Urgh, I ran out of time and I'm sorry to submit something so rushed and half-baked. That definitely needed another few hours of work and an editing pass. Not happy with it at all, even though I think the core idea is good. Too much scene-setting, not enough action, and too many of the ingredients didn't get enough time front and centre. And worse still, I didn't even remember to LABEL Harsh Reality (the realisation on the part of the locals that the Company was going to let them rot on Gaharne forever). So I'm a big fat zero on that ingredient already. I think I can write this one off as a loss.
I HAVE to ask though - @Gradine especially. Was it INTENTIONAL that I was given Rampaging Gnomes as an ingredient, given I've had that exact same ingredient before in a previous Iron DM, that you in fact judged? IRON DM 2020 Tournament Thread
So, for those of you who are new, a quick breakdown of how judging will work from this point forward.
Each judge will be posting their judgment individually and independently. We will not be reading each other's judgements as we do so. Each judge will be able to offer one vote towards advancement. Two votes mean you're on the final round!
I'll be offering the third and final judgment, and will only read the other judgements after I have posted. I will then make a post to announce the winner.
Rune’s Judgement for Round 2, Match 1: humble minion vs. AustinHolm
Overview
I kind of love it when two competing entries could dovetail together into a single adventure. This isn’t quite that. Despite using different systems, both entries so seamlessly fall into their shared genre that they could be easily run back to back using one system or the other. That kind of thing is a cool byproduct that sometimes happens with a pool of shared ingredients. But that’s not what this tournament is about. Let’s get into it.
Hooks and Stakes
AusinHolm’s So Real It Burns (henceforth, “Burns”) and humble minion’s Forgotten Meat (“Meat”) both offer DNA recovery missions that will likely go from investigation to chaotic action. Both use hooks so similar they are practically parallel. Both assume the PCs are working for a wealthy/powerful patron and simply are expected to do the job. As fits the genre.
As such, the stakes for both adventures go initially from “get paid” to “hopefully survive and maybe save some people and maybe also get paid.” Pretty solid.
Structure
“Burns” leans more into its investigative structure (with its very compelling mystery) and an underlying subtle horror that might give way to a fiery climax if the PCs do the kinds of aggressive investigation that PCs tend to do. Meanwhile, “Meat” is inevitably going to switch to violent horror as soon as the xenomorph gets free and starts doing what they do.
Both entries are likely to have bleak outcomes, even if victorious. Saving the settlers in “Burns” may well be against their will and will probably not lead to their happiness. Returning the part-alien DNA of the clones to the PCs’ patron also can’t be a good outcome in the long run.
“Meat” forces its PCs to abandon most (if not all) of the colonists simply because the Company (Weyland-Yutani?) has deemed their rescue too expensive. Presumably, the PCs’ ability to save any of them (in a non-digitized form) would depend on how many cryopods they free up by dying. If that happens, the surviving PCs are presented a delicious moral dilemma as they have to figure out who gets saved and who doesn’t. All this assumes, of course, that the xenomorph and the NOMs have left any of the colonists alive.
This is all good stuff. I would very much like to run both of these adventures. However, one of them is considerably more polished in presentation than the other and, thus, would likely take less preparation from the GM to do so.
Add to that polish such sections as “Countermeasures” with clearly presented truly complicating and likely twists. It looks like “Burns” takes the lead, here (although I will point out that “Meat” also has some very good complications – for example: the NOMs targeting the only available effective weapons that can be used against a xenomorph).
Except: one thing is bugging me. If the alien setup requires the human/clones’ psychic drama to function and even keep the satellite in orbit, how did it do so for so long before the settlers showed up (it is ancient, after all!)? I don’t have an easy answer to this and it forces me to question which entry truly would be easier to prep.
I guess I’ll have to revisit this if the ingredients don’t present a clear lead.
