So after more than a year we are set to begin next week. I am really excited. First let me thank those who have added tweaks and suggestions our game will benefit from what I have learned here. I will let you know how they will play out.
I welcome any last minute tips.
About one hour before start.
Any 11th hour advice.
I will let you know how it goes.
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About one hour before start.
Any 11th hour advice.
I will let you know how it goes.
Just a couple of quick suggestions:
Do away with the Rum Rations and the Bloody Hour. Feel free to allow the penalties for too much rum to affect the players should they over-indulge and feel free to have the PC's or NPC's whipped bloody when the situation warrants it, but make it more organic.
Do what you can to keep the players alive til the end of book 1, its very difficult to replace characters 'in-story' until then.
Avoid using the botfly swarms on the island unless your party is specifically equipped to deal with them - they can really take down a low level group with no defenses.
My two biggest pieces of advice for moving along the storyline:
1) Encourage a mutiny before the Man's Promise gets shipwrecked, and use Sandara's kidnapping as an excuse to get them to the island - if she's romantically involved with one of the PC's by then so much the better.
2) Have Aron Ivey alive and well and fending for his life in the stockade. His presence allows the PC's to get learn all of the backstory surrounding the Infernus which is great and he can become a valuable NPC from there onward. Much of fishguts advice actually came from Ivey in our campaign and he was a non-combatant ship's carpenter who aided and oversaw repairs and eventually became a shipwright (once he lost his leg) who supervised the construction of our flagship int he later books. Great resource there - in our campaign he told us about the wreck of the Infernus and that there was likely a store of water-breathing potions still aboard which eventually made our assault on the underwater caverns much more survivable.
This was the best campaign/AP we've ever played. If I can offer up any advice, don't hesitate to ask here or message me privately, though it was Story Archer who actually ran it as our GM and her insights might be better.
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Ran my first Session on Friday, my group (who likes combat more than RP I feel) absolutely loved the interactions aboard the ship. Here are some things I ran into.
Pre-generate day jobs for each of the other crew members, my PCs asked almost everyday who they were working with.
Figure out which NPCs will be gambling on the boat. One of my PCs became a bookie.
Figure out the ship policy on weapons, I told my players that they should feel like they are in prison with respect to weapons. Once they go through boarding training they would be allowed to open carry weapons, as long as they pass.
Figure out the DCs for Diplomacy, Stealth (for rum and sneaking), And figure out what is locked where.
Remember what rooms have in them if searched (galley and Bilges have many items the players can find when they search)
My players had a rivalry going from day one, it provided an outlet to point their frustrations. Lucky for me, Aretta Bansion just happened to be working with the PCs almost every day. During the storm, she mysteriously vanished.
Know what the penalties are for doing certain things (my players liked to hold onto their rum and try and sell it later. This is worth 3 lashes of the Cat I believe).
Maybe bump up the power of Owlbear. He fought against our party monk and was dropped in one round. If I run it again I would make him a Barbarian.
Use the NPCs as an outlet for the rumors on the ship. Things like finding out that Grok is Superstitious, or that some people like certain things. Running some diplomacy checks for the PCs ship actions helped them figure out some of the more arcane nuances of the crew.
Print out Summaries of the ship actions w/o the DCs listed. This would have been extremely helpful, but I ran out of time to do it.
Maybe provide a list of the NPCs with their short descriptions, that would provide the players with their descriptions rather than having to keep asking.
My players were very paranoid that they would fall victim to a "soap party." I might actually use that one night after the hostile people can no longer be influenced.
Remember to roll for fatigue if your crew does any work at night. One of my PCs hated being a swab so he tried showing off to get bumped up to rigger. For the most part my PCs have been trying to impress the officers.
Afraid that is all the insight I can muster for now. My Group got to Day 8 in a 6 hour session. Now that they have been introduced to the crew and know the routines, I am sure the remaining days will be streamlined. and pass by rather quickly.
