Pirates take whatever they please, whether it be ships, plunder, or people! The adventurers wake to find themselves press-ganged into the crew of the pirate ship Wormwood, the vessel of the nefarious Captain Barnabus Harrigan. They’ll have to learn how to survive as pirates if they’re to have any hope of weathering rough waves, brutal crew members, enemy pirates, ravenous beasts, and worse. But when fortune turns to their favor, it’s up to the new crew to decide whether they’ll remain the pirate’s swabs or seize control and set sail for adventures all their own.
This volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path launches the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path and includes:
“The Wormwood Mutiny,” a Pathfinder RPG adventure for 1st-level characters, by Richard Pett.
Details of life aboard a pirate vessel and rules for becoming the most infamous scallywag to sail the seas, by Jesse Benner, Richard Pett, and F. Wesley Schneider.
Revelations on the daring faith of Besmara, goddess of pirates, strife, and sea monsters, by Sean K Reynolds.
Death and plunder in the Pathfinder’s Journal, by Robin D. Laws.
Four new monsters, by Jesse Benner, Sean K Reynolds, and Steven D. Russell
Each monthly full-color softcover Pathfinder Adventure Path volume contains an in-depth adventure scenario, stats for several new monsters, and 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 world's oldest fantasy RPG.
ISBN–13: 978-1-60125-404-7
The Wormwood Mutiny is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. The rules for running this Adventure Path and Chronicle sheet are available as a free download (479 KB zip/PDF).
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
I've had this ever since it was first released. I've wanted to run it for a long time and finally got to start it last year. Next to Rise of the Runelords it's been the AP I've wanted to run most.
The story is very compelling. The antagonists are really well done in that your group should definitely grow to hate them. Once the inevitable happens, it's quite the payoff for the group. They'll make lots of friends and those friendships will payoff and create an awesome tapestry through the AP. They'll also make some enemies who will be there until the end.
That being said this isn't for everyone. The group starts out press-ganged on to the ship. Which is another way of saying they are enslaved. Their freedom is very limited and they are punished for the slightest infractions. It can be extremely oppressive. It is a roleplaying heavy volume of the AP. Not a lot of your typical action happens for pretty much the first half of the book. It is a gold mine for those who love roleplaying.
The PCs are also put face to face with some very high level and dangerous people. Groups who feel they can resolve everything with violence are going to be in for a surprise if they step out of line at the wrong point. If they try to mutiny too early, it's going to be the end of them. A mutiny is the expected outcome of the volume, but they need to do it as the right time.
There are a few encounters that are really dangerous and potentially deadly especially as groups have very little access to tools to deal with them. So it takes a bit of work to either modify the scenarios or try to find a way of getting something to help them in their hands.
This volume introduces a fair amount of water based encounters. If you aren't familiar with the rules for swimming and the effects of water as an environment, or you don't like them, this AP may not be to your taste either. A lot of encounters through the entire AP are set in the water.
Ultimately by the end of the book, if all goes well your group should be in command of their own ship with a loyal crew, no longer enslaved to their old captain, and charting their own destiny on the High Seas.
Recently I`ve bumped into Mr. John Compton`s inquiry about reviews on Paizo products https://twitter.com/Archaeotagh/status/1072706185613082624
I`ve GM-ed Wormwood Mutiny and liked it - couple new mechanics, survival sandbox for players, huge number of NPCs to hate and oppose. But heres my spoon of tar in this barrel of honey: map (Riptide Cove) with 1 square = 10 feet grid.
If your artists can draw "1 square = 10 feet grid" - they definetly can draw smaller "1 square = 5 feet grid" so GM-s do not have to learn picture editing and spent time on it.
One might say, that it is because of printed book version page number limit, editing problems. Maybe. But why they keep "1 square = 10 feet grid" in interactive map PDF? Theres no space (page) limit there.
Maybe your artist and editor never GM-ed it, never prepared this particular map for game session - I am sure, that even after one such time with grid-editing "1 square = 10 feet grid" into "1 square = 5 feet grid" they definetly never did such thing for others.