Ingredients
Flaming Spirits
“Burns” gives us two variants of this ingredient. Katrina appears as a flaming ghost because of an illusion and is neither really flaming, nor actually even dead. The PCs also will likely be made to appear as such during the course of the adventure. Felicity and Robert are clones of the original and likely only to be flaming when (if) the atmosphere ignites. They are not ghosts.
Possibly, the hoarded memories could count as ghosts. But, as they are located underground, I’m not certain how likely they will ever be aflame. I think maybe this ingredient would have been stronger if the memory angle had been better developed and the others either less emphasized or dropped altogether.
On the other hand, the flaming spirits of “Meat” are much more straightforward. They are an essential weapon against the xenomorph and a crucial resource to be protected when the NOMs turn on the colonists (and PCs). As such, “Meat” uses this ingredient best.
Harsh Reality
“Meat” is far less clear with this one. Presumably, the entire situation being covered up by the Company through Miss Primrose is meant to fit, but a number of situations therein might apply: the Company’s callous abandonment, the hibernating xenomorph, Miss Primrose’s programming, or the NOMs’ programming.
In “Burns” we have a cultivated illusion that has an underlying reality that cycles endlessly (or at least indefinitely) through high passion and murder. And if that cycle is interrupted, the atmosphere ignites. That’s harsh.
“Burns” has this one.
Gelatinous Pyramid
There are numerous gelatinous pyramids in “Burns”. The satellite, the knowledge hoard, the healing pyramids. Even the aliens, themselves. The ingredient, of course, is singular, so I suppose I should look for one of prime importance, but I’m not sure I can find one. They all fulfill their roles in the adventure.
Does it matter that they are gelatinous? It matters more that they are flammable, but the psychic jelly works. Why pyramids? I guess the best answer is why not? That doesn’t usually indicate irreplaceability of an element, but the fact that the shape makes garden gnomes an ideal illusion for the aliens is fun.
“Meat” gives a big pile of (mostly) bovine bodyparts that hides the xenomorph amidst its geletanized and frozen midst (as well as Miss Primrose’s secrets). That it isn’t, strictly speaking, a pyramid is overshadowed by the necessity that its massive and gelatinously conglomorated pile-shape influences the adventure. It must be thawed for the PCs to carry out their mission. Thus, this ingredient is crucial to the shape of the adventure and, therefore, better.
Dead to the World
“Meat” gives us an entire colony that has been written off by the Company and therefore is effectively dead to the world, assuming the world means everyone outside of the colony. That the PCs probably can’t save them adds significance to the ingredient. It’s good.
“Burns” gives us Katrina, who is presumed dead (aided by the aliens’ illusions to keep her isolated from their psy-garden). Her ability to ward her mind from the aliens’ illusions make her an important piece of the puzzle, especially because the PCs are going to need that protection.
This one looks like a draw.
Ancient Satellite
“Burns” gives us the orbiting pyramid that will likely crash into the atmosphere and ignite it. Additionally, the PCs will likely see and try to interact with it at the start, which will kick the chaos off pretty early in the adventure. That’s fun. The ancientness of it (and all of the alien setup) adds a fun layer to the mystery of the entry, but does raise the question I alluded to earlier (and one lesser question I will get to in a bit).
“Meat” sets its colony on an asteroid, which is ancient, but not significant. And not a satellite, either.
“Burns” takes this one handily.
Knowledge Hoarder
We get Miss Primrose in “Meat” keeping Company secrets from the colonists and taking steps to ensure they stay secret. This is an important element of the adventure, but they aren’t really being hoarded (that is, kept for the sake of being possessed or for their value).
The knowledge hoarded in “Burns” actually is valuable to the aliens (and will be to the PCs even after the adventure is concluded). That said, the relevance to the shape of the adventure seems a little less than in “Meat”.
I was going to give this one to “Burns”, but I think this one is a draw, too.
Rampaging Gnomes
The NOMs in “Meat” are an excellent additional betrayal of the Company. Their inevitable rampage will be glorious. But they are not gnomes. Their shape, size, and appearance somewhat resembling them has no real significance.
