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One of my favorite pastimes as a DM is to tweak/add/subtract content every time I run an AP. I've combed through these forums and have stolen some wonderful ideas for when I finally run this adventure, which I have listed below. Please feel free to share what you did differently!
Overall:
- Firearms will be more common in my campaign. I intend to replace most ballistae with cannons and most crossbows with the appropriate firearm.
Book 1: Wormwood Mutiny
- Pretty much will run Dudemeister's intro as written
- The Chelish ship that blows up Captain Morgan's ship will be none other than Abrogail's Fury. First, I wanted to foreshadow Druvalia Thrune because she is such a cool character (and scary). Second, the fact that an admiral's flagship was sent to take out Captain Morgan will highlight what a badass he is/was.
- Barnabas Harrigan will be reskinned as a Slayer 16
- I might reskin the grindylows as cannibal pygmies (using the same stats as goblins). One of the rooms will feature a giant, bubbling cauldron where the PCs will have to rescue the NPC prisoners before they become cannibal stew. Obviously I will need to cut the underwater portions and replace them with something else.
Book 2: Raiders of the Fever Sea
- Extend the first chapter by inserting "River into Darkness" to investigate the cause of the drought/heat.
- Captain Gortus Svard will be reskinned as a Slayer 6.
- In my campaign, Isabella is not in cahoots with the Sahuagin. As such, she wants to stay alive long enough to find the treasure for herself. The map on Isabella's disappears if she is killed or knocked unconscious. Furthermore, she has the ability to conceal the map on her back at will. This will hopefully be incentive enough for the PCs to keep her alive.
More to follow.
What are you refering to when you say blowing up Captain Morgan's ship?
As for my own personal Customizations, so far I only intend to add a bit of backstory or extra character to each of the crew. Like Slippery Syl having charcoal sketches of one of the PCs in her locker Stalker style, as well as a bloody knife and rags from the murder she committed. A perception check will reveal she tends to sniff the rag often, based on bits of hair or something.
What are you refering to when you say blowing up Captain Morgan's ship?
As for my own personal Customizations, so far I only intend to add a bit of backstory or extra character to each of the crew. Like Slippery Syl having charcoal sketches of one of the PCs in her locker Stalker style, as well as a bloody knife and rags from the murder she committed. A perception check will reveal she tends to sniff the rag often, based on bits of hair or something.
It's the little details that spice a campaign up!
Anyways, I was referencing excellent fan-made content by Dudemeister from his post and his custom player's guide.
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A ton of stuff really,
part one pretty much left as is but consolodated the days on the wormwood to around 12. If I ran it again though I would use serpent skull book one as the start and have them picked up once they trash the cannibal camp by the wormwood then run as normal.
part 2 I have run as a sandbox so this has been freeform, no way of telling what happens here. I dropped the shaugin part and added Inkskin as being in with Harrian, gave me a reason to attack tidewater and keep her alive if needs be. The island on her back I used Bonjo Tomo from Deadmans chest. Senghor seemed to be their homeport so I ebelished this a bit.
Part 3 I stared to add elements of RazorCoast in and changed bloodcove to Port Shaw. Tessa I used as the mother of Zahlen in Razorcoast, her husband is Jacob Razor who was killed by Harrigan (under orders from Bonefist, she does not know this). The investigation I sorted out as it was too all over the place and made it a bit linear. I used Ship of Fools instead of the shipwreckers and added in the sunken pyramid adventure as well. The apothecary I left as is. I cut out the race and used Night of the Shark in razor Coast instead.
Part 4 will have them going on a resuce mission as Tessa has gone missing, they will need to find the ghost of captain razor and relise him as he knows where she is, his body is on the Brine Banshee. They find she is on the isle of empty eyes, run the as is but no feast. The attack by Harrigans fleet will happen as they leave the island in the small cove and then they will leave to kill harrigan as book 5. Tessa will assemble a fleet at Quent and meet the players back at Port peril.
The Harrigan part may change which may change some of the next parts as they have saved Giles and may use him to assassinate Harrigan or try at least.
Not too sure what to do from here but book 6 will be switched, they will confront bonfist then it will end with the chelsih fleet attacking.
So yes I have embelshed and changed it a lot, its a great AP and ha given me a ton of ideas to make it my own. I hihhly recommend using part 2 as a sandbox, there are threads here that make it work really well (I cant remember them though sorry).
