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The State of My Zeitgeist Campaign (help appreciated!)
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<blockquote data-quote="Speed_demon" data-source="post: 7905484" data-attributes="member: 7020370"><p>So. Those were all things. A TL;DR of the situation is thus: The party has defeated and captured Leone Quital, the Colossus has been utterly destroyed and deconstructed, they've made an alliance with the Unseen Court against the Obscurati, they have orbs that can allow the to teleport to each other easily and instantenously, and they have an <strong>Airship</strong>. A full act before they should have one, and before anyone else in the setting can have one. Oh, and they killed Ashima Shintu too. And now, after helping cause this chaos for so long as a player, I'm the new GM (the old GM might be a player for this too, which means he'll have some meta knowledge, but he won't know what exactly I'm going to be changing).</p><p></p><p>It has been a rocky adventure ride with now three GMs, but I have to say that I have loved every second of it. When I ran War of the Burning Sky before this game, I had tremendous fun, but one look at the Expanded Player's Guide had me falling in love with this game and I was so glad to play in it. And while circumstances have aligned such that if I want to see the game completed, I'll have to run it, which makes me somewhat saddened I won't get to see an end to it as a player, after reading the books several times, I've found joy all over again in the world of Zeitgeist and this amazing adventure path, and I know I'll still get a lot of fun out of running it.</p><p></p><p>Still, I have been left with a rather difficult game state to try and run things from, so I ask for help from those in the forums if there's any advice on what I can do to make this work. I don't want to sweep the rug on the player's accomplishments or retcon anything that's happened thus far (this only extends to things the players <em>know</em> has happened though), and some things probably <u>shouldn't</u> have been allowed to happen the way they did, but they have, and we had fun doing it during those times. Still, I'm obviously going to have to change how things run from here to make it work while still using as much of the adventure books as I can, so any advice on how to do so would be appreciated. </p><p></p><p>Here's my take thus far, but if anyone has anything to point out that is important that I've missed or skimmed over, please let me know:</p><p></p><p>Adventure 6 seems like a fairly easy adaptation: Tinker will still be wanted by both sides for the information and advancements he could give, so it's pretty easy even with the Colossus gone to have that adventure run mostly as is.</p><p></p><p>Adventure 7 obviously 'skips' a couple steps in regards to defeating Leone Quital and getting the piece of Grappa left, since Leone remains captured and Grappa is alive, but with some finagaling, can still work pretty well to find out about the Convocation (maybe some hints other RHC members have found out with a side adventure to track down the direct info on the Convocation itself). Some editting has to be done on some lines of dialogue about the Colossus and how the Obscurati intends to achieve their goals, but still workable.</p><p></p><p>Adventure 8 is where things get trickier. Tracking down Kasvarina is based around the Colossus, and it being brought back under Ob control is what starts off the last adventure of Act 2. Also, some elements get weird when you consider that Kasvarina should have been taken out by Asrabey during adventure 5... except that couldn't really have happened considering what we did. Further questions arise as I try to consider what can make this part work, though I do have an idea listed bellow, albeit one that raises almost as many questions and needs as many fixes as this does.</p><p></p><p>Adventure 9 is the culmination of everything that came before it, really springing straight off of Adventure 8 to begin with. The ending's dramatic twist relies on the Ob having the Colossus.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Looking at the adventures, the big questions seem to be around what to do with the loss of the Colossus and how to address the Kasvarina situation. The Colossus is needed for Act 9 and reshaping the reality of the world, which basically leads to all of Act 3 and it's 4 adventures. The first solution I can think of off the top of my head is just to change the ritual - move it away from Axis, or potentially just needing a giant seal on Axis to be moved by an invincible giant, and a new ritual can be put in it's place fairly easily. This however, feels rather cheap. It takes away from the players determination and victory by simply saying 'that battle didn't count/matter'. And it should, the Colossus was a <strong>huge </strong>amount of effort on the Ob's part - why go that far if you never really needed it? The same could be said for simply making a second Colossus (though having one in the works as a project of the Ob's that still needs a lot of work and is known to be missing key features/people