to look a little deeper to see if the lead is good enough to win.[/spoiler] So let’s move on and critique the adventures themselves. [spoiler=Usability and Appeal] Both of these adventures had only an hour in which to be crafted. We could go easy on them, but this isn’t Aluminum DM,… So let’s start with the negative, especially when it comes to useability. [B]Rock[/B] has a few problems. The chase sequence is too long and drawn out. The whole matter of the dead pirate crew is contrived, as is the villain getting away. The villain’s name, even for a light setting, doesn’t feel right. And the cracking open of the egg is clumsy. Why isn’t the baby dinosaur cut in half? How about having the egg shell, besides having gold also have traces of vibranium, unobtanium, adamantine, or whatever magic metal the setting has, so that energy weapons bounce off? The laser sword rebounds, but not before cracking the egg shell. This isn’t the biggest problem with the entry though. It is called a weird west adventure, but I have no idea what system it is meant to be run in? It is not Deadlands. I don’t recall a weird west setting with this level of gonzo in it. It reminds me a bit of the world of Dragon Ball (not the story-line, but the setting). If there is actually a game system with such a setting I would like to know about it. But what about [B]Island[/B]. [B]Island[/B] has a few problems as well. Firstly, its derivative. I already mentioned the draconian connection. The island itself is straight from Land that Time Forgot. There’s not a lot of new stuff here. Even the villain is a straight up jedi riff. All of that is forgivable though if done right. The second problem though is that it buries the lede. We have a decaying empire, dino-poachers, and a new race of uplifted saurian. And then suddenly we have a spell-jammer? Right there, we have a major problem, unless spell-jammers are already a known. But otherwise, it’s a major jump in theme and tone. Once you introduce that sort of thing into a game, it kinda trumps other issues. A new race of dino-people. Cool! But a ship that you can fly to other planets… that’s a whole new world right there! And then there is the presentation. We have a lot of story. I’m not sure we have as much adventure outlined. There’s a few things to do, but mostly it seems to me that it is the opportunity for the PCs to discover a story, rather than a chance to really shape a story. But what about appeal? Island has a lot going for it, appeal wise. Dinosaurs are always fun. The whole new race of dino-men provide an interesting discovery. I could see it being a fun adventure if it was fleshed out and developed a bit more. On the other hand, we have Rock. I don’t know what setting it is meant for, but I really want to find out. And if there isn’t one yet, there should be. It sounds like straight up fun. There’s a few problems here and there which knock it down a point or two, but then we get to the image of a rock eating, metal chewing dinosaurling, and all that potential for cute hilarity, and you just know that everyone involved would be having a great time. So where does that leave us? [/spoiler] What is our final verdict? [spoiler=”Judgment”] The end-score is actually a little closer than I thought they would be when I first read through them. But in the end, I am going to have to go with fun. My judgment, for the reasons stated above, and based on my semi-arbitrary scoring system, is that Iron Sky’s Lithovorisaur makes him the winner of this match in my estimation. Let's take a moment and see if the other judges have weighed in... They have, and my judgment is the one odd out... So congratulations to El-remmen! [B][U]Lithovorisaur[/U] (Rock) Rules 6 Ingredient Use[/B] Ship Mast 1.5 Dinosaur Bandits 1 Lone Survivor 1 Golden Egg 2 Rough Transition 2 Laser Sword 1[B] (total 8.5/12) Useability 4 Appeal 5 TOTAL SCORE 23.5/30 [U]The Island Time Forgot[/U] (Island) Follows Rules 6 Ingredients[/B] Ship Mast 1 Dinosaur Bandits 1.5 Lone Survivor 1.5 Golden Egg 2 Rough Transition 2 Laser Sword 1[B] (total 9/12) Useability 3 Appeal 4 TOTAL SCORE 22/30[/B] [/spoiler] [/QUOTE]
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