Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Skull & Shackles Base Set

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Our Price: $59.99

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Avast, Ye Adventurers!

A group of press-ganged travelers seizes a ship and becomes embroiled in the troubles and machinations of the Shackles—a beautiful island chain dominated by pirate warlords. As these new freebooters make names for themselves, rival scalawags, enemy navies, legendary sea monsters, and the infamous Hurricane King himself seek to see them walk the plank. Who will survive when there's glory and plunder at stake?

Embark on a campaign of pillaging, piracy, and politics with the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Skull & Shackles Base Set. This complete cooperative strategy game sets 1 to 4 heroes against the monsters, surprises, flamboyant privateers, and treacherous terrain of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game's popular Skull & Shackles Adventure Path. Choose your character's class; build a deck of retainers, gear, and magical marvels; and explore perilous locations as you play through multiple scenarios in an exhilarating nautical fantasy adventure. Characters grow more powerful after each game, adding new equipment and eldritch magic to their decks while learning expert skills, all of which will prepare them to surmount greater obstacles in a complete Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Adventure Path.

The Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Skull & Shackles Base Set includes:

  • More than 500 cards, featuring 7 character classes, a wide array of gear and magical accoutrements, and dozens of allies, monsters, and villains from the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path.
  • The Wormwood Mutiny Adventure Deck, the beginning of the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path.
  • A complete set of 5 polyhedral dice.
  • BONUS! A pack of 10 Deck Protector card sleeves from Ultra Pro!

Supplement your Skull & Shackles experience with the Character Add-On Deck, Class Decks, Adventure Decks, or Pathfinder Adventure Card Game accessories (sold separately).

ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-647-8

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Doorway Drug into Pathfinder RPG universe!


This version of the Pathfinder RPG is made especially for those who may be tempted to play Pathfinder (or Dungeons and Dragons) but were intimidated by the massive library of massive books that contain massive quantities of massive rules,... And this is a pretty massive solution.

The ACG rulebook is more like a pamphlet (not massive), and the game mechanism is fun and very robust while being very economical (and therefore not massive). What is massive is the amount of cards included in the core pack! Literally hundreds of items, spells, monsters, etc... that fill out the universe of this card-based RPG.

All you have to do is lay out the cards properly, and the story unfolds. And, everyone at the table can just play. To get started, just pick one of the Iconic characters, select the scenario, set out the cards called for in that scenario, and you are rolling dice in minutes.
BTW: Be sure to read everything on the cards, including all of the color and descriptive text, because it really informs the game play, and gives you a feeling for the story, and sometimes makes a critical difference in game play.

OTHER ITEMS TO CONSIDER:
One set of dice is included (d4,d6,d8,d10x2,d12), but every player at the table needs a full set of dice. Typically we play with individual dice sets, and use the game set to supplement those!

The Character Add-On decks are great, and if you are playing with more than four characters in the game, you actually need those extra cards. The class decks are also a good to have, and ultimately, if you like this game you will start to buy the story expansions 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 (expansion set 1 is included in the core set).

The Pathfinder Pawns are awesome, and younger players (such as my kids) really perceive the characters' locations better when using pawns instead of the Token Cards. However, the S&S Pawn Set DOES NOT include the Iconics or the bosses from the scenarios included in the Core S&S ACG. To collect all of the current Iconics, you need to buy the Inner Sea Pawn set, and the NPC Codex Pawn box. You may want to consider buying the PDFs from Paizo, and making the Pawns you need yourself. It's important to note that combat resolves rather quickly in the ACG, so by the time you mill through your pawn index to find the right Sea Hag, the combat is liable to be over with.

People who play the RPG may miss the level of richness available in the full game, and will definitely miss the ability to roll - or even convert - their own characters, but this should not be viewed as a replacement for the RPG! This is something that easily allows players to experience a story path, and it will ultimately broaden the community; it's an RPG for people who aren't ready to commit the time to a full RPG ...yet.


ing Side Report- Board Game Review of Pathfinder Adventure Card Game-Skull and S

5/5

Originally posted at www.throatpunchgames.com, a new idea everyday!

