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tragicThaumaturge's 4e Zeitgeist Campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="tragicThaumaturge" data-source="post: 7582584" data-attributes="member: 6975610"><p><strong>Session 1</strong></p><p></p><p>So, on to the adventure. I’ll gloss over anything that doesn’t deviate from the script, since I figure anyone who reads this has probably read the adventures already. I’ll focus mostly on the ways the players overcome obstacles and roleplay, with a bit of mechanics on the side to give readers an idea of the resources at the group’s disposal.</p><p></p><p>The opening skill challenge went well and the hard DCs forced the players to spend a few powers and action points to catch the dockers. It was fairly straightforward. The party listened to Thames Grimsley’s request and agreed to deliver the message to the governor.</p><p></p><p>Afterwards the party was approached by Stover Delft who introduced them to Harkover. Gwen, not quite grasping social conventions, followed Stover’s example and greeted Harkover by calling him “old man” (which by the way sounds waaaaay more rude in spanish, as the word “anciano” is rather pejorative). Since Harkover knows the deal with Gwen he brushed it off, but the rest of the group was left baffled by their comrade’s insolence (especially since Harkover established himself as a badass during Bonds of Forced Faith and they don’t want to get on his bad side). The mage gave the PCs their orders for the night and left. Stover followed suit.</p><p></p><p>I gave the players the Prominent NPCs Handout and they read through them. Duchess Ethelyn’s background raised a gigantic red flag, since the constables realized that she was basically an Old Faith adherent / fey ally / veteran (so, all the groups that meant trouble, except for docker). They decided to keep an eye on her and went on to mingle (except for Beldrum since the player was absent from this session).</p><p></p><p>Intrigued by Rutger Smith’s pacifism, Jasbeer went to meet the captain. She found him talking with a dwarf and readily engaged the men in a discussion about the nature of randomness, which the dwarf argued would inevitably undo even the most agreeable of societies. My apologies, but I don’t remember the details of the conversation.</p><p></p><p>Uzziel wanted to learn more about the ship so he went to see Geoff, who was busy answering questions to people from the military. He managed to ask a few questions and learned about the ship, so I gave him the Ship Handout (minus the layout, which they would see once they boarded).</p><p></p><p>Gwen stole a chocolate from the halfling cook and was going to eat it when her attention was caught by a burst of laughter from the crowd. She turned and saw people congregated around a man who spoke with a Beran accent. As she got near to investigate Benedict Pemberton called her over and pulled out his knife, grabbed her by the wrist and proceeded to snip the loose thread from her sleeve. She was very intimidated, so it worked perfectly. However she decided to hang around and hear the story the man was telling, so after a while Pemberton addressed her and asked if she liked the countryside. She answered that she’d never been outside Flint before, and Pemberton said “So you’re a city gal then? Yes, I can practically smell the steel in you!” This completely freaked out the player, even though it was <em>obviously a joke… </em></p><p></p><p>Juza was called over by duchess Ethelyn, who asked her to arrange a room for her to nap in. She went to talk to Elian Aughtbrook, who quickly went through his notes trying to figure out who she was. Upon realizing she wasn’t a VIP he scoffed, but Juza managed to get on his good side by giving him tips for interacting with nobility and convincing him to take her advice instead of following his misinformed notes (the perks of a +11 in Diplomacy at first level). He promptly arranged a room for the duchess, who thanked both him and Juza for their help. Sokana remained quiet throughout.</p><p></p><p>The king arrived with the governor and the ship set sail. The constables took a tour of the ship and learned more about its design and how it worked, and then went to the main deck to talk with people. Jasbeer asked Rutger about his philosophy (the player really liked the captain) and he told her the story of the monk WIlliam Miller’s works and his tragic death. Gwen went to talk to Geoff, who was already a bit tipsy, and proceeded to get him drunk out of his mind. Juza went to meet governor Stanfield and relayed Thames’s message. Roland agreed the situation was getting out of hand and promised to look into it. Uzziel decided to venture into the engine deck to look around and talk to the engineers, which no one else did because it was too hot down there. Jenner and Ostman were somewhat indifferent to his presence, and told him to talk to Fitzcairn if he wanted to chat. He found the young technician fiddling with some pressure valves in the back room, a bit cross because his coworkers had complained he was hardly any help. They got to talking and eventually Fitzcairn mentioned he had hoped he’d meet a girl at the party, but had instead ended up stationed below decks. Uzziel’s player (a computer engineer himself) responded in the most heartfelt way imaginable “yeah, it doesn’t happen”. We laughed so much it hurt.