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So, pirates are traditionally a lusty lot, right?
I recently acquired Skull & Shackles. The two other full APs I own, and am running, are Curse of the Crimson Throne and Rise of the Runelords. Runelords is chock-full of relationship stuff, CoCT too has plenty of relationship stuff among the NPCs and fairly clear indications of possible romantic interests, eg Trinia and Vencarlo. So far, from what I've read of Skull & Shackles, all this stuff seems weirdly lacking. I've not read the whole AP yet, but I've read book 1 in full and everything seems weirdly asexual. I initially assumed, following Fritz Leiber, that 'cabin girl' meant a provider of intimate services to Captain Harrigan, but even that doesn't seem to be indicated in the text.
I was wondering if
(a) this is addressed at all elsewhere, maybe in a later book, or if there was a conscious design decision to omit it and go for more of a 'Disney theme park' feel, and
(b) What have other GMs done to fill in the blanks?
Later on the PC's will seek information in a sacred Callistra brothel, they'll encounter a Free Captain who'll shamelessly hit on anything that moves, and one of the captains of the Inner Council will promise intimate rewards if necessary.
Cabin boy is an official ship position: Cabin boy on Wikipedia
Later on the PC's will seek information in a sacred Callistra brothel, they'll encounter a Free Captain who'll shamelessly hit on anything that moves, and one of the captains of the Inner Council will promise intimate rewards if necessary.
Cabin boy is an official ship position: Cabin boy on Wikipedia
Yeah, I know what a cabin *boy* is... :p
Edit: I find the Paizo "random character gender" thing quite confusing. It's particularly bad here because they use a gendered job description, not "cabin person", say. The only place I've ever seen "cabin girl" used before was in I think 'Swords & Ice Magic' by Fritz Leiber.
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I had it implied that Harrigan was using Caulky the Cabin Girl for "intimate services" as you say. Especially since my group took it that way. And used it as more fuel for the fire against Harrigan.
But I only did so, because I knew my group could handle it. But I played Caulky more as a teenager than a young girl (which cabin girl seems to imply)
The same with Scourge and Sandara Quinn. He makes a pass at her on her first night but she rebuked him. My PC's took it that maybe he tried to rape her. So I just continued to let them think that, and used it to help make Scourge more vile.
I'm not trying to make light of these situations, especially for a roleplaying game, but I know with my group what can work and what could not.
As for relationships, for my group they just happened naturally. As they went through influencing npcs in the crew, they certainly started to develop favorites. Heck, one of my PCs set about trying to seduce the hostile npcs to turn them to her side.
So I just took my cues from them as to which npcs they would like and I tossed it out there to see if they were into having their characters have a more intimate relationship, which they all were. There are plenty of options if the PCs are interested in starting something up.
Thanks LadyIrithyl, lots of good advice. I was thinking with Sandara Quinn I would run it that it would be very much seen as taboo among the pirates to sexually assault a priestess of Besmara - and pretty much extend that to any female pirate. Basically try to get what, IRL would be a major issue, off the table as far as possible, while keeping it reasonably plausible. Of course there were female pirates IRL - the problem is more with the historically-unlikely pressganging that opens the AP, and tropes that seem to owe more to the Royal Navy than to typical piratical behaviour.
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(b) What have other GMs done to fill in the blanks?
We have a pretty mature group and we often deal with some pretty mature themes in our games (as a side note it always amuses me how Paizo tip-toes around some mature themes and embraces others with gusto). Skull n Shackles provided some unique opportunities and we took advantage of them.
It seems important for the PC's to decide ahead of time 1) who they feel about slavery and 2) exactly what they plan to do with the captured crew of defeated ships.
In our game we ran Scourge as a lecher, one whom had already been rebuffed by Sandara and let it end there due to her being a 'favored of Besmara' and his typically pirate superstitious nature. However, one of our PC's was a bewitchingly attractive and exotic Tian woman (Seasinger Bard) whom he arranged to get a 'cushy' job in the galley. He then pursued her, cornered her on two occasions and finally, frustrated, arranged a lookout while he raped her. It was an intense scene - one we didn't play through the act of, naturally - and involved a fairly new female player to the group. She and I discussed it at length ahead of time in private and she was okay with it... more than okay, she used it as a catalyst for her character to go from quiet and reserved to self-determining and empowering. The other PC's were aghast and rallied around her - the females aboard (her, Rosie, Sandara and especially our female rogue who was simply vicious) conspired and eventually succeeded in murdering Scourge and dumping his body over the side during a distraction aboard ship.