I ran a group of mid-level gamers through this module. I find the feedback of other gamers to be incredibly useful and mostly agree with the other comments. A few things I didn't see, but made running the module difficult:
1) The information is way too scattered. If you need a specific NPC's stats, you'll thumb through about 16 times in order to find it. Same with the rules for Plunder, Infamy, Ship to Ship combat, etc. It seems to be an Achilles' heel of the AP overall. Now that it's out of print, my suggestion to Paizo, if they ever decide to compile it as a hardback in the same vein as earlier APs, is that they consolidate the heck out of it. Lump all the NPCs together in one section. Put all the new rules together. Etc.
2) Where it drags on--day by day as pirates--can be a drudge. You'll have to work with your players, and do a bit of homework as a GM to make it interesting.
3) For a group playing a "non evil pirates" campaign, be prepared to swap out some encounters. This is a bigger challenge in Module 2, where people can be sold into slavery, but still worth mentioning here.
4) Make sure your players have enough resources to survive swarm encounters before they get on the island! I had to cheat a little bit by stuffing a few flasks of alchemist fire and acid in some of the treasure on the island. Otherwise it would have been a TPK after 1-2 botfly encounters.
5) The final encounter is a weird setup that you will have to adjust. Plugg and Scourge give the PCs a short amount of time to get supplies, but at the same time there's no way to run through all the encounters in that time. Maybe make it one of the reasons they are mad at the PCs?
6) The ghouls deserve a story! I made the underwater encounter a bit more interesting and added some plunder for recovering the wreck, otherwise there's absolutely nothing there for anyone.
I ran this adventure for a group of 5 new players. I cut some encounters and used the fast advancement track due to time constraints. Including building and leveling PCs, the adventure took 20 hours to run.
Richard Pett provides great information to build on here, with 8 fully detailed NPCs (friend and foe) and over a dozen more with enough information to inspire the GM. Even the mundane treasure is interesting. As a GM, though, you'll need to figure out how to introduce a number of the NPCs on your own. Instead of using space to provide advice in this area, the adventure has rules for daily job roles that can quickly get tedious.
The supplementary material for the adventure is solid, although one of the magic items is a bit expensive for the level range. The Life of a Pirate article contains more campaign-specific rules that I found confusing and hard to convey to the players. SKR's article on Besmara is up to his usual high standard, and the fiction should inspire a magic item or 2. The monsters compliment the adventure well, but the pirate familiars are missing any mention of bonuses (or lack thereof) for those who choose them.
Summary: Can be a blast to play, but only if the GM puts in the prep time. Most of the back matter is good quality.
Reading it is Brilliant, Playing it is a Different Story
I read this module and it immediately hooked me as a GM. This is an excellent, nay brilliant adventure that has much going for it. I put in massive amounts of work to encourage the players to get excited to play this and they were.
But I had not realised the effect this module would have. This module basically is about kidnapping the players, grind them down and subject them to a harsh ship experience. Sure, in the end they rise up and get a ship of their own and escape the yoke of the evil Captain and his minions but the lead up can be very depressing for players that get seriously into character.
This module nearly broke my group. The players in my group got tied up in their characters and it was not pleasurable to see how they attempted to balance who would get the beating and who would not. I felt for them as they felt the helplessness of their characters. In the long run it ended in a massive argument and the group nearly broke up for good. I had to spend a good amount of time rebuilding burnt bridges and assuring them that they were moments away from a great resolution to the module.
In the end I loved how this module read, hated how it played. So this review puts it right in the middle of the ratings. Consider running it (and the AP as a whole is awesome) but be aware of the dangers that lie in it.
When do you think people die? When they are shot through the heart by the bullet of a pistol? No. When they are ravaged by an incurable disease? No. When they drink a soup made from a poisonous mushroom!? No! It's when... they don't play this adventure by this awesome dude!!!
so for all our sakes play this adventure....
Had a friend ask me today what if a character doesn't want to be a pirate and just wants to go home. I was like... Then you don't make the character for this game? The point is becoming pirates. This is told to you... Sometimes I think my friend is a troll.
Had a friend ask me today what if a character doesn't want to be a pirate and just wants to go home. I was like... Then you don't make the character for this game? The point is becoming pirates. This is told to you... Sometimes I think my friend is a troll.
LOL this adventure path has come WAAAYY to late for my PC - i just
made an elf rogue/gunslinger and went with it...mind you, he's land locked...in Kaer Maga...go figure!
