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After my group finished the Skull and Shackles campaign last month, I sat down to write a retrospective. I wanted to go over what worked, what didn't, and what things were really interesting. It's a long read, but I figured the folks here may be interested in reading how my group did it, from beginning to end.
It took us almost 2 years, but another campaign has faded to black. The lowly landlubbers who were press-ganged into service aboard the Wormwood after a bit too much fun at the Lusty Mermaid have been instrumental in protecting the Shackles from the most serious Chelish threat in the last 50 years, and then overthrown the long-reigning Hurricane King in order to put the Free Captain of their choice upon the throne. They each hold positions of power in the Pirate senate, placing them only slightly beneath the Hurricane King himself in terms of their influence and prestige. Let's take a look back over the campaign, the game itself, and the stuff we did, shall we?
Characters
We had quite a few characters who ran with the crew from start to finish. And we had a few that fell behind.
Captain Testudo: A survivor of the entire campaign, a polearm style fighter who happened to be just likable enough to serve as the captain of the crew. By times, a shrewd wheeler-dealer, for some reason he chose not to focus on the boarding pike, but instead on the ranseur. This meant that the weapon found in the Black Tower had to be changed for convenience' sake, but that's what a GM is all about. He died at least once, but luckily had enough plunder reserved that his loyal crew never even knew...
Raijuhiro: Also lived through the whole campaign. A Tien monk, who had come to the Shackles after deciding his homeland no longer had the appeal it once had... Raijuhiro had inadvertently killed his sensei while arguing in favour of learning forbidden lore. After the accident, he had absconded with the scrolls detailing these techniques (which were the source for his unique combat powers). To preserve and protect the knowledge, he had the writings tattooed onto his body by one of the Shackles' best body artists. I'd intended to have there be a connection between him and Isabella "Inkskin" Locke (probably by way of the tattooist), but never figured out a way to fully develop this. Instead, ninjas from his homeland attempted several times to kill or capture him (ninjas vs. pirates, woo!). Eventually one of the Tien pirate lords, Lo Shei Wen, grew interested in the people passing through his port and made contact with Raijuhiro. In exchange for protection from the parties pursuing him and the pirate lord's military support during the Battle of Abendego, Raijuhiro traded the knowledge hidden in his tattoos to the pirate.
Jenny: Yet another survivor. A Changeling wave oracle, with a haunted past. Like all PC changelings, she had resisted the call to join her mother and become a true hag (sea hag, obviously). Her mother's wrath had destroyed Jenny's entire village in the form of a massive tidal wave (Jenny, the burgeoning oracle, was able to survive). I borrowed a page from Eberron when we were originally developing this backstory, and gave Jenny's mom a power-boost (plus a player surprise) by making her half-night hag (applying the half-fiend template). I suppose by rights that would mean Jenny could have had the fiendish template, but I justified not granting by virtue of having turned down her mother's hag blood, she also turned down her grandmother's fiend blood. In retrospect, it might have been interesting to tempt Jenny with the potential to unlock her fiendish ancestry by some sort of side quest... Regardless, what we had with Jenny was a lot of fun regardless. To further tie her in, I decided that Haetenga, the night hag pursuing her sister's heartstone on the Island of Empty Eyes, would be Jenny's grandmother (in retrospect, I wonder why Haetenga never appears...) A hag sister showed up on a ship captained by a coven to give Jenny some hints that her mother was still around. Pursuing another little changeling girl who was undergoing the Calling led to discovering her mother's name and that she commands a powerful warship that travels the entire Aryth Ocean (and had many levels of witch). When the group began to explore the island of Empty Eyes, Jenny realized that she was kin to Lodhotha, who had contributed the heartstone for Bikendi's transcendence ritual. Eventually, Jenny's mother, Shatanna, and her warship appeared near the island of Empty Eyes. Jenny's mother started right away with a tidal wave to try to destroy the fledgling settlement. I did some research into the actions of tidal waves to try to make it as authentic feeling as possible. Eventually the party captures Shatanna's ship and rechristened her as their new flag ship, the Pimp Daddy. Shatanna fled to be with her lover, Jenny's father, Gilbrock the Tongue. Jenny once again got the chance to face down Shatanna when the party took down Harrigan, but again Shatanna escaped. She hasn't been seen since, but Jenny uncovered evidence after the final battle that Shatanna was one of the sea hags responsible for Turpin Irons' defeat and the animation of Brinebones. All in all, a character I felt served the campaign extremely well.
