Question about Always on Time, the fourth Zeitgeist adventure. It's important context here that this adventure mostly takes place on a train.
In this encounter at the beginning of act 4, lanterns all over the train flash and, if all goes well for the bad guys, yank the PCs (and possibly a few others) into Nem, the land of the dead. Nem's not the Bleak Gate/Shadowfell, but it's related and in some ways similar - in particular, it contains counterparts of most things in the "real" world, notably the train. If the PCs get more than the titular three miles from the point where they entered Nem, they pass into the afterlife and die without the possibility of resurrection. Nasty, but they have multiple ways to avoid this and, once broken down into combat rounds, tons of of time.
(The times and distances don't seem consistent, but they should still have at least 18 rounds, maybe as many as 36-40 or so. That's lots in my group's hands, even if it's far less than the 60 the adventure as written gives them.)
Anyway, here's the main thing that confuses me. What exactly is "the point where they entered Nem"? Is it (a) the place where the train was when the trap was sprung, or (b) the place on the train where they entered, in other words relative to/moving with the train? The adventure does not seem to be internally consistent on this point.
It is repeatedly emphasized that if the train goes more than three miles they essentially get a Game Over screen, which strongly suggests (a). But then we are told this:
"If their souls leave the area of the lantern (in this case, they
would have to leave the train, because every car is affected by the lantern),
they instantly return to the spot where they first entered the plane
of Nem. This does not reset the “three mile” travel limit, so simply hopping
off the train will not save the party."
This passage is very confusing. "[T]he spot where they first entered the plane of Nem" is what the three mile limit is measured from. If (a) above is correct, why wouldn't exiting the train help? It would return them to the point where they entered, where they can wait out the lantern effect in relative safety. Or even if we ignore the bit about returning to your entry point, at worst it should stop them moving away from that point.
Other bits over the next page or two, such as the wraith's tactics, in one way clarify this, but in others make it more confusing. In those places, it seems to be assumed (though it's never quite explicitly spelled out) that leaving the train would return them to the point on the train where they entered Nem. In other words, these parts of the encounter seem to assume (b) above is correct, not (a). But if that's right, then why care about the three-mile limit? If that's how we're defining the point where they entered Nem, then it's moving with the train and thus trivial to wait out in relative safety. All they have to do is nothing; the only problem would be if they did get forced off the train somehow. The whole impetus of the encounter disappears.
The adventure seems to want (a) and (b) to both be correct for different purposes. And I mean, it's magic, I guess it can work however the writers want, but I don't see a clear explanation of which situations are which, much less get any logical sense of why.
In my mind, the least bad resolution that makes sense to me is to consistently go with (a) and just let the PCs find relative safety by jumping off the train if they think of it. A close second is skipping this encounter altogether, to be honest - on the surface it's a cool set piece, even if it doesn't stand up to much scrutiny, but it seems non-essential.
In this encounter at the beginning of act 4, lanterns all over the train flash and, if all goes well for the bad guys, yank the PCs (and possibly a few others) into Nem, the land of the dead. Nem's not the Bleak Gate/Shadowfell, but it's related and in some ways similar - in particular, it contains counterparts of most things in the "real" world, notably the train. If the PCs get more than the titular three miles from the point where they entered Nem, they pass into the afterlife and die without the possibility of resurrection. Nasty, but they have multiple ways to avoid this and, once broken down into combat rounds, tons of of time.
(The times and distances don't seem consistent, but they should still have at least 18 rounds, maybe as many as 36-40 or so. That's lots in my group's hands, even if it's far less than the 60 the adventure as written gives them.)
Anyway, here's the main thing that confuses me. What exactly is "the point where they entered Nem"? Is it (a) the place where the train was when the trap was sprung, or (b) the place on the train where they entered, in other words relative to/moving with the train? The adventure does not seem to be internally consistent on this point.
It is repeatedly emphasized that if the train goes more than three miles they essentially get a Game Over screen, which strongly suggests (a). But then we are told this:
"If their souls leave the area of the lantern (in this case, they
would have to leave the train, because every car is affected by the lantern),
they instantly return to the spot where they first entered the plane
of Nem. This does not reset the “three mile” travel limit, so simply hopping
off the train will not save the party."
This passage is very confusing. "[T]he spot where they first entered the plane of Nem" is what the three mile limit is measured from. If (a) above is correct, why wouldn't exiting the train help? It would return them to the point where they entered, where they can wait out the lantern effect in relative safety. Or even if we ignore the bit about returning to your entry point, at worst it should stop them moving away from that point.
Other bits over the next page or two, such as the wraith's tactics, in one way clarify this, but in others make it more confusing. In those places, it seems to be assumed (though it's never quite explicitly spelled out) that leaving the train would return them to the point on the train where they entered Nem. In other words, these parts of the encounter seem to assume (b) above is correct, not (a). But if that's right, then why care about the three-mile limit? If that's how we're defining the point where they entered Nem, then it's moving with the train and thus trivial to wait out in relative safety. All they have to do is nothing; the only problem would be if they did get forced off the train somehow. The whole impetus of the encounter disappears.
The adventure seems to want (a) and (b) to both be correct for different purposes. And I mean, it's magic, I guess it can work however the writers want, but I don't see a clear explanation of which situations are which, much less get any logical sense of why.
In my mind, the least bad resolution that makes sense to me is to consistently go with (a) and just let the PCs find relative safety by jumping off the train if they think of it. A close second is skipping this encounter altogether, to be honest - on the surface it's a cool set piece, even if it doesn't stand up to much scrutiny, but it seems non-essential.
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