A ton of stuff really,
part one pretty much left as is but consolodated the days on the wormwood to around 12. If I ran it again though I would use serpent skull book one as the start and have them picked up once they trash the cannibal camp by the wormwood then run as normal.
This is actually a very good idea. Has anyone done a mashup of S&S and Serpent's Skull in this manner?
part 2 I have run as a sandbox so this has been freeform, no way of telling what happens here. I dropped the shaugin part and added Inkskin as being in with Harrian, gave me a reason to attack tidewater and keep her alive if needs be. The island on her back I used Bonjo Tomo from Deadmans chest. Senghor seemed to be their homeport so I ebelished this a bit.
I've been hearing a lot of good things about "Bonjo Tomo" so I should definitely check it out. I will also use the Inkskin and Harrigan are allies angle -- former lovers maybe?
Part 3 I stared to add elements of RazorCoast in and changed bloodcove to Port Shaw. Tessa I used as the mother of Zahlen in Razorcoast, her husband is Jacob Razor who was killed by Harrigan (under orders from Bonefist, she does not know this). The investigation I sorted out as it was too all over the place and made it a bit linear. I used Ship of Fools instead of the shipwreckers and added in the sunken pyramid adventure as well. The apothecary I left as is. I cut out the race and used Night of the Shark in razor Coast instead.
Is "Ship of Fools" a third party module? I don't own Razor Coast, but am definitely contemplating buying it.
Part 4 will have them going on a resuce mission as Tessa has gone missing, they will need to find the ghost of captain razor and relise him as he knows where she is, his body is on the Brine Banshee. They find she is on the isle of empty eyes, run the as is but no feast. The attack by Harrigans fleet will happen as they leave the island in the small cove and then they will leave to kill harrigan as book 5. Tessa will assemble a fleet at Quent and meet the players back at Port peril.
What was Tessa doing on the Isle of Empty Eyes? Who was keeping her captive? Also, did you cut out the Eel? Personally, I think he is one of the more fascinating villains in the AP, so I would be loathe to get rid of him. I am probably going to change up the apothecary into a juju den and turn Zarskia into a juju oracle. Two alchemist villains in the same adventure just seemed a little redundant. Plus, this AP just seemed bereft of voodoo, which I believe is an integral part of any piratey campaign.
The Harrigan part may change which may change some of the next parts as they have saved Giles and may use him to assassinate Harrigan or try at least.
Not too sure what to do from here but book 6 will be switched, they will confront bonfist then it will end with the chelsih fleet attacking.
So yes I have embelshed and changed it a lot, its a great AP and ha...
I will definitely switch the finale. Instead of a dungeon crawl, it will be an epic sea battle within the raging Eye of Abendego. To that end, I will nerf Kerdak by aging him and buff Druvalia Thrune so that she can be a suitable end boss. Maybe Geryon will show his face?
yeah ship of fools is by TPK games, as for Tessa on Empty Eyes im having her sent there by Bonefist on a mission as she is starting to make things difficult, she is captured by the Cyclopes, most of her crew have been eaten and her and the rest are being kept in the ruin.
Yeah I cut out the eel too as I'm not doing the feast or having the players own the island, they wont want it as they habe tidewater and own a pub chain in senghor (long story).
Is Bonjo Tomo a good island adventure or replacement for the submerged dungeon in the second book? I'm just starting this and don't like how both books end in similar fashion.
Its a really good island adventure with a great dungeon, good puzzles and loot, its bascially a search for pirate treasure, be careful with Bonjo though hes a bit tough, my guys ran.
I used this as the map on inkskins back and worked in that it was the treasure of Wolfe, I then changed the name of Pilke and had him as the old pirate captain chasing the players in his ship after they ransacked his cave and took his treasure. it worked well.
It is in the Dead Man's Chest PDF?
is there a link where i can find all these things people are mentioning:) like "bongo tomo" and this Deadman's Chest i keep hearing about:) i've been looking for awhile with no luck:(
one thing I did was not tell my players up front that they were going to start press ganged, they found out the hard way.
Dead mans chest is sold here as a PDF its by frog god games, Bonjo Tomo is one of the adventures in it
Go to Paizo Inc..
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I left the beginning of Book One as written, but I added Dudemeister's eerie clock to the Wormwood. I also added Salvage Operation (from Dungeon Magazine). The players really enjoyed that.
