As far as I can recall, this is the first time anything actually came out of a rift ... I can't find the strip number right now, but in one of the early "crayon" backstory comics when the first Rift was found part of the Snarl came through and impaled and killed the significant other of one of the group of wizards that built the Gates.
Definitely has the potential to be something good.... it's so hard to get a real feel for the film itself from trailers anymore.
Which makes it essentially worthless in game/campaign terms. Spoiler:
So, as written, a year from now the first PC uses his wish to free the Marid. Thereafter, each year, one more PC gets his wish until the "one wish per PC" limit is reached. Given even the assumed basic four-PC party, this means four game years will pass before everyone has their wish. (In my campaign it would be at least six years, as we have a larger group of players.) Unless you grossly pad out the AP or have a group (and GM) willing to write years worth of further adventures once the AP has concluded, the campaign will never run long enough for the PCs to benefit. I'm not looking at the Marid as a "source of unlimited wishes", but this idea doesn't fly either. I'll stick with the idea of a Ring of Wishes, thanks all the same.
This is fairly brilliant, actually. I'll be lucky if I get my group through the basic modules (let alone side quests) but this is a great idea.
I thought "I guess I've got some nerve causing a commotion" to be a fairly marvelous double pun, myself. :D
I did a giant squid attack on the Wormwood as a way of demonstrating how dangerous Harrigan is. I ran it as a bunch of tentacles, each treated as an individual creature, flailing around trying to grab people off the deck to eat them. The body of the creature was directly under the ship while the tentacles came up on both sides to create the classic image of the Kraken dragging down the stricken ship. The PCs fought off a few tentacles until Harrigan went underwater and just gutted the thing. Oh, I reallylike that idea.... a classic sea encounter and a chance to ram home "don't mess with Harrigan". Yoinked, and thanks!
This is a great idea, and folds nicely into the idea of Cheliax trying to gather information on current conditions in the Shackles. Spoiler: You could even tie the Infernus into this, with her being an advanced scout from the rest that lost her Token during the storm that wrecked her on Bonewrack Isle.
THIS is 95% of life, distilled into two sentences. I stand in awe. ;D
"I'm more of a meat buckler." Gotta remember that one...... great line! (See, you're not the only one here... ;D)
38. I underestimated the area effect of Fireball. Been there. Done that. On both the giving and receiving end.Estimating area volume while under attack is a pain in the @$$. :P
As WWJ says, the "1 point of plunder" rule is the default for this. It works but is a bit arbitrary (in practice, the more plunder you capture the smaller the crew's share becomes, which would probably be cause for mutiny IRL) but as a handwave it's fine. Historically booty was evenly divided into "shares". Depending on the wording of the pirate charter of the crew in question, the average crewman got one share, more experienced hands got slightly more (a "share and a quarter", or "...and a half"), minor officers or skilled hands got two shares, and the captain got three or more. Some crews also allocated "ship shares" for the maintenance and repair of the ship itself, but that wasn't a universal thing. The system varied from ship to ship, so a bit of research might be in order. There have been a couple of suggested alternate systems proposed (by sabedoria (tied into his alternate ship combat rules) and dungeonmeister, IIRC) that took a little more work but gave a more "historical" result. Unless you're doing major RP interplay with the general crew in your campaign it's not a crucial point, so use whatever moves things along best for you.
Seltiyel is a must-have, awesome mini!Why? I looked at it again, and it still just looks like an elf who has never seen the sun done up as an '80's rocker with a sword. What am I missing that makes this mini so must have cool? It may or may not be a cool figure, but it (and the Gunslinger iconic previewed for this set earlier) have nothing to do with the AP the figures are intended to support. Those two "slots" could have been used to give us Plugg, Scourge, the hobgoblin pirate captain, a Reefclaw, Cut-Throat Grok, or any of a number of other pieces that are memorable encounters or who re-appear through the course of the AP. I realize there are only so many slots available and some figures just won't make the cut regardless, but with that being the case it seems to me inclusion of iconics actually works against the desirability of the set rather than enhancing it.
Oh, I like that.... You are an evil, eeeeviiilll man! ;D Definitely Yoinked.
Cayden is more than just the god of alcohol, as many have pointed out here already...(snip) This. Positively, unreservedly, this. Exceptionally well put.
