Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
EN Publishing
Deathwyrm's Zeitgeist Campaign - Clockwork Eclipse
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Deathwyrm" data-source="post: 8151807" data-attributes="member: 56957"><p><strong>Season 6 Overall</strong></p><p></p><p>Wow, what a year. School intensifies, pandemic rages, careers implode, and one player had a kid. Despite all this, we did make it to the end of the groups encounters in Ber. Rather than a play by play, here's an overview of things.</p><p></p><p>As with previous chapters, myself and my group aren't particularly big on minigames or learning new systems while also trying to adapt to online gaming. So while a lot of care and thought was put into the impressive railroad challenge, it was not used.</p><p></p><p>In it's place were scenarios basically totally lifted from movies that represented the trials and struggles they had in ensuring the railway got built. One session had a pair of advanced dusk kamadans preying on the workers who were getting sick (The Ghost and the Darkness). Another session had the investigators dealing with rumours of a ghostly dragon on a rampage but actually turned out to be a tribe of undead lizardfolk using a big skull and trickery (The 13th Warrior).</p><p></p><p>The main focus of the chapter was on two particular themes. First, was the slow disappearance of people only to be replaced by duplicants. That idea gave some really good Invasion of the Body Snatchers vibes, and having the players occasionally revisiting the palace to see people acting.... different. It created an ongoing sense of paranoia and dread in the players as they speculated over what exactly was happening, and how this entire train building business felt like one big distraction from something greater.</p><p></p><p>The other theme was the players influence over who would end up governing Ber. The way I portrayed Bruse Shantus was more of a greedy capitalist looking to improve Ber through industrial pushes. Awarding government contracts to developers and allies which creates further conflict in the people (such as if a length of railway needs to go through a tribes ancestral grounds). To contrast that, Cavallo de Guerra held a lot of sway through his navy, and the option of backing him carried a certain weight of leading the nation towards a more military and nationalistic angle. The PCs proceeded to speak with both Shantus and Cavallo from time to time lead to entire sessions of arguing which was the better option and if there was in fact a better third way that they hadn't considered.</p><p></p><p>How do you challenge high level parties in mechanically crunchy games like Pathfinder? You punch them right in the ethics and get them arguing among themselves for hours.</p><p></p><p>Eventually, the coup happened among an attempted replicant takeover and the players chose to side with Cavallo (or at least his granddaughter) as the better option for Ber and booted Bruse Shantus out. The party absolutely did not take the opportunity to side with Lya Jierre, as the wound of killing their ally Dr Teko never healed. While it was likely that Lya could have gotten out of the situation as soon as it went hostile, the mood of the session lead me to let her die right there among the chaos. The players were so jubilant that they got her, and immediately began the cover up of what happened. That not only did they just lead a coup within a foreign nation, but they also technically assassinated a royal member of another nation.</p><p></p><p>"Guys.... did... did we just do a CIA? I don't feel so good about this suddenly."</p><p></p><p>The reveal of who Benedict Pemberton is went over impressively, and though they had a particular hatred for him before... now it's a big more mixed with fear. Especially knowing he's out there, and dragons don't take too well to having their toys broken or confiscated.</p><p></p><p>So where does that leave the party?</p><p></p><p>Reginold Dixion: The player decided to leave the group. Despite the cool scenes, he doesn't like ethics to play a part in his D&D/Pathfinder games. He also really does not enjoy good aligned games, and felt that he couldn't get along with the other characters because they're interested in upholding the law or trying to help people. The constraints of being part of a law enforcement group was eventually too much and he went elsewhere. There's no hard feelings here.</p><p></p><p>Cysgod Oren: The party aasimar ninja/skyseer got hit hard by the vision of Avilona as they came to Gradiax's island. He took it to mean that someone is directly responsible for the breaking of flight, and given how his dream was always to fly, it's personally. Flight is no longer something to aspire to, but reclaiming something that was stolen from him without even knowing it.</p><p></p><p>Dr. Basch & Mikkel Oren: Both have opted to remain in Ber for a while longer to ensure that the new regime is friendly to Risur's interests. Dr. Basch himself has stated his intentions to leave Mikkel from time to time to pursue a hunt for the exiled Bruse Shantus. A student of history, he knows that a loose end like him could ignite a civil war or kick off some kind of Napoleonic incident. Cold blooded murder for the greater good, behind Mikkel's back so that it can be entirely denied and consciences relieved.</p><p></p><p>Goodwyne: His mind is still grasping with the idea of what scale they are operating on now. It used to be so simple. A saboteur here, a serial killer there. Now they're changing the fate of nations with their activities. He was once a simple but brilliant farming boy who came to the big city to test his mind against the criminal element. Now what? He's convinced that war is surely coming, and that the world may be too big for him to try and fix. He'll still try, but the scope of things is exhausting for one man and one team to bear on their shoulders. I honestly suspect that in Season 7, he'll be VERY inclined to listen to what the Ob has to say.</p><p></p><p>That's where things are now. Action, and adventure, and intrigue. Mostly arguing about politics and philosophy though, which is the real highlight. I'm doing some prepwork on getting Schism roughly adapted to Fantasy Grounds, and after Christmas will be contacting various friends of mine to ask them to record audio of various Obscurati speeches. Rather than just a DM monologuing to the players at length, I want to edit it all together (with some background convention sounds) so that the Convocation can be as easy as "hit play, listen to a dramatic telling".</p><p></p><p>As well, one of the players have been hard at work printing off a couple ships from the Skies of Sordane kickstarter for use as the player's ship once things are safe to gather again in person. </p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]130265[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Until that time though, I hope everyone is safe and well during the holidays. Keep on being awesome in all things.