Valeria: An undine witch, who also survived through the entire campaign. Unfortunately, because she would disappear for months of in-game time when my gamemastering partner was GM, I never got to develop an extensive character arc for her.
Aberdeen Littleguppy: My Mary-Sue character (kind of). An undine stormborn sorceror with the racial alternate ability to breathe water. He had an extensive back story that was never fully explored. Similar to Valeria, because he was only present for about half the campaign, the things I had in mind for him never had the chance to come to fruition (and I didn't feel I could GM with him present without turning him into the worst kind of Mary-Sue). Basically, his offshoot of the undine live in the depths far below the Eye of Abendego, hence his stormborn bloodline. He had fled his people when the rulership was overthrown. He had been raised alongside the prince, and was one of his physical duplicates in times of duress (think Padme and her handmaids, if you can bear to recall Phantom Menace). I had pictured an attempt to bring revolution to his people by posing as the dead prince after some time gathering power in the Shackles, but as I said, I'm not good with the Mary-Sue roles, plus it was just too far removed from the pirate aspect of the campaign to pursue. Maybe as a follow-on one-shot in future he can come to his friends for help.
Tommo: A falconer archetype human ranger. One of those who are no longer with us... He started off with some promise. There is a parrot named Pluck hanging around the Wormwood who is largely just a nuisance since his pirate died. Tommo adopted him and used him as the "falcon" part of his archetype. Unfortunately, Tommo was, I believe, separated from the party as they investigated Jasperleaf Apothecary in Tempest Rising. There are only so many direct hits one can take from an alchemist's bombs before the result is a pile of ash...
Korhil: an elf ranger. Retired from the campaign when one of our players stopped being able to attend regularly.
Draven: the rogue that replaced Tommo.
Accessories
We went through an interesting variety of accessories to make the game more appealing. Some were hits, and some were misses:
I printed out the ship icons located in the S&S player's guide, and mounted them on foamcore to make them relatively permanent. We didn't do a lot of ship-to-ship combat, so they didn't see much use in that sense, but they did come in handy a few times. Their most prominent use was during the naval warfare segments, when they could be grouped to form the various squadrons associated with the battle, making it easier to visually track damage and so on.
Similarly, I purchased the Skull and Shackles map pack, and created at least one cool accessory from that. The pack includes an 'in-universe' map of the Shackles, complete with frayed edges, strange monsters depicted on the edges of the ocean, and a ring where someone set down their rum on top of the map at some point. Grabbing a measuring compass from an old-fashioned arithmetic tools set meant that it was possible to actually lay out a course on the table in authentic "nautical" fashion. I wish I'd been able to find a good set of map pins to add to the process. Ideally, combining the pins and a nice place to store the map, my players would have been able to drop pins at sites of interest, and actually create a map of "Our Shackles" instead of "Paizo's Shackles". Alas, map pins are harder to find than you'd think.
Years ago, Games Workshop published a naval game called Dreadfleet. One of the players and I grabbed it at the time because even then we theorized we'd be doing Skull and Shackles one day. When I actually sat down and looked at the minis for the purposes of using them though, I was pretty disappointed. Most of the ships are either very specific to the Warhammer universe, or they "go to 11" in a way that I just find unworkable (thinking in particular of the ship with a 10 story castle on the stern). Ultimately, the only ship I actually put on the table was the ghost ship, which served well as the Deathknell. That said, there were some really nifty rocky islands in that set. In an ideal world, I'd have done more ship-to-ship combat, and been able to use them to make for interesting strategic terrain.
Paizo's Skull and Shackles miniature set was invaluable. It was very gratifying to be able to drop a bone fisted corsair on the table for Kerdak Bonefist, or a pistol wielding half-orc for Tsadok Goldtooth. And Brinebones... So pretty. Really cool addition.
One of my players perfected the technique for turning battle scale maps into full scale ship models. The PCs first ship, once it was rechristened into the Phat Momma, was wonderfully represented on the table using a combination of printouts, pink insulation foam, and white glue. Going forward, I'd probably use some Ikea dowels or something similar to stabilize the layers as they stack together, but now that the campaign is finished, I think the germ of that idea will just stagnate (I had hoped to do it for the Filthy Lucre, but never did so).
