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Wow. I really don't want anyone to get kicked out for adding or an additional post with ingredient usage. (or forgetting to add one in the first place)
I know it's simply been a nice feature used many times before. Otherwise it can be a pain to read and entry while constantly checking back at the original ingredient's posting.
Wow. I really don't want anyone to get kicked out for adding or an additional post with ingredient usage. (or forgetting to add one in the first place)
I know it's simply been a nice feature used many times before. Otherwise it can be a pain to read and entry while constantly checking back at the original ingredient's posting.
The only editing that will get you disqualified is editing the post that contains your entry. Other than that, feel free to edit away! If a contestant forgets the ingrediant summary, it's certainly helpful to everyone else reading along to add it in another post.
So don't worry! Everyone has been playing by the rules. Both you and WinnepegDragon have been helpful. Now, back to writing up da judgment...
Yeah, I didn't mean to imply that I you were trying to get Mark DQ'd or anything, but on re-reading it may have come off that way. Sorry if that came across, it wasn't intended!
Having read both entries several times, I find this contest a bit easier to decide than the last. One entry is clearly better than the other, and if you want to find out whose entry that was, you can scroll right on down to the bottom of the judgment. If, however, you're like most readers, and want to find out why one was better than the other, then just keep reading.
I'm going to jump right into the middle of Wulf and Reveal's entries, so if you haven't read them yet, go do so now. I'll wait. Actually, by the time you read this, I'll have already completed this judgment and moved on to another, so I don't actually have to wait. It's the magic of the internet at work. Back? Good. Then let's proceed.
I'm going to start with the Enlightened Monk, since both entries make use of the ingredient in a similar way. Both have a senior monk that's gone a bit bonkers. Wulf's monk suffers from a good old case of envy, while Reveal's suffers from the results of poison. Both are dissatisfied with the amount of time that it takes to reach enlightenment, so both try to forge a "lightning path" of dubious nature.
As ingredients, both are tightly integrated into their respective stories and both are necessarily monks (since both adventures are set in monasteries). I'm not entirely sure that either qualifies as "enlightened," but what that word means in the context of a fantasy world is up for debate. This ingredient use is pretty much a tie.
Next, let's look at the Impossibly High Wall. Both entries are primarily set in monasteries high in the mountains, and the wall is part of the setting. Fair enough. Interestingly, both contestants exploit the ability of 20th level monks to fall any distance – in Wulf's scenario, it's used as a test, while in Reveal's scenario, it's used as a means to escape. Wulf's is more flavorful, to be certain, but Reveal's is actually more interactive, since the PCs are likely to have to traverse it more than once during the course of the adventure. I'd call this use and integration of the ingredient a tie as well (though I'll come back to it when I examine the playability of both scenarios).
Let's move on to Instability. Wulf uses the ingredient to describe the instability of the monastery's hierarchy, which the PCs would certainly be able to observe, and to describe the physical instability of Gerard when he is struck down by Boccob's curse. Reveal uses the ingredient to describe the mental state of Sebastian, and, though he doesn't mention it in his ingredient summary, to describe the political instability of the town, now that the mayor is incapacitated. Again, the usage of the ingredient is close enough to call this one a tie.
That brings us to the use of Foxglove. Hoo, boy. I knew it would end up being used as a poison, but the accuracy of the uses is widely different. Digitalis is the active ingredient in foxglove, and, in small doses, it's used to control heart rhythm, even today. Chronic overexposure can cause a variety of symptoms, including heart palpitations, an irregular pulse, decreased consciousness, confusion, and visual disorientation. An acute, single overdose can lead to cardiac arrhythmia or heart failure.
While both uses of this ingredient involve suspension of disbelief, Wulf's "symptoms" more closely match the real symptoms, and thus require less hand-waving. Reveal's single massive dose of foxglove should probably have killed the mayor, not left him in a lingering, incapacitated state. Additionally, I have qualms about allowing the toxin to affect Brother Sebastian mentally, since a monk's Diamond Body ability grants him immunity to ALL poisons, even those that affect the mental ability scores. I think Wulf's use of the ingredient is clearly superior.
As you may have surmised by reading the last judgment, I've chosen some of the ingredients for specific reasons. The first ingredient in each entry this round had a special material type tied to it, and I'm looking for each contestant to justify why that ingredient was made from that special material.
Here, Wulf is once again superior. His monastery is a repository of knowledge, and the darkwood paper (in addition to being damn cool) allows the monks to store their books more efficiently than they would normally (since it's lighter and stronger than normal paper). The use of the dagger symbol caught me completely off guard, and I must confess that I chuckled when I saw it. It's a critical clue – and one that ties into the foxglove and enlightened monk ingredients quite well.
Reveal, on the other hand, just tosses in this ingredient out of nowhere. It doesn't need to be darkwood, or a dagger. In fact, it would be far more believable as an "undead killer" if it were neither. Moreover, it feels really out of place with the flow of the adventure. I know that Sebastian is off his rocker, but I think this kind of action would impose a negative eleventy-billion on his bluff check. Maybe that's just me, though.
