About two month ago I told players I was thinking of doing the skull and shackles campaign. I asked if everyone was okay with doing a pirate themed campaign and that I would only do it if everyone was okay with it. Everyone seemed to be okay with it.
A couple weeks ago I told players that to choose characters with that were comfortable with the idea of being pirates.
Yesterday we played our first session. It turns out that the group - or at least part of the group - is not comfortable with playing pirates.
Someone suggested changing it so the characters were privateers. I was told that some people on the boards here had changed it to a privateer campaign path.
If I knew ahead of time that the players felt this way I would have chosen a different adventure path. I plan on finishing the first module, but after that I am not sure.
I felt very enthusiastic about running this campaign and now all of my enthusiasm seems to be gone. What is the point of doing a pirate campaign with people who do not want to be pirates? Maybe it will come back after I get over my initial annoyance with my players.
The players seem to think it is not a big change to make it into a privateer campaign. Just change the ships they are going after.
I am not sure how well this fits in the larger story arc. I am not sure if the party is really going to be interested in rising up the ranks of the pirates and joining the pirate council. Why would they if they want to see themselves as privateers rather than pirates? And I am not sure that they would be interested in forming any kind of alliances with other pirates.
I do not have an issue with making minor changes. But if I have to make major changes I would rather just choose another path. I also do not want to feel like my players are fighting the plot the whole time.
I would appreciate advice from others especially those who are successfully ran the campaign though with their people as privateers.
first off :
a privateer arc is not a problem. Basically the final adventures in a way imply that a specific nation is going to be fought. And actually changing the ships (name and flag) is not so much of a problem.
second : I would share the frustration over players wanting to be pirates, and then wanting to be "the good guys" too. So basically we brutally plunder and ransack the merchant trade of one specific nation ? Go for it, but how precisely does it make the group feel "good"
third : getting the letter of marque from the Pirate council later in the AP implies precisely that "privateer" attitude, even if the Shackles as such are not a recognised nation.
Basically : sleep safely, wonder about the players and simply exchange flags and names and feel happy that things are/were that easy
Yeah well.
How much do you want this set in Golarion? Because I don't think the Free Captains of the Shackles would take kindly to Privateers joining their ranks.
hmm, since the Shackles pirates already run a privateer (pro-Sargava, pro-thmeselves) rackett... why would that be ?
The Chelians are a declared enemy of the Shackles (who harbour a number of pretty anti-chelian pirate lords)... so why not go "privateer" aginst them ?
It's do-able so long as your players are OK with the idea of aligning themselves with the Pirate Council to accept the Council's (questionable) Letter of Marque for privateering against Cheliax and/or everyone else mentioned in the Letter... which includes pretty much all the local seafaring nations except Sargava. (Of course, as the Shackles are not a recognized nation his still makes them pirates in everyone else's eyes, but does them a fig leaf of justification (for whatever that's worth).)
If they're determined to be privateers against the pirates of the Shackles, or operating in completion with them.... well then yes, you're in the wrong campaign unless you as GM are willing to re-write pretty much the entire AP.
As Fitzwalrus says, if they want to be against the Pirate Lords then you are in trouble. It would be do-able but it would mean you would need to re-do pretty much most of the AP from book 3 onwards. If this is the case they are in a world of hurt, as soon as they start preying on pirates in the Shackles they will be hunted. Every Pirate lord will come after them, they won't last long. They may think they are doing well but when they get 2 or 3 ships coming at them armed to the teeth they may see the problem. No alliance, no back up = fishfood!.
The best route I can see is for them to join the Shackles,It's easily do-bale they just need to get the letter and go after the Chelish after all they are the threat. It will mean you will need to up the presence so they have something to prey on but it will be less work for you. Book 3 is easy then as it's all about the Chellish spyring. Book 4 easy as its the island and Harrigan. Book 5 Pirate council may need a slight change but not much, going after Harrigan easy as he's working for the Chellish and book6 no brainer, Chellish invasion and ousting Bonefist (perfect for a privateer I think).
Thanks everyone. I will be checking to see if the players feel comfortable with allying themselves with pirates. If they are okay with it then I can give the campaign a go.