</p><p></p><p>After a while the band began to line up on the main deck and Juza decided it might be a good idea to check on the duchess. She began heading downstair and crossed paths with Stover, who asked her what she was up to. She told him she was going to check on the duchess and Stover told her to hurry because after the band finished playing the king would give his speech and it was important his sister was present. And this is where everything spiraled out of control.</p><p></p><p>Juza went by herself to talk to the duchess and upon arrival found the door locked. She knocked and Sokana answered, saying the duchess was asleep. Juza insisted while Sokana stalled enough for the duchess to make her escape and for Ilton to poison his sword and ready an action to attack. Juza, suspicious, put her ear to the door to listen and with an impressive perception check heard the splash as the duchess fell into the water. Thinking she had been tossed overboard by assailants she immediately kicked down the door and was immediately stabbed in the leg by Ilton. She fell to the floor and the poison took hold. Meanwhile on the main deck Jasbeer and Gwen noticed her absence and asked Stover where Juza was. He told them she’d gone downstairs to get the duchess, and asked them to go get her because she was taking too long. It would be two rounds before they reached her. As for Uzziel, he had been asked by Fitzcairn to go to another room and adjust some valves there, since it was difficult for him to do it himself. As Jenner and Ostman finished packing the furnace with fire gems they decided to take out Uzziel and Fitzcairn so they wouldn’t get in the way. They were ambushed and unfortunately the damage roll against Uzziel was a 17 (1d12+5). He tried to fight but was forced to escape. Fitzcairn was immediately knocked unconscious and left bleeding to death.</p><p></p><p>In the duchess’s room Juza tried to fight off Ilton while Sokana escaped and teleported belowdecks, leaving her fire sprites to destroy the fire wards. Eventually the skyseer bled to unconsciousness and Ilton fled the scene. The other players reunited in front of the ship’s magazine, having missed Sokana. Uzziel began to kill the fire sprites while Jasbeer and Gwen ran to the furnace room to stop the sabotage. While Uzziel was by himself Ilton burst into the room, his clothes burned and his face bloody. He asked for help, saying he’d been attacked by more saboteurs, and succeeded on his bluff check. Uzziel lowered his guard and told him to stay near him while he fought the fire sprites. Ilton got close and got a surprise attack on the constable, but he missed. For the rest of the fight they both tried to take each other out, since they were both on their last legs. As for the fight in the engine room, well, it went to hell pretty quickly. Sokana neutralized Jasbeer with a well placed beguiling lure as a readied action (she fled and used her AP to ready the attack, so when Jasbeer followed her and turned the corner she was left dazed and in a wall of fire). Gwen engaged the two engineers but was outmatched; they flanked her and shoved her into the furnace, where the intense heat quickly killed her. Uzziel managed to kill Ilton and Juza recovered from near death, but as they reunited they stumbled upon Sokana, who had finished her work in the engine room. They tried to take her on but she was still at full HP, and had little reason to let them live. So, the first encounter ended with a TPK.</p><p></p><p>We ended the session here and I’ll admit the players were pretty bummed about the situation. Mind you, they were actually really curious to see how the story progressed after everyone died in the explosion, but it was the first encounter and they’d been working on their characters for months. So it wasn’t really that they weren’t willing to keep going with a failure, but rather that they didn’t want to lose their characters so early into the campaign. If we had found a way for them to be resurrected afterwards we would probably have made that canon, but all the ideas we came up with shattered our immersion so much that we decided to redo the battle. We changed a few things. For starters Beldrum was present, since the player joined us for the second session. I also changed a few things that were completely on me (such as letting Juza go by herself instead of having Stover suggest she’d better link up with the other constables first, or having Uzziel be surprised by the engineer’s attack when he should have noticed the alarm siren had been sabotaged, since he is a technologist and has a passive perception of 19). I know I was unbelievably nervous during the session, and I messed up because of that. I had this fear that I’d somehow ruin the adventure and I let it get to me. Fortunately, the other sessions went much better.