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Deathwyrm, post: 8151807, member: 56957"] [B]Season 6 Overall[/B] Wow, what a year. School intensifies, pandemic rages, careers implode, and one player had a kid. Despite all this, we did make it to the end of the groups encounters in Ber. Rather than a play by play, here's an overview of things. As with previous chapters, myself and my group aren't particularly big on minigames or learning new systems while also trying to adapt to online gaming. So while a lot of care and thought was put into the impressive railroad challenge, it was not used. In it's place were scenarios basically totally lifted from movies that represented the trials and struggles they had in ensuring the railway got built. One session had a pair of advanced dusk kamadans preying on the workers who were getting sick (The Ghost and the Darkness). Another session had the investigators dealing with rumours of a ghostly dragon on a rampage but actually turned out to be a tribe of undead lizardfolk using a big skull and trickery (The 13th Warrior). The main focus of the chapter was on two particular themes. First, was the slow disappearance of people only to be replaced by duplicants. That idea gave some really good Invasion of the Body Snatchers vibes, and having the players occasionally revisiting the palace to see people acting.... different. It created an ongoing sense of paranoia and dread in the players as they speculated over what exactly was happening, and how this entire train building business felt like one big distraction from something greater. The other theme was the players influence over who would end up governing Ber. The way I portrayed Bruse Shantus was more of a greedy capitalist looking to improve Ber through industrial pushes. Awarding government contracts to developers and allies which creates further conflict in the people (such as if a length of railway needs to go through a tribes ancestral grounds). To contrast that, Cavallo de Guerra held a lot of sway through his navy, and the option of backing him carried a certain weight of leading the nation towards a more military and nationalistic angle. The PCs proceeded to speak with both Shantus and Cavallo from time to time lead to entire sessions of arguing which was the better option and if there was in fact a better third way that they hadn't considered. How do you challenge high level parties in mechanically crunchy games like Pathfinder? You punch them right in the ethics and get them arguing among themselves for hours. Eventually, the coup happened among an attempted replicant takeover and the players chose to side with Cavallo (or at least his granddaughter) as the better option for Ber and booted Bruse Shantus out. The party absolutely did not take the opportunity to side with Lya Jierre, as the wound of killing their ally Dr Teko never healed. While it was likely that Lya could have gotten out of the situation as soon as it went hostile, the mood of the session lead me to let her die right there among the chaos. The players were so jubilant that they got her, and immediately began the cover up of what happened. That not only did they just lead a coup within a foreign nation, but they also technically assassinated a royal member of another nation. "Guys.... did... did we just do a CIA? I don't feel so good about this suddenly." The reveal of who Benedict Pemberton is went over impressively, and though they had a particular hatred for him before... now it's a big more mixed with fear. Especially knowing he's out there, and dragons don't take too well to having their toys broken or confiscated. So where does that leave the party? Reginold Dixion: The player decided to leave the group. Despite the cool scenes, he doesn't like ethics to play a part in his D&D/Pathfinder games. He also really does not enjoy good aligned games, and felt that he couldn't get along with the other characters because they're interested in upholding the law or trying to help people. The constraints of being part of a law enforcement group was eventually too much and he went elsewhere. There's no hard feelings here. Cysgod Oren: The party aasimar ninja/skyseer got hit hard by the vision of Avilona as they came to Gradiax's island. He took it to mean that someone is directly responsible for the breaking of flight, and given how his dream was always to fly, it's personally. Flight is no longer something to aspire to, but reclaiming something that was stolen from him without even knowing it. Dr. Basch & Mikkel Oren: Both have opted to remain in Ber for a while longer to ensure that the new regime is friendly to Risur's interests. Dr. Basch himself has stated his intentions to leave Mikkel from time to time to pursue a hunt for the exiled Bruse Shantus. A student of history, he knows that a loose end like him could ignite a civil war or kick off some kind of Napoleonic incident. Cold blooded murder for the greater good, behind Mikkel's back so that it can be entirely denied and consciences relieved. Goodwyne: His mind is still grasping with the idea of what scale they are operating on now. It used to be so simple. A saboteur here, a serial killer there. Now they're changing the fate of nations with their activities. He was once a simple but brilliant farming boy who came to the big city to test his mind against the criminal element. Now what? He's convinced that war is surely coming, and that the world may be too big for him to try and fix. He'll still try, but the scope of things is exhausting for one man and one team to bear on their shoulders. I honestly suspect that in Season 7, he'll be VERY inclined to listen to what the Ob has to say. That's where things are now. Action, and adventure, and intrigue. Mostly arguing about politics and philosophy though, which is the real highlight. I'm doing some prepwork on getting Schism roughly adapted to Fantasy Grounds, and after Christmas will be contacting various friends of mine to ask them to record audio of various Obscurati speeches. Rather than just a DM monologuing to the players at length, I want to edit it all together (with some background convention sounds) so that the Convocation can be as easy as "hit play, listen to a dramatic telling". As well, one of the players have been hard at work printing off a couple ships from the Skies of Sordane kickstarter for use as the player's ship once things are safe to gather again in person. [ATTACH type="full" width="561px"]130265[/ATTACH] Until that time though, I hope everyone is safe and well during the holidays. Keep on being awesome in all things. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
EN Publishing
Deathwyrm's Zeitgeist Campaign - Clockwork Eclipse
Top