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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FitzTheRuke" data-source="post: 9785458" data-attributes="member: 59816">Iron DM 2025FitzTheRuke’s Judgement for Round 2, Match 2: Fenris-77 vs GMMichaelFollowing the RulesBoth [USER=2820]@Fenris[/USER]-77’s “Lavender Vortex of the Barista God” (Hereafter: “Vortex”) and @GMMichael’s “A Convenient Prophecy” (“Prophecy”) came in on time, though Prophecy was close enough to the wire to make the Judges sweat. Prophecy was well-under 1500 words (by my count 1284), while Vortex was… well, it depends on if we count the quick commentary above the Title. I feel that we should, but at the same time, it seems a bit harsh. The good news is that if we do, it “only” puts the word count at 1502, and if we cut off the last two words, we simply have the last sentence change from “You have a minute or two to correct your error” to “You have a minute or two to correct”, which (thankfully) amounts to essentially the same thing.I’ll say that Vortex is off the hook for this minor and admittedly nit-picky infraction, but all entries should keep it in mind. By all means, make comments, but try to keep them out of your proper entry.Still, if it comes to needing some sort of tie-breaker, I guess this one will go to Prophesy.Presentation and ReadabilityI’m going to say it: I think I may have audibly gasped when I saw the list of ingredients, so I want to be perfectly clear before I try to pick these entries apart: CONGRATULATIONS. Both of you, for pulling this off. I find this round inspiring in a way that makes me wish that I was competing, rather than judging, to see if I could pull off anything as good. Well done.They’re not perfect: For example, Vortex says, “trickster good” and “nice quite chat” when it is probably meant to read “trickster god” and “nice quiet chat”. Similarly, Prophesy has “making due without” when I suspect that “making do without” is what’s needed, but c’mon. I’d have to be being pretty darn strict to fault them for it.It’s close enough to be a tie.Playing Them as AdventuresI’ve played Troika! only once, but by my recollection, Vortex nails it. The game is a good fit for Iron DM, and so is this entry. It’s zany – something that is pretty much necessary, given the ingredients, but it takes its zaniness ‘seriously’ in that, it still needs to have structure and coherence. It needs to be playable. Vortex pulls all of this off. It looks like it would be a hell of a lot of fun!Prophesy has a significantly more ‘subdued’ pace. This isn’t a bad thing, by itself. The mystery, however, seems a bit too straightforward. So easy to stumble upon Denris shirking his duty that there isn’t really much investigating to do. Ultimately, I’m not sure how I would keep it moving forward. Would the PCs fight the bodyguard (an encounter that’s said to be ‘just larger than the PCs can effectively fight’) or can they convince Commander Reis that it’s all Denris fault and he’s a liar. Would she care, if her job is simply to guard him? She hasn’t shown much interest in what he’s doing, so she might just be duty-bound, in particular if the PCs have been sneaking around without permission.This one goes to Vortex.Ingredient UseAs usual, the most important thing is how they used their ingredients, so let’s get down to it:McGuffin of Certain DoomIn Vortex, we have the Security System, or more precisely, the Rainbow Interface; it drives the plot and would cause Certain Doom if left unattended. If anything, the only weakness I see here is that a McGuffin should ‘drive the plot and motivation, but otherwise in itself be irrelevant’. This is, of course, utterly at odds with what an Iron DM Ingredient should be – utterly important and irreplaceable! Tough nut to crack! I can hardly fault you for having your McGuffin be too relevant, can I?In Prophesy, the McGuffin seems to be the Wasp-Demon, as it is the primary motivator for everything, but as it doesn’t truly exist, it would be hard for it to lead to Certain Doom. Though I suppose everyone believes that it will (at least at the start). Without the Ornithopter keeping it in its cave, it will wreak havoc on the land.There’s also the NPC named “Guffy”. Who feels like he should have something to do with this ingredient, based on the name. But he doesn’t seem to.I’ll give a slight bump to Vortex.Seaside ShowdownVortex has its climactic battle by the Lake Iambic. It’s an aerial battle, so I’d complain about it not really being “by the sea” if it weren’t for the lake water being funneled up and causing hazards for both sides during the battle. I could argue that “Lake” and “Sea” are different things (they really, really are – see my tirade regarding wasps and bees below) but, as it is the Ark’s only large body of water, it would be functionally equivalent to the citizens in the setting.Prophesy calls out the showdown that will, most likely, occur on the beach when the PCs confront Denris after discovering his ruse. There’s a confrontation to be had, but it might not be much of a showdown, depending on if the PCs have gathered enough evidence to convince Commander Reis.I’m going to give this one to Vortex, if only because I feel that in Prophesy, the right combination of PC actions might cause the event not to happen.Ornate