ZEITGEIST Ran a real-life ZEITGEIST playtest yesterday

[RangerWickett]

I've already done an online playtest, but I ran through the first adventure yesterday with some friends face-to-face, wanting to see if the adventure played as well in person as it sounds in text. A few things I noticed:

* I had too much exposition at the beginning, so I fiddled a bit with the opening scene to have the party in the action faster. I spread the details and background out over a few scenes. Of course, the need for exposition is greatly lessened if the players have read the setting guide.

* I had to expand the boundaries of 'crazy things PCs might do,' which led me to add in a sidebar of "No, you probably don't need stats for this level 15 creature right now, but in case your party attacks it, here are some suggestions."

* Never tell the players, "He looks like Ricardo Montalban." They will promptly forget the NPC's real name and just call him Khan for the whole game.

* Long hallways and fast enemies make dwarf slayers sad.

* Players love jumping through the air whilst firing two guns at the same time.

 

[LightPhoenix]

* I had to expand the boundaries of 'crazy things PCs might do,' which led me to add in a sidebar of "No, you probably don't need stats for this level 15 creature right now, but in case your party attacks it, here are some suggestions."

An ever expanding boundary...

 

[Colmarr]

Never tell the players, "He looks like Ricardo Montalban." They will promptly forget the NPC's real name and just call him Khan for the whole game.

Sage advice indeed.

 

[beverson]

* Never tell the players, "He looks like Ricardo Montalban." They will promptly forget the NPC's real name and just call him Khan for the whole game.

Yes. This reminds me of a very good piece of advice I saw - always say your NPC names out loud when you create them, so you can catch the ones that will make your players lose it with laughter!

 

[OnlineDM]

Yes. This reminds me of a very good piece of advice I saw - always say your NPC names out loud when you create them, so you can catch the ones that will make your players lose it with laughter!

If only I had realized this before naming the villain of my campaign Du DiHed...

 

[Rugult]

* Players love jumping through the air whilst firing two guns at the same time.

It is the coolest fighting style ever invented....

 

[NewJeffCT]

* Never tell the players, "He looks like Ricardo Montalban." They will promptly forget the NPC's real name and just call him Khan for the whole game.

KHAN!!!!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjqNQtFwTsI]YouTube - KAAAHN!!(HD Video & Sound)[/ame]

 

[NewJeffCT]

Yes. This reminds me of a very good piece of advice I saw - always say your NPC names out loud when you create them, so you can catch the ones that will make your players lose it with laughter!

good advice -

There is an old-school 1E module that has some oddly spelled NPC that was something like Akkrin O'Haiyo or something like that. I took no notice of it as DM, but when the NPC came up in the game, I looked at it a second time to make sure I was saying it correctly... and, I said it again out loud (incorrectly) and it dawned on me that his name was Akron, Ohio.

I groaned when I said it out loud & immediately changed his name. However, it did inspire me to come up with a list of appropriate NPC names going forward from there whenever I was DM.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

good advice -

There is an old-school 1E module that has some oddly spelled NPC that was something like Akkrin O'Haiyo or something like that. I took no notice of it as DM, but when the NPC came up in the game, I looked at it a second time to make sure I was saying it correctly... and, I said it again out loud (incorrectly) and it dawned on me that his name was Akron, Ohio.

I groaned when I said it out loud & immediately changed his name. However, it did inspire me to come up with a list of appropriate NPC names going forward from there whenever I was DM.

I helped playtest an adventure with an outfitter named El Albine....

I try to make my references obscure enough that few ever get them at all.... (A dwarf astronomer named Kupfernick, for example....)

The Auld Grump