ZEITGEIST How to prepare new PCS to a Zeitgeist campaign (NO SPOILERS)

[Mrpereira]

After a long WOTBS campaign I am starting a Zeitgeist campaign for my group of three players.

A lot of you have either played or are playing a Zeitgeist campaign, and I wonder what advise you would give new PCs so that they can prepare in the best way for the enormity of Zeitgeist.

I have made a short list of things that I am going to tell my players, but what would you guys add to that list, so they can get the best experience possible out of the campaign. Please keep this thread spoiler free, as players of Zeitgeist are more than welcome to add their advise to the thread.

· Write a journal – to keep track of the informations and clues, there is a lot of information in the campaign
· Keep notes on NPCs – there are a lot (I have bought the NPC collection pictures to help them)
· Read the background material, specially concerning the areas and nations your character knows intimately
· Read it again and preferably a third time as well.

What would you add to the list?


We usually allow PCs to have heroic stats, to compensate that they are only 3 players, but sometimes 3 is just to few, no matter how strong they are. Would you advise me to give them a NPC constable so the party consists of four? Or should three heroic stat PCs be able to pull it off?

I hope you will help me prepare my players

 

[gideonpepys]

The PCs have access to many more resources than your average party of murder-hobos, so don't worry too much about them getting overwhelmed. Instead of a permanent DM NPC, encourage them to use the Prestige rules to call in favours and have local constables on hand to provide assistance with big busts. (This is primarily of use in Flint, but during the first adventure they could recruit some marines from the expeditionary force once they take the lighthouse.) Some encounters might need to be tweaked if your group doesn't have sheer firepower.

As for preparing the players, the best advice I borrowed for the start of my campaign was running a 'session 0' in which the players explore connections between their characters in depth.

Then, before adventure #2, take the advice of the AP and let them generate their own contacts in Flint. Works wonders.

 

[Odysseus]

The biggest issues may players had, was acting like cops. The most heard phrase during the first few adventures, was "Oh wait, we're the cops"
Next time I run the campaign I'd go over constable procedures, arresting people , crime scenes etc. Cause its a big departure from normal DnD adventures.

 

[Lylandra]

Welcome to the club!

As someone who has a bit of experience in Zeitgeist as a player, I hope I can be a bit of help.

The player's guide material for Zeitgeist is really expansive. Moreso than even WotBS. SO in my opinion it depends on your players on how to get them into the campaign. Our own group has quite two extremes (who both love building and playing their characters). There's me, who gets her hands on stuff like the PG and absorbs it before begging the DM for more and more and more info. And then there's my husband who gets overwhelmed by too much initial information and the felt pressure to read and memorize all of that before even deciding on a character.

For players like me, just throw the PG at them, ask them to read it and to come up with ideas for a character before session 0. It is very much likely that this sort of player will ask you for more info, especially when he/she wishes to connect to a certain area of the setting (say, playing a Yerasol Veteran who wants to know more about the last war with Danor).

For less "preppy" players, maybe do a short summary of the regions of Lanjyr, of the themes that are specific to the campaign and what it means to play an RHC agent. Then ask the player for ideas for their character and give them more details once they are decided.

Like WotBS, this campaign really has lots and lots of potential backgrounds and playstyles. Agreeing on some kind of common ground or style is really helpful. encourage your players to weave their background into the setting and adapt your campaign to their ideas. I'm getting so much fun out of my/our special connection to the various players and it really gets me to become invested in others as well.

And yeah, let them make their home in Flint. The city can be overwhelming as well and it is easy to get lost there. So they maybe need a bit of help in this regards. Offer them ideas, like (ex)criminals, people that are connected to their past, people who got them to the RHC, people who have something to do with their theme...

For your party, it really depends on the version you're playing. We're doing (more than) fine with two players and gestalt rules in Pathfinder. The RHC is big enough to offer them the occasional fourth agent. And let them delegate work when they fear like they'll have to split the party.

The biggest issues may players had, was acting like cops. The most heard phrase during the first few adventures, was "Oh wait, we're the cops"
Next time I run the campaign I'd go over constable procedures, arresting people , crime scenes etc. Cause its a big departure from normal DnD adventures.

Yeah, Zeitgeist is definitely even less suited for murderhobos than WotBS. As an anecdote, it was quite the other way round in our group. "What, we're allowed to do *that* without getting into trouble?!" when we thought too much like cops and too little like James Bond. And yeah, we totally overdid the whole form-filling buerocracy stuff. But it was fun.

