I'm really on the fence about offering up a mythic tier. I know that a lot of work has already been done with regards to making Skull & Shackles mythic, but I hadn't decided to go that route. This is just so cool, though.
What's everyone else doing?
When writing this I realized that not everyone would own Mythic Adventures or want to use the mythic ruleset in their S&S game. Having a mythic monster is fine because monsters are allowed to have all kinds of strange special abilities, but I certainly didn't want the GM to feel forced to go mythic and then have to adjust the rest of the AP. However, I still wanted to give the PCs something as a reward for defeating such a nasty foe.
I'm currently mustering for a Skull and Shackles game and I won't be using the Impositions from the Player's Guide. Given many of these Impositions are very spell-like or supernatural in nature, these seemed like the perfect one-off reward I was looking for.
As always it's up to the GM, I'm interested to hear what others think.
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I'm really on the fence about offering up a mythic tier. I know that a lot of work has already been done with regards to making Skull & Shackles mythic, but I hadn't decided to go that route. This is just so cool, though.
What's everyone else doing?
I think the Mythic ruleset is a broken system as a whole and completely unnecessary for the game... and with regards to this particular AP that counts triple. Some campaigns lend themselves to an 'Epic' feel, but people who sail around on boats for a living don't really fall into that category.
FWIW, our Skull n Shackles run was the best time I've had gaming in 30+ years of experience.
I'm really on the fence about offering up a mythic tier. I know that a lot of work has already been done with regards to making Skull & Shackles mythic, but I hadn't decided to go that route. This is just so cool, though.
What's everyone else doing?
For what it's worth, when Mythic Adventures came out my group was near the end of Book 2. I didn't feel like having two books end with underwater dungeons, and my party wasn't really taking the hints to go to Mancatcher Cove, so I ran the adventure in the back of MA instead (with some suitable piratey tweaking of course). My players had a blast and really got to feel like big-damn-heroes there, but I followed that adventure's advice and took away their tiers at the end of it. As such, it's become a story for them to tell in taverns around the Shackles, and something they use to show how powerful they are when someone tries to mess with them. The mythic stuff can be very useful in that regard, but I don't feel it fits overall with the campaign as a whole. I think the suggestion in Spices & Flesh to give them a one-time boost is a fantastic way to allow your players a taste of the greater glory that comes from defeating mythic foes without actually having to change your campaign on a fundamental level. Mythic stuff is great if you're prepared for it from the start, but it really is a different play style that can be a hard transition if you're not ready for it.
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Good points all around. I think I'll keep the PCs non-mythic and use the Imposition reward as written. I'm keeping the Impositions secret past whatever they get at the next threshold, so finding out that they'll eventually have access to abilities costing 10 points of Disrepute will probably intrigue them. Incidentally, the adventure says that Impositions are in the player's guide, but they're actually in chapter one of the AP.
I'm thinking that the encounter with Gamin "Half-Ear" Crystos will be more effective if the PCs have met him elsewhere first. I can easily seed him into some tavern encounter or something, but if any of you do anything more dramatic with him I'd be interested in hearing about it.
I'm thinking that the encounter with Gamin "Half-Ear" Crystos will be more effective if the PCs have met him elsewhere first. I can easily seed him into some tavern encounter or something, but if any of you do anything more dramatic with him I'd be interested in hearing about it.
Well, how far in are you? If you're still on the Wormwood you could always have him be a helpful NPC on the ship so the PCs start to like the guy. If you're at Rickety's he could fill a similar role, or be a friendly rival during the downtime there.
Mythic works great as a systematized way of boosting monsters and villains in a regular campaign. PCs don't need to be in on the mythic game for it to be a handy toolkit for the GM.
That's a fair point.
I'm really on the fence about offering up a mythic tier. I know that a lot of work has already been done with regards to making Skull & Shackles mythic, but I hadn't decided to go that route. This is just so cool, though.
What's everyone else doing?
Avoiding mythic like the plague, and now wondering if I should buy the plug-in (which I was otherwise interested in before).
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4; Contributor; Publisher, Legendary Games
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Pretty easy to ignore. The only truly mythic thing in here is the mythic sea hag, and all of her stats and abilities are included as far as I recall. You could also just easily swap her stats out for an advanced sea hag, which would have the same CR, with a hand-waved special ability to turn humanoids into merrows.
Avoiding mythic like the plague
To be honest Arnwyn, up until recently I've been the same. Some of this came from the fact that I was writing non-mythic stuff and I didn't want to distract myself, but also from what I'd been hearing about Wrath of the Righteous and the power creep Mythic can give to PCs.
When Jason sent me a copy of Mythic Sea Monsters and I read the mythic sea hag's special abilities, the ol' creative gears started turning in my head and I knew I wanted to use her in an adventure.
I'm still wary of mythic stuff, especially some of the feats PCs can get, but I can see the potential it has. Personally, if I run a mythic campaign I'll probably steer away from abilities that just give bigger numbers and focus on having PCs and monsters with cool abilities.
Anyway, I'm glad you got the heads up.
I'm sorry if I gave the impression that the PCs must go mythic; that's not at all the case.
As far as NPCs are concerned, the mythic rules are just one more way to make a creature into a tougher encounter, so there's no reason to avoid this plug-in on that account. It's cheap, it has a cool story, and it uses the cool abilities Matt mentions in his spoiler tag. I'm looking forward to running it.
I agree with tbug. Only one NPC has mythic abilities, the PCs aren't told that the NPC's abilities are mythic, and it's very easy to re-