Quick question. I probably just missed it, but how do the player's get to v19? I can't seem to find the link from the canibal camp to the caves.
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Do you think I should let Yarzoth kill off the party and have my players roll up new people on the mainland only to be sent back to the shiv to uncover the last of what they needed or is there anything that you...
I would avoid the TPK. I would have Yarzoth flee with her notes as described under her tactics. She is not a martyr and as far as she knows is the only Serpentfolk with the knowledge about Savan Yhi. She would not risk death, when the PCs are going to be 'trapped' in the temple.
Maybe have her dominate or impersonate the "rival" faction leader in the next adventure. It would be an interesting twist.
Creative Director
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Quick question. I probably just missed it, but how do the player's get to v19? I can't seem to find the link from the canibal camp to the caves.
There's a pit in the center of the village, near the base of the lighthouse. The cannibals basically throw sacrifices to the ghouls into that pit now and then (or their leftovers after a feast; ghouls aren't picky).
I'm getting ready to run this campaign starting some time in the new couple weeks, and was curious how people had managed the start of the campaign regarding a couple issues.
First off, one of my players is playing a druid with a T.Rex companion, and I wondered how other GMs managed to get the companions to the island after the shipwreck. It doesn't seem likely to me that the first mate would be ferrying a fairly dangerous (especially considering the circumstances) animal to the beach with the rest. I'm considering adding another room to the ship which has served as the beast's pen that they find while searching the wreck. Anyone have any other suggestions?
Secondly, one of my other players is taking the Ship's Crew trait. The flavor states that the crew of the ship is lost in the crash and only the passengers are saved, but that obviously doesn't work well. Has anyone come up with an elegant solution for this?
Thanks!
Quick question. I probably just missed it, but how do the player's get to v19? I can't seem to find the link from the canibal camp to the caves.I forget the number, but there is a trap door at the base of the lighthouse. This leads down to V19.
Thank you both. I can't believe I didn't see it.
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Creative Director
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First off, one of my players is playing a druid with a T.Rex companion, and I wondered how other GMs managed to get the companions to the island after the shipwreck. It doesn't seem likely to me that the first mate would be ferrying a fairly dangerous (especially considering the circumstances) animal to the beach with the rest. I'm considering adding another room to the ship which has served as the beast's pen that they find while searching the wreck. Anyone have any other suggestions?
There's no map of the Jenivere provided on purpose—this way the ship can be as big as it needs to be in order to accommodate any size party. Be it a group of four with a druid who has an animal companion (at 1st level, NO animal companion is larger than Large, so size isn't really an issue—they carried horses on ships all the time back in ye olden times, and as an animal companion, even a predator like a T-rex will be well-behaived enough to not be a problem), or a group consisting of a dozen characters. As for how the first mate got the dino (or whatever animal companion) off the boat, I'd just say that he meant to leave it behind but the loyal companion was having none of it and swam to shore anyway. Then I might even consider having the druid wake up first with the animal companion licking their face. And that also gives a GREAT way for the PCs to learn how they ended up on the island; the druid can simply speak with animals with her animal companion to get the scoop.
Secondly, one of my other players is taking the Ship's Crew trait. The flavor states that the crew of the ship is lost in the crash and only the passengers are saved, but that obviously doesn't work well. Has anyone come up with an elegant solution for this
The first mate saved the PCs first, but he went back for the crew—that's what did him in, actually. I would just say that when he saved the PCs, he had one extra spot open on the boat, so he grabbed one of the unconscious crewmen/women to fill that slot rather than discriminate trips from wreck to shore between boatloads of passengers and boatloads of crew.
Any chance we can get this thread and the ones for the other 5 volumes stickied please?
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Here's my question: How does Yarzoth actually fool the party into thinking she's one of their NPC friends? It says that, if the battle goes poorly, she can gaseous form or whatever out into that other room. The room that does not appear to have anyway in except gaseous form/some kind of flying, and is otherwise enclosed. She then changes form into one of their NPC buddies there and... tries to fake her way out?
Maybe I missed something, but how the heck is this supposed to work?
