Welcome to the final blog of Skull & Shackles! Yay! You did it! You made it to the final adventure, Skull & Shackles Adventure Deck 6: From Hell's Heart, and it's basically the best thing since sliced bread. Scratch that, I don't really like bread... it's the best thing since Grumpy Cat. Yeah, it's really that good.
Anyway, I'm really excited for you to play these scenarios and I'm really excited to be done writing blogs for a while. Like, so glad that I don't remember that there's a blog to write until the night before I have to hand it over. Zomg, editors who deal with me are the best people ever. EVER. Anyway, this is my last chance to make you all read about a bunch of nonsense mixed in with some useful info about Skull & Shackles. These are the things you need to know about RIGHT MEOW that may or may not be related to the game in any way.
- Mangroves: These are the most amazing and remarkable plants. They do so much for our world and have been getting destroyed at an alarming rate. Seriously, learn about them and help protect them.
- This video of Billy Eichner, Michelle Obama, and Big Bird.
- GameStorm: Some number of us (including me) will be at this convention in the middle of March. Come see us and play games!
All right, now that that's out of my system, let's get into the part where I talk about the game.
OSS (Obligatory Shark Section)
We now live in a post-Left Shark world. If you didn't watch the Superb Owl (bwahahaha, I'm such a hoot!) and also didn't watch the halftime show (which was a hoot-and-a-half!) and somehow you live under a gigantic rock and missed out on the whole Left Shark phenomenon, let me teach you about that.
This is the video of the whole show. Now, if you're smart, you'll just watch the whole thing. But if you're pressed for time you can skip ahead to 4:23. And bask in the glory of the sharks. BASK, I SAY! Anyway, this caused me to purchase some cookie cutters and learn that I am as bad at frosting cookies as Left Shark is at memorizing dance sequences.
After I made three abominations, I decided an eye and a frown were enough frosting.
But anyway, we now live in a world that has seen the glory of the Left Shark and because of that (and because last time you didn't get a shark in the shark section) consider this an Obligatory Super Sized Shark Section! OSSSS!
Is it a man? Is it a shark? EVEN BETTER, IT'S BOTH!
It's a Wereshark Pirate. Is this not the best? Well, I guess it's not the best if you aren't ready for a fight. You can't evade Wereshark Pirates, and if the top card of the blessings discard pile isn't a Blessing of the Gods, well, you can kiss that 26 goodbye because now it's a 32. Whoa. You also better have your buckles swashed because if your check to defeat doesn't have the Swashbuckling trait, the Wereshark Pirate won't be impressed with you and he'll knock the top card off the blessings deck. Not cool, brah.
And if that wasn't enough shark for you... here's another!
RWARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRCHOMP
I could hear you guys through the Internet before I even finished writing this and I know half of you were like, "Bawbawbaw, the Wereshark Pirate is too easy" and so I got you this. Good old Cap'n Riptooth. Like the normal Wereshark Pirate, he cannot be evaded and if the top card of the blessings discard pile is not a Blessing of the Gods, the difficulty is increased by 6. So, that could bump him from a 28 then 32, to a 34 then 38. THEN. Did you see that "then"?! DID YOU? Well, it's there. Anyway, there's that. And then there's also that last power. "Before attempting each check, randomly choose another character at your location" is almost never the start of something good. Maybe this time you'll be lucky and that will end with "to recharge a card from their discard pile." Except you aren't lucky and that doesn't happen. What actually happens is that the chosen character recharges a card and their Strength die is the amount by which you increase the difficulty of the first check against ol' Rippy—pardon me, Cap'n Rippy—as he picks up that character and bashes him into you. And then you do that again for the second check. Best case scenario, nobody is there and nothing happens. Worst case scenario, you're standing next to Oloch and the difficulty is increased by d12. Oofda. Of course, maybe Oloch is standing next to you and you're Lem and Oloch can take on one of these checks and only add d4 points of Lem-bashing. Still, that's a whole lotta nonsense, isn't it? Good luck!
Ok, for the two of you out there who still feel like this shark section isn't super sized enough, maybe this will convince you.
YOU get a shark head, and YOU get a shark head, and YOU GET A SHARK HEAD!
