IRON DM 2025 Tournament Thread

[Onelung]

Fast Times at High Tide
A Nautical Race Mini-Game for Fantasy TTRPGs

Ingredients: Fast Times, Scary Stickers, Rose-Colored Glasses, Monstrous Carapace, Yuan-Ti Oil, Ante Up

Overview:
The Fast Times race is back!

The buzz this year is unprecedented. Not only are The Iron Masters back after their third consecutive win, but The Warriorz have come out of retirement to reclaim their title!

Per tradition, the third crew are first-timers: The PCs. What is their crew’s name?

A Leg Up:
A fan of the party comes bearing gifts: snacks, cheers, and a unique item: Rose-Colored Glasses. These make the wearer automatically succeed on Morale tests, but they come at a cost: the wearer is unable to detect lies and ill intentions.

Rules:
There are few restrictions for the Fast Times at High Tide race.

Three crews compete for the fastest time. This year, they’ll race down the rapids of the Great Divide, brave jagged boulders at the river’s mouth, and finally sprint to the finish line in the Shallow Sea.

Crews are limited to one ship and three participants.

Magic and underhanded tactics are encouraged!

Ante Up!
Crews bring their own ship to the event. These are the stars of the show and the bounty; by participating, crews agree to Ante Up their ship. Winners take all.

For the sake of simplicity, ships are boiled down to three Stats and their corresponding Parts: Durability (Hull), Navigability (Helm), and Speed (Sails).

Ships need a name, a Strong Stat, a Basic Stat, and a Weak Stat. Strengths and Weaknesses are rolled with (dis)advantage.

Ships will suffer damage; Strong Parts become Basic, Basic become Weak, and Weak become Useless. Tests relying on a Useless Part fail automatically.

The Iron Masters’ “Iron Wind”: Strong Speed, Weak Durability. Secret: their ship has been coated in Yuan-Ti Oil, granting it fire immunity.

The Warriorz’ “M.O.P.”: Strong Navigability, Weak Speed. Secret: their ship is decked out with Scary Stickers (skulls, bones, and deadlines); when a ship tries to overtake The M.O.P., the opposing Pilot must succeed on a Morale Test or freeze.

Race Mechanics:
The race plays out as a mix between a Skill Challenge and a series of contested rolls.

Each Pilot rolls d20s for their Ship (with (dis)advantage when necessary), contested by the other crews’ Pilots. Other members of the crew can do whatever they’d like.

Over the years, a common tactic has emerged: the Pilot has an Assistant (granting advantage / negating disadvantage), and a Saboteur tries to disable the opponents’ crew and/or ship.

Tracking Ship Tokens:
Prepare tokens for each ship. Distances are abstracted as ‘boxes,’ to be tracked on grid paper or similar. Rather than moving tokens forward towards the finish line, Ships fall behind.

Place the tokens at the starting position. After each Section of the race… :

• The winning Ship stays where it is.
• The middle Ship falls behind one box.
• The losing Ship falls behind one box and suffers an additional consequence, as detailed in each Section.

Course Sections:
There are 3 Sections to every Fast Times race. Each Section tests a different Stat.

• The Sprint (Navigability). The first few seconds of the race are key. This year’s race opens on a series of rapids leading to the mouth of the Great Divide.
  • Riding the rapids is no easy feat, testing crew and ship alike; this section tests Navigability.
  • The worst-scoring Ship suffers damage to their Helm.
  • Crew members might even fall overboard.
• The Mouth of the Shallow Sea (Durability). Famously, the mouth of the Great Divide is riddled with jagged boulders and seastacks. Myths claim that these are the spine of a great behemoth’s Monstrous Carapace. This year’s race will prove that this is no myth... As the ships arrive in this section, the titanic armored crustacean that calls the mouth home rises and attacks.
  • Dodging the creature is impossible; this Section tests Durability.
  • The losing Ship suffers damage to their Hull.
  • Crews might have to fight the carapaced behemoth.
• The Whirlpool (Speed). The finish line is in sight! But the events’ organizers have whipped up a little surprise… As the contestants approach the final sprint, a massive whirlpool opens up, revealing an abyss in the seafloor.
  • Going around is out of the question; this Section tests Speed.
  • The losing Ship suffers damage to their Sails.
  • If the losing Ship is already in last place, they are swallowed into the abyss beneath the Shallow Sea.

Winning the Race:
Merely surviving a Fast Times race is worth celebration, but the winning Crew also gets to leave the race with this year's title and a new ship or two to boot!

 

[Onelung]

Wow, the time and word limits are no joke. Did what I could before heading off to the day job. Was fun!