Of course, the aliens in “Burns” also are not gnomes. That they appear as such does at least matter, somewhat, though: they are intended to be ignored by the settlers and (once you get past the inherent creepiness of a bunch of garden gnomes placed all over your settlement) they pretty easily could be. Although – I do wonder what the settlers thought when they first got there and the gnomes were already there. Maybe they took on some other appearance at first?
At any rate, “Burns” fits better here.
Here we go.
“Burns” implements its ingredients better on the whole, but not by much. Even if the two adventures are equivalently good (which I think is the case, given the verisimilitudinous lapses it presents amidst its polish), So Real It Burns comes out ahead in this judgement.
As I write this, I do not know where the other judges will fall. No matter the outcome, I must emphasize that both of these entries are excellent.
I’m not sure I have much to offer in the way of advice for either contestant. humble minion is, of course, a previous IRON DM and, as such, has proven to know how to play this game. This entry seems like it might have been a little rushed, but that’s just how it goes sometimes. Life happens or inspiration strikes late. On the other hand, AustinHolm, you clearly get it. Even if you don’t advance, I’m sure you’ll do well in future tournaments.
That said, to whomever of you does advance this time, I offer a warning: as you get deeper into this tournament, the ingredients increase in importance. This is just a natural (and intentional) byproduct of their increasing number. Do with that information what you will.
FitzTheRuke’s Judgement for Round Two, Match One: AustinHolm vs Humble Minion.
Following the Rules
Both @AustinHolm’s So Real It Burns (henceforth “Burns”) and @humble minion’s Forgotten Meat (“Meat”) came in on time and under word-limit, cutting it close on one or the other.
This part’s a tie.
Readability & Structure
Both adventures are well-written and entertaining. I enjoyed both quite a bit.
I had a few very minor gripes with gripes with some of Burns' organization when I first read it, but after reading it a few times, I'm not sure that I remember exactly what they were specifically.
Meat has missing periods, the occasional words that are meant to be another word, or other absolutely extremely minor editorial mistakes (truly – this is terrible nit-picking, but I have an editor's eye and can't not see it.)
A teeny tiny bump to Burns.
Playing the Adventures
Or at least, how I imagine they would play. Honestly, both seem like they’d be fun. I’ve never played Mothership, nor an Alien RPG, but I can imagine how both would work. They’re surprisingly similar – the PCs arrive by spaceship to a working-class settlement, interact with the locals, discover a mystery, find themselves in danger, and work to escape. The details are very different, though.
Ultimately, Meat seems a little bit too scripted – the events happen the way they happen with very little that the PCs can do, even to rearrange their order. The PCs simply survive the scenario, or they don’t. It’s a very well-done Alien story, and it would probably come together as very fun to play and evokes the typical Alien scenario while being its own thing. I like it, but Burns slightly beats it in this category for having what I can imagine to be more room for the players to alter the course of events.
Another small bump to Burns.
Ingredients Usage
Of course, the most important thing is the use of ingredients. Let’s see how they do:
Flaming Spirits
In Burns, we have a multi-use: The presumed-dead Katrina has an alien-imposed psychic glamour that makes her appear as a flaming ghost, but she’s also spent thirty years making moonshine, which keeps her free of the alien’s psychic influence (by being drunk all the time). To top it off, her booze-still is likely to go boom, and even if it doesn’t, the PCs can use it for its Molotov Cocktails. Not all the uses are strong (the psychic glamour could have theoretically made her look like anything, or possibly even erase her) but they definitely get the job done. There’s ultimately little way to avoid the adventure containing “spirits” which are “on fire”.
In Meat, we also have burning booze, in the form of Flamethrowers improvised using “Heckfire Hooch”. It’s fun, but by comparison feels a little tacked on. Besides, in an Alien game, would the Agents of the Company have need to improvise weapons? They might, if it was forced on them, but I feel like players sitting down to play an Alien game would want at least a few of them to be decked out with weapons, even if the scenario pretends that they don’t know that they’re going to run into Xenomorphs. The players know.
