NOTE: This entire thing is me prepping for, and running a Skull and Shackles Campaign. Here, I give my rulings and preparations I have for my upcoming SnS game I have in store for my PCs. I'm very meticulous for my campaigns, and you will see how things are. As such, most, if not, all of this entire post will be spoilers.
If you are a player in my campaign, stop reading this now.
Well, just yesterday, my friends agreed to a SnS campaign. As people that know me know, I refuse to read anything about a campaign until a group asks me to run it. It allows me in the future to play the campaign without spoilers just in case.
Night 1
Read 20% of Book 1 before heading to bed. Created mental list for things to do tomorrow.
Day 1
Read up to "The Storm". Started making a further mental list of things I needed, and started recording it:
- Need to buy 50 1" Flat Washers. Home Depot has a lot of these usually.
- Need to buy 25 2" Flat Washers. This might be harder to find, but it shouldn't be too much of an issue.
- Copy all of the images into individual image files for printing out individually
- Copy and Stretch all of the Map Images for Printing
- Purchase 4 styrofoam boards
- Purchase Wooden Dowels for "Masts"
- Purchase screws.
- Purchase Rubber Cement wipe-on glue
- Token out all of the characters and monsters into image files for printing
- Compile printing instructions for printing company
- Get quote for printing
The plan:
1. All of the images will be 4 to a page, so I can cut them out and show them to the PCs when they see/encounter/they are talking to it.
2. Using TokenTool (rptools.net), I'm going to make two "Tokens". One with a red border, one with a green border. I'm going to cut out and paste these onto 1" and 2" washers (depending on the size) on opposite sides. If they are considered enemies (for purposes of flanking and such), they are red. If they are considered allies, they are green. So, if someone flips (which will happen quite often!) it will just be an easy flip to see who has flank and such. Also, it means that NPCs can be seen easily (PCs will be figs, NPCs will be washers).
3. I'm printing out the maps of the two ships to scale (1" squares). I then am going to paste it onto styrofoam posterboard, then use an exacto knife to cut out the ship. Then, I'm going to take wooden dowels, insert them into the "mast" part of each layer. I'm going to put a screw underneath each level. Because of this, the ships will be easily viewable. Whether or not I do other ships will be dependent on how much work will be involved, how expensive printing will be (I already know the costs of the dowels and poster board), and how much they will encounter the ships.
4. I'm still debating if I'm going to have the maps printed out full scale. There's five of them, and that's a lot of squares. I have a feeling that I won't run into these maps more than once, so I think drawing these will be best.
5. I'm making a list of items the PCs can find. This means, I'm pre-rolling the "lockers", which will speed things up considerably if they decide to "pop-a-lock." It also will allow me to say that if they have identified an item, if its been given to a specific PC, or it has already been sold. Also, if they have to reference back to an individual item, I can find it pretty easily on the list.
6. I'm making a "NPC Matrix". It allows me to pencil in the dipositions towards each of the part members and allows me to figure out how to play out each encounter. It also gives me an easy reference to the list so I can decide on "helpers" and such.
7. I'm also going to make a job matrix. This isn't specifically for when jobs must be assigned by the PCs, but more that I can easily switch the day/night cycle, making the "interaction/initial stage" of the ship as painless as possible. The problem I've seen in this entire thing is that preparation is key. This module cannot be run cold! The entire first book must be read before anything can start with this campaign.
8. I'm also going to make a "reference" sheet for me.
PC Preparation
I told the PCs last night the following:
- We are doing Skulls and Shackles. They have the homework of going to paizo.com, downloading and fully reading the Skulls and Shackles Player's Guide.
- All Paizo Pathfinder resources are allowed, regardless of which book they are in. I have *some* exceptions. Nothing may be "upconverted" from 3.5, because there is now an abundance of material for Pathfinder. Any non-paizo Pathfinder Peripheral must be brought to me for authorization prior to use.
- The Advanced Race Guide will be used, using the following rules:
- Players can come up with their own race, but they must provide a 100 word "background" for their chosen race. It must fit into the Goloron realm somehow. 20 Point "Advanced" Ruleset used.
- Players may also use any legal race (see above), taking the deficit in points (e.g. Humans are 11, giving 9 points available), to add additional abilities to the race. This does not require background, but I do need a short reason why each of the abilities are added.
