Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
EN Publishing
Suggestions for things to improve, fix, or add for the ZEITGEIST Act One compilation?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Tukka" data-source="post: 6160557" data-attributes="member: 6668048"><p>* Move actions used for things other than movement. There are various enemies and other game elements throughout the adventures in which powers that have nothing to do with movement are move actions. I guess there is nothing wrong with this, but it's more of a 3rd edition legacy element that clashes in 4e. Generally speaking, move actions shove involve movement somehow -- non-movement oriented powers and actions should use a minor action or standard action. For example, it might take two minor actions for the engineer saboteurs in Adventure 1/Act 1 to seal valves with their rust wands.</p><p></p><p>Adventure 1:</p><p></p><p>* Coaltongue map: I wasn't sure which parts of the map were supposed to be grated/see-through, and which were supposed to be completely open. I also wasn't sure if the firegem pit is supposed to have a lid on top of it or not, or if it would be possible to fall/jump into it from a higher deck.</p><p></p><p>* Lighthouse map: It seemed odd to me that stairs represented as being 10 foot long on the horizontal plane allow 20 feet of movement on the vertical plane. That's an *extremely* steep set of stairs, which lead me to believe that they might spiral around the lighthouse more. But that doesn't really make sense either, given how the staircases are depicted on the map. It's probably not worth going back and editing the map, but a small note of clarification might be good.</p><p></p><p>* Go get 'em: I ran the lighthouse encounter and its immediate aftermath with two different groups, and both were reluctant to sit around for 30-60 minutes while the attack raged on and the Duchess was possibly making her escape. Not a big deal, I just had them fight an extra battle with rebel forces in the Inner Fort.</p><p></p><p>Adventure 2:</p><p></p><p>* I feel that investigating crime scenes and especially canvassing crime scenes should be handled a somewhat more robust manner than the adventure advises (which sometimes just suggests these scenes be handled with one, two or three skill checks -- I tried that once and my party felt it was a bit lame, so from now on I'll probably be running those sections more as Obsidian Skill Challenges. I feel like the very first encounter of the game (finding the troublemaking veteran/dockers at the Coaltongue launch) handled this type of skill challenge very well -- more like that would be good.)</p><p></p><p>* I think the nethermancers during the Weight of Crumbling stone encounter should have a ranged at-will attack power not dependent on exploding light sources.</p><p></p><p>* If the party defeats MacBannin, it seems to there would logically be little mystery or thinking involved with averting further catastrophe because MacBannin doesn't want that to happen and ought to know more about the mechanics of the lab/reservoir than the party could figure out in a few minutes. As long as the party trusts MacBannin's instructions, there's little chance of them screwing up too badly, and a mage-cuffed MacBannin will have a hard time escaping even when Creed and his toughs attack.</p><p></p><p>Adventure 3:</p><p></p><p>* As has been mentioned in the past, I find it a bit problematic that Kaja is killed in her cell so soon after MacBannin meets a similar doom. Writing up her demise in some other way (ideally that still very vaguely suggests Saxby's culpability) would be nice -- or perhaps suggesting more about her character and what it might take to have her turn informant (possibly have her working with Oddcog to develop tech for Risur later on).</p><p></p><p>* Some of the maps (the expo map used for the Incident, the subrail map used for the Kaja encounter) are absolutely huge. I use fairly large easel pads to pre-draw battle maps and I had to scale them down a bit to have all the pertinent features fit. Again, I'm not sure if this is the sort of thing that's worth the expense of fixing, but in the future it might a good idea to limit the size of the battle maps a bit more.</p><p></p><p>* New theme features. I think originally the plan was to introduce these powers organically, at appropriate moments in the story, but as far as I can tell the adventure doesn't explicitly recommend points at which to grant these powers. It shouldn't be too hard for a DM to handle this on his own, though some reminders throughout the adventure might be nice, since all of the new theme powers are put in the back of the book where some DMs might not think to look until later. On another note, I have some thoughts on the theme powers themselves, but I may reserve those thoughts for another post.</p><p></p><p>* I'm a little unclear on just what kind of bystandard the Worm Maw "eats" in the first round. Irongut? Another dude? Should the creature actually burn its first couple actions on demonstrating its Drain Thoughts/Swallow Mind powers?</p><p></p><p>* Spirit Mediums saving Xambria. The adventure notes that Spirit Mediums get a chance to shine by saving Xambria, but in fact that party (in meta-game terms) is punished for doing so because then they lose out on the very cool and powerful boon reward of Xambria's consciousness. This doesn't quite sit right with me.</p><p></p><p>* Some typos. I noticed some typos in my first read-through of Digging for Lies. I'll try to remember to note them here later when I go back through it.</p><p></p><p>Adventure 4:</p><p></p><p>Nothing springs to mind at the moment, except maybe the same criticism of skill challenges that I had with regard to Adventure 2.</p><p></p><p>Adventure 5:</p><p></p><p>* Finale should (ideally) coincide with hitting the paragon tier. Maybe this is just me, but I like the idea of the King's knighting of the party sort of bolstering with empowering magic (along the lines of various Risuri officials rites of rulership/office) and helping the party unlock their full potential (i.e. allowing them to pursue paragon paths), but because the adventure ran longer than originally planned, this was screwed up a bit. I think in my game I might delay the party's leveling up. I'm not sure if there's a good way to address this in a reprint, though.</p><p></p><p>* Dale Assault. I'm not quite what it means to delay the onset of an effect by 1 round in 4e, and some of the interpretations seem like they could add a bothersome amount of book-keeping. I might rewrite this power to grand an extra save against such effects at the end of the players next turn [edit: or at the beginning of the turn might be better], maybe with a power bonus, even if the effect doesn't normally allow a save.</p><p></p><p>I may have some additional comments later, but I've got to run now.