# Mini Encounter Contest - Heat 8 [final primary round]



## Morrus (Jun 13, 2002)

This is the final preliminary heat and wil be followed with the final deciding heat.  I'm fairly sure I've got the right entries this time! 

For those who need reminding, the Mini Encounter Contest can be found right here.  The prize is a whole package of Fiery Dragon goodies, which go to the six final winners.

Apologies for the delays, folks.  I admit that I got distracted and this contest completely slipped my mind.  Luckily, KDLadage reminded me! 


Hunt of the Black Hound (EL 3) 
Kommag's Box (EL 5) 
Wanderers of the Forest (EL 6-7) 
In Rage And Still Waters (El 6) 
Man Against Beast (EL 7) 
Harmonies in the Snow (EL 8)
Revenge (EL 9) (.zip file) 
Interrupt the Arms (EL 10) 
The Stairwell (EL 12) 
Old Jamiben the Hermit (EL 13) 
The Black Orb (EL 17) 

Voting will last approx 3 days.


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## Mistwell (Jun 13, 2002)

Is this a record for the length of a contest? What is this now, 9 months?


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## Berandor (Jun 13, 2002)

I'm sorry, but I totally lost interest.

Perhaps I will vote the finals, though...

B


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## FireLance (Jun 13, 2002)

At this point, all I'm hoping for is to get some feedback on my entry.  So as not to skew the voting , would anyone who is still interested to comment let me know?

Off to work on my entry for the WOTC setting design contest now.


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## KDLadage (Jun 13, 2002)

Same here... I just want feedback...


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## Nail (Jun 13, 2002)

*heh.....*



			
				Morrus said:
			
		

> *Apologies for the delays, folks.  I admit that I got distracted and this contest completely slipped my mind.  Luckily, KDLadage reminded me! *




Well, well, well....looky what we got here.......

..I admit, I started t' lose intrest...oh, say 3 months ago, or so....

Still, Morrus has been up t' 'is neck in "stuff" fer th' last few months, so I'll be generous.   I won't break 'is knee-caps.  I'm such a softy.....

Now: let's see about these last entries....

-*Nail*


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## MavrickWeirdo (Jun 13, 2002)

*Hopes*

I'm hoping for 2 things, feedback, and that more than 10 people vote on this round


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## KDLadage (Jun 13, 2002)

I wonder which one you wrote... 

(sarcasm and good natured humor -- it was sarcasm and good natured humor)


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## Nail (Jun 13, 2002)

*Wow....has it been a long time........*



			
				Morrus said:
			
		

> *This is the final preliminary heat......<snip>
> *



...I sure hope so, Morrus!   :^)

This set was one of the hardest 't judge: not only has it been a long time since I last thought about how to judge this contest, but also this entire batch of entries had problems addressing the _unique location_ requirement of the rules.

In other words: Hey, great NPC ideas; but lousey location ideas, guys......and y'all _did_ want criticism, right?  :^)

Le'see......  In order of amazingness (weakest first):


*************************
Interrupt the Arms (EL 10) 
    Probably the weakest of the bunch in terms of NPC and location.  It's a caravan, on a road......an addin' a cleric of St. Cuthbert doesn't make it any more interestin'.   On top of that: the format is too long.  Poor Mistwell's gonna have a seizure over here, guys, if ya keep this up.......

Harmonies in the Snow (EL 8)
     Haven't we voted on this one before?  I'm pretty sure.....

Kommag's Box (EL 5) 
   Alright, this box idea is interestin'...but the NPC and location are both rather un-memorable.  A dwarf in a .......<wait fer it>.....forge.  Yup.  Gotcha.  Pretty sure I've heard o' that one.

The location is well detailed, as is the NPC.  Good stuff....just not very interestin'.

Wanderers of the Forest (EL 6-7) 
     This one lost me completely: how is the community supposed to be an NPC?  If that's the intent, why isn't the "NPC" (village)given a separate page, with all the relevant "stats"?  

     Moreover, there's some definite "fudging" going on here: there are actually 2 locations given, not one, as per the rules.  We've got th' spot fer the griffin combat, and then the village.  If the village is the NPC, and not a location, then why doesn't it figure into the griffin attack?  Not good, kiddo.

Hunt of the Black Hound (EL 3)
    I like the gnoll hunter idea.....too many times we see these guys as howling, slobbering idiots closing in on th' PCs _en masse_.  ...But the gnoll druid seemed like an after thought, rather than a rivetting NPC around which the encounter was based.  Sorta like: "Oh shoot, I gotta stick a cool NPC in here too, ta satisfy th' rules!"  And his motivation for approaching the party ("Me need silver") seems pretty weak.

