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Skull & Shackles

Pathfinder Adventure Path #55: The Wormwood Mutiny (Skull & Shackles 1 of 6) (PFRPG)

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Pathfinder Adventure Path #55: The Wormwood Mutiny (Skull & Shackles 1 of 6) (PFRPG)
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Chapter 1: "The Wormwood Mutiny"
by Richard Pett

Pirates take whatever they please, whether it be ships, plunder, or people! The adventurers wake to find themselves press-ganged into the crew of the pirate ship Wormwood, the vessel of the nefarious Captain Barnabus Harrigan. They’ll have to learn how to survive as pirates if they’re to have any hope of weathering rough waves, brutal crew members, enemy pirates, ravenous beasts, and worse. But when fortune turns to their favor, it’s up to the new crew to decide whether they’ll remain the pirate’s swabs or seize control and set sail for adventures all their own.

This volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path launches the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path and includes:

  • “The Wormwood Mutiny,” a Pathfinder RPG adventure for 1st-level characters, by Richard Pett.
  • Details of life aboard a pirate vessel and rules for becoming the most infamous scallywag to sail the seas, by Jesse Benner, Richard Pett, and F. Wesley Schneider.
  • Revelations on the daring faith of Besmara, goddess of pirates, strife, and sea monsters, by Sean K Reynolds.
  • Death and plunder in the Pathfinder’s Journal, by Robin D. Laws.
  • Four new monsters, by Jesse Benner, Sean K Reynolds, and Steven D. Russell

Each monthly full-color softcover Pathfinder Adventure Path volume contains an in-depth adventure scenario, stats for several new monsters, and support articles meant to give Game Masters additional material to expand their campaign. Pathfinder Adventure Path volumes use the Open Game License and work with both the Pathfinder RPG and the world's oldest fantasy RPG.

ISBN–13: 978-1-60125-404-7

The Wormwood Mutiny is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. The rules for running this Adventure Path and Chronicle sheet are available as a free download (479 KB zip/PDF).

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

Fantasy Grounds Virtual Tabletop
Archives of Nethys

Note: This product is part of the Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscription.

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Fun but Fraught with Peril

5/5 —

I've had this ever since it was first released. I've wanted to run it for a long time and finally got to start it last year. Next to Rise of the Runelords it's been the AP I've wanted to run most.

The story is very compelling. The antagonists are really well done in that your group should definitely grow to hate them. Once the inevitable happens, it's quite the payoff for the group. They'll make lots of friends and those friendships will payoff and create an awesome tapestry through the AP. They'll also make some enemies who will be there until the end.

That being said this isn't for everyone. The group starts out press-ganged on to the ship. Which is another way of saying they are enslaved. Their freedom is very limited and they are punished for the slightest infractions. It can be extremely oppressive. It is a roleplaying heavy volume of the AP. Not a lot of your typical action happens for pretty much the first half of the book. It is a gold mine for those who love roleplaying.

The PCs are also put face to face with some very high level and dangerous people. Groups who feel they can resolve everything with violence are going to be in for a surprise if they step out of line at the wrong point. If they try to mutiny too early, it's going to be the end of them. A mutiny is the expected outcome of the volume, but they need to do it as the right time.

There are a few encounters that are really dangerous and potentially deadly especially as groups have very little access to tools to deal with them. So it takes a bit of work to either modify the scenarios or try to find a way of getting something to help them in their hands.

This volume introduces a fair amount of water based encounters. If you aren't familiar with the rules for swimming and the effects of water as an environment, or you don't like them, this AP may not be to your taste either. A lot of encounters through the entire AP are set in the water.

Ultimately by the end of the book, if all goes well your group should be in command of their own ship with a loyal crew, no longer enslaved to their old captain, and charting their own destiny on the High Seas.

Good adventure with one bad map

—

Recently I`ve bumped into Mr. John Compton`s inquiry about reviews on Paizo products https://twitter.com/Archaeotagh/status/1072706185613082624

I`ve GM-ed Wormwood Mutiny and liked it - couple new mechanics, survival sandbox for players, huge number of NPCs to hate and oppose. But heres my spoon of tar in this barrel of honey: map (Riptide Cove) with 1 square = 10 feet grid.

If your artists can draw "1 square = 10 feet grid" - they definetly can draw smaller "1 square = 5 feet grid" so GM-s do not have to learn picture editing and spent time on it.

One might say, that it is because of printed book version page number limit, editing problems. Maybe. But why they keep "1 square = 10 feet grid" in interactive map PDF? Theres no space (page) limit there.