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Creative Director
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Here's my question: How does Yarzoth actually fool the party into thinking she's one of their NPC friends? It says that, if the battle goes poorly, she can gaseous form or whatever out into that other room. The room that does not appear to have anyway in except gaseous form/some kind of flying, and is otherwise enclosed. She then changes form into one of their NPC buddies there and... tries to fake her way out?
Maybe I missed something, but how the heck is this supposed to work?
There's another way to get into and out of that room (the statues/carvings of Zura); Yarzoth as the fake NPC just points those out and says something like, "I saw that snake person do this..." or something like that.
I got the impression that this was a last minute panic plan as opposed to a cunning masterplan so it's quite likely it wouldn't work...
I am a first time DM that will be running this campaign in two weeks. My question is concerning the nightmares. I plan to use the couple in the book, but I wanted to see if anyone had any others that they used. Also, did you have a PC have a nightmare every night they were on the Shiv, or only some nights?
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I am a first time DM that will be running this campaign in two weeks. My question is concerning the nightmares. I plan to use the couple in the book, but I wanted to see if anyone had any others that they used. Also, did you have a PC have a nightmare every night they were on the Shiv, or only some nights?
I went with 1 or 2 nightmares per PC. Mostly early in the adventure.
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So despite all of the useful information here are there any other tips to running this AP. I'll be running this for my group soon so any other tips would be nice.
I created a chart showing the weather and random encounters for about 15 days at a time. This allowed me to ready for whatever the PCs do. It is an open ended Adventure, so I can be hard to be ready for what they do.
I also had all the encounters stated out on a laptop. This saved a lot of time to in set-up.
Finally, I bought a roll of Gaming Paper. This allowed me to have encounters like the cannibal camp and Temple of Zura ready for the group.
Hope these help.
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I like the idea of the dreams and plan to keep using them to let the players know there is something inherently wrong with the island itself, not just those living on it. Here are a couple of extra dreams I used. I'm sure I'll be making up more along the way, but feel free to use them. I'd be interested to see any that other people might have thrown in as well. These both have either names or references (the red headed witch) from my game that you'd switch out.
Dream 1
The rustle of underbrush wakes you from a light restless sleep. Just beyond the light of the fire, something is moving in the shadows around the camp... and over there, and there. Shadowy forms ring the campsite just out of the low light cast by the fire. Looking over for the the night watch you see he has fallen asleep.
One steps forward just enough for you to make out features... it's Rambar, the ship's cook. Yes, the cook who died days ago and went down with the ship. His skin is clammy gray and his wet clothes cling to his body. He looks emaciated. "I'm so cold. Just let us lie down by the fire for a little while... so cold and hungry."
Shadowy forms around the perimeter of the camp begin to creep into the light. The crew of the Jenivere have come back for you. "It should have been you..." "That red headed witch cursed our voyage..." "We are hungry..."
Finally what is left of Alton steps into the camp clearing. It looks like he has been picked over pretty seriously by the scavengers in the cove and entire chunks of flesh are missing from his face, neck and arms, "I saved you and you left my body to rot on the sea floor, food for the sea scorpions. I've come to take back my gift you ungrateful wretch." He quickly strides into the camp and reaches out for you with fingers partly stripped down to bone. As you struggle to scramble away you wake up moaning and thrashing in your bed. The camp is quiet all around you other than the crackle of the fire and the distant sound of crashing waves. It must be near dawn and the others are still asleep except the watchman who glances over at you in concern.
Dream 2
On your way back from the day's hike, you stop outside of camp to relieve yourself while the others walk on in. The smell of camp dinner is uncharacteristically mouthwatering today. The others have already gathered around the fire and taken slabs of grilled ribs on makeshift rubbery green leaves for plates. Uisce is stirring his cauldron and stopping to check for taste. "Not bad. Hey- grab some ribs before they are gone!" Ishirou silently pulls a double skewered section of ribs off the fire and passes it to you before you realize someone is missing. "Where's Gelik?" you hear yourself asking and as you look down at the serving Ishirou is offering a sense of dread horror and certainty seeps in. Sasha laughs licking her fingers, "Over there mister serious!" On a broad flat rock just beyond the camp proper, Gelik lies naked on his back, feet bound and throat slit, glassy eyes staring up at nothing. His chest has been completely carved away, and most of the internal organs harvested. The top of his head is gone and the cavity empty. Usice sees you noticing and smiles, "Don't worry, the ribs are a little treat, but I've thrown together a tripe soup that will feed us for days. We'll cook it slow and low overnight. You are going to have to strip and clean the thighs though. And if you want sausages we'll need to clean the intestines."
