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Pathfinder Adventure Path #37: Souls for Smuggler's Shiv (Serpent's Skull 1 of 6) (PFRPG)

4.50/5 (based on 15 ratings)
Pathfinder Adventure Path #37: Souls for Smuggler's Shiv (Serpent's Skull 1 of 6) (PFRPG)
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Chapter 1: "Souls for Smuggler’s Shiv"
by James Jacobs

Only the Strong Survive

A deadly storm shipwrecks the passengers and crew of the Jenivere upon infamous Smuggler’s Shiv, an island off the coast of the jungle realm of Sargava. If they’re to have any hope of escaping the notorious pirates’ graveyard, the survivors will need to band together to outwit the isle’s strange beasts and legendary menaces. But can the PCs unite the swift-to-squabble castaways, especially when several seem to have mysterious goals of their own? And does Smuggler’s Shiv hide secrets even deadlier than its desperate denizens?

    This volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path launches the Serpent’s Skull Adventure Path and includes:
  • “Souls for Smuggler’s Shiv,” a Pathfinder RPG adventure for 1st-level characters, by James Jacobs.
  • A detailed look at the personalities marooned on Smuggler’s Shiv, by James Jacobs.
  • Revelations into the history, ways, and world-spanning schemes of the serpentfolk, by Clinton Boomer.
  • An introduction to the wisdom and dangers of the jungle in the Pathfinder’s Journal, by Robin Laws.
  • Five new monsters, by James Jacobs and F. Wesley Schneider.

Pathfinder Adventure Path is Paizo Publishing's monthly 96-page, perfect-bound, full-color softcover book printed on high-quality paper. It contains an in-depth Adventure Path scenario, stats for about a half-dozen new monsters, and several support articles meant to give Game Masters additional material to expand their campaign. Pathfinder Adventure Path volumes use the Open Game License and work with both the Pathfinder RPG and the standard 3.5 fantasy RPG rules set.

ISBN–13: 978-1-60125-254-8

Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Sanctioned Content
Souls for Smuggler's Shiv is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild.

Download the rules for running this Adventure Path and Chronicle sheets — (495 kb zip/PDF)

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

Archives of Nethys

Note: This product is part of the Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscription.

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PZO9037

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4.50/5 (based on 15 ratings)

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Really Strong, Self-Contained Adventure

5/5 —

I think this has a lot of the marks of a great adventure. The hook is great (you're all castaways who washed up on an island). There's interesting NPCs to play with, with cool mechanics. There' a great gimmick for the book-- it's a mixture of wilderness survival, mystery solving, with classic "jungle"-style encounters. The encounters are fun. The survival mechanics are fun but-- crucially-- you can dial them up or down depending on what your group finds interesting. There's a sense of mystery and exploration that pervades the entire book in a very appealing way.

A great thing about the adventure is how modular it is. It's extremely self-contained, and you can vault from this book into just about any adventure. That makes this book easy to recommend.

The modular nature can work against it in one way: I find that it doesn't feel like an important part of the Serpent's Skull adventure path in general. The GM has to do some work to think about how the book links to what comes later.

Serpents Skull

4/5 —

This was a pretty sweet module! I just finished running it and I loved the flavor of it. However, that said there are a few problems, some of the battles have combos that are nigh on impossible to escape unscathed. The darkness plus paralysis in the caves of the mother and the sheer numbers of the cannibals left my players party in shambles. I love how it sets up the rest of the campaign and the NPCs were very fun to play. My players even managed to keep two of them alive. So I'd say with a little tinkering to make some of the encounters less deadly, this is a great start to an AP.

Excellent adventure... Stand alone or as part of the path

5/5 —

This is an excellent adventure where the players felt like they had complete control over their own destiny. It does take a significant amount of work and role play skill from the GM. So if you're a lazy GM or your players don't care about story there are better options for you. But as far as a sandbox style adventure that is capable of standing on its own this was excellent.

spoiler:
as for the puzzle that everyone says was so difficult I simply drew a stick figure picture of the hieroglyphs that are described in the book. Made the puzzle very easy for my players because they could actually see the pictures instead of having me try to describe them to them.

Great Start

5/5 —

This is one of the best AP books of all time.

Pros:
- Great get the party together hook
- Amazing setting
- Sandbox style adventure leaves room to play

Cons
- There was a tricky puzzle that my players had a tough time figuring out

Overall its just doesn't get better than this. My players loved it for its sense of mystery, menace and suspense. I can't wait for this to become PFS legal to get a chance to play it and run it more.

This AP is HARD

5/5 —

Spoiler potential ahead, so be warned.

My players and I (the GM) loved this book. Having played through Kingmaker and experienced the sandbox style they presented there, I can safely say Souls for Smuggler's Shiv (SfSS) balances that sandbox exploration feel with what I think Kingmaker lacked - a good sense of progression. Certainly you can go around the island and kill off random encounters and animal lairs and explore shipwrecks, but you very quickly pick up on the hooks of a plot and an idea of how to progress it at the pace the players want. And trust me, they should pace themselves, because this AP is hard as hell.

