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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rune" data-source="post: 8174513" data-attributes="member: 67">Judgement for Round 3, Championship Match: FitzTheRuke vs. humble minionWell, that was fun. Both “Pike Place Paradox” (“Pike”) and “The Tale of When Grandmother Uzmah Decided Not To Die” (“Tale”) are very good entries, each promising a satisfying adventure to the players.On the surface, I can’t tell which of the two I find will stand out as the better. Most likely, I’ll have that sorted out by the end. If I don’t, “Pike” provides me a tiebreaker with its lack of inclusion of an ingredient list.It’s a very minor thing and one that I doubt will ultimately be consequential, but IRON DM is as much about discipline as it is about creativity. All other things being exactly equal, I’ll side with the entry that followed the rules more closely.Let’s find out if that’s necessary.Hooks and Stakes:Although the adventure never states it, I have a hard time envisioning a scenario in which “Pike” gets dropped into an ongoing campaign. It actively promotes (almost requires?) that every PC be linked with the NPCs (and organizations) within the adventure. Nevertheless, as a one-shot, it should work very well, because it essentially comes with individualized hooks for each PC.It’s stakes, however, aren’t very significant (or at least, aren’t very evident) for a majority of the adventure (although, if one of the PCs does work for Professor Black, it becomes easier to convey them). The structure of this adventure is quite interesting, but it is kind of a slow burn.“Tale” provides a hook that is interesting, but raises questions for me. First of all, it’s pretty clear from the mechanics that get called out that the adventure is intended for 5e D&D. This could be a problem, because, in my experience, 5e is more forgiving than previous editions if the party does not, in fact, have a healer, as the hook requires.That’s kind of minor, though. Most groups probably still will. What I’m having trouble getting past is why the hook isn’t “find out what happened to the 101 missing children.” I mean, even with the strange childbirth ongoing, the 101 missing children have got to be foremost in the minds of somewhere between 101 and 202 adult villagers.Putting that aside, however, the stakes presented in the hook are immediately evident and should provoke curiosity right away, so that’s good. I just think that burying the lead with the 101 missing children will probably backfire and provoke suspicion of the entire village when the PCs do find out about it. Maybe that’s a good thing?Plots and Schemes:There are some other things that happen in “Tale” that raise some questions. Normally, we don’t really need to see much in the way of statistics and mechanics for these entries, but the hags in this adventure seem capable of things that are (far?) beyond those of typical hags.The Crone is described as an “advanced green hag,” but what does that even mean? The polymorphed unicorn? True polymorph only lasts at most an hour and the polymorphed object has none of its former creature abilities — in fact, its new form can’t remember anything from before the polymorph. Time Stop? Totally different from the 9th-level spell. Are these even innate abilities? Or are they boons granted by the demon?All of this would be okay, if we had some guidance on how to run them, but we don’t, really. Certainly not enough to know how the hags will handle in combat (which is likely!)In contrast, “Pike” doesn’t really raise any such troubling questions. I can’t really find any flaw in it’s structure at all, in fact (other than the aforementioned slow burn with the stakes). It’s a really well-presented adventure that does exactly what it’s trying to.The Goods:“Tale” is also a good adventure, though. The fundamental scenario is well-thought out and bound to entertain. It draws upon suspense, suspicion, investigation, misdirection, and a healthy dose of monster-movie action at the end — with each stage requiring entirely unique approaches to achieve victory (although “victory” might not be the right term for it).This adventure wants to be played. It’s atmosphere is evocative and different (even for the setting) and its villains stand out as simultaneously exemplary of their kind and also fresh in their particular brand of wickedness. Frankly, I find that this adventure plays to the strengths of hags as villains better than many (most?) before, officially published and otherwise. Outstanding!Of course, “Pike” stands out, as well. I described it as essentially flawless, but that doesn’t say anything about how fun it would be. It does look quite fun.In particular, I like the presentation of a social (love) triangle dynamic that must be navigated during the first part of the adventure, all while a hidden threat advances.And when the turn happens and the tone of everything shifts from doing small jobs and navigating broken relationships to fighting dinosaurs, robots, and nazis(!), none of it feels too jarring, because time-displaced elements have been popping up all along. Very well handled!And, can I say, I really enjoyed every single encounter laid out in that final stretch. Good stuff!All in all, I think “Pike” is the better presented and more developed of the two adventures, but not by overmuch. It really wouldn’t take much effort on the DM’s part to make “Tale” really sing, as well.Ingredients:Psychic ScreamThe psychic scream in both entries serves a similar purpose, namely as a drain on the PCs’ ability to function. In “Tale” it is directly linked to the main action of the adventure and has the potential to cause a detrimental effect well into the experience. This is good.In “Pike” it is a sonic attack caused by the techno DJ in a single mission that the PCs might engage in. It works within the mission, but is inherently less integral to the whole adventure.Former Parrot“Pike” gives us three former members of a gang called the “Parrots” and, while the gang is pervasive throughout the adventure (mainly because the PCs are supposed to be affiliated), the actual name of it is irrelevant.