- Lastly, players may use a legal race (see above), taking the deficit in point buy * 1.5 (e.g. Humans are 11, giving 9*1.5=13 points in the point buy). This does not require background or reason why this has been added. This is in addition to the rolled stats provided below.
- The Stats are a "special" 4d6 drop 1 system that I have come up with.
- 4d6 is rolled, dropping the lowest dice. If the total is <8, it is automatically rerolled.
- Once a 8 or 9 is rolled, anything (from that point) <10 is automatically rerolled.
- The stat is assigned to a single stat and "locked in" (it cannot be reassigned if a different number appears).
- Players can do a complete re-roll once, taking the final result even if it is worse.
- Players will get Average starting gold for their class, but, they may roll for gold, but they must take the final result even if it is lower than average.
- Maximum HP per HD every level.
- 2 Traits, but after the character building session (see below), I will assign 1 Campaign Trait that fits the character in addition to the 2 picked traits.
- Between each module, I will be putting an additional "something", that will give an extra level. As such, players will start Book 2 a level higher, Book 3 two levels higher, etc. This will cause players to end at Level 20 instead of Level 16 that I keep seeing in these modules.
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Why so much power?
I like powerful PCs because I like powerful NPCs. It means that I can put monsters out there that have higher CR. I customize my NPCs based on ideas that I have, using the monster stat blocks as a guideline. By book 3 of Kingmaker, 95% of the monsters that I threw at the PCs were different in some major ways. Book 6 had monsters with as much as +6 Levels to cope with the fact that PCs were so powerful (L20, as well they were min-maxed a little).
SnS emphesizes that character building is not necessary. Why are you doing a character building session?
Its not so much of making it so that the group gels together, rather that all of the bases are covered, everyone understands the rules, and I can "fill in the gaps" that are provided in the campaign (the author suggests one PC is 'picked on' by Plugg and Scourge more often, so this would help. It also allows me to make notes that I can do little "personalized touches" to the campaign as the campaign goes on.
How many of the ships do you plan on building?
I plan on at least building the Wormwood and the Man's Promise. Other ships will only be made if I feel that the PCs will be spending lots of time on the ships.
Why do you make every NPC a customized 1" or 2" washer?
While I won't make every NPC a washer, every major NPC that they interact with (every pirate, captains, and officers, bosses and subbosses) will be made. One-off monsters, such as rats will just be washers without pictures. This has two things: One, I can track where every NPC is. Second, PCs can respond better to situations (without asking me) by seeing which washer is which.
How much prep time do you think you will spend?
Approximately 20 hours for Book 1. I haven't read Book 2 and beyond yet.
How much do you think everything will cost to build?
Surprisingly, its very small. Probably this module will set me back between $45 and $100 depending on what kind of deal I get with printing, and how much printing I really need to do.
Will you take pictures?
I try to do this every time I build, but I forget all of the time. Maybe this will be the time that I remember.
Can you actually make modifications (e.g. Making tokens) of the products?
Yes, technically, you can. You can print out/copy anything in the books, as long as it is for personal use only, and you do not sell anything.
What programs do you use to help out?
HeroLab is the winner when it comes to helping me retool monsters for higher levels. TokenTool from RPTools.Net allows me to make the tokens easy. Paint.NET is a free program that allows me to edit the pictures. Of course Adobe Reader PRO allows me to copy the images directly out of the PDFs and edit them for printing (without the names over them). I use Excel for all of my reference tables, and I use Word for making notes during the planning stages.
How complex do you think this campaign is?
I don't know, but the SnS campaign path looks to be extremely complex. The most complex since Kingmaker Book 2. The worst part is that it is Complex shooting right out of the gate. Pages 7-26 (19 Pages!) are just introduction. You don't even get into any kind of combat until that page, and even then, its an introductory fight to set the mood. Non-"mood setting" fights don't occur until at least page 31. This raises the complexity quite a bit. I'm not saying its a bad thing, I'm just warning any GMs that are potentially wanting to run this campaign to be prepared for LOTS of reading before you even roll a single dice! A little warning for new GMs: Do not run this campaign as your first campaign to GM.