Eventually that same player became the group's captain where she brooked no slavery and no mistreatment of women, became famous in the Shackles as 'The Maiden' and legends grew about her beauty as well as the rumor that no man would have her unless he could outsail her. Their ship was named 'The Maiden's Promise' (renamed from The Man's Promise) after the promise that crew who surrendered their captains would see no harm come to them. She inspired many a mutiny and won many a crew member due to that promise. She also became a close ally and a clandestine lover of Tessa Fairwind and eventually put the Hurricane Crown on her head.
We had other issues and moments as well, but that was the most significant of them, and I can't do justice to the player that individual became for us. The other books definitely create opportunities for mature themes, but they do not directly present them as an explicit part of the campaign. As always, the AP's serve as outstanding frameworks from which you can evolve your campaign in the direction and theme you best see fit.
Thanks Story Archer, more good stuff to think about. This reminds me that when running this AP I do need to be sure to make Harrigan's officers nasty enough that the PCs would want to mutiny, given the chance, although initially it's really only Mr Plug that needs to be totally bad. Some of the stuff in Book 1 such as the deadly rum ration seemed silly, and I wasn't planning to use it; likewise probably toning down the initial harsh treatment of the new crew as it didn't make a lot of sense to me (why are pirates pressganging would-be pirates anyway? Why not just sign them on? Maybe Harrigan has acquired a bad reputation as he keeps losing his crews?) But Plug then turning into a little Hitler when given his own ship - that seemed like the kind of thing that can happen.
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Thanks Story Archer, more good stuff to think about. This reminds me that when running this AP I do need to be sure to make Harrigan's officers nasty enough that the PCs would want to mutiny, given the chance, although initially it's really only Mr Plug that needs to be totally bad. Some of the stuff in Book 1 such as the deadly rum ration seemed silly, and I wasn't planning to use it; likewise probably toning down the initial harsh treatment of the new crew as it didn't make a lot of sense to me (why are pirates pressganging would-be pirates anyway? Why not just sign them on? Maybe Harrigan has acquired a bad reputation as he keeps losing his crews?) But Plug then turning into a little Hitler when given his own ship - that seemed like the kind of thing that can happen.
I didn't use the Rum Ration at all. I also didn't use the Bloody Hour, rather instead having someone lashed the moment of the infraction unless there was a major issue in which case the crew might be assembled after the accused spent the rest of the day in the hot box.
I highly recommend that you do what you can to have the group mutiny before encountering Bonewrack Isle, have the storm come up after they'd mutiny and have them struggle with the storm undermanned before running aground - it makes more sense, especially since you have Sandara Quinn abducted (after all, she can Create Water at will).
Another big recommendation, one I've discussed at length in other posts, is that you have Arron Ivey be alive and at his wit's end. In our campaign he was able to fill the PC's in on the story of the Infernus, direct them to its wreck where potions of water-breathing could be acquired (enough for the whole party) and tell them of the Grindylows cave, intimating that they had kidnapped several members of his crew (much better lead-in than a chance observation through the looking glass). He became a part of the crew and eventually became our ship's carpenter (the role I gave him aboard the Infernus). Most of the 'advice' Fishguts is supposed to give I had come from him or Sandara.
Finally, I omitted the ghoul fever aspect of the botfly swarms, and if your party has no means of dealing with swarms, I recommend you omit them completely.
Just a few thoughts.
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I'm running this AP for an all-male group of players, but we do have one female character. Before we started, her player expressed some hesitation about running a woman in a pirate campaign. He was definitely worried about real-world historical prejudice among sailors, and may have been worried about a rape scenario. When I pointed out the gender ratio in the Wormwood's crew (about 60/40 M/F, if I recall correctly), it helped to put his mind at ease.
Two of our PCs have had consensual encounters with Wormwood crew members, but I doubt our game will ever feature rape beyond the level of implied threat (e.g.: rescued from a fate worse than death, or "Any man who tried to force his way into her bed wouldn't live to regret it").
