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IRON DM 2021 Tournament
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<blockquote data-quote="Radiating Gnome" data-source="post: 8395466" data-attributes="member: 150"><p>All right, this is is, and if I move my ass I can be the first one with results in again. So, lets start doing the brass tacks dance. </p><p></p><p>We are here to judge the final match between Wicht's Denouement of a Dying Hunter (DDH) and Gradine's Eternity at Sea (EAS). There are eight ingredients, there was a lot of time and a lot of words allowed, so I expect that we're going to see some rock-solid entries. </p><p></p><p><strong>Ingredients</strong></p><p>[spoiler]</p><p><strong>Frozen Island</strong></p><p>In DDH, this is Solus island, the setting for the story. It's wet, cold, and frozen. Does the job. </p><p>In EAS, this is less clearly used as an ingredient. I think that this is meant to be covered by the Iceberg, which is not an island, and that feels like I'm missing something. Maybe it's the way everyone is frozen in an island of time because of the pocketwatch? I'm not sure. I'm going to keep an eye out for something I've missed, but for the time being, this is a strong advantage for DDH. </p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Last Chance</strong></p><p>For EAS, again I find myself having a hard time seeing this ingredient in explicit use. The whole groundhog-day nature of the adventure presents a situation which presents multiple chances at the way things happen and play out -- there are six chances available to the party, each of those chances rolling time back two hours, letting them go over the same ground several times. I found some of the time jump stuff confusing -- more on that later. </p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, DDH presents a pretty clear last chance - Thomas Middleton, the dying monster hunter has one last scheme to try to use the players to finish off two final monsters that escaped him during his life. Perfectly solid, so advantage to DDH. </p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Shape-shifting Grifter</strong></p><p>There's a LOT of shapeshifting and doppelganging going on in these two adventures. In DDH, there is Alice Tyler who is a shapeshifter, Rachel is a werewolf, Romus is a shapeshifting salt-eater, and Diabla Negra is a shapeshifting demon in Jack Lincoln's form. Of all of them, only Alice really fits the mold of a grifter -- her scam that cleans out the bank accounts of dying patients gives her that attribute and meets the standards of the ingredient, but it never really seems to matter for the story, so it's pretty weak. </p><p></p><p>In EAS, the player is a shapeshifter, as is Rel, the sea kelpie. Again, it's hard to put the "grifter" label on either of them. The player character is fleeing "heat" on the continent, but that doesn't appear to be important to the story. And Rel is a murderer and avenger, but that's hardly grifting. The best fit for grifter in the story is Jan Kamsra, but he's no shapeshifter. </p><p></p><p>Since they're both weak, I'm going to call this one a wash. </p><p></p><p><strong>Professional Killer</strong></p><p>EAS has a stated professional killer - Octavius the Skullsmasher. DDH has Romus, the first monster, professional salt-eater and assassin. They're both good. </p><p></p><p><strong>Unidentified Wound</strong></p><p>This was clearly a difficult ingredient. There are mysterious wounds in both entries, and both are eventually identified, but when they're first discovered they're a bit mysterious. </p><p></p><p>In DDH, the circular wound created by the salt-eater attack is certainly unusual and mysterious. It's the more interesting of the two wounds, certainly -- but in the end, finding out the nature of the wound and what killed Alexander, but knowing about the salt-eater's special attack does not appear to help move the story along. That's not strictly necessary, but stronger ingredient use will make that possibly important to the story. </p><p></p><p>In EAS, the mysterious wounds are far less mystical -- the wounds created by the hakapik. What I like about this is that the other murder going on -- that committed by the Skullsmasher -- makes a nice red herring, because of the heavy blow delivered with the hakapik to the captains skull. So, while being killed with a hakapik isn't as sexy as having all your salt harvested through your neck, it's more important to the story, so I think EAS has the edge on this one. </p><p></p><p><strong>Illegal Speed</strong></p><p>In EAS, Rider is a drug dealing with a load of drugs to sell -- until he dumps it overboard. </p><p>In DDH, the first victim Alexander