| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Hey all,
I want to run Skulls and Shackles much like a sandbox game, as it does allow with its vast amount of information, story, creatures and lore.
The main way i've kept them from going deeper into the Shackles is by telling them that many powerful captains are in the Shackles. If they lack the title of Free Captain then they will get quickly hunted down.
Now they are about to enter Tempest Rising which gives them the opportunity to become Free Captains. While I could hurry them down the path I would like them to go and enjoy the Shackles a bit more. What i'm worried about though is that they may conflict with the future books in the series or other encounters that may happen. With islands like "Cannibal Island" and "Raptor Island" it's hard to resist the urge to crack open the Isles of the Shackles books and run some stories there.
Do you guys have any tips for running the game much more as a sandbox and tips on how the PC's should travel?
I'm about to get started with book two, and I've had a few ideas on how to handle the sandbox thing.
Which is mostly just toss out adventure hooks as tavern chatter and see which ones they want to investigate.
And also since most of my players read the Isles of the Shackles book, (It doesn't have any spoilers for the adventure path) It gave them an idea of what cool places they might want to visit. It also gave them a healthy respect of some of the pirate lords that later will pop up.
Plus my PCs got really involved with with some of their crew, so some of their background info will lead them to the different islands. Sandara is from Hell Harbor and started the Chapel to Besmara there, someone could contact her and need her to come back. (provided she is still with the crew)
Also ships need to refuel with fresh fruit or water, or the crew just wants to unwind with a beach party or the ship gets blown off course by a storm.
But I'm sure if you've gone through book two, you have already done most of these sort of things. So I could only say keep doing the same just make the destination pertain to the isles in the shackles.
Hey all,
I want to run Skulls and Shackles much like a sandbox game, as it does allow with its vast amount of information, story, creatures and lore.
The main way i've kept them from going deeper into the Shackles is by telling them that many powerful captains are in the Shackles. If they lack the title of Free Captain then they will get quickly hunted down.
Now they are about to enter Tempest Rising which gives them the opportunity to become Free Captains. While I could hurry them down the path I would like them to go and enjoy the Shackles a bit more. What i'm worried about though is that they may conflict with the future books in the series or other encounters that may happen. With islands like "Cannibal Island" and "Raptor Island" it's hard to resist the urge to crack open the Isles of the Shackles books and run some stories there.
Do you guys have any tips for running the game much more as a sandbox and tips on how the PC's should travel?
We did something similar - helped the rebels on Bag Island overthrow their corrupt Halfling ruler (a cousin of Rosie's thrice-removed), aided the Master of Gales who was being manipulated by the Cult of the Eye into ending the ever-present hurricane and had Sandara go on a quest to regain Besmara's favor...
My favorite thing about AP's is that they do so much work for you, freeing you up to add and enhance the story as you like. If I had to write the campaign from scratch, so much that we do would never have made it in.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
There's a few NPC's who'll be important later on. Befriending, killing or otherwise seriously interacting with these will require some rewriting of the later parts:
Tessa Fairwind is set to become an ally of the PC's.
Kerdak Bonefist and his crew is set to become an enemy, allthough he should not be atagonized to early. It is after all him who'll grant them the title of Free Captain.
The Master of the Gales should be kept on somkewhat good terms, or at least neutral.
Arronax Endymion of Hells Harbour is a potentiel red herring and suspect Chelian spy, so should be kept at a distance.
And of course Barnabas Harrigan is a recurring villain, so he should survive.
It'll be to early for them to entrench themself permanently. If they set up a base, it should be kept minor and relatively unimportant. Apart from that, have fun!
Hey guys, thanks for the reply.
Other than NPC's is there any islands the party should not travel to due to it clashing with later story hooks and so on? I know at the end of Tempest rising they get an island which makes up a lot of the next book so that would probably be unsuitable for them to visit.
Probably the best way for you to know is to read the rest of the books. If you are GMing it it should be the first thing you should do anyway. There are a lot of NPC backstories (harrigan and bonefist) that are not mentioned until book 5 and 6, also book 5 and 6 give the background and motivations for the whole campaign arc.
As for islands they should not go, you need to read the book the are in now Tempest rising as there is a lot of and island hopping in there.
But for the most of it most of the Shackles is fair game.
I shall say it again just for reference...read all 6 books and make notes its really the only way of making sure that the players don't do anything that could ruin something later on. :)
Thanks again guys. So far i've listed for tempest rising:
Quent - Montaku
Bag Island
Devils Arches
Shark Island
Rampore
Cauldron rock for the start of the race
Coaming Point for the end of the race
Though I guess if I look into it more i'll find other places.
The cannibal isles and the eastern flavoured isles are fair game as well, they don't turn up.
If you get Dead Man's chest there is a REALLY good island adventure you could slip in called Bonjo Tomo with a HUGE demonic Gorilla, iv'e used it and It's great for a sandbox.
Hey all,
I want to run Skulls and Shackles much like a sandbox game, as it does allow with its vast amount of information, story, creatures and lore.
The main way i've kept them from going deeper into the Shackles is by telling them that many powerful captains are in the Shackles. If they lack the title of Free Captain then they will get quickly hunted down.
Now they are about to enter Tempest Rising which gives them the opportunity to become Free Captains. While I could hurry them down the path I would like them to go and enjoy the Shackles a bit more. What i'm worried about though is that they may conflict with the future books in the series or other encounters that may happen. With islands like "Cannibal Island" and "Raptor Island" it's hard to resist the urge to crack open the Isles of the Shackles books and run some stories there.
Do you guys have any tips for running the game much more as a sandbox and tips on how the PC's should travel?
We did something similar - helped the rebels on Bag Island overthrow their corrupt Halfling ruler (a cousin of Rosie's thrice-removed), aided the Master of Gales who was being manipulated by the Cult of the Eye into ending the ever-present hurricane and had Sandara go on a quest to regain Besmara's favor...
My favorite thing about AP's is that they do so much work for you, freeing you up to add and enhance the story as you like. If I had to write the campaign from scratch, so much that we do would never have made it in.
So do these extra side adventures mess with the XP progression of the main story line? I've been trying to put in side quests for my party but it seems to side track us a little too much or makes it a pain when giving out XP at the end of said side quest (aka don't want to overdue it to cause problems in the main story events).
Slow xp progression track. I literally used 3 side quest adventures and all of Savage Tide 1 and most of part 2. We then moved on to part 2 of the AP. They are right where they need to be. I even fudged and bumped them up before slow track would have.
Just remember to nerf treasure. They have lots of master work items instead of plus items.
One solution is to read Isles of the shackles, note down who is the boss of which island, then read the rest of the AP's noting who features?
That way you know where you can have fun, and where you might screw up the AP.
DBH