ZEITGEIST Suggestions for things to improve, fix, or add for the ZEITGEIST Act One compilation?

I'm working up my list of what I intend to tweak or add for the hardcover we're doing, but I probably won't get to that work until October or so, since until then I'll be pushing to write adventure 7 by deadline. But I would like to open this up to feedback.

Some things are limited by our budget. We do plan to add some new art and maps, but there's a limit. But if there are pics or maps you think we need, do tell, please.

Intro Pack
We're adding prestige classes/paragon paths, which I already have pretty clear in my head. But we also want to add new starting character themes, and I'm curious if you have any suggestions? Bear in mind those won't have as much plot connection to the adventures, since we don't want to bloat the book by adding new subplots, especially since it's already going to be rather large with what we've already written.

I'm curious if there's anything you wish had been in the Player's Guide or Campaign Guide that wasn't. Obviously we're going to go through and fix the stuff that is just plain wrong or extraneous. We changed some of our plans along the way because we had better ideas, so some early outlines are no longer accurate.

One thing I want to take a look at is Prestige. We had a discussion about it that I book-marked. http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...-Magic-Items&p=6154307&viewfull=1#post6154307

Adventure One
Lighthouse defense.
Any soldiers who did not act on the previous round (such as if the force was stopped by a barricade, removed the barricade, but then could not attack any PCs) can act immediately to remove new barricades the PCs put up adjacent to them.

So if 6 soldiers are stopped right outside the lighthouse by 1 piece, after they remove the barricade the other 5 soldiers will be ready to immediately undo up to 5 points of new barricade. Then at the start of their next turn, if there’s still no barricade left, they’ll force their way into the lighthouse.


Adventure Two
Page 8 – late spring =/= Summer 1.

Also, I'd appreciate suggestions to try to make it harder to simply avoid the smuggling plot thread. Perhaps as simple as having Lorcan Kell mention it as a condition of him handing over Wolfgang; he wants to ruin the business of a fellow crime syndicate.

Also, Roadtoad had a clever idea, wherein Kell asks not for a 1000 gp bribe, but for them to get him back 1000 gp worth of fey pepper that was seized (with the alternative option of simply handing him a pure bribe). Anything to encourage PCs to be corrupt cops is okay in my book.

Even better, have him ask the party go after the Family shipment.

Really amp up the conflict between Family and Kell-Guild. Have the two men vying for control of the wands. Make the crime and crime-fighting a larger element.

Increase Saxby’s involvement.

Maybe have LeBrix extradite Cillian Creed and out Macbannin if the party screws up and lets Macbannin get free. (i.e., have “fail states” for each adventure that still drive things onward)



Adventure Three
In the rainbow room, there are 8 spikers, not 10. The map’s colors are off.

Remove mention of mud in subrail station terrain. Clarify the tarps.

Mutated centipedes lack initiative, shouldn't have thoughtform.

Ancients shouldn't have brass plates, but rather gold!

Pathfinder version,

Sbodd said:

For "Rally the RHC", if the party saves Delft, it says that "Bystanders who see Delft regain their wits and start fighting back." But, there's no mention of what stats to use for them, and the only other reference to the bystanders is in the sidebar at the top, where it says they're all noncombatants. The 4E version has a minion stat block for rallied staffers; is there a Pathfinder one?

For the "Collapse" outcome of the portal ritual, there's no actual effect listed aside from the Thing From Beyond emerging, though "Rupture" says to "Repeat the attack from Collapse above." Is there a specific effect that was intended to go here? The 4E version has a damaging attack listed. (Personally, I'm debating whether it should inflict aging penalties on PCs who fail a save TBD.)

Click to expand...

Adventure Four
Add a few maps, perhaps? Rail enclaves, the arena, the Family Stone encounter? And Crypta Hereticarum will be expanded.


Adventure Five
Make the hand-out for the "Subrail invitation." Include a hand-out with clues to the dwarf stuff, so you can show it to the players.

Add a map of the eschatologist lair, possibly. And the Cauldron Hill complex entrance. And bridge combat.

Fix 'Putting the Pieces Together.' The envelope 'contained a letter...,' so the party should have to do some leg work to find out what was in there. This is how some of the radicals get their invite. (The reference to a player handout here is an error, confused with the dinner invite for the peace summit.)

Ditto, add some suggestions for contingencies in case the dwarves are found out. Hell, overall clean up this adventure's three threads, to make the timeline and interaction clearer.

