Since I also play the Pathfinder RPG, I was looking at the Pathfinder Modules subscription, and saw that Pathfinder Module: Plunder & Peril was the module slated for September release. One part of the description was rather interesting:
"Plunder & Peril" shares in the stories of the new Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Skull & Shackles, giving Pathfinder fans three exciting new quests that can stand alone or build upon either the award-winning card game or the swashbuckling Skull & Shackles Adventure Path.
So, can anyone comment on this product's tie in to the card game? Or are we forced to speculate wildly? :)
Please speculate wildly.
I thought about speculating wildly for a bit, then I had the brilliant idea to click the "Product Discussion" tab. The most relevant bits follow:
This will tie into the card game in the same way that the Pathfinder RPG version of Burnt Offerings ties into the first adventure deck of the Rise of the Runelords Base Set. For those who don't play the card game, this module will be completely playable as a standalone pirate adventure, or can be integrated in whole or in part into an ongoing Skull & Shackles game. Those playing the card game are likely to see locations, characters, and plots from this adventure appear in some form in the Skull & Shackles AP during its 6-month run.
What TwoWolves said. If we were doing a PACG set that took place entirely in a remote Isgeri orphanage (which I can't imagine us doing), we'd likely release other products about orphanages, Isger, and other related topics. This is the same thing, just about pirates. It allows us to explore some of the new content presented in the PACG in a Pathfinder RPG adventure format. Other than involving some of the same themes, locations, NPCs, and so forth, this adventure and the Skull & Shackles Base Set won't interact.
So, the module won't actually have a PACG scenario in it or anything like that. But the new interesting question is: why pull plot from a new module? Wouldn't the Skull and Shackles RPG AP be enough content? And I guess we can still speculate wildly about that.
I would imagine that this is in reference to the new organized play that is kicking off with the new base set.
I would imagine that this is in reference to the new organized play that is kicking off with the new base set.
Ahh, you may have something there.
Chief Technical Officer
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But the new interesting question is: why pull plot from a new module? Wouldn't the Skull and Shackles RPG AP be enough content? And I guess we can still speculate wildly about that.
In the PACG Rise of the Runelords Base Set, before you start chapter 1 of Rise of the Runelords, you play through three scenarios that are not technically part of the Adventure Path.
Brigandoom! features a bandit villain named Jubrayl Vhiski, who comes from a bit of background flavor that most parties playing through the RPG version of Rise of the Runelords will never be aware of—it's in one of the write-ups about a minor location in Sandpoint described in the book's appendix:
If the Hagfish is Sandpoint’s most popular tavern, Fatman’s Feedbag is its most notorious. Bar fights are common, and Sheriff Hemlock typically has to come down here two or three times a week to sort them out when they grow particularly violent or loud. The majority of the clientele here are Varisian scoundrels or less-than-reputable sailors. Most believe this tavern is owned and operated by an enormous man named GRESSEL TENNIWAR (CN male human rogue 2/expert 1), but in fact the owner is a lanky thug named JUBRAYL VHISKI (NE male human rogue 7), one of the Feedbag’s regulars. Jubrayl is also the leader of the local gang of Sczarni, an extended network of Varisian thieves, highwaymen, con artists, graverobbers, smugglers, and murderers. Nearly two dozen of the Varisians in Sandpoint are Sczarni as well, all cruel and self-serving men and women who take care to maintain respectable jobs as laborers, fishermen, and hunters, but who draw their true income taking part in various scams and stunts. Sheriff Hemlock suspects that Jubrayl is the local leader, and would like nothing more than to bring him in, but the Sczarni are experts at walking the line between legalities and taking the blame for their direct superiors. So while Sheriff Hemlock has sent many of Jubrayl’s boys to jail over the last several years, he’s never even come close to the ringleader himself, much to the continued amusement of Jubrayl.
The Poison Pill comes from a similar bit of background:
Nestled at the base of a cliff and tucked between several old tenements, nothing but a painting of a pillbug perched on a mushroom indicates this building is anything more than yet another home. The proprietor of this establishment is a short, rotund man named ALIVER “PILLBUG” PODIKER (LE male human alchemist 5), an accomplished herbalist, gardener, and secret poisoner. Although he’s of mixed Chelish and Varisian blood, the Sczarni (see area 42) have taken to treating him as a full-blooded Varisian. While his primary source of income is from legitimate sales of medicine and potions, he maintains a healthy side-business selling poison to Sczarni locals as well. Before he’ll even admit to being a poison merchant, though, a potential customer first has to ask him, “Have any happy pillbugs turned up lately?”
And Black Fang's Dungeon is inspired by the adventure of the same name in the Pathfinder RPG Beginner Box, which sees Mayor Kendra asking the PCs to help with the town of Sandpoint's little dragon problem.
So in Skull & Shackles, when we needed some intro adventures that take place outside of the Adventure Path, Mike and his team more or less made up their own stories... and those adventures in turn inspired the Plunder & Peril module.
Is this information in the RotR anniversary book? I have recently discovered the game and having this type of background information makes the game's story and appeal that much better. Thanks!
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Chief Technical Officer
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Skull & Shackles has the same amount of flavor text as Rise of the Runelords.
Please realize that I just gave you several hundred words to (partly) explain the flavor of a single card. And these two examples were characters that were chosen specifically *because* they don't have much of a role in the RPG. Look at the stories behind Monster in the Closet or Shopkeeper's Daughter. There are hundreds of cards in each adventure path that could have similar explanations—and for many cards, a decent explanation would need to be much longer than those. (Explaining who Karzoug is, for example, and what his motivations are, could easily take several pages to do well.)
So while lots of people keep saying "I'd really like a short PDF that tells me all about the characters, locations, and storyline," that's not actually achievable.
The best answer is to go to the source Adventure Path products, which contain all of that and more.
Thank you, Vic.
So in Skull & Shackles, when we needed some intro adventures that take place outside of the Adventure Path, Mike and his team more or less made up their own stories... and those adventures in turn inspired the Plunder & Peril module.
I really like the idea of this, I'm halfway through a S&S RPG campaign and having more side-adventures to chuck in is great, but the fact that they are designed (or just inspired) by Mike and co. is simply brilliant.