ZEITGEIST Of iron, wood and flesh - a 4E ZEITGEIST chronicle

Hello!

Inspired by gideonpepys' most excellent thread, I've decided to use the boards to hold a chronicle of our recently started Zeitgeist game. I'm running the game for 4 players, and we're using the 4E ruleset. We roll for attributes.

I've made some modifications to the setting and story to try and intercept what I know are the main interests of my players, but for the most part we'll be running the adventures as written. I'll signal significant changes from how the modules are meant to play out in purple.


Let's kick this off by introducing our cast of characters.



Bruce "Ray" Gear III

Risuri Artificer, Technologist theme



Age: 37
Statistics:
The last in a long line of innovators and thinkerers, Bruce owes much of his scientific background to his grandfather, Bruce Ray I. Bruce I was an alchemist and an academic before the Third Yerasol War started, and as a fervant patriot and devoted servant of the crown, he didn't esitate to enlist in the army's genius. Having witnessed firsthand the marvels of Danoran's first forays in technological innovation, he was one of the first to suggest that Risur followed their example and accept that technology was the future of warfare.
In particular he was terrified by Danoran's use of chemicals and their effects on risuri footmen, and when King Aodan decided to start funding research on technological countermeasures, Bruce managed to persuade him to fund his project: a completely automated soldier, built from a chassis of wood and iron and controlled by a human operator from the safety of a ship or fort. Bruce's genius was enough to solve all problems tied to movement and sensorial input, but when it came to giving the automaton a reliable source of power, he was at loss for solutions. Steam power was a suitable solution to power the machine's various subsystems, but insufficient for the main functions, and impossible to mantain over a long period of time. The project had to be put on hold.

It was Bruce I's son, Bruce II, who kickstarted the process that would eventually lead to a solution. Less fervent in his devotion to the crown and less inclined to conceive technology as a tool in the hands of the military than his father but not less brilliant, Bruce II made several discoveries in a field that was (and still is) fundamentally undiscovered by the rest of the academic community: electricity and magnetism. Over time, Bruce II managed to develop a dynamo that could power up his father's automaton as long as it was connected to it with an insulated cable. Bruce's passion and his love for his father led him to work on the project for years, mostly in secret and using university funds rather than proper military support, and this led him to ultimately be unable to find a solution to the core problem that afflicted his father's desired military application: transporting a suitable source of power was impossible, and the automaton would still be tied to the length of the cable.

Bruce II's research was forcibly halted by the beginning of the Fourth Yerasol War: to please his aging father, he enlisted and left for the front. However, he forbid his own son, Bruce III, from doing the same. The war was a disaster for Risur, and Bruce II never returned. Ever since, Bruce III has been doing all he could to get some disclosure on his father's MIA status, but to no avail. Eventually his grandfather's ties with high rank military representatives allowed him to get the RHC to start an investigation on his father's fate. Over time, Bruce developed a bond of friendship with the constable charged with the investigation, one Allister Gerrant (NfA: another player character), who kept pursuing the goal even after the RHC called off the investigation. News were scarce and far between, despite Allister's best efforts, but a confirmation that Bruce II was alive came in the most unexpected way.

One morning, 5 years after the end of the war (NfA: 2 years before the start of the campaign) Bruce III received a misterious package: it contained a bizzare, irregular shaped crystal, opaque and purple, that was wrapped in several layers of papers covered in scribblings and technical drawings.
Bruce is certain that the object was sent by his father from Danor, mostly because the text details how to use the crystal as a capacitor to store electrical energy and fuel the automaton.
Even more brilliant than his precedessors, Bruce quickly realized there was no way he would manage to obtain the amount of electricity he needed from his father's prototype dynamo. However, he foundt an unconventional solution to the problem: while he shared the passion for technological research of his male ancestors, he also inherited his mother's devotion to Risuri religious traditions. He has a particular devotion to the Father of Thunder, and after several attempts, he managed to build a contraption that would capture one of the lighting bolts that frequently struck during the rites devoted to the fey titans and channel it into the automaton. In one particularly stormy night his plan succeeded, and the automaton came to life.