Sounds like we will be running around the same time frame, I look forward to seeing what comes up in your game as opposed to mine.
We are on bonewrack Island now and have played eight Sessions of four hours.
My players love to roleplay every detail. This takes a Lot of time but is pure fun!
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Well we had a great time with the session. The fatigue effects, knowledge and heal checks made them wary of the rum. There is a Druid and a Caiden cleric in our bunch so they are already being termed "scroll" thumpers. This will turn on them. But so far it has been good. I am moving in waves Plugg and Scourge are pricks. To they don't like you stage. The are moving into the trying to royally screw you phase.
The bloody hour I liked because I used Dudemiester's clock idea. The clock requires punishment one of the reasons such sick jerks dole out the punishments.
High points. One of our group Urdnot our barbarian is a half orc. When Cutthroat met him she made a passing joke about hooking up. She fully expected it to be ignored. He looked at the gross picture of her and made it clear he would be into it. He rolled diplomacy and hit pretty high I figured not many pirates are trying to hook up with her. So he has been shacking up with her. This also will pass. They were without the barbarian for the day two welcome fist fight cause he was sleeping with Grok.
Our merry band not only got Rosie's violin back but stole Cronchobar's lute and tossed in the bilges.
Our ugly swine goblin befriended Owlbear.
Do you have any kind of penalties for spell-casting on board the ship? When I was reading I did not see anything mentioned about it. I may have just missed it.
I don't have my books handy, but IIRC I don't think there is a specific ban on spellcasting onboard the Wormwood, but judging by accounts posted here a lot of GMs (myself included) have imposed one. There is a DC check mentioned to cast a spell without being noticed (as there is for dumping the rum ration) so the inference is there that spellcasting without permission is frowned upon. You can rationale this however you like (worry about new "recruits" having unknown capabilities that could be used against the ship or crew, Peppery Longfarthing not wanting the competition, whatever) but such a restriction makes sense until a new crewmember has shown they can be "trusted" not to go against Harrigan or his officers. A specific punishment is pretty much up to you, but I would suggest it be at least as severe as that for dumping the rum ration.
In my case I made it plain that spellcasting without permission was banned, and it has worked out well so far. My PCs have talked their way out of repercussions after one use during the "Laying Down the Law" scrimmage, and then asked permission to heal Owlbear after that fight. It's no secret on the Wormwood that a couple of them have magical abilities, but so far they're being circumspect.
Well we had a great time with the session. The fatigue effects, knowledge and heal checks made them wary of the rum. There is a Druid and a Caiden cleric in our bunch so they are already being termed "scroll" thumpers. This will turn on them. But so far it has been good. I am moving in waves Plugg and Scourge are pricks. To they don't like you stage. The are moving into the trying to royally screw you phase.
The bloody hour I liked because I used Dudemiester's clock idea. The clock requires punishment one of the reasons such sick jerks dole out the punishments.
High points. One of our group Urdnot our barbarian is a half orc. When Cutthroat met him she made a passing joke about hooking up. She fully expected it to be ignored. He looked at the gross picture of her and made it clear he would be into it. He rolled diplomacy and hit pretty high I figured not many pirates are trying to hook up with her. So he has been shacking up with her. This also will pass. They were without the barbarian for the day two welcome fist fight cause he was sleeping with Grok.
Our merry band not only got Rosie's violin back but stole Cronchobar's lute and tossed in the bilges.
Our ugly swine goblin befriended Owlbear.
I haven't read ahead more than 1 Chapter. I don't want to know too much of an AP in advance of running it or I'll get bored with running where the PCs currently are. However, a very close PC relationship with Grok could play out to a devastating twist in later editions if I understand what I've read on these boards --- as long as Grok is made to stay on the ship with Harrigan when the Wormwood and Harrigan's new ship part ways prior to the mutiny.