</p><p></p><p><strong>Edit:</strong> Oh, in adventure 1, remove the spoiler about the axis seal from the descriptions of the Golden Icons.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tukka, post: 6160557, member: 6668048"] * Move actions used for things other than movement. There are various enemies and other game elements throughout the adventures in which powers that have nothing to do with movement are move actions. I guess there is nothing wrong with this, but it's more of a 3rd edition legacy element that clashes in 4e. Generally speaking, move actions shove involve movement somehow -- non-movement oriented powers and actions should use a minor action or standard action. For example, it might take two minor actions for the engineer saboteurs in Adventure 1/Act 1 to seal valves with their rust wands. Adventure 1: * Coaltongue map: I wasn't sure which parts of the map were supposed to be grated/see-through, and which were supposed to be completely open. I also wasn't sure if the firegem pit is supposed to have a lid on top of it or not, or if it would be possible to fall/jump into it from a higher deck. * Lighthouse map: It seemed odd to me that stairs represented as being 10 foot long on the horizontal plane allow 20 feet of movement on the vertical plane. That's an *extremely* steep set of stairs, which lead me to believe that they might spiral around the lighthouse more. But that doesn't really make sense either, given how the staircases are depicted on the map. It's probably not worth going back and editing the map, but a small note of clarification might be good. * Go get 'em: I ran the lighthouse encounter and its immediate aftermath with two different groups, and both were reluctant to sit around for 30-60 minutes while the attack raged on and the Duchess was possibly making her escape. Not a big deal, I just had them fight an extra battle with rebel forces in the Inner Fort. Adventure 2: * I feel that investigating crime scenes and especially canvassing crime scenes should be handled a somewhat more robust manner than the adventure advises (which sometimes just suggests these scenes be handled with one, two or three skill checks -- I tried that once and my party felt it was a bit lame, so from now on I'll probably be running those sections more as Obsidian Skill Challenges. I feel like the very first encounter of the game (finding the troublemaking veteran/dockers at the Coaltongue launch) handled this type of skill challenge very well -- more like that would be good.) * I think the nethermancers during the Weight of Crumbling stone encounter should have a ranged at-will attack power not dependent on exploding light sources. * If the party defeats MacBannin, it seems to there would logically be little mystery or thinking involved with averting further catastrophe because MacBannin doesn't want that to happen and ought to know more about the mechanics of the lab/reservoir than the party could figure out in a few minutes. As long as the party trusts MacBannin's instructions, there's little chance of them screwing up too badly, and a mage-cuffed MacBannin will have a hard time escaping even when Creed and his toughs attack. Adventure 3: * As has been mentioned in the past, I find it a bit problematic that Kaja is killed in her cell so soon after MacBannin meets a similar doom. Writing up her demise in some other way (ideally that still very vaguely suggests Saxby's culpability) would be nice -- or perhaps suggesting more about her character and what it might take to have her turn informant (possibly have her working with Oddcog to develop tech for Risur later on). * Some of the maps (the expo map used for the Incident, the subrail map used for the Kaja encounter) are absolutely huge. I use fairly large easel pads to pre-draw battle maps and I had to scale them down a bit to have all the pertinent features fit. Again, I'm not sure if this is the sort of thing that's worth the expense of fixing, but in the future it might a good idea to limit the size of the battle maps a bit more. * New theme features. I think originally the plan was to introduce these powers organically, at appropriate moments in the story, but as far as I can tell the adventure doesn't explicitly recommend points at which to grant these powers. It shouldn't be too hard for a DM to handle this on his own, though some reminders throughout the adventure might be nice, since all of the new theme powers are put in the back of the book where some DMs might not think to look until later. On another note, I have some thoughts on the theme powers themselves, but I may reserve those thoughts for another post. * I'm a little unclear on just what kind of bystandard the Worm Maw "eats" in the first round. Irongut? Another dude? Should the creature actually burn its first couple actions on demonstrating its Drain Thoughts/Swallow Mind powers? * Spirit Mediums saving Xambria. The adventure notes that Spirit Mediums get a chance to shine by saving Xambria, but in fact that party (in meta-game terms) is punished for doing so because then they lose out on the very cool and powerful boon reward of Xambria's consciousness. This doesn't quite sit right with me. * Some typos. I noticed some typos in my first read-through of Digging for Lies. I'll try to remember to note them here later when I go back through it. Adventure 4: Nothing springs to mind at the moment, except maybe the same criticism of skill challenges that I had with regard to Adventure 2. Adventure 5: * Finale should (ideally) coincide with hitting the paragon tier. Maybe this is just me, but I like the idea of the King's knighting of the party sort of bolstering with empowering magic (along the lines of various Risuri officials rites of rulership/office) and helping the party unlock their full potential (i.e. allowing them to pursue paragon paths), but because the adventure ran longer than originally planned, this was screwed up a bit. I think in my game I might delay the party's leveling up. I'm not sure if there's a good way to address this in a reprint, though. * Dale Assault. I'm not quite what it means to delay the onset of an effect by 1 round in 4e, and some of the interpretations seem like they could add a bothersome amount of book-keeping. I might rewrite this power to grand an extra save against such effects at the end of the players next turn [edit: or at the beginning of the turn might be better], maybe with a power bonus, even if the effect doesn't normally allow a save. I may have some additional comments later, but I've got to run now. [B]Edit:[/B] Oh, in adventure 1, remove the spoiler about the axis seal from the descriptions of the Golden Icons. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
EN Publishing
Suggestions for things to improve, fix, or add for the ZEITGEIST Act One compilation?
Top