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="tragicThaumaturge, post: 7582584, member: 6975610"] [b]Session 1[/b] So, on to the adventure. I’ll gloss over anything that doesn’t deviate from the script, since I figure anyone who reads this has probably read the adventures already. I’ll focus mostly on the ways the players overcome obstacles and roleplay, with a bit of mechanics on the side to give readers an idea of the resources at the group’s disposal. The opening skill challenge went well and the hard DCs forced the players to spend a few powers and action points to catch the dockers. It was fairly straightforward. The party listened to Thames Grimsley’s request and agreed to deliver the message to the governor. Afterwards the party was approached by Stover Delft who introduced them to Harkover. Gwen, not quite grasping social conventions, followed Stover’s example and greeted Harkover by calling him “old man” (which by the way sounds waaaaay more rude in spanish, as the word “anciano” is rather pejorative). Since Harkover knows the deal with Gwen he brushed it off, but the rest of the group was left baffled by their comrade’s insolence (especially since Harkover established himself as a badass during Bonds of Forced Faith and they don’t want to get on his bad side). The mage gave the PCs their orders for the night and left. Stover followed suit. I gave the players the Prominent NPCs Handout and they read through them. Duchess Ethelyn’s background raised a gigantic red flag, since the constables realized that she was basically an Old Faith adherent / fey ally / veteran (so, all the groups that meant trouble, except for docker). They decided to keep an eye on her and went on to mingle (except for Beldrum since the player was absent from this session). Intrigued by Rutger Smith’s pacifism, Jasbeer went to meet the captain. She found him talking with a dwarf and readily engaged the men in a discussion about the nature of randomness, which the dwarf argued would inevitably undo even the most agreeable of societies. My apologies, but I don’t remember the details of the conversation. Uzziel wanted to learn more about the ship so he went to see Geoff, who was busy answering questions to people from the military. He managed to ask a few questions and learned about the ship, so I gave him the Ship Handout (minus the layout, which they would see once they boarded). Gwen stole a chocolate from the halfling cook and was going to eat it when her attention was caught by a burst of laughter from the crowd. She turned and saw people congregated around a man who spoke with a Beran accent. As she got near to investigate Benedict Pemberton called her over and pulled out his knife, grabbed her by the wrist and proceeded to snip the loose thread from her sleeve. She was very intimidated, so it worked perfectly. However she decided to hang around and hear the story the man was telling, so after a while Pemberton addressed her and asked if she liked the countryside. She answered that she’d never been outside Flint before, and Pemberton said “So you’re a city gal then? Yes, I can practically smell the steel in you!” This completely freaked out the player, even though it was [I]obviously a joke… [/I] Juza was called over by duchess Ethelyn, who asked her to arrange a room for her to nap in. She went to talk to Elian Aughtbrook, who quickly went through his notes trying to figure out who she was. Upon realizing she wasn’t a VIP he scoffed, but Juza managed to get on his good side by giving him tips for interacting with nobility and convincing him to take her advice instead of following his misinformed notes (the perks of a +11 in Diplomacy at first level). He promptly arranged a room for the duchess, who thanked both him and Juza for their help. Sokana remained quiet throughout. The king arrived with the governor and the ship set sail. The constables took a tour of the ship and learned more about its design and how it worked, and then went to the main deck to talk with people. Jasbeer asked Rutger about his philosophy (the player really liked the captain) and he told her the story of the monk WIlliam Miller’s works and his tragic death. Gwen went to talk to Geoff, who was already a bit tipsy, and proceeded to get him drunk out of his mind. Juza went to meet governor Stanfield and relayed Thames’s message. Roland agreed the situation was getting out of hand and promised to look into it. Uzziel decided to venture into the engine deck to look around and talk to the engineers, which no one else did because it was too hot down there. Jenner and Ostman were somewhat indifferent to his presence, and told him to talk to Fitzcairn if he wanted to chat. He found the young technician fiddling with some pressure valves in the back room, a bit cross because his coworkers had complained he was hardly any help. They got to talking and eventually Fitzcairn mentioned he had hoped he’d meet a girl