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Message: <blockquote data-quote="carpedavid" data-source="post: 2359662" data-attributes="member: 6971">Finals, Match 3 - Wulf Ratbane vs. TinnerWell folks, it's the final match of the final round. If Tinner wins, then he takes the tournament and is crowned the newest Iron DM. If Wulf wins, then we're forced into a tie-breaker, and any of the three contestants could win. If you want to ruin the suspense, feel free to scroll down to the bottom. Otherwise, read on.I'll proceed much as I have with the other two final match judgments: with a hybrid examination of ingredients and playability. The very first item on the list is the Unsuccessful Bounty Hunter. Wulf gives us a werebear wainwright who ends up taking the law into his own hands. Tinner gives us an obsessed dwarf who will stop at nothing to track down a mysterious cult.Which fits the part better? Well, Tinner's dwarf has been chasing this particular bounty for a number of years without success, and he interacts with the party in a big way, during the first encounter. His weapon saps Strength (all the better to keep his quarry from fighting back), and he's a source of information on the mysterious cult of Vecna that's been hanging around.Wulf's wainwright has spent most of his life as nothing more than an artisan. Only recently has he felt the need to dispense justice, so he's more of a vigilante than a professional bounty hunter, and, as Wulf mentions, the PCs have little need, if any, to interact with him until the very end of the adventure. Additionally, the circumstances that lead to him becoming unsuccessful feel a bit too scripted to me. Wulf has the wainwright capture and kill the mayor's son without giving the PCs any opportunity to track him down themselves. After the mayor's son is found dead, some subtle clues may lead them to track Johnn down, but they still won't know what has gone on until he launches into a soliloquy in the final confrontation.The Masterwork Wagon Wheel is the next ingredient, and here, both contestants have expanded the scope of the ingredient to the entire wagon. Wulf's wainwright builds the equivalent of a medieval paddy wagon to toss the mayor's son into. As with the wainwright himself, the PCs don't have much of a chance to interact with this ingredient. It serves as a partial clue, and they may potentially track the wagon thanks to its distinctive track, but mostly it's employed by the NPC.Tinner's adventure, on the other hand, revolves around this ingredient. The poor quality of the roads between the capitol and Lambswheel necessitate that most of the merchants in the area visit the shop of Tinner's main antagonist. This allows the cultist-wheelwright to establish a network of magically controlled and enhanced wagons, which contributed to the growth and success of his cult. The PCs may actually end up buying some of the enhanced wagon-parts to fix their own wagon, which could then potentially put them in peril when control of the wagon switches back over to the antagonist.Lamb is the next ingredient. Wulf's Lamb, while it sounds tasty, is almost entirely represented by a clue that the PCs could easily miss. Tinner, on the other hand, employs some distinctive black sheep as the vehicle for hidden messages. It's clever, but the PCs aren't likely to intercept a tattooed lamb. They might realize that there's something fishy about the sheep once they start poking around, and they might meet the wrong end of a ram's horns, but they're only slightly more interactive than Wulf's.Next is Rain. The first encounter in Tinner's adventure takes place during a rainstorm, and he takes great pains to mention what sorts of environmental effects the rain will have. It's a nice use of the ingredient, and should provide for a very atmospheric fight. Wulf uses the rain as "cover" for his werebear wainwright so that he can have a big "reveal" at the end when the rain stops and the clouds part, letting the moon shine through. It's more tightly integrated into the story than Tinner's use, but it's less interactive. In fact, it's the Lack of Rain that's really used as an ingredient here.Strength is the next ingredient on the list. Wulf grants his wainwright NPC prodigious Strength, both naturally and from his transformation as a werebear. The murder of the mayor's son could only have been perpetrated by someone with great Strength, which means that Johnn is the obvious suspect. While it ties in neatly, it's not interacted with, other than in the form of a clue. It is possible that the PCs could fight Johnn in the final scene, and interact with it that way, but even Wulf thinks that unlikely.Tinner uses Strength in a number of places - the Unsuccessful Bounty Hunter's weapon does Strength damage, the shadows that fight alongside the cult leader drain Strength, and the muddy roads will require a number of Strength checks to free stuck carts. While none of these uses is as flavorful or dramatic as the super-strong wainwright, they each provide an opportunity for interaction that Wulf's doesn't.The very last ingredient on the list is the Thatched Hut. Tinner places several thatched huts at the wheelwright's abode. Honestly, they could have been any sort of structure and served the same purpose. Wulf, on the other hand, dots the fields with a number of Thatched Huts - structures that makes sense as small impromptu shelters.This judgment is shorter than the other two final match judgments because there really isn't a contest between the two entries. <spoiler: highlight to read>[spoiler]Wulf once again manages to tightly integrate the six ingredients, but at the expense of interactivity. He has a compelling NPC, but the PCs never find out that he's compelling until the very end of the scenario. As I mentioned at the beginning of the entry, the events of the adventure seems quite scripted, and we're offered no advice on how to handle things should the PCs go off script. The whole thing feels like the lead up to a soliloquy, which would be unsatisfying to me, as a player.Tinner's scenario is also quite linear, but the momentum of the adventure is produced by the PCs, not the antagonists. Additionally, he offers a number of "troubleshooting" tips for when the PCs go off course. If there is criticism to offer here, it's that there are not enough clues to push the PCs toward considering the wheelwright as the main suspect. I suppose that he's the only person in town worth investigating, but there's not much buildup to the final fight - no impending sense of doom, or slow, creeping realization that they're talking to an evil cultist.Ultimately, though, as the potential DM running these adventures, I would find it easier to fix the deficiencies in Tinner's scenario than in Wulf's. It's a lot easier for me to prod the PCs back on track than to rewrite the adventure to allow for their participation. Therefore, I am awarding this round to Tinner, which, combined with his defeat of Stormborn in the first round, means that he is the Spring 2005 Iron DM![/spoiler]</spoiler></blockquote>

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