My players were quite into the relationship side of the roleplay and several relationships have sprung up spontaneously through roleplay. We've even had a few marriages, especially after
I agree it is left out of the books mostly, but as others have said I played more on Scourge and Harrigan (and to a lesser extent Plugg) being quite lecherous and mentioned other 'lustful' activities happening between NPCs in the background.
It certainly depends on your group though, but if you feel they can handle it I'd certainly include more romance etc it adds a lot to the theme of the campaign.
My group is made up of mature players as well. In our current S&S campaign we are in book 3 now and my character is an unbelievably high charisma sorceress who has no sailing skills at all and was brought in with only a ratty loincloth and her hair to cover herself with (the only reasonable explanation is they hoped she would be shared around).
She was worthless with operating the ship (intentional, we have 8-10 pcs so we are not lacking for people to make sailing related checks) and was taken in as Harrigan's bedwarmer (for story reasons she had no problem with this, she is a very deeply messed up young tiefling who looks for all intents and purposes like a Japanese woman as a succubus). She was also shared with Plugg and Scourge once and later regularly after the ship changeover.
Among other things to come up from her is the formation of the morale Officer position (she desires to see no one raped if she can help it), mostly in the privacy of her own room (yes, she has her own), relationship with the young captain Collins (a woman formerly in disguise), and the rental of her services for price discounts at various times.
Yeah, it is always something that should be carefully handled, Nisha is definitely not a character I could or would play when there are kids around or with a group I did not know as well as I do this one.
My characters are okay with mature themes. Nothing other than seduction or romance gets roleplayed; anything carnal happens "off screen." The half-orc marine managed to enhance his efforts in getting his gear back from the quartermaster by having sex with her.
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My characters are okay with mature themes. Nothing other than seduction or romance gets roleplayed; anything carnal happens "off screen." The half-orc marine managed to enhance his efforts in getting his gear back from the quartermaster by having sex with her.
In my group it was a half-elf who seduced Cut-Throat Grok. We also had a goblin seduce one of his fellow riggers, Arretta, whose last name I forget.
Interesting :
In our own campaign (all mature players) there was a strong tendency for Scourge and Plugg to use sexual molestation both to get their way and to frighten the players. The targeted character reacted harshly to that... Harrigan and his "Cabin girl" were featured with a strong implication of being "indecent" (nothing was ever proven - mostly because Caulky was actually not a human girl in that campaign).
But there was very little regarding sexual initiative on part of the players, who were surprisingly conservative in their attitude (for pirates). Over the campaign, the mature (sexual) content faded more and more. Anything graphic was only implicated.
In my own current campaign, the characters used both sexual attraction to procure alliances from some NPCs (yes, basically at least one character wh***ed around to gain loyal devotees in preparation of the mutiny), and besides this, they got faced with Scourge mixing Conchabar's "philtre of love" into their daily rum, which made for very interesting implications, which are still affecting the party and their alliances.
There is also at least one officer who tries to "gain" a female contact in each and every port and is becoming quite notorious for it. So mature content is still pretty dominant at the moment. It's all in a good mood, mostly implications.
In a friend's campaign : their GM basically played Sandara in "ultra-slutty" mode, and practically had her throw herself at the PCs. Which led to strong group-internal complications, since two of the characters were originally intended as a couple. They had some fun scenes of "spiteful lovers" after that, and of course there was a strong motivation to actually rescue Sandara. Campaign ended prematurely on Bonewrack.
Overall : the "loveboat angle" of the first AP seems to be pretty common, at least in the circles I move in... Which again is fun.
I've thought about the Caulky angle, and haven't decided whether to play it that way or not. Right now Harrigan is aloof and it's Plugg and Sourge that are drawing the party's ire. Whether either makes a play at one of the two female PCs remains to be seen. One is married to one of the male PCs, so that will spark ire from both. The other is a changeling, so she might be able to rebuff him with her "witchy" ways and still get an overall "ick factor" to raise the level of loathing for the two officers.
I took a bit of a different turn with my relationships angle onboard the Wormwood.
