die_kluge said:
Anyone else want to post reviews on the current batch?
Sure, I'll take you up on that. As most of the reviews so far have concentrated on the modular aspect of the entries, as well as the degree to which they followed the rules, I might have a stab at reviewing them in terms of how well they work as wholistic adventures and to what extent they would be things I'd use. Resultantly, originality of content and entertainment factor (as both a player and DM) will dominate the verdicts. Also, being new around here, I didn't enter and know none of the people that did.
Put to the Sword (EL 2)
A nice idea let down by not allowing the players to make the choice, nor making them deal with the consequences. Notice that the Lizardman attacks the party no matter what they do (they walk away? He attacks. They try to heal him? He attacks. They try to talk him down? He attacks.) As a moral dilemma with no real choice, this wouldn't get used in my game. Also, it would have been interesting to read a little about how the tribe would react to the killing of one of their own (supposedly at his own request but how would the party prove that?).
Catch As Catch Can (EL 3)
Nothing technically wrong with this one but I did think it was a bit bland (not to mention linear).This read a little like a 'off the top of my head' random encounter. You know, you meet a helpless NPC is the middle of nowhere who is suddenly put in danger with no-one but you to help him out ... As I say, nothing really wrong but this would lose my vote in favour of some of the more unique entries.
The Centaur's Very Bad Day (EL 6)
Again, competently done and interesting in that the challenge is one of skill and ingenuity rather than combat. However, I would say that this gives the players too much time and is too easy a challenge for the party of the designated level. It fails to consider the use of spells such as Levitate and gives the players enough time to memorise them if they haven't got them at hand. Small flaws but enough to deny it my vote in the face of the competition. But a good effort and probably quite playable and enjoyable. An added bonus is the interesting hook should the party mess things up.
L'amour de Erinyes (EL 7)
I thought this one was wonderfull and was, in fact, the one that got my vote in the end. I thought that the background was very solid, the NPC looked a treat to play and the challenge both unusual and open-ended. Taking on the theme of love is a very gutsy move because it is difficult to do well but I think the designer pulls it off admirably. Talking down the lovesick-yet-volitile monster is a great opportunity for some creative roleplaying (not to mention actually NPCing her as the DM!). The scenario would have benefited from detailing the 'beloved' but this was obviously not practical under the competition rules. The thing that put this one over the hill was an attention to detail, such as the fate of the horses (discovering those would be an interesting development) and the potential of fun across both sides of the gaming table in the main encounter.
Harmonies in the Snow (EL 8)
This suffered in my eyes from being a 'trickster' type encounter. I have never in my years of playing fantasy games seen such an encounter be enjoyable to players. Most people just get annoyed with their Gm for being pointlessly malicious. Just a personal bias which never the less prevented me from seriously considering this as one of the better encounters. However, for what it is worth, it seems fairly competently done if you like that sort of thing. The other thing was that the encounter wasn't very intergrated (we had an NPC and a place but the work of putting them together into an encounter seemed to have been left to the DM).
Bad Cats Day (EL 8-16)
First of all, I don't really use Psionics, so the value of this encounter from my personal point of view was greatly reduced. Might not be a fair criticism but if you use rules not found in the core books you're reducing your audience to the people who use the relevant books. Taking the NPC away from the encounter, we actually have the mildly interesting premise of various feline types living in harmony but since no alternative reasons for this are fleshed out the DM still has to do a lot of work. Also, this seems to just be a combat encounter with not much else going for it. Nothing wrong with that if that's the sort of game you play but I usually prefer a little more plot with my carnage. Otherwise why not just use the tables in the DMG?
The Portal (EL 12)
This was an excellent premise which I thought was let down by lackluster traps and, as someone else mentioned, a NPC whose potential was unrealised. The traps seemed to just be a case of standing back and letting the arcane spellcaster do his thing. I couldn't help but think that one might have, with a little work, devised traps which required the participation of the rest of the party (or at least the rogue, if nothing else) or at least presented intelectual problems. Also, the immortal NPC guardian is a really great idea but it is also largely a wasted idea given he attacks almost on sight. I agree with the other reviewer who mentioned more angst would have been nice.
*Cough*, I Feel *Cough* Great! (EL 14)
A close runner up to L'amour de Erinyes for much the same reasons as pointed out above - an original idea, a highly playable NPC and an interesting challenge for the players. Also a great example of a moral dilemma done right. I had a few complains, however. First of all, the [silent] spells make it very difficult to figure out the scam and more difficult still to uncover it as such. If the players were to get 'healed' and then have the spell wear off in a few hours, that might do it but at the levels this is scaled for the players would be able to do most of their healing themselves. So there are some problems with the lead-in which regale this entry to second place in my eyes. But if I had two votes to play with, the other one would definitely go to this.
An Unexpected Visitor Drops In (EL 18)
The comments made about the use of psionics in Bad Cats Day applies doubly so here, as both the egg and the NPC require one to be using those rules. Also, this is a roleplaying encounter (unless you have particularly bloodthirsty PCs) with an unfamiliar and alien race, therefore giving two lines of 'personality notes' is in no way adequate. A final complain is that there seems to be a general lack of plot - we're just given an unusual NPC who doesn't particularly want to interact with the party and an egg which would make a usefull item if the players have a psion amongst them and happen to feel like stealing it.
All in all, a pretty good first heat with two encounters I would not hesitate to use in my game and several others I would pick apart for usefull material. Most of my comments, you will note, are based on my personal gaming bias rather than objections to the quality of what is provided. I fancy most of these would find favour with someone as most are well-written and internally consistant.
I also note that, at time of writing, the encounter with a seemingly insurmountable lead is one I would define as a middle of the road candidate at best. Looking over Morrus' criteria, I also note it fails to actually have much of a location and so couldn't see it getting much favour with people who voted on that basis. Maybe people are just really starved for encounters which involve fishing?
Yours,
Altin
