| James Whittaker |
They all need a bit of editing, but thats to be expected given the short notice the contestant were given. I voted for 'Down the Blighted Path' in the end because I felt that had the strongest and most focussed story, as well being the one that would require the least effort to rework into something printable. The choice of villain and the stage for the final conflict are what really set this one apart, and I think if given more time the contestant can write even more 'dark fey necromantic shenanigans' that put this a cut above the rest. I was sold at 'Dark Pixies riding Stirges protect the fortresses Airspace'.
My Favourate however was 'Journey into Midnight'. Cos Vegepygmies + Flail Snails + Tiefling Monks = Win. As much as I liked the ideas in that one tho, it needed the most work to forge it into something printable. The Midnight Jungle is one of the areas of Nar-Voth I've wanted to explore since I purchased the Darklands pdf years ago, and this does alot with it beyond the archetypal pulp dinosaurs. The adventure would benefit from a better introduction tho as the chelish tiefling monks gone missing angle is not as strong a plot hook as the book deserves.
As for the others. Bellflower in the Dark has a solid core storyline and premise that would have been the clear choice. Were it not for many of its central themes such as the Derro and a Chelish Mine, having been used before in 'No Response From Deepmar'. I thought the npc's were particularly well conceived and interesting.
The Hollowheart Conquest sounds like the best module on paper. Just going on Synopses I would have been all over a Dwarf-Duergar conflict themed module. But despite the contestants clear talent (Deeplit was my favourate monster in my favourate round), I think masquerading the fairly directed plot as an underground sandbox falls short.
Just my 2 Pence