is a meth addict -- and while that gets illegal speed into the story -- and perhaps a red herring for the investigation with the load of drugs and paraphernalia in his room. They are both minor factors in the adventure, so I don't think I prefer one to the other. </p><p></p><p><strong>Secret Shop</strong></p><p>In DDH, Sara Middleton runs the secret store for monster hunters out of the island's general store., Later, it seems the store is in the old school building, which everyone is fortifying to try to deal with the Diabla Negra threat. </p><p></p><p>In EAS, the secret shop stretches the "shop" idea a bit -- Faoch "sells" backwards time jumps so the players can try to figure out the mystery again, and the currency he accepts is the secrets of the other passengers. That's pretty fun, and I think I like it a little better than the use in DDH, so we will call this one for EAS. </p><p></p><p><strong>Ethical Dilemma</strong></p><p>In EAS, the ethical dilemma is not as clear to me as I would like it to be. At the end of the entry, there's the description of the alternative solution -- the way Rel might be convinced to save herself by freeing everyone. But that doesn't really feel like its a central ethical dilemma. Perhaps the role of the doppelganger itself is meant to be an ethical dilemma, but I find it all weak for this ingredient. </p><p>In DDH, the story ends with a choice put to the PCS -- they can kill their dying friend and absorb the power of the Heart, or they can refuse, which will force the NPCs to go with plan B, and give it to Rachel. </p><p>So, that one is clearer and effective, so advantage to DDH. </p><p></p><p>That gives DDH a one-ingredient edge over EAS. Pretty thin, but it's there. </p><p></p><p>[/spoiler]</p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Writing, Presentation, Playability</strong></p><p>[spoiler]</p><p>They're both great as standalone adventures. I want to play both of them. </p><p></p><p>EAS reads like the plot to a murder mystery weekend that would be a whole lot of fun to play. I like the NPCs, the various plotlines, the details of where clues can be found and what can play out, etc. </p><p></p><p>I did find the write-up confusing in parts -- the time loop thing is ALWAYS going to be a challenge to present effectively. One thing I found confusing is the idea that the clock rolls back two hours with each time jump -- but all of the action (except Rel killing the captain) that happens takes place between 10 and 11. And the time jump goes back two hours from the moment that the player sells the secret to Faoch, and that might roll time back even further before 9 pm. It's possible, I suppose, that the players might be able to prevent the captain's murder entirely by being on hand to stop Rel from killing the captain at 7 pm -- and that will require several jumps. </p><p></p><p>It's always fun to think about these loops -- and the idea that this doppelgager PC is going to be able to move around in time and try to solve the murder -- that could be fun play. And it's good that there are a lot of way to imagine saving the day -- stopping the captain's murder is one thing, but getting onto the bridge and diverting the ship is another etc. </p><p></p><p>I think I might have understood more clearly that part of what the adventure is expecting the players to do is gradually step back to earlier timeframes is if there were more events detailed earlier than 10pm. Word count may be the culprit there, but as it stands, everything the players need to figure out, and all of the things they will interact with are in that last hour. </p><p></p><p>So, I think this one is daring, convoluted as any time-jumping adventure must be, and looks like a load of fun. But the writeup has challenges. </p><p></p><p>DDH, is a simpler story, even if that's just by virtue of not adding time travel to a cast of shapeshifters. I like the gathering of old allies, the double monster nature of the story, the whole setup mostly works (although there's some stretches for the sake of ingredient use I could have done without -- again, why does it matter that Alice steals from dying patients?)