One might question if the same should be true for Burns, and it’s a good point, but those PCs are there to investigate a murder that happened thirty years prior, to inform the plot of a docu-drama! Unlike Company folk in the Alien franchise, I can imagine them being much less prepared for the events that transpire.
I’ll give another bump to Burns.
Harsh Reality
In Burns, we have another psychic glamour – on the whole colony, which appears to look just like it would have thirty years ago, a small farming colony just getting started. In truth, it is thirty years gone to ruin, fed upon by alien slime.
In Meat, well, the reality there is pretty harsh, I suppose, but I’m not sure that I spot a more specific use of the ingredient. In fact, as I see it, one of the drawbacks to calling out your own uses of the ingredients by explicitly naming them in (brackets), is that when you fail to do so, it looks like the ingredient is missing, when it’s not really. When I first wrote Iron DM entries, I did that too, and I was essentially told to cut it out by a judge (I don’t remember who). IIRC, the advice was “Trust the Judge to be able to find your ingredients. If they can’t, then you probably haven’t done a good job with them”. Of course, we judges are also fallible, but I admit, I feel like the “calling it out” takes me out of the narrative. It’s also a crutch – I may find that I quickly search for the spot where you call it out and miss your more expansive use of the ingredient elsewhere. Or, like this one, find trouble finding it because you didn’t call it out, when I would otherwise read the whole thing through with an eye out for just that single ingredient.
All that said, I’m giving it to Burns again.
I’m a little surprised at this point, because I want to make it clear – I really like Meat. It’s a matter of fine degree.
Gelatinous Pyramid
Burns has multiple distinct gelatinous pyramids. I want to make it clear here that generally more doesn’t equate to better. That said, I can’t find too much fault with these. Sure, it’s convenient that they look like gnomes but are really pyramids, they are somehow gelatinous, but at the same time flammable. I guess that might be the weakest part of this ingredient - why gelatinous; why pyramids? They don’t really shapeshift into gnomes, they just make you think that they look like them. And they are only in the shape of pyramids because the text says so. They could probably be any shape at all and otherwise be the same. They also ultimately serve as multiple ingredients, as we shall see.
In Meat, we have a Fatberg in the “Larder”. It appears to be a pyramid simply because the (let’s call it) “material” drops down a chute and piles up that way. It’s appropriately disgusting for the horrific tone of the adventure, and it’s where we find our Xenomorph, so it’s important for the plot.
That’s one goes to Meat.
Dead to the World
In Burns, we have Katrina. She was thought to be dead even before the Massacre and has been drunk for 30 years. She’s effectively been “Dead to the World” for years, sure.
In Meat, the Asteroid staff is expecting to get paid out and go home eventually, but the company has (without telling anyone, naturally) decided that it’s too expensive, and they’ve abandoned them. The PCs are the last ship in and out, and they’re ostensibly there for one last cargo pickup. They’re certainly dead, and the world has forgotten them, yet still it feels not quite as strong as it ought to be to me.
Here I’m giving a very, very weak bump to Burns.
Ancient Satellite
Burns has an upside-down pyramid in orbit. The PCs can dock with it, in which case they’ll find out that it’s not the technological satellite that it appears to be, but rather part of the alien collective. It’s not entirely clear what role it plays, but PCs can find clues here. Also, they can blow it up. Unfortunately, it seems possible that they could blow it up as the very first thing that they would do when they arrive on the scene. (I know players who would do this). This would derail most of the rest of the scenario. But as an ingredient, it’s fine, if not spectacular. It’s only “Ancient” because we are told that it is.
Meat’s Satellite, we’re told is Ancient, and it has the feel of being so – it’s a mining asteroid that is running dry. It’s a space rock, which are ancient by their nature, but also it seems that it’s been mined for a long time. It’s simple, but it works.