"What's the problem? He was /annoying/. He and Aerys got into it today and she accidentally killed him. Apparently he was a fragile little guy. No point in letting him go to waste when we're out here scouring the jungle for something to eat everyday. Relax!"
Finally, I bought a roll of Gaming Paper. This allowed me to have encounters like the cannibal camp and Temple of Zura ready for the group.
+1 on the gaming paper. It's been very useful.
I'm also having a difficult time giving Jask a good personality. He knows he is innocent and decided he knows vaguely what he is charged of. (He knows he is under arrest for crimes against the Sargavan government.)
I played Jask very aloof at first. He was quiet and kept to himself. When he did speak, he gave common sense advice and tried to be as helpful as he could while wearing irons. He was the first person to spot the wreck of the Jenivere and point it out to the PCs. His "You know, you might find something useful in the wreckage" speech got the PCs interested in exploring the ship and more or less kick-started the exploration phase of the adventure.
(Sadly, in our game, Jask was eaten by cannibals, but that is a another tragic tale altogether.)
My group begins Smuggler's Shiv next week. I'm trying to use the competition and interplay of the various factions as a means to drive increased role play and have decided to give each PC his/her own personal tie to a faction: 1 PC will be aligned with the Sargavan government and will have just captured Jask Derindi, not realizing he is actually innocent. Two PCs will be aligned with the Pathfinder Society and will be following in the footsteps of Eando Kline in order to entice him to return to Absolom at the behest of the Society. A fourth PC will be from a family aligned with the Aspis Consortium and will be a junior officer aboard the Jenivere. I think this will drive greater interaction with the various NPC castaways and will also create some interesting dynamics when the party finally reaches Eleder and begins preparing for the journey to Savith Yhi. Can anyone out there see any pitfalls associated with this course of action or have other advice?
Just had our first session and I'm glad I checked out this forum before hand. The stuff people put up (the checklist and NPC morale/friendliness) was very useful.
I'm glad I took note of the likelihood of interaction problems with the NPCs. In our game the NPCs were largely ignored at first, but I managed to get things going by having an NPC and PC paired up for the night watches. At first the PCs just organised it themselves going one at time and then I said to the first PC "which of the NPCs did you want to joing you" and had him make ask (roleplay) and followed up with a diplomacy check. Did that for everyone and that got a few bonds formed.
I did a few other things differently too. I added in an adventuring group on board the ship (used the pregens) and had them not appear on the beach. I plan to have their bodies pop up here and there and as a way to give a little gear to my group.
Greystaff I had that idea too but instead of having them directly part of the factions I just gave them little jobs without stating that they're working for the factions. So one guys job was to ensure that Jask escaped and avoided trial. Another was to deliver an item to a noble in Sargava. One was to ensure Sasha made it safely to her destination, and so on. I figure these little quests are mainly background for now but gives the group either a link to an NPC or a future intro to one of the factions.
Enjoying this one so far.
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My group begins Smuggler's Shiv next week. I'm trying to use the competition and interplay of the various factions as a means to drive increased role play and have decided to give each PC his/her own personal tie to a faction
You need to make sure that the PCs still have a reason to adventure together after they get off the Shiv. If each of them have links to the different factions, are those links stronger than the few weeks old links between the PCs from their time of being shipwrecked together?
Are you trying to drive increased role play because your players aren't doing any RPing? If so, this may not be the best idea.
It may be better to work on the other castaways, increase the interaction with them, play up their history/faction. Get the PCs involved with them. This way, you have not only the interaction between the factions, but also the interaction between the PCs, the factions and the castaways.
I'm getting ready to run this campaign starting some time in the new couple weeks, and was curious how people had managed the start of the campaign regarding a couple issues.
Secondly, one of my other players is taking the Ship's Crew trait. The flavor states that the crew of the ship is lost in the crash and only the passengers are saved, but that obviously doesn't work well. Has anyone come up with an elegant solution for this?