The location is really not at all present here: could be the PCs camp, could be the Yeth Hound's cave....but it's not clear which the author meant ta be "the location, separatable from the PCs".  This one is a good encounter...it's just not following the guidelines of this contest.

The Black Orb (EL 17) 
    Hmmmm.  "No saving throw to resist the sleep"?  Ya lost me right there.  And...what about elves, wise guy?


In Rage And Still Waters (El 6) 
    An interesting NPC, and a decent location.  The history of the location doesn't seem to _quite_ explain the pool's magical properties, but I can let that go.  The real stumbling block for me was the wolverine: Why isn't he still with his companions?  That's a huge, monster question, that needs to be answered.

Revenge (EL 9) (.zip file) 
     ...Alright: I finally downloaded an Unzip utility, just to read this one.  Now my boss will find it on th' work-computer, and kill me.  I hope you appreciate this huge sacrifice!!  :^)

     The location is.....grrrr...another road.  Awww, come on!  Surely there are cooler mage-ambush-places out there!  Come on, buddy, give me something ta work with here!

     The NPC is a human evoker.    ...Okay.  And he's got a great, PC-killer spell list.   .....Alright.   And then what?

********************
The next three were the best of this bunch, IMHO.

Man Against Beast (EL 7) 
     The location here is the magic item/monolith.  How we get th' PCs there is....left up to th' DM.  It is a very interesting way of curing lycanthropy....but more needs to be done with th' location to make it truely unique.  "On a barren plain.." just doesn't quite have th' right punch to it.

The NPC (the weretiger) can't really be separated from the location, without making him rather run-o-the-mill.

The Stairwell (EL 12) 
      I'll just open up an' say it: I'd *hate* to be a non-min/maxed PC in this guy's campaign.  It'd hurt.  

This is a dangerous, complicated trap, but one that might very well fit in a wizard's abode.  I'm pretty confident the _spider climb_ tile is not made correctly; according to core rules "spell completion' can only be done by someone with that spell on his/her class list.  Golems have no spell lists!  There are better ways to give the golem _spider climb_ -- just give it to him as a spell-like ability!

      There is really no NPC for this entry, which is why I didn't vote fer it.  The gollum ain't no NPC, bub.  Water elemental, neither.

Old Jamiben the Hermit (EL 13) 
      This one gets my nod, but only barely.  The "reality shift" mumbo jumbo just smacks of DM heavy-handedness.  The cabin is far from unique or interesting.  But the NPC saves th' day.  Original, interesting, and plausible.  The SR and such is too powerful, etc, but that's easy enough to fix.   I guess what I'm sayin' here is that by smoothing out the NPC, and enlivining that location a bit more, we'd have a hands-down winner.  Needs work, but good job, nonetheless.
**********************************

So, now on t' th' finals.  By G'rr-ieck's beard, I think we just might finish this contest!  How about that.

-*Nail*


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## der_kluge (Jun 13, 2002)

Editorial note - I read these entries hastily, so if I've assumed something incorrectly about them, feel free to flame me.  As always, these are my opinion, and should be taken with a grain of salt.  If you don't like my comments, so be it.  People want opinions, so I'm happy to oblige.  I'll try to get through the rest of them when I get a chance.  For now, here are comments on the first five entries.

Hunt of the Black Hound
  I like this one.  The thought of working with a group of gnolls is an interesting twist that is not often seen.  Clever DMs can build subsequent adventures off of this one, thought not easily.  DMs could devise future meetings with Gurner to further nature's cause, or may have to call on Gurner for information that he might have about the area.  The encounter is fairly limited, but is generic
enough that it could be ran in just about any world.  What I would have liked to have seen here is some follow-up plots involving the gnolls, and maybe a map to the Yeth Hound.  Possibly some information on where the Yeth Hound came from
would have been nice as well.

Kommaq's Box
  This is an odd little encounter.  Kommaq is a dwarven smith/transmutor that has a smithy outside of town, and has a penchant for magical stuff.  I can buy that well enough, but if he's a transmutor himself, why is he having such difficulties opening up this magical box that he's acquired?  Surely he has access to the knock spell himself, which the text says will open the box.  Some DMs may be a little apprehensive about putting a smith that sells magic items in their world. That aside, the concept is fairly harmless.  As an encounter, this is fairly  weak, IMHO.  Chances are, no low-level wizard is going to pull out this ultra-
magical box in front of a party of strangers and say "can you open this for me, and by the way, don't kill me and take all my stuff."  No, more like he's not going to say anything about it.  Even if he did, and the PCs accept and open the box, then what?  There's nothing more to this encounter.  So, Kommaq just says, "thanks, here's your dagger, now get out of my home!"  Where's the fun in that?  What would have been interesting here is if the box did something, like transports the entire party (including Kommaq) to some strange place, and then they'd have to figure out how to get back home.

