bmsattler's page

I agree. I'm just not interested in a subscription service. I can't really do much with D&D 4E anymore because their tools were subscription only. If I get a game, I want it to stay got.

Do you feel like you need to make the campaign setting within the Pact Worlds? If you were to set it adjacent to the Azlanti Star Empire, or some other evilish empire like an Aspis Consortium corporate system, that would make the whole piracy thing much more like privateers. It would also give you a Cheliax analogue for later in the AP. Sure, you're moving away from the presented setting somewhat, but you'll have lots of themes from the Skull and Shackles AP to draw from for ideas. Zombie planets, aquatic planets, planets inhabited by giant cannibals, etc.

I feel like one of the problems that Pathfinder had as Pirates is that the ship's crew would matter way more than the ship itself. Starfinder will sidestep this somewhat. I've stopped trying to use the ship combat rules in the original AP and just move straight to a boarding action. I like the idea of translating this to Starfinder to sidestep this issue. I do think that you'll likely need to come up with some kind of boarding aids for a space pirate themed campaign, as its much trickier in space.

I'd look at making Scourge a Mindbreaker Mystic.

It will be interesting to figure out the starting ship. It will need to be something vaguely merchant-ish, but at the same time suitable for piracy once the PC's take over. I'd actually suggest some kind of evil empire Q-ship; a merchant that's designed to counter pirates with hidden weapon and semi-military capabilities. The Wormwraith is way too much of a combat monster to be taken by its ambush, but it serves decently against other merchant vessels. That would also give it more cargo space than the typical Millennium Falcon-style PC ship and require a crew beyond the PC's themselves.

You'll probably want to look ahead somewhat and figure out some of the pirate council personalities, and come up with side plots to work into things. I'm presuming that you're not running this for players who have already played through the original AP.

There is no ship anywhere that has been successfully run by democracy. It just doesn't work.

This in no way prevents the players from running it by group consensus.

The people you seem to hope to influence would not count as 'lay people' of that religion. I think you would absolutely qualify for the +2 Diplomacy and Intimidate, but not the 'automatically set to helpful.'

Or at least, the people that you'd set to helpful would not be in positions to make influential decisions. They would be the greeters and janitors.

I would laugh a player out of the room if they tried to stick this in an Android. Its clearly intended for equipment and not people.

The Urban Skald's 'Controlled Inspired Rage' says that it modifies the usual 'Inspired Rage' Skald ability and that they do not grant the normal benefits. If that Skald were to Controlled Inspire Rage and the party included a Barbarian or Bloodrager with their own Rage abilities, would the normal 'Inspired Rage' ability that allows someone with their own Rage to use their Rage benefits instead of the Urban Skald's still apply, or is that part of the 'normal benefits' of Inspired Rage?

My players are feeling really beat down in the Wormwood Mutiny, to the point that they are losing interest in the game. I plan on running Plunder and Peril in place of Raiders of the Fever Sea. What I would like to remove is the backstabbing portion that Captain Varossa Lanteri is supposed to be plotting. Is there a way to chase down Jemma Redclaw's treasure and still keep Lanteri as a somewhat friendly figure?

I'm also planning on replacing Lanteri with a re-skinned Isabella 'Inkskin' Locke, because I like the character and the treasure-map tattoo fits so well with Plunder and Peril's premise.

By keeping friendly relations with Lanteri, I hope to be able to alleviate the issue of giving the PC's two ships at the end of the second module.

Basically, I'm just kind of bad at connecting the dots and coming up with my own plot line. :(

New Crew members could also be picked up from the Man's Promise if you wait a couple days. Or you could make one of the NPC's a PC.

I'm planning on substituting Plunder and Peril for the 2'nd module in Skull and Shackles. I'm also planning on replacing Captain Lanteri with Isabella 'Inkskin' Locke. Would there be any serious issues with the plot in doing this replacement? I like the idea of having her tattoo-map be part of finding the treasure of Jemma Redclaw. I'd obviously just ignore the association with the Sanghuin.

I haven't played through this yet, I'm almost at the end of Skinsaw Murders. That said, you could always have had her out conducting business somewhere away from for Rannick. Perhaps she had to talk to the hags, or perhaps she was negotiating to get another casino going somewhere.

I was all set to drop a very hungry Greater Barghest on an unsuspecting party when bam. Our Inquisitor gets a 30 perception check with a natural 20. I make a stealth check against that and roll pretty low, so I let her hear something breathing in the room. Our Rogue without any prompting decides to UMD a 'see invisibility' scroll and notices the Barghest hanging up on the ceiling.

Since he's already been compromised, he resorts to trying to bargain. Our sorcerer's player has an inexplicable knack for saying exactly the right thing combined with a massive Bluff check to back it up. For example, back during the boar hunt he tells Aldern 'I know exactly what you're up to.' without really knowing anything other than he thinks the noble is acting a little sketchy. He creeped the guy right out and will be facing further scrutiny as a result.

