ZEITGEIST Zeitgeist difficulty level

[Staglord]

Hi People

I am about to start a new zeitgeist campaign in the pathfinder system and have been reading through most of the first book, but I find it hard to see the difficulty level of the encounters. I like the fact that all encounters seem to matter for plot and are not just there as filler.

What are your experience with this and have you adjusted the encounters to be harder or easier due to the campaigns default difficulty or maybe your own groups mastery of the system?

My group are pretty well versed in the pathfinder system and have no trouble surviving in a paizo adventure path. (they have yet to try The Slumbering Tsar or other FGG adventures)

Would like to hear your thoughts

 

[ediz]

The encounters' difficulty depend more on how your party handles them. Most of the fights can be resolved without fighting depending on the players and how they act. The Coaltongue final encounter is amazing.

The key thing with Zeitgeist is the players need to pay attention to detail. If you want some more pointers PM me.

 

[Morrus]

If you want some more pointers PM me.

Why not post them in this thread rather than by PM? That way other folks can benefit!

 

[ediz]

Fair enough!!!!

 

[Staglord]

I have only read the first part so that's the only one were I would get the pointers but all info would help

so far they seem balanced and interesting so I am looking forward to the next books and what they present

 

[Dezhem]

I'm also running zeitgeist for Pathfinder; my group is about 2/3 of the way through Book 2.
My players are mostly experienced but don't care a great deal about optimization.

They've loved almost all the encounters because they matter to the plot and aren't random flees.

In terms of challenge the encounters seem mechanically underpowered most of the time. Their design is such that defeating all enemies is often not enough, though. The encounters can be complex in their real objectives and design.

I'd say run Book 1 as written to get a feel for it. Don't be afraid to use good tactics & environmental effects to their best.

 

[Staglord]

Sounds like a good idea Dezhem. I was thinking of doing that, and you stating the same just made me even more sure that i will do exactly that.

 

[Bruize]

Many times, my players don't pick up on things right away. For example, in the Dying Skyseer (their favorite module we've run so far) and in Digging for lies, they didn't put 2 & 2 together until towards the very end. In Always on Time, I went a bit more obvious with some of the clues (abusing a Skyseer made that so much easier, we need another one in the group).

I think sometimes my biggest downfall is forgetting to reread the module before session. Sometimes I get details wrong and have to compensate. For instance, I misunderstood Baccin's role in Always on Time and had her try to escape when things went south...so from then on I had to use Conductor Xorin to fill in on all of her cameos later on.

Another problem I run into is in tactics. Sometimes I don't use tactics as outlined in the module. On average, my players complain that Zeitgeist encounters are too powerful but in many cases it just comes down to poor roles and tactics. I do try to watch for encounters that I think will be problematic and see if I think I need to make any changes for my guys.