ZEITGEIST Looking for a writer for a ZEITGEIST setting book

[EarthSeraphEdna]

I do not quite agree with the direction some of this has taken, like the overall setting not having changed that much, Danor suppressing free speech, and Elfaivar invading Crisillyir. The latter two seem like conflict for the sake of conflict, and assume a relatively incompetent party that did not do all that good a job with Danor and the many eladrin ghosts in Ascetia, who are said, in the resurrection option, to "know that a great time has passed, which should cool potential desire for revenge." Never mind that the eladrin would have had to already push out all of the Crisillyiri colonies in Elfaivar first. Still, I recognize that some measure of canonical party incompetence is necessary for the sake of having some conflict remaining.

I have sent a private message with further inquiries.

 

[RangerWickett]

I have an impulse to presume the best of people, but looking at history it's clear that even with the best efforts of well intentioned good guys trying to make the world better, confident selfish folks will still hold power in some places.

 

[EarthSeraphEdna]

The real world does not have the benefit of magical resurrections that instill psychic reassurements that "should cool potential desire for revenge." Real-world history is not a good guideline when superhumanly talented characters are on the playing field, and so much magic and mysticism is flying around. Bear in mind the sheer degree of raw, mundane skills that max-level characters can have in this setting, and remember that some of those characters were around to influence events.

If any of Ascetia, Bhoior, or Caeloon are in orbit, then people would think twice before repeating the mistakes of the past, or would have a greater sense of calm in the face of tragedy. The planar configuration makes people think quite differently from how they would in our own world. I look forward to thinking on how this would function when it comes up in the chapters, if I am chosen for this project.

 

[RangerWickett]

Yep, things are better and less desperate.

People still want stuff. They still disagree on what the point of living is, and what the best of all possible worlds should look like. Good guys can't be everywhere at once, and bad guys can gain levels too.

Heck, there are people who will think the PCs from the AP were villains who just happened to avert doomsday, and who made the wrong choice.

 

[EarthSeraphEdna]

I think that it would help if the new setting was transparent about its design. Namely, that for the sake of presenting a world wherein there is actual conflict for new PCs to solve, the sequel setting assumes a cynical take on Lanjyrian geopolitics wherein selfishness is very difficult to drive out, and also assumes that the heroes of the adventure path did merely a middling job of making peace between various nations and polities.

It is fine to present a setting that still has many problems, but coming in the wake of an adventure path of world-reshaping heroes and significant amounts of optimism, there should ideally be a disclaimer laying out that many liberties and pessimistic assumptions have been necessary to keep the sequel setting full of conflict. This way, it does not feel as much like the adventure path has been handwaved away.

 

[Morrus]

I just think of it as a multiverse. There are a billion Llanjrs, one for each group that played the campaign through (OK, about nine Llanjrs). This is this one; your campaign was your one.

 

[EarthSeraphEdna]

And that is perfectly fine. I just think it needs to be transparently stated somewhere, if only briefly. It can help reduce whiplash and explain why it was necessary to set aside the adventure path's optimism in favor of engineering more conflict with a more cynical and pessimistic aftermath, wherein the adventure path's heroes ultimately could not solve too much.

 

[Morrus]

We have some applications - thanks! I’ll give it until the weekend for any last applications, then the window will be closing.

 

[EarthSeraphEdna]

I am glad to have applied for this with arkwright as my main point of contact with Morrus. I hope that this project works out for whomever is chosen.

 

[Morrus]

Just a quick note -- as mentioned, applications closed at the weekend. I've been looking through them over the week, and I'll also get Ryan's opinion. I hope to offer somebody the job in a couple of weeks.