to construct it makes an <em>excellent </em>hook for a new Colossus to take part in the second ritual in adventure 13, imo). One idea I had was to use a dragon (likely Harkover Lee, but Pemberton is a possibility too) and have them be controlled by Nicodemus (even the type that doesn't let him use his magic could work as it's just the strength and resilience he needs) with some biological and mechanical modifications done by whoever he has left with the Obscurati with those skills (Dr. Recklinghausen was last seen taken in by an Obscurati member) to let him lift up the seal as a dragon, and hopefully survive the extreme conditions long enough for his allies to make the new world order. I'd probably need to reduce the size of the Axis seal somewhat to make it make sense, but I think it might be an option.</p><p></p><p>Kasvarina is a big question mark, but looking at the details around her, it got me thinking: Doesn't her situation sound familiar? Why yes it does, to that of the last original player's character, <strong>Ana</strong>. Eladrin woman, no memory of her past but a magical prodigy, trying to help the common people, and with inexplicable telepathy hinting at some psychic incident. It would be quite the twist to make <em>her</em> be the lost leader of the Obscurati, giving more focus on the player's as adventure 8 goes on because it's not an NPC they're escorting around, but uncovering the backstory of a PC, and I think it could lead to some incredible roleplaying. It also puts the Obscurati in possibly more positive light and gives the group a better chance to reflect on their actions and compare them to the conspiracy's, which I think would be a good thing to move to. So far the adventure has just been looking at the mystery and how to stop the Ob, which has been fun, but with Paragon tier moving on to the more philosophical questions of <em>if</em> they should stop them at all, or if they've gone too far in the efforts to do so feels right, and I think this would help with that.</p><p></p><p>Of course, this 'solution' raises several questions about who would and should recognize her (though amusingly a few of those can be answered by their own <em>Geases</em> preventing them from spilling the beans, possibly even to her). Still, her connection to Asrabey would need to be changed as he's definitely seen her multiple times, and without any compulsion to limit him talking (and nothing that would stop him from just snatching her up and taking her to safety in Elfavair when he first saw her). And I'm sure there are a few other issues in adventure 8 and some other parts in later adventures that would need to be tweaked to make it work.</p><p></p><p>Those are some of my ideas thus far, what does everyone think?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Speed_demon, post: 7905484, member: 7020370"] So. Those were all things. A TL;DR of the situation is thus: The party has defeated and captured Leone Quital, the Colossus has been utterly destroyed and deconstructed, they've made an alliance with the Unseen Court against the Obscurati, they have orbs that can allow the to teleport to each other easily and instantenously, and they have an [B]Airship[/B]. A full act before they should have one, and before anyone else in the setting can have one. Oh, and they killed Ashima Shintu too. And now, after helping cause this chaos for so long as a player, I'm the new GM (the old GM might be a player for this too, which means he'll have some meta knowledge, but he won't know what exactly I'm going to be changing). It has been a rocky adventure ride with now three GMs, but I have to say that I have loved every second of it. When I ran War of the Burning Sky before this game, I had tremendous fun, but one look at the Expanded Player's Guide had me falling in love with this game and I was so glad to play in it. And while circumstances have aligned such that if I want to see the game completed, I'll have to run it, which makes me somewhat saddened I won't get to see an end to it as a player, after reading the books several times, I've found joy all over again in the world of Zeitgeist and this amazing adventure path, and I know I'll still get a lot of fun out of running it. Still, I have been left with a rather difficult game state to try and run things from, so I ask for help from those in the forums if there's any advice on what I can do to make this work. I don't want to sweep the rug on the player's accomplishments or retcon anything that's happened thus far (this only extends to things the players [I]know[/I] has happened though), and some things probably [U]shouldn't[/U] have been allowed to happen the way they did, but they have, and we had fun doing it during those times. Still, I'm obviously going to have to change how things run from here to make it work while still using as much of the adventure books as I can, so any advice on how to do so would be appreciated. Here's my take thus far, but if anyone has anything to point out that is important that I've missed or skimmed over, please let me know: Adventure 6 seems like a fairly easy adaptation: Tinker will still be wanted by both sides for the