Product-Pathfinder Adventure Card Game-Skull and Shackles
Producer-Paizo
Price- $60 here
Set-up/Play/Clean-up- ~25 min per player per scenario (1-6 players with expansion, 10 scenarios in the base game)
TL; DR- A fun addition to the Card Game. 89%

Basics-Ahoy matey! This game is the sequel to the hit Pathfinder Adventure Card Game-Rise of the Runelords. Players take the role of one character and progress between scenarios to move along the Skull and Shackles adventure path. You have a character that has the six standard Pathfinder stats as a die. Each turn you can move between different locations, and draw the top card of that deck as an encounter. That card is either something you can equip like a spell or a weapon (a "boon") or something that will attack you like a monster or an obstacle (a "bane"). You can then play cards from your hand to give you extra dice or bonuses to your roll, select an ability based on the card encountered and roll the die related to that ability score. If you beat the number on the card, you can add it to your hand if it's a boon, while banes are defeated. If you don't beat the number on the card, you discard any good cards you encountered or take damage if you fought a monster. When you take damage you discard cards from your hand. If you can't play cards from your hand to keep exploring, you draw up to your hand size. If you can't, then your character dies. If you encounter something called henchmen while exploring, you encounter it as above, but if you defeat it, you can close the location the henchmen was at. If you encounter and beat a villain or man bad guy for the scenario and the other locations are closed, you win! While much hasn't changed, what has changed is pretty different.

Mechanics-This game is and isn't much different from the original. Let's look at each section individually.
Basic Play- The basics play described above hasn't changed. The rules go a little more in depth and make that section MUCH clearer, so that is very appreciated. However, it feels like there are definitely winner and loser abilities and skills. Maybe further in the game, some of the skills will matter. But right now, it feels like some of the characters just don't matter.

Ships-The largest new mechanic is the addition of ships. The ships provide a constant bonus or ability for your group and the bonus to move as a group. Also, the ships provide an awesome way to deal with not getting enough gear. When you beat another ship or get to store plunder, you roll on a random chart, and place one of five different types of cards under the ship. If you win, you get these cards in addition to any other bonuses for the scenario.
Display and Other Small Changes-Display is a new mechanic where you don't just reveal a card from your hand, you set it in front of you. The card now provides an effect and will then tell you when you can pick it up or if you have to discard it. Some cards allow you to constantly use a displayed card. This is just part of a handful of new terms for the game. These new cards do an excellent job of updating the rules. It provides new options for card design and helps the players. I like how the rules have moved along.
Summary- The game plays like the basic adventure card game. It's a great game, but some of the characters don't feel like they matter. Maybe that will change, maybe not. That will depend on what comes out later in this scenario. Ships are amazing and help prevent characters just not getting enough cards. The new terms and mechanics like display provide some new design and play space, and the new characters are fun. It's not perfect, but it is a blast to play. 4.75/5

Theme-You're a pirate and you sail the high seas! You get to move through the Skull and Shackles adventure path with was an amazing adventure series. I like what I've seen so far as it hits the high points reasonably well. However, if you haven't played the adventure path, you will feel lost. You do feel like an island hopping pirate, but the story does lack a bit since the story is still told by half card length paragraphs. I really wish Paizo would publish a quick summary of each adventure part and an epilogue so the players would know a bit more about what is going on. 4/5

Instructions- Here there are some problems, but they don't break the game. You just might end up cheating by accident. The rules are a giant tome! There's a lot going on here, but what it really needs is a one page summary to help character jump in the action. The rules are a bit of a text book that tends to bury some important rule points under lots of other text. The rules by themselves are ok. They get the points across, but some concepts like who controls ships, number of cards per check, and even the blessing deck can get lost in the text. Rules on the cards need some work too. The first scenario of the main campaign is already errata'ed by the designers. That's a major problem! That's the scenario that should have gotten the absolute most number of plays and should be the most rock solid. A bit more writing in some areas and much less in others would really help make the concepts and story much clearer. 4/5

Execution-For $60 you get a ton of cards, rules, and a nice box. The cards are well done with great art, and they're of decent enough quality to withstand lots of shuffling. The design has slightly changed, but again, it's all for the best. As always with Paizo, the art is well done. All and all, this is well done. 5/5

Summary- The Pathfinder Adventure Card Game is a great co-op game. My wife and I love to play this game. The Skull and Shackles is a great addition to the franchise. I loved playing through the Skull and Shackles adventure path, and this give almost the same experience. The major problems in this game could be fixed with some clever writing. Some of the rules and story need clarification, while some excess writing needs to be trimmed. The characters are fun, but some just don't seem as interesting or useful. However, all told, I'm enjoying what's this new base set, and I can't wait to see what's next. 89%


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IF we have pre-ordered will we receive our products before the Open play day on August 16th?

