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Ashes of Zeitgeist: Campaign Thread
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<blockquote data-quote="RegularPerson15" data-source="post: 8644080" data-attributes="member: 7029955"><p><h2>ADVENTURE ONE - CHAPTER TWO: THREE TOWERS</h2><p><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><em>We open on a sea in a raging storm.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><em></em></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><em>As the camera pans around, we see from every side, waves of black-blue water crashing all around you, until finally it stops as the face of an ancient orc comes into frame, darkly scarred green skin, clouded, misty eyes. He looks out into horizon, as rain beats at him.</em></span></p><p><em><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'">Suddenly, we hear the sound and see the blue shimmer of another portal opening beside him, and then another to his right, and then another behind. More and more portals hum into place, as dozens of orcs join him, levitating above the storm. We see that they wear primitive fur skins, but are covered in ornate gold jewelry. We watch as the one closest approaches, hovering, a female orc with long white-grey hair. She places a hand on the ancient orcs shoulder.</span></em></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><em>"How do you feel? If you need rest..."</em></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><em>He interrupts with a grunt. "It matters not. There will be rest enough when I am dead."</em></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><em>"</em><strong><em>Toteth</em></strong><em>, we need your strength if we are to fix the seal. We were lucky to have a second chance at this, the invaders will not give us a third."</em></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><em>"We will not need one. No matter the cost, this ends here. This ends now."</em></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><em>The female orc looks at him for a moment, then closes her eyes and bows her head. As the ancient orc lifts his hand, the camera pans back and we see all the orcs massing around him, in the eye of the storm, until he drops it suddenly with a snarl. "Forward!"</em></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><em>We hear sharps cracks in the air, as they take off, flying at immense speeds, the wind peeling back their hair and their hoods, the rain whipping into their faces. As the storm clouds begin to part, we see their intended target begin to take shape in the distance, as an island appears on the horizon.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"></span></p><p>This is something I'm going to be reiterating throughout every adventure recap I give, but BOY does this AP stand out in terms of the sheer variety of gameplay it throws at players. My group was definitely not expecting to go from security detail and an exploding steamship straight into a navy seal type island infiltration. I think this is really the point at which my players started to understand a lot of the major themes that are going to carry out throughout the entire adventure: industry vs. nature, change vs. tradition, freedom vs. equality, etc. </p><p></p><p>I skipped the puzzle that Lya Jierre gave to the group (it seems a little condescending to conduct a technical interview at this stage, and I wanted them to like her!) but other than that, this part started out right in line with what the book suggests. The squad immediately liked that Lya wanted to save her cousin, and agreed to her request to look out for Nathan. Rather than using an infiltration team from the Slate RHC office, I fleshed out a B-Team of the Flint RHC, since I knew that I wanted to come back to them consistently throughout the entire adventure as coworkers they could rely on. This also meant not immediately killing all of them, but rather just mysteriously teleporting them from the sea cave tunnel.</p><p></p><p>After saving Micah (my female goblin assassin replacement for Burton), they set out into the Sea Cave and were promptly almost TPK'd by Nicolas Dupiers and his gang of elementals. I must have messed up the balance or they just had bad rolls or something, but they eventually managed to convince him that they weren't with the Duchess and talked him down. They were all appropriately intrigued by the Golden Icons, but I think I did a bad job of describing them and their significance, because by this point I hadn't read all the way through the adventure and didn't really have a good grasp of the arching plot myself. In retrospect, I think I should have emphasized how strange it was that a Danoran general was commanding his forces to mine for these artifacts, and other hints.</p><p></p><p>I wanted to break up the action a little bit and didn't want them to immediately run to the fortress; so I used the optional path in the book and ran Axis Island like a mini hex-crawl. I gave them some basic quests (find a Danoran engineer) and let the players basically decide how they wanted to approach everything. I also had a random encounter table that I would roll on whenever they moved, with lots of cool "this island is REALLY WEIRD" type events on it. This part was really fun, and I think I want to emphasize this type of open-ended play a little more in the future - I worry sometimes that I'm railroading the group too much.