Lest you think I'm here simply to praise Wulf, though, let's look at the use of the Mohrg. This is by far Wulf's weakest ingredient use, seeming crammed in at the end in a desperate, "How the hell am I going to use that?" sort of way. The transformation into the chaos beast is a literal bit of deus ex machina, but one that I can buy. It's an ironic and fitting punishment, plus it presents an unexpected and potentially deadly challenge for the PCs. But chaos beast isn't the ingredient, mohrg is. Though Wulf gets the mythology right, the second transformation just breaks my suspension of disbelief. If I were a player, that would ruin the adventure for me.
Is Reveal's use of the ingredient any better? Well, yes and no. His mohrgs are used in a more believable way. They are powerful and intelligent undead who could certainly wreak havoc on a town without a group of high-level adventurers around. However, they're much too weak, in the quantities presented, for the power level of the group this adventure is intended for (15-20).
This leads me to the discussion of playability and overall design. Both entries have serviceable hooks. Reveal's are the R-S-T-L-N-E (to make a Wheel-of-Fortune reference) of the hook world. They're solid, but applicable to just about every adventure. So he doesn't lose any points for them, but doesn't gain any either. Wulf offers the standard hooks as well, but then goes on to present a few that are specific to the adventure but also applicable to a wide variety of adventuring parties. For example, the quest for sage advice is something that almost every group embarks upon at some point, but it's something that would definitely bring them to a place like the library.
The NPCs in both cases are fairly well detailed, and here, I actually think Reveal does a better job. Wulf's Gerard is interesting, but Reveal creates the potential for a dramatic political power battle between the vice-mayor and the head of the merchant's guild. It's a great setup, actually, but then Reveal virtually ignores it for the rest of the scenario. He focuses most of his attention on the monastery, and the rest on the encounter with the mohrgs. It's a great setup wasted.
It's the focus on Brother Sebastian that really throws Reveal's adventure for a loop, for I suspect that he pegged the suggested power level of 15-20th on the monk's level. Unfortunately, the rest of the adventure suffers from a lack of consideration of the capabilities of a group of this power.
First, the mohrgs are simply not a challenge for a party of this level. They're DC 8 undead, so even in a group, the PCs are likely to mop the floor with them. Compounding this is the lack of detail about the creation of these undead. Reveal never clearly states how Sebastian comes to be in control of them, but his levels in Necromancer and the possession of an arcane tome seems to suggest that he creates them. The problem is that one has to be an 18th level caster to create mohrgs with the Create Undead spell. If he isn't creating them, and he's simply attracting them, how's he doing it? We're given no explanation, which is a flaw.
Second, Reveal states that if the PCs go after Sebastian, he'll make a mad dash to the edge of the cliff and use slow fall to reach the ground. He assumes that the Sebastian will reach the bottom before the PCs, but he fails to consider that a party of this level has access to all sorts of magic that speeds travel. Heck, even a mid-level party has access to the fly spell. A high level party could teleport to the bottom and have time for tea before Sebastian reached them.
While the above seems like a minor example, the entirety of the adventure is designed in this way. Reveal attempts to introduce some amount of mystery, but a high level group could easily scry on Sebastian. Heck, if they had a high level cleric or wizard, they might even be able to interrogate one of the mohrgs.
This could be an excellent adventure for a low to mid level group, even with a high-level antagonist, but that's not what we're given.
Wulf, on the other hand, provides challenges appropriate to the level of the party he designed the adventure for. Heck, he manages to create a murder mystery (where the bodies are still around) that wouldn't be ruined by Speak with Dead. The monks didn't know they were consuming the foxglove, so they can't point the finger at Gerard. Using that particular spell might provide valuable clues, if the corpse were able to describe the symptoms it felt at the time of death, but this is a feature, as they say in the IT business, and not a bug.
I think it's clear by now that, though he created a promising setup, <spoiler - highlight to read>
Reveal failed to follow through. Wulf, despite some missteps at the end, created a consistent and playable adventure. He moves one step closer to defending his title.
Whew! This is my first attempt at this Iron DM stuff and my mind is wiped. It's a good thing we don't have to do these every 24 hours or I'd never be able to sleep.
Took a read of yours, Mark, and nice work. It's good to know that after a few hundred years, us guys are still capable of chasing tail, even if our function may have...well, you know.
I wondered if there would be an "upset" trend after the first match, but such is not the case. Good. Its always more dramatic to have the champion make it to the final round so that some young whipersnaper of a challanger can come out of nowhere and win. Makes for a better story, a better game. Course then again, if we always expect the champ to loose and the neophyte to win it gets kinda boring.
Where was I?
Oh yeah, congrats to Wulf and Tinner. Maybe I will see you in the next round. I guess we will know pretty soon as my judgment is coming up next.