The DCs are a bit too high here and there (Swim and Climb Checks of 20 at level 1? Knowledge DC 25s?? DC 30 Perception and Escape Artist checks???) but that's easily tweak-able. The Cannibal camp really ramps up the difficulty if they're not careful, and Mother Thrunefang was an almost TPK if you run her as it describes tactically. Also, 6 skeletons vs a level 1 party with minimal means of dealing bludgeoning damage is extremely deadly; proceed with caution. Endure Elements is a must have (luckily there's an NPC with the capability to cast it if the PCs can't), and I even threw in the rules about getting lost, which made for some desperate (and fun!) struggles in the island. All this, combined with the dangerous wildlife, gives a very visceral feel to the deadliness of the Shiv, and my players and I loved it.

The mystery as to how they got there and why is also a fun little game we had, and any GM worth his/her salt should take time to read up on each of the NPC castaways and play them according to their personalities. Gelik and Ishirou remain two of the more memorable NPCs they encountered, mostly because both of them gave them the most trouble. Jask was almost immediately helpful when the paladin convinced everyone that he was innocent, Aerys was also convinced to be more helpful especially after they got the berries, and Sasha got her animal companion but unfortunately contracted Red Ache early on and was mostly incapacitated for the adventure (I plan on detailing her further in the coming books).

The "Campmaker" rules were a little too gamey for my tastes, but it worked out after we assigned roles and started getting back into roleplaying. Trying to win over the favor of the NPCs was quite fun as well. Overall, a very fun AP, especially if they're looking for a challenge. I highly recommend it!

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Dark Archive
Wolfthulhu wrote:
Nah, it doesn't have a High Seas feel at all. As (Ninja) James said, the opening scene is PCs realizing they are stranded on an island. There is some prologue type stuff that happens before the shipwreck, but that's it.

Yeah, that's what I was referring to but I could've phrased it a bit (a lot!) better. :D

Liberty's Edge

This first installment of the Serpent's Skull looks very nice. I just got the PDF, and can't wait to run it with my players. I have one question, though.

The prologue states: "If your players are using the Serpent’s Skull Player’s Guide (available as a free PDF download from paizo.com)..."

This booklet is not yet available, is it? If so, my Paizo-browsing skill needs more ranks. :-)
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

It has been stated that the Serpent's Skull Player's Guide will be out for the first day of GenCon at the latest, the official release day of Pathfinder #37.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2009, RPG Superstar Judgernaut

Very awesome serpentfolk art in this one! Two thumbs up! And seeing as how I'm still working on the final adventure (which has a LOT of serpentfolk in it), this is great inspiration! Timely even! :-)
Dark Archive

Yeah the serpentfolk artwork is awesome. Very inspiring stuff.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Ravenmantle wrote:
Yeah the serpentfolk artwork is awesome. Very inspiring stuff.

I'm not going to whine that my AP suscription isn't in yet, because I woke up to my APG this morning. :p Still... I'm looking forward to it. :)

Still pending...

:(

Yeah, missing the player's guide too...thanks for clearing that up as I hadn't seen the post noting when it would be available. Got notice to download #36 and #37 as well as the APG last night (all good looking stuff).
M
Paizo Employee Creative Director
mearrin69 wrote:

Yeah, missing the player's guide too...thanks for clearing that up as I hadn't seen the post noting when it would be available. Got notice to download #36 and #37 as well as the APG last night (all good looking stuff).

M

The price you pay for getting a product before it's official ship date is that you get to wait for things like player's guides. I have the laid out version of it sitting on my desk right now; we're HOPING to get it online by this time next week or sooner... but we'll see.

Liberty's Edge

Thanks James and know the wait will be worth it as all the AP's.

I got a group ready for this as this is the first time DMing.

Thanks again for great products and you got my vote for the ennime .

The first book seems interesting. It will require some prep, but it's worth it. My only issue(not negative), is that I just started KM, I want to finish AoW, and now I want to do this one.

You guys need to lay off the quality adventures so I won't have to choose. If you put out some garbage I can easily say "nope, not that one".
Scarab Sages

Can somebody clarify if a "Serpent's Skull Player's Guide" PDF will be released for this Adventure Path?
Paizo Employee Director of Narrative
Tarrintino wrote:
Can somebody clarify if a "Serpent's Skull Player's Guide" PDF will be released for this Adventure Path?

It will, but it is not ready yet.

Paizo Employee Creative Director
Tarrintino wrote:
Can somebody clarify if a "Serpent's Skull Player's Guide" PDF will be released for this Adventure Path?

We're very close to the Player's Guide being ready for the web. It's not scheduled to go live until PF 37's actual release date next Thursday, but it looks like we'll be likely to get it online a lot sooner than that. Stay tuned!

EDIT: Corrected a typo.
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
Tarrintino wrote:
Can somebody clarify if a "Serpent's Skull Player's Guide" PDF will be released for this Adventure Path?
We're very close to the Player's Guide being ready for the web. It's not scheduled to go live until PF 39's actual release date next Thursday, but it looks like we'll be likely to get it online a lot sooner than that. Stay tuned!

I'm certain James means Pathfinder #37, not 39, before anyone is shocked by this ...

