Catching Up With ZEITGEIST: The Gears of Revolution for 5E

You may be aware that the critically acclaimed ZEITGEIST: The Gears of Revolution adventure path is being released on EN5ider, the 5E Patreon. If you want to make sure you're ready for the first adventure, Island at the Axis of the World, next month, listed below is what you need in advance (all available to EN5ider patrons). In the ZEITGEIST™ campaign saga, your characters serve in the Homeland Constabulary of the nation of Risur, protecting the country and its citizens from foreign threats lurking within Risur’s borders. During missions of espionage and assassination, your duty will be to root out hostile spies and pursue international conspiracies. As you learn more of your homeland’s own secrets, however, your loyalties may be tested, may even be turned, and you may find that it is you whose hand controls the gears of the turning age. "Smart, glorious and very cinematic, this saga is phenomenal and frankly leaves me puzzled how EN Publishing ever wants to top it. Again: Monument. Get it. If you've been disillusioned by published modules and their bugs or just the relative simplicity of many a plotline, this is the ultimate panacea for your roleplayer-weltschmerz." - Endzeitgeist (reviewer; no relation).

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Steam and soot darken the skies above the city of Flint, and winds sweeping across its majestic harbor blow the choking products of industrial forges into the fey rainforests that dot its knife-toothed mountains. Since the earliest ages when the people of Risur founded this city, they feared the capricious beings that hid in those fog-shrouded peaks, but now as the march of progress and the demands of national defense turn Flint into a garden for artifice and technology, the old faiths and rituals that kept the lurkers of the woods at bay are being abandoned.

The Unseen Court, the Great Hunt, and the many spirits of the land long ago conquered by Risur’s kings no longer receive tribute, but they cannot enter these new cities of steam and steel to demand their tithe. The impoverished workers who huddle in factory slums fear monsters of a different breed, shadowy children of this new urban labyrinth. Even their modern religions have no defenses against these fiends.

Times are turning. The skyseers – Risurs folk prophets since their homeland’s birth – witness omens in the starry wheels of heaven, and they warn that a new age is nigh. But what they cannot foresee, hidden beyond the steam and soot of the night sky, is the face of this coming era, the spirit of the age. The zeitgeist.

• EN5ider#128. ZEITGEIST Campaign Guide. The Campaign Guide details the plot of the ZEITGEIST adventure path and introduces various antagonists and power groups. If you're planning on playing the ZEITGEIST adventure path (rather than running it), this guide will seriously spoil the experience for you.
• EN5ider#142. ZEITGEIST: Bonds of Forced Faith. This 32-page adventure, Bonds of Forced Faith, is a prologue to the ZEITGEIST adventure path. Featuring a group of pregenerated PCs 100 years before the main adventure path begins, the players play King Lorcan Finn and his retinue which includes Dame Melissa Gahlot the Green Knight; Mayor Roland Stanfield, the reincarnated deva; Principal Minster Harkover Lee, the fire-wielding defender of the King; Godgand Thomas Masaryk, a foreign holy warrior; and Amielle Latimer, a tiefling gunsmith from Danor. This group of legendary characters must defeat a cover of witches, led by the Red Contessa, who lair on Cauldron Hill. An enchanting excursion for 10th level characters, this adventure can serve as a one-shot or as a prologue to the ZEITGEIST adventure path.
• EN5ider#130. ZEITGEIST Player's Guide (Part One: Characters). Steam and soot darken the skies above the city of Flint, and winds sweeping across its majestic harbor blow the choking products of industrial forges into the fey rainforests that dot its knife-toothed mountains." This 16-page document is designed for players (the separate Campaign Guide, EN5ider #128, is for GMs only and decribes the whole plot of the adventure path). Within you will find a brief introduction to the setting, the Deva and Eladrin races, and nine character themes - Docker, Eschatologist, Gunsmith, Martial Scientist, Skyseer, Spirit Medium, Technologist, Vekeshi Mystic, and Yerasol Veteran. By Ryan Nock; illustrated by Claudio Pozas, Brian Lindahl, ShenFei; cartography by Jonathan Roberts.
• EN5ider#134. ZEITGEIST Player's Guide (Part Two: Equipment). In these 11 pages you'll find information on equipment for the ZEITGEIST adventure path. From explosive alchemicals to gentlemen's goggles to new firearms, plus ships of the Royal Homeland Constabulary, details on Prestige and how to requisition equipment and call in favors, and a selection of allied stats for police constables and soldiers. By Ryan Nock; illustrated by Claudio Pozas, Brian Lindahl, ShenFei; cartography by Jonathan Roberts.
• EN5ider#139. ZEITGEIST Player's Guide (Part Three: Flint & the RHC). The third part of the ZEITGEIST Player's Guide for 5th Edition introduces the city of Flint, and the Rylah Homeland Constabulary. Complete with full-colour maps, this guide describes the various districts of Flint, along with the hierarchy of the RHC, details about its headquarters, and information on trailing and interrogating suspects.
• EN5ider#144. ZEITGEIST Player's Guide (Part Four: Risur & Ber). This supplement is the fourth part of the ZEITGEIST Player's Guide for 5E. In these pages you will find setting and background information on the ZEITGEIST campaign setting, and the nations of Risur and Ber, encompassing land and culture, major cities, race, religion, and government. Learn about fey and the mortal realms, the Sword of Black Needles, the fey titans, the Ursalina Bear Games, The Tyrant's Eye, and more! By Ryan Nock.
• EN5ider#151. ZEITGEIST Player's Guide (Part Five: Crysillyir, Danor, Drakr, Elfaivar; & Planes & Religion). This supplement is the fifth and final part of the ZEITGEIST Player's Guide for 5E. In these pages you will find setting and background information on the ZEITGEIST campaign setting, and the nations of Crysillyir, Danor, Drakr, and Elfaivar, encompassing land and culture, major cities, race, religion, and government. You will also learn about the planes and key religions of the ZEITGEIST setting. By Ryan Nock.