Paizo Employee Paizo Customer Service Algorithm

kolashakanu wrote:
IF we have pre-ordered will we receive our products before the Open play day on August 16th?

While we'll be trying to ship out subscriptions and preorders as quickly as possible we aren't able to guarantee that shipments will arrive before the 16th. We're currently estimating that we should have subscription shipments out from our warehouse by the 22nd at latest.


Thanks for the reply to Kolashakanu's question Erik. Have to say Im disappointed. I would had thought subscriptions should had been shipped in time for them to be available for subscribers' use prior to the season starting. Also, shipping subscriptions in late August is in no means "Early August" release. :(


Erik Keith wrote:
kolashakanu wrote:
IF we have pre-ordered will we receive our products before the Open play day on August 16th?
While we'll be trying to ship out subscriptions and preorders as quickly as possible we aren't able to guarantee that shipments will arrive before the 16th. We're currently estimating that we should have subscription shipments out from our warehouse by the 22nd at latest.

Thank you for the reply! I will say it is disappointing that we will not get the items before open play starts. Maybe in the future you could either push Open play start dates or ship earlier. At minimum it would be cool to ship the class decks out so we could play on August 16th. What about retailers? Will they receive class decks earlier?


When Paizo puts out new products to retailers, they have a "street date" which is the first day retailers are allowed to sell them. Generally, they receive the products before then so that they are able to have them for sale that day.

This month's street date is August 14th, so in theory retailers should be able to offer them up for sale on that date.

*The same thing is happens with lots of products. Movies and music are prime examples. Stores receive inventory well in advance put are prohibited from selling them until a specific day. That is why you sometimes see people heading to a store at 12:01 a.m. on the release date, since the store can sell it to them at that moment.


I just got an email that my account has been charged for this months shipment. So it seems the items will start shipping tomorrow and then will have until 22nd...hope for early inclusion on the list of subscribers so I'll get it sooner rather than later.


I was considering buying a second copy of the Skulls and Shackles base set but noticed that my discount doesn't seem to apply. Is that correct? Also, if I order a second copy, will it come with another copy of the promo cards?


Agradeleous wrote:
I was considering buying a second copy of the Skulls and Shackles base set but noticed that my discount doesn't seem to apply. Is that correct? Also, if I order a second copy, will it come with another copy of the promo cards?

I don't think the discount applies to regular purchases of products in the subscription line. And also, non-subscription purchases don't get the promo cards.

But, what you can do is ask Customer Service to add a second subscription for you. That should get you the discount and the promo cards. You can then cancel the second subscription when you no longer want it. You can't change the quantity of a subscription yourself, but customer service can do it for you.

See here for contact info to call or e-mail.

Post here to contact them via forum.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Hawkmoon is correct and also awesomely helpful.


Psst... is "Goblin Weidling" supposed to be "Goblin Wielding"?

Also, yes, Hawkmoon is totally awesome. He (she?) probably ought to be a staffer (hint hint wink).

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Weidling is correct.

(Though technically, what's pictured on the card isn't really what most folks would categorize as a weidling. Goblins aren't so good with details like that.)


I pre-ordered my game through my FLGS and I was wondering when this base set will be approximately available?


Street date is August 14th. That means you FLGS CAN sell it to you that day, if they have it. This post indicates it had been shipping to distributors since before the 11th, so now it would just be a matter of logistics for it to arrive at your FLGS.

Grand Lodge

Retailers should be receiving their distribution orders containing Skull & Shackles this weekend, if they haven't already received them. I know locally, ours were supposed to arrive last night but ended up coming in today.


