Alternate PC background / start? (spoilers greatly appreciated)

[Kazred]

I'm going to be GMing this AP in a couple of weeks -- I had to order WWM from my LGS and haven't had a chance to read it yet. From the player's guide, I'm inferring that the PCs are already supposed to be piratey types when they're pressed into the crew of the Wormwood. Would it break the AP to change that?

Here's what I'm considering: I want to include elements cribbed from The Count of Monte Cristo (and other Dumas novels) into the story. More specifically, the PCs would be from Cheliax -- either nobles that got on the wrong side of House Thrune, or commoners wrongly convicted of some crime. The idea is to add some additional motivation for the PCs to become big shots in the Shackles, so that they can eventually use their wealth and power to get revenge on whoever it was that did them wrong -- either after the AP is complete or via digressions from the main plot. I also think it would add some fun to part 1 as they would not be used to life at sea. Of course, the *players* understand that this is a pirate-themed campaign (I have some great RPers on board), but the PCs would initially be very reluctant buccaneers.

I would start the players on a prison ship bound for a Cheliaxian penal colony somewhere (Arcadia?). They escape while the ship is in port for supplies, only to be pressed into service aboard the Wormwood. Would it make any sense for a Cheliax-flagged vessel to make a stopover in Port Peril? Is it essential to begin in Port Peril, or can I substitute another city? Any recommendations?

Also, can someone describe the role Cheliax plays in later parts of the AP (if any)?

I don't mind if this would take a little extra work in the beginning -- I just want to avoid painting myself into a corner later on in the AP (especially if I choose to run books 2-6 more-or-less as presented).

Thanks for your help.

[Carter Lockhart]

I haven't read more than the first book, but I would think an official Cheliax ship stopping in Port Peril would be odd. I think if you have the ship taken down by the wormwood and the former prisoners pressed into service it would work out all well.

I don't think it would take too much work really, in some ways I think it makes the first book work better. The PCs aren't sailors so of course they're picked on mercilessly by the crew of the Wormwood. It also makes the 20 days at see more interesting from an IC perspective, learning and struggling to be a sailor and finding out how everything works, who they can get to know and trust and who they have to watch out for.

[Trinite]

If it's spoilers ye want, then it's spoilers ye shall have, matey!

Cheliax is the main antagonist of the AP. The plot centers around a plot by Cheliax to invade the Shackles. In the Golarion setting, Cheliax has been in a constant state of hostility to the Shackels for a long time, and has attempted to invade (and failed) twice before.

So it would not make sense for a Chelaxian slave ship to dock in the Shackles. At least, they wouldn't do so openly. Perhaps you could have the slave ship be driven into the Shackles by bad weather, and then attempt to dock for supplies while concealing its identity. That could be interesting. If the PCs have a special grudge against Cheliax, that could be a good hook for the later plot of the AP.

But moreover, the AP definitely does not presume that the PCs necessarily have any initial desire to be pirates, or that they have any nautical background. Over the course of the first book, they are basic crew members. They will be learning how to work on a ship and perform basic tasks. There will be plenty of opportunity for them to roleplay being landlubbers just learning the ropes for the first time.

In my campaign, I illustrated that they were learning how to be sailors by giving them free extra ranks in Profession (sailor) whenever they were extremely successful in their shipboard tasks.

[Trinite]

Carter Lockheart's suggestion of having the slave ship get directly attacked by the Wormwood on the high seas would also work very well.

If you do go with this plan, I would also recommend that you play up the Chelaxian menace in other ways in the first couple of books. Captain Harrigan, the captain of the Wormwood, is secretly a traitor working with Cheliax. As-written, the PCs shouldn't discover this until book 5, though. But you could start dropping a few hints.

I had Mister Plugg, the Wormwood's First Mate and the main antagonist of the first book, be a secret Chelish agent (and worshipper of the archdevil Mammon). The PCs couldn't discover the full details of his plot, but they found a variety of strange clues that will become important a few books later.

[Kazred]

Trinite wrote:

In my campaign, I illustrated that they were learning how to be sailors by giving them free extra ranks in Profession (sailor) whenever they were extremely successful in their shipboard tasks.

I was thinking of doing something similar actually.

Thank you for the information... I think I might have stumbled on something that'll work very nicely for a long-term campaign.

[Kazred]

Yeah, I kind of like the idea of having the PC's ship "liberated" by the Wormwood. One hitch though: If Harrigan is a Chelaxian spy, would he attack a ship flying their colors? He might, if he's scummy enough.

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

My opening had the PCs on a legitimate trading vessel that gets destroyed by a Chelish capital ship, the PCs float on a dingy for days before getting grabbed by the Wormwood.

[Uri Meca]

A++ for referencing Dumas! :-D Your spin is entirely workable with not-too-much modification, I think.

It is not at all essential that the PCs be press-ganged specifically at the Formidably Maid in Port Peril. It does not have to be the Formidably Maid. It does not have to be Port Peril.

Spoiler:

Port Peril does come into play in Parts 3, 5 and 6. However, absolutely none of that builds on any previous visit to the port and you will be hard-pressed to find another reference to the Formidably Maid.

Spoiler:

Part 6 villain is a Cheliax admiral of House Thrune, (Druvalia Thrune) and her fleet. Her written background, which may never see the light of day, might also somehow play to your PCs' backgrounds. She's actually playing for fairly high stakes: her soul against that of her uncle's. The PCs may well have some direct or tenuous connection to her, her uncle or their joint pact with a demon lord. Her motivation is the prestige she stands to gain should she succeed in bringing the Shackles to heel. But perhaps one or more of the PCs have provided her with additional motivation to want to risk her soul in order to grant her fleet safe passage through the Eye of Abendego to swiftly catch the PCs off guard in the Shackles?

Dumas-ian revenge tales demand extreme methods! Good luck!

[vikingson]

not a bad spin.
if you want the "disgraced chelian nobles"... why not have them sold by some Rahadoumi slavers (who wouldn't stand out as much in the Shackles ?)... "no we had nothing to do with their disappearance"

And of course, you can have the Rahadoumi trader plundered somewhere on the way to Peril (perhaps even giving the PCs some indication as to the fighting prowess of Harrigan and the officers), or have Harrigan take "off" the slaves as due payment for not plundering the merchant too deeply ?

[Trinite]

Maybe he raided that slave ship to maintain his cover? OR maybe...there was someone *else* on that ship that Cheliax wanted Harrigan to have as part of his crew, and figured that "liberating" him off the slave ship would be a good cover? Maybe Mister Plugg gets captured the same time as the PCs, but he gets promoted with suspicious speed?

[Fitzwalrus]

Trinite wrote:

Maybe he raided that slave ship to maintain his cover? OR maybe...there was someone *else* on that ship that Cheliax wanted Harrigan to have as part of his crew, and figured that "liberating" him off the slave ship would be a good cover? Maybe Mister Plugg gets captured the same time as the PCs, but he gets promoted with suspicious speed?

Oh, very good.

Spoiler:

The slaver could also be one of the Chelaxian ships that Harrigan "plunders" from time to time - a previously arranged method of getting supplies and reinforcements to Harrigan and the Chelaxians secretly gathering in the Shackles as part of the overall plot to invade the islands. This method gets mentioned in one of the later books, and is how Harrigan gets a lot of the supplies stockpiled at his island stronghold.