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I ran "Funeral Procession" as a side quest in my game, after the Vanderboren Vault but before the zombie pirates. I changed the history of the slaughterhouse last minute, saying that it had been converted to a fish processing plant after the city ran out of cattle.

The players seriously thought Vander Anderhoff was a made up name. Eldara and Kinto both escaped, so they'll come up again later. Since my players "switched sides" and are working for Rowyn, the assassins in "The Bullywug Gambit" (Diamondback and crew) may be hired by Eldara instead of the Kellani house.

One PC is also a bounty hunter, so I keep throwing in little criminal sidequests, and another has fights in the Zelkarune's Horns arena.

Part 1: There is No Honor

The group of scoundrels is ready for adventure, but where to start? The serial killer Crimson is still loose, having killed twelve in as many months. Rumors of strange cults abound in the city, from secret druid ceremonies to animal sacrifices to pagan storm gods. Various thieves guilds are fighting for domination of the cities underworld. And Drake is wary of "critters" in the water.

But the group has a goal for now: Lavinia Vanderboren is in need of help. Everyone was familiar with her parents, former adventurers who settled into nobility and impressed everyone with their generosity, and who unfortunately died in a boat fire a month ago. Also, Lavinia's older brother Vanthus disappeared about the same time, and she is very worried about him.

The Vanderboren estate is located in the Merchants District, a group of small islands connected by bridges in Sasserine's harbor. As the party is crossing one such bridge, a group of four thugs emerge from shadows on the far end. They demand a toll of 10 gold to cross. Everyone notices the distinctive lotus and dragon tattoos, one on each shoulder, that mark these thugs as members of the Lotus Dragons gang.

Drake makes the barest pretense of agreeing to pay before drawing his flintlock pistol. Along with Flaw's archery and a blast of balefire from Fjinn', one is down and another fleeing before the other thugs can even close the distance. Quick swordplay by Crow brings them down in short time, but Drake draws a wound moving by the biggest Lotus Dragon in pursuit of the fleeing enemy. Soon the foes are dispatched and the party continues on to the Vanderboren estate.

Cast of Characters

Crow Blackman is a male human ranger with aspirations of being a bounty hunter or even assassin. He has spent most of his time training specifically to fight humans, and is not afraid to back up his threats with force. He fights equally well with cutlass or bow, and a dark cloak allows him to hide when he needs. A native of Sasserine, Crow's father adventured with the elder Vanderborens.

Erli Fjinnbjorn is a male human warlock. His mother was the only survivor on a ship from the distant north that was lost in strange waters, and when Erli developed powers of balefire at a young age his mother was killed as a witch. He fled to Sasserine, developing an unlikely friendship with Lavinia Vanderboren, and was able to empathize with her when her parents died recently. Erli wears his blonde hair and beard long, and is quite imposing with his horned helmet and morningstar wreathed in green flame.

Drake Blackthorne is a male human fighter/wizard. A noble born with great talent, he has studied at both the Telvanta school of swordfighting and the Witchwarden mages guild. A bit of a showoff, Drake likes to wear a cloak with a Wee Jas broach, but no shirt on his tanned body, and he wears a flintlock pistol on his belt. He came to know the Vanderborens after meeting Vanthus at the Telvanta academy.

Flaw is a male half elf ranger. A former Sergeant of the Ranger Guard in a distant forest, he came to Sasserine to investigate his origins. Still not completely comfortable with the sea or the tropical climate, his skill with the sword is still well appreciated. He still wears his Sergeants uniform, fitted studded leather with a skull cap. Of the entire group, Flaw has the most kindness in his heart, which is why the Vanderborens helped him when he first came to town.

My group started the Savage Tide adventure path last week. Everyone is really excited to play pirates, and I'm excited to have demons and dinosaurs.

We've only played one session so far. We play every two weeks, so I'll update as often as possible. Any feedback would be much appreciated. My players don't read these boards, so I'll offer some "behind the scenes" DM info along with the sessions.

Also, I have web blog set up where I post the sessions and explain some of my houserules.

www.freewebs.com/grunzel

***Warning***This thread will contain spoilers for the adventure***

I've never done a campaign log, but I got so excited about running Savage Tide that I set up a little website about the campaign

www.freewebs.com/grunzel

I'm planning on putting the session log up on the paizo boards as well. Some of my house rules are up on the website as well, including firearms, a variant swashbuckler and a simplified skill list.

So thanks to everyone at Dungeon for putting together such a great adventure path! My players are all looking forward to pirating, and I'm looking forward to demons and dinosaurs, so we're all happy.

Interesting idea. Sasserine could be a water based planet with one major port city, riddled with crime (like Mos Eisely, but with water).

Demogorgon could be a bizarre alien overlord who wants to spread a virus to other worlds that randomly mutates or de-evolves people into animalistic hybrids. Very Cthulhu-esque.

For "There is No Honor" specifically, the Lotus Dragons are smugglers of alien creatures (like the Rhagodessa), but Vanthus has his sights set on greater things (which will lead him to finding the shadow pearl).

You'll want to decide whether you want undead or not in the game, and what you will do to replace them if you don't. Besides the zombies in "There is No Honor," eventually Vanthus is supposed to return as a death knight, so the question will come up.

Also, I would guess the game would have a strong "space fantasy" feel to it even if you replaced all magic with technology and all monsters with aliens. Its just a little too epic not to feel like Star Wars more than Star Trek (aka space fantasy vs science fiction--note I'm a fan of both).

The STAP has very little that is "setting-specific," so it should be easy to tie in to a campaign world. For one thing, its mentioned that the city of Sasserine was hidden from the world by the former rulers (the Sea Princes), so adding it to your world should be easy, as it has only recently become known again.

I don't see why adding a new island far out to sea would be a problem, but if would really upset your geography, say the Isle of Dread is magically hidden until it is found by someone who knows the way or has the proper map (sort of like Pirates of the Carribean).