I give the edge here to Meat.
Knowledge Hoarder
In Burns, we have the underground pyramid. Twin to the satellite, and I suppose, some kind of parent or god-figure to the smaller, gnomish creatures. It extracts memories (skills), and the PCs can, I think, gain some of the colonist’s abilities, or perhaps lose some of their own. I think it’s pretty clever.
In Meat, our Knowledge Hoarder is Miss Primrose, the Company Synth, who knows more than anyone else about what’s going on and keeps it to herself. While this is typical for Alien, it seems that her twist is that the NPCs are really fond of her. If I were running it, I’d try to make that true for the PCs as well.
I’ll call this a tie.
Rampaging Gnomes
Burns’ Gnomes go on a Rampage if the PCs set fire to either of the bigger pyramids, which seems likely to happen either at the very beginning, or (hopefully more likely) after most of the mysteries have been solved. They burn and thrash and chase. Works for me.
In Meat, the Non-Organic Mineworkers (NOMs, pronounced Gnomes) are reprogrammed by the Company Computers to protect the Xenomorph asset over their human companions. They destroy parts of the facility and attack anyone trying to defend themselves against the Alien. It’s not strong, but it does the trick.
This one’s also a tie.
In Conclusion
Adding it all up, it appears that my vote is for @AustinHolm to move forward to Round Three.
I'm not sure that I could have guessed it going in - I liked both entries enough to have not had a favorite between them when I started writing this judgement (a few days ago now).
I look forward to seeing what my fellow judges have to say!
It happens. Between your tight-for-time posting and some minor inconsistencies, I was pretty sure that you had to rush to post it. I've been there. Heck, I both took a lot of time with the judgement AND felt like I rushed it myself!
I didn't even remember to LABEL Harsh Reality (the realisation on the part of the locals that the Company was going to let them rot on Gaharne forever).
Labels don't count for or against you either way. Personally, I don't like them (I think that I mention it in my judgement). IIRC I was told that if they aren't strong enough for us to find, then they aren't strong enough. That said, I absolutely understand the urge to try to be on the same page with the judges! Also: Another judge might disagree with me. And I may be misremembering the advice I was given entirely.
I HAVE to ask though - @Gradine especially. Was it INTENTIONAL that I was given Rampaging Gnomes as an ingredient, given I've had that exact same ingredient before in a previous Iron DM, that you in fact judged? IRON DM 2020 Tournament Thread
Both So Real it Burns (hereafter referred to as "Burns") and Forgotten Meat (hereafter "Meat") were turned in on time and under the 1500 word count limit. Both entries remains unedited, and all other tournament rules appear to have been well followed. Full marks for both.
Which brings us to readability. "Burns" is a well organized adventure that lacked, to me, any noticeable grammatical or spelling issues. "Meat" is just a tad more haphazardly organized, with a few noticeable grammatical errors and typos. For readability, I have to give a slight nod to "Burns" here.
Adventure Flow & Potential
This is my subjective "what did I generally like/dislike about the adventures" section of the judgment.
First off, I'd like to note that in the Judges' chat, after we completed this ingredient set but before I posted them, I added the following gif:
So this is just me noting: called it.
"Burns" and "Meat" both follow remarkably similar structures; there is a human colony where Bad Things(TM) are happening. In "Burns" the Bad Things are caused by the aliens themselves; in "Meat" it's mostly the Company and its assets (typical of the Alien franchise, really). Things are not at all what they seem, details are being hidden, the people in the know are difficult to get that knowledge from, the mines hold hidden dangers, and it all culminates in a chaotic attempt at flight.