information and advancements he could give, so it's pretty easy even with the Colossus gone to have that adventure run mostly as is. Adventure 7 obviously 'skips' a couple steps in regards to defeating Leone Quital and getting the piece of Grappa left, since Leone remains captured and Grappa is alive, but with some finagaling, can still work pretty well to find out about the Convocation (maybe some hints other RHC members have found out with a side adventure to track down the direct info on the Convocation itself). Some editting has to be done on some lines of dialogue about the Colossus and how the Obscurati intends to achieve their goals, but still workable. Adventure 8 is where things get trickier. Tracking down Kasvarina is based around the Colossus, and it being brought back under Ob control is what starts off the last adventure of Act 2. Also, some elements get weird when you consider that Kasvarina should have been taken out by Asrabey during adventure 5... except that couldn't really have happened considering what we did. Further questions arise as I try to consider what can make this part work, though I do have an idea listed bellow, albeit one that raises almost as many questions and needs as many fixes as this does. Adventure 9 is the culmination of everything that came before it, really springing straight off of Adventure 8 to begin with. The ending's dramatic twist relies on the Ob having the Colossus. Looking at the adventures, the big questions seem to be around what to do with the loss of the Colossus and how to address the Kasvarina situation. The Colossus is needed for Act 9 and reshaping the reality of the world, which basically leads to all of Act 3 and it's 4 adventures. The first solution I can think of off the top of my head is just to change the ritual - move it away from Axis, or potentially just needing a giant seal on Axis to be moved by an invincible giant, and a new ritual can be put in it's place fairly easily. This however, feels rather cheap. It takes away from the players determination and victory by simply saying 'that battle didn't count/matter'. And it should, the Colossus was a [B]huge [/B]amount of effort on the Ob's part - why go that far if you never really needed it? The same could be said for simply making a second Colossus (though having one in the works as a project of the Ob's that still needs a lot of work and is known to be missing key features/people to construct it makes an [I]excellent [/I]hook for a new Colossus to take part in the second ritual in adventure 13, imo). One idea I had was to use a dragon (likely Harkover Lee, but Pemberton is a possibility too) and have them be controlled by Nicodemus (even the type that doesn't let him use his magic could work as it's just the strength and resilience he needs) with some biological and mechanical modifications done by whoever he has left with the Obscurati with those skills (Dr. Recklinghausen was last seen taken in by an Obscurati member) to let him lift up the seal as a dragon, and hopefully survive the extreme conditions long enough for his allies to make the new world order. I'd probably need to reduce the size of the Axis seal somewhat to make it make sense, but I think it might be an option. Kasvarina is a big question mark, but looking at the details around her, it got me thinking: Doesn't her situation sound familiar? Why yes it does, to that of the last original player's character, [B]Ana[/B]. Eladrin woman, no memory of her past but a magical prodigy, trying to help the common people, and with inexplicable telepathy hinting at some psychic incident. It would be quite the twist to make [I]her[/I] be the lost leader of the Obscurati, giving more focus on the player's as adventure 8 goes on because it's not an NPC they're escorting around, but uncovering the backstory of a PC, and I think it could lead to some incredible roleplaying. It also puts the Obscurati in possibly more positive light and gives the group a better chance to reflect on their actions and compare them to the conspiracy's, which I think would be a good thing to move to. So far the adventure has just been looking at the mystery and how to stop the Ob, which has been fun, but with Paragon tier moving on to the more philosophical questions of [I]if[/I] they should stop them at all, or if they've gone too far in the efforts to do so feels right, and I think this would help with that. Of course, this 'solution' raises several questions about who would and should recognize her (though amusingly a few of those can be answered by their own [I]Geases[/I] preventing them from spilling the beans, possibly even to her). Still, her connection to Asrabey would need to be changed as he's definitely seen her multiple times, and without any compulsion to limit him talking (and nothing that would stop him from just snatching her up and taking her to safety in Elfavair when he first saw her). And I'm sure there are a few other issues in adventure 8 and some other parts in later adventures that would need to be tweaked to make it work. Those are some of my ideas thus far, what does everyone think? [/QUOTE]
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