Thanks!
Might be too late for your game to post this, but 2 of my players took this trait. I shifted the opening sequence into a banquet to celebrate 100 days at sea and had the PC crewmen invited by the Captain for their loyal service, as they were the only ones who had made the entire voyage. I explained that the crew had the option to work only part of the voyage and were replaced as need be. Players were satisfied with that explanation.
Doesn't have to be a half elf, and if all else fails, Sasha Nevah is a readhead.
The fellow castaways are all about giving people something to do. First about getting them out of their shock and distrust, then they each have compelling personal quests, and you can totally play up the first part of the adventure like a reality show and Roleplay the hell out of them. The group I'm running got so fed up with Gelik, they finally 'voted him off the island'... pemanently. (I'm considering having him come back as a ghost to haunt them until they do his quest)
I just changed the appearance of his beloved to more closely match the only female party member that went anywhere near him on the first occasion they encountered him.
Also I found I could direct the freedom of my party (mostly newbies) by getting them to discover the other castaways' side quests... then I started dropping hints about looting the other shipwrecks for supplies (inspired by their talk of opening a tourist bar on the beach where they first woke up).
Survivial tracking rules increase the DC for rainfall and days past, and it can be several days, with hours and hours of daily rain before the PC find (F). To rationalise the DC remaining constant I'm explaining it as Kovack actually cut a trail with his rapier, as per machete, and the PC are tracking that, rather than footprints and such which had long since washed away.
Similarly with (E), I'm aniticipating my players will want to know why armor doesn't protect them or why they can't burn or cut through the thorns, and plan to explain it as cutting a path is actually what they must do, since attempting to just walk through the thorns is like walking into an iron maiden guaranteed to penetrate any vulnerable gap in defenses. The reflex save is to avoid accidentially missing a stray thorn, despite such precautions. Due to the wet, burning is only as effective as cutting, but takes much longer.
Ghosts lose their items if the material version is stolen, so I'm explaining that Kinkarian still has his hook because the whole island counts as his grave, so he still has it even though it's in Y. The locket was never 'his' as he died just before retreiving it, thus his dilemma.
Re: the heat from noon to 3, it might be better to stick with the environmental rules in the Core, and give a bonus to the save if they stay in shade, rather than let them skip it unless they work, travel or have a combat (as the AP's rules modify from core). Our group ran into trouble determining exacly when, during a random encoutner that hit during a siesta, the save should be made and by who.
Doing it after the fight is a little more realistic, but totally takes the teeth out of the heat, since by that point it's moot. Doing it at the begining or middle invites a debate about the common sense of just rolling initiative or merely a few seconds of tactical movement being enough exertion to cause damage (one player even argued that one of the party would simply refrain from the battle, and sit in the shade until attacked, to avoid having to make a save).
Giving a strong circumstance bonus to the save for staying motionless in shade (on top of survival check bonuses) could do more to illustrate the oppressivness of the mid-day heat, while avoiding these timinig issues.
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Creative Director
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Survivial tracking rules increase the DC for rainfall and days past, and it can be several days, with hours and hours of daily rain before the PC find (F). To rationalise the DC remaining constant I'm explaining it as Kovack actually cut a trail with his rapier, as per machete, and the PC are tracking that, rather than footprints and such which had long since washed away.
Similarly with (E), I'm aniticipating my players will want to know why armor doesn't protect them or why they can't burn or cut through the thorns, and plan to explain it as cutting a path is actually what they must do, since attempting to just walk through the thorns is like walking into an iron maiden guaranteed to penetrate any vulnerable gap in defenses. The reflex save is to avoid accidentially missing a stray thorn, despite such precautions. Due to the wet, burning is only as effective as cutting, but takes much longer.
Ghosts lose their items if the material version is stolen, so I'm explaining that Kinkarian still has his hook because the whole island counts as his grave, so he still has it even though it's in Y. The locket was never 'his' as he died just before retreiving it, thus his dilemma.
I guess I never thoguht of a pirate's hook hand as a piece of gear, but as an integral part of his body. Since his hook hand doesn't have any game effect on his stats at all... it doesn't really matter if he lost it or not though.