Wanderers of the Forest
  Ok, this one has some problems.  Despite the numerous spelling and grammar errors here, of which I am willing to overlook, there are numerous incorrect things from a game perspective.  For starters, why is this hamlet of people so closely tied to hippogriffs?  That's never explained.  And why is this hamlet, who are so in touch with nature and tranquility out to kill only rare animals?  Where's Greenpeace when you need them?  Deer have fur, too, why do they only have to kill griffons?  That doesn't make any sense.  Not to mention the fact that a 5th level Ranger walking through a dense forest should be able to hide from a griffon.  It all just doesn't add up.

In Rage and Still Waters
  This encounter is just wrong; very, very wrong.  I can think of a couple of outcomes of this if I were to actually run it.  The party is walking through the forest and they come across Kezra, the wizard wolverine.  The PCs see the  wolverine with this cloak, decide they want the cloak, and just attack the creature outright.  Even if they don't attack the creature, they are bound to look into the pool and see their reflection.  All the fighters, and pretty much anyone with a low will save is gonna fail.  And then what - they are out of the game, since the curse is permanent until dispelled with spells that a party of this level doesn't have any hopes of having access to.  So, the effect of the encounter is that half the party is effectively removed from game play.  Since the ones that make their save won't be able to convince those that failed to follow them back to town to get cured.  Wow.

Man Against Beast
  This is a perfect example of how a game can happen just by walking around in a desolate field!  There seems to be a lot of this "The PCs just happen on", or "when you enter the clearing you see...".  Maybe I'm just jaded by this kind of encounter.  At any rate, the concept of the moon mirror is actually quite unique, and fairly interesting.  I'm not entirely clear on what happens if the lycanthropic image is produced and slays the original, and I'm not clear on what might happen if someone without lycanthropy looks into the mirror.  And furthermore, why is such a powerful, potent thing out in the middle of a field and not closely guarded in a holy place of a moon god/goddess?  This encounter probably works best by inflicting someone with lycanthropy and then having them seek out the moon mirror to remove their afflication.  And then a quest could be designed around seeking it out, and getting to (of course in some ancient runes, guarded by Medusae, perhaps).


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## Kalendraf (Jun 14, 2002)

*Thanks for the feedback!*

Thanks for the feedback so far!

Nail wrote:
_...But the gnoll druid seemed like an after thought, rather than a rivetting NPC around which the encounter was based. Sorta like: "Oh shoot, I gotta stick a cool NPC in here too, ta satisfy th' rules!"_

I'm not sure why it came across that way.  Gurnar was the original aspect here upon which everything else was based as I wrote this.  Maybe the encounter page doesn't emphasize him enough?  The character details were supposed to explain his importance, but it was tough to cram everything in there.

Nail also wrote:
_And his motivation for approaching the party ("Me need silver") seems pretty weak._

The idea here was that the gnolls have been living on their own in the woods for some time and have no way to deal with this newest threat.  Perhaps it seems a bit contrived, but it looked like a plausible option the gnolls might try as they find just how difficult it is to kill this hound.  The silver arrow idea was from an old 1E campaign situation I remembered as I wrote this.

Nail also wrote:                              
_The location is really not at all present here: could be the PCs camp, could be the Yeth Hound's cave....but it's not clear which the author meant ta be "the location, separatable from the PCs". This one is a good encounter...it's just not following the guidelines of this contest._

I'm very guilty of not making the location easily separable from the encounter.  My bad.  I didn't fully understand what was intended when I read the rules and wrote this up, and encounter info drifted into the location as a result.  FYI, the location is basically "this neck of the woods" and is intended to span the entire hunting range of the Yeth Hound, so it includes the Hound's lair as well as the camp site(s).  I didn't make a map since I was ill and home from work with a 103 degree fever when I was writing this and just didn't have energy to make one.  I'm not looking for a mercy vote here, just explaining that I wasn't in my best state of mind as I typed this one up.

die_kluge wrote:
_What I would have liked to have seen here is some follow-up plots involving the gnolls, and maybe a map to the Yeth Hound. Possibly some information on where the Yeth Hound came from would have been nice as well._

I really would have loved to include that info, but alas the 3 page limit meant something had to be cut.  A background of the Hound was there in the original version before I started pruning it down.  As for follow-up plots, I hoped that the information in Gurnar's description would help somewhat even though it is fairly limited.

