We have a really great campaign group going on right now - we just finished the Regatta and will be starting Island of Empty Eyes in a few weeks. I considered starting a campaign journal because its really been an interesting ride, but I'm not sure whether or not they are actually read and I'd hate to put the time in just to clutter up the board.
At any rate, I wanted to at least tell the tale of Master Scourge as he never made it to the end of The Wormwood Mutiny, contrary to most people's games and apparently contrary to the original intent of the AP it seems... but it worked out just fine for us story-wise.
First off, the party composition:
Female CN Kitsune Sorcerer (Fey Bloodline)
Male CN Half-Elven Master Summoner
Male CN Human Barbarian (Invulnerable Rager & Urban Barbarian)
Female CN Elven Rogue (Scout & Knife Master)
The Sorcerer is played by a woman but the rest are men, and - be warned ahead of time - we play some pretty mature games normally, but the Skull & Shackles AP offered the opportunity to really take the kid gloves off. I would hate for anyone to be offended by anything written, but this IS the rough and tumble world of Shackles pirates and most of them evil by nature to boot. Also, there may be a few instances of minor spoilers in what lies ahead.
She (the Sorcerer, her Kitsune heritage a closely guarded secret, even from the party) has become our captain and party leader by unanimous choice in large part because of what took place aboard the Wormwood, how she was challenged and rose to meet it, going from victim to victor after taking things in her own hands. She really developed both as a player and a character in that first book and her personal battle with Master Scourge was a big part of it.
Scourge was apparently a bit of a lecher (we all read the AP's once we've finished them) and Sze-Suin (the Sorcerer, pronounced 'szay-swan') was created as a particularly alluring woman with the kind of beauty that would make most men and even a few women look twice and linger. That was played up early on when the group was first brought on deck and put through the rigging test... Scourge, who's interest in the girl had first sparked during the previous night's reveries, was seen murmuring to Plugg who looked rather annoyed, but then announced Sze-Suin would be relegated to the kitchens - his reasoning as we discovered later on being that her physical appearance might prove distracting (or overly tempting) to the male crew on deck and might be a source of contention between her and some of the female members as well. Plugg was not normally given to such forethought but Scourge had asked him as a favor to put her where he alone could prey upon what she had to offer. In our game the lecherous nature of Scourge was played up, but by contrast Plugg seemed utterly indifferent to them and was equally cruel to either men or women who came under his charge.
Sandara was the first to warn Sze-Suin of Scourge's interest and possible attentions, having been approached by him already. Only her status as a priestess of Besmara had stayed his hand from more aggressive affections, but the sorceress had no such protections. In our campaign Sandara became romantically involved with the Human Barbarian of the party pretty early on, a romance that bloomed in counterpoint to Scourge's predations and created a nice contrast role-playwise.
Sze-suin's first encounter with Plugg came on the third day at sea in the ship's galley while most of the crew was on deck and Kroop was passed out drunk. He cornered her with crude words no doubt meant to be sweet, and promises that life aboardship would go easier for her - like this 'coveted' position as Cook's Mate if he were to earn his favor... she made a joke, used Laughing Touch to distract and managed to slip by him while scooping up a pail of water to be brought on deck to serve the crew. She took her time with it, offering ladles full to whomever wanted them and when she finally returned to the galley Scourge was gone.
Her second encounter (apart from things like simply noticing him watching her or being the recipient of an occasional grope during the evenings revelries) took place again belowdecks on our sixth day at sea. This time he was more aggressive with his affections, cornering her when she was returning from bringing Hartshorn a small sack of live crabs that she had pilfered; Kroop had told her of his fondness for them when she had commented on his ill treatment the day before. This time she took a risk to get free, successfully casting Charm Person on him and telling him of a bottle of brandy that Jaundiced Jape had stolen from the mess (he had told her he had it to share when he had propositioned her earlier). The spell, the relatively minor concern of the theft and his propositioning of someone Scourge considered 'his' was enough to send the boatswain off in search of the half-orc, and earned the crewman more than a few lashes the next day.
Things went relatively smoothly after that, Scourge keeping his distance a bit as he began to suspect that he had been enspelled. There was also the distraction of the storm, the reefclaw attack, etc. Scourge seemed more focused on making our Barbarian's life hell with daily duty in the bilges - apparently intent on making life miserable out of spite over his relationship with Sandara after she had rejected him. Plugg as well seemed to prefer the Barbarian be kept out of sight, apparently viewing him as a potential rival whom had gained the Captain's favor, first by bringing back the reefclaws for his supper and then by excelling during boarding drills. With everything else going on his interest in Sze-suin was almost forgotten until the 15th night at sea.