Normal map with inch grids on table and stacks of coins under the minis, each coin is 5ft. Take out or add as they move up and down.ooh. that is neat. i'll grab some checkers pieces to see if that works well. Poker chips work well for this too, particularly the ones with ridged edges that interlock.
I don't care what the "one step away" rule says.... if you're envisioning the destruction of the known universe and the annihilation of potentially billions of entities as a "Good" outcome you're using a different dictionary than I am. Criminy......
Oh Gawds, that's horrid. Well done!! ;D
The Gatorbird is particularly well done. That one has all kinds of possibilities....... heh, heh, heh......
Awesome work...Thankyou very much. What SC said! Beautiful map, and very useful. Thanks for sharing.
No scary pictures in this one.[/url]Check your pants. I think they're on fire. I'm not sure I WANT to see what Mikaze considers a "scary picture" to be, then...... :(
It's spreading faster and farther than you think. Since first being exposed to SCP yesterday I've already told two of my friends about it, and plan to tell more.If I can't sleep, why should they? ;D
I was deeply saddened to hear of this. I've always loved Jonathan Winters' comedy, and as a kid religiously watched his TV show and listened to his albums. Got so I could do a pretty good imitation of "Maude Frickert", Jonathan's crazy old lady character, too. Years later I was working in Hollywood for a company that did special effects, and we got a job to do some props for a commercial shoot for an early computer video game. The spokesman in the commercial was Jonathan Winters. I was on the crew that went on set to put up our stuff and make sure everything worked properly. It wasn't a big soundstage, and Jonathan sat in his open dressing room at the back (in full Maude Frickert getup, sans wig) chatting with some friends. When they were ready to shoot he stood up, put on the wig, and suddenly was Maude Frickert - completely in character he walked across the stage saying hello to everyone there, went up and shot his bit flawlessly while joking with the cameraman and director, and then came back saying hello to anyone he'd missed the first time. (I said hello, but didn't dare try my version of Maude with the original standing right there.) He sat down in his trailer again, took off the wig, and went right back to his previous conversation without missing a beat. A warm, lovely man - wonderfully funny and imaginative, and yet completely professional. Getting to see him work up close, even for a brief moment, is a cherished memory. We shall not see his like again, sadly. Go with God, Maudie.
Here's another that needs to go on the virtual wall..... ;D
This is a good way to deal with watches. Although the AP never really mentions posting a night watch, it's unlikely that any ship would leave the deck completely unguarded at night, especially in waters like these where potentially hostile pirates and monsters abound. The AP and other published materials make it pretty clear that navigating in and among the Shackles themselves is hazardous even in daylight. Without good local knowledge of the reefs, sandbars and odd currents it won't take long for a ship to go aground and be wrecked. Spoiler: This is why ships anchor at night while in among the islands, and shallow anchorages are obviously plentiful.
Lack of a knowledgeable pilot is what has kept the Chelaxian Navy at bay up 'til now, and is really the whole point of Harrigan's treachery. Once out in the open waters of the Fever Sea this changes, and round-the-clock sailing (and watches) become necessary. This is the point my players are at, having just completed the crab fishing interlude, and I'm going to set up a rotation for a small night watch once they get underway again. It should be noted, however, that the crab pot episode shows that there are reefs and shallows to be found even a good distance from shore, so if you want to skip watches and just keep anchoring at night, go for it. It's your game, so do what works for you and your players and have fun.
When I started Skull & Shackles I explained to my players that this was not going to be the usual "Good vs. Evil" campaign setting, and that Evil characters were allowable within the limits of the acceptance of the campaign world of the Shackles. What I meant by this is that there certainly are various Evil NPCs out there, and that alignment does not trigger the automatic "kill on sight" reaction that it might in other settings. That said, there are limits. An "Evil-tolerant" campaign setting does not equal "anything goes". A homicidal maniac who kills whoever he pleases is going to be shunned no matter what alignment the shunner may be, and if you read through all the AP modules it's clear that your average Shackles pirate has a healthy superstitious fear (if not outright dread) of the undead. That being the case, if you have a necromancer PC in your party they may certainly technically fit within the campaign framework but they are going to generate a whole different series of NPC reactions than would come from a more mundane crew member. Add to this the probable reluctance of the average pirate to sign on to serve aboard a ship even partially manned by undead crew and you have a whole new series of potential difficulties to deal with. I have no great ideas to offer as to how to manage all this as yet, but as punishment for my sins one of my players is running a Cleric of Urgathoa (Gawds help me) and has definite necromantic ideas. At this point he can't do much more than animate the random dead rat or cockroach, but we're definitely going to have to deal with the "no one really likes the undead" aspect at some point in the future.
