Has anyone done a 6-player conversion for the Skull & Shackles AP? There are conversions stickied in the Kingmaker AP forum and I was wondering if some might happen to be floating around here too. (Did a quick search and didn't see anything turn up.)
I currently have 6 PCs in my S&S campaign. We had a fairly long hiatus over the holidays and so haven't gotten through the first module so far (just about to find the Man's Promise) but so far the higher number of players hasn't caused any problems. I haven't done a formal "conversion" for 6 players but have more or less played it by ear - increased the number of bilge rats, added a reefclaw, stuff like that. As for XP, the module is intended for 4 players so when there's a "group" award I just divided the written award by four and then gave that much to each player. That's being a bit generous in a couple of encounters, but it seems to be working as everyone is approximately at the XP point they should be as the game progresses.
I currently have 6 PCs in my S&S campaign. We had a fairly long hiatus over the holidays and so haven't gotten through the first module so far (just about to find the Man's Promise) but so far the higher number of players hasn't caused any problems. I haven't done a formal "conversion" for 6 players but have more or less played it by ear - increased the number of bilge rats, added a reefclaw, stuff like that. As for XP, the module is intended for 4 players so when there's a "group" award I just divided the written award by four and then gave that much to each player. That's being a bit generous in a couple of encounters, but it seems to be working as everyone is approximately at the XP point they should be as the game progresses.
I'm not too concerned about the experience point progression, I'm actually not even keeping track of XP this time around. Just bumping the PCs up as the AP suggests. So far I've done pretty much the same as you, thrown in an extra creature to an encounter or buffed a few hit points.
I currently have 6 PCs in my S&S campaign. We had a fairly long hiatus over the holidays and so haven't gotten through the first module so far (just about to find the Man's Promise) but so far the higher number of players hasn't caused any problems. I haven't done a formal "conversion" for 6 players but have more or less played it by ear - increased the number of bilge rats, added a reefclaw, stuff like that. As for XP, the module is intended for 4 players so when there's a "group" award I just divided the written award by four and then gave that much to each player. That's being a bit generous in a couple of encounters, but it seems to be working as everyone is approximately at the XP point they should be as the game progresses.I'm not too concerned about the experience point progression, I'm actually not even keeping track of XP this time around. Just bumping the PCs up as the AP suggests. So far I've done pretty much the same as you, thrown in an extra creature to an encounter or buffed a few hit points.
I've done the "buffed hit points" in a couple of encounters. It hasn't been a major issue in this AP so far because the PCs start out minus their gear and largely unarmored (and in a water-based AP like this I don't expect to see too many suits of full plate anyway) but in other games I've been in increasing hit points for larger parties is almost mandatory. One of my players is running the same group of people (not characters ;D) through Serpent's Skull, and he mentioned to me that he has been increasing encounters and maxing hit points to keep things challenging for some time. (I think we're still in Book 3 there.)
I don't think there's a set formula for larger parties. Watch how your group performs, adjust accordingly, and don't be afraid to pile on with opponents to keep things interesting for your players if they're having too easy a time of it - or to pull your punches if it appears you may have overdone things.
I don't know how far into the AP you may have gotten, but reading ahead to Bonewrack and looking at posts here as to how tough this module is overall I think that part of the module may be challenging enough as written for 6 characters. I don't want to baby my players (they knew going in this AP was going to be different and tougher than most) but I don't want a series of TPKs either.
hmmm. Actually, if players go for larger parties, usually the skill set diversify, and a number of characters usually do not really contribute to some encounters in an effective way.
Usually I add some HP, or a "mate" to some monsters, and since I vastly prefer groups of antagonists as BBEG, not single dominant monsters, these are far more easily "adapted" by adding some HP or a bunch of single use items, which make the group stronger when things come to a crunch.
As for experience in the AP, you can both have some nasty naval encounters turn up to "bolster" the PC experience or... design (?) some outdoor situations which challenge the characters' skills and provide extra XP through resolving these ? (because the later will not necessarily provide treasure/ressources )