That night her guard had been down, and she had been left alone in the galley to clean up after the evening meal, Kroop insensible and sleeping off his latest indulgence. Scourge had left Kipper to watch the door from outside and he had entered the galley on pretense of business for the captain... but seized her and grappled with her almost immediately. She had failed her rolls that day and was already fatigued, and with a strength score of 8 she had little chance of fighting him off or casting effectively in his grasp. He knew her for a spellcaster by then and gagged her with a piece of filthy cloth before he raped her.
This was to be a hugely pivotal moment in the AP for us - it finally cemented the 'us vs. them' mentality as two members of the party had been contemplating finding ways to move up in the ship's rankings rather than going off on their own, created an enmity for the entire Wormwood crew that continues to be a source of inspiration for us, and would eventually serve as a catalyst for her taking leadership of the party.
It was immediately apparent to the female members of the group what had happened - likely would have been even if the Rogue had not made a Perception check to notice Kipper standing guard outside the galley door. She told Sandara and the two approached Sze-suin, not to offer platitudes as much to confer with on what must be done about Scourge so that something like this never happen again, not to her, not to any of them. A plot was hatched to deal with him once and for all.
Scourge was mildly concerned that she would make trouble for him by reporting the assault - after all, there were other women aboard amongst the ship's officers and rape wasn't normally a thing tolerated amongst the crew - but she did nothing of the sort. In fact she surprised him by smiling shyly when next the crossed paths and giving him solicitous if demure looks during dinner. Male ego being what it is, he decided that he had won her over with his brutish masculinity and began to plan his next 'encounter' with her... that was to take place the next night, our 17th at sea.
Rosie made sure that she pulled crow's nest duty that evening, more to keep watchful eyes from the post than to oversee anything herself. At Sandara's request - and without knowing why - our Barbarian challenged Jaundiced Jape to an arm wrestling competition after dinner when the crew was already well in their cups, Scourge included. He was told that it didn't matter whether he won or lost, but to heighten the drama and prolong the match for as long as he was able. As everyone gathered 'round to watch, Sze-Suin subtly beckoned the boatswain from the crowd and led him back to the galley where her assault had taken place, where Sandara and our Rogue were already lieing in wait. Almost as soon as he entered and the door closed behind him, she turned and cast Color Spray which succeeded in stunning him, and Sandara immediately cast a readied Silence Spell before barring the door. The Rogue meanwhile stepped up and used her sneak attack to stab him repeatedly, blood-thirsty thing that she is, and two such attacks were all that was needed to have him bleeding out.
There was a piece of canvas laid out on the floor where he had entered, to catch the blood that was sure to spill and as he collapsed onto it, Sze-suin stood over him, telling him quietly that he would never hurt another woman on this ship or anywhere else while Sandara murmured to him that Besmara has a special place in the deeps awaiting those whom had betrayed their shipmates. As Sandara and the Rogue hastily wrapped him in the canvas and weighted him down, Sze-suin turned to Kroop who had witnessed all in a drunken stupor and said something to the effect of 'listen to me you rum-sodden sack of guts - you snored on not ten feet away as that animal violated me... if you breathe a word of this - a WORD - I promise you there are others on this crew who will send you to the bottom after him'. He nodded feebly, cowed by a particularly good Intimidate roll and didn't move from his spot while the women carried their canvas-wrapped burden from the galley and - aided by the distraction of the arm-wrestling match - were able to dispose of Scourge's body over the side. They then rejoined the rest of the crew one at a time as to escape notice.
The next day when Scourge's disappearance was noted, it began a firestorm of an investigation, one that involved lashing the majority of the crew under Plugg's watchful eye... the first mate naturally suspected that his 'new recruits' were somehow involved, but the investigations and interrogations yielded nothing and eventually Harrigan was forced to conclude that Scourge had gotten too drunk and gone overboard in his stupor. Plugg was not convinced. Patch Patchsalt was named Scourge's replacement and began to keep a very close watch on the PC's (and their 'allies' in Sandara and Rosie Cuswell) while she and Plugg began to plot their removal... eventually culminating in the assault in the bilges, which is a story for another day.
At any rate, Patchsalt was a perfectly viable villain and filled in admirably for Scourge in the mutiny that was to come. The actions of Scourge, his murder and the investigation that came afterwards served to galvanize the PC's into a cohesive group, one that looked to Sze-suin for leadership, first as a figurehead or mascot of sorts, and then in truth as she proved equal to the task. That loyalty and obedience set the tone for their eventual roles aboard their own ship and continues to pay dividends in our play.
That's pretty nasty. Sounds like you have some awesome roleplayers in your group!
Yeah, its going pretty well. Sze-Suin used Kroop's fear of her and his guilt over doing nothing to help her, she's been able to get him (mostly) off the sauce and he's become a valuable member of the crew, offering a number of insights from a lifetime spent on the high seas.
Our GM's all about character motivations, both PC and NPC.
