NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gideonpepys" data-source="post: 5715636" data-attributes="member: 79141">Session 1Okay, so rather than start up a new thread, I decided to dig out this old one from July, so that folks could check out how character generation was handled for our party.  Often when playing a campaign I am left thinking how much fun it would be to play the campaign again with different characters.  After just a few sessions with these guys, I can't imagine running Zeitgeist for anyone else!  That's a huge complement to my players who have really worked well to bring our sessions to life, but also testament to the efficacy of a couple of house rules, which I'll talk about later.First, a basic report from session 1:Session 1<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Unit were assigned to provide  security for the launch of the RNS Coaltongue.  They called on Inspector  Malthusius for support.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Aided by the leader of the nascent  Dockers union, Thames Grimsley, the Unit were able to identify and  apprehend several potential trouble-makers.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">This earned them a place on board the Coaltongue for the actual launch, at the request of Principal Minister Harkover Lee</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">While  the others mingled with the crowd, the Marshal Korrigan arranged for a  quiet berth for the King's sister, Duchess Ethelyn of Shale and her  handmaiden.  They discussed politics.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">King Aodhan arrived and launched the Coaltongue amid  much celebration and fanfare.  With an honour guard of eight four-masted  ships, it set sail for waters just North of the Ayres.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">During  this brief maiden voyage, the Unit stumbled upon a plot to sabotage the  boiler of the Coaltongue, causing it to explode, killing everyone on  board!  This plot was led by none other than the aforementioned Duchess,  and her handmaiden, Sokana Rell - an eladrin disguised as an elf.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The attempt to prevent this sabotage led to a break-neck chase through the bowels of the ship.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The  damage to the boiler was irreparable, but the wily Uru came up with a  cunning plan to release pressure by firing the ship's brand; Rumdoom  bought the group time by braving the fires of the boiler, even as the  shovel he was wielding melted in his hands; Malthusius belied his years  by dashing up and down stairs and finally figured out the last words of  power required to calibrate the capacitator (Harkover Lee having begun the effort before attempting to teleport King Aodhan to safety and thus removing himself (and himself alone) from the ship).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">At the last minute, disaster was a averted!</li> </ul>I'm going to follow Colmar's example and share a few notes on what went well, and what I think I could have handled better:Good Each character had real moments to shine in this mission:Marshal Korrigan's handling of the Duchess was a object lesson in roleplaying.  He respected her both as an individual (as the albeit failed leader of the last Yerasol campaign), and a member of the Risuri royal family - and could see that she held her views in earnest.  But Korrigan is a duty-bound military man and a great admirer of King Aodhan.  Their conversation was achingly polite and diplomatic but dripping with resonance.Weirdly, it was the 'savage' fey, Uru, whose fascination with technology helped him to save the day.  No rolls here: it was his player who figured out that calibrating the brand would ease pressure on the boiler.I was particularly taken with the image of the nihilistic Rumdoom (a dwarf in search of his own 'good ending') shoveling firegems out of the boiler even as each shovel melted in his hands.  He cried out 'this is it, this is the end!' but disaster was averted before the fires could claim him.  His actions bought the party valuable rounds. The ship would certainly have exploded (and the campaign been brought to a rather sudden end) were it not for Rumdoom.There was a rather touching note when the avuncular Malthusius took kindly to the young soldier guarding the magazine and brought her some canapes from on-deck.  It was this action (and his discovery of her death at the hands of the assassins) which forewarned the party of the sabotage plot. Funnily enough, some of them then dashed to warn the Duchess!  Their discovery of her involvement was a lovely moment.Potentially bad things, and a note to other DMs: watch out for the sudden reduction in rounds if/when Sokana gets the rod into the boiler.  It really was a very dicey situation indeed.  The party genuinely felt the tension of the encounter, but I don't think they fully realised how close they came to an early TPK.  Maybe the panic in my voice communicated something of the danger of the situation, but it was very close.Ugly.  I didn't like my own handling of the skill challenge.  Refusing to believe we would get to the sabotage plot in this session, I fudged the encounter to lead to fisticuffs with the final docker (and a couple of supporters I added) despite my players' deft handling of the situation.  I should have let the dice - and their ingenuity - lead the session.  In any case, my fears were unfounded, as we blasted through the whole of Act One in a single session.  (The fact that we were running out of playing time in the dying rounds of the sabotage encounter also added to the tension!)</blockquote>

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