Back to Malfeshnekor. The sorcerer tells him that the party is here to free a powerful being that they heard is trapped here. Mal rolls a natural 1 on his sense motive check. He figures that the party is with Nuala and begins to share his plans for revenge once he is freed. Our Archeologist Bard was even able to pump him for some first-hand information on Karzoug and Alaznist, as well as Thassilon in general.

I swear I rolled like 3 ones and twos for his Sense Motive checks while this was all going on. Its a much different fight when he doesn't start with his buffs active. I got to practice my Shere Khan voice a little, and everyone had a good time. I just feel a little sorry for my monsters some times. :)

I think many of your criticisms are valid. I'm just not very good at coming up with mystery content.

Something to keep in mind, though, is that my players are mostly brand new. I tried my hardest to get them involved in things at Sandpoint, but when the first murders happen, they will have to be reminded who these people even are. I've had to railroad like an old-western villain to keep them on track. I'm concerned that if I keep things too mysterious, I'll have a mutiny.

So, a few things. Damage is already done with Ironbriar. He's an antagonist at the best. Currently the PC's have been notified that they will need to be ready to testify for Tsuto's trial. The players are ready for this but noted that our Rogue would probably need to lay low. I suppose I could run the actual trial, though it wouldn't be an American style trial and I'd need to make up all the rules and procedures.

What measures did you have in place to insure that the PC's found something suspicious at the Sanitarium? I can't really leave it up to luck or random PC actions. You said that your bard said something that spooked them, but what if they hadn't?

You had the farm ghoul's show up as usual? What steps were taken to control the undead outbreak? The equivalent of a zombie outbreak seems like it would be a pretty big deal. The end should be the Manor, and I personally intend to introduce several hunting parties in the background making sweeps of the area to make sure they get them all.

One of my criticisms of the basic set-up is that if you have a 'Brotherhood of Seven' then there should be more than one of the bastards! I know I was rushing things, but I wanted to include more cultist lieutenants and/or named characters.

I read a thread here that re-arranged the order of events for Skinsaw Murders. I really like the idea of having the Manor be the final area of the module. There were a lot of home-brewed elements to the thread I am robbing for the idea that wouldn't fit in my own game.

I gave a Story Feat to each PC at the beginning of the adventure with a little back story. I wanted to tie my first-time-to-RPG-games players into the story a little more. Our female human Rogue got 'Nemesis' with Justice Ironbriar as the man behind the curtain. I've told her that she used to run with the Scarzni in Magnimar, until she was framed for some crimes she didn't commit by a Justice with an axe to grind and had to flee to Sandpoint.

They were able to capture Tsuto at the Glassworks and he was then shipped off to the big city for a trial by Sherrif Hemlock. He will of course be sprung by Ironbriar (who is also his father in my revision, thanks Paizo forums!)

I'm trying to expand the section where the PC's are investigating the Cult. Its pretty sparse as it is written, and two of my players are also big Mystery-genre fans who will really enjoy tracking down clues.

The sequence of events that I'm contemplating goes as follows:

First murders at the Sandpoint sawmill go as normal. The clues will remain unchanged, but I intend to have the Sherrif mention the caravan guard shacked up at the Sanitarium and the similarity between the killings.

Tsuto will be at the Sanitarium to clean up the loose ends that the increasingly-unbalanced Skinsaw Man is leaving behind. He'll have a couple low-level thugs/cultists with him acting as orderlies. He'll intend to impersonate the staff (who's bodies are stuffed in a closet) until he sees its the PC party. As they are rather fresh from killing the love of his life he'll lose it and attack. He'll get his butt kicked again of course, and try to flee into the woods to give our Inquisitor a chance to track someone down.

I need to add some clues here that will lead ultimately to Ironbriar and his Sawmill hideout. I also intend to have some cryptic notes about the cult replenishing their ranks and a debate as to whether to allow 'A' in or not. There will also be mention of a plan to 'deal with the Scarnetti's.'

Titus Scarnetti will be receiving a new shipment when they arrive to check on him. I'm stuffing the Golem Works Incident in here, and the Clockwork Constructs will be trying to carry the man off. The rest flows pretty normally, with the culprit being changed to another Skinsaw cultist.

Between the two thwarted attempts, I need enough clues to get them to the Sawmill. There will be cultists and clues aplenty, but I want to move the Ironbriar fight.

Here's where I really need help. I'm struggling with what to do with Ironbriar and Xanesha from this point. My tentative idea is that they try to flee to the Manor in a carriage. Instead of the Farm, I will have the Ghoul's attack an Inn where the pursuing PC's will (somehow) be moved to stop for the night. I understand that Ironbriar as written is kind of a lightweight, and Xanesha can be overpowered. I'm trying to figure out a sequence of events that has the PC party fight Xanesha first (possibly with the Scarecrow driving the carriage?) Ironbriar would make it to the mansion, as I really like the idea of the Carrionswarm hunched over the remains of his horses when they arrive. I'm open to other ideas though, and admit I'm not really sure where I could put him in the mansion that would add anything of interest to his fight. It should be somewhat epic as its a major milestone for our Rogue.

Any ideas for plot hooks or clues found at various scenes would be greatly appreciated!