Woah. Definitely further than we go in our games...but it's *very* good stuff. I, for one, will read your journals if you post them.
M
Woah. Definitely further than we go in our games...but it's *very* good stuff. I, for one, will read your journals if you post them.
M
Well, its not like its a common occurrence, but what makes our group a good one - in my opinion - is people don't complain when bad things happen to them (like favorite magic items or property taken away or destroyed, favored NPC's killed, etc.), they use it as character development or plot motivation.
I'd be interested in writing a journal, but as you can see I tend to get long-winded and wanted to make sure it would be worth doing. I like talking about our games, but I like hearing comments on them as well, and hearing other people's experiences or what they did in the same circumstance. We've had some really great moments so far in this AP, and I'm sure others have as well.
Our female player (Sze-Suin's player) in particular has really blossomed in this AP. She's been pretty mousey up to this point but has really shown a vicious cutthroat streak as our captain which we're all enjoying. Her characters are always female and almost always favor female romantic involvements though she herself has never pursued such a thing - I bring it up because she and Tessa Fairwind have gotten VERY close, and the two of them have forged quite the alliance.
She's not our only star though. The Master Summoner (who's player is relatively introverted) has saved our buts more times than I can count while me (the Barbarian) and the Rogue, we tend to be the ones getting our hands dirty.
I'll trade you. I've been trying to cover our S&S sessions (and other games we play) on our blog. I'm a little behind on some of the day-to-day early sessions on Wormwood. If you want to see just the S&S stuff, and not everything else, just click on the S&S tag.
http://vancouverwagamers.wordpress.com/
As I said, ours have been a bit more tame (even though we *did* have a murder and coverup), but I'm very happy about the interactions of my group with the likes of Aretta (the victim of the aforementioned murder, though she well deserved it) and Slippery Syl (she's rather like an "out" Dexter in my game and is like a puppydog toward Valana now for having committing the aforementioned murder).
I'd definitely be interested in reading your logs and would comment if I can. Would you be using a blog? Our game blog (which is a work-in-progress if you can't tell) is intended to share our gaming with others...but also as a place for our GMs to post recaps for the players to read. We used to just send e-mail but figured this was better...
M
I'll trade you. I've been trying to cover our S&S sessions (and other games we play) on our blog. I'm a little behind on some of the day-to-day early sessions on Wormwood. If you want to see just the S&S stuff, and not everything else, just click on the S&S tag.
http://vancouverwagamers.wordpress.com/
As I said, ours have been a bit more tame (even though we *did* have a murder and coverup), but I'm very happy about the interactions of my group with the likes of Aretta (the victim of the aforementioned murder, though she well deserved it) and Slippery Syl (she's rather like an "out" Dexter in my game and is like a puppydog toward Valana now for having committing the aforementioned murder).
I'd definitely be interested in reading your logs and would comment if I can. Would you be using a blog? Our game blog (which is a work-in-progress if you can't tell) is intended to share our gaming with others...but also as a place for our GMs to post recaps for the players to read. We used to just send e-mail but figured this was better...
M
I figured I would just post here as I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to blogs or managing a third party site.
From what I've heard, Vancouver has a really great gamer population - you're fortunate as decent games and decent players can be as difficult to find down here as snow.
I like your fleshing out of the other crew members of the Wormwood... I would have liked to have had a little more on each of them, but I suppose it worked out as we had just enough to work with. Was it just me, or was there an abnormally large number of female pirates aboardship? Pirating always seemed to me to be a masculine pursuit with all the pillaging and raping and conquest, with female pirates extraordinarily rare... but then again, in worlds where people can sling fireballs, fly and summon demons to do their bidding, I suppose female pirates aren't that big a stretch for the imagination.
I'll definitely read through your blog, but I have to be careful as we're only just beginning the Island of Empty Eyes... unfortunately I'd have to type our log up from game notes, so they'd be a little while in coming.
Managing a blog on Wordpress is actually pretty easy. Give it a go sometime if you have a few minutes. It's free unless you want huge storage or lots of features so there's no risk. You can delete it if you decide to not do it.
Vancouver/Portland does have some *awesome* gamers. It's sometimes hard to find them, however, and there are a *lot* of flaky people hereabouts. Our three regulars, me included, are pretty much always there. We've been having trouble finding stable players beyond that base, however. Hoping our new guy works out.
I tried to pick one thing about each and emphasize that, at the risk of cliche: Fipps is food-motivated, Syl is psycho-killer, Concho is a dog, etc. It worked okay but I would have liked a bit more depth.
Yeah, there were a lot of women...but Golarion is more egalitarian than ours, apparently. I'm okay with that. Our group of characters is 3/5 female, so we're over-representing too.
You guys are ahead of us so you shouldn't find any spoilers on our blog, I think. Looking forward to reading more about your campaign.
M