Advice for a smooth Skull & Shackles run

[Dezea]

Hello !

I'm just about to enjoy a Pathfinder marathon of a full one week made of non-stop pathfinder playing. (Yeah, I'm desperately trying to emulate my long-gone youth)

I bought the whole Skull & Shackles, the goal being to try to go as far as we can into it, even - Why not ? - playing a whole AP in one full week of play.

We chose that AP mainly for the pirate theme, all of us pleased by the idea of being some ol' brawny & drunk pirate.

That being said, after reading the 2 first leg of the AP...I'm a bit more dubious about my acquisition.

To be more specifics about what bother me :

- Part 1, as written, imply for the player to spend 20 days abroad a ship, being mostly captive...And undergoing the same routine almost everyday, but for a few event. Doesn't that get old quickly ?

- Also, the main objective for the player in that part, is to get friendly with as much crew as possible...Using some very straightforward (Read : Boring) rules about how to deal with the day. (2 action available, that you can use for diplomacy check etc). Did any of you went for a full RP road...And was able to maintain it for the while 20 days on the boat ? Did most of you just shorten the trip ?

- Part 1 still, your player are expected to undergo massive abuse on their character for almost all of the AP. How did your player react ? Did some tried to go all-out on the NPC before the right moment ?

- Part 2 : Almost all of that part is a big sandox...Did in a way I'm not quite fond of, with many - too many - event being most of the time just about the same routine. (Ie : You get lucky, find a ship on your way, pillage.) That does seems a bit repetitve at best, definitely tiedous at worst. Did any of you find a way to just have that part be a bit more "Focus on some grand goal" and less about "Let's randomly wander on the sea ?". I'm definitely all for some random attack on merchant ship (After all, let's be pirate !) but i'm not sure it would be that effective in game, without at least some clear motive as to what purpose are they trying to achive.

- Also, I'm all for some advice on what ran smoothly in your run of the campaign, what would you do much differently from what's written, what were the big climatic moment, and so on.

Thanks a lot for your time, and my apologies for my english : I'm French !

[Gnaeus]

1. Once we hit the point at which all NPCs were friendly or hostile and we had searched everywhere we could search, we cut it short.

2. We simplified the ship chase rules a lot. Essentially, once the DM had set up a ship in D20 pro, they weren’t escaping from us unless we let them, because making the next ship was too much work.

I THINK he made it less sandboxy also. I don’t think this island we are currently on is in the AP. But I haven’t read it so not certain.

[ComaVision]

As a disclaimer, I didn't actually run Skull & Shackles. I ripped off the parts I like for a different campaign.



- Part 1, as written, imply for the player to spend 20 days abroad a ship, being mostly captive...And undergoing the same routine almost everyday, but for a few event. Doesn't that get old quickly ?

I never told the group how long they were to be at sea so I was free to shorten the timeline as I felt necessary. You want to make the group resent their captors and get a feel for the thankless, laborious work they're forced to do but not bore them.


- Also, the main objective for the player in that part, is to get friendly with as much crew as possible...Using some very straightforward (Read : Boring) rules about how to deal with the day. (2 action available, that you can use for diplomacy check etc). Did any of you went for a full RP road...And was able to maintain it for the while 20 days on the boat ? Did most of you just shorten the trip ?

As mentioned, I made sure the group resented their captors, and feared the captain. I never explained the 2 actions available thing, I just let them do what they wanted and doled out fatigue penalties or punishments onboard as necessary. When the group had made friends with whom they wanted and weren't roleplaying much I started skipping days.


- Part 1 still, your player are expected to undergo massive abuse on their character for almost all of the AP. How did your player react ? Did some tried to go all-out on the NPC before the right moment ?


I emphasized how powerful the captain was (and how much weaker the others were by comparison) very early on. I also had the captain shoot a man in the head for talking to him directly. They did not want to mess with him, and did not make any mutiny plans until he left on the other ship.

[Dezea]

Thanks for those feedback !

I'm pretty sure i'll do as you both did, and shorten their trip a lot. A whole whole lot.

[mrguymiah]

Thanks for those feedback !

I'm pretty sure i'll do as you both did, and shorten their trip a lot. A whole whole lot.

