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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rune" data-source="post: 9767151" data-attributes="member: 67">Judgement for Round 1, Match 3: Onelung vs GMMichaelOverviewWith 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 StakesHow 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:IngredientsFast 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 GlassesThese 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 CarapaceI 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 UpI’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![/spoiler]</blockquote>

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