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]249036[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Over the course of a day or so, they ambushed a patrol, stole their uniforms and their horse, saved a Danoran squad from being executed, and found a Danoran engineer. They also ran into the headless golem which they were all appropriately freaked out about (one of them gathered a vial of the mysterious light-specked substance it leaked!). I was a little disappointed that they didn't want to explore the island more (I had encounters mapped out if they wanted to visit the other mines to get more icons, or visit the abandoned factory, or the ruins of the temple to the south, where I had a cool Ancient ghost battle set up), but instead they bee-lined it to the fortress after finding the engineer. They're pros, what can I say.</p><p></p><p>The infiltration of the fortress also played out in an interesting manner, I had set up the possibility of them attacking the teleport circle warehouse or trying to free some of the Danoran prisoners, but they disguised themselves and successfully bluffed their way straight to the inner fortress where the Duchess was. This is one of my true regrets about this part of this book: I HEAVILY suggested that they not to try and get an audience with the Duchess. In retrospect, I should have gone along with their plan and let them figure out how to deal with the fact that the Duchess could clearly recognize them from the Coaltongue; I think this would've been a fun realization for the group that their decisions have consequences. Instead, I kind of wimped out and not so subtly pushed them to go to the sea gate instead. Ah well, you live and learn. </p><p></p><p>The sea gate encounter itself is one that I think I could've done better with today, but it was still very fun. They managed to sneak right into the tower, and planned a cool simultaneous attack on the guards, before the technologist of the group quickly figured out how to work the opening mechanism of the sea gate. As they fired their flare, I narrated how hordes of the rebel forces were swarming into their position (to the tune of [MEDIA=youtube]OeaKhdxzTNY[/MEDIA]), and the squad was AMPED up as they prepared for a fight for their lives. I also chose this moment for the Infiltrator Team to reappear, disguised as rebel soldiers. Though the actual combat itself was a little too safe for them, it was still very fun.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]249037[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p><strong>Highlights from Player Notes:</strong></p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">We tie up the guards and Snow suggests we steal their guard uniforms but A.I.G. won't blend. Nevertheless...Snow and Daniel forcibly take their clothes. Dan puts their uniforms in the cart and we proceed to the next village (in hindsight we should have investigated the cart...)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">We continue up the mountain range and are suddenly over taken by vertigo and notice the scenery flicker and start seeing swamps and frogs. Daniel nervous/drunkenly giggles at Snow when he shows him the frog, Snow notices the sun is blue (LIKE PROUD MARY SAID EARLIER)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A.I.G. runs an arcana check to see what's going on and realizes it's a planar fluctuation and recommends iron and gold. A.I.G. grabs Dan and Snow and hugs them to expose them to his iron....sorry no better way to word that.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Gambit turns to the Rebel Soldier and says "you know what I love most about this room? The Giant Robot in the corner". A.I.G. drops invisibility and punches the naughty word out of them.</li> </ul></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RegularPerson15, post: 8644080, member: 7029955"] [HEADING=1]ADVENTURE ONE - CHAPTER TWO: THREE TOWERS[/HEADING] [FONT=Calibri][I]We open on a sea in a raging storm. As the camera pans around, we see from every side, waves of black-blue water crashing all around you, until finally it stops as the face of an ancient orc comes into frame, darkly scarred green skin, clouded, misty eyes. He looks out into horizon, as rain beats at him.[/I][/FONT] [I][FONT=Calibri]Suddenly, we hear the sound and see the blue shimmer of another portal opening beside him, and then another to his right, and then another behind. More and more portals hum into place, as dozens of orcs join him, levitating above the storm. We see that they wear primitive fur skins, but are covered in ornate gold jewelry. We watch as the one closest approaches, hovering, a female orc with long white-grey hair. She places a hand on the ancient orcs shoulder.[/FONT][/I] [FONT=Calibri][I]"How do you feel? If you need rest..." He interrupts with a grunt. "It matters not. There will be rest enough when I am dead." "[/I][B][I]Toteth[/I][/B][I], we need your strength if we are to fix the seal. We were lucky to have a second chance at this, the invaders will not give us a third." "We will not need one. No matter the cost, this ends here. This ends now." The female orc looks at him for a moment, then closes her eyes and bows her head. As the ancient orc lifts his hand, the camera pans back and we see all the orcs massing around him, in the eye of the storm, until he drops it suddenly with a snarl. "Forward!" We hear sharps cracks in the air, as they take off, flying at immense speeds, the wind peeling back their hair and their hoods, the rain whipping into their faces. As the storm clouds begin to part, we see their intended target begin to take shape in the distance, as an island appears on the horizon.