Ultimate OOTS Book Tournament 2: Match 15

[137beth]

Greetings to all people of the Playground, and welcome to
The Ultimate Order of the Stick Book Tournament II!


Back in 2014, I ran a series of polls to determine the forum's favorite OOTS book. Start of Darkness won that tournament, defeating Blood Runs in the Family by one vote. Since that time, the number of available books has increased, and the readership has had more time to reflect on earlier stories in light of more recent events. Hence, I felt it was time for another tournament. Without further ado, I present

The Contestants

Start of Darkness
War and XP
Don't Split the Party
Blood Runs in the Family
Good Deeds Gone Unpunished
Utterly Dwarfed


Dungeon Crawling Fools
On the Origins of the PCs
No Cure for the Paladin Blues
Snips, Snails and Dragon Tails
Haleo & Julelan + Uncivil Servant


I have grouped together the two stories which are currently digital-only. The 11 contestants will compete in a double elimination tournament, with your votes deciding who wins each match. The winner of the entire tournament will be crowned Grand Champion of the Stick!

Due to the fact that there are more than 8 but fewer than 16 contestants, five books will get a free pass on the first round. The contestants were seeded randomly. You can see the entire tournament bracket on Challonge.

Vote once in each match by posting your vote in this thread. Voting for this match will close Saturday, March 21, at which time I will post the next match. I will vote only in the case where a tie-breaking vote is needed. Please put your votes in bold, since it makes it easier for me when tallying them.

Now that half of the matches for this tournament are complete, we will be doing only one match at a time for the remainder of the tournament.


The Current Match

Match 15: Good Deeds Gone Unpunished vs Don't Split the Party

[Peelee]

Good Deeds Gone Unpunished

[Ruck]

I didn't vote in GDGU vs SoD because I had a hard time deciding, but Good Deeds Gone Unpunished stands so well on its own and doesn't have some of the weaknesses of Don't Split the Party, even if DStP has that incredible ending sequence.

[Schroeswald]

Good Deeds Gone Unpunished 100%.

[Hardcore]

Don't know.

[ByzantiumBhuka]

Don't Split the Party is one of the first "big fights" books, which makes it pretty good. However, O-Chul overpowers all-- and that's not counting the great bonus stories in the book. Good Deeds Gone Unpunished it is.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

As I've said before, DStP has some of my favorite sequences of any published material. However, I do think it falters a bit in the middle, while GDGU is a really consistently good story. So, Good Deeds Gone Unpunished gets my vote.

[Vulkos]

Don't split the party

[LadyEowyn]

Oh, my two favourites!

I’m going with DSTP. the V arc, O-Chul and MITD arc, and Redcloak moments are just two good, and the sequence with Roy in the afterlife is excellent as well.

[Gift Jeraff]

Split the Party

[CriticalFailure]

Very tentative Don't Split the Party. The parts I like most I like more than GDGU, but the parts I like least I like less than GDGU. And I love Bo's arc in GDGU. Might change my mind.

[Bedinsis]

Don't split the party.

[pluizig]

DSTP gets my vote

[Laurana]

Terribly difficult decision, as I love them both. I have to go with

Don't split the party,

though. Too many awesome sequences. Greysky City, for one.

[KorvinStarmast]

Match 15: Good Deeds Gone Unpunished vs Don't Split the Party

They are so different in scope that they are nearly impossible to compare.

As a writer, Rich is more mature and far more in control of his muse in GDGU. Insofar as something I will sit down to enjoy reading, GDGU wins nine times out of nine. (And the art work is better).

But DSTP is the indispendsible 'bridge' book (I have made this observation before) that is crucial to pull off but darned hard to do when writing a series. (It is on a larger scale than the infamous transition sentence, the transition paragraph, and the transition chapter ... all of which go up in exponential difficulty ... and this transition volume posed a lot of difficulties)

I have to vote for DSTP - even though there were some flat spots in it - due to its shear magnitude and as I see it, the degree of difficulty to do it successfully.
He did it.
(Also, writing Belkar out of that one dimensional hole was a welcome development).

So, DSTP.

Yes, I said one dimensional hole deliberately.

[rgrekejin]

Don't Split the Party

[Bloodfeast]

Don't split the Party

[137beth]

Voting is now closed. The winner is:

Match 15: Good Deeds Gone Unpunished vs Don't Split the Party (5-10)
I'll admit, I am surprised by this outcome, given how well GDGU did against SoD.

The next match is up in a new thread.

[Ruck]

That was a pretty stark turnaround for DSTP, yeah.