Partway through the campaign, I finally acted on the suggestion in the introduction matter for Tempest Rising, and invested in the Maiden of the High Seas from WorldWorks Games. Though I'd never done any paper crafting before, I am somewhat creatively minded and have plenty of patience when it comes to a project like this. The end results were, to put it bluntly, mindblowing. The Maiden was used to represent Shattana's vessel when she made her assault on the PCs stronghold, and was, of course, seized and turned into the PCs flagship. I went as all-out as possible, using the 3D boom kit-bash included with purchase. I still proudly display it in my geek room, and can't imagine how badly it would have failed by now if the booms were just 2D sheets. That said, it's kind of old in terms of card-stock technology. If a company were to produce such a ship now, making it robo-cutter compatible, and even better somehow fold-flat, I would be all over it, even without a pirate campaign on the go.
The same player who made the ship models (and also my substitute GM) began to play with Hirst Arts molds part way through the campaign. We still have some learning curve to get around when it comes to converting 2D walls on a map into 3D walls with real thickness, but we used it to build Tidewater Rock, and it was spectacular. Being on top of the tower meant the miniature was actually UP off the table, while the minis below looked like ants. Ants, I tell you! Unfortunately, expansion of the inventory available was derailed by a new addition to the family, but they seem to have an infinite lifespan (unlike the cardstock Maiden, for instance), so production can only expand!
It was only in the last portion of the campaign that the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game caught up to where we were in the plot. I played quickly with doing so, but in future I think it could be very handy to be able to show cards that represent the story's NPCs and notable goodies (I'm not sure how many of the original Wormwood's crew have cards, but it would be really handy as a memory jog. We had a lot of trouble keeping NPCs straight just based on names and descriptions).
External Items
I invested in a handful of additional resources to make the game more expansive. I think the ones I would have liked but skipped due to cash flow issues is larger than the ones I used.
I might have benefited from, but did not purchase, Pirates of the Inner Sea, Ships of the Inner Sea, and... I think there was one other...
I purchased Fire as She Bears from Malhavoc Press, and tried my best to blend Paizo's nautical movement rules with their "everyone on the ship has something to do" rules. It didn't work as well as I'd hoped. I think you need more Age of Sail class ships to make it feel right.
I did get the Islands of the Shackles reference. I found it was pretty helpful with fleshing out the Shackles, and because I knew what was "available" and what the AP was going to "use", I felt I had a larger toolkit to craft things. For instance, I'd have never known anything about the Tien Free Captains that were a part of Raijuhiro's plot without this book, because they are never mentioned in the AP.
I also got the Plunder and Peril module, but it was too late to use to replace or blend with Raiders of the Fever Sea, as it is meant to do. As a result, I set it aside without ever carefully reading it. Only on the day we finished the campaign did I open the included map and find that it has a comprehensive list of pretty much every major site in the entire AP. Oops!
I used quite a few Paizo map packs and flip mats to great effect. In several cases, the maps in question were published just for this AP, and in several others it was just a matter of being a perfect fit. Map Packs Lost Island, and Boarding Action were just useful for the occasional impromptu battle scene. flip mat pirate ship was turned into a 3D model of the PCs first ship (discussed elsewhere), and map pack ship's cabins served as the Wormwood. Although flip mat Waterfront Tavern is explicitly called out as the map for the Theater of Corruption in Price of Infamy, it was poorly explained and I wound up hand-waving the details. The bristly ship on one side of flip mat Warship served as the top deck of Abrogail's Fury, and since all the other ships had been more traditionally shaped, it really helped establish the "different-ness" that was the Chelish flagship.
And thanks to the generosity of Jason Nelson, I was able to review an early version of Legendary Games' upcoming product, Fort Scurvy. Should my players have decided that they wanted to do a direct assault on Fort Hazard, Fort Scurvy would have been what they found. Instead, they went with the path Paizo presented, letting Arronax, Tessa, and others storm the fort from the surface, while they snuck in from below and attempted to find Kerdak's secret anchorage before he could launch the Filthy Lucre. However, it helped me feel confident in presenting both options, meaning it really felt like it was their choice how they took on the final chapter, instead of being shoehorned into the only path I had maps for.