Best of luck @GMMichael, and thanks in advance for the judgement! Looking forward to it.

 

[Fenris-77]

Wow, the time and word limits are no joke. Did what I could before heading off to the day job. Was fun!

Best of luck @GMMichael, and thanks in advance for the judgement! Looking forward to it.

That's why it's Iron DM and not Marshmallow DM.

 

[Gradine]

Please do try to put your commentaries in spoilers until the match is judges! Thank you!

 

[Rune]

Cutting it close, @GMMichael!

Remember, if late, within 1 hour: 675 words.
If within 24 hours late: 525 words.

 

[GMMichael]

The Haul Before the Storm

Ingredients:
Fast Times
Scary Stickers
Rose-Colored Glasses
Monstrous Carapace
Yuan-ti Oil
Ante Up

Background:
Wothersee is a medieval fishing town, situated in a rocky cove that provides residents and fishermen protection from some of the worst anger of the sea gods. Its rocky location and an inland rainforest make it an out-of-the-way destination for most travelers and commerce, but the promise of seafood and pearls is motivation enough for hardy traders to find the town.

A diverse council, largely self-serving and slow-moving, governs Wothersee. This council has currently tabled the concern of a certain fishing boat called the Rosey Pearl, captained by Arla Saltbrow, which set sail seven days ago. Despite a rapidly brewing storm and the ominous predictions of the soothsayers, Arla confidently sailed out for one last haul, only to be marooned by the storm.

When the storm passed, the fishermen of Wothersee resumed their trade, and discovered two things. One, Arla's boat could be seen outside the cove, damaged and hardly seaworthy. Someone on the boat weakly waved a flag of distress. Two, rescuing the Rosey Pearl was beyond the help of the locals, fearing to set sail due to sightings of seaweed hair and barbed tails patrolling the cove.

Resolution:
The goal of rescuing the Rosey Pearl can be accomplished in several ways, but it must be done quickly (two days max) because the damaged boat has lost important cargo, namely, food and fresh water. In addition, floating on a damaged vessel is dangerous if a scylla is near!
Possible solutions include:

• Killing or repelling the scylla.
• Distracting the scylla long enough to rescue the fishermen.
• Bringing food and water to the Rosey Pearl and attempting to wait out the scylla's visit.

Hooks:
PCs can choose from one of many reasons to rescue the Rosey Pearl:

• The crew of the Rosey Pearl includes family or friends.
• The Rosey Pearl set out to harvest pearls, which might become a payment of gratitude for rescue.
• Rescuing the crew might earn the gratitude of the town council.
• A personal vendetta against yuan-ti or seamonsters.

Encounters:
Three important Wothersee characters can help the PCs with their choice of resolution: Wrack Hallfell, Old Koot, and Switch of Rimlock. Additionally, details of the scylla appear here.

Wrack Hallfell:
Known as the hardiest of Wothersee's fishermen, Wrack has a boat that he'll lend to the PCs, with a solid contract for recompense. He knows most of the details of the scylla (see "scylla" later), and some tidbits about Arla Saltbrow as well:

• Arla is an optimistic young captain who's been rapidly making a name for herself and her boat.
• It's possible that her avarice is tied to gambling debts.
• Wrack thinks that Arla had gambling debts coming due, which is the real reason she raced out before the storm. It was fear of creditors, not optimism.
• Scylla are often mistaken for groups of amphibious yuan-ti, due to their long tentacles, and hair-like "beards."

Old Koot:
This weathered, hairy old man shambles his way about the docks offering unintelligible advice to the fisherfolk. A fisherman for most of his life, he went overboard one day, and has never been the same. One rumor is that he encountered a scylla, and survived. Old Koot says and repeats, when asked about a scylla:

• "Ante up." His cryptic advice on confronting a scylla, it means to attack the creature when it raises up, exposing its "front": a soft underbelly.
• "You'n tall." His way of saying "yuan-ti oil," which he wishes he had during his encounter.

Switch of Rimlock:
The oddly-garbed part-time trader, part-time gambler who has earrings that draw her ears upward instead of down. Switch sells various potions and perfumes. PCs can ask her about Arla or yuan-ti oil.

• She praises Arla's optimism in both sailing and gambling, which she thinks borderlines on foolishness.
• She sells yuan-ti oil, which does offer poison resistance, but fails in her promises to resist magic and help befriend snakes.

Scylla:
A squid-like creature which reveals its presence as long, mermaid-like hair flowing through seawater. Its rocky carapace makes it futile to attack it from above while it swims. To feed, it rises up from the surface temporarily to snatch sailors with its six, poisonous, barb-tipped tentacles, and being stung by these makes swimming, and thus survival, very difficult if the creature drags its prey underwater. The scylla is food-motivated, and will relocate in five days if it cannot feed in the cove.