Any additional feedback would be appreciated as well.  Thanks again!


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## Seule (Jun 14, 2002)

Here's my comments.  As always, I'm likely to be harsh, the good points are usually less obvious than the bad points.

Hunt of the Black Hound: No real location, cool concept, good use of NPCs.  I'd run this as I like playing with the preconceptions of my players, and the setup screams first ambush, and then werecreature.

Kommag's Box: Nothing too special, but has potential as an RP encounter.  Makes for a good weaponsmith in a medium-magic world.  Plus a Dwarven Wizard is just cool.

Wanderers of the Forest: Nothing special.  Nothing really stands out, nothing is really bad.  Not a memorable NPC or location, really.

In Rage And Still Waters: This is a nice one.  Cool location, cool NPC, and an encounter that comes natuarally out of the combination of the two.  They are both useable independantly, and that means this is an excellent submission in my opinion.

Man Against Beast: Another one similar to Rage and Still Waters: a (slightly more) cool location, a (slightly less) cool NPC, and an encounter that follows natually from the combination.  Well done.

Harmonies in the Snow: Odd, didn't really appeal to me.  Cutesy I guess would be my description.  Followed the rules though, as far as I can remember them.  Not much to do though, more of a 'look at the cool stuff and neato person here' than anything else.

Revenge: Boring.  Basically, a standard evil mage attacks the party on a standard road, for unspecified reasons.  I can do better myself, simply because I can use NPCs that the characters have already met.

Interrupt the Arms: The setup is contrived except in a small number of campaigns, and the NPC is boring, and the location is almost nonexistant.

The Stairwell: The organization is non-standard, and there's no NPCs detailed.  What NPCs there are are intrinsically connected to the location, which is basically a big trap.  It's useable, but not what I think the contest is looking for.

Old Jamiben the Hermit: Extremely cool NPC, I wish I had thought of this.  Not much of a location though, and the encounter itself is mostly some ideas and options than an actual encounter.  The NPC makes up for it though...  although I'm not a fan of the divination blocking and reality quake (!) options, I'd not use 'em.

The Black Orb: A cool location, and a somewhat interesting NPC, both useable separately.  I'm particularly impressed with the combination of lethality potential balanced with the NPC not wanting to kill the party.  I'm concerned however that fighter types will be at a severe disadvantage at least at first, until their stats acclimate.  Neato.


There are several quite good encounters in this group, and I have a hard time choosing between them.

  --Seule


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## smetzger (Jun 14, 2002)

I voted for In Rage because:
1) It had a synopsis.
2) The synopsis peaked my interest and was well written.


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## Nail (Jun 14, 2002)

*Hey Kalendraf:*



			
				Kalendraf said:
			
		

> Nail also wrote:
> _And his motivation for approaching the party ("Me need silver") seems pretty weak._
> 
> The idea here was that the gnolls have been living on their own in the woods for some time and have no way to deal with this newest threat.  Perhaps it seems a bit contrived, but it looked like a plausible option the gnolls might try as they find just how difficult it is to kill this hound. [/B]




As a player, I imagine I'd be yer worst nightmare, 'cause I'd be asking all 'o th' "continuity" kind of questions.  Fer example:

* How did the Yeth hound get to that neck o' the woods?  (Isn't it an "outsider"?)

* Why couldn't the gnolls get their silver some place else?  After all, they do have real armor and weapons -- where'd they get those from?

* Why don't the gnolls attack us?  Why are they different from other gnolls? (Chaotic evil, remember?)

* These four Gnolls are out there, living all by themselves?  Why?  Where's the rest of the pack?

* etc.

Th' point is: answerin' these questions and any others that go along with it will tighten up th' whole scenario, and it's gonna make the NPC even _cooler_.  You need ta be able to at least B.S. yer way through these questions as yer DMing, and for a contest like this, ya gotta have 'em in there fer us to read about.

*******

As fer th' "character hook": it's pretty weak.  It relies on: a) th' PCs not attacking immediately, b) th' PCs have enough useful silver, c) th' PCs being curious and/or blood-thirsy enough t' go after the yeth hound _with_ the Gnolls.  If I were playin', I'd be pretty d@mn suspicious of th' gnolls, and not very willing to have 'em at my back during a fight.  