In fact, that played out quite more literally than Bruce expected, because he was quickly apparent that something in the process did more than simply energize the construct: be it the supernatural source of lighting energy (Bruce's favourite theory, as a man of faith) or the arcane nature of the crystal (what he actually suspects being the truth, as a man of science), the automaton wasn't just much more flexible and nimble than the design foresaw (as if the wooden structure had become muscle-like, capable of stretching and turning beyond what the crude joints of the creature would allow), but the "creature" quickly developed thoughts and a personality. The Caliban (NfA yet another player character) had been born, and Bruce life was changed.

Ever since, Bruce has been working on Caliban to perfect its design and fulfill his father and grandfather's dream. With the help of Allister, he enlisted to the RHC and as an agent of the crown he managed to submit Caliban for approval at court. The king decided the automaton shows promise but needs to be tested extensively, and this has ultimately led to it becoming the very first artificial RHC agent in the history of the country, working with Bruce and Allister until he's deemed ready for being deployed in military operations. Secretly Bruce harbors the wish of using his creature to follow his father's trail and rescue him from captivity.


(other party members to follow soon)

(The) Caliban

Warforged Risuri Swordmage, Skyseer theme



Age: 2
Statistics:


Caliban's first memory is a mix of sound and colours: "opening his eyes" under a stormy sky, under the deafening roar of rain. And yet among all the chaos, through the thin veil of the dissipating clouds, it was the sparse canopy of stars and planets that fully absorbed his newborn mind.
The first days of Caliban's life were made of endless tests in Bruce's lab. Discovering his motor skills and the range of his senses, as well as elaborating how to module his voice and articulate his thoughts in the language of the humans surrounding him, were the first hurdles he had to overcome. But he learned much like human infants do, except at an incredibly accellerated pace. And as his creator soon realized, the consciousness he was forming was expanding well beyond the theorycal limits of his mechanical brain. Many times he foundt Caliban had left the safety of the warehouse he was stored in to go and admire the starry sky he was so drawn to, to the point he eventually had windows cut in the roof to allow him to spend his night in admiration without drawing attention to himself. The sentient automaton has spent the last 2 years reading every book he could get his hands on (expecially those concerning skyseers, the cosmos and philosophy), and training to harness the arcane energies that run through his body and interact with the constant technological upgrades that Bruce performs on him.

Caliban's quest to finding a meaning to existance has just started, but the questions he needs to answer are already close to overwhelming his young mind. Does he have a soul? Why does arcane energy flow in his body? What is the crystal that powers his entire existence? Why is he so fascinated with astral bodies that surround Lanjyr?

Joining the RHC is his first step into the real world, and a way to test himself and his belief in a society that meets him with both enthusiasm and distrust.

Allister Gerrant

Crisillyiri Human Avenger, Martial Scientist theme





Age: 30
Statistics:

Devotion plays a dominant role in all of Allister's life: first to his home country, then to his wife, and now to his adoptive nation.

Allister was born in Crisillyir from a rich family of textile merchants. His father was frequently absent for his travels and his mother was strongly focused on politics and diplomacy, so he was factually brought up by his tutor, an aged but talented martial scientist who teached him liberal arts and scientific disciplines in equal measure.
Sadly, when Allister was 7 years old, his mother made one dangerous enemy in her political machinations: the Family, the most powerful criminal organizations in the country. Soon after the Gerrant manor burned down in a freak accident that left both parents killed; the young boy miracolously escaped their faith due to his tutor bringing him on the countryside for an unexpected lesson. In order to shield him from further retaliation, the man arranged for him to be transferred to Sid Minos and trained among other orphans in the Crypt, to eventually become a God Hand.

Allister strongly excelled in his training and 16 years later he was sent to the Yerasol Archipelago alongside other Geneu Credetos as an embedded unit in the Risuri army, specializing in guerrilla tactics and disposing of supernatural threats. During this mission, two things happened that changed Allister's life forever: first, his unit captured a Danoran officer, a tiefling named Adel Salista. During her time as a prisoner of war the tiefling and Allister grew close, and eventually she deserted Danoran and once the war ended they both returned to Risur, where the two married. But the second event was even more traumatic: he discovered the ties between the Family and the Clergy by witnessing some covert operations performed on Danoran ground. Disgusted and enraged, he became a deserter too.