I've been adjusting Book Two quite a bit more. I'm using the ship construction and combat system from Fire as She Bears. I added an imp to the watchtower at Rickety's Squibs, as suggested in a thread here. I also expanded Rickety's by adding Rood, a seedy town from an old Middle Earth Role Playing module, to the East bank of the river. Right now my players are investigating The Stink (Dungeon again), which I added to Sasserine (The Savage Tide AP). Next I plan to drop in Spices and Flesh (Legendary Games), then Dead Man's Quest (Dungeon Magazine). As you could probably guess, we're using the Slow XP track).
Overall, I've moved the Shackles to the coast of Arcadia, I'm substituting the Hellknights for the Conquistadors, and I've introduced the Triangle Trade (sugar, rum and slaves) from Earth's history to Golarion. My players are more interested in fighting Cheliax and freeing slaves than attacking neutral merchant shipping. Hellknights as Conquistadors and a larger slave trade give them more opportunities to do those things.
I have not read this AP yet, but I would like to run it in the coming months.
I was wondering : Is there any way to remove all the guns & cannons things from this AP and still making a decent game without denaturalizing it? If the main vilain or NPC is a gunslinger and half the story involves his gun or the cannons of a ship, then it would be tough to remove them, but if they are just accessories...
I don't want to debate the famous love & hate guns and all, I just want to know if it's possible to run skull & shackles without them ?
In rise of the runelords, for example, it's easy to just say guns don't exist in Golarion (just say that the concept of gunslingers and firearms don't exist and you're fine), but in this setting, full of pirates ? I don't know...
I ask this because I'm pretty sure at least one of my players would really hate this concept and probably wouldn't want to play (I'm not even sure myself where I stand on this), but I would really like to run this AP, just for the pirates theme and all...
I have a couple of other options, like maybe serpent's skull or second darkness, but skull & shackles would really be my #1 choice.
I'm running this path without guns. But I'm at the end of the second book, so I haven't gotten to the Hurricane King yet. But for me, I'm going to give him a bit of a rewrite to remove his guns and cannons.
But so far, without guns and cannons it is just as fun. My players don't notice any difference, since they have never had guns or cannons. So its not like they were ever missing anything.
As for your problem of players not wanting to play this AP, if you are running go through the APs and find two or three that you really really like. Give the players a list and a small overview of what happens in the AP. Then see what everyone chooses.
I did that, with my group before we started. I had Skulls and Shackles, Kingmaker and Legacy of Fire. It ended up being Skulls and Shackles obviously, but only by a margin. And the other players still liked the overview enough that they had no problems jumping into the game.
Oh and if you don't want guns and cannons, tell your players up front! I ran into this problem where a player wanted to build a gunslinger because you know, pirates. IT worked out though, as I straight up said, as GM I was not allowing it/nor comfortable with having it in my game.
My players chose to play this AP as a group of hobgoblins trying to get good enough to join their tribe's army. I added an encounter with a bogeyman that scared them off so now they're in disgrace. I also said that they started with hobgoblin starting equipment (from the Bestiary) plus one item, and that everything had been taken from them. The one item could be something they looted during their army days or could have some other back story. I ended up having some very interesting items added to my game, which has influenced the plot significantly.
I should clarify that the were allowed to tell me what their character believed to be true about the item. They weren't allowed to give me game mechanics.
I'm running this path without guns. But I'm at the end of the second book, so I haven't gotten to the Hurricane King yet. But for me, I'm going to give him a bit of a rewrite to remove his guns and cannons.
But so far, without guns and cannons it is just as fun. My players don't notice any difference, since they have never had guns or cannons. So its not like they were ever missing anything.
Great, thanks ! I think I'll let them choose if they want them or not, but at least, I now know that if they don't want guns, there will be no problem (at least for the 2 first books).
As for letting them choose which AP, I'll do just that, with kind of a score sheet from 0 to 5 scale in interest and see which one has the highest score. I'll also vote though, being a part of this too :)
freshly copy/pasted from a post I made a few min ago in another thread about running AP parts as one shots...
"I always wanted to run Souls for Smugglers Shiv (everything ending just before the Dungeon at the end) as a prequel to the Skulls and Shackles AP. The PCs would eventually be "rescued" by a passing ship, that ship being the Wormwood, that rescue being pressganged into service, etc.