 

[GMMichael]

Wow, the time and word limits are no joke.

You're not kidding! Well played, whatever the outcome

 

[bedir than]

Iron Diem was the really hard one, because even translating 'Diem' as Latin for 'day' it ... kinda meant nothing.

I went towards an Into the Badlands vibe more than Twilight: 2000 with the Iron Day.
And looking back having the Petrol reward minimized the Iron Diem.

One thing I really enjoyed about this exercise was getting free editing advice.


Also, the D&D meetings Global Security talk was to nearly 100 people, half who took a d20 home. But then they learned that I really wanted them to do Honey Heist because it's simple and easy. My company is going to get at least one trial (sampling of our services) from the speech which had nothing to do with our product at all.

 

[Rune]

Judgement for Round 1, Match 3: Onelung vs GMMichael


Overview
With Onelung’s Fast Times at High Tide (henceforth referred to as “Tide”) and GMMichael’s The Haul Before the Storm (“Haul”) we have nautical adventures distinct in tone, style, and mechanics.

“Tide” is really a mini-game scenario, perhaps best suited for a one-shot or a change of pace within an ongoing campaign. It is sleek and uncomplicated, with rules that emphasize quick play as is thematically appropriate. Its structure is quite linear, but that kind of plays into the simplicity of the race.

“Haul” is a more traditional short adventure with clear stakes, diverse hooks, and some potential for variation in the PCs’ approach to navigating the adventure. The setup is also pretty simple, but the presentation is not linear.

Is linearity an inherently bad quality in an adventure? No. It is inherently limiting, but sometimes that’s what the adventure calls for.


Hooks and Stakes
How do we get into these adventures? “Haul” provides several pretty solid hooks, but all of them require that the PCs are already in town and the only reason given for that is that hardy adventurers like seafood and pearls. In contrast, “Tide” provides no hook at all; the PCs are assumed to be entered into the race and assumed to have their own race-worthy ship.

But the stakes are strong. The winner gets to keep the losers’ ships (if they survive – which at least one seems likely not to). Any other awards are unknown to me, as the last ten words of the entry were over the limit and chopped off.

The stakes of “Haul” are also strong, if less personally relevant to the PCs. The stranded survivors need rescuing and are running out of time. Further, the local sea monster is causing problems, so resolving that issue would be good, too.


Structure
“Haul” seems to assume that the PCs are going to investigate the town before heading out to rescue the fisherfolk. To some extent, they’ll need to do that just to know about it. After that, they’ll probably need to just to increase their chances against the scylla (and acquire a boat). We aren’t given much guidance on how to deliver that information, which gives a moderately skilled DM plenty of flexibility, but may confound a new one.

That said, the bones of this adventure are solid and it rewards out-of-the-box players with some fun puzzle pieces to fit together as they will. In particular, making the scylla an obstacle that need not be killed and that can be avoided (maybe) or driven off opens up their options quite a bit. The implication that the only way to do battle is to lure it out using someone (themselves or other) as bait is particularly nice. If I were to run this adventure, I might flesh it out a little, but I don’t think I’d need to change anything.

“Tide” is kind of a set piece in three stages. Its straightforward approach would make for a fun evening of gaming and is even, perhaps, replayable. Fitting it into an ongoing campaign might be a challenge.

In the first place, it requires a party of exactly three, which is likely smaller than the standard size. It assumes that the PCs know about and enter the competition before the start. That’s not insurmountable, but would certainly take a little effort to set up in advance.

Finally, they need to have their own ship. Most parties probably don’t, I’d wager. Of course, a loaner from a patron or sponsor could pretty easily handle this (while adding an interesting dynamic to the stakes of losing). But that’s yet more setup required with no guidance within the entry.

Past that, the race is fundamentally simple, designed to be overlaid on top of an existing ruleset with no extraneous clutter. That the contestants are expected to sabotage each other is fun – likely the source of most of the fun of the whole thing. It would have been nice to have some examples of how the opponent crews went about that. I’m not sure what would need to be cut to make room for them, but I think the entry would have been strengthened thereby.

But what we have seems very playable and quickly resolved. I would feel comfortable pulling it out when a player didn’t show if I invested a little work into it ahead of time.

