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Just starting Zeitgeist: Need some advice on player's factions
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<blockquote data-quote="RegularPerson15" data-source="post: 8233303" data-attributes="member: 7029955"><p>I like to throw in an 'opening cutscene' when I open a session every now and then, like the cold open of a TV show. I opened the campaign with a scene that described an orc appearing through a portal in the middle of a sea in a raging storm and doing some cool magic. This is Toteth, and in later cutscenes, I'll very roughly describe the second sealing that the Ancients did. I know this might be a little spoiler-y, but I want to give the players access to some of the cool history and detail of the setting, and I'll be using these cutscenes to do so.</p><p></p><p>The players then came to during a psychological examination by the RHC doctor, we went over some introductions, and I had a fun ink blot test set up.</p><p></p><p>After some bonding time, I described a few months passing with lots of paperwork and minutiae, until Delft calls them in for the King's Arrival mission.</p><p></p><p>This mission went pretty by the book, they managed to find all the Dockers and stop the ship from exploding, though I had improv the mechanics of the Sokana fight a bit, since they became obsessed with removing the fire gem from the ship's furnace and couldn't really think of anything else to try. On a sidenote, I have struggled mightily with this encounter both of the times I've ran it now, lots of moving parts in this one.</p><p></p><p>This took two sessions. In the third session, I gave them some downtime, and they all spent it in various ways, interacting with their city contacts. Delft called them back early though, to attend a meeting with Lya Jierre. I should mention here that I've fleshed out the other squads in the Flint RHC, currently there are two more squads of 4 constables each in the RHC. I've described the A-team as being out on a super secret, super dangerous, long-term mission (no idea what this mission is! I'll need to come up with something), but B-Team is in residence. I decided to replace the Slate infiltrator team from the book with the Flint RHC B-team, since I wanted to give some personal attachment. I'm really glad I did this, it was really good fun as the players bonded with B-team and had some fun rivalries back and forth - there's an ongoing 50 gold bet between B-team and C-team (the player's squad), for who can get the duchess first. </p><p></p><p>After the meeting and laying out the Axis Island infiltration mission, they spent a bit of time getting everything ready and then set off with B-Team aboard the Impossible. </p><p></p><p>I changed the opening of this mission a little bit. The B-Team still headed out first and then the sea cave collapsed, leaving behind only one of B-teams constables with a broken leg, but rather than killing the other constables outright, I decided to have them be mysteriously teleported instead. Of course the players don't know this yet. I'm planning on having them show up during the Sea Gate battle, having been dumped on another part of the island and having made their way to the fortress. </p><p></p><p>The players saved their fellow constable from the trapped rock, and then pretty quickly managed to talk down Nicolas Dupiers. They then set out to find a Danoran engineer (I used the optional portion of the book, and gave them 1 more day but no location on where to use the passwall scroll). </p><p></p><p>I made the Axis Island map into a bit of a miniature hex-crawl, with some additional random encounters along the road and in the wilderness. They chose to follow the road at first, and ran into an encounter I had created, where a group of Duchess friendly soldiers were on their way back to the fortress with a wagon full of critical supplies. They decided to ambush the wagon, and managed to do so pretty efficiently, taking all the uniforms and the wagon and the horse (whom they've dubbed Proud Mary). </p><p></p><p>They then rolled up into the closest village to see if they could scrounge up more clues about where the Danorans might be hiding, and came upon a few captured Danorans being tortured for information by the Duchess's forces. After a pretty tough fight, they killed them all, and freed the Danorans, who promptly lead them back to their hidden encampment.</p><p></p><p>That's where we left off the last session! After 6 sessions, we've all had a lot of fun so far. In future sessions, I'll probably be giving them direct access to the engineer immediately, allowing them to make immediate headway for the fortress; I had mapped out some additional encounters on the island (the ruined temple, an abandoned facility, mines with more of the icons), but I don't want to drag this book out too long.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RegularPerson15, post: 8233303, member: 7029955"] I like to throw in an 'opening cutscene' when I open a session every now and then, like the cold open of a TV show. I opened the campaign with a scene that described an orc appearing through a portal in the middle of a sea in a raging storm and doing some cool magic. This is Toteth, and in later cutscenes, I'll very roughly describe the second sealing that the Ancients did. I know this might be a little spoiler-y, but I want to give the players access to some of the cool history and detail of the setting, and I'll be using these cutscenes to do so. The players then came to during a psychological examination by the RHC doctor, we went over some introductions, and I had a fun ink blot test set up. After some bonding time, I described a few months passing with lots of paperwork and minutiae, until Delft calls them in for the King's Arrival mission. This mission went pretty by the book, they managed to find all the Dockers and stop the ship from exploding, though I had improv the mechanics of the Sokana fight a bit, since they became obsessed with removing the fire gem from the ship's furnace and couldn't really think of anything else to try. On a sidenote, I have struggled mightily with this encounter both of the times I've ran it now, lots of moving parts in this one. This took two sessions. In the third session, I gave them some downtime, and they all spent it in various ways, interacting with their city contacts. Delft called them back early though, to attend a meeting with Lya Jierre. I should mention here that I've fleshed out the other squads in the Flint RHC, currently there are two more squads of 4 constables each in the RHC. I've described the A-team as being out on a super secret, super dangerous, long-term mission (no idea what this mission is! I'll need to come up with something), but B-Team is in residence. I decided to replace the Slate infiltrator team from the book with the Flint RHC B-team, since I wanted to give some personal attachment. I'm really glad I did this, it was really good fun as the players bonded with B-team and had some fun rivalries back and forth - there's an ongoing 50 gold bet between B-team and C-team (the player's squad), for who can get the duchess first. After the meeting and laying out the Axis Island infiltration mission, they spent a bit of time getting everything ready and then set off with B-Team aboard the Impossible. I changed the opening of this mission a little bit. The B-Team still headed out first and then the sea cave collapsed, leaving behind only one of B-teams constables with a broken leg, but rather than killing the other constables outright, I decided to have them be mysteriously teleported instead. Of course the players don't know this yet. I'm planning on having them show up during the Sea Gate battle, having been dumped on another part of the island and having made their way to the fortress. The players saved their fellow constable from the trapped rock, and then pretty quickly managed to talk down Nicolas Dupiers. They then set out to find a Danoran engineer (I used the optional portion of the book, and gave them 1 more day but no location on where to use the passwall scroll). I made the Axis Island map into a bit of a miniature hex-crawl, with some additional random encounters along the road and in the wilderness. They chose to follow the road at first, and ran into an encounter I had created, where a group of Duchess friendly soldiers were on their way back to the fortress with a wagon full of critical supplies. They decided to ambush the wagon, and managed to do so pretty efficiently, taking all the uniforms and the wagon and the horse (whom they've dubbed Proud Mary). They then rolled up into the closest village to see if they could scrounge up more clues about where the Danorans might be hiding, and came upon a few captured Danorans being tortured for information by the Duchess's forces. After a pretty tough fight, they killed them all, and freed the Danorans, who promptly lead them back to their hidden encampment. That's where we left off the last session! After 6 sessions, we've all had a lot of fun so far. In future sessions, I'll probably be giving them direct access to the engineer immediately, allowing them to make immediate headway for the fortress; I had mapped out some additional encounters on the island (the ruined temple, an abandoned facility, mines with more of the icons), but I don't want to drag this book out too long. [/QUOTE]
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