It's much better hook IMHO, than the existing starting hook of the Wormwood Mutiny.
I was even toying with making Shiv, a zero level adventure ala Goodman Games zero level rules. That would still be sweet."
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I'm running this path without guns. But I'm at the end of the second book, so I haven't gotten to the Hurricane King yet. But for me, I'm going to give him a bit of a rewrite to remove his guns and cannons.
I didn't really want to run things with guns either, but Bonefist fighting with a tankard in one hand and a gun in the other was just too badass to pass up. Besides, my players saw the cover of From Hell's Heart early on and now it just feels weird to tell them that Bonefist doesn't REALLY use a gun after all.
I solved this little gun/no gun discrepancy by making it so that only Bonefist uses guns. The reason being that the first guns were actually invented and constructed by the first hurricane king, who left some of his early work at Fort Hazard, where Bonefist eventually found it. Some of the hurricane king's schematics and blueprints eventually made their way to Alkenstar, where they helped start the gun industry it's known for. Of course, no one mentions this little tidbit, because who wants to admit that Alkenstar's lifeblood was ripped off from the work of some scoundrel pirate?D3
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Book One:
Ditched the rum ration, the bloody hour and the botfly swarms. Made Scourge a lecher and rapist and it got him killed very early on. the biggest change was I kept Aaron Ivey alive - he filled the group in on the Infernus backstory, warned them about the ghouls, told them about the sea caves and led them to the shipwreck where they were able to unearth (unsea?) potions of water breathing that made their rescue of Sandara possible. He later on became a regular NPC, serving as Ship's Carpenter as he did aboard the Infernus and eventually oversaw the design and construction of their flagship.
Book Two:
Customized a number of unique seaborne encounters as the players raided and plundered their way to Infamy including a protracted game of cat and mouse with the Dominator. Had them run afoul of the Aspis Consortium and have to fight off a couple of clandestine attacks before finally buying their way out. (I tried to mix sea adventures and land adventures as much as possible)
Book Three:
Worked in an extended side quest where the PC's helped liberate Rosie's cousin (twice removed on her mother's side) from the dungeons on Bag Island and then eventually helped overthrow the corrupt government there. The group decided early on that they opposed slavery and the leader of Bag Island was infamously and secretly 'rescuing' slaves only to sell them back at a premium. Rosie was given her own ship and left the crew after this book.
Book Four:
Ran it pretty much as-is, flushing out some of the details for RP purposes but almost all within the established framework. It did feature a memorable duel between Avinnar Sorrenash and the First Mate in the banquet hall, one which left the werewolf decapitated at our captain's feet.
Book Five:
We completely flip-flopped Books Five and Six, having the PC's captured and imprisoned inside Bonefist's stronghold, only to escape with the aid of their crew and under the distraction of an assault by Tessa Fairwind and her fleet. Once Bonefist was defeated, Tessa was given the Hurricane Crown and began to rally the pirates against the perceived Chelliax threat. Sandara departed to go on a quest/pilgrimage for Besmara.
Book Six:
Worked in an extended side quest involving the Master of Gales and the Cult of the Eye, a group committed to the destruction of the Eye of Abendengo - it worked, until it was discovered that the cultists were led by Chellish agents, and a Cheliax invasion fleet waited just beyond the hurricane's boundary. The Chelliax invasion was the climax of the AP for us, culminating in a joining of forces old and new, including Rosie and Pegsworth as well as the PC's flying under Tessa's banner with a dramatic and triumphant return by Sandara (along with a few friends) to turn the tide of the battle.
The group included a Human Seasinger (Captain), Human Invulnerable Rager (First Mate & Master at Arms), Human Knifemaster (Quatermaster) and Half-Elven Master Summoner (Pilot & Navigator). Aided primarily by Rosie Cuswell (Second Mate), Sandara Quinn (Ship's healer & 'morale') and Aron Ivey (Ship's Carpenter).
Best campaign anyone in our group has ever played.
I added a lot from Savage Tide. It has allowed me to plant some reasons to distrust and resent Bonefist not as much as Harrigan but it has planted the seeds.
Drawing on one of my player’s campaign traits (Buccaneer’s Blood) and we came up with the idea that his grandpa had been an Ifrit pirate (not unlike himself) named Firebeard and had cracked Tidewater Rock and held it for a few years before Lady Agasta Smythee’s late husband took it from him. This gave them a solid motivation for wanting Tidewater Rock.