It's less scary if it feels like Oprah is giving you the shark heads, right? I don't think she can do anything about the tentacles, though. Anyway, this is a Lusca. It comes with three checks. THREE. And boy is it a real jerk if it is undefeated. Everybody at your location gets damage and then (there's that pesky "then" again!) everybody better make a Constitution or Fortitude 11 check, which should totally be easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy because this is Adventure 6, or bury 1d4 cards from the top of his or her deck. Yipes. I hope you put your shark-beating pants on this morning.
Other Sweet Stuff
This set has more ridiculous things than a Lusca has heads and tentacles. Seriously, trying to narrow down cards to show you is harder here than it has ever been before. So I'm going to show you one scary thing and one happy thing. Scary first.
Dear reader, meet Brinebones. Brinebones, meet your snack.
I love Brinebones. I don't think he counts as a scary thing to show you but that's because he and I are pals. And I'm totally sane. At any rate, he's kind of terrifying. 32 then 32 is no joke. And neither are those immunities. Least jokey of all is the damage he is going to deal to characters at the randomly occupied location that get chosen. You want to know the real reason Brinebones zaps you? He just wants to give you a little jolt that makes you all jittery. That way, when he actually gets around to eating you, you're all spazzy in his mouth like Pop Rocks. True story.
And now for the happy!
*squee*
This wonderful little Baby Triceratops, who I have named Clompykins, just galumphs around giving you 3d6 to combat checks during an exploration. And then everybody at your location buries a card because THEY CAN'T HANDLE THE GALUMPH! Anyway, if you can't figure out that Clompykins is crazy useful when you know that a multi-check monster is ahead, then you don't deserve him. He'll stay with me. Clompykins likes me best anyway.
Scenario Learning Time!
Here we are in the penultimate scenario of Skull & Shackles. You have no idea how much I wanted to show you what was in store for you in "Last Stand of the Hurricane King" but I really think it's important for you to be scared and excited and all the emotions when you open the box at home. So, again, penultimate scenario. This is a good one to show you though. You've already met Brinebones who plays an exciting role here. Before we get back to him, let's introduce you to my favorite lounge band, Tsadok Goldtooth and the Draugr Captains!
He may be a half-orc barbarian pirate, but he sure is a sharp-dressed one!
Mr. Goldtooth is not here to make friends or help people. In fact, before anything else happens, two of the characters at your location are going to be dealt 1d4+1 Ranged Combat damage. This is a lot more fun if there's a group of you and you're all bunched together because let's face it, when there are two or fewer of you, "two random characters" becomes a whole lot less random. And don't even think about using your spells on him, as that Arcane and Divine stuff is just a nuisance to him and makes everything more difficult. And of course, whether not you succeed at those two checks to defeat, he's going to pick two more random people to deal some Ranged Combat damage to.
At least this guy only has one check to defeat?
Remember how you're really good at this game and you got yourself a perfect hand for dealing with big fights? Well, the Draugr Captain doesn't. You can just go ahead and recharge all but one of those perfect cards and draw as many as you recharged. Now, instead of that hand that you knew exactly how to use, you've got a bunch of cards you didn't plan on having. Unless of course you didn't have any cards left in your deck. Then you'll just draw all the cards you recharged. That's a bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off for you. (Pro-tip: It probably doesn't, but good for you with that high-risk, high-reward craziness!)
Now, I know you're thinking that dealing with Tsadok Goldtooth and the Draugr Captains seems pretty straightforward. And some of you probably thought, "That sounds easy" which is why we are BRINGING THE WRATH OF BRINEBONES DOWN UPON YOU. You won't know when and you won't know where.
That's right, while you're busy trying to close locations and corner the villain, Brinebones is lurking inside the blessings deck. He could show up at any time and there's no limit to how many times he might show up. Brinebones has an all-access pass to watching you fumble around trying to shank Tsadok Goldtooth. Isn't it terrifying to know that on any turn it doesn't matter where you are or what you have in your hand because Brinebones might show up and turn you into his latest round of Pop Rocks? I think it's glorious.
I think this is a good place to end this blog. It's been a pleasure writing for all of you and I hope that the end of Skull & Shackles is as fun for you to play as it was for us to write!
May the winds blow favorably upon you!
Gaby Weidling
Totally Sane Adventure Card Game Developer