Maybe your artist and editor never GM-ed it, never prepared this particular map for game session - I am sure, that even after one such time with grid-editing "1 square = 10 feet grid" into "1 square = 5 feet grid" they definetly never did such thing for others.

Fun Premise, Good Delivery

4/5 —

I ran a group of mid-level gamers through this module. I find the feedback of other gamers to be incredibly useful and mostly agree with the other comments. A few things I didn't see, but made running the module difficult:

1) The information is way too scattered. If you need a specific NPC's stats, you'll thumb through about 16 times in order to find it. Same with the rules for Plunder, Infamy, Ship to Ship combat, etc. It seems to be an Achilles' heel of the AP overall. Now that it's out of print, my suggestion to Paizo, if they ever decide to compile it as a hardback in the same vein as earlier APs, is that they consolidate the heck out of it. Lump all the NPCs together in one section. Put all the new rules together. Etc.

2) Where it drags on--day by day as pirates--can be a drudge. You'll have to work with your players, and do a bit of homework as a GM to make it interesting.

3) For a group playing a "non evil pirates" campaign, be prepared to swap out some encounters. This is a bigger challenge in Module 2, where people can be sold into slavery, but still worth mentioning here.

4) Make sure your players have enough resources to survive swarm encounters before they get on the island! I had to cheat a little bit by stuffing a few flasks of alchemist fire and acid in some of the treasure on the island. Otherwise it would have been a TPK after 1-2 botfly encounters.

5) The final encounter is a weird setup that you will have to adjust. Plugg and Scourge give the PCs a short amount of time to get supplies, but at the same time there's no way to run through all the encounters in that time. Maybe make it one of the reasons they are mad at the PCs?

6) The ghouls deserve a story! I made the underwater encounter a bit more interesting and added some plunder for recovering the wreck, otherwise there's absolutely nothing there for anyone.

Some Assembly Required

3/5 —

I ran this adventure for a group of 5 new players. I cut some encounters and used the fast advancement track due to time constraints. Including building and leveling PCs, the adventure took 20 hours to run.

Richard Pett provides great information to build on here, with 8 fully detailed NPCs (friend and foe) and over a dozen more with enough information to inspire the GM. Even the mundane treasure is interesting. As a GM, though, you'll need to figure out how to introduce a number of the NPCs on your own. Instead of using space to provide advice in this area, the adventure has rules for daily job roles that can quickly get tedious.

The supplementary material for the adventure is solid, although one of the magic items is a bit expensive for the level range. The Life of a Pirate article contains more campaign-specific rules that I found confusing and hard to convey to the players. SKR's article on Besmara is up to his usual high standard, and the fiction should inspire a magic item or 2. The monsters compliment the adventure well, but the pirate familiars are missing any mention of bonuses (or lack thereof) for those who choose them.

Summary: Can be a blast to play, but only if the GM puts in the prep time. Most of the back matter is good quality.

Reading it is Brilliant, Playing it is a Different Story

3/5 —

I read this module and it immediately hooked me as a GM. This is an excellent, nay brilliant adventure that has much going for it. I put in massive amounts of work to encourage the players to get excited to play this and they were.

But I had not realised the effect this module would have. This module basically is about kidnapping the players, grind them down and subject them to a harsh ship experience. Sure, in the end they rise up and get a ship of their own and escape the yoke of the evil Captain and his minions but the lead up can be very depressing for players that get seriously into character.

This module nearly broke my group. The players in my group got tied up in their characters and it was not pleasurable to see how they attempted to balance who would get the beating and who would not. I felt for them as they felt the helplessness of their characters. In the long run it ended in a massive argument and the group nearly broke up for good. I had to spend a good amount of time rebuilding burnt bridges and assuring them that they were moments away from a great resolution to the module.

In the end I loved how this module read, hated how it played. So this review puts it right in the middle of the ratings. Consider running it (and the AP as a whole is awesome) but be aware of the dangers that lie in it.

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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32

Announced! Cover image is a mockup.
Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Wow, first level PCs versus Rich Pett. I can already see the multiple page obituary thread.
Silver Crusade
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Sir Pett! YES! Bring it on!
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

Arrr, me harties!

Huzzah for our great lord and master!
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Since we get rules for caravans with Jade Regent, I'd presume there'll be rules for running your own pirate ship eh? Yay!
Jon Brazer Enterprises

Yeah!
Sovereign Court
1 person marked this as a favorite.