To me, this is the core issue - 3.0/3.5 was such an improvement on the versions that had gone before. I began playing D&D when the very first boxed set of small pamphlets came out in the mid-'70s, and played off and on for several years before our group drifted away to Traveller, Runequest, Call of Cthulhu and other systems. About 10 years ago I began playing again with a friend who was a true 2E/AD&D devotee, with a bookcase literally filled with rulebooks and a campaign world developed over decades of DM-ing. He was (and is) a great DM and his campaign world marvelously well thought out, but the restrictive and needless complexity of many of the rules that had accumulated around core D&D since last I'd played were a frequent irritant (to me, anyway. ;D) 3.0 (and subsequently 3.5) changed all that, and finally got me DM-ing again. The iconic "landmarks" of old-time D&D were there, but the simplifications and improvements to the magic system, combat system, weapons rules and dozens of other minor tweaks streamlined the game so that it was once again as much fun to play as it had been back in first-1st Edition days. Heck, we eventually even got my 2ED/AD&D buddy to switch over (after much screaming, kicking and gnashing of teeth ;D), and now he's running several campaigns simultaneously. Pathfinder has taken the 3x legacy and carried it onwards, improving as they go. While the OGL may have been the vehicle that made that possible, I think it was the excellence of the basic 3.0/3.5 rewrite that has ensured the continued success of the game. If the rules weren't any good very few people would be playing the game, and I think the increasing popularity of the system shows how the rules are viewed by the RPG public at large.
+1 to this. I've picked up the sets for Skill and Shackles, and even though I'm replacing the paper minis with painted metals as the campaign develops I still find them to be very useful indeed. If you're just getting back into RPGs and don't have a lot of painted minis to start with, these are a great way to go.
I am currently running this game for a few friends but I originally played in it (we only made it to bonewrack ilse before issues arose and we quit). My question is that my DM told me PC casters were not allowed to use their magic on board the wormwood and would be punished if caught. I can find no reference to this in the adventure aside from a sidebar that lists the sleight of hand check required for someone to cast a spell on a crowded deck. The "no magic" rule is one that a lot of GMs (myself included) have more or less inferred from the sidebar you mention, Plugg's prohibition of magic during the fight with Owlbear (and the fairly strict punishment of six lashes if anyone does so), and the fact that if Harrigan doesn't trust his new "recruits" with weapons that could be turned against him he's certainly not going to want them to have potentially dangerous magic, either. It's up to you how rigidly you enforce this. Obviously, at least some use of healing magic is going to be needed to keep the crew on the job with all the punishments being handed out, and one might assume Harrigan, Plugg and Scourge turn a blind eye to its use.... unless it suits them to do otherwise in a particular situation, of course.