 

[Zardnaar]

I'm basically waiting for the 1st adventure and/or all of the players guides to be released.

 

[RangerWickett]

I would warmly suggest a conversion for a simpler ruleset, without levels, as would fit much better the story (see the detailed reason why in my review).
You could also make up the ruleset (keeping it simple and without levels) just for this campaign and it would serve majestically the players!

I say this as the setting and campaign's designer. I explicitly wrote the world with the idea that metaphysical and supernatural power does exist, and society is structured around it. The monarch of Risur is empowered by the devotion of the citizenry, which gives him the strength needed to subdue the fey titans which were native to the land. This is a world where the flow of planar energy is woven into the fabric of reality, and those who shape that reality end up becoming more powerful because of it.

But even then, high-powered in 5e in no way means invulnerable to normal folks. The 5th edition rule set is actually probably the best match for the conceits of ZEITGEIST (though I do hope the conversion maintains the weirdness of the 4th edition monster designs). Plus, the forces of cultural revolution in the setting are sort of my own commentary on the nature of power and believe and how it influences the course of society. In the real world, there are some people with far more power than others, though they tend to have money, not XP. An adventure without challenges that are too powerful for everyday people to combat wouldn't capture the crux of the issues that were swirling in my head when I came up with this series.

Then again, it's 3am, and I'm probably getting more meta and philosophical about this than is really necessary. Or I'm just disgruntled that this odd desire to change the rule system of the campaign is what knocked ZEITGEIST to 98% after a string of 5-star reviews.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...Begins/page2&p=7009736&viewfull=1#post7009736

As a final note, though, those of us at E.N. Publishing put a lot of work into writing this series. The market for D&D-compatible campaigns is far larger than the market for campaigns with rule systems you can only use for a single adventure series. If you want to do a conversion for your home group, have at it, but we want to reach as wide an audience as possible.

Making some money wouldn't hurt either.

 

[Yaztromo]

In the real world, there are some people with far more power than others, though they tend to have money, not XP.

Thank you so much for your open interaction!

For sure there is people with far more power than others in the real world, but they still need "a single shot" (or a "normal" disease, or a bad bout of PR) to be taken down: for example, the first world war was triggered by the assasination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by a single "normal" man, John F. Kennedy assassination is another example (and he was probably the most powerful man at the time), Ronald Reagan (again, probably the most powerful man of his times) passed his last ten years with Alzheimer (and unfortunately quite a lot of the people reading this has probably witnessed what a sad situation this can be), in 1981 the Pope was shot in St.Peter's square, despite all the security, John Lennon was an incredibly influential man, and he was shot by a sad man, few years ago a man that was mentally unstable threw a marble souvenir at Berlusconi, despite all the bodyguards and hit him straight on his face, causing fractures.

In a "modern" (post-heroic) setting, even the most powerful man in the world can become a relatively easy target or fall from grace very quickly. I guess it's a consequence of the development of democratic ideas...

The market for D&D-compatible campaigns is far larger than the market for campaigns with rule systems you can only use for a single adventure series. If you want to do a conversion for your home group, have at it, but we want to reach as wide an audience as possible.
Making some money wouldn't hurt either.

Well... of course I can only speak for myself and it's highly likely that I'm not representative of "a market": you got my money NOT for the goods of the ruleset(s) you choose, but for the high merits of the adventure ALONE.
If you'd used a different ruleset I'd have paid the same.

 

[Tormyr]

Are you planning on part 6 (the prestige classes) of the player's guide coming out before chapter 1 or down the road when the player's would actually be able to use them?

 

[RangerWickett]

Yep.

 

[mdusty]

I completely forgot about the Prestige Classes. Are you going to be using the Unearthed Arcana 5e rules for Prestige Classes or coming up with your own unique way to incorporate these 'classes'?