Plot revisions
My players largely followed the plot as written throughout most of the scenarios. We did yadda-yadda-yadda over the dinner party at the end of Island of Empty Eyes. It meant we lost a role-play heavy portion of the module, but as I have seen critiqued a few times in relation to this AP, there wasn't a lot of room for failure.
"It is assumed that the PCs will succeeed". I recall seeing this several places in the AP, and I kind of questioned that. I only hit on the appropriate solution (or more precisely, realized the solution was right there in the AP) when we were into part 6. It is this: If the PCs are assumed to succeed, plan the plot as if they will succeed. Instead, make their preparation, planning and skill contribute to the magnitude of their success. This is best illustrated by looking at the Free Captain's Regatta vs. The Battle of Abendego. Throughout the regatta, the PCs earn points toward their race score. In the end, they may get a decisive victory, with a huge side reward, or they may get second place, and then get bumped into first place due to a DQ. Meanwhile the Battle of Abendego used the cumbersome fleet battle rules (discussed elsewhere) and yet the actual "victory" hinges on the battle that takes place aboard Abrogail's Fury. What was the point of the fleet then? Instead, I would alter such things to remove cumbersome rules, and instead focus on a similar system of points to determine a resounding success or a Pyrrhic victory.
We used the infamy and plunder rules a little, but found they were a little tough to keep track of week after week.
The Wormwood Mutiny: The plot followed very closely to the module as written. I ignored the rum ration rules as written, in order to avoid having everyone die. The PCs warmed easily to the "good" NPCs and quickly grew to dislike the "bad" ones. Because of the charismatic oracle, the party was able to turn a large number of the indifferent and even unfriendly crew over. However, if I hadn't done a lot of preparatory work to have a full Excel spreadsheet detailing the crew ready to go in advance, it would have been a nightmare. That said, because each character is detailed in a way that makes them quickly unique and memorable, I felt that the Wormwood really did feel like it was alive with individuals, rather than faceless NPCs ready to be ticked off as casualties. The chore cycle worked well, and getting to gank Plugg and Scourge was a very satisfying reward. I'll still never understand why the name Phat Momma was chosen for the captured ship, but so be it.
Raiders of the Fever Sea: At this point, I stepped down from the GM chair and my substitute GM took over. I hadn't reviewed the module in quite some time, so I was playing largely ignorant of what was going to happen. I really wish I'd had access to Plunder and Peril during this module. The sandbox just felt too unfocussed, and we didn't really know what to do with ourselves. Once we hit Tidewater Rock, we had one of the most memorable combats of my player-tenure. The assault by the Thresher and Inkskin Locke against a full Hirst Arts molded tower was just great visually, and it put us back on the smoother railroad tracks we are more comfortable with.
Tempest Rising: Back in the GM chair for this one. The party had a spot of fun getting their Free Captaincy. Never ones to leave a stone unturned, they tracked down both the Brine Banshee and the Dryad's Grave (why not, since they cross from one to the other so easily anyway). The Free Captain's Regatta was a big hit, I believe.
Island of Empty Eyes: A bit more of a sandbox than Tempest Rising, but it was, I believe, just the right amount of one (again, I was playing, not GMing). It didn't devolve into the "I don't know; what do you think we should do next?" disorientation of Raiders. Everything through to the end of Sumitha was a great deal of fun. We glossed over the dinner party, which part of me feels was to our detriment. Some cool character development could have occurred. However, at this point we were becoming a little weary of the module. It had already reached at least one "end" when we completed Sumitha. Following on with another small chapter to reach the end just felt a little straining. The other GM chose what I felt was a reasonable level of success and related it to us. Of note, The Eel survived, and left me with a recurring villain to use a few more times as the campaign progressed. Alchemists are vicious! (He returned in The Price of Infamy).