I SOOOOOO Want to play a Fair Pyrate Lass in this adventure. Hope I can talk one of the DM's in running it.
Contributor

Looking forward to welcoming you aboard the Wormwood me hearties...

a

h

aaaar

We be pirates.
Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

It looks like you could use this and Souls for Smugglers Shiv to supplement each other very well.
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Reminds me a bit of the start of SS AP, not that that's a bad thing just the stuck on a island again. I liked the SS start though.

Of course, at the start of Serpent's Skull, the PCs still had their starting equipment. From what I remember of one of the podcast-recordings made at PaizoCon, this time all they get is a loincloth (and a dirty one at that)... if they're lucky.
Contributor

Blimmey, that would be cruel...
Dark Archive
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Richard Pett wrote:
Blimmey, that would be cruel...

Knowing you, they won't even get a loin cloth and the island will be full of tentacle monsters. :)

When this AP was first announced I had no desire to either run nor play in it not being to big into the whole pirate theme.

After reading the descriptions I cant imagine not running it.
Contributor

uncanny:)
Contributor
atheral wrote:

When this AP was first announced I had no desire to either run nor play in it not being to big into the whole pirate theme.

After reading the descriptions I cant imagine not running it.

Ahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar!

With Logue out of the biz, and James Jacobs spending most of his time fleshing out Golarion, I figured it would be a safe bet to cancel my subscriptions... but I'd forgotten about Richard Pett. He's a very good reason to stick with it another year.

And it's not just Pett. It's Pett with PIRATES. Who could say "no" to that?
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Kirth Gersen wrote:
And it's not just Pett. It's Pett with PIRATES. Who could say "no" to that?

Ninja?

Dark Archive

Wait wait wait a minute.
You're giving Richard Pett access to underwater monstrosities, deserted islands and PIRATES, and then you are going to inflict what seeps out of that twisted brain of his onto my first level PC's?

What ever did we do to deserve that?

I guess I'd better stock up on bleach for my minds eye.
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Mathwei ap Niall wrote:

Wait wait wait a minute.

You're giving Richard Pett access to underwater monstrosities, deserted islands and PIRATES, and then you are going to inflict what seeps out of that twisted brain of his onto my first level PC's?

What ever did we do to deserve that?

I guess I'd better stock up on bleach for my minds eye.

While they are only wearing loin cloths at best. :)

Silver Crusade
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Avast ye!

This adventure path be the most anticipated yet! How can I decide whether to run or play this. If I play I can be a salty sea cap'n. If I run it I can read the books as they're released.

The sea be a fickle mistress.
Scarab Sages
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

Away, haul away! We'll haul away for Rosie.

Drink up lads, this one's going to call for extra rum.
Contributor

Well, this is all just terribly uncanny, you'll be mentioning the kraken I put in next:)
Richard Pett wrote:
Well, this is all just terribly uncanny, you'll be mentioning the kraken I put in next:)

Some still remember your last adventure that featured a kraken. :)

Contributor
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Turin the Mad wrote:
Richard Pett wrote:
Well, this is all just terribly uncanny, you'll be mentioning the kraken I put in next:)
Some still remember your last adventure that featured a kraken. :)

Ah bless you, it's been a while since the Styes was mentioned.

Rich

I heart pirates. Actually, our whole game store is pirate-themed, so this will go over very well with the local groups.

However, I'm a little iffy about the opening, as it seems like Serpent's Skull redux. However, I also heart Richard Pett's writing, and I'm excited to see him on this project. Maybe it will serve as a creative continuation of the ill-fated Razor Coast?

Evil to Chaotic neutral campaign? I mean, pirates are supposed to steal stuff from the helpless.. right? Or then a bit of a poser, just the wear, language and stuff. But never actually robbing anyone :D

If they can find the time to go north and prey upon ships going from the inner inner sea to the east coast. Or just much too busy staying alive, finding treasure and protecting bases? :p

...evil crystal balls... 3 shows already and the pirate afaicr only managed a single act of piracy at the start of the first movie. Or maybe that other variety, wizards busy sharing spells to eachothers spellbooks.

A real sea themed campaign? My players and their hatred for water will love this one...

Actually they believe that a river is more dangerous than a band of angry trolls... I´ll have to take a picture of their faces when I tell them about this xD
Dark Archive

Yeeeehaaaa !

I really can't wait for this one !!!
We need a bit of fresh air and piracy !

And Richard Pett REALLY thrilled me in the second AP of Rotrl....

hm, mixed feelings

it sounds to much like the serpent skull start
but it is written by one the best
I gues I will have to trust Mr.Pett on this one
Sovereign Court
Mathwei ap Niall wrote:

Wait wait wait a minute.

