We Finally Finished!

[SanjMerchant]

Thanks, SanjMerchant. It's very nice to hear that someone enjoys reading the thread, although it always surprises me (pleasantly) that folks who come late to it have the stamina to read the whole thing! Funnily enough, I ended up reading the whole thing myself just before we rebooted the campaign, so I got to enjoy it too. (I'd forgotten about half of what happened, I reckon.)

Well, I'll confess there's a little bit of wistfulness involved on my part: I've only attempted to run Zeitgeist once, via play-by-post, and that fell through before they even boarded the Coaltongue! We did try to resuscitate it a while later, but by then we'd lost two of the players, and they happened to be the two I was most interested in seeing run the gamut.

(I've thought of trying again, but because I and so many people I know are all Terribly Busy New Yorkers, and play-by-post has, in my experience never been maintainable, I'm somewhat at a loss.)

Sent from my SM-G900V using EN World mobile app

 

[gideonpepys]

Well, I'll confess there's a little bit of wistfulness involved on my part: I've only attempted to run Zeitgeist once, via play-by-post, and that fell through before they even boarded the Coaltongue! We did try to resuscitate it a while later, but by then we'd lost two of the players, and they happened to be the two I was most interested in seeing run the gamut.

(I've thought of trying again, but because I and so many people I know are all Terribly Busy New Yorkers, and play-by-post has, in my experience never been maintainable, I'm somewhat at a loss.)

Sent from my SM-G900V using EN World mobile app

I can't claim to have suffered that level of frustration, but the three year gap came about for similar reasons, as we lost two key players. The good news is we regained them again, but for how long I don't know. The collapse of the campaign the first time round was actually kind of painful because of how much time and effort we'd put in, so I'm hoping we don't suffer the same fate twice.

We must all look to ltclnlbrain for guidance and inspiration!

 

[RangerWickett]

I don't know how people do Play-by-Post with actual D&D 4e or Pathfinder mechanics. It's just so damned slow.

I actually did a pseudo PbP when first writing adventures 1 and 2 to playtest them, but it was completely mechanic free. The players said, "I'm this class, and this is my schtick," and I narrated and they roleplayed. When a combat was possible, I let them decide how to start it, then just wrote an action scene that made them all look cool, perhaps pausing partway through to see if they had any comments or goals. The idea was to make sure the investigation and pacing made sense, since I was confident in my ability to balance fights, but still iffy on the mystery stuff. It took weeks, but I compare that to people spending months on half of one adventure, and I don't think I could ever play a standard PbP.

 

[SanjMerchant]

I don't know how people do Play-by-Post with actual D&D 4e or Pathfinder mechanics. It's just so damned slow.

I actually did a pseudo PbP when first writing adventures 1 and 2 to playtest them, but it was completely mechanic free. The players said, "I'm this class, and this is my schtick," and I narrated and they roleplayed. When a combat was possible, I let them decide how to start it, then just wrote an action scene that made them all look cool, perhaps pausing partway through to see if they had any comments or goals. The idea was to make sure the investigation and pacing made sense, since I was confident in my ability to balance fights, but still iffy on the mystery stuff. It took weeks, but I compare that to people spending months on half of one adventure, and I don't think I could ever play a standard PbP.

Yeah, the opening skill challenged translated especially poorly into that format. Ironically, they'd all but finished it* when Thanksgiving killed what little momentum we'd built up, but it was awkward, and I don't know how I would've handled future episodes where it can make a big difference if/when the players interrupt a major set-piece type thing (rescuing Isobel in Nalaam, like, all of Diaspora (which I think hadn't come out yet when we started?)

*(Seriously, they'd already convinced Coulton, Mercliffe, and Iscalio to leave, had gotten the name and a description of Dafton out of them and they still had something like four or five minutes before Thames Grimsley would even show up. Just a little longer and there would've been exciting ship-blowing-upness!)

 

[ltclnlbrain]

Any major, stand-out bits of advice for GMs for any part of the campaign? (Although I'm selfishly focused on adventure #6 onwards.) Any parts you got to where you thought "I wish I'd foreshadowed that earlier?" Or where the players threw you a massive curveball? Or where the 'through-line' of the AP wasn't apparent to the group? Anything that springs to mind as a major stumbling block, basically. (It's a novelty for me to have DM's ahead of me. For three years I was in the lead, and now I'm way behind!)