In Risur, he first foundt an occupation as assistant professor (and later professor) at Pardwight University, while his bride joined the small number of Danoran deserters who worked with Risuri scientist to propel the new technological push dictated by King Aodan. But it wasn't long before the call of action led him to enlist to the RHC. His acumen and incredible deductive capabilities have made him one of the most appreciated investigators in the Constabulary, and his career has only been held back by his insistance in pursuing his technically archieved investigation on Bruce Ray II's disappearance. The two fought together in the war, and this fact combined with his bond of friendship with Bruce Ray III ensures Allister isn't ready to let go of that thread yet.

Allister has conserved his old Geneu Credetos uniform, knowing well that the protective seals and the sacred formulas woven in the fabric are a potent tool against the occult. He rarely uses it tho, and in order to mark his rivalrly with the Clergy, he had the white uniform died black.

Ooh, playing 4e! I'm getting nostalgic. If you don't mind me asking, is your group old hats at 4e? I'm kind of surprised to see a group starting a whole adventure path in that system.

I know my experience was that 4e had fun combats, but they always took a while. At the time I was playtesting the campaign, one of the players had a newborn, so our sessions only ever ran about three and a half hours, so the campaign proceeded slowly. We lost momentum, and only ever managed to playtest through the end of adventure 5.

I dig your party's characters, a lot. Really cool backstories. How far into the campaign have you read? And will your players be reading this thread? I don't want to spoil anything by offering suggestions.

RangerWickett said:

Ooh, playing 4e! I'm getting nostalgic.

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Me too. Love the crunch! But yes, the fights take a long time. I've found that I now pack minis only for fights I know the players can't avoid. Because if you pack minis, you want the players to fight, right? Still, 4e combats are great. Like a hugely thematic tactical boardgame. I know at least one of my players who really misses that aspect of the game. (But I know at least two who definitely don't!)

Your roster of characters is exciting. I'm looking forward to reading more.

RangerWickett said:

Ooh, playing 4e! I'm getting nostalgic. If you don't mind me asking, is your group old hats at 4e? I'm kind of surprised to see a group starting a whole adventure path in that system.

I know my experience was that 4e had fun combats, but they always took a while. At the time I was playtesting the campaign, one of the players had a newborn, so our sessions only ever ran about three and a half hours, so the campaign proceeded slowly. We lost momentum, and only ever managed to playtest through the end of adventure 5.

I dig your party's characters, a lot. Really cool backstories. How far into the campaign have you read? And will your players be reading this thread? I don't want to spoil anything by offering suggestions.

Click to expand...

Hey!

Answering your questions in order:

1. my players are old hats at pretty much every form of D&D (the group's age ranged from 35 to 45). 4E is our favourite incarnation of the system; my players have grown up on Warhammer and similar games and are really not intimidated by complex combat systems. We also strongly appreciate how the system allows the DM to be antagonistic and the players to still come on top, something other editions don't really handle well.
We picked Zeitgeist because after reading the first 7 or so adventures I realized it capitalized on the strength of the system by having few and far between combats that were spectacular and challenging. I think 4E really shines when you divorce it from the "6 fights workday" formula that is D&D's standard, and Zeitgeist does precisely that. I would be much more scared of running it in, say, 5E, because 5E is a game where certain characters and classes become a lot more powerful if they can blow their entire arsenal in a single fight.

2. I can imagine playtesting 4E to be a slog. We ran the first two sessions so far (3 hours or so each) and we barely got to the players being briefed about the Countess' invasion of Axis Island. The players are still introducing the characters and getting familiar with them, so I'm expecting to get up to speed in a few more sessions. In our last 4E game we had 3 to 4 hour sessions and we ultimately ran anything between 2 and 5 big fights in that time. Fights can be long in 4E, but they are also FUN. We came from a long hiatus playing simplier and more narrative games (mostly WHFRPG, Savage Worlds and 5E) and the fight with them chasing Sokana on multiple levels, with her teleporting across gratings, the avenger shoving her around to get her in line of sight of the artificer fighting on the upper level and the warforged pulling the rod out of the furnace with his "lighting whip" (which we have reskinned as an electrified grappling hook) power was a blast.
If your players are creative the mechanics of 4E become wonderful ways to tell stories and visualize the combat, giving it life. One of the players at my table, during our last run of Paizo's pirate adventure path (Skulls and Shackles) used Cleave (hit a dude for damage, hit a dude next to him for some more damage) with his Orc Fighter and looking at the fluff said "I take the first guy, lift him in air and use him to hit the other dude". The entire table broke in laughter. When we're in the right mood 4E basically sings to us and the extra time it takes isn't a burden because combats are actually fun (while for example, we're really glad combat in 5E is over quickly because it may be faster but it's also incredibly stiff and repetitive).

