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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rune" data-source="post: 9799018" data-attributes="member: 67">Rune’s Judgement for IRON DM 2025 Championship Match: AustinHolm vs Fenris-77OverviewAt last we come to the culmination of this tournament. Both entries are polished and well-presented.One seems tailor-made to appeal to my tastes to such a degree that I have to wonder if its author researched my past contributions to this tournament and forum as a whole. I mean, general tone and thematic things like high-fantasy, reality-warping, dream-stuff is right up many allies, mine included. And I’m hardly the only DM to love a good riddle. But using german words as names that hint at NPCs’ roles in the adventure is a technique I have definitely employed as a contestant. What an extraordinary coincidence that would be.How do I feel about this? Flattered? Targeted? Manipulated? Intrigued, maybe. Playing the judges has always been part of the tournament. Writing something designed to appeal is a smart play. If you can pull it off.If AustinHolm did a little research on my historical contributions (and I don’t know that it is the case), that’s kind of an impressive effort, given that some of that research would be from over twenty years ago!So, I recognize the possibility and I move on. I am not judging authorial intent. As always, the only thing that matters is what is in the text.And what are we presented with in the text of these entries? Fenris-77’s PARADiS3 R3GAiNED (“PARADiS3”) is a cyberpunk heist using what I assume is a derivative of the Mörk Borg system. This adventure reads like a short story and is packed with style. It is loaded with fun NPCs and scenarios, but is ultimately far more linear than I would expect for a heist adventure. As always when pointing this out, I will point out that that linearity is not necessarily a flaw in an adventure. It is merely inherently limiting to both the players and the GM. Sometimes that limitation is what an adventure needs. Will that be the case here? We shall see.In contrast, AustinHolm’s Traumhammer (“hammer”) is on the other end of the spectrum; it is a hexcrawl. It too has very interesting NPCs along with solid and conflicting motivations (crucial for a sandbox). Its presentation is clean and efficient – a hexcrawl could easily get cluttered with unnecessary detail, but this adventure avoids that deftly.Hooks and Stakes“hammer” provides simple, strong hooks that appeal to fundamental desires: peace (from psychic torment), payment (from the Queen), and compassion (for the giant, mostly). An unspoken fourth motivator strongly underpins the adventure, as well: curiosity. The premise is simple, but immediately interesting.The stakes are similarly strong. At first, the sanity and lives of the PCs and NPC are imperiled. Ultimately, an entire town or similar home base for the PCs may be destroyed if any of the thieves are allowed to use the Traumhammer to escape. This is all very good stuff.“PARADiS3” assumes the PCs are hard-up and ready for a job. This is probably a safe assumption within the genre. The stakes are similarly straightforward: success means Little Paradise gets to be complete, Wayland is (presumably) at least partially destroyed, and the PCs get paid. Failure means the status quo remains unchanged and the PCs suffer the consequences of getting caught. All solid enough.Structure“PARADiS3” is presented cinematically, even including a montage (which may be a feature of the system used, for all I know). This reads well, but I think may contribute to its linearity. Perhaps it is not meant to play out as much so as it seems, but, if not, I think something is getting lost in the presentation. I think what I’m getting hung up on is the assumed plan. With a heist adventure, I would want to present obstacles for the PCs to get around, but the actual plan should be the PCs’ to come up with and that doesn’t really seem to be the case, here. Maybe I’m missing something.Whereas, in “hammer” the PCs have the freedom to pursue their goals as (and in whichever direction) they wish. The adventure will come to them if they stray. And the NPCs’ motivations are (mostly) easy to understand and contribute to the movement of their adventure with their conflicts and complications.I am a little unsure that the PCs will be able to figure out that dealing with Rätsel will require a scavenger hunt. I also wonder why Traumbildhaur is more subject to reality than normal D&D giants, but these are quibbles. In the first case, there are many ways to seed in additional hints and in the latter, I assume it has something to do with being native to the dreamworld? That seems like an interesting avenue to explore, if the PCs even question it.Overall, “hammer” is an excellent adventure begging to be run.IngredientsShrimp HeavenIn “hammer”, we have lair/hunting ground taken over by the giant dream-wish-warped shrimp. This is a fun element that fully fits into the context of the adventure, but really any obstacle would serve the same purpose.Meanwhile, the AlgaeFab Labs of “PARADiS3” are – or, rather, were – a water filtration system that used bioengineered plants and shrimp. I think there is a missed opportunity here. This ingredient could have been made relevant to the adventure by doing something like including enhanced shrimp with the ability to communicate telepathically and a desire to return to their lost paradise. Instead, we get nothing. Just a background element, and not even one that focuses on the shrimp or the heaven.This first ingredient belongs to “hammer”.Aggressive Puzzle“PARADiS3” gives us Parcival, who loves games. If that were all this was, it would be adequate. But Parcival is himself (itself?) a puzzle that the players can solve by figuring out his vulnerability to flattery. This is clever. It is one of the obstacles