Thank you, I ordered the promo character and it is supposed to arrive on the 20th for me. UPS in California is extremely slow... :(

The Exchange

My shop appeared to have all of the August releases except S&S out on the new release table tonight, unless they were holding them back theirs at least were delayed.


My order is still showing pending, not even shipped. We're in fiasco territory...subscription means you get yours dead last? really?


This month is a little weird due to gencon. Normally street date isn't as early as the 14th, but since Paizo wanted to sell their products at gencon, street date is the first day of gencon.

The subscription doesn't guarantee you get it before the street date. (And note the guy above you said they didn't have them at his store.) Their shipping window runs until August 22nd.

Hopefully we will all have the game soon enough and be lost in the bliss of new card game adventures.


jjvreed wrote:
My order is still showing pending, not even shipped. We're in fiasco territory...subscription means you get yours dead last? really?

Don't feel too bad. I'm still showing as pending, too, and I'm basically just subscribing starting with the Add-On Deck to get the promos. I'm also buying everything from my local store to support them and after checking in with the owner yesterday, I was told that my order for the Base Set and Add-On Deck still hasn't hit his distributor. Since the store is only open on the weekends, next Friday will be the earliest I'll be able to get it now, if I'm lucky. Oh well. I'll want to make sure I have all of the promos to add to the box before I start playing anyway.


Pathfinder LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

Well, I hope to have it soon, but "lost in the bliss of new card game adventures"? We haven't even finished "Rise of the Runelords" yet! [/wail]


Any chance my order processes via Amazon earlier than the Sept. 9th date they have listed?

Webstore Gninja Minion

cdietschrun wrote:
Any chance my order processes via Amazon earlier than the Sept. 9th date they have listed?

Yes, but we don't have control over Amazon's shipping dates (which are frequently incorrect in regards to product availability).


Just called up my FLGS regarding my pre order and they said that I won't see my copy of S&S until late September due to the printing issues and the game being on back order but I cannot find anything on here about that kind of push back. Is this true?


Waits patiently for this (ok, not so patiently, do want soon!)


22nd has come and gone, still nothing...I suspect the printer issues affected S&S and not just the class decks. Sounds like the 'erroneous' listings of September ship dates are the real deal.


The base set is shipping by next week. The character add-on deck has been delayed until September. See this post.


Thanks for the post redirect. Even bad news is better than no news.


Any word on release date or even a pic yet of the Adventure case?

Webstore Gninja Minion

Hobbun wrote:
Any word on release date or even a pic yet of the Adventure case?

I have not seen or heard anything about it yet.


Disappointing.

Ok, thanks Liz.


Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Liz Courts wrote:
Hobbun wrote:
Any word on release date or even a pic yet of the Adventure case?
I have not seen or heard anything about it yet.

Wait... does that mean you don't have Base Sets to ship to subscribers either? I though it was just the Add-on Deck that caused the hold-up?

Webstore Gninja Minion

Zaister wrote:
Liz Courts wrote:
Hobbun wrote:
Any word on release date or even a pic yet of the Adventure case?
I have not seen or heard anything about it yet.
Wait... does that mean you don't have Base Sets to ship to subscribers either? I though it was just the Add-on Deck that caused the hold-up?

I read the "adventure case" to mean the UltraPro accessory for the card game that's been mentioned in the past. We have Skull & Shackles Base Sets for subscribers (the Add-On Deck is the issue).


Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

Ah OK, thanks for clearing that up.


Picked my copy of Skulls and Shackles up from the local game store today!

Quick question about Lem. The expansion character card states:

"You may recharge a card to add 1d4 ( +1) ( +2) to any check by a character at your location."

I recall that RotR Lem couldn't use his buff on himself until it was explicitly stated on the Role card. Is that still the case, or can the new Lem self-buff immediately?


Lem is a character at his location, so yep! He can self-buff right out the gate. I won't be using him in my main S&S game because I love Damiel too much, but this version of him will be the Bard character I use with my Class Deck in organized play. He is a rather nice character.


He was always strong as a group member in RotR but he was really weak by himself until he got a Role.

I like that the Bard is a bit more self-sufficient in the new adventure pack. Can't wait to play, although I'm more than a little peeved that I didn't get any promo cards with my base set. Penalizing people who choose to support our local game store is total BS.