I have one player who is okay with his character being on the pirate council.
I read in another post that the other adventures are less gritty. I think my players will be more comfortable with them.
There are lots of Hollywood pirates who never commit any acts of piracy. I think that is what players thought it would be.
"less gritty"..... yes, basically they are, but you might want to take a look at some of the events in AP #5, where one gets to meet several of Harrigan's crew again. But there, the shoe is on the other foot.
Arronax Endymion and his fleet are definitely anti-chelian (on the other hand they are still pretty evil) , and I'd expect the Halflings of Bag Island to be "privateerish" as well. Or the "Absolute Freedom" pirates of Firegrass Island, who also strongly disagree about working for Sargava
You could always downplay some of the plot elements for a while and just let people do stuff in the Shackles. I'm pondering adding Freeport (there's even a Kickstarter for a Pathfinder conversion of the setting) and using some of the adventures there. I think some of the pirate stuff is a little dark for a few of my players, but once they get established I should be able to swing them back on track.
Once the PCs have their own ship, how the run it is up to them. Also, Privateering is pretty much what they're doing once the get their Letter of Marque from the pirate council and begin working for Tessa Fairwind in book 3.
Despite what I've seen to the contrary, there is absolutely nothing stopping a bunch of "good" characters from playing this AP. the fact that they may have a harder time bringing their changes to the shackles could make for a truly epic finale.
Most of my players are of good alignment also. It will be interesting to see how they handle it although many will be shifting off to go to Razor's Coast at level 5. Some will continue with new players if needed to complete the AP.
One word. SLAVERY.
Slavery is a thriving trade in the shackles, I have added numerous plantations and outposts who profiteer almost exclusively on slave labor. Not to mention there already is a slavery/gladiatorial bloodsport in Bloodcove.
Slavery is a reason that good PCs would raid Chelish ships, other pirate ships many of the islands in the Shackles deal in slaves or even raid other islands for slaves. and quite a few other nations all this without a single Andoran Letter of Marque.
Empire is a bloody, awful, horrible business built entirely on the idea that it's okay to brutalize, murder, rob, and enslave other people because they're lesser beings and uncivilized to boot. A lot of the merchants passing through the Shackles have holds awash in blood - The trick is helping your players realize this.If you need some inspiration read up on the treatment of Americans and Africans during the sack of the Americans in the 1500s. Thousands of Americans and Africans died in the mines of Potosi so the Spanish Crown could enrich itself with ton upon ton of silver.
That idea might require a quick or not so quick rework/redesign of the world as is.
Sargava would need some change (since the colonists are severly outnumered by the surrounding tribes which they would antagonize), the Aspis Emporium would need expansion in their exploitation mode and other powers would need to be included.And stealing from robbers (if you would call the merhants robbers - they are NOT the crown/rulers plundering the Mwangi realms) does not make piracy valid : unless it includes returning the riches to the disenfranchised (Mwangi).
piracy = seabourne highway robbery.
Nevermind killing rather innocent crew = manslaughter+ . Incidentally or not. If going privateer, you can at least declare it as more noble warfare.
So the campaign would basically become Robin Hood-ish. Which then makes the final story arc rather... hmm.. not silly but strange ? Becoming theP Pirate King o end all piracy ? Seems like a circuitious route
|
We had a guy who showed up as a pirate hunter with a deep seated hatred of all pirates. We're at the end of the first book, and we're hoping he'll have the character get off at Rickety Squigs and make a compatible character. Not counting the guy who hates pirates, of the remaining 5 people in the party, 3 are actual pirates, one is a cleric who is along for the ride and to help people, and the last wound up as the pirate captain. After we took the ship, he started killing unconscious crew, and my fighter had to beat on him to get him to stop. He wanted to kill the entire crew and have us take the ship to join the Chelaxian Navy. Wasn't happening.
This is the best AP we ever played and it would be a shame to rob your players of the joy of it, even if they don't seem to want to get into the spirit of things initially.
Please check out my post here on re-writing the AP for good-ish characters. It doesn;t have to be as labor-intensive as you might think.