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View Full Version : What changes or additions should I make to Serpent's Skull? [Pathfinder AP Question]



M. Arillius
2020-05-10, 05:12 AM
So my fiance and I are playing Pathfinder, running through all the adventure paths, taking turns DMing. The path she chose to be run through next for herself was Serpent's Skull because it looked and sounded like an Indiana Jones esq adventure. So while I am being run through the campaign we're in I want to work on Serpent's Skull and really flesh it out. We've both found through reading through some of the adventure path's that they work as great foundation, but often need a lot of work. So far, this is what I have...

1. The first island adventure has been heavily altered in many tiny ways. The biggest one is that the castaways with her have been changed to be a little different. They fit the same general roles, but I expanded their stories a bit and altered them slightly. Other then that the biggest change is that I added a castaway.

2. Serpentfolk have been replaced by Yaunti. I like the culture to much to not take advantage of all of the old 3.5 stuff about them. I plan on using the serpentfolk as one of their mutant offshoots but that's about it, otherwise. Not much is going to change here and yet a lot will at the same time.

3. For a future part, I decided to tie in a small group of Yaunti who have become good aligned and don't want to summon back their god.

4. The added castaway is one such Yaunti, having been sent on a rather vague mission by an oracle of their sub-tribe and ended up in the perfect position to both be an assistant to my fiance's character and a red herring for her. This is to allow for a less murder hobo, more peaceful solution to one of the future books where otherwise she would basically just be murderering her way through things.

5. The evil Yaunti will escape the island with her info rather then fight to the death, cause she's not a complete moron. As such, in the second arc, the player will face yaunti assassins as one of the issues she's dealing with.

These story changes came from several DM blogs I read about this adventure all complaining about similar things. Admittedly, some of their complaints actually end up being positives for my fiance, though, given the kind of adventure she's hoping this will be. But for the most part these ideas are pretty much set in stone. That said, I would like advice on their implementation, on the other hand, and any other ideas for not just the first part of the adventure but any part!

I also made some rule changes to the island. I stepped up the survival aspect of it a lot more, because she'll like that, and made the rules more difficult in the short term but more detailed as time goes on and she makes friends with the other castaways. (She is a heavy RPer so she will absolutely befriend them all. Easy to plan for that, honestly.) It's one of the reasons the castaways needed a bit of an overhaul. They were fine for random NPCs to fade into the background while the party was there but since she's running this solo the world really needs to feel a bit more alive.

1. Food and water are now harder to get. Food and Water are counted in resources. 1 food resource and 2 water resources feeds an adult (water is doubled because of heat). She can get that easy enough with her survival check, but to get more she'll have to roll real high or forage frequently. She can choose which resource to focus on getting but a base check gets her 2 resources.

2. Starvation and dehydration are a factor. Exerting energy is a factor, causing some people to need more food or water sometimes. If the group doesn't have enough then someone will suffer Hungry or Thirsty. If they suffer that three times without clearing the effects, they start becoming Starved or Dehydrated instead. There will be growing penalties and risk of more if these things aren't seen too that will affect every roll one of the castaways can make.

3. Food can spoil (save for the rations from the boat), water may need purifying but can't spoil. Starving takes time and she can technically keep several people alive in various states of starved or hungry without letting them die. Dehydration is deadly though and can kill much quicker.

4. Moving between every hex takes an hour. To explore the whole island will take a couple weeks. Every hex of movement increases the check the castaways have to make at the end of the day. A failed check means they need more food and/or water then normal. Failure to have that extra means they start suffering the issues list above.

5. All of this is actually pretty easy to avoid with proper prep, but time is somewhat of a factor here and she'll have at least one castaway I will be making sure she can't trust.

6. The camp rules have been solidified a little. The dangers involved with camping and leaving the castaways alone is higher (she's not likely to just abandon them but I don't want her feeling safe just leaving them until they're all pretty secure and working together) but the abilities they get with improved attitudes and morale are improved as well, with each character having multiple roles they can take and one role they 'specialize' in. She'll have to find out through RP what role that is, as the castaways may not always realize what they'd be good at themselves.

I've read through the books (mostly), but really only worked on the first book for deep planning. It was so contained so it wasn't that hard since little on the island actually affects what happens after. Feel free to throw out any ideas! Heck, if one of mine would cause trouble feel free to let me know! As long as you're not just calling it stupid I appreciate the feedback. And if you have any story suggestions you did yourself or feel like would really help this game, please share them!

-Thank you