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2020-03-14, 03:56 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2009
Ultimate OOTS Book Tournament 2: Match 15
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
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2020-03-14, 03:58 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2009
- Location
- Birmingham, AL
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Re: Ultimate OOTS Book Tournament 2: Match 15
Good Deeds Gone Unpunished
Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.
Number of times Roland St. Jude has sworn revenge upon me: 2
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2020-03-14, 04:06 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2015
- Gender
Re: Ultimate OOTS Book Tournament 2: Match 15
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.
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2020-03-14, 04:08 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2019
Re: Ultimate OOTS Book Tournament 2: Match 15
Good Deeds Gone Unpunished 100%.
Arrrgh, here be me extended sig!
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2020-03-14, 07:35 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2008
- Gender
Re: Ultimate OOTS Book Tournament 2: Match 15
Don't know.
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2020-03-14, 07:46 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2019
- Location
- Cloudcuckooland, USA
Re: Ultimate OOTS Book Tournament 2: Match 15
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.
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2020-03-14, 08:01 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2013
- Location
- Skyron, Andromeda
- Gender
Re: Ultimate OOTS Book Tournament 2: Match 15
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.
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2020-03-14, 08:54 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
- Gender
Re: Ultimate OOTS Book Tournament 2: Match 15
Don't split the party
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2020-03-14, 09:28 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2012
- Location
- Ottawa, Canada
- Gender
Re: Ultimate OOTS Book Tournament 2: Match 15
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.
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2020-03-14, 11:08 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2009
Re: Ultimate OOTS Book Tournament 2: Match 15
Split the Party
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2020-03-15, 02:15 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2018
Re: Ultimate OOTS Book Tournament 2: Match 15
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.
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2020-03-15, 05:05 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2008
Re: Ultimate OOTS Book Tournament 2: Match 15
Don't split the party.
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2020-03-15, 06:20 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2009
- Location
- Netherlands
- Gender
Re: Ultimate OOTS Book Tournament 2: Match 15
DSTP gets my vote
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2020-03-16, 06:39 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2014
- Location
- Genova, Italy
- Gender
Re: Ultimate OOTS Book Tournament 2: Match 15
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.
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2020-03-17, 02:13 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2015
- Location
- Texas
- Gender
Re: Ultimate OOTS Book Tournament 2: Match 15
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.Last edited by KorvinStarmast; 2020-03-17 at 02:16 PM.
Avatar by linklele. How Teleport Worksa. Malifice (paraphrased):
Rulings are not 'House Rules.' Rulings are a DM doing what DMs are supposed to do.
b. greenstone (paraphrased):
Agency means that they {players} control their character's actions; you control the world's reactions to the character's actions.
Second known member of the Greyview Appreciation Society
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2020-03-19, 09:06 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2008
Re: Ultimate OOTS Book Tournament 2: Match 15
Don't Split the Party
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2020-03-19, 06:03 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2013
- Location
- Stuttgart, Germany
- Gender
Re: Ultimate OOTS Book Tournament 2: Match 15
Don't split the Party
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2020-03-21, 02:43 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2009
Re: Ultimate OOTS Book Tournament 2: Match 15
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.Last edited by 137beth; 2020-03-21 at 02:45 PM.
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2020-03-21, 03:32 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2015
- Gender
Re: Ultimate OOTS Book Tournament 2: Match 15
That was a pretty stark turnaround for DSTP, yeah.