Talonius wrote:

He was always strong as a group member in RotR but he was really weak by himself until he got a Role.

I like that the Bard is a bit more self-sufficient in the new adventure pack. Can't wait to play, although I'm more than a little peeved that I didn't get any promo cards with my base set. Penalizing people who choose to support our local game store is total BS.

You should ask your local game store if they have any. Paizo gives some to the distributors who in turn are supposed to give some to the stores. They don't get enough to give one to every single customer, but if you are a loyal customer they might be willing to set some aside for you.


Any update on the shipping/delivery status to Amazon? I


No idea about Amazon in particular, but lots of people have reported seeing it in their local stores. That means it has gotten to distributors who are getting it to retailers. When exactly Amazon's distributor will get it to Amazon and when exactly Amazon will start to ship it, only Amazon and their distributor know for sure.

Liberty's Edge

I just purchased a copy of the base set today and got all the cards organized. When I got to the blessings, there were no Blessings of the Gods in the set; only specific God blessings (Blessing of Abadar, Blessing of Cayden Cailen, etc.). Is the set intentionally missing BoG's or did I get a faulty packing?


I'm pretty sure it is supposed to have BotGs. You need 30 blessings for the blessing deck. Do you even have that many?

Liberty's Edge

Nope. I was just wondering if the BotG's were left out of the set I purchased accidentally or if it was intentinal and we're supposed to use the BotG's from Runelords. Which I do have, so I can make do for now.

Also, if they were supposed to be in there, how do I go about getting the missing cards?


Your first option should be to return it where you bought it. They can exchange it for another copy. (They'll send it back to their distributor, who will send it back to Paizo.)

If that doesn't work, contact customer service at Paizo.


Amazon says release date is January 15 on their page for S&S base set :\ What's going on there? :(


cdietschrun wrote:
Amazon says release date is January 15 on their page for S&S base set :\ What's going on there? :(

Amazon is horrendous for not updating their release dates correctly for new releases...

Do a forum search about amazon release dates and you'll find a recurring theme...

Link

Link2

Link3

Those are just a quick top 3 from what came up.

In short, you'll get it before the January 15th date, but Amazon doesn't update their dates until they pick up the product from the distribution warehouse...which is when it fits into their schedule and not before.

EDIT: And if you need more information about what's going on with your order at Amazon, you would be better off contacting them rather than Paizo. Amazon doesn't buy directly from Paizo, they buy from the distribution chain just like the regular FLGSs mentioned above do.

Verdant Wheel Owner - Griffonest Games

1 person marked this as a favorite.
runescryer wrote:

Nope. I was just wondering if the BotG's were left out of the set I purchased accidentally or if it was intentinal and we're supposed to use the BotG's from Runelords. Which I do have, so I can make do for now.

Also, if they were supposed to be in there, how do I go about getting the missing cards?

I also had missing cards. No character role cards nor the basic character cards. The character tokens were there, along with the Blessing of the Gods.


I just got my subscription copy in the mail today. Where are the promo cards placed? Are they inside the sealed decks of cards? Haven't had a chance yet to open them up. Please advise.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Because of the shipping issues (which caused the Character Decks and the Character Add-on decks to be pushed back to the september subscription/release) the promo cards will be shipped with the september subscription.

On the shipping label included in your shipment, you'd see the promo cards listed if they were sent with your base set.

We have had some issues with the Skull & Shackles Add-On Deck. We won't be able to ship them now. We need to move them from orders and put them into sidecarts to ship with the first possible subscription shipment that we can ship them with. Unfortunately this is enough orders that we cannot do this by hand. Christopher has been working on a script that will pull pending S&S Add-On decks and promos back to sidecarts. Its going through testing as we speak to avoid making things worse.

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

I got my subscription copy the other day.
When I opened it, the first adventure path cards are in a box that opens on the side.
Do I have a first printing?
I am wondering because in RotR the first printing opened on the top and second printing opened on the side.

I think subscribers should get first printings not second, if this is the case.


There is no second printing of Skull and Shackles. There is only a single printing. But the tuck boxes were changed to be more like what was in the second printing of RotR.

See here and here.

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