I'm not familiar with the AP, but that does sound best, according to what a friend told me of their painful experience with it. I'd also like to point you to "Sid Meier's Pirates!" for some inspiration of how to make it interesting. Admittedly, the game is old as all get out at this point, with even the 2005 update being rusty, but it does a number of things I really like.

NOTE: I reference "Spain" a lot, just because I'm not too familiar with Golarion.
So, here's my advice based on both that and some other pirate fiction;

1. Don't focus on just one aspect.

Options, options, options. Pirates did a lot of different things. It wasn't just about looting ships, and neither should your campaign be. Maybe lay a handful of hints early on that your players aren't limited to just traditional piracy. Want to go searching for treasure? Sail around and find the map fragments, then find the X. Want to go loot Spanish gold shipments(Not sure what Golarion's equivalent would be, but eh)? Do it! A classic tale about hunting down your family's rival? Follow his trail and gut him! Sack and ransack cities and ports? Hell, maybe you choose to do it in the name of the crown. Hell, if you really wanted to, you could sit there and play the trade game.

Don't directly tell the players they have these as "choices", though. Just idly comment and drop tips. "While you're at the tavern, you hear word that merchants in Vera Cruz are paying 300gp per tonne of sugar. Roll an Appraise. Yeah, you definitely saw that Sugar went for only a 100gp here in Havanna." They may not choose to do it, but they know that it's an option. If it's viable within the S&S setting, have another group of pirates loot a coastal town and one of their members brag of how rich the crew is. You set them up as a target for your players as well as seeding the idea that it's not impossible to do the same themselves.

2. It's a story about characters.

From what I understand of the setting, (again, having not played it), it tempts the DM to abstract things. At the end of the day, the game is about the characters and their interactions with the world and each other. As they gain infamy, have news spread of a prestigious Admiral of the Spanish Navy sent to stop them specifically. Give them close calls and run ins, only to be miraculously saved by a storm knocking the Admiral off course. Having a bounty is no fun if there's no one coming around to collect it, but random bounty hunters that get offed after each fight are also uninteresting and bland.

And don't forget that, just because their pirates, not everyone hates them. If they've been raiding the Spanish gold ships, then the English and French may actually like them. Privateering was a legitimate profession and worth a lot of gold. By noting the effects of who they're hunting, you also allow them to pursue grander stories with those that hate their enemies. Maybe a French governor invites them to a ball after they take down enough Spanish ships, letting the governor pursue his own ambitions in the area. You can have the story of the governor's daughter who falls in love with the charming captain and is whisked off her feet by his roguish ways.

3. Give them stupid uses for wealth.

People love the tales of pirate gold, but players are limited by WBL. You don't want them buying a bunch of magic items and being overly powerful, but you also want to give them that feeling of absurd wealth. Give them alternative uses for that gold. Let them build grand pirate coves, outfit their own fleet (combined with above, you could have an amazing Pirates vs The Armada). Let them spend lavishly; walking into the finest restaurants with their crew, hold the place up, eat a meal, pay everyone's bill and leave. Absurd parties and just plain wasteful gear; "My cane is entirely gilded in gold. Why? Because it's f***ing cool!" Nothing is too gaudy when you're a pirate. Obviously this one comes down to how much you know and trust your players, but it can be a lot of fun.

[Dezea]

Thanks for the reply !

And I believe you are right, I will need to tweak much of the failure of this AP - Wich I'm starting to see as numerous - with some by-the-book Piracy.

Looking at some of the specific issues, did any of you change book 6, to have them fight Bonefist BEFORE the chelaix fleet ? This just make so much more sense to mee, and offer a way grander finale. Kerdak is clearly not an enemy of the NPC for the whole AP, being at worst a nuisance sometimes, while the Cheliax Navy has been foreshadowed since book 3.

I'd really like to go about it like this : Kerdak refuse to engage the Chalaxian Navy, forcing the PC to make a coup, in order to gather the whole country behind them in order to push the Cheliaxian back.

It would involve some stats tweaking, wich i'm not to afraid of, but I'm curious if any of you had the same idea ?

[Dezea]

Any other advices ?