I have been playing and DM-ing D&D off and on since it's first appearance back in the mid-'70s. From the first boxed set of three little pamphlets to today's Pathfinder, the single most important rule is that as DM it is your game, your universe, and your rules - the DM's word is law. This doesn't mean you have the right to be an arbitrary j@ck@ss - the point is for everyone to enjoy the game, players and DM alike - and obviously discussion between you and your players as to what will or will not be used in the game is paramount. If you all have a good idea going in of what to expect you all should have a good time, but if there is something you (or your players) feel strongly against for Gawds' sake settle it before you begin, or reorganize your group or game plan so that everyone starts on the same page. Back in 3.0 days I worked with a young fellow who had recently got into D&D and was looking forward to running his first campaign. Unfortunately he had some experienced gamers in his group who were very good at exploiting the rules to their benefit ("According to page such-and-such this city has a GP limit of XXXX, so we're all going to walk into that shop over there with our huge pile of gold and buy our individual +5 Weapons of Unbeatable Awesomeness because the rules say we can") and who literally became rulers of the entire planet as a result. It got so bad that the DM totally lost control of his own campaign, and despaired of playing D&D. Now, part of that was due of course to the DM's inexperience, but it also illustrates the problems that can arise when campaign-unbalancing things are allowed to happen just because "the rules say I can do it" or "my character wants (whatever) so I have a right to have it". Caution is required on that point on both sides of the DM screen if everyone wants to have a successful and enjoyable game. I usually plan out my characters to 10th or 20th level as a general guide to what I'd like to do with the PC in a given campaign, but leave it loose enough that I can adapt and react to whatever comes up in the course of the game. As someone said earlier, if you build a character that absolutely HAS to possess a particular item to be playable, try to arrange things so you can either make it yourself, have it made, or obtain it without the DM having to tweak the whole campaign just to accommodate your build. Working something like that in as a Quest or reward is one thing, but breaking the campaign because the DM hasn't given you your toy is something else. Again, communication as to what to expect is key on both sides. For the record, our current Pathfinder group consists of nine players who float in and out of (atm) five different campaigns. Four of us are DMs, and all of us use DM screens of one sort or another - when all else fails, a laptop works well in a pinch. ;D
The whole Shaughin subplot is going and I'm replacing the reason for the attack at Tiderock by Inkskin as a reprisal by Harrigan..... The map on her back Im using to get them to the Bonjo Tomo Isle adventure in Dead Mans Chest which is a really good jungle island with cannibals, apes a Giant Ape god and a really good cave/dungeon with good traps and puzzles to get to the treasure. I plan to finsh it with the Death Knell chasing the party being the dead crew claiming their treasure back and wanting them dead. That works. Personally I'm going to go with the idea of Harrigan having a Heartripper Blade, which gives him the ability to scrye on the Man's Promise and find out about the mutiny that way.... although my PCs won't be able to figure that out until much, much later in the AP. In the meantime, should anyone ask, I'm going with the Inscrutable DM "Yes, that is puzzling, isn't it?" ploy. ;D
The PCs are in Giant Squid territory and come across an abandoned ship. Within are zombies, a kuru cannibal Druid, ghouls and vermin. To cap it off a dying giant squid starts tearing the ship apart as the PCs find the treasure within, tentacle doom awaits your 2nd level PCs! Ah..... THAT one! ;D One of the other DMs in our group ran us through that as a side quest in his campaign not long ago. It's a lot of funSpoiler: but as a lot of the same people are in my current S&S campaign I'm afraid they'd recognize the scenario pretty quickly.
we made it off the ship at literally the last second as it sank under us It is definitely a good plug-in for S&S, however.
Not dismissing your ideas by any means (some occured to me as well) but consider this - which I can guarantee my players will think of: Spoiler: Divination: If that's the case, why hasn't Harrigan just come after them himself.... or why would Plugg and Scourge (Plugg particularly) have considered taking the Promise in the first place if Harrigan could use divination to keep an eye on them?
I have a question regarding elapsed time and the apparent spread of information about the PCs' actions. This isn't a particularly big deal to me personally, but knowing my players someone is going to tally up elapsed time between various events and start asking embarassing questions. Spoiler:
According to The Wormwood Mutiny and Raiders of the Fever Sea, after the Man's Promise and the Wormwood part company the Promise sails two days towards the Slithering Coast before the storm hits and drives them onto the Bonewrack reefs about a day later. If you play the module as written the PCs spend another three days on Bonewrack, then mutiny and sail two more days to Rickety's Squibs. (8 days so far since leaving the Wormwood.)
"Squibbing" at Rickety's takes a maximum of eight days (1d4+4). During this time Merrill Pegworthy and his lads arrive at Rickety's and recognize the Promise "by her distinct Rahadoumi lines and the recent tales of her theft from Captain Barnabas Harrigan". What recent tales, exactly? Even if Pegsworth arrives on the last day the PCs are at Rickety's, it has only been a maximum of 16 days since the Promise and the Wormwood last saw each other. Even with a full crew (let alone an undermanned one) the Promise began a good six or seven days' sail from Port Peril. No one there knows she's coming or when to expect her, or what might have delayed her if she's late. No one (presumably) has survived the mutiny and taking of the Promise to tell that's she's been stolen, or by who. So where does the information come from this early on that she is even missing, let alone that she's been stolen from Harrigan.... and where and how did Pegsworthy (and presumably others) hear of it so quickly? As I say, I'm happy with RAW but I know my group... ;D |
