Greetings all,
My players will be learning of the whereabouts of the Crimson Fleet's hideout and I was wondering how did other DMs handle running this section of the Serpents of Scuttlecove? I imagine that having a 3D model set up is ideal but were there anything else you choose to do to make it more memorable or to facilitate your job as a DM?
I have already converted all of the denizens to PFRPG, including Harliss herself as well (I made her a variant of the Aldori Swordlord prestige class) and I am looking at changing one of the Crimson Fleet captains into a musket-wielding gunslinger instead since it is thematically appropriate to have a sharpshooter on top of that 30 foot tall tower.
I appreciate any advice, feedback, and ideas others may have. My players' party composition includes an elven gunslighter/synthesist, an undine world walker/nature warden (whose animal companion is a t-rex), a human seeker sorcerer, and an olman oracle with the Life mystery.
CB out.
Black Bard did it here too... Link
I have viewed those threads before and they are indeed quite educational on constructing the 3D model.
What I was hoping for, and I apologize if I was not clear enough in the opening post, was advice and explanation of how other DMs ran that adventure, particularly with how they handled the PCs assaulting the Crimson Fleet base.
For example, did you run the pirates as realistically as possible? (i.e., the pirates reacted as a whole to the invading PCs, with the ones based in the piers converging on the PCs while the ones on the ships took to the siege weapons) Did you alter the magical defenses of the base or allowed some leeway for the PCs to find the base? Did you change any of the named NPCs? Did you construct the secret cave of the Seventh Coil, in case your players decide to track down the Seventh when it tries to escape? And so forth.
I know it seems like a rather large amount of details and information that I am trying to gather from people, but feel free to reply with whatever you want to share, small or big. I think running this particular adventure should be as memorable as I can make it for my players and if I can get a sense of how it turned out for other groups, then I can do a better job as a DM.
Of course, if I can, I will try to build a 3D-model of the base. I'm not exactly a handy-man but I'm not above asking for help if need be. I know my limitations, lol.
CB out.
What I noticed running this adventure was that the players had no problem at all with the pirates. The captains and the other leaders made for the interesting fight.
I did not change the magical protection. PCs have a lot of ways to circumvent it.
Please also note that the traps are a nice touch, but at this level the PCs probably will be flying. If you want extra protection, include one or two flying monsters. Check out Strike on the rabid dawn (dungeon 111) if you have that. Not only it can be used as a nice sidetrek or as an extra guardian ship, but you will also find ideas here for high-level defenses in the air and under water.
And adding a storm is also a good idea to make things exciting.
Thanks for the idea, Luna.
My players are only 1 session away from arriving at the Wreck and I haven't even started building it yet but that is o.k. since I am probably going to run it a month or two from now (work and life gets in the way of having a steady gaming session at this juncture so we make do).
I did most of the conversion into PF with only a few hiccups.
I am mostly done my conversion for Into The Maw, which required some fiddling here and there. For my PF Savage Tide adventure path, I have a total of three players (used to be four, but that player is effectively out of touch - so they got an npc substitute that focuses on healing), plus generally one npc that I run, but they have been accumulating allies, like Harliss Javell, so they are currently looking at a group of five characters, possible six by next session, at assaulting the Crimson Fleet pirates. Of course, that does not count animal companions, familiars, and possible summoned allies. So it's bound to be a big massive battle or a series of hit and run. It all depends on how much they underestimate the Fleet.
CB out.
Good luck with running the wreck. I would like to hear how it went.
Thank you for your feedback, Mr. Vincent.
I'm trying to see how feasible it would be for me to print out the map to scale, by ensuring that each square on the printed colour map is two inches. According to my initial calculations, that is 91 pages to print, cut, and paste onto foamcore. Luckily, I know someone who works in a supply centre so I might get a decent discount. If not, then using the battlemat shall suffice. I endorse the philosophy of "go big or go home," so either I build it in all of its glory or I do not. Either way, I still intend to run the remainder of that encounter.
Cheers!
CB out.
Turns out that I didn't have to build the Wreck. The party storm druid, while scouting on her own in wildshaped form and invisible with true seeing up, stumbled upon the Wreck by herself from the south side. Thanks to the Control Weather spell she had previously cast, the torrential rain was obscuring anyone's line of sight to her. 5 Control Winds, 4 Siroccos, and 1 Whirlwind later, after a few minutes of punishing hurricane winds, the majority of the base was nothing more than a pile of debris and rubble. Only the stone tower and the massive tree itself was still standing.
And yes, I realised afterwards that the pirates could have used dispel magic to get rid of the winds, weather, whirlwind, and etc. Luckily, the majority of the captains and the 7th Coil members survived to return fire once the campaign resumes again later this month (who knew that the scrolls of teleport the 7th Coil all had would come in handy?).
CB out.