First, I traded Mr. Plugg, for Master Scourge when the subject of Sandara Quinn comes up. A Captain (Plugg tries to become one later as the group takes over the Man's Promise)is a little more refined, genteel type character. His evil must be sinister and in the shadows, so I turned him into "that guy", the one who wants, but cannot have Sandara, and cannot understand the message. Sandara has become involved with a tiefling player character, which drives up the tension factor, and makes a valid reason why accidents start happening to the group.Second, Master Scourge as a lecher is weak. I made Master Scourge more into a violent animal. The brute force of the Captain's intentions and/or commands. First for Harrigan, then for Plugg, Scourge is the rod that takes measure of the crew. He is paranoid and psychotic, imagining the entire crew is about to mutiny at any moment, he cracks down hard on any infringement of the rules. He lays out punishment regularly and shows obvious favoritism amongst the crew. I found my
group actually hates him even more.Third, I did not go into graphic scenes of violence, but I left behind evidence that females onboard are expected to be willing to capitulate with multiple members of the crew(Rosie, and Grok) Harrigan & Scourge both took their turns with Caulkey, the cabin girl, before the first week was up on the Wormwood. Finding the cabin girl shred of clothing and covered in her own blood from the hips down, was evidence enough that Scourge & Harrigan went too far. The players were wont to mutiny without the support of the rest of the crew by the 3rd session. The real play will be the upcoming session. Plugg invited a gunslinger(new player - started late)onboard out of fascination with guns...the player will find out rapidly that Plugg's fascination extends to other things as well.
I like your approach to Plugg and Scourge. I don't think I'd have female crew being raped though, it doesn't fit with the highly integrated nature of the crew, and would be terrible for crew performance. Most of my player groups would be seriously unhappy with it OOC, too - that would also be true for rape of captives, though that is much more plausible. The AP seems to treat male and female genders as entirely interchangeable, and basically sexless, which raises its own problems, but it'd be easy to go too far the other way.
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I like your approach to Plugg and Scourge. I don't think...I took a bit of a different turn with my relationships angle onboard the Wormwood.
First, I traded Mr. Plugg, for Master Scourge when the subject of Sandara Quinn comes up. A Captain (Plugg tries to become one later as the group takes over the Man's Promise)is a little more refined, genteel type character. His evil must be sinister and in the shadows, so I turned him into "that guy", the one who wants, but cannot have Sandara, and cannot understand the message. Sandara has become involved with a tiefling player character, which drives up the tension factor, and makes a valid reason why accidents start happening to the group.Second, Master Scourge as a lecher is weak. I made Master Scourge more into a violent animal. The brute force of the Captain's intentions and/or commands. First for Harrigan, then for Plugg, Scourge is the rod that takes measure of the crew. He is paranoid and psychotic, imagining the entire crew is about to mutiny at any moment, he cracks down hard on any infringement of the rules. He lays out punishment regularly and shows obvious favoritism amongst the crew. I found my
group actually hates him even more.Third, I did not go into graphic scenes of violence, but I left behind evidence that females onboard are expected to be willing to capitulate with multiple members of the crew(Rosie, and Grok) Harrigan & Scourge both took their turns with Caulkey, the cabin girl, before the first week was up on the Wormwood. Finding the cabin girl shred of clothing and covered in her own blood from the hips down, was evidence enough that Scourge & Harrigan went too far. The players were wont to mutiny without the support of the rest of the crew by the 3rd session. The real play will be the upcoming session. Plugg invited a gunslinger(new player - started late)onboard out of fascination with guns...the player will find out rapidly that Plugg's fascination extends to other things as well.
Or have them attacking men too, anyone not their buddy is a target to be abused
I left out the sexual tension entirely (well, the female PCs still have Conchobar trying to romance them, but he's on their side). With everything else that was going on they managed to top of the loathing tank where Plugg and Scourge are concerned. Harrigan managed to scare the crap out of them enough just from what went on during the first boarding action that they don't want anything to do with him, so things are set up nicely for the mutiny.
I left out the sexual tension entirely (well, the female PCs still have Conchobar trying to romance them, but he's on their side). With everything else that was going on they managed to top of the loathing tank where Plugg and Scourge are concerned. Harrigan managed to scare the crap out of them enough just from what went on during the first boarding action that they don't want anything to do with him, so things are set up nicely for the mutiny.
I highly recommend you subtly encourage them to mutiny before the shipwreck rather than afterwards...
A bit too late for that. They're already in the grindylow lair. They've made good time though, so they'll have two allied crewmen (Sandara and Cog) with them and likely a full day to recover before returning to the ship.