Isn't Mr. Pett the man who introdced Xanesha to the Rise of the Runelords campaign? Do you know how many PCs she has brutally murdered?
I'm scared.
Xanesha was responsable for my second obituary in PFRPG and for my almost first TPK. I really prepared that encounter thoroughly and could surprise my supermunchkin players. It was a MEMORABLE encounter with a victory both epic and dramatic!
Out of curiosity, are there any plans to continue using the romance system found in Jade Regent in this or any other future APs? I've always been a big fan of romantic interactions between characters/NPCs in an RPG just for the element of realism and would be interested in knowing if important NPCs would be getting a romance score in the future.
Also, is this AP going to take place in the seas/oceans in a big way? I know the answer to that seems really freakin' obvious, but this seems like it'd have the potential to be the perfect AP for an Aquatic Druid with a Crocodile companion or something, an archetype that probably doesn't have a chance of seeing a lot of play otherwise. Maybe one who acts as a Shipwright?
I'm not sure how much detail I can give out, and even though it's very tempting whilst the lovely Paizo folks are in sleepy-bo-bo land it wouldn't be fair to give you details. So Rob needs to answer any specifics, as much as I'd love to tell you more about
Spoiler:
Mister Plugg, Master Scourge, Ambrose 'Fishguts' Kroop and Cut-Throat Grok.
Oh yes, and the kraken:)
I daren't just yet.
I've not seen any artwork for this yet but if the Jade Regent artwork is anything to go by I can't wait to see how Paizo have fleshed out some of the salty shifty nasty types that abound.
To be perfectly honest? This sounds like what I wanted Smuggler's Shiv to be like -- and I was disappointed when the title seemed to promise it but the adventure didn't deliver it.
Yes, really, I'm dead serious.
I'm not knocking Smuggler's Shiv as a bad module (I think it was a good module); I am knocking it very much, however, for having an extremely cool module title that conjures up a whole series of expectations in the reader and in the player that the module itself didn't really follow through and deliver on.
I think it's important not only to be cool, but to be cool in at least the general manner that people would ordinarily expect from the title.
In that regard, Smuggler's Shiv and the Council of Thieves AP are both titles that are both very cool (no argument there guys - they are catchy titles) but which then conjured up a vibe, preconceptions and expectations among customers that the module (and series, in the case of CoT) simply did not deliver on.
When it came to the titles of these products, (especially with CoT) it really felt like a bit of a bait and switch. That's not the afterglow to aim for, imo.
Creating the proper expectations among fans with a title can be important; being cool is important, too, but it's got to be the the right kind of cool.
Whatever the case, I'm totally Jonesing on Skull & Shackles!
/me finds the gunpowder dial and turns it up 2 notches.
Creating the proper expectations among fans with a title can be important; being cool is important, too, but it's got to be the the right kind of cool.
I absolutely agree, and that's why I'm often on here trying to manage expectations. That said... some times titles are going to mislead or confuse some people. It's a fine line walking between a title that's evocative and memorable and one that's almost a spoiler...
So any idea when this Ap cover will be updated? Also which Iconics are being used for this one?
Covers are not my bailiwick, but I can shed some light on the iconics! Alahazra, Merisiel, Seltyiel, and Valeros will all be gettin' their pirate on in this AP!
Covers are not my bailiwick, but I can shed some light on the iconics! Alahazra, Merisiel, Seltyiel, and Valeros will all be gettin' their pirate on in this AP!
So any idea when this Ap cover will be updated? Also which Iconics are being used for this one?
Covers are not my bailiwick, but I can shed some light on the iconics! Alahazra, Merisiel, Seltyiel, and Valeros will all be gettin' their pirate on in this AP!
The iconic magus has been strangely absent for sometime now. Good to see he's getting some action. Though I kind of expected to see Lirianne, the iconic gunslinger, gracing this one, I'm glad she's not.
So any idea when this Ap cover will be updated? Also which Iconics are being used for this one?
Covers are not my bailiwick, but I can shed some light on the iconics! Alahazra, Merisiel, Seltyiel, and Valeros will all be gettin' their pirate on in this AP!
The iconic magus has been strangely absent for sometime now. Good to see he's getting some action. Though I kind of expected to see Lirianne, the iconic gunslinger, gracing this one, I'm glad she's not.