And to be honest, I'd think the gnolls would feel th' same way.  Here are a bunch of bloody PCs, ones that normally hunt my kind, and _now_ I'm gonna ask 'em to join my band?

....but if you (as DM) answer that, in a convincing and reasonable way.....*that* would be cool......

-*Nail* 

*** It's really too bad more people aren't voting in th' contest.  I can understand why-- it's just too bad.


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## KDLadage (Jun 14, 2002)

I know it has only been a few months, but reading over mine I see about a dozen things I would do differently at this point...



...no, make that two dozen.... damn.


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## Kalendraf (Jun 14, 2002)

Nail, thanks for the questions.  I'll take a stab at answering them:

_* How did the Yeth hound get to that neck o' the woods? (Isn't it an "outsider"?)_

Alas, this is part that got removed in my process of reducing to 3 pages.  The history is of this yeth hound is rather simple.  A planar traveller found it as a pup, and brought it to this world, however, it escaped soon after gaining its ability to fly.  It was driven out of a few past locations, but came to reside in this area mostly unchecked since there were no large settlements or other predators in this area.  It's been decimating the local wildlife ever since.

_* Why couldn't the gnolls get their silver some place else? After all, they do have real armor and weapons -- where'd they get those from?_

Where do you find silver in the woods?  These gnolls tend to avoid contact with other races.  They received weapons and armor from their original tribe, and have been crafting arrows and makeshift weapons and armor to replace them as needed.  

_* Why don't the gnolls attack us? Why are they different from other gnolls? (Chaotic evil, remember?)_

This is a function of Gurnar's alignment and leadership.  He attracted some of the gnolls that were less Chaotic and Evil than most (note the alignments of the small band are all partly neutral).  Gurnar's own alignment is due to how he was raised.  The "quest" they see themselves on along with Gurnar's own teachings have given these gnolls enough to think about to prevent them from instantly attacking anyone they come across, including the party.


_* These four Gnolls are out there, living all by themselves? Why? Where's the rest of the pack?_

Gurnar's ideals were too radical for most gnolls.  He and his followers have left the original tribe to seek out a new life for themselves.  Even now, there is some discontent among his followers (specifically from the neutral evil gnoll), but the quest to hunt these unnatural creatures has become almost like a religion to them.  Gurnar's druidic views are somewhat skewed as he actively tries to achieve balance in nature.  His quest has lead him to become the roaming hunter he now is.


So my problem appears to be that I just couldn't seem to squeeze enough details into the 3 page limit.  It's tough.  I'm having a really hard time with the 1 page limit for the WotC world submission too.


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## Nail (Jun 14, 2002)

Kalendraf said:
			
		

> *<snip>.....So my problem appears to be that I just couldn't seem to squeeze enough details into the 3 page limit.  It's tough.  I'm having a really hard time with the 1 page limit for the WotC world submission too. *




Good answers.  Now, yer gonna need t' some how let th' PCs know some o' that rambling, without them havin' t' ask so many probing questions!  Fer instance: their weapons an' equipment should look old and well used.  Heck, that could even be an interestin' way of scarin' th' PC during the initial encounter: "Oh boy.....we're about t' be cut t' peices by Gnoll Barbarians!  Lookit how they're clothed in animal skins!"

......anyway, this contest has taught a bunch of us how to better frame our encounters.  Although we've been approachin' th' rules as a set of arbitrary constraints, they actually might help some o' us be better DMs.  Page limits can be good things......

.....or not.

<shrug>

-*Nail*


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## EOL (Jun 16, 2002)

Okay the poll is closed...Who won?


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## Nail (Jun 16, 2002)

3-way tie?   Aw, come on.......


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## MavrickWeirdo (Jun 17, 2002)

EOL said:
			
		

> *Okay the poll is closed...Who won? *




not me 

at least 1 other person voted for me


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## Morrus (Jun 17, 2002)

3-way tie.  

To resolve this, the first of those tie breakers to have its name posted in this thread (after this post) wins.  Anyone can post, even the authors.


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## Kalendraf (Jun 17, 2002)

*Hunt of the Black Hound!*

If I'm reading Morrus' last post correctly, I think this means "Hunt of the Black Hound" gets the tie-breaker.

Strange way to break a tie...


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## Morrus (Jun 17, 2002)

Well, it's as good as any other arbitrary method.
It's just a kind of visible way of tossing a 3-sided coin...

"Hunt of the Black Hound" is the winner!

I'm moving this to the archive now, and I'll have the finals posted in a few minutes.


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