ZEITGEIST Starting Zeitgeist in 5e - Master thesis, Conversion and other shenanigans

[Levistej]

Anyone have a good conversion of Creed and the skinless panthers? I don't expect my party to meet them next session but really anything could happen with the pace they've taken on.

So we start the Dying Skyseer and everything went as expected. Due to a new player joining they are now a party of six and have so far efficiently spread tasks and responsibilities between themselves. We'll be playing our next session on Sunday, in game it's the morning of Summer the 2nd and the state of the investigation is as follows:

- they know the embassy is hiding something and are afraid of this so called officer Porter
- they think the doctor was in league with Nilasa
- they want to raid the Thinking mans tavern for they believe any suspects will flee if they enter in a friendly manner
- they haven't talked to Nilasas old friends in the prison, have totally ignored Sechim for now and are adamant on following the doctor
- they know of the doctors contacts in Flint and will probably speak to them after raiding the Tavern
- and now the best part, because the necrotic energy and scars on Nilasa as well as the way the doctor ran away from the scene after a few of her dying words they developed a theory by which she was possessed and then whatever possessed her jumped in to the doctor and now he's some kind of monster - the bleak gate energy that they felt on the scenes where the doctor went only confirms the story in their mind
- oh yeah, cause the few eye witnesses described Porter as limping, they're reluctant to speak their mind in front of Delft cause he may be the mysterious shadow figure

Fun times ahead, I'm giving them clues left and right and even had Delft say that storming the tavern maybe wasn't a really good idea, which made them even more suspicious. Can't wait for them to meet Kell, I'm gonna do a gypsy accent with him, believe they're gonna hate him with a passion.

 

[Levistej]

Long time no post, and boy'o'boy did we enjoy the last session.

To sum things up, the last session ended with them escorting the captured smugglers ship with delft awaiting them by the peer. In the meantime A LOT happened:

- they spoke to La Brix again and he gave them a vendetta bullet, explaining that somethings of and he fears for his life and therefore doesn't really want to leave the embassy, they promised that they'l stay in touch; the party caught on that he's holding back something and plan to raid his private apartment which I will gladly rig with explosives, courtesy of the Hermanos Draconis

- Kell totally got them with the theater trap and provided an amusing show, they ended up paying 1K gold for the sailors life and 2K for information on the doctors location, which they are yet to recieve
- since the thought they wouldn't need help, they sent their backup copper crew to guard Sechims factory (Kell was really cocky and told them to stop interfering)

- since one of the players actively dedicated a lot of time to contact Cippiano, I gave him an opportunity to speak with the capo before the smuggling night, warning him of the RHCs planned action and forming an impromptu plan to blame it all on Kell

- the smugglers wharf encounter was a joy for me; since the family was warned, there was a change of plans - only 4 local smugglers showed up, all wearing red bandanas and as 2 of my players approached disguised as Nilasa and The House elf, they were told that there's a change of plans and that they all have to wear the bandanas

- in preparation for the meetup they scrambled together some heavily laced cookies and mulled wine which they shared with the smugglers, the drugged low level criminals were no challenge at all but what gave me a total shock was what they decided to do with them after they were out cold - straight up execution (any tips on how to make this bite them in the ass is welcome)

- when meeting up with the Griffoni they were really suspicious of the fact that they couldn't see anyone on board and that the ship was anchored - must be a trap, they said, of course it isn't, I thought, it's just one of your colleagues working behind your back

- all but the player who knew the Family were tipped of were against boarding the vessel, but he bravely climbed the stairs and checked the ship and cargo, opening one of the crates on the deck which contained the wands and a thank you message from Cippiano

- being the good kleptomaniacs that all PCs are, they raided the ships cargo, pocketing 8 wands, a lot of stolen jewelry and a few art pieces

When the plot began to move everything stood up great, my only complaint, and that might be down to the size of my group, is that there was a slight slog to get here. Also, I adore how much they hate Kell now, they want to torture him and hang him from the top of Scoundrels Theater. Next up in line is the night on Cauldron Hill, any tips and ideas on that one?

Also, I plan to take the serpent maned Lion straight out of Bonds of Forced Faith, do any of you have already converted stats for the other monsters?

 

[RangerWickett]

They just executed some smugglers? Damn. Um, well, the next adventure has the audit, where the leader of the RHC checks up on the PCs to see whether they're worth trusting. But Pine Island (where the wharf is) is kinda remote, and, well, it's kinda the perfect place to kill someone and have nobody find out. Maybe the RHC gets a whiff the party was in contact with Morgan, and they track down the House Elf, and through him learn to check about this meeting at the wharf. Poking around might reveal that some people from the area went missing that night, which looks suspicious.

