ZEITGEIST Question about starting Zeitgeist

[jacktannery]

I am expecting to reach adv 4 but play-by-post takes a lot longer than normal face-to-face, so I am confident that by the time the PCs reach adv 4 they will have totally forgotten.

 

[Starfox]

Nice thread, makes me want to try Zeitgeist out. Sadly, my players are not big on steampunk. We'll see what comes up. Guesstimating a year left on my current (vastly expanded) Curse of the Crimson Throne to do first.

 

[RangerWickett]

It's pretty easy to tone down the steampunk-iness, if you don't think your players will buy it. But I'd suggest you just not call it steampunk. Say it's fantasy set in a world at a 19th-century tech level.

 

[jacktannery]

Starfox, the story is always more important than the setting. Players might think they don't like Steampunk but trust me, when they play through these modules they will change their opinion. It's like saying 'I don't like the colour pink' and then you see the world's most amazing car and its pink and you're like 'wow - nice car. I love pink now!'.

 

[Starfox]

We'll have to decide on campaign as the current one comes to a close. I generally run something shorter and lighter between the big multi-year runs anyway.

About Steampunk, it seems very ingrained into Zeitgeist, with technological progress being one of the most important themes of the story. But I've not really read up a lot on it (only have the 1st free adventure) - is magic in opposition to technology in this setting, or was it just an opportunity for tech to develop in the magic-hole that engulfed part of the world? Because the theme of "magic is dying, being pushed out by technology" feels really dated to me.

 

[gideonpepys]

About Steampunk, it seems very ingrained into Zeitgeist, with technological progress being one of the most important themes of the story. But I've not really read up a lot on it (only have the 1st free adventure) - is magic in opposition to technology in this setting, or was it just an opportunity for tech to develop in the magic-hole that engulfed part of the world? Because the theme of "magic is dying, being pushed out by technology" feels really dated to me.

Technological improvement is ingrained, but 'steampunk' is not. The setting does not feel steampunk in any way. Put it this way, one of my six/seven PCs uses a rifle. That's it. (Okay, so a second dude has a clockwork contraption but those exist in regular D&D.)

At no point in the campaign guide is there any suggestion that 'magic is dying' so I'm not sure where you got that idea. Your 'magic-hole' interpretation is correct.

The campaign is more defined by philosophical tensions than by anything else.

 

[N'raac]

It's pretty easy to tone down the steampunk-iness, if you don't think your players will buy it. But I'd suggest you just not call it steampunk. Say it's fantasy set in a world at a 19th-century tech level.

Agreed - no Steampunk in evidence in our games. We have one Gunslinger, and no one else really tech-savvy. The world is moving on, with magic in existence and technology building up steam. I'd call it Fantasy in the 19th Century, not Steampunk.

I get a somewhat Phoenix Guards (Steven Brust) feel, with real firearms rather than those magic stones, although the authors tell me they have never read those particular novels. However, tech is clearly marching along, with no shortage of luddites opposing that advance.

 

[jacktannery]

The PCs have got their hand on the secretary's visitor log and Danoran immigration case file of one suspicious individual (Adventure 2 Act 1).

 

[gideonpepys]

Love the doodles in the margin. Still wish you'd started ahead of me so I could pinch this stuff.

 

[RangerWickett]

Is the Reason for his Voyage: "Creation of Life"?