You're giving Richard Pett access to underwater monstrosities, deserted islands and PIRATES, and then you are going to inflict what seeps out of that twisted brain of his onto my first level PC's?

Yup! :)

Sovereign Court

Although the PCs are stranded on an island for a portion of this adventure, that is the only similarity with Souls for Smuggler's Shiv.

Just like Castaway and Treasure Island both feature people stranded on islands, but are two very different stories.
Paizo Employee Creative Director
aeglos wrote:

hm, mixed feelings

it sounds to much like the serpent skull start
but it is written by one the best
I gues I will have to trust Mr.Pett on this one

While there are a few superficial similarities... the adventures ARE going to be pretty different. They both involve ships and islands, but you're going to spend a lot more time ON your ship in this one, and a lot less time being shipwrecked.

In any case, we'll be doing our best to make sure that "Wormwood" and "Smuggler's Shiv" feel like different adventures!

AND: Ninjaed by Rob!

My players will love this Path and I get to use my pirate voice. Now if I can only find a way to discourage the players from refitting the Wormwood as an airship...
Quote:
The adventurers wake up in the hold of a ship at sea, only to discover they’ve been press-ganged into a crew of scoundrels, thieves, and buccaneers from the pirate isles of the Shackles.

Best answer to "How do the PCs first meet each other" ever.

Contributor
Rob McCreary wrote:


Just like Castaway and Treasure Island both feature people stranded on islands, but are two very different stories.

:)

Dark Archive
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Kirth Gersen wrote:
And it's not just Pett. It's Pett with PIRATES. Who could say "no" to that?

Uh, anyone with at least some shred of sanity and decency? But I guess that excludes most people on these forums... ;P

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I am really torn! I really want to run this for my group, but I so want to play it! Decisions, Decisions....

Besmara, Goddess of Piracy?

*sigh*
I guess it was inevitable, that Golarion would approach a FR - like amount of gods someday.
Silver Crusade
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Hyla Arborea wrote:

Besmara, Goddess of Piracy?

*sigh*
I guess it was inevitable, that Golarion would approach a FR - like amount of gods someday.

Well, she's out since at least the Gazzetter from 2008, in the "small gods" bracket together with Groetus, Kugress, Milani, Hanspur and Ghalunder.

Silver Crusade

Besmara the goddess of being a badbutt. :)
She has a planehopping ship and leads pirate raids on the heavens, hells, city of brass and other elemental attractions of note, and so much more.
She is the scourge of everywhere there is a sea, whether it be one of water, fire, shadow, blood, souls, you get the idea.

I ran a piratey adventure for some friends and they ended up battling cheliaxian and andoren warships, raiding korvosa, being captured and forced into a aquatic themed gladiatorial execution match in Corentyn(escaped after surviving of course), and finally throwing in their lot with a Nidalese shadow fleet that battled it out with a Leng themed attack fleet on the plane of shadow. All the while singing the praises of Besmara. Good times.
samerandomhero wrote:


She has a planehopping ship and leads pirate raids on the heavens, hells, city of brass and other elemental attractions of note, and so much more.
She is the scourge of everywhere there is a sea, whether it be one of water, fire, shadow, blood, souls, you get the idea.

Ok, I'm sold. That sounds really cool.

I'm so playing this one. I've got a character for this AP since they anounced it. Teruawa, a CN half-elf sorcerer, with Ekujae and mwangi parents and the draconic bloodline, ex-pleasure slave follower of Calistria, that wants to be a pirate to get his revenge against the keleshite slavers and his chelaxian ex-master. And his lover, Kaleb Fogreader, a halfling jinxer and oracle of water.

"When they’re assigned to a captured ship as part of a skeleton crew"

Just so we're clear here: That means "just the bare minimum of personnel to keep the ship running". I mean, this is a fantasy game with undead, and we're talking Pett here.
KaeYoss wrote:

"When they’re assigned to a captured ship as part of a skeleton crew"

Just so we're clear here: That means "just the bare minimum of personnel to keep the ship running". I mean, this is a fantasy game with undead, and we're talking Pett here.

Um...maaaybe...

I've so wanted to play the guy with the bombs and pistols from the 'Pyrat's' animation (http://www.pyrats.net)now I can - one Gunslinger / Alchemist coming up :)
Liberty's Edge

I'm definitely running this for my group once it comes out. And we'll probably use our Pirates of the Spanish Main minis for any sea battles that come up.

Yup, definitely waiting for this one. :)
Contributor

Ahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar!
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