| wilsonwalker4 |
I'll be prepping to start running Skull & Shackles over the next few weeks. GMs, if you could go back and change something about how you prepped or what you did during the first session, what would it be?
I've been reading some of the suggestions in here and one of the things I plan on doing is making individual cards for all of the pirate NPCs the party will be coming into contact with aboard the Wormwood. I'll be using the paper miniatures for the campaign so I'll likely include the NPC art on the back of the index card so the players will have a larger version of the person they're dealing with too.
That sounds like a solid plan! I’ve run Skull & Shackles a couple of times, and one thing I wish I’d done in the first session was establish a stronger sense of the crew and ship life right away—it really helps the players feel like they’re part of the world from the start.
The idea of using index cards with NPC art is excellent. Having a visual reference makes interactions more memorable and helps keep track of all the personalities aboard the Wormwood. I’ve also found that putting the card on a paper coaster can be super useful—it makes it easy to move around the table, keeps it upright, and players can see it clearly without it getting lost among other stuff.
I’d also suggest jotting down a few quick hooks or quirks for each NPC on the cards—you’ll thank yourself mid-session when a player asks a random question and you can respond instantly without breaking flow