The Price of Infamy: Another fun module. The Pirate Council was a great way to once again introduce NPCs, and have some real roleplaying fun. I had to take detailed notes on the outcome of the council votes, because I really wanted the implications of what was decided to be very far reaching. We found the fleet creation to be a lot of fun (although the Theater of Corruption/Waterfront Tavern was a bit confusing). However we found the fleet battle rules themselves to be tremendously swingy and just not that much fun for most of the people at the table. Giving each PC one squadron to roll for helped a little, but the guy whose squadron routed on the first turn still was bored. If I were doing it all again, I'd turn the entire fleet battle to narrative. The PCs will win, but they'll find their fleet decimated and most of their allies lost if they aren't fully prepared. Due to the weapon choices of the party's most martial character, Aiger's Kiss had to be turned from a sword into a ranseur. The Black Tower itself was a spectacularly fun delve, but I wish I'd remembered the forbiddance spell in the portal chamber. It would have had an effect on the outcome, but probably nothing significant. I took the time to gather bits and pieces and craft a few paper exterior walls to build Harrigan's Fortress in full glory. Jenny's mother Shatanna happened to be at home with Jenny's father, Gilbrock the Tongue, and the Eel was waiting to contribute to Harrigan's last stand. Shatanna escaped again, but the Eel did not. However, he once again nuked the character of the player who had already died to an invisible alchemist. To finish the campaign, he took control of Jackaw Razorbeak, who had surrendered earlier in the fortress. Jackaw lasted until the final confrontation with Kerdak...
From Hell's Heart: Once again, the fleet rules were too swingy to make things work properly. I basically fudged together a win for the party by calling in a couple of reinforcements I had been planning as a "just in case" (having been warned that this battle was brutal thanks to the Paizo messageboards). The one I most liked was having Besmara's Herald, Kelpie's Wrath, summoned when Sandara Quinn walked the plank of her own volition, making a sacrifice to draw her attention. The PCs managed to convince themselves that Kerdak's long life and blase attitude about the Chelish invasion were the result of a 40 year old infernal contract. Based on that, they and their allies agreed that Kerdak needed to be unseated, but instead of choosing one of my PCs, they chose Arronax Endymion to be the new Hurricane King. He, of course, agreed. Given the option, they chose to let Arronax, Tessa, and their other allies assault the surface of Fort Hazard, while they took the back route outlined in the module. We really, really enjoyed the under-world beneath the fort. The PCs wound up taxing almost all of their resources to the limits, without ever reaching the point where they had no choice but to back out to rest. Thanks to access to a large plotter, the entirety of the Hurricane King's Residence and the Filthy Lucre was presented on the table in a single evening. Because of the dynamic nature of the combat, I think this supremely helped to make the final showdown memorable. The PCs really felt like combatants could come from anywhere, instead of feeling like they would only come from the parts of the battlemap that had already been drawn. I wish I'd noted Hypatia's role as Kerdak's silent but ever-present companion far, far earlier in the campaign. It would have been far more interesting if she'd been sitting in the council meeting at the beginning of Price of Infamy, for instance. When Jackaw got killed just before the final battle, that player took over Tessa Fairwind, and had her join from the surface assault. And then Tessa died too. Thanks to a well-timed dispel, Kerdak wound up in the lagoon, and, well, Tessa's body was used to lure the dire sharks right to him. He got out, but by the skin of his teeth. A minute later, it was over, and the PCs joined the Shackles senate...
So that's kind of my take-away from this adventure path, the most successful I've ever been part of. I hope folks here can benefit from my little retrospective.
Great read. Thanks.
Great to hear it went so successfully. Very entertaining to read. I wonder if you'd mind giving us some details?
Specifically, how did you evolve the voting of the council, how did those matters they vote on develop to impact in the story?
Have you found alternatives to the fleet battles rules that arent very rules heavy? Doing it all narratively puts a lot of weight on the GM - I have found from the Regatta that narrative + rules lite system is a lot of fun for everyone.
A lot of the pirate council votes followed what is written in the module for negative consequences. For instance, they failed to successfully prevent the public funds from building statues of Kerdak Bonefist in every port. I had to be very aware that the numbers on the plunder selling table were made more difficult for the balance of the campaign. And for flavour, every time their ship put in to port, I made a point of telling them how many resources were clearly being squandered on the as-yet-unfinished statues (the pirate senate swiftly abolished the statues once they took power). And though it didn't come to it, and I wasn't yet using a point-based fleet narrative, if they had failed to get Tessa's motion through, I'd have assigned a heavy negative to points for their fleet.