Maybe the Viscount Price-Hill gets that much info, has someone leak to the PCs that the RHC is asking about some people who went missing in Pine Island, and then watches to see how the PCs respond. Do they incriminate themselves by trying to cover their tracks? Do they come up with a reasonable explanation?

For Cauldron Hill, the conversion of that part of the adventure is done, but not laid out yet. Here, don't tell anybody I'm sharing this.

 

[Levistej]

Thanks a lot for this, I'll have to adapt it since I have 6 players of level 6 but I love how the cackling crawler and vestige of death work, Im probably gonna scale them up a bit and add the stronger serpent maned lion form BoFF and a Death Wisp as the main antagonists

 

[Levistej]

Oh, and, have to ask, will the Theme related feats be out soon, not all of my players are greatly into them but the vakeshi mystic, spirit medium and skyseer absolutely adore the added layers and complexity such a mechanic brings to the game. As a matter of fact, I think I'm never again gonna have a campaign without some kind of "seer" option, be it a feat or a theme.

 

[RangerWickett]

I thought the character themes were in the first part of the 5e conversion.

 

[Levistej]

The themes are, the feats and prestige classes are not.

 

[Levistej]

I'm gonna be posting a write up soon, we're just about to finish The dying skyseer. In the meantime, one of my players decided to retroactively start a journal...and its glorious.

English isn't our first language and he has a tendency to mess up names but I really enjoyed it, hope you do to.

https://tenpennytales.wordpress.com/2018/02/22/flint-by-gaslight/

https://tenpennytales.wordpress.com/2018/02/25/after-action-report-one-maiden-voyage/

He also recently started painting miniatures and has a small but rather nice warhammer collection, which just might include a giant inquisitor robot, I wonder how I'll use that one....

 

[Levistej]

So, we wrapped up the 2nd adventure last Sunday and boy was it a blast. It took my players a loooong time to connect McBannin to the whole plot but they eventually got there and the last battle was epic.

We're taking a pause this weekend since I have to write up quite a bit of stuff with them wanting to:
- open up a private on the side PI bussiness
- open up a investment counseling service for small industry owners
- bunch of other they come up with on the fly and leave me with headaches

Preparing for the "Digging for lies" adventure, I read through the Pathfinder version and can't wait for them to delve a little more into the supernatural and far realm stuff this chapter brings. I have a few issues in the conversion though and considering that EnSider probably won't release their version in time for my next session I would be really glad to hear any ideas on how to approach some things.

Firstly, how much info about the Ancients should I give them and who should this info come from? I was thinking either Xambria or Hans Weber since its unlikely any of the party have the knowledge them self.

Secondly, how the hell should thoughtform function in 5e? Ok, I'm obviously giving the flying things(refluffed manticore) and the worm maw(refluffed otyugh) some form of resistance to normal weapons, but that doesn't seem enough.

Thirdly, I have no idea how to incorporate Insane Insight or Distant Madness. We don't usually use diseases since they are mostly easy to treat or ignore and madness is mostly reserved for playing CoC. I absolutely want these to be a part of the adventure but am currently totally lost on how to implement them in a way that makes sense and feels natural.

Lastly, a thing that's probably a good few sessions away but worries me never the less...the naval combat scene between multiple ships on the coast of Ber. I hate naval combat in D&D, it almost never works, and when it does it's clumsy at best. I have still not found naval combat rules for 5e that I don't dislike with a passion and avoid it at any cost. On the other hand, I really like the chaotic scene as presented.

Any ideas on how to get the best of both worlds? I was considering giving them one scroll of teleport that could transport them aboard one of the conflicted ships. That gives them some choice and has the potential to avoid a messy marine combat they're not really proficient in. On the other hand, if I give them such an item they'll probably be requisitioning it all the time, or even worse, saving it for a "special occasion" making me have to go through the nightmare of a naval battle...

 

[RangerWickett]

EN5ider is literally putting the finishing touches on the first part of adventure 3. Here's an excerpt of Distant Madness.

Weber would know some really basic stuff, but would say Xambria knows more.

For thoughtform, start with incorporeal, like ghosts and such, but have each creature have a way that it can becomes corporeal. The conversion should be out soon, but I think you should subscribe to EN5ider if you want to get the material.

As for naval combat, I wrote up a system for use in 5e that Russ decided was too big to fit into EN5ider, so I'm thinking of publishing it independently on DM's Guild. Email me at ryanznock@gmail.com and I can share it with you. I think it's fairly easy to use, and simpler than what we had in our 4e and PF releases of ZEITGEIST.