Man! Pirate captain's gotta have his hook!!
I assumed and like to imagine that aspect of Ghosts references the afterlife being like the Egyptian and ancient Asian and other's beliefs, that your possessions go with you after death if they're buried with you, so might not just be stat gear, but also like jewelry and things of personal value and paractial items for the spirit to use in the afterlife, explaining why tombs have luxury items to loot and defenses to keep them from being looted, and why there may be taboos against grave robbing - you literally are robbing the dead!
I agree - he's a pirate and a ghost. Therefore, he MUST have a hook. It's the law!
He may not even have had one when he alive... ;)
Here's a link of a map of the real Money Pit it was based on, which may be fun to adapt:
http://theunexplainedmysteries.com/images/oak-island-map.jpg
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Here's a link of a map of the real Money Pit it was based on, which may be fun to adapt:
I'm sure this is covered either in the adventure or somewhere earlier in this thread, but do the NPCs adventure/explore with the PCs? I can't imagine that they would. Maybe you'd want 1 or 2, to fill in some of the party strength, if for example, they're missing a cleric. But, are you guys having most/all of the NPCs travel w/ the PCs? Or do they generally hang out at the camp?
I'm sure this is covered either in the adventure or somewhere earlier in this thread, but do the NPCs adventure/explore with the PCs? I can't imagine that they would. Maybe you'd want 1 or 2, to fill in some of the party strength, if for example, they're missing a cleric. But, are you guys having most/all of the NPCs travel w/ the PCs? Or do they generally hang out at the camp?
I seem to recall this being addressed somewhere in the module, but I could be wrong. For my part, I would let the NPC accompany the PCs if the NPC is at least Friendly and with a Normal or Hopeful morale. My players only took Jask with them once, and decided not to do it again. They adventured without NPCs for the rest of the module, up to the Azlanti temple where I made Gelik offer his assistance as I thought his language selections and bardic knowledge abilities would be of use to the party.
I seem to recall this being addressed somewhere in the module, but I could be wrong.
On p 58, under "Helpful": "A helpful NPC will accompany PCs on explorations or other missions on the island if asked."
I would play up the need to keep some of the NPCs as guards at the camp (with at least one as food gatherer), since the PCs are bound to get a lot of loot and stuff they might not want to carry around. Also, point out that a NPC helping out with adventuring might have the AUDACITY to claim part of the loot. In my experience, that makes brining along NPCs rather unappealing to the players.
Yea, it also says in the sidebar on p. 9 it depends on how much they grow to trust the PCs (I think in the sense of trusting them not to get them all killed), and it's up to the you when and if they join the PC of their adventures.
I started off playing it that they only join the PCs if they get to helpful, otherwise they don't budge from the first camp at A - trouble with that is it can make them seem dumb and worthless, stubbornly staying someplace where it's only delaying the inevitable, rather than getting off their asses to do their part to save themselves by looking for a way off the island.
So, as play developed, I ruled that when their spirits were raised to hopeful, and the PCs came back with reports of what other parts of the island are like, they grew to cope with the realities of their plight enough to go with the PCs to makes new camps in better locations. However, until Helpful, they still insisted on staying 'in the rear with the gear' - arguing the need to establish a new camp after each day of travel, and argue they should stay as much as possible at that camp doing their camp roles, making sure the PCs have a safe fallback spot and gathering provisions to supply the PC's scouting and exploration, and still would refrain from knowingly joining in exploring any encoutner area until they got to Helpful.
To avoid any potential problems with the NPCs, replacement PCs and such, I decided to full stat out the NPCs with most of the generous construction rules that we use for the PCs.
I added to what the AP already had in place for each NPC, rather than create them from scratch.
With this, I hope to avoid the pitfall of the NPCs being rather nebulous, with little or no interaction between the PCs and the NPCs. I hope to make them living, breathing people to the players.
If any of the PCs die on the island, I will likely be suggesting to that player that they take over their favorite NPC. If they want to change after they get off the island, then they will get a bonus or two as a reward for going along with the story. I think it breaks the story immersion if a new PC just happened to wash ashore after the old one died, especially if it happens more than once.