[/I] [/FONT] This is something I'm going to be reiterating throughout every adventure recap I give, but BOY does this AP stand out in terms of the sheer variety of gameplay it throws at players. My group was definitely not expecting to go from security detail and an exploding steamship straight into a navy seal type island infiltration. I think this is really the point at which my players started to understand a lot of the major themes that are going to carry out throughout the entire adventure: industry vs. nature, change vs. tradition, freedom vs. equality, etc. I skipped the puzzle that Lya Jierre gave to the group (it seems a little condescending to conduct a technical interview at this stage, and I wanted them to like her!) but other than that, this part started out right in line with what the book suggests. The squad immediately liked that Lya wanted to save her cousin, and agreed to her request to look out for Nathan. Rather than using an infiltration team from the Slate RHC office, I fleshed out a B-Team of the Flint RHC, since I knew that I wanted to come back to them consistently throughout the entire adventure as coworkers they could rely on. This also meant not immediately killing all of them, but rather just mysteriously teleporting them from the sea cave tunnel. After saving Micah (my female goblin assassin replacement for Burton), they set out into the Sea Cave and were promptly almost TPK'd by Nicolas Dupiers and his gang of elementals. I must have messed up the balance or they just had bad rolls or something, but they eventually managed to convince him that they weren't with the Duchess and talked him down. They were all appropriately intrigued by the Golden Icons, but I think I did a bad job of describing them and their significance, because by this point I hadn't read all the way through the adventure and didn't really have a good grasp of the arching plot myself. In retrospect, I think I should have emphasized how strange it was that a Danoran general was commanding his forces to mine for these artifacts, and other hints. I wanted to break up the action a little bit and didn't want them to immediately run to the fortress; so I used the optional path in the book and ran Axis Island like a mini hex-crawl. I gave them some basic quests (find a Danoran engineer) and let the players basically decide how they wanted to approach everything. I also had a random encounter table that I would roll on whenever they moved, with lots of cool "this island is REALLY WEIRD" type events on it. This part was really fun, and I think I want to emphasize this type of open-ended play a little more in the future - I worry sometimes that I'm railroading the group too much. [ATTACH type="full"]249036[/ATTACH] Over the course of a day or so, they ambushed a patrol, stole their uniforms and their horse, saved a Danoran squad from being executed, and found a Danoran engineer. They also ran into the headless golem which they were all appropriately freaked out about (one of them gathered a vial of the mysterious light-specked substance it leaked!). I was a little disappointed that they didn't want to explore the island more (I had encounters mapped out if they wanted to visit the other mines to get more icons, or visit the abandoned factory, or the ruins of the temple to the south, where I had a cool Ancient ghost battle set up), but instead they bee-lined it to the fortress after finding the engineer. They're pros, what can I say. The infiltration of the fortress also played out in an interesting manner, I had set up the possibility of them attacking the teleport circle warehouse or trying to free some of the Danoran prisoners, but they disguised themselves and successfully bluffed their way straight to the inner fortress where the Duchess was. This is one of my true regrets about this part of this book: I HEAVILY suggested that they not to try and get an audience with the Duchess. In retrospect, I should have gone along with their plan and let them figure out how to deal with the fact that the Duchess could clearly recognize them from the Coaltongue; I think this would've been a fun realization for the group that their decisions have consequences. Instead, I kind of wimped out and not so subtly pushed them to go to the sea gate instead. Ah well, you live and learn. The sea gate encounter itself is one that I think I could've done better with today, but it was still very fun. They managed to sneak right into the tower, and planned a cool simultaneous attack on the guards, before the technologist of the group quickly figured out how to work the opening mechanism of the sea gate. As they fired their flare, I narrated how hordes of the rebel forces were swarming into their position (to the tune of [MEDIA=youtube]OeaKhdxzTNY[/MEDIA]), and the squad was AMPED up as they prepared for a fight for their lives. I also chose this moment for the Infiltrator Team to reappear, disguised as rebel soldiers. Though the actual combat itself was a little too safe for them, it was still very fun. [ATTACH type="full"]249037[/ATTACH] [B]Highlights from Player Notes:[/B] [LIST] [*]We tie up the guards and Snow suggests we steal their guard uniforms but A.I.G. won't blend. Nevertheless...Snow and Daniel forcibly take their clothes. Dan puts their uniforms in the cart and we proceed to the next village (in hindsight we should have investigated the cart...) [*]We continue up the mountain range and are suddenly over taken by vertigo and notice the scenery flicker and start seeing swamps and frogs. Daniel nervous/drunkenly giggles at Snow when he shows him the frog, Snow notices the sun is blue (LIKE PROUD MARY SAID EARLIER) [*]A.I.G. runs an arcana check to see what's going on and realizes it's a planar fluctuation and recommends iron and gold. A.I.G. grabs Dan and Snow and hugs them to expose them to his iron....sorry no better way to word that. [*] Gambit turns to the Rebel Soldier and says "you know what I love most about this room? The Giant Robot in the corner". A.I.G. drops invisibility and punches the naughty word out of them. [/LIST] [/QUOTE]
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