</p><p></p><p>The adventure feels atmospheric, exciting, playable, and fun. While the name of the demon (diabla negra) might be read as a bit problematic, the reveal, the anticipation of the attack on the schoolhouse, everything just would be a lot of fun to play. </p><p>[/spoiler]</p><p></p><p><strong>Final Analysis</strong></p><p>[spoiler]</p><p>EAS flies awfully close to the sun for an Iron DM entry -- shapeshifters, time travel, bargains with fey creatures, murder mysteries -- this is not the sort of thing that word limits mix well with. And what has been presented is solid, playable, and fun. </p><p></p><p>DDH takes fewer risks, and it shows -- the adventure is tighter without being too much of a railroad ride. And, it did make somewhat better use of the ingredients, as I read the entries. </p><p></p><p>So, for my selection, I pick Denouement of a Dying Hunter as the better entry, and that means one vote for Wicht as the 2021 Iron DM. </p><p></p><p> [/spoiler]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Radiating Gnome, post: 8395466, member: 150"] All right, this is is, and if I move my ass I can be the first one with results in again. So, lets start doing the brass tacks dance. We are here to judge the final match between Wicht's Denouement of a Dying Hunter (DDH) and Gradine's Eternity at Sea (EAS). There are eight ingredients, there was a lot of time and a lot of words allowed, so I expect that we're going to see some rock-solid entries. [B]Ingredients[/B] [spoiler] [B]Frozen Island[/B] In DDH, this is Solus island, the setting for the story. It's wet, cold, and frozen. Does the job. In EAS, this is less clearly used as an ingredient. I think that this is meant to be covered by the Iceberg, which is not an island, and that feels like I'm missing something. Maybe it's the way everyone is frozen in an island of time because of the pocketwatch? I'm not sure. I'm going to keep an eye out for something I've missed, but for the time being, this is a strong advantage for DDH. [B] Last Chance[/B] For EAS, again I find myself having a hard time seeing this ingredient in explicit use. The whole groundhog-day nature of the adventure presents a situation which presents multiple chances at the way things happen and play out -- there are six chances available to the party, each of those chances rolling time back two hours, letting them go over the same ground several times. I found some of the time jump stuff confusing -- more on that later. Meanwhile, DDH presents a pretty clear last chance - Thomas Middleton, the dying monster hunter has one last scheme to try to use the players to finish off two final monsters that escaped him during his life. Perfectly solid, so advantage to DDH. [B]Shape-shifting Grifter[/B] There's a LOT of shapeshifting and doppelganging going on in these two adventures. In DDH, there is Alice Tyler who is a shapeshifter, Rachel is a werewolf, Romus is a shapeshifting salt-eater, and Diabla Negra is a shapeshifting demon in Jack Lincoln's form. Of all of them, only Alice really fits the mold of a grifter -- her scam that cleans out the bank accounts of dying patients gives her that attribute and meets the standards of the ingredient, but it never really seems to matter for the story, so it's pretty weak. In EAS, the player is a shapeshifter, as is Rel, the sea kelpie. Again, it's hard to put the "grifter" label on either of them. The player character is fleeing "heat" on the continent, but that doesn't appear to be important to the story. And Rel is a murderer and avenger, but that's hardly grifting. The best fit for grifter in the story is Jan Kamsra, but he's no shapeshifter. Since they're both weak, I'm going to call this one a wash. [B]Professional Killer[/B] EAS has a stated professional killer - Octavius the Skullsmasher. DDH has Romus, the first monster, professional salt-eater and assassin. They're both good. [B]Unidentified Wound[/B] This was clearly a difficult ingredient. There are mysterious wounds in both entries, and both are eventually identified, but when they're first discovered they're a bit mysterious. In DDH, the circular wound created by the salt-eater attack is certainly unusual and mysterious. It's the more interesting of the two wounds, certainly -- but in the end, finding out the nature of the wound and what killed Alexander, but knowing about the salt-eater's special attack does not appear to help move the story along. That's not strictly necessary, but stronger ingredient use will make that possibly important to the story. In EAS, the mysterious wounds are far less mystical -- the wounds created by the hakapik. What I like about this is that the other murder going on -- that committed by the Skullsmasher -- makes a nice red herring, because of the heavy blow delivered with the hakapik to the captains skull. So, while being killed with a hakapik isn't as sexy as having all your salt harvested through your neck, it's more important to the story, so I think EAS has the edge on this one. [B]Illegal Speed[/B] In EAS, Rider is a drug dealing with a load of drugs to sell -- until he dumps it overboard. In DDH, the first victim Alexander is a meth addict -- and while that gets illegal speed into the story -- and perhaps a red herring for the