The are many differences, of course, in the individual details, but the reason I bring up these similarities is because these are both incredible adventures. Might be some of the most engaging adventures I've read in these competitions. Definitely anthology worthy. Both are sure to be extremely tense, paranoia-filled investigations as the who and what to trust becomes increasingly foggier. I describe them together because, quite simply, I don't know how to choose one over the other. Both of our contestants should be extremely proud of what they've put before us today. I can't even suggest a hint of a lean in either direction. I want to run them both.
As usual, this will likely be decided by the ingredients.
The Ingredients
I want to reiterate that again, these are both exemplary adventures. The flipside to that is that with both adventures being so equally strong, I feel that in order to really determine a winner I'm going to have to get really rigorous with how I judge the ingredient usages. Which adventure will come out on top? I write these judgments linearly, so I haven't the foggiest idea. Let's find out together, shall we?
Flaming Spirits
I'm glad that both entries caught on to the double-entendre meaning of this ingredient. Booze is flammable, and aliens so often seem have a weakness to fire. Both alcohol stocks are tied to essential NPCs that the players will want to have on their sides when things break bad. "Burns" gives us both sides of the double entendre, at the same time, which is great. I was initially a little bit skeptical of why the illusions people were seeing were of flaming spirits, but the tie to what the colonists think happened to Katrina (ie, she burned to death), along with the very useful stash of moonstone (useful for both igniting and for drinking to resist the psychic illusions) helps turn an otherwise weakly utilized ingredient into a strong one. We have some non-alcoholic spirits mentioned in "Meat", with the naming of the NOMs and the digitized spirits of the drag queens-
...
God damnit. I just got it.
<sigh>
Yeah, so... I'm gonna call this one a tie for now.
Harsh Reality
Well, this is really the crux of both entries, isn't it? With "Burns" we have the truth of what's really been happening to the colonists all this time. This ties into the central structure of the adventure's plot, and the players will have to confront it. Meanwhile, in "Meat", this is the reality that the remaining colonists aren't going to get to leave, and are meant to simply just die there. This ties into so many different complicating factors within the plot, from the missing colonists (a lovely misdirect as the xenomorph isn't actually responsible for any until it hatches), to Miss Primrose's coverups, to the remaining colonists potentially trying to steal the players' ship. "Burns'" use here is very strong; "Meat's" is just stronger.
Gelatinous Pyramid
This is the point where we judges really start to narrow down every piece of an ingredient to judge an entry's usage. Does the Pyramid being Gelatinous matter so much that if the ingredient was Skeletal Pyramid or Meat Pyramid or Smooth Pyramid would it alter the nature of the adventure? Or what if the ingredient was Gelatinous Sphere? Or Gelatinous Cube? "Meat" gives us, well, the Meat Pyramid. Both words in the ingredient here is a stretch. Is a thawing block of decaying organic waste gelatinous? Maybe? It's a stretch. And I think the shape is a bigger stretch. Full corpses I could maybe see stacking neatly into something resembling a pyramid's shape (though "hill" or "pile" would be better suited), but we're having this called out as mostly as drainage and detritus. I imagine the pile would have ended up a fair bit flatter than a pyramid shape.
Still, a stretch is going to be better than being entirely non-essential at all. I feel like I could replace the Gelatinous Pyramids from "Burns" and end up with the roughly the same adventure, just with a differently shaped/composed central structure. I was willing to give that the aliens being gelatinous made sense due to the shape-shifting, but they aren't really shape-shifting, are they? They're mostly emanating psychic illusions.
I think I have to give this one to "Meat".
Dead to the World
I really like how this is used in both entries. Both entries tie this ingredient together with Harsh Reality to set the stage for a fun and chaotic finale. If I had to pick a slightly better usage here I'd lean towards "Burns" slightly in the way that Katrina's presence subverts the expectation that the ingredient provides. She is dead to the world, but it turns out she's not literally dead, and in fact in central to resolving the mystery here.