at the party, but had instead ended up stationed below decks. Uzziel’s player (a computer engineer himself) responded in the most heartfelt way imaginable “yeah, it doesn’t happen”. We laughed so much it hurt. After a while the band began to line up on the main deck and Juza decided it might be a good idea to check on the duchess. She began heading downstair and crossed paths with Stover, who asked her what she was up to. She told him she was going to check on the duchess and Stover told her to hurry because after the band finished playing the king would give his speech and it was important his sister was present. And this is where everything spiraled out of control. Juza went by herself to talk to the duchess and upon arrival found the door locked. She knocked and Sokana answered, saying the duchess was asleep. Juza insisted while Sokana stalled enough for the duchess to make her escape and for Ilton to poison his sword and ready an action to attack. Juza, suspicious, put her ear to the door to listen and with an impressive perception check heard the splash as the duchess fell into the water. Thinking she had been tossed overboard by assailants she immediately kicked down the door and was immediately stabbed in the leg by Ilton. She fell to the floor and the poison took hold. Meanwhile on the main deck Jasbeer and Gwen noticed her absence and asked Stover where Juza was. He told them she’d gone downstairs to get the duchess, and asked them to go get her because she was taking too long. It would be two rounds before they reached her. As for Uzziel, he had been asked by Fitzcairn to go to another room and adjust some valves there, since it was difficult for him to do it himself. As Jenner and Ostman finished packing the furnace with fire gems they decided to take out Uzziel and Fitzcairn so they wouldn’t get in the way. They were ambushed and unfortunately the damage roll against Uzziel was a 17 (1d12+5). He tried to fight but was forced to escape. Fitzcairn was immediately knocked unconscious and left bleeding to death. In the duchess’s room Juza tried to fight off Ilton while Sokana escaped and teleported belowdecks, leaving her fire sprites to destroy the fire wards. Eventually the skyseer bled to unconsciousness and Ilton fled the scene. The other players reunited in front of the ship’s magazine, having missed Sokana. Uzziel began to kill the fire sprites while Jasbeer and Gwen ran to the furnace room to stop the sabotage. While Uzziel was by himself Ilton burst into the room, his clothes burned and his face bloody. He asked for help, saying he’d been attacked by more saboteurs, and succeeded on his bluff check. Uzziel lowered his guard and told him to stay near him while he fought the fire sprites. Ilton got close and got a surprise attack on the constable, but he missed. For the rest of the fight they both tried to take each other out, since they were both on their last legs. As for the fight in the engine room, well, it went to hell pretty quickly. Sokana neutralized Jasbeer with a well placed beguiling lure as a readied action (she fled and used her AP to ready the attack, so when Jasbeer followed her and turned the corner she was left dazed and in a wall of fire). Gwen engaged the two engineers but was outmatched; they flanked her and shoved her into the furnace, where the intense heat quickly killed her. Uzziel managed to kill Ilton and Juza recovered from near death, but as they reunited they stumbled upon Sokana, who had finished her work in the engine room. They tried to take her on but she was still at full HP, and had little reason to let them live. So, the first encounter ended with a TPK. We ended the session here and I’ll admit the players were pretty bummed about the situation. Mind you, they were actually really curious to see how the story progressed after everyone died in the explosion, but it was the first encounter and they’d been working on their characters for months. So it wasn’t really that they weren’t willing to keep going with a failure, but rather that they didn’t want to lose their characters so early into the campaign. If we had found a way for them to be resurrected afterwards we would probably have made that canon, but all the ideas we came up with shattered our immersion so much that we decided to redo the battle. We changed a few things. For starters Beldrum was present, since the player joined us for the second session. I also changed a few things that were completely on me (such as letting Juza go by herself instead of having Stover suggest she’d better link up with the other constables first, or having Uzziel be surprised by the engineer’s attack when he should have noticed the alarm siren had been sabotaged, since he is a technologist and has a passive perception of 19). I know I was unbelievably nervous during the session, and I messed up because of that. I had this fear that I’d somehow ruin the adventure and I let it get to me. Fortunately, the other sessions went much better. [/QUOTE]
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