In addition, when my players started talking about the Deck of Many Things, I told the grandson of Firebeard that family stories say that grandpa Firebeard also left a treasure map on the Rock. I doodled up a quick map and adventure that takes place on the very edges of Raugsmauda’s Reach and included a Giant Sea Snake, a Manananggal and a chest that tried to fly away after being unburied. In the chest (along with a lot of other loot) was a deck so powerful the wizard got a nosebleed when he cast Detect Magic on it.
3 of my 4 players drew, the barbarian captain claiming he’s too paranoid to touch a magic deck that has a warning note written in 3 different languages.
The grandson of Firebeard immediately drew the Skull and knowing he had no way to fight a Dread Wraith, immediately drew again. His second draw gave him The Void (soul is trapped elsewhere).
The Rogue managed to draw the Key (gain major magic weapon) THREE TIMES before she drew Ruin (lose all wealth and property) and lost all 3 weapons. Her final draw gave her the Euryale (-1 all saves) but at least she survived.
The wizard drew the Gem (gain 50,000g worth of gems/ jewelry), then the Talons (which lost her the unique scroll that allowed the chest to fly and all other magic gear), and then finally, the Donjon (you are imprisoned). I ruled that because there’s no way he could carry 50,000 worth of gems in his tiny belt pouch, they were in a pile next to him and did not fall into the abyss when the ground opened up and swallowed him.
The barbarian and rogue split the gems and got the hell out of dodge before anything worse could happen.
After they left took the Promise I offered Bloodcove and Little Opparra as options. They elected to head for Bloodcove. So I arranged the storm that brought them to Bonewrack. Here they actually encounted the ghost of one of the PC's father. Using the Dungeon adventure "Dead Mans Quest." After they finished with the Grindylowes they had recovered the artifact that the side adventure needed and were tasked to return it to Little Opparra. Once they dealt with the remainder of the side adventure I had a local noble woman in need of help contact them. So using Little Opparra I had them go through all of Part 1 of Savage Tide. I did have to up the CRs but it worked out just fine. As the transitioned to Part 2 I had the person they were chasing Vanthus Vanderboren looking to steal from the Aspis Consortium (Scarlet Brotherhood in the ST). When they learned about the Aspis Consortium involvement it was mentioned that it was business for Bonefist himself. They didn't need much more than that. Because in Part 2 is when the first Savage Tide Shadow Pearl gets broken. So it looked like Vanthus the low life they were hunting was trying to rob from people, reportedly Bonefists contacts and what he was robbing turned 3 ship loads of people into monsters. It was subtle but they are already talking about what plot the Hurricane King is working out. One of the players commented that the Savage Pirates seemed like Reavers from Firefly so that is what they have been calling them lately. I cut 2 encounters from part 2(the fight with the stilt walkers, which I will add later). At this point they had caused such a rucus in Little Opparra that there was word on the street that Rahamudi sailors were commenting on their ship "the Wave Dancer" was really the "man's promise" in port. They figured they should bolt cause they figured Harrigan might learn they were here. From here they went to SS book 2 and were more than happy to squib the ship. Now called the "Storm Maiden."
They have done a bit of piracy in book 2 and cracked the rock by force. I kept giving them hints that a storm was passing aways off, not directly severely effecting them but that a hurricane or other strong storm was in the region. They went back and forth from Tidewater and Goatshead and Tidewater and Bloodcove so I had plenty of time to build up the presence of seaweed turned up and so on. This is where I borrowed the Sargossa from part 3 of ST. They got caught in it and had to deal. Rather than have the vine horrors I had many of the wrecks of the ships on the Sargossa full of the savage pirates or reavers with a bumped up CR. They have freed themselves from the Sargossa but they are in the process of learning that a few decades ago there was a big battle and in the battle a dark magic was used that turned many of the soldiers in to crazed beasts (reavers) and many of the ships in the battle were caught in a Sargasso. The Shadow Pearl that was used in the battle effected a huge plant creature. But that back story is going to provide motive or the thought that perhaps Bonefist is trying to find such an artifact to use as a weapon. At this point they will be getting back to Tidewater Rock and will get to run into Inkskin.
One of my players took the trait that gives them a heirloom treasure map. Which is the ruins of Tomachan from ST 3 set in the Expanse.