For adventure four, could we get descriptions of some of the other cities? I think Cherage and Nalaam had descriptions, but I don't recall seeing anything for Sid Minos or Vendricce. On a similar note, though probably not feasible, I would love to see maps of the some of the other major cities similar to the map of Flint.

I think a mention of alternatives if particular antagonists survive would be helpful. The big one that comes to mind is Cillian Creed. If the party doesn't end him, what happens?

Maybe some more description of the RHC in general? Aside from squads and office in major cities, how else is the Constabulary organized? Are there divisions (Technologists division, Magic Crimes, Interrogators)?

I think a Naval theme would be cool, and very fitting. Able-Seamen or something. Maybe a fae or Clergy related theme?

About adventure 4,a map for the Arena will be a very nice addition .

I agree with the above with an expanded explanation of the RHC. Like noteable figures, other constables, ranks within the constables. I noticed gideon is useing ranks like sergeant and Marshall

For themes, just rattling off some of my preferred ideas;

Former Criminal
Police
Fey Envoy (because that's repeatedly popped up in my games)
Archaeologist, or some other scholar-type thing

I would like to see stuff strewn throughout the adventures for any new themes, too. Not whole subplots, but things like the Gunslinger Vengeance Bullets or the special powers for Martial Scientists.

Ditto on the expanded RHC description.

The smuggler plot also seemed a little "softer" than I'd like, I guess. A clearer rundown of the various parties' goals depending on when the PCs jump in would be helpful.

Oh! Something else, Flags. In this age of nation-states and navies, I feel like showing what the flags of the different nations look like would be helpful. As well as a depiction of what the RHC badge looks like.

Just throwing out a few more theme ideas: Witch-touched (connection to witch incident on Cauldron Hill), Malice Lander/Trekker, Smuggler, Bleak Gate-Haunted, Dragonslayer (sounds lame but something connected to Ber, perhaps?), Aspiring Diplomat, Grenadier, Demon-scarred, Spelunker, Ancient-Blooded/Touched (some kind of connection to primal elements and/or gold). As a side note - you could have certain themes that become "unlocked" later in the adventure. For instance, you could have a theme connected to Beran philosophy, religion, and culture only available to new characters AFTER you begin Act II Adventure 6.

In General:

- Maybe a little bit more information about Border States? Especially since Nalaam is located in one and it would behoove players to know what was going on in the Border States, even if none of those events really matter for the overall adventure. I've made up a couple things about them but it couldn't hurt to have more info.

- A few more notes on the place of gnomes and halflings in the World of Zeitgeist. Have they had a particular impact or influence on histories or cultures?

As for additions to Adventures:

For Adventure 3:

- It might be good to have a few more details about Bole and the environments in Risur in that area. Maybe even a quick, not-too-detailed map.

- More RHC information can come in this adventure as well, including punishments and penalties for breaking oaths and protocol (my players need to answer for quite a bit). Ranks would be helpful as well. In addition, perhaps introducing Lauren Cyneburg here (who shows up in Adventure 6, according to the draft) could help thread the connection for later adventures?

Adventure 4

- Having some maps and more general information about cities would be nice. Maybe a few noteworthy locations in each town (nothing too detailed - maybe a few sentences for 4-5 locations).

- A more thorough Colosseum process in Nalaam. Perhaps something where the party can work their way up. You could even having less threatening matches by including (much like WotBS) a spell that converts lethal damage into non lethal for battles against humanoid opponents. Or just have a monster list and perhaps appropriate "prizes" for beating enemies in the Colosseum. You might also include some general games people could play at the casino. I plan to do this with my group.

* Move actions used for things other than movement. There are various enemies and other game elements throughout the adventures in which powers that have nothing to do with movement are move actions. I guess there is nothing wrong with this, but it's more of a 3rd edition legacy element that clashes in 4e. Generally speaking, move actions shove involve movement somehow -- non-movement oriented powers and actions should use a minor action or standard action. For example, it might take two minor actions for the engineer saboteurs in Adventure 1/Act 1 to seal valves with their rust wands.

Adventure 1:

* Coaltongue map: I wasn't sure which parts of the map were supposed to be grated/see-through, and which were supposed to be completely open. I also wasn't sure if the firegem pit is supposed to have a lid on top of it or not, or if it would be possible to fall/jump into it from a higher deck.

* Lighthouse map: It seemed odd to me that stairs represented as being 10 foot long on the horizontal plane allow 20 feet of movement on the vertical plane. That's an *extremely* steep set of stairs, which lead me to believe that they might spiral around the lighthouse more. But that doesn't really make sense either, given how the staircases are depicted on the map. It's probably not worth going back and editing the map, but a small note of clarification might be good.

