Radiating Gnome
Adventurer
Round 3: Snarf Zagyg vs. Whizbang Dustyboots
All right, so here we go. Round 3. Perhaps the ugliest set of ingredients I’ve seen. Should be a blast to judge, right?Damn. Judging this may be harder than having to write something for those ingredients. These entries are both excellent.
But, the only way to begin is by beginning, so here we go. Notes from a Tavern (Notes) vs. The Dungeon at the End of the Universe (Dungeon).
Ingredients
To start off with, let’s get this out of the way — the ingredient use in this round I found to be mostly superb. I’ve been grouchy in past judgments, and it makes me feel like maybe my heart isn’t really two sizes too small, as I read this and enjoy the presentation of the difficult ingredients. But let's do the rundown.- Guardian Goose — both had the ingredient. in Notes, the Goose is one of the forces that keep the player characters trapped in the tavern. In Dungeon, the goose is Ansero, the Star Goose/swan, the terror of the Bullywugs. I think I prefer Ansero because he has more development and is a more significant part of the story, but it’s a slight edge for Dungeon.
- Flooded Cavern — in Dungeon, the second stage of the adventure takes place in the Demiplane Alyanabie Almajida, full of flooded caverns and tunnels. In Notes, the flooded cavern is under the tavern and is full of mystery and despair. They’re both solid uses and excellent execution. No advantage either way.
- Hollow Peg-Leg — In Notes, the Peg Leg is Steppenwolf’s, it contains a pointless treasure map. In Dungeon, it’s the leg of Ansero, and it leads inside the Goose and into the next plane of the adventure. At first glance, I had a preference for Ansero, and I think that’s very strong, but the meta-hopelessness of Steppenwolf’s treasure is also very, very good, and I like what it does for the theme of the piece. I think they’re both strong enough to call this one a wash as well.
- Elemental Orchestra — I laughed out loud, in Notes, at Earth, Wind, and Fire. Meanwhile, the presence of the Elemental Orchestra in Dungeon was a rare element that felt a little tacked on and forced. The advantage here goes to Notes.
- Legendary Door — I think Notes has this one too, but by a hair. The door in the Stronghold plane is very good, and very important, and I like how it works, but in Notes the magic of the door that admits adventurers and traps the NPC-player characters is a cornerstone of the whole meta mess. Loved it. So, Notes here, too.
- Cured Orc — Dungeon’s enlightened Orc should have taken this against all opposition, but who could have seen the charcuterie orc coming? Advantage to Notes.
- Time and Space Bomb — both had this one, but I think that Dungeon’s implementation was stronger. I’m really intrigued by that last setting. By the layers of past beings trying to reset all of existence again — wild. Advantage to Dungeon.
- Captivating Toy - in Notes, I think the captivating toy is the meta-scape of the game itself. In Dungeon, it’s the brass sphere the First Orc offers as a distraction. They’re both good, both here. I’ll call this one a wash, too.
Creativity, Playability, and Which One Made Me Google Stuff the Most
Neither of these entries is lacking in serious creativity. There’s a temptation to see the metascape of Notes as “easy” because it’s got its tongue planted so far into its cheek there may not be any cheek left to speak of. And yet, the game is about the game within the world of the people who work on and play the game and try to live lives outside the game… you can hold it up to the light and it doesn’t entirely fall apart.Dungeon, by going with a more traditional dungeon structure and format —especially as a 20th-level adventure — presents a sort of cosmic space where all things can exist, and all sorts of things are possible, and yet it is tight and focused in it’s own way — and as I said I am really intrigued by the way the previous existences are collapsed on each other in the last scene.
So, they’re both out there, both risky, flying just close enough but not too close to two very different suns.
One needs to be better. And, in the end, the thing that makes me prefer one to the other is an aspect of the two stories that doesn’t really involve those two distant suns, or the struggle to juggle so many ingredients.
Final Judgement
So, here’s the thing. Notes is a game that is a meta contest that explores and explodes the inanity of the gaming world. The players are each trying to achieve a goal, competing by making rules for a special version of cynical D&D-related Calvinball. And when the saloon doors close behind the first batch of adventurers and the player character faceless NPCs start to play — from that point on the game is driven by those characters, those players, and not much else. All kinds of endings are possible.
Meanwhile, in Dungeon, the party of high-level adventurers is pursuing Malgojo, and most of what we get in the adventure is following along, discovering story at least as much as making it.
In notes, a game about ennui and helplessness, what matters is the way the players take control of the game. In Dungeon a game of the highest-powered characters, what matters is … very little. Either the players fail (unlikely) and nothing changes, or they succeed and the cycle begins all over again. At least in Notes, the players know they’re trapped.
It’s super hard to make a comparison between these two because Notes is so Meta, but at the end of the day, I’m more interested in seeing what happens at the end of Notes than I am to see what happens at the end of Dungeon — because I know what will happen at the end of Dungeon in a way that I don’t for Notes.
So, that’s my decision, then. Maybe I’m the outlier again, but I’m casting my vote for Notes from a Tavern, by Snarf Zagyg.
Meanwhile, in Dungeon, the party of high-level adventurers is pursuing Malgojo, and most of what we get in the adventure is following along, discovering story at least as much as making it.
In notes, a game about ennui and helplessness, what matters is the way the players take control of the game. In Dungeon a game of the highest-powered characters, what matters is … very little. Either the players fail (unlikely) and nothing changes, or they succeed and the cycle begins all over again. At least in Notes, the players know they’re trapped.
It’s super hard to make a comparison between these two because Notes is so Meta, but at the end of the day, I’m more interested in seeing what happens at the end of Notes than I am to see what happens at the end of Dungeon — because I know what will happen at the end of Dungeon in a way that I don’t for Notes.
So, that’s my decision, then. Maybe I’m the outlier again, but I’m casting my vote for Notes from a Tavern, by Snarf Zagyg.
Thank you, everyone, for the chance to be a Judge once again.
-rg