ZEITGEIST Question about starting Zeitgeist

[gideonpepys]

I only make the handouts AFTER the PCs think of asking for a specific thing. The advantages of play-by-post!

Oh! That makes me feel a lot better.

 

[Tanek]

Out of curiosity, Jacktannery, how do you go about making these handouts? They're absolutely fantastic and I'd love to take a stab at making stuff like that, but I have no idea of where to start!

 

[jacktannery]

Out of curiosity, Jacktannery, how do you go about making these handouts? They're absolutely fantastic and I'd love to take a stab at making stuff like that, but I have no idea of where to start!

Tanek - thanks! I use a free programme called GIMP (www.gimp.org) which is an image processing programme.

You can easily download a nice free paper texture, for example here http://lostandtaken.com/blog/?currentPage=3 or here http://www.cartographersguild.com/mapping-elements/7564-make-your-own-aged-paper-textures.html

Then you write on them in a nice free font which you can download here http://www.dafont.com/old-typewriter.font or here http://www.dafont.com/search.php?q=calli+hand

It's pretty easy really.

 

[Tanek]

Thanks a bunch, Jacktannery, very helpful! I have the artistic talent of a blind, one-legged mouse, but I might just be able to do this.

 

[jacktannery]

You can! If you have any questions about the process don't hesitate to ask me.

 

[jacktannery]

Just a quick check in to say that we are still running Zeitgeist here http://www.rpol.net/game.cgi?gi=54669&date=1386550385

We have reached about half-way through the Dying Skyseer. You can read all about it in the link since its online play. Everything is running is exactly like the module except:
- PCs put Carlao's team to keep watch on Prof Kindleton on day 1 so Cillian Creed has not managed to reach her yet.
- PCs caught Cillian Creed in Pardright University and almost got him, but he syringed one of the PCs and got away.
- the 'Fog of War' encounter was moved to Parity Lake because it made more sense and we were itching for violence.
- Morena was really Gale is disguise, captured intentionally for her own reasons and irritated (but intrigued) to be rescued.

PCs are currently meeting Mayor Macabbin for the first time, to get permission to climb Cauldron Hill.

Loving everything so far.

 

[jacktannery]

Quick Question: one of my players is belatedly choosing a language his character knows. We are playing the 4E version, so he decided to pick Supernal (language of angels and gods in 4E). I told him this was not used in the campaign, so then he asked whether he could pick Deep Speech or Abyssal. I told him I have to check, so looked over the Player's Guide and noted the following languages listed:

Primordial
Common
Draconic
Giant
Dwarven
Elvish

Is this the complete list of possible languages known in the zeitgeist setting?

The player has asked me:

Hmm... Do you think that would be useful at some point in the campaign? If so, I'm fine with that. The Watchers have immense hidden libraries filled with books on all kinds of arcane lore gathered over the centuries of the Order's existence, so they could have taught him during his training -- for use in translating ancient prophecies, scriptures, and hieroglyphics of lost and forgotten civilizations. Basically I envision Adarun as being versed in glyphs and runes that one might encounter in ancient ruins, dungeons, buried crypts, lost temples, etc.

If there's nothing like that in the campaign, what if we substituted Adarun's extra language for a special linguistic skill that would allow him to decipher various types of ancient and arcane scripts, using his knowledge from when he was a Watcher? It could be called simply "Ancient Scripts" or something like that.

Failing both of the above, are there any instances of Deep Speech or Abyssal in the campaign? I'd like to choose something useful which doesn't overlap with the other characters' extra languages, so that each PC has a unique linguistic contribution during our adventures, something which will increase each character's value to the rest of the group -- the same way that each PC has a different Zeitgeist character theme. So something ancient and esoteric? I'm open to suggestions.

My feeling at present is just to go with the 'Ancient Scripts' idea for the moment. Without knowing how later adventures of the series develop its hard for me to answer this player's question, so for those of you who have been running and writing later levels I'd be grateful for any advice.

 

[Starfox]

One way to interpret the "ancient scriptures" angle is to save a language slot, then when you have an ancient inscription for him (her?) to read, you say that this is the language he knew. I often allow such "retrofit learning" of abilities in my games. But not everyone likes it, some people feel it is immersion breaking.

 

[RangerWickett]

I'm pretty sure Goblin is a language too.

And according to fanon (i.e., because Gideon Pepys had a nifty side plot), I'm thinking there are aquatic civilizations that just generally don't interact with the surface, and they probably speak Deep Speech.

And the Demonocracy spoke Abyssal, which would be appropriate for ancient relics and such. Their rule ended a thousand years ago, but some isolated pockets of cultists would still use the language for rituals and such.

Supernal might exist in exceedingly small amounts, because a few thousand years ago there were some extraplanar folks around - angels and devils and the like - but they probably left insufficient artifacts to recreate the language. People can read it with magic, but no one really knows the language. And the party wouldn't encounter more Supernal speakers until epic tier.

I'd say give him Abyssal and fill him in a bit more about the history of the Demonocracy.

 

[jacktannery]

Thanks guys - both provide great advice, really appreciated.

I'd say ... fill him in a bit more about the history of the Demonocracy.

Love how you make this sound so easy! I have no idea what the history of the Demonocracy is, or where I would even locate such information! I'll just tell him to look through the Player's Guide and read anything about demons.