* Go get 'em: I ran the lighthouse encounter and its immediate aftermath with two different groups, and both were reluctant to sit around for 30-60 minutes while the attack raged on and the Duchess was possibly making her escape. Not a big deal, I just had them fight an extra battle with rebel forces in the Inner Fort.

Adventure 2:

* I feel that investigating crime scenes and especially canvassing crime scenes should be handled a somewhat more robust manner than the adventure advises (which sometimes just suggests these scenes be handled with one, two or three skill checks -- I tried that once and my party felt it was a bit lame, so from now on I'll probably be running those sections more as Obsidian Skill Challenges. I feel like the very first encounter of the game (finding the troublemaking veteran/dockers at the Coaltongue launch) handled this type of skill challenge very well -- more like that would be good.)

* I think the nethermancers during the Weight of Crumbling stone encounter should have a ranged at-will attack power not dependent on exploding light sources.

* If the party defeats MacBannin, it seems to there would logically be little mystery or thinking involved with averting further catastrophe because MacBannin doesn't want that to happen and ought to know more about the mechanics of the lab/reservoir than the party could figure out in a few minutes. As long as the party trusts MacBannin's instructions, there's little chance of them screwing up too badly, and a mage-cuffed MacBannin will have a hard time escaping even when Creed and his toughs attack.

Adventure 3:

* As has been mentioned in the past, I find it a bit problematic that Kaja is killed in her cell so soon after MacBannin meets a similar doom. Writing up her demise in some other way (ideally that still very vaguely suggests Saxby's culpability) would be nice -- or perhaps suggesting more about her character and what it might take to have her turn informant (possibly have her working with Oddcog to develop tech for Risur later on).

* Some of the maps (the expo map used for the Incident, the subrail map used for the Kaja encounter) are absolutely huge. I use fairly large easel pads to pre-draw battle maps and I had to scale them down a bit to have all the pertinent features fit. Again, I'm not sure if this is the sort of thing that's worth the expense of fixing, but in the future it might a good idea to limit the size of the battle maps a bit more.

* New theme features. I think originally the plan was to introduce these powers organically, at appropriate moments in the story, but as far as I can tell the adventure doesn't explicitly recommend points at which to grant these powers. It shouldn't be too hard for a DM to handle this on his own, though some reminders throughout the adventure might be nice, since all of the new theme powers are put in the back of the book where some DMs might not think to look until later. On another note, I have some thoughts on the theme powers themselves, but I may reserve those thoughts for another post.

* I'm a little unclear on just what kind of bystandard the Worm Maw "eats" in the first round. Irongut? Another dude? Should the creature actually burn its first couple actions on demonstrating its Drain Thoughts/Swallow Mind powers?

* Spirit Mediums saving Xambria. The adventure notes that Spirit Mediums get a chance to shine by saving Xambria, but in fact that party (in meta-game terms) is punished for doing so because then they lose out on the very cool and powerful boon reward of Xambria's consciousness. This doesn't quite sit right with me.

* Some typos. I noticed some typos in my first read-through of Digging for Lies. I'll try to remember to note them here later when I go back through it.

Adventure 4:

Nothing springs to mind at the moment, except maybe the same criticism of skill challenges that I had with regard to Adventure 2.

Adventure 5:

* Finale should (ideally) coincide with hitting the paragon tier. Maybe this is just me, but I like the idea of the King's knighting of the party sort of bolstering with empowering magic (along the lines of various Risuri officials rites of rulership/office) and helping the party unlock their full potential (i.e. allowing them to pursue paragon paths), but because the adventure ran longer than originally planned, this was screwed up a bit. I think in my game I might delay the party's leveling up. I'm not sure if there's a good way to address this in a reprint, though.

* Dale Assault. I'm not quite what it means to delay the onset of an effect by 1 round in 4e, and some of the interpretations seem like they could add a bothersome amount of book-keeping. I might rewrite this power to grand an extra save against such effects at the end of the players next turn [edit: or at the beginning of the turn might be better], maybe with a power bonus, even if the effect doesn't normally allow a save.

I may have some additional comments later, but I've got to run now.

Edit: Oh, in adventure 1, remove the spoiler about the axis seal from the descriptions of the Golden Icons.

About the Kaja thing, it is easy. Instead of the "suicide-2 have her transferred to Slate by orders of Saxby since she is a valuable asset of the McBannin case (and they need further information about his experiments, something that only top mages of the RHC at the central office can get), there she would be kidnapped and taken out of the picture.

I was thinking that a (very) short discussion of the calendar might be useful.