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Message: <blockquote data-quote="carpedavid" data-source="post: 2342430" data-attributes="member: 6971">Finals, Match 1: Tinner vs. StormbornAs has happened more than once while judging this competition, the entry that stood out after my initial read-through was not the one that I thought strongest after subsequent readings. Was it Tinner or Stormborn's entry that stood out at first but faded upon contemplation? Well, letting you know that know would be giving things away, wouldn't it? You're just going to have to read on to find out.This time, let's begin with a hybrid examination of both ingredients and playability. We'll go in the reverse order that the ingredients were listed in, because the biggest difference in usage lies at the very top of the list. First (or last, as the case may be) is the Unmarked Grave. Stormborn creates an environment littered with random holes - the result of the halfling tribe searching for the dismembered bits of some random dude. The digging, in this case, is what triggers the Tumbling of the Golden Mane, but other than that, it's not very interactive. Stormborn also claims that the halflings' Cave of Souls is unmarked, but it's the epicenter of this halfling tribe's funerary rites. That just doesn't feel very "unmarked" to me.Tinner, on the other hand, creates a backstory in which the priest that guards the colony dies while trying to defend it. In his entry the Unmarked Grave hides the remains of said priest. Here, Tinner does a great thing, and embraces the powers that high-level characters have available to them. If the PCs want to find out about why the old colony disappeared, and who the antagonist is, they'll have to cast Speak With Dead. With this first ingredient, Tinner launches himself into the lead.Next is Dexterity. I knew this one was going to be difficult to use well, and neither contestant proved me wrong. Stormborn tosses a number of traps that require reflex saves, and equips his antagonist with centipede-venom-tipped arrows. Tinner doesn't directly make use of the ingredient either, as he sets in the PCs path a number of challenges that will require tumble, balance, and other dex-based checks. Stormborn has a Tumbling inn as a big set piece, but Tinner creates a lair easily accessible only by a monkey. Neither use propels either contestant past the other.Fog is next on our list, and here, both contestants use the ingredient equally. Stormborn's use is extremely atmospheric, while Tinner's is more active. Stormborn's fog hides a myriad of pitfalls, while Tinner's is used to cloak advancing enemies. Neither contestant gains any ground on the other with this one.Cow is another ingredient that I figured would be difficult to make essential, and I was right, once again. Stormborn's herds of undead cows amuse me to no end, but they're not really presented as being that dangerous. Tinner's cows function as subtle clues, but they're also summoned by the druid for use in battle. Unfortunately, I can't take the idea of a druid dropping cows on her opponents from the air seriously. If he'd left the cows as the subtle clues, I'd say he gained ground. As is used, though, Stormborn manages to make up some of his lost distance.Now we're up to the last (or first, depending on how you're counting) two ingredients, and here is where the two entries really diverge. Tinner uses the Tumbling Golden Mane in several places. First, it's a distinctive mark on the monkey-elf, which allows the PCs to distinguish her from the dozens of other monkeys roaming around. Second, it's a brand of wheat that the colonists have been dependant upon for food, and which has been the subject of attack by the druid. It ties in to the adventure directly and thematically in a nice and solid manner.Stormborn, on the other hand, gives us an inn named the Golden Mane without any justification for it. The Lion Tribe of halflings sounds like it should tie in thematically, but their mascots are mountain lions, which certainly don't have the tumbling manes that African lions do. Now, it is true that the Golden Mane goes tumbling, in this case literally, but I've got some problems with that too.Stormborn gives us the following mechanics: three reflex saves of increasing difficulty, with each failed save doing 2d6 points of damage. Worst-case, that's 36 points of damage. The average (for three failed saves) is 21 points, but that's still a big chunk of change. In fact, if I were to compare that with my current 6th-level group, that'd drop almost all of the PCs to half hit points. At this point, they should be stuck in the middle of the rubble. If one were to play this adventure logically, the halflings should come in and just kill all the PCs, since some are likely to be trapped and helpless, while others are going to be away from their swords, armor, and other gear that they can't sleep in without becoming fatigued.But that's not what really bothers me. What bothers me is the assumption that the inn would even get to the point where it would tumble. Sleeping PCs do take a significant penalty on their listen checks, but a group of halflings doing enough digging (perhaps we should really call it excavation) to destabilize the inn should be making a bit of noise, which should rouse the PCs, which should lead to a dramatic encounter as the enemies duck and weave around the pylons holding up the building. The tumbling of the inn should really only occur as a last resort, if the PCs either fail every single listen check, or decide not to investigate the very suspicious activities going on outside. As written, though, this encounter subjects them to something they really should be able to prevent, and then wimps out when it comes to the consequences.Last, we have the Tiny Evil Overlord. Here, Tinner gives us an evil-ish druid who has been polymorphed into a monkey. Is she Tiny? Yep. Is she Evil? Enough to kill off a bunch of colonists. Is she an Overlord? Well - she's got control over a bunch of animals. It doesn't really fit the grandiose connotations of the word.Her usage, otherwise, seems fairly solid. She's interesting as a character, has an interesting lair, and has a solid motivation. She's definitely powerful enough to challenge the party, and her tactics are clearly outlined. Though communication could prove difficult, she's not completely irrational, and therefore could be reasoned with if the party chose to go that route. All in all, she seems like a credible and interesting threat. The only mechanical difficultly that I see is the vermin under her control. SNA doesn't normally allow for vermin, and the effects he described aren't replicated by Summon Swarm. It's not a game-breaking discrepancy, since the vermin could easily be switched to an equivalent animal or beast, but I'd still like to know where they came from.Unfortunately, Stormborn's grig necromancer doesn't get off as easily. While he is Tiny, Evil, and an Overlord, his abilities as a necromancer seem to be vastly overstated. Animate Dead, the spell, allows the caster to have under his control, 4HD per level. However, humanoid zombies are 2HD creatures, which means that, if he's of the same level as the PCs (6-8) he could only have 12 to 16 zombies animated at any given time. As Stormborn describes things, though, one gets the impression that he's got far more. Additionally, if he's at his limit of controlled undead, every cow he animates sets one or two useful zombies free. Once they're out of his control, then they're threats not only to him, but to the living halflings as well.Unlike Tinner's summoned vermin, this is a game-breaking misuse of the antagonist's powers. Reducing the number of undead under his control changes the character of the adventure and makes him less credible as a villain. Heck, if he keeps losing control of undead, the halfling tribe might realize that he's not as big of a threat as he claims, and take him down themselves. Does the necromancer have a nice epic feel with all those undead under his control? Yes. Can it work, mechanically? No.It's worth looking at Tinner's use of the tie-breaking ingredient. There's not much to say, other than, he'd better hope it doesn't come down to a tie. Its use is almost completely irrelevant, as simply one of the creatures that his evil druid summons. It's a cursory use, and I'd wager that nearly any other use could potentially beat it.That aside, at this point, it's fairly clear who has won. <spoiler: highlight to read>[spoiler]Tinner's hooks are stronger, his mechanics more sound, his ingredient use better, and his adventure more interesting. Stormborn gave it a good try, but some of his other entries have been stronger. Stormborn will take Wulf on in the next match, while Tinner will wait until the third match.[/spoiler]</spoiler></blockquote>

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