“Tale” gives us a polymorphed former parrot who has been tricked into serving the hags. This makes for a very interesting NPC. Of course, it need not have been a parrot, but the choice at least fits the setting pretty well.Pink UnicornThe pink unicorn in “Pike” is a plush toy prize for one of the possible missions. It’s not even a macguffin, because a macguffin has to be important to the plot (that is, after all, its only job).The unicorn in “Tale” is also a plush unicorn, but, in this case, it’s also real. I don’t know why it has to be pink (is it bloodstained or something?), but it actually serves the adventure well, especially if it is returned to form and attacks the hag(s), pushing the PCs to think they have to put it down.I also wonder if there is some symbolic perversion of the traditional link between unicorns and maidens going on, here. And, if so, can it stand in as a clue? All in all, a very good ingredient.Awakened Witch“Tale” gives us an awakened witch in the form of a hag awakened to the schemes of one of her coven. To further drive the theme in, a fury is awakened within the wicked creature. The fact that this role can fall upon either of two witches (depending on the PCs’ actions) in no way diminishes it; both are equally evil, after all.“Pike” gives the role to one of the major three NPCs of the love triangle; her potions are a major driver of the early action and it is amusing that the PCs will always find her sleeping when they come to call. Amusing, but not very important.Time StopBoth entries use this ingredient as an important element in the events of their adventures (and both also link it to the pregnant moment in similar ways). “Tale” uses the ingredient to create the hook and shape the beginning of the adventure. “Pike” uses it to create the turn.Of the two, I’d have to lean toward “Pike,” because of a couple of things I touched on earlier. First, in “Tale,” the mechanics of the incident are a little fuzzy (as they don’t line up with the spell that shares the name). And second, in “Pike,” it manifests in a way that the PCs will directly experience. Add to that the fact that the event will have been telegraphed ahead of time, and it stands out as a superior usage. Probably the best of the entry.Pregnant MomentUnfortunately, there isn’t enough to distinguish this ingredient from the last in “Pike.” In contrast, the similarly linked version in “Tale” distinguishes itself by actually affecting a pregnancy. And, as that pregnancy is at the heart of the entire adventure, it becomes a very strong ingredient, indeed.SwoopHow about swoop? In “Pike,” some dinosaurs might swoop down and attack. That’s it.“Tale” gives us a game that happens to involve swooping from a great height with wings on. Its nature seems pretty unimportant to the adventure.(As an aside, the swoop-game actually raises one more question about the adventure? How likely is it that the PCs are going to play a game with the former parrot to earn his trust while they suspect him of disappearing 101 children?)As I said, swoop seems unimportant in “Tale.” That is, until the end of the adventure, when the swoopers become an important potential element in fighting the zaratan.Turtles All the Way DownAnd then we get to this one. A very tricky ingredient, because it carries with it some connotations. But I’ll get to that.“Tale” gives us a turtle-demon of cranky old-age. I’m not very convinced about the necessity of the turtles, here, but using their progressively larger forms to change the endgame is a delightful way to go in this adventure. And the Crone’s deal with the demon is quite appropriately misleading.“Pike” touched on a less literal implementation of this ingredient when describing time as a series of boxes stacked on top of each other and I think, with a little development, that would have made for a stronger implementation, but, unfortunately, the entry fell back on a more boring side-mission involving lowering turtles into a well.Here’s why I think the former was a bit of a missed opportunity:“Turtles all the way down” is a summation of an argument about logically impossible beliefs. More importantly, it is a condemnation of them. It goes something like this: If the world is flat and rests on a turtle, what does that turtle stand on? Answer: a larger turtle. And what does that turtle stand on? A larger turtle. And that one? Turtles, all the way down.The reason this works in “Pike” is because it can clue in players who are in the know that something isn’t right with Professor Black’s project. It’s based on flawed thinking.Now that I consider it, I don’t think I’m disappointed about how subtle that is. I think the thing that’s throwing me is the literal turtles in a well that just kind of say the author doesn’t trust me to see the other manifestation or its value.Be that as it may, it is there and it serves its function in the adventure — and can do so whether the DM recognizes it or not. That’s good writing and it gets the edge with this ingredient.[spoiler]Ultimately, I find that the superiorly developed adventure presented in “Pike” isn’t so much better as to outweigh it’s competitor’s more pronounced ingredient-usage edge.[USER=59816]@FitzTheRuke[/USER], you’ve gotten noticeably good at this over the course of this tournament. You absolutely should take pride in the structurally outstanding adventure that your entry gave us.I do think you could find ways to make your ingredients more important to the whole of the adventure (or at least to its central through-line).Even with an adventure structured as this one was, you could probably find some way to make them important outside of the missions in which they appear. Of course, that would cost you some words, but they would likely be words well-spent.I get the sense that you are just about ready to win one of these tournaments, and (noting that I have not yet read the other judgements) it really wouldn’t surprise me if that tournament turns out to be this one.However, on the strength of a very good adventure with well-integrated and fundamentally important ingredients, it is my recommendation that [USER=5948]@humble minion[/USER] wins this match....And, as it happens, I am in agreement with the other judges with that assessment.Therefore, by unanimous decision, humble minion becomes the IRON DM 2020!Congratulations![/spoiler]</blockquote>

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