3. Really glad you like the characters! My players always come up with the craziest inspirations and they really loved the premise of the setting, after so much "traditional" fantasy. The guy who plays the Artificer is an engineer in real life, so he's right at home here. He's put some conflict in the character by having him be both a scientist and devoted to Risuri tradition. They also really like to make the character work well together, so they're pretty much all friends in the game too. The Warforged was a blast to create. It all started with "how about a steampunk Robocop, since we're playing police officers basically?". He was a Gunslinger at first (the encounter power of the gunslinger theme is GENIUS) but the guy who plays it is such a good player, and when he read the skyseer and the backstory for the crystal (which is a fragment of a meteorite, and will strongly link him to the planar theme of the adventure) he decided he'd rather do the Bicentellian Man questioning life and discussing religion and philosophy. We used a Swordmage as the base class (he was a Fighter at first, but he's arcane-powered and the Swordmage powers are easy to reskin as "gadget" - flame hands become a flamethrower and so on).
The Avenger is my brother. When he saw the setting he said "If I ever manage to play a Bloodborne Hunter in a tabletop RPG, it's with this setting". The God Hands fluff was perfect (monster hunters from a distant land) and rolling an 18 for Wisdom, we basically had a cross between that fighting style and Robert Downey Jr's Sherlock Holmes on the table.
There's still one guy missing, he's a Docker Skald played by a guy who's fundamentally specialized in playing scoundrels and criminals. He'll be a lot of fun as the "redeemed" criminal with contacts in the city's gangs.

4. I've read up to adventure 7, but only up to adventure 4 in good detai. I have a good general idea of the themes and were the adventure seems to go, but I'm very open to suggestions! My players won't read this. They don't come to EnWorld and I didn't tell them I'd start a thread.<
I also have an habit of tweaking things to meet the expectations of my players - for example, I love the main antagonist and its concept, and I plan to make him stupidly overpowered in certain scenes, should the occasion arise - I'm already picturing him being able to jump from body to body in real time and the party having to take down a street urchin pulling martial scientist moves out of nowere only to see the eyes of a nearby farmer flash gold and see her starting to throw spells at them. Basically instead of one big Solo a climax encounter facing a stream of overpowered Minions. The setting and story have so much potential and I'm planning to go HAM with it .

Really nice of you to check my thread, thanks!

gideonpepys said:

Me too. Love the crunch! But yes, the fights take a long time. I've found that I now pack minis only for fights I know the players can't avoid. Because if you pack minis, you want the players to fight, right? Still, 4e combats are great. Like a hugely thematic tactical boardgame. I know at least one of my players who really misses that aspect of the game. (But I know at least two who definitely don't!)

Your roster of characters is exciting. I'm looking forward to reading more.

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Pretty much, yeah. 4E asks for your time but doesn't waste it. If the fights are well staged and well played and there's not too many of them, the payoff is huge and something other systems rarely can replicate.

I'll be posting the last character and the chronicle of the first 2 sessions later today.

Groovy.

My one quick suggestion was going to be to make sure you check out what Benedict Pemberton gets up to in adventure 6, because it is similar to the backstory you posted.

RangerWickett said:

Groovy.

My one quick suggestion was going to be to make sure you check out what Benedict Pemberton gets up to in adventure 6, because it is similar to the backstory you posted.

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I seem to remember that Pemberton is replacing people with clones in the Ber aristocracy while he runs an underground mass production of weapons and golems to overtake Ber and eventually Risur. Which backstory are you referring to?

The artificer's family history of designing metal warriors (or mechanical suits). Pemberton is replacing people with metal duplicants, so it's an interesting parallel.