Overall, I think both entries offer strong experiences (not necessarily adventures), but “Haul” slightly more so. Which brings us to:


Ingredients

Fast Times
“Tide” uses this ingredient as the means of determining a winner. I wonder why the race uses this method when the contestants are all out on the water together (so they can sabotage each other, of course). Fundamentally, the first across the finish line wins; the times don’t really matter. But looking past that, this ingredient is all that matters, from start to finish.

“Haul” includes a time-pressure element to the rescue that is also ever-present. The fact that the survivors are without food and water and are therefore forced to fast is a playful twist. That said, I’m not sure how the plurality of the fast times matters.

Both uses of the ingredient are solid, but I think “Tide” comes out ever so slightly in the lead.


Scary Stickers
“Haul” uses this ingredient as a poison-dealing attack that the scylla uses on its prey. As such, the PCs have reason to possibly seek out a form of poison resistance, which may lead them to the Yuan-ti Oil ingredient. Interweaving the ingredients is generally a good thing, as the practice tends to strengthen the ingredients used in the weave.

“Tide” does this too. The Scary Stickers here are (apparently magical?) hull decorations that force any ship attempting to pass them to make a Morale check (in whatever form that takes, I suppose) or freeze. The Rose-Colored Glasses can help that check succeed.

On the surface, these usages are pretty much equivalent. But the stickers in “Tide” could easily be replaced with some other kind of decoration (why not a scary figurehead, for example?). Changing the scylla’s stickers in “Haul” would change the entire way the monster operates. “Haul” wins this one.


Rose-Colored Glasses
These are a handy tool (with a possibly relevant drawback) that (one of) the PCs may or may not use in “Tide”. It’s a pretty decent usage of the ingredient.

In “Haul”, I’m not even sure where this ingredient appears. If it refers to Arla’s optimism, the adventure goes out of its way to suggest that’s not her real motivation. This is an interesting layer to the adventure, but doesn’t work for the ingredient.

Another one for “Tide”.


Monstrous Carapace
I suspect we have this ingredient to thank for the nautical setting of both adventures. Both (naturally) use the monster to pose a significant obstacle and threat. Neither can be ignored.

The actual carapace matters much more to the scylla in “Haul” than to the monster in “Tide”, however. In the latter, it is an obstacle. In the former, the carapace is part of the puzzle of how to deal with the monster.

“Haul” has this one with a strong usage.


Yuan-ti Oil
“Tide” has this in the form of fire immunity applied to an opponent vessel. Why Yuan-ti? Good question. Seems like something like brown mold would be better. Further, the relevance to the PCs is questionable. If they try to use fire against the ship, they still won’t know why it doesn’t work.

Meanwhile, “Haul” is pretty clever with this ingredient. It also doesn’t really need to be from a Yuan-ti, but at least poison resistance is thematically relevant. And as a tool to aid the PCs in dealing with the scylla, it is also potentially quite relevant within the adventure. The addition of the overpromised potency helps tie it in with its thematic root, snake oil. If only the things it was falsely alleged to ward against were actually threats presented in the adventure. Ah well.

“Haul” still uses this one better.


Ante Up
I’ve gotta say, “Haul” confused me with this one. Even exploring ante as a prefix meaning “before” (as in, antebellum or antepenultimate), I couldn’t connect the vulnerable underbelly of the scylla with the phrase.

But then it occurred to me that there actually is an ante in that situation, or at least likely will be. The scylla is pretty much going to have to be lured to the surface to be dealt with. It is food-motivated and the adventure therefor strongly implies that someone will likely end up used as bait. An ante. On the surface (up). Having discovered this interpretation, I must say I rather like the use of the ingredient, if not so much its presentation.

However, “Tide” is just better here. The ante provides the motivation for – and stakes of – the entire adventure. As such, it is intrinsically intertwined with the Fast Times ingredient and the entire shape of the entry. Very strong.

Spoiler: Final Judgement

That’s an even split on ingredients. Thus, The Haul Before the Storm wins this match.

Onelung, this was an outstanding inaugural showing. Your entry was polished, clean, and overall impressive. You took a gamble with the format and this time it – just barely – came up short.

If I have any advice for you, it is this: don’t overcorrect. Don’t let this loss convince you not to take such gambles in the future. You have good instincts. You could easily have won with this entry (and with another judge, might have). I expect to see you advance through future tournaments because you definitely have the goods.

This time, however, GMMichael advances to round 2. Congratulations!

 

[Onelung]

Thank you very much for the judgement and kind words @Rune, and congratulations on the win @GMMichael ! Much deserved

I definitely agree with all of your critiques. A lot I would have done differently given more time and space, but it was such a fun exercise. I had a blast and will continue to enjoy reading everyone's entries. Learning a lot. I'll be back in the future for sure!