Just wondering if people are/have level the NPCs? Right now my group has hit level 2 and have cruised about with Ishirou. I'm thinking I should level him and while I'm at it bump up the others. For the others I'm looking at the craft skills to make them more useful to the PCs to improve the bonds. One of the PCs sees them as dead weight as they just stay at camp while the group takes all the risk and brings back all the spoils. So I'm thinking that if I level them and give them craft skills where they can make ammunition, crude weapons and armour, identify alchemical items, etc. Has anyone else done this?
Also a tip for other DMs:
I've found post it notes are gold for this adventure path. My group has taken to sharing the spoils around camp and its been useful in slapping that note on a post it as well as any interaction notes on the NPCs page.
Okay, I might be blind here, but which experience track am I supposed to be using? I've been prepping for a week to launch this campaign, and it occurs to me that this might be an important piece of information.
I'm using medium and it seems to work well.
Coming over from 3.5 I used Fast progression for Smuggler's Shiv and my players reached the milestones just as they were supposed to. I did not throw in too many random encounter though.
The following chapter in the AP explicitly assumes Medium progression.
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I'd really like to share the poster map of Smuggler's Shiv with the heroes in some way as found treasure. Anyone done so yet, and how did you figure the map was created so that the heroes find it?
I've thought about Malikadna having a map of the island, but it doesn't quite make sense for the cannibals to have a parchment map of their home... Just curious how others might have done it.
I'd really like to share the poster map of Smuggler's Shiv with the heroes in some way as found treasure. Anyone done so yet, and how did you figure the map was created so that the heroes find it?
I've thought about Malikadna having a map of the island, but it doesn't quite make sense for the cannibals to have a parchment map of their home... Just curious how others might have done it.
Well she could have written the map on human skin...
Here's how it worked quite well for my group: The ranger pretty soon started to climb trees to look around the island. After a reasonable number of such climbs I drew the rough outline of the island for him. I don't know how much detail you want your players to have but my group was satisfied with that.
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I'd really like to share the poster map of Smuggler's Shiv with the heroes in some way as found treasure. Anyone done so yet, and how did you figure the map was created so that the heroes find it?
I've thought about Malikadna having a map of the island, but it doesn't quite make sense for the cannibals to have a parchment map of their home... Just curious how others might have done it.
Well she could have written the map on human skin...
Here's how it worked quite well for my group: The ranger pretty soon started to climb trees to look around the island. After a reasonable number of such climbs I drew the rough outline of the island for him. I don't know how much detail you want your players to have but my group was satisfied with that.
I've been putting up details little by little, using the jpg fan-made map that someone put up here a few pages back, and filling in details when they explore. That featureless map was found on the Jenivere, which Sasha has been filling in as they travel. I'd really like to show them the full color map at some point...
I've thought about Malikadna having a map of the island, but it doesn't quite make sense for the cannibals to have a parchment map of their home... Just curious how others might have done it.Well she could have written the map on human skin...
Human skin??? That's genius! I wish I had thought of that when I ran that adventure.
Any of the wrecks could have it, but I love the human skin map idea. Maybe it's even the skin of Captain Beliker.
I just had the postermap on the jenevere - I said the cartographer included them based on the maps of the lighthouse colonists, hypothosisting they may still be there, and it's natural coinsidence that the cannibals have since re-opened them more or less exactly as they've always been. I decided the paths are infact originated from much older paths and even way back before that were roads build by the Azlanti, which were themselves expansions of paths originally used by the serpent folk. The jungle reclaims them, but later inhabitants always re-open them as even when overgrown they remain the routes of least resistance.
I likewise explain the discoloration of the silent island as from reports of passing ships.
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Hopefully others can use this thread to clarify questions arising in this adventure. If you happen to see another thread, please link post a link in this one to try and keep things tied together.
Okay, I might be blind here, but which experience track am I supposed to be using? I've been prepping for a week to launch this campaign, and it occurs to me that this might be an important piece of information.
I've looked through Smugglers Shiv about a dozen times, and I can't seem to find it.
Smuggler's Shiv (and the other volumes of the Adventure Path as well) uses the Medium XP track. That line unfortunately didn't make it into the "Advancement Track" side bar on page 7.