Nothing specific comes to mind immediately. I've been playing with most of my players for 10 or more years, so they are very experienced and committed to the plot of the adventures. They always kept the through-line in sight.

 

[gideonpepys]

Thanks for that. How about 'difficult to run' moments, or favourite, fantastic moments?

 

[ltclnlbrain]

The only thing that I can think of that was slightly difficult to run was the final battle. So many things to keep track of--that checklist came in handy!

As for fantastic moments, I don't have time to write a long post now, but I will definitely relate some awesome stories soon! Lots to choose from!

 

[gideonpepys]

As for fantastic moments, I don't have time to write a long post now, but I will definitely relate some awesome stories soon! Lots to choose from!

Looking forward to it.

 

[RangerWickett]

The only thing that I can think of that was slightly difficult to run was the final battle. So many things to keep track of--that checklist came in handy!

As for fantastic moments, I don't have time to write a long post now, but I will definitely relate some awesome stories soon! Lots to choose from!

Russ, it's been a few months. With the benefit of hindsight, any other good or bad parts you'd like to highlight, to help other GMs who are trying to finish the whole beast?

 

[ltclnlbrain]

Ack, sorry! Life got very busy recently and I forgot to check back in on this thread! Let me see if I can think of some things:

Adventure 1: The last confrontation with the wounded Asrabey is very cool. My PCs didn't even think about trying to fight him, but if you have a trigger happy group, I'd suggest giving him a brooch of shielding so that they can't just automatically take him down with a magic missile. Make them earn that victory.

Adventure 2: MacBannin is pretty weak as statted up. My players took him down in one round. I'd suggest beefing up his HP or giving him some magical defenses.

Adventure 3: The rainbow room in the dungeon is very complicated. My players just avoided it completely and took a different route.

Adventure 4: Perfect, don't change a thing! Just be sure you understand the NPCs' motivations and personalities and play up that RP on the train.

Adventure 5: My players loved the crimebusting minigame and the scenes with the B-team. The party managed to track down and capture Lorcan Kell before he could murder the B-team members. The intercepted his carriage when he tried to flee to the Bleak Gate facility under Cauldron Hill. I replaced him in the factory battle with an undead version of the tiefling gunslinger Boone, whom one PC had murdered during the previous adventure. (I used the stats for a pale stranger.) I ended up just narrating the final ship battle against the colossus. My party didn't really enjoy the naval rules and fighting a few random oozes after the showdown in the factory seemed a bit anticlimactic.

Adventure 6: I felt the railroad challenge was a little more complicated than it needed to be, so I handwaved portions of it. The party bard managed to charm Terakalir in the final fight and rode her around to help take down Lya and her goons, so that was fun.

Adventure 7: Really fantastic. My party loved infiltrating the Ob in disguise and the tense roleplaying that resulted from it. One player perma-died though, which kind of sucked. PCs better be careful here!

Adventure 8: My players tracked down all of the memories and fully got Kasvarina on their side. I didn't use the "no rolls higher than 30" rules in Methia. The party ended up sneaking past all of the encounters to the tower. The fight at the end is epic and awesome. One minor complaint though is that as written, Kasvarina disappears after this adventure until the very end of the campaign. It seemed a shame to have her vanish after everything they went through together, so I had her stay with the party through the beginning of adventure 10, when she went off to aid the eladrin enclaves against the Ob (which lead to her capture).

Adventure 9: Lots of good stuff here. Make sure you understand all the different moving parts of the palace fight.

Adventure 10: Pretty straightforward adventure. Didn't change anything.

Adventure 11: My players were bummed that Vitus Sigismund took such a heel turn, but that's what happens when the world breaks. They enjoyed finally taking down Sijhen.

Adventure 12: Awesome, Planescape-style shenanigans. They lured the giant undead-hating sun all the way to the mouth of the Gyre to burn the Voice of Rot. I had to triple his HP just to give him a fighting chance against the PCs, but he still went down in three rounds. Low touch AC is a death sentence against spellcasters and gunslingers.

Adventure 13: Again, make sure you use the checklist in the final encounter. It is your friend! And be prepared for whatever ridiculous 20th-level tricks your PCs can do. They're basically unstoppable at this point, but make things seem like a challenge at least.

Most importantly, have fun!