investigation with the load of drugs and paraphernalia in his room. They are both minor factors in the adventure, so I don't think I prefer one to the other. [B]Secret Shop[/B] In DDH, Sara Middleton runs the secret store for monster hunters out of the island's general store., Later, it seems the store is in the old school building, which everyone is fortifying to try to deal with the Diabla Negra threat. In EAS, the secret shop stretches the "shop" idea a bit -- Faoch "sells" backwards time jumps so the players can try to figure out the mystery again, and the currency he accepts is the secrets of the other passengers. That's pretty fun, and I think I like it a little better than the use in DDH, so we will call this one for EAS. [B]Ethical Dilemma[/B] In EAS, the ethical dilemma is not as clear to me as I would like it to be. At the end of the entry, there's the description of the alternative solution -- the way Rel might be convinced to save herself by freeing everyone. But that doesn't really feel like its a central ethical dilemma. Perhaps the role of the doppelganger itself is meant to be an ethical dilemma, but I find it all weak for this ingredient. In DDH, the story ends with a choice put to the PCS -- they can kill their dying friend and absorb the power of the Heart, or they can refuse, which will force the NPCs to go with plan B, and give it to Rachel. So, that one is clearer and effective, so advantage to DDH. That gives DDH a one-ingredient edge over EAS. Pretty thin, but it's there. [/spoiler] [B] Writing, Presentation, Playability[/B] [spoiler] They're both great as standalone adventures. I want to play both of them. EAS reads like the plot to a murder mystery weekend that would be a whole lot of fun to play. I like the NPCs, the various plotlines, the details of where clues can be found and what can play out, etc. I did find the write-up confusing in parts -- the time loop thing is ALWAYS going to be a challenge to present effectively. One thing I found confusing is the idea that the clock rolls back two hours with each time jump -- but all of the action (except Rel killing the captain) that happens takes place between 10 and 11. And the time jump goes back two hours from the moment that the player sells the secret to Faoch, and that might roll time back even further before 9 pm. It's possible, I suppose, that the players might be able to prevent the captain's murder entirely by being on hand to stop Rel from killing the captain at 7 pm -- and that will require several jumps. It's always fun to think about these loops -- and the idea that this doppelgager PC is going to be able to move around in time and try to solve the murder -- that could be fun play. And it's good that there are a lot of way to imagine saving the day -- stopping the captain's murder is one thing, but getting onto the bridge and diverting the ship is another etc. I think I might have understood more clearly that part of what the adventure is expecting the players to do is gradually step back to earlier timeframes is if there were more events detailed earlier than 10pm. Word count may be the culprit there, but as it stands, everything the players need to figure out, and all of the things they will interact with are in that last hour. So, I think this one is daring, convoluted as any time-jumping adventure must be, and looks like a load of fun. But the writeup has challenges. DDH, is a simpler story, even if that's just by virtue of not adding time travel to a cast of shapeshifters. I like the gathering of old allies, the double monster nature of the story, the whole setup mostly works (although there's some stretches for the sake of ingredient use I could have done without -- again, why does it matter that Alice steals from dying patients?) The adventure feels atmospheric, exciting, playable, and fun. While the name of the demon (diabla negra) might be read as a bit problematic, the reveal, the anticipation of the attack on the schoolhouse, everything just would be a lot of fun to play. [/spoiler] [B]Final Analysis[/B] [spoiler] EAS flies awfully close to the sun for an Iron DM entry -- shapeshifters, time travel, bargains with fey creatures, murder mysteries -- this is not the sort of thing that word limits mix well with. And what has been presented is solid, playable, and fun. DDH takes fewer risks, and it shows -- the adventure is tighter without being too much of a railroad ride. And, it did make somewhat better use of the ingredients, as I read the entries. So, for my selection, I pick Denouement of a Dying Hunter as the better entry, and that means one vote for Wicht as the 2021 Iron DM. [/spoiler] [/QUOTE]
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