Before the conclusion of the Deep Space campaign, I considered it appropriate to pass out another Adventure Rating Sheet. After all, one had already been filled out for the first season, and being a great believer in tradition, I knew that the second season deserved a similar opportunity. Thus, this chart asked the players to rate adventures 24-41. Although this is a smaller range of adventures, I think that the quality of the second season makes up for its lack of length.
This time, there were five players who filled out the sheets. They included myself (of course), Jazz, Morton, Ginzu and Rei. However, having only played the last four adventures in season two, Rei was only able to mark those adventures, and thus could only give out a maximum of two points. Ginzu had also been in only a few adventures, but thanks to enough spare time to read all the summaries, he was able to rank all of the listed adventures. And now, I present the original description that went along with this chart.
Space is the final frontier, and this is the final adventure to feature it, at least in this campaign. As such, with Epsilon�s crew will be facing their greatest challenge yet. However, they have dealt successfully with many such challenges in the past, and there should be no doubt that their performance will be solid in the the station�s final hours.
While Jazz�s report states that this adventure is the Number One Hit, it�s time for you to look back on all the adventures, hits and misses, that have come before it. And as a DJ picks out a hit list of greatest tracks, you will have to help formulate a top ten listing of adventures. Obviously, this chart will ignore all adventures before 23, as they have already been rated.
You won�t be able to earn any experience from this chart (there wouldn�t be much point to such experience anyway), but filling it out may earn you an orange soda, or other beverage of your choice. Please mark your five favorite adventures from the list below (with 5 being the best adventure of all). In this manner, I hope to determine Deep Space�s true Number One Hit.
As the explaination should hopefully make clear, the adventures that scored more points are ranked higher. In the case of the several ties, precedence is determined by the number of people who marked that adventure on their charts. As such, given two adventures with the same score, the one recognised by more of those polled will be given a higher ranking. This number will be written in brackets after the adventure's score. My comments, if I have any (and I usually do), will follow. The top adventures will be displayed in descending order of popularity. Once again, it should be noted that this ranking includes only adventures 24 through 41 of the campaign. That said, it's time to present Deep Space's finest hours.
1. Adventure 30 - Virgil's Black Binding Nightmare
Score: 13 (3)
The most popular adventure from the second season was the final one to feature Mr. Rhyze. Evidence, perhaps, of the awesome contributions the former communications officer made to the campaign. Personally, I was extremely pleased with the way Mr. Rhyze's treachery played out. Executing something that had been brewing for so long was difficult, but I think that this adventure's place on the charts indicates that it was successful. Mr. Rhyze's eventual end was also another classic Deep Space moment.
2. Adventure 32 - The Dark World of Diablo
Score: 10 (2)
In my opinion, this adventure featured perhaps the most innovative, and confusing concept. Roleplaying within roleplaying led to a whole lot of great lines, situations and opportunities to poke fun at all the gaming stereotypes. In addition, the evil GM known as Diablo was a great villain, and one who took the term killer DM to a whole new level. And filmed entirely in Ultravision, this adventure also featured some cutting-edge technology.
3. Adventure 28 - The Fast and the Furious
Score: 8 (2)
Doing this ranking is taking me too long, and it's making me furious. Much like this adventure made Vin Diesel. But not its players, apparently. In fact, the opening of the Kessel Run proved to be a most exciting event, and one that could satisfy even Vin Diesel's need for speed. Another subtle point in this adventure's favor was Mr. Rhyze's private battle with Vandred, which required the return of such stars as Captain Crunch.
4. Adventure 39 - The Next Generation
Score: 7 (3)
What manner of adventure is this? In a Star Trek inspired campaign, there's no way that this adventure could have been omitted from this list. Deep Space has always had a pro-original series bias, and this adventure was the most blatant demonstration of it. The battle with the Next Generation crew was one of the campaign's best fight scenes, especially when Picard pulled out his art moves and attempted to 'reason' with the heroes. The genuine surprise the players exhibited when faced with Vance was also a definite plus in my opinion.
5. Adventure 27 - A Little Box of Chocolates
Score: 7 (2)
Ahh, yes. You might not be able to guess why this adventure made the list. But let me throw you a clue; it was Poirot's second adventure on the station, and featured the appearance of two arch rivals, Moriarty and the despicable Sherlock Holmes. The endless chocolate also contributed to making this a very sweet adventure (with puns even better than that own, hard as that may be to believe). Finally, it featured one of the most pathetic fights ever, pitting Poirot and Holmes and their hillariously bad fighting skills against one another.
6. Adventure 34 - Where No Man Has Gone Before
Score: 6 (2)
I have to admit, even I was a bit surprised by the popularity of this adventure. But I guess it just goes to show how bold some of the players are with their choices. This adventure featured several Jawa encounters, a hand-to-hand fight with the Star Wolf team and some cruisin' in the crash-prone Windows Explorer, an activity that Jazz really seemed to enjoy. And lots of walking in single file.
7. Adventure 26 - Extermination
Score: 4 (2)
Contrary to a certain computer science professor's views, there was no problem with this adventure. That's because the adventure featured a gripping programming contest, pitting Mr. Rhyze and Vance against some of the galaxy's best hackers, including Morpheus, Boris and strangely enough, Wally. It also featured some dramatic scenes as the Electran Steel Star station was destroyed, and the Exterminators attempted to do their work on the heroes.
8. Adventure 40 - Voyager
Score: 3 (2)
Like Louis Riel himself, this adventure could be deemed either highly heroic or completely insane. It also provided the players with everything they really needed to know about Batoche. Other features included several minutes of previously unreleased fight footage, as Morton took on the Transporter, Sub-Zero and Scorpion for the last time when he foolishly opened the package. Finally, Louis Riel's defeat the hands of poutine cemented the success of this wild adventure.
9. Adventure 41 - Enterprise
Score: 2 (2)
The second last adventure in the campaign could be considered in black and white terms. Discord had long been brewing between the heroes and the villainous Senor Nabob, and it finally boiled over into a confrontation that involved not only him, but also the General's Fried Chicken, Johnny Cage and Denise Richards. As far as I'm concerned, Jazz's transformation into Anton Jackson and Senor Anton Jackson was enough to get this adventure on the chart. Because anything else wouldn't be very nice.
10. Adventure 38 - The Phantom Menace
Score: 2 (1)
This made Ginzu's list mostly due to the climactic duel with the Scith, which was certainly one of the most dramatic fights of the campaign. I mostly enjoyed sticking as many nods to the movie as possible into the adventure, up to and including Darth Maul's cutting death scene. Smacking down on Dooku, I understand, was also very enjoyable. And the zoom in on Vance's face during the Sciths' funeral was a perfect way to end the adventure.
11. Adventure 29 - Driven
Score: 1 (1)
The second part of the Kessel Run arc was also a fine adventure, if a bit overshadowed by its predecessor. All the same, Morton gave it the nod due to the exciting conclusion of the race. The presence of Boshi and his cheating were also clearly an important aspect in the popularity of this adventure. And the victory of Yoshi was certainly a high point in my opinion. In summing up this adventure, I can only say that WEEPBONG! beats FWIPOW! any day of the week.
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