I haven't found a good fleet battle alternative, but I don't think it would be too hard to create one. I'd start by figuring out a baseline, say 1 point/ship in a squadron. So a Mercenary Squadron would be worth 3 points, say. I'd put in some modifiers based on the squadron's military capability... So a fleet of warships gets a bonus point per 2 ships. And then I'd find other things the PCs can do that would help or hinder them, and assign point values based on those values I found squadrons to be worth. Say, losing Tessa's proposal is worth -10 points, and a particularly valuable magic item, like a lord's banner/pirate flag would be worth 1 point. Lastly, I'd create maybe one or two "set piece" encounters to replace the time spent in the fleet battle. So, for instance, I'd make a quick deck plan and an NPC Codex crew for the Reefspider (flag ship of the Reefspider Squadron in Harrigan's fleet). I'd offer the PCs the opportunity to assault the ship directly while the fleet battle was ongoing. It would allow the PCs to feel pretty badass as their relatively powerful abilities let them mow through a pirate ship, plus force them to choose whether they really want to use their most powerful abilities now, or against the Wormwood in a short time, when they won't have time to rest and all their buffs will have worn off. I'd assign a pretty hefty bonus number of points if they finish off the Reefspider decisively, but slim or nil if it takes them a while to do it. Then I'd total how many points the PCs could reasonably achieve, and set out a table, like the Regatta had, for varying degrees of success. One shouldn't need more than 3...
1 point to 1/3 of total: The PCs are very nearly defeated. Their fleet is in ruins, their allies are dead, and their own ship is virtually destroyed... However, the battle hurts the Wormwood's fleet too. With a last bit of luck (I've admitted when discussing this method elsewhere, I'm very fond of the "A beloved NPC ally sacrifices themselves to make this last chance possible" trope), the PCs ship is thrust bow to gunnels with the Wormwood, and the PCs get their chance to yank victory from the jaws of defeat. The PCs take a -2 morale penalty to all the good stuff while the final combat takes place.
1/3 of total to 2/3 of total: A victory! Harrigan's fleet is turned back, and the PCs run down the Wormwood. Boarding action begins! No bonus or penalty.
2/3 of total and up: Decisive victory! The enemy fleet breaks upon the solid rock that is the PCs well armed, well prepared, and dashingly gorgeous fleet. Now, all that is left is to board the heeling Wormwood, and take her captain's head! This time, the PCs get a +2 morale bonus to all the good stuff. Yay!
Phew! That's quite a read. Congratulations on finishing the AP. Looks like you guys had fun.
So, switching GM's around, isn't that tricky? You have a lot of meta-knowledge you need to set aside when you're a player. On the other hand it forces you to stick closer to the AP than you might want to. It is more difficult to deviate from the original story if you are not in control of what follows. It is nice, though, that it offers you the opportunity to be a player as well.
I noticed you changed some of the rules and story elements. They match my sentiments. I think the ship combat rules are a bit shaky, especially since not every player is involved. Story-wise, I also prefer story-based railroading to rather aimless and story'less' sandboxing. In that respect, I also appreciate Legendary Games's adventures, which add story-heavier scenarios to the sandboxing. Likewise, I think that Plunder and Peril might make an excellent addition.
I also couldn't help but wonder, when you wrote:
And thanks to the generosity of Jason Nelson, I was able to review an early version of Legendary Games' upcoming product, Fort Scurvy.
Is there any ETA on this adventure, because it's been 'upcoming' for quite some time now? I've been waiting for it for over a year now ...
Switching GMs isn't always easy, and that was part of why I refer to Aberdeen as my "Mary-Sue" character. I made him very alien to the Shackles because I didn't want to turn him into a knowledge crutch. Luckily, I had read the entire AP when they were first released, and we started actually playing about a year later, so I'd had the chance for the specifics to fade from my memory. For instance, I knew that there was a "right" and a "wrong" eye to get into the Sahuagin Tunnels in Mancatcher Cove, but I couldn't remember which was which, so I was able to play as ignorant as all the others. My other GM is a bit of a forgetful guy, so he tended to read what he needed to know (only modules 2 and 4), and not much else. If he hit on any spoilers, he didn't ever let them influence him that I noticed (and also, there's not a lot of spoiler possible in the AP, once one knows the basic plot. I'm sure some other APs would be worse for that).
As for Fort Scurvy, Mr. Nelson told me in March that it was a bit of a backburner project, but he hoped to have it ready for GenCon. I don't think that happened though...