Bonds of Forced Faith: Prologue or Diaspora? (and other questions)

[Tormyr]

I ran BoFF as a teaser to give the group a taste of what Zeitgeist is like, especially with needing to think more than just going in with guns blazing (a reference that actually works in the Zeitgeist setting). It also gave us something to play while waiting for Chapter 1 to be released. I have not had a chance to read forward through the other chapters yet, but I trust my players to separate player and character knowledge. This is good since there are clues for 3 of the 6 NPCs there.

 

[skotothalamos]

My 6-8 sequencing was all messed up, but I'll share what I did, whether its applicable or not.

We started adventure 8 before adventure 6, and then did adventures 6 & 7 while the stories of 8 rolled out slowly. They had just finished 6 and found out about Pemberton, and had started to wonder if there were any other surviving dragons. They went to the Navras Opera House to get the Diaspora memory there, which then segued right into BoFF (since I think there's a performance of Cauldron of Blood going on). As soon as they got back from BoFF, I used Amielle Latimer as an excuse to have the Arc project them over into the ObCon prelude. It was a lot of side story, but it worked for us.

 

[gideonpepys]

My plan is to run BoFF as a 'teaser' before adventure #8 so we don't need to take a major segue in the middle. I can pretty much guarantee that the characters will come to Flint and experience the vision, as they won't only be using the arc of reida on Kasvarina, but also on the reincarnation of one of the PCs. My idea is that he was personally involved in BoFF, so the memory event will key off him, not her.

I also plan to run the adventure in 4E (although we've switched to Cypher System) as another 'throwback'.

The idea is that Amielle Latimer brings the 'astrologer' with her from Danor, and he is a deva - I needed a 7th character anyway.

Anyone have idea how I can recreate the format of the BoFF character sheets? Or does anyone involved in the publication have a template that can be used?

 

[RangerWickett]

I'm pretty sure the PDF was laid out using Adobe InDesign, so unless you have access to Adobe software it'd be hard to edit. If you do, maybe [MENTION=447]Marius Delphus[/MENTION] could share one of the design file pages?

 

[gideonpepys]

I'm pretty sure the PDF was laid out using Adobe InDesign, so unless you have access to Adobe software it'd be hard to edit. If you do, maybe [MENTION=447]Marius Delphus[/MENTION] could share one of the design file pages?

Thanks. I had a feeling that the solution would be something similarly arcane. I'll just use a standard character sheet for the extra player.

 

[Marius Delphus]

The "character sheets" were inspired by the ones in the Pathfinder version, which came first, but there's no real template or "blank" to fill in—they were a one-off specifically customized to each of those characters. And yeah, I use InDesign.

 

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

I ran it as a teaser without Roland Stanfield being playable or Harkover making an appearance. My group had no concerns by the time Adv 2 came around, other than they KNEW that Cauldron Hill was a scary place. Without that teaser before this happened, that fear of going up Cauldron Hill would not have been there. They kept thinking that a witch was coming to get them the entire time. Which is how it should be....every Risuri should know what happened there and be terrified of that place. I doubt Amielle is going to be an issue, I truly doubt most players are going to remember a single NPC from a one-shot that happened 150 years ago, whom they won't meet again after several months (or years) of playing the campaign IRL.

I think mdusty has the deciding opinion here. A related thought: running BoFF after Dying Skyseer would spoil the PCs for the "protective ritual" Lang offers, whereas doing Skyseer second will make them paranoid about Nevard's proposal.

If I can assemble the whole gang, I'll be running BoFF tomorrow night. My first 5E session after three years of Pathfinder. Wish us luck!

 

[gideonpepys]

I think mdusty has the deciding opinion here. A related thought: running BoFF after Dying Skyseer would spoil the PCs for the "protective ritual" Lang offers, whereas doing Skyseer first will make them paranoid about Nevard's proposal.

I would certainly have run BoFF as a teaser to the campaign if it had been written when I started. But adventure #2 hadn't been written when I started! You're right not to concern yourself too much with details that players remember, but I think they will remember Amielle because like all Zeitgiest NPCs she is distinctive and illustrated. But I don't really see the problem with them remembering her. What makes me wish that I had run it first is precisely what you're concerned about - the fact that the PCs will have to use the very same ritual they thwarted two adventures later. Fun times!

If I can assemble the whole gang, I'll be running BoFF tomorrow night. My first 5E session after three years of Pathfinder. Wish us luck!

Good luck!