Prepping for the hardcover compilation - errors, edits, and suggestions?

[Samuel Cole]

I agree that the 10' maps are a little unwieldy, but I just transfer the maps over to a battlemat with wet erase markers, anyway, so scaling them up isn't usually a problem, unless they're really, really big. For us, having more in-character maps would be more useful - maps of all the various nations, for example, would be fantastic.

Here's an example of the blown-up adulthood challenge:

 

[efreund]

This might be a little outside of what you're asking, but I'd love to see more materials related to the themes. Maybe it's just my group, but my PCs have latched on *hard* to their thematic identities. Any more material in this space would be greatly appreciated, be it extra visions for the Skyseer, or extra targets to assassinate for the Vekeshi, etc. I recognize this is easier to do for some than others (I don't know what you'd do additionally for Martial Scientists or Gun Smiths for example, other than perhaps just lists of famous NPCs to meet and contact with).

I think what's going on with my group is the Skyrim-effect. They view their themes like the guild factions in Elder Scrolls game. For example, I think my Vekeshi believes that if he kills all the prescribed individuals, he'll bring about a new world order (and unlock some unique power for his character). Anything I can do to encourage them would be awesome. A quick summary sheet of key power players in each country, and the effect on that country if they were taken out? Great sidequest material for the "world tour" adventures (7, 8, 11).

 

[mdusty]

I think what's going on with my group is the Skyrim-effect. They view their themes like the guild factions in Elder Scrolls game. For example, I think my Vekeshi believes that if he kills all the prescribed individuals, he'll bring about a new world order (and unlock some unique power for his character). Anything I can do to encourage them would be awesome. A quick summary sheet of key power players in each country, and the effect on that country if they were taken out? Great sidequest material for the "world tour" adventures (7, 8, 11).

That's exactly what has happened with our group. So, I've converted Zeitgeist to 5e for my new game. The 'Themes' are now Factions as written in the 5e DMG. My players love this. But of course now I need to come up with some Faction-only stuff for them to do. I did rename the Themes though to sound more like 'steampunky organizations' For example, the Technologist feat, I renamed to 'The Gentlemen Tinkerers'. I plan on just converting some of the appropriate prestige class powers into 5e boons and special abilities that they can gain over the course of the adventure too since 5e has no prestige classes.

 

[RangerWickett]

Well, 5e has *one* prestige class, but yeah, I'm not a huge fan of its design. I hadn't considered converting the prestige classes as organizational boons.

 

[Tormyr]

Of course we could have a ton more portraits for every member of the Obscurati, but that's ridiculous. Man, now I want to make ZEITGEIST Guess Who.

Guess who is now packaged as a series of windows over a printed board. So you could totally make an expansion for Guess Who quite easily.

http://smile.amazon.com/Hasbro-A569...UTF8&qid=1458282220&sr=8-2&keywords=guess+who

 

[efreund]

This is perhaps quite random:
Many of the special abilities gained from Gestalt (Player Handouts: Obscurati Covers) use 4e-isms, like squares, instead of feet.

And question on one of those: Livia Hatsfield has a Royal Might ability, which lets her, as a Standard Action, heal 3d6 HP and get +4 AC for 1 round. Is there a limit to a number of times per day she can do this? Or, since it's intended to model the king's fast healing, if she has some downtime, can she just spam the ability and reach full health as often as she wants to?

 

[Obryn]

I have another one, coming from my players, for Adventure 8. The map and description of the Lance of Trigenes are pretty confusing. Is that brown block in the middle the 'room' or is the whole tower top enclosed? Or is it mostly open to the air, with extra balconies?

The thick lines on the map make it look like the entire thing is indoors, and the narrative descriptions seem to imply that. But it doesn't make much sense in other places to consider it that way.

 

[RangerWickett]

Oh, damn, I just realized I never responded to this.

There's a central room, with walls, and open doorways that lead to four balconies. The brown block is a floor made of dark crystal.

 

[Obryn]

Oh, damn, I just realized I never responded to this.

There's a central room, with walls, and open doorways that lead to four balconies. The brown block is a floor made of dark crystal.

Ah well! We managed to get through it, and we're about to start Last Starry Sky!

Which brings up another question - 4e Mad Shootist. All the Attacks are meant to be additional Minor Actions like the power block says, yes? There's no mention of Standard Actions anywhere that I can see.

It seems fair - making them all Standard actions would make the power just about useless - but I want to make sure I'm not misunderstanding.

 

[RangerWickett]

The 20th level power was meant to be:

Minor action, super-charge your weapon
Standard action - shoot for 3d8+Dex (or whatever)

next turn Standard action - shoot for 4d8+Dex

next turn Standard action - shoot for 5d8+Dex, then it blows up at the end of turn dealing 5d8 damage in a burst

Is that low-powered? It's been a while since I paid a ton of attention to the player side of powers, since I'm mostly making monster stats these days. But the idea was to deal some bonus damage, and then have the ability to deal a lot of damage by getting close, dropping your gun, and running away as it explodes.