I haven't read ahead more than 1 Chapter. I don't want to know too much of an AP in advance of running it or I'll get bored with running where the PCs currently are. However, a very close PC relationship with Grok could play out to a devastating twist in later editions if I understand what I've read on these boards --- as long as Grok is made to stay on the ship with Harrigan when the Wormwood and Harrigan's new ship part ways prior to the mutiny.Well we had a great time with the session. The fatigue effects, knowledge and heal checks made them wary of the rum. There is a Druid and a Caiden cleric in our bunch so they are already being termed "scroll" thumpers. This will turn on them. But so far it has been good. I am moving in waves Plugg and Scourge are pricks. To they don't like you stage. The are moving into the trying to royally screw you phase.
The bloody hour I liked because I used Dudemiester's clock idea. The clock requires punishment one of the reasons such sick jerks dole out the punishments.
High points. One of our group Urdnot our barbarian is a half orc. When Cutthroat met him she made a passing joke about hooking up. She fully expected it to be ignored. He looked at the gross picture of her and made it clear he would be into it. He rolled diplomacy and hit pretty high I figured not many pirates are trying to hook up with her. So he has been shacking up with her. This also will pass. They were without the barbarian for the day two welcome fist fight cause he was sleeping with Grok.
Our merry band not only got Rosie's violin back but stole Cronchobar's lute and tossed in the bilges.
Our ugly swine goblin befriended Owlbear.
Yes. Having a PC in a relationship with Grok can provide a HUGE hook against Harrigan later on
In another thread folks have wondered how to make Harrigan truly hateful - this is one of the best ones in the adventure, although it is a seed that will only bear fruit much later on.
I understand the problem of DM boredom waiting for your group to advance to later, more challenging modules, but I think this AP in particular has so many opportunities for "loopback" plot points that it really needs the DM to be at least generally familiar with the overall campaign story in order to make the most of it. You don't have to memorize the whole thing (I know I certainly couldn't pull that off) but I think both you and your players will enjoy the AP much more if you read ahead so you can tie bits together rather than just throwing them at your players as they happen. You may also want to modify the storyline to suit your own group's style (as a lot of posters here have done) and a good general knowledge of the entire plot is key in that case.
Good luck! :D
Yes I know Grok's future is grim.
She may not survive having a close relationship with our party.
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Another hilarious moment was Jack Scrimshaw hitting on one of the PCs. I played him like Mclovin from Superbad. He is nervous but brash. Trying to play tough in front of the other pirates. So when the Druid asked how someone so young got on board I said the best pick up line I could.
Oh he rolled a Nat 20 on the diplomacy.
I was thinking of some post AP adventures with a rezzed and altered Harriman. Maybe even taking the action to Hell.
Update!!!
We are having a great time. The mutiny went smoth like most campaigns I have seen it was early, before Bonewrack. They picked their captain:
Captain Tassalar- "Blue Elf"
1st Mate Rosie Cusswell- Halfling Dervish of Dawn Bard 2
Bosun Urdnot- Half-orc Fighter 1/Barbarian (Invulnerable Rager)1
Mistress of Sail Sayah "Stareyes" Malone- Sylph Sorceress 2
Quartermaster Grum Poisonstabby- GOBLIN (yes I said Goblin) Rogue 2
Kelly "Bones"- Undine Cleric of Cayden Caliele 2
They named the ship the Wavedancer. I am not overstressing squibbing YET.
They had a grand celebration after Pluggs demise. They made the call to go to Bloodcove (I am departing from the AP ever so slightly). On the way they dealt with storm and Grindylow attack. After the Grindylowes the Ghost of Cantankerous Kincade Malone, Sayah's father (Added in addendem to side trek "Dead Man's Quest" from Dragon Mag). They are in sight of Bonewrack have to face the perils of the rest of the side trek. Before learning that some of their crew is taken by the Grindylows to the far side of Bonewrack.
Once they deal with Bonewrack they have some loose ends to deal with Kincade's remains which will bring them out of their way to Little Oppara. Here they will come to grips with the need for squibbing.