Paizo Employee Creative Director
Zaister wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Tarrintino wrote:
Can somebody clarify if a "Serpent's Skull Player's Guide" PDF will be released for this Adventure Path?
We're very close to the Player's Guide being ready for the web. It's not scheduled to go live until PF 39's actual release date next Thursday, but it looks like we'll be likely to get it online a lot sooner than that. Stay tuned!
I'm certain James means Pathfinder #37, not 39, before anyone is shocked by this ...

Correct. I'm actually WORKING on Pathfinder #39 right now, which is kind of being a troubled child, so it's weighing heavy on my brain whenever I mention anything Serpent's Skull related.

Silver Crusade
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:


Correct. I'm actually WORKING on Pathfinder #39 right now, which is kind of being a troubled child, so it's weighing heavy on my brain whenever I mention anything Serpent's Skull related.

Any major problems with #39 ? Should we expect a delay ?

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer
Gorbacz wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:


Correct. I'm actually WORKING on Pathfinder #39 right now, which is kind of being a troubled child, so it's weighing heavy on my brain whenever I mention anything Serpent's Skull related.
Any major problems with #39 ? Should we expect a delay ?

It should still ship in the correct month... just probably closer to the end of that month than we were shooting for.

Paizo Employee Creative Director
Gorbacz wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:


Correct. I'm actually WORKING on Pathfinder #39 right now, which is kind of being a troubled child, so it's weighing heavy on my brain whenever I mention anything Serpent's Skull related.
Any major problems with #39 ? Should we expect a delay ?

I should, I suppose, note that a volume of Pathfinder being a "troubled child" is not the same as me saying "OMG DISASTER!"

We're smack in the middle of Pathfinder #39's production schedule. It'll probably be a week or so late to the printer due to Gen Con, but as of right now, despite the fact that it's being a pill, we should be able to get it out more or less on time anyway.
Liberty's Edge

James - Great work on this one! I have devoured this one from head to tail, and it did not disappoint. I am really looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
He'll be doing all of the Serpent's Skull covers, for one. And beyond that, I suspect he'll be doing more covers as well. He's quite good.

I got this over the weekend and after the initial box dig, I found myself staring at this cover. This was the first AP cover art, where I wanted to know exactly who did it. I found it awesomely detailed and just right. Good find Paizo!

Dark Archive

any recommendations for a good boat design to use for the wrecked jenivere??
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32, 2012 Top 4
Another Screen Name wrote:

any recommendations for a good boat design to use for the wrecked jenivere??

I used the top deck of the pirate ship from the GameMastery Boats & Ships map pack, then I drew a partial below deck on our battlemat. I assumed the rest of the ship was either submerged or an impassible, tangled wreck.

It worked just fine during our tabletop game.
Dark Archive
Tom Qadim wrote:
Another Screen Name wrote:

any recommendations for a good boat design to use for the wrecked jenivere??

I used the top deck of the pirate ship from the GameMastery Boats & Ships map pack, then I drew a partial below deck on our battlemat. I assumed the rest of the ship was either submerged or an impassible, tangled wreck.

It worked just fine during our tabletop game.

thanks, as i will have it tommorrow through amazon

So, it pretty much appears that the Minneapolis-St. Paul area was not shipped this issue. When the biggest game store in the area doesn't get it, you know there's a problem. Any comment?
Paizo Employee Creative Director
wspatterson wrote:
So, it pretty much appears that the Minneapolis-St. Paul area was not shipped this issue. When the biggest game store in the area doesn't get it, you know there's a problem. Any comment?

Sounds to me like an error at the distributor level? We don't actually ship direct to stores, so if a region got "left out" of a shipping, that error would happen with the distributor—FLGS should contact their distributor to see what's up.

Does anyone else see the inspriation taken from the Dark Tower Drawing of Three for the first encounter?
Contributor

Removed a post. Please post civilly.

Shot in the dark here, but I'm about to run this campaign and I'm not sure where I should post this.

Anyways, I'm setting up the players and was curious about where's the destination port when the adventure begins? Is the ship heading to Eleder when the adventure begins? Or is it just after leaving Eleder? The book implies that someone could of left from the port of Eleder also.

Just trying to figure out player motivation on ultimate destinations and such.
Owner - House of Books and Games LLC
JDNYC wrote:

Shot in the dark here, but I'm about to run this campaign and I'm not sure where I should post this.

Anyways, I'm setting up the players and was curious about where's the destination port when the adventure begins? Is the ship heading to Eleder when the adventure begins? Or is it just after leaving Eleder? The book implies that someone could of left from the port of Eleder also.

Just trying to figure out player motivation on ultimate destinations and such.

Have you tried the Skull & Shackles forum?

I haven't read S&S, so I can't comment on it too much, but I would hazard a guess there's lots of commentary in there.

Hey guys! I just bought the softcover edition.

I'm curious and I want the earnest feedback from my fellow fans of Paizo's excellent cartography...

How should i handle maps? Seriously. they're going to be moving across a large area.

Should I provide them with the map?

Should I buy the map pack?

Should I have them draw it up?

Should I abstract everything?

And what did you do?
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