OrnithopterVortex does a great job of having this ingredient be absolutely essential for the whole adventure. The PCs pilot one, they side-quest to fuel it, they compete with another, the whole shebang. It’s described as made of fussy brass and leather, so it’s certainly ornate, but it’s not enough just to say so. It has a bean-hopper and grinder. One can only imagine it as a strange combination of a modern espresso machine and a DaVincian flying machine. That’s gotta be ornate, and it’s certainly an ornithopter.In Prophesy, it’s a contraption that blows wind into a cave to keep the demon at bay. It’s important to the plot, or at least the ruse, but in a lot of ways it’s more evocative of a big fan than an ornithopter, despite being described as such, and it’s ornate in that it is covered in magic runes and pipes, presumably to make it appear appropriately powerful. But none of its ornateness is particularly important, other than maybe the crank (which is somehow very difficult to use, but can also be done by a Mage Hand, which is usually considered to be a very weak hand).I’m going to give it to Vortex here.Sack of Coffee BeansThis is another ingredient that Vortex lays scattered throughout. It powers the Ornithopters, the PCs go on a fetch quest for it, everyone is drinking it, and one of the rewards is a stake in a multiversal coffeehouse. Coffee is everywhere. Sure, it’s not always in sacks, or in bean form, but it’s gathered and used that way often enough to be a most solid use of the ingredient.Prophesy has a sack of coffee beans, possibly encountered by the PCs if they take a task to fetch it for Denris, or loot it from his possessions. He uses the beans as part of his ruse as “wasp droppings”. It’s fine, but it’s not as strong as its competitor’s use.So, this one goes to Vortex. Mediocre PoetThe ornithopters in Vortex may be powered by coffee (I think my wife has a mug that says “Powered by Coffee”) but they’re piloted by poetry. The players will have to rhyme. This seems like fun, and while there is a big chance that any given game will wind up with terrible poetry, rather than Mediocre (and there’s a chance of actually pretty great stuff, too!) I think we can expect that the average will hit the mediocre mark.In Prophesy, Guffy of Lakeside is an NPC who will likely be useful in providing information on the titular Prophesy, presumably helping to reveal the truth. He’s useful, and is described as being a writer of middling talent, but he doesn’t quite ever get much of a chance to have his actual poetry feature in the adventure one way or the other. His interest in lore is more important than his poetry.One more for Vortex.Eye of the Bee HolderThe Eye in Vortex is more the eye of the storm, which happens to be at the Bee Holder (the Ceramite Hive) rather than the eye of the bee-holder itself. The scenario seems like awesome fun, but it’s a bit of a cheat to make the ingredient work.I’m afraid that Prophesy hits on a bit of a pet-peeve of mine: A Wasp is not a Bee, in the same way that an Eagle is not a Duck. If the ingredient was “Shrieking Eagle” and you gave us a “Quacking Duck” you know that you’d lose points, right? So many people conflate the two as if they are interchangeable. They are not. Otherwise, Prophesy has Denris missing his Eye and Holding his “Bee” (Wasp) – Demon, but none of it really pans out as all that important. The eye is relegated to backstory, and the demon is a charade. There’s honey here-and-there, but aside from being part of the ruse (and part of the drinks, and a fetch-quest) it doesn’t add much in the way of bees (or holders, for that matter). The story is good, but the ingredient isn’t strong.This one is a bit of a wash. To be fair, it’s a ridiculous ingredient. That’s part of the fun, of course, but it was never going to be easy.Wind TunnelVortex has it in the name, but that certainly isn’t an automatic win. It’s got to matter. Here we have the climactic battle in storm of both wind and water; busting rhymes to pilot a winged coffee grinder in an aerial dogfight (See also: Seaside Showdown).Prophesy has a Wind Tunnel created by Denris’ Ornithopter to keep the phoney Wasp Demon in check (and others out). It’s wind. It’s in a tunnel. It does the job.I guess that it’s fair to say that I like Vortex’s use more, but I can’t really say that it’s objectively a better use than Prophesy’s. I’ll call this one is a tie.Conclusion[spoiler=”Judgement”][/spoiler][spoiler=”Judgement”][/spoiler][spoiler=”Judgement”]It looks like my vote is for [USER=6993955]@Fenris-77[/USER] to move on!In my opinion, “Lavender Vortex of the Barista God” is a singularly top-tier entry for Iron DM. It’s very difficult to get so many disparate ingredients to jive into a cohesive narrative. And not just that, it must be playable as well. This entry looks like it would be a lot of fun. The ingredients are generally layered throughout, unmistakable and unmissable. Observers and other competitors should take note: This is how it’s done.Let’s be clear: @GMMichael’s “A Convenient Prophecy” is very good. I liked it a lot. It just got beat by a better entry.Hats off to both of you. Iron DM’s Ingredients are never easy, but you got a hard lot, and you delivered. [/spoiler]</blockquote>

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