Ancient Satelite
Once again we have very similarly used ingredients here. Both entries feature a satelite orbiting a world originally primed for farming/ranching. I never get a sense of what, exactly, makes either satelite all that ancient, however. Sure, in "Meat" the inhabitants of satelite are aging, and it's surely been mining there for a while, but that hardly passes the bar for "Ancient". Meanwhile, in "Burns", sure, the satelite and aliens have been on the planet for three million years, which definitely qualifies for "Ancient". But did it need to be that old? Would anything change if the aliens were newer arrivals? Or even if they arrived after the colonist? I don't think age the satelite would change anything about the adventure.
Ultimately, this one comes down to the Satelite being the stage for most of the action in "Meat", whereas in "Burns" it is a minor anomaly, a mystery, on the way to the main location of the adventure. Sure, the prospect of its flaming wreckage crashing down onto the planet adds some fun chaos to the finale, but not enough to give it the edge over the pure centrality of the satelite in "Burns".
Knowledge Hoarder
I really like how this is utilized in both entries. In "Meat" we have Miss Primrose, an absolutely delightful character that will be so much fun to run with as a GM. But while she is certainly hiding knowledge, is she really hoarding it? I guess, but again it feels a bit of a stretch. She is otherwise a very strong antagonist and the key to practically the entire mystery, so it's still a strong usage.
Meanwhile, the aliens in "Burns" are literally hoarding the collected knowledge of their captives; it's their food, it's their raison d'etre. In "Meat", Miss Primrose has to hoard knowledge as a consequence of her plans. In "Burns", hoarding knowledge is the plan. That does make it stronger.
Rampaging Gnomes
I can't speak for the other judges, but if I had to guess, I'd say that all three of us had high hopes for this ingredient. And for me, it was kind of a letdown. Both entries have gnomes, the gnomes do eventually rampage, the rampage is a central obstacle to the players' (at this point in the adventure) survival. So the winner of this ingredient is the one that best answers the question: but why do they have to be Gnomes?
"Meat" gives us the the Non-Organic Mineworkers, or NOMs, affectionally named, and in some cases decorated, as Gnomes by the human colonists. The Alien franchise is set in future version of our own Earth, where gnomes were mythologically spirits often associated with mining and metallurgy. That mining link is tenuous, as I think realistically the NOMs could be replaced with another type of creature or reference without making too big of a difference, but it's not the biggest stretch in the world.
"Burns" gives us the psychic illusions of the aliens, who appear to humans as stationary garden gnomes. Why garden gnomes? Because these particular aliens, when observed, turn into weirdly, cutely, old-but-also-young versions of their beholders but at roughly 1/6 the size. Why is that what happens with these particular aliens? Because the ingredient was Gnomes. Does it create absolutely wonderful visual imagery? Yes. Could I see a sci-fi show like Star Trek having aliens do this exact thing for some reason? Yeah, I could. Do I love it? Hell yes. But it does it make the ingredient usage tenuous at best within the context of Iron DM? Unfortunately, that answer is also yes.
I have to say, "Meat" gives us a slightly better answer to the question "Why gnomes?"
In Conclusion
This has been one of the most delightful matches I've gotten to judge so far in Iron DM. I genuinely love both of these entries. I read the entries, as I write, sequentially, so I got to read "Burns" first, and my thinking while reading that was "damn, this is awesome, and is probably going to be tough to beat". Then I read "Meat", and, while presentation-wise it certainly was weaker, as an adventure it was just as incredible. I had to take this down to the ingredients, and while they weren't quite as close as I was expecting, it showed just how strong both of these adventures were not just as adventures, but as Iron DM entries.
As much as I really do wish I could advance both of these entries, I have to go where the ingredients lead me. Thus, I have to say that "Forgotten Meat" is the winner of this match, and therefore @humble minion is my vote to advance to final round. But I am but one vote of three. We shall now see who has won this match.
Now to see how the other judges have voted, and announce the winning entry.
And it seems finally, for once, I get to the odd woman out. Huzzah!
That means, with a vote of 2-1 the winner is @AustinHolm!