 

[efreund]

Keep expectations in line. As the author states in adv2: "this is like a slow-burn novel." The game introduces a ton of things before it starts resolving any of them. It can be easy for the campaign to simply come across as 'unsatisfying' and it's easy for in-game frustration of feeling like they're in the dark to bleed into out-of-game frustration that the plot is too damn unresolved at any given point in game. When you don't have all the answers (from the GM's guide), and only have the details that have been revealed (through real play), the game is incredibly hard to follow. Let them know the wins will come, but that they may literally a year away (of OOG time).

Do frequent recaps. If you can get players to own them, awesome. Else, you'll have to yourself. This can be done voice-of-narrator before session, as a "here's what's happened so far on ZG", or do it like we did, in-game, as we RP'd out the time when the agents sat in their office with their boots up on the table "going over the facts of the case." This is essential IMHO.

DMNPCs never feel good. But consider letting the PCs have an intern, or another explicitly junior-member of the RHC with them that they control to go on cases with them. I think it's important to have at least four bodies on the map because of the way that ZG structures combats. Unlike 99% of Paizo combats, where the goal is just to "kill the other side", over 80% of combats in ZG have a specific goal (like "escort the VIP to the safepoint", or "destroy the McGuffin in 4 rounds or less", or "maintain king of the hill for more rounds than the other team", etc.). These are awesome, but they often require more "bodies on the field" in order to accomplish, and simply leveling up (or gearing up, or gestalting, etc) won't compensate for a small team size. Study some of the early combats carefully, and you'll see what I mean. (I'm trying to avoid spoilers.)

 

[Mrpereira]

Thanks for the replies so far.

Just to clarify about the potential NPC. When we have a fourth partymember, that is a NPC that character is not controlled by the DM, but by the party. The NPC is typically incredibly dim/stupid, so that he/she/it (it has been a bear in one campaign) doesn't contribute to the game as an intellectual capacity, but more as a meat-shield/body-on-the-field extra, moving around as the PCs desire.

What I got so far from the posts:
Explain the setting and circumstances (They are cops, the favor/prestige system, and that they have a lot of potential ressources handy)
Consider having a session 0, where the connection between the players and city is established
Four bodies is a good idea, due to the way the encounters work
Recaps/Journal is essential
Keep expectations in line (explain that the story is like a slow-burn novel, but it is worth it).

One issue I know I will have to balance, is that my group is a bit like Lylandras; I have one player who will digest all information, and hunger for more, he also loves mental challenges. I have one player who gets stuck if he has to read too much before/in-between adventures, and hates getting stuck (it can kill his fun quickly). And one guy who is somewhere in between.

 

[Lylandra]

as a random thought: Maybe your player who doesn't want to read too much before the adventures would fare well with a recently reincarnated Deva with very little memory of his/her previous life. This way it is totally plausible that the character doesn't have much information about the setting at hand and it could provide a hook for the rest of the party to assist that character and explain details to him/her in character.

 

[Mrpereira]

That could make sense, and it could make for some funny scenes, if he still made som contacts that he knew in a previous incarnation. Either they could recognize him (if he physically looks the same - I wonder do they still look the same?) or he could remember them as some of his vague recollection. That could work...

 

[ediz]

I would as it says in the Original Player's guide to have the attacks automatically be Nonlethal for standard melee attacks. Adventure 1 is not too overwhelming but they really need to keep their notes for adventures 2 and 3. Your player who does not want to read, it is ok, if they are still like that by Adv2 you may have an issue. Good Luck!

 

[Lylandra]

From what I recall there is no reason that Devas should or should not look like they did in their previous incarnation, so it is really up to you. Our Deva wanted to look quasi the same throughout his incarnations and he interpreted the Deva "immortality" so that the character became "stuck in time" at the moment he died for the first time, which is why he doesn't age. Others may interprete it differently and give the Deva in their campaign some sort of aging and a corresponding maximum age span per incarnation.

For the notes: You don't have to read/write full recaps, if you create a mind map or flowchart of the NPC and for each adventure. A NPC list could help as well, as there are just so many - slightly more than in WotBS. My fellow player has no problems memorizing stuff that happens ingame (and he reads all the handouts we are given at the table as well!), he just doesn't want to read and "learn" too much in advance. Maybe your player is similar to mine?