#6 Revelations release date!

[Ravenmantle]

While the rather erratic release schedule for the invidual Zeitgeist installments is a concern for me as it raises questions about any intended release date for the Kickstarter book(s), I'm quite excited about this Kickstarter. It would mean cancelling my backing of one or two other Kickstarters (money doesn't grow on trees, unfortunately) but Zeitgeist is a must-get for me.

 

[Crispy120286]

I funded the En World kickstarter for the Zeitgeist softcover bundles and would personally fund another Zeitgeist Kickstarter. I have yet to start running Zeitgeist but I am preparing to run it as soon as the campaign I currently am playing in ends (Paizo's Carrion Crown, we're in module 5 of 6) and when I receive the softcover books. I'm really hoping that this new kickstarter can give Zeitgeist the funding it deserves and that i will always be behind the release schedule.

As for Gideon, I do hope you'll continue to post here. Your story for Zeitgeist is the first I have ever read about Zeitgeist and i must say you are the one who got me most excited to eventually run Zeitgeist myself. I've sensed slight hostilities in the previous messages regarding subscriptions and release times. I must say that in my opinion you have done excellent with the timing of the Adventure Path and I do hope you'll continue to post your campaign here for the rest of us to read. I hope one day I can write about my groups adventure as well.

 

[N'raac]

If the adventure is ready to go, other than enhancements a Kickstarter will, if successful, fund, would it not make sense to release the adventure as is now, for subscribers, and add the enhancements if the kickstarter funs, whether to the kickstarter participants only or also as an upgrade for subscribers? One further question - when will Adventure 7 release? If #6 is ready to go, presumably #7 is proceeding behind the scenes, and will be released "on schedule" regardless of whether #6 is further delayed?

For my group, we play slow enough (with other games interspersed) that release times aren't as big an issue - we'd have to get pretty speedy to move from somewhere in Dying Skyseer to needing #6 in a hurry. However, I can certainly empathize with GM's who have planned their games around a promised release schedule that hasn't been met.

I also think the concern expressed by at least one poster, that the erratic release of the Zeitgeist scenarios raises concerns about whether Kickstarter commitments, present or future, will be met merits serious consideration. "Underpromise and overdeliver" is a mantra for many businesses. If the promise had been one release every 8 - 9 months, and they came out ever six months, everyone would be thrilled. If the promise were quarterly and they were delivered three per year, everyone would be disappointed. Managing expectations, and meeting the expectations set, is more important than a lot of businesses realize.

For gieonpepys in particular, he has asked on numerous occasions about whether later adventures would be delayed, and has always been assured they will come out on schedule, so I can see where he would be feeling he may have been misled, regardless of whether he would agree (and I suspect he would) that the delays have not been foreseen, or even avoidable, at least in most cases. He's operated on faith, not only that the adventures would be released in timely fashion, but that they will continue to be great adventures as he has pretty much committed to running them, sight unseen. His game reports have, I think, been great marketing for the AP itself. And I suspect he is voicing concerns a lot of buyers, and potential buyers, likely share. It's tough not to take criticism personally, but I think the concerns need to be viewed in that light.

 

[al_fredo]

Just a point of info: How does one purchase the individual adventures without being subscriber? Wouldn't that then solve the issue?

 

[Jan van Leyden]

Just a point of info: How does one purchase the individual adventures without being subscriber? Wouldn't that then solve the issue?

You can get your Zeitgeist fix from, e.g., RPGNow.

 

[al_fredo]

Didn't know that even existed!

BTW...I just saw something that solves my red-herring dilemma: Using NPC portraits from TSAD. Is there a zip file of all the portraits somewhere like there is for ZG? Otherwise, I'd grab them one at a time.

Thanks,
-Allen

 

[RangerWickett]

The current clog in the pipeline is layout, though now it's getting unclogged and so I'm going to try to make sure adventure 7 is ready for layout as soon as adventure 6 is released. I cannot pin down a release date, because Russ is also running Myths of the Far Future, which I don't really have anything to do with. Though I love Eric Life-Putnam's layout work, I'm thinking we might want to get a second layout artist, one per series, to help speed up production. You'll find that you can cook lasagna and change a car's oil much faster if you do them one after the other than if you try to do both at once.

As for the Kickstarter add-ons, we're not looking to necessarily add more material to adventure 6. Rather, the KS is for a hardcover compilation of the first five adventures. One of our early stretch goals will let us get new maps and art for some of the areas of the books that didn't have any the first time around. Then if we reach higher stretch goals we'll simply have a slightly larger art budget for adventures going forward. I wouldn't delay putting out an adventure just to get some more art for it. (For that reason, adventure 6 might be a bit spare. We have lots of portraits, but not many traditional illustrations.)

 

[RangerWickett]

Didn't know that even existed!

BTW...I just saw something that solves my red-herring dilemma: Using NPC portraits from TSAD. Is there a zip file of all the portraits somewhere like there is for ZG? Otherwise, I'd grab them one at a time.

Thanks,
-Allen

I'll see if we can get up a file on the zeitgeistadventurepath.com website, but I was . . . um, well, I was actually planning on taking a few of the TSAD portraits to use as NPCs in upcoming adventures. Waste not, want not.

How about this? We already have a zip file with portraits from adventures 1 through 3. I'll put together another file with portraits from 4 through 6, then another of the TSAD portraits that I don't intend to use (pending Russ's approval).

 

[al_fredo]

I might have derailed this thread - but if you need those portraits, go for it. I like having them in a zip too. I can handle the red herring things in other ways.

Bringing it back on track...I think the prevailing attitude is that we'd most like to see the adventures in PDF format. If you need to publish revised estimates, that's cool. Perhaps it does make sense to only buy the adventures ad hoc...but I bought the subscription for general 'support'. However, even a new guy to the AP can see that there have been delays in the expected publishing...which really isn't a shock. I guess I can only wish you good luck...but also suggest that a revision of expectations isn't a bad thing.

 

[Ferghis]

I'm a big fan of the War of the Burning Sky AP, and although I haven't played it, Zeitgeist seems very promising. I'm hopeful that it will be fully published soon, and I consider it one of the publications most likely to put me behind the DM's screen. To that end, I'm eager to see it fully published, and applaud each step towards that goal. At the same time, I want to acknowledge the talent and hard work behind those publications. I can't imagine it being easy to pull it all together.

If you're only subscribing to EN World for ZEITGEIST, I'd like to suggest that's not the optimum solution for you. Buy them individually. The site subscriptions are not sold as AP subscriptions; the APs are bonuses. They're designed for site features, search, custom avatars, community support, and the like.

I fear this is a bad move, [MENTION=1]Morrus[/MENTION]. The things you mention are the benefits earned by copper subscribers. Silver subscriber benefits specifically list Zeitgeist as one of the main benefits, meaning that the AP isn't so much of a bonus, but a bargained-for benefit. The quoted statement trivializes the silver and gold subscription levels, which are clearly aimed at the AP, among other things.

I mention this because it's been an irking occasional response from WotC and other companies to customer complaints. The fact that subscribers get other things does not excuse the failure to deliver on what was pledged.