the PCs need to contend with, so is also relevant.In “hammer”, we have Rätsel, a (mostly) unkillable monster with missing interlocking armored plates that will relentlessly hunt the PCs and ultimately give them a riddle. The riddle is a simple one, but that’s a good thing in an adventure, because it’s far better for players to feel the satisfaction of solving one than the frustration of not doing so (especially if it is necessary for the adventure to progress – although that isn’t really the case here).On a barely related note, we have a thread for riddles meant for the table that folk can check out <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/lets-write-some-riddles.297095/" target="_blank">here</a>. I only mention it because I haven’t thought about that thread in years and we just don’t see very many riddles in IRON DM entries. This one is a good one.But I think “PARADiS3” is a better fit for the ingredient. That it is both simple and clever is a nice bonus.Restless Thieves“hammer” provides a bunch of thieves who have wished their need to sleep away to protect from dream-induced insanity. The ones with names have solid motivations which, when acted upon, will complicate the adventure nicely in various ways.In “PARADiS3”, the PCs are the restless thieves, in need of money and haunted by a soon-to-be employer. This ingredient consists of the entirety of the hook; it would be hard to be more relevant. But the restlessness is a bit of a stretch. I guess it’s true if the players buy in, but I’m not as sure that’s a given as the adventure seems to.This one goes to “hammer”.Weight of Inevitability“PARADiS3” tells us that the alarm will get triggered and reinforces it with simple compounding mechanics. The weight, I assume, is metaphorical. And possibly a pun. This is all good.On the other hand, “hammer” uses this ingredient to give us the basis for the adventure in the form of a literally crushing reality for Traumbildhaur. I find this to be not only very clever and very relevant, but also an exceptionally intriguing scenario to hook the players with. Outstanding.Death WishTraumbildhaur’s final wish to destroy hammer and self is the best possible outcome of “hammer”. This is lovely, especially if the PCs have had a chance to get to know him first.Whereas, the killer robots of “PARADiS3” are merely obstacles that will probably (but not necessarily) randomly appear once the alarm is triggered. Oh, and they have WISH in their name.“hammer” obviously wins this one.Fertile GroundThe Biochem Greenhouse of “PARADiS3” where the PCs can meet and recruit Candida is a nice set piece that fits into the scenario, but I’m not sure how its fertile ground matters to the adventure.Similarly, the dream-warping-food-wish-powered Garden in the thieves’ caves of “hammer” is a very fun addition to the adventure and its secret passage can be used to evade the Traumhammer, but it’s relevance to the adventure seems to end there. I really like this element in the adventure, but I don’t think the ingredient is any stronger than in the other entry.So I guess this ingredient is a tie.Shoulder Pads“hammer” has the Parasol Pauldrons worn by the thieves. This works, but I’m not sure how much it matters to the PCs. Surely, by the time the PCs can liberate them from some thieves, they will have already found some means of dealing with the desert heat?In “PARADiS3” the RIFD chips are located in the shoulders for some reason that doesn’t seem to matter.Another one for “hammer”.Imposter SyndromeI’m not really sure which elements of “PARADiS3” are meant to apply, here. Little Paradise is seeking to regain its lost self and is certainly afflicted by a set of symptoms (having been actively targeted by malware), but does not seem to be an impostor. There are two versions of Mr. Smith, but they aren’t really impostors (also, it doesn’t really matter?). Candita now works for her enemy and might be conflicted about that, that’s not really imposter syndrome.What about the PCs? They might disguise themselves as Wayland employees and thereby attack the mainframe with the virus on the datastick. I guess that’s the best fit, but seems to be a bit of a stretch.In “hammer”, we have Hochstapler, who has been stealing sleep and has thus been driven insane. He now thinks he is a Doppelgänger and is trying to kill his companions. This is a great complication (moreso, because Lösung insists on rescuing him). Also, the Garden might produce blood-clones to add to the violence and chaos of that room. Good stuff.“hammer” takes this one, as well.[spoiler=Final Judgement<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":]" title="Devious    :]" data-shortname=":]" />PARADiS3 R3GAiNED is a solid entry into this championship round of IRON DM. It is slick and stylish. If the other judges deem it the victor, I would not be confounded. It is a good entry. But sometimes you run up against a competitor at the top of their game, and that is what I find in Traumhammer. AustinHolm has given us a top-tier entry that stands among the best of any I have seen. And I have seen many.Fenris-77, you wrote the adventure you wanted to write and I’m sure it would go over well at the table. And, while I think it might have been nice if it was a little less linear, I’m hesitant to call that a flaw here, as I don’t think it is likely a detriment to the gameplay. It looks more like a matter of preference. I do think that a couple of ingredients might have been underdeveloped, but sometimes that’s just what you have to do with the ones that are giving you trouble. You’ve shown yourself to be capable and impressive in this tournament (with your second round entry being an exceptional example). I look forward to the day you earn the championship.This time, however, I nominate AustinHolm to be IRON DM 2025. [/spoiler]</blockquote>

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