@humble minion, I'm not sure what advice I could give you haven't already gotten before. You clearly know how to win these. Your entry was good enough that I thought it was the slightly better one, after all. I would daresay that against most entries it might have advanced. But you just happened to run into somebody who is, frankly, putting on an Iron DM clinic. It's not often a newbie knocks out one former Iron DM champion, let alone two in a row.
In either case, congratulations go to @AustinHolm! You clearly know your way around a clever and fun adventure. I'd tell you to focus more on making sure every piece of your ingredients is truly essential and irreplaceable to your scenarios, but then, I'm also the only one whose vote you didn't earn, so what do I know? In either case, I'm really looking forward to seeing what you cook up in the final!
It happens. Between your tight-for-time posting and some minor inconsistencies, I was pretty sure that you had to rush to post it. I've been there. Heck, I both took a lot of time with the judgement AND felt like I rushed it myself!
Labels don't count for or against you either way. Personally, I don't like them (I think that I mention it in my judgement). IIRC I was told that if they aren't strong enough for us to find, then they aren't strong enough. That said, I absolutely understand the urge to try to be on the same page with the judges! Also: Another judge might disagree with me. And I may be misremembering the advice I was given entirely.
Given that I know I’ve handed out that exact advice on more than one occasion, I’d say that (a) that judge may well have been me and (b) if so, you haven’t misremembered it.
I don’t always call it out, if, as in this case, it is easy enough to ignore, but I do think that, in general, everything Fitz has already said about it is pretty much spot on.
As I see it, the practice either (1) is a courtesy to the judges, (2) shows a lack of faith in the judges’ ability to parse an entry, or (3) shows a lack of confidence in the entry itself. These three things are not mutually exclusive.
That said, second-guessing the judges is all part of the game. Some past judges have probably appreciated the practice (it certainly was more prevalent for a while). Some may again in the future. Add to that, judges may evolve their preferences over time. Or at least soften them.
Which is all to say, I suppose, that it is generally good advice that a confident contestant may be able to ignore without ill consequence.
I HAVE to ask though - @Gradine especially. Was it INTENTIONAL that I was given Rampaging Gnomes as an ingredient, given I've had that exact same ingredient before in a previous Iron DM, that you in fact judged? IRON DM 2020 Tournament Thread
Honestly, I'd forgotten I'd already used it before. I try to remove used ingredients from my list from year to year, but I honestly must have just skipped over it when going through older tournaments.
No, if we had ever done anything intentional with that ingredient in particular it would have been in last tournament's final match between Whizbang and Snarf. And we try not to tailor ingredients to the contestants (in matches that matter, anyway, I do remember Rune putting in some references in a 3rd place exhibition match between some old-school judges once).
Not to fully de-mystify our process, but it was really just down to luck.
Urgh, I ran out of time and I'm sorry to submit something so rushed and half-baked. That definitely needed another few hours of work and an editing pass. Not happy with it at all, even though I think the core idea is good. Too much scene-setting, not enough action, and too many of the ingredients didn't get enough time front and centre. And worse still, I didn't even remember to LABEL Harsh Reality (the realisation on the part of the locals that the Company was going to let them rot on Gaharne forever). So I'm a big fat zero on that ingredient already. I think I can write this one off as a loss.
To respond to the rest, I think that it was plainly clear that this one was rushed in the end, but at least for me, that was mostly clear in the lack of strong structure or editing. I do still think the adventure itself was incredible, and that you did do a great job with all of the ingredients. Including Harsh Reality. I've gone on record as not being a huge fan of labeling ingredients (and if I'm being honest, not labeling an ingredient probably helped me win my first title) so it's not a thing I'd really ever stress about unless you're absolutely sure the ingredient isn't speaking for itself. And really, it should be. And in this case, at least I think it did.
Edit: Having now caught up in the thread, I absolutely know that I've given this advice in the past, and that I likely received that same advice in the past from Rune.
