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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gradine" data-source="post: 9786929" data-attributes="member: 57112">Judgment for Round 2 Match 1: [USER=6993955]@Fenris-77[/USER] vs. [USER=6685730]@GMMichael[/USER] Rules and ReadabilityBoth Lavender Vortex of the Barista God (hereafter referred to as "Barista") and A Convenient Prophecy (hereafter "Prophecy") 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. Both entries are also perfectly easily readable. "Barista's" organization is a little tighter than "Prophecy"'s, but not overly so to make a difference. I sighted only one truly notable typo in "Barista", but its unique case and repeated nature tells me that it's probably an aspect of the setting/system (Zzap), so I can easily write that off.I don't really see much to favor one entry over the other here.Adventure Flow & PotentialThis is my subjective "what did I generally like/dislike about the adventures" section of the judgment."Barista" here is immensely fun, and as this is now my second entry seeing Troika! in action it makes me want to learn more about that system in general. In any case, "Barista" reads like something that Douglas Adams would write after watching the bee-nado episode of 9-1-1. The setting is weird and extremely flavorful, yet with all of the weirdness abounding nothing seems entirely internally inconsistent. High marks for "Barista"."Prophecy", on the other hand, is hardly treading on new ground. That's not necessarily a bad thing; it hits the tropes that its hitting quite well. But no part of it stands out to me in quite the same that "Barista" and its setting did. A solid adventure, but not nearly as memorable as its competition."Barista" takes a solid lead here. Let's now see what the ingredients have to say.The IngredientsThe usual disclaimer about not wanting to sound harsh applies here. I tend to be fairly strict with how I judge ingredients, by and large. I will recognize, however, that this particular ingredient list was a bit of a doozy, so I'm going to try to take that it account as I judge these two entries.McGuffin of Certain DoomHere we have the Cipher in "Barista" and the Prophecy/Demon in "Prophecy". Both promise certain doom, to be sure, but only one really captures the spirit of a "McGuffin". You see, as originally coined, we're not supposed to actually care about the McGuffin, it's just the thing that triggers the plot, or provides motivation. The Cipher in "Barista" remains fully relevant, and solving its puzzle is the climax of the adventure. The Prophecy and the Demon in "Prophecy" are McGuffins in the sense that it doesn't really matter what they and we care about them less and less and we uncover the real story underneath. That's a strong McGuffin.Seaside ShowdownThis point is going to go to "Prophecy". The sight of Denris lounging at a beach at the end of the "demon-infested" cave is probably the highlight of this adventure for me. I could quibble about the "Seaside" being necessary but relaxing at the beach feels suitable to Denris' character; I could quibble a bit more about the "Showdown" because you really don't get the sense that Denris poses a real threat by himself. I have more quibbles with the usage in "Barista". The ingredient implies a showdown at the shores of a sea. But it really does seem like most of the "showdowns" that are likely to occur will be in the air above the "sea", which is really more of a lake when you get down to it. The bee-nado we get here is great, but again, if we're facing off with them and our rivals in the air, I don't really consider that "seaside".Ornate OrnithopterAn ornithopter is, definitionally, an aircraft. Which means it flies. It also, definitionally does so with the flapping of its wings. "Barista" gives us an Ornithopter dogfight in the skies around a swirling tornado of water and bees. Did the aircraft in question necessarily need to be an Ornithopter? I'm not fully convinced on this, but the role these Ornithopters play in the adventure is central to the adventure. "Prophecy" gives us an ornithopter that doesn't fly, and in fact has a propeller. Tying its function into the "Wind Tunnel" ingredient is clever, but it comes at the expense of giving us something that is not in any shape, form, or function, an Ornithopter anymore. Which is a shame, because it's got the "Ornate" part of the ingredient covered much better than "Barista" does, which the device's runes and other assorted bells and whistles (figuratively and, I'm assuming, literally) revealing more about Denris and his plot. It's a really cool set piece. It's just not an Ornithopter.I think I have to give this one to "Barista".Sack of Coffee BeansThis goes to "Barista" as well, as the sacks of coffee beans the players must struggle to obtain throughout the early acts of this adventure have a role in how well the ornithopter battles go for them.  Could the 'thopters have been powered by literally anything else? Sure, that's probably possible, but the imagery of the coffee-grinder powered ornithopter engine again fits well into the setting in a way that I don't think many other ingredients might have. In "Prophecy" this is simply a small part of Denris' plot, barely mentioned in the adventure at all, and weakly tied to it at that. The players need not ever really discover them in the first place.Mediocre PoetGuffy is the mediocre poet in "Prophecy", and he fulfills his role in the adventure fairly well, and then mostly gets out of the way, unless he's selected to be one of the PC's friends. That's not excellent ingredient use, but it gets the job done okay. In "Barista" I get the sense that this is supposed to be Benedictum, who honestly is not really relevant to the adventure at all. But then I recalled the poetry slam contest with the microsphnixes on the mountain, and I realized that the true mediocre poets were the players themselves. That's pretty good. Of course, one would hope that they aren't mediocre, or else they get slammed, but that could be fun too. It's hampered to being relegated to a single side mission that may not even be encountered by the players. But it's pretty clever.I'll call this one a wash.Eye of the Bee HolderI'm not going to lie, this was I think my favorite ingredient usage in both entries. Both are really, really, clever. One, however, stands out as a little bit stronger. In "Prophecy" we get the literal eye plucked out of Denris' face, and the story behind it, which might be their best clue yet that Denris isn't entirely on the level. That's really clever. It's held back only slightly by the actual eye being more of a background element than being directly relevant to the players, and the "Bee Holder" aspect being a bit of a stretch. Still, this is a very strong and clever usage. Truly excellent.Unfortunately, it's up against "Barista", which gives us a raging cyclone torrent of water. Is that cyclone literally holding bees? Why yes, yes it is. Is the Cipher, the one place the players absolutely need to reach, in the eye of that storm? Again, yes. Eye of the Bee Holder. Absolutely Brilliant.Wind TunnelAnd this brings us to our final ingredient, the Wind Tunnel. I actually really like this usage a lot in "Prophecy". I wanted to quibble that a cave is not a tunnel, but then it turned out that the cave actually is a tunnel, and finding that out is the key to solving the adventure. The wind gives the players an obstacle to just entering easily, while also playing a role in keeping up Denris' lie. And of course, it leads to that climactic moment of catching Denris lounging on the beach, which really is this adventure's iconic moment. This is fantastic. Raging water cyclone of bees is also really, really, cool. Like... I'm having trouble coming up with words to describe it, other than cool. Like it should be wearing sunglasses. The only problem is that a cyclone is... not a wind tunnel. So I can't really say it meets the ingredient. Really damn cool though, still.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60e.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":cool:" title="Cool    :cool:"  data-smilie="6"data-shortname=":cool:" />In ConclusionAfter reading these two adventures, one of them definitely stood out to me more than the other. It didn't help that it was posted first, as well; that makes it a tough act to follow. The ingredients, however, paint a different pictures, one of two adventures that are much closer in quality entries to one another as it might first appear. Am I willing to say that "Prophecy" has the lead in ingredients over "Barista"? And is that lead large enough to overcome my greater enjoyment of "Barista"?[SPOILER="The Judgment"]Sadly for "Prophecy", I can't say yes to either of those questions. The overall ingredients might be a tie, but I was honestly leaning towards giving "Barista" the point for Mediocre Poet, so if anything "Barista" has the slight lead there as well. And that means that "Barista" is my vote for winner, and Fenris-77 is my nominee to advance to the final round.[/SPOILER]Now to see how the other judges votes.</blockquote>

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