As it turns out, having 21 iconic characters but only doing 2 Adventure Paths a year means that nearly 2/3 of our iconics get to sit out any one year's worth of Adventure Paths. Having a single iconic be "absent" for 2 or 3 APs in a row is not what I'd call strange. Just the way it is.
So any idea when this Ap cover will be updated? Also which Iconics are being used for this one?
Covers are not my bailiwick, but I can shed some light on the iconics! Alahazra, Merisiel, Seltyiel, and Valeros will all be gettin' their pirate on in this AP!
The iconic magus has been strangely absent for sometime now. Good to see he's getting some action. Though I kind of expected to see Lirianne, the iconic gunslinger, gracing this one, I'm glad she's not.
As it turns out, having 21 iconic characters but only doing 2 Adventure Paths a year means that nearly 2/3 of our iconics get to sit out any one year's worth of Adventure Paths. Having a single iconic be "absent" for 2 or 3 APs in a row is not what I'd call strange. Just the way it is.
So what your saying is you need to make more APs? :)
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Rob McCreary wrote:
Kevin Mack wrote:
So any idea when this Ap cover will be updated? Also which Iconics are being used for this one?
Covers are not my bailiwick, but I can shed some light on the iconics! Alahazra, Merisiel, Seltyiel, and Valeros will all be gettin' their pirate on in this AP!
Well... two out of my four guesses were correct. :)
It's taken me a long time, but I FINALLY convinced my wife to start letting go of her distaste of Roleplaying (bad experiences).
Just as she begins to loosen up a little, I discover the page for this Path.
...
Twenty minutes later, we're planning on subscribing to the Adventure Path and Player's Guides as soon as Serpent's Skull comes up next in the queue.
...well timed, Paizo. Well timed.
So any idea when this Ap cover will be updated? Also which Iconics are being used for this one?
Covers are not my bailiwick, but I can shed some light on the iconics! Alahazra, Merisiel, Seltyiel, and Valeros will all be gettin' their pirate on in this AP!
The iconic magus has been strangely absent for sometime now. Good to see he's getting some action. Though I kind of expected to see Lirianne, the iconic gunslinger, gracing this one, I'm glad she's not.
As it turns out, having 21 iconic characters but only doing 2 Adventure Paths a year means that nearly 2/3 of our iconics get to sit out any one year's worth of Adventure Paths. Having a single iconic be "absent" for 2 or 3 APs in a row is not what I'd call strange. Just the way it is.
RIP Lem
Who appeared iconically in Curse of the Crimson Throne (2008), Council of Thieves (2009)
Survived by Merisiel who appeared iconically in Rise of the Runelords (2007), Legacy of Fire (2009), Serpent's Skull (2010) Carrion Crown (2011), Jade Regent (2011), Skulls and Shackles (2012)
Inscribed upon his tombstone is the following:
At Least I'm Not Alain
Still looking forward to this AP. But seriously you guys need to bring back the Lem.
So any idea when this Ap cover will be updated? Also which Iconics are being used for this one?
Covers are not my bailiwick, but I can shed some light on the iconics! Alahazra, Merisiel, Seltyiel, and Valeros will all be gettin' their pirate on in this AP!
The iconic magus has been strangely absent for sometime now. Good to see he's getting some action. Though I kind of expected to see Lirianne, the iconic gunslinger, gracing this one, I'm glad she's not.
As it turns out, having 21 iconic characters but only doing 2 Adventure Paths a year means that nearly 2/3 of our iconics get to sit out any one year's worth of Adventure Paths. Having a single iconic be "absent" for 2 or 3 APs in a row is not what I'd call strange. Just the way it is.
RIP Lem
Who appeared iconically in Curse of the Crimson Throne (2008), Council of Thieves (2009)
Survived by Merisiel who appeared iconically in Rise of the Runelords (2007), Legacy of Fire (2009), Serpent's Skull (2010) Carrion Crown (2011), Jade Regent (2011), Skulls and Shackles (2012)
Inscribed upon his tombstone is the following:
At Least I'm Not Alain
Still looking forward to this AP. But seriously you guys need to bring back the Lem.
Better answer would be to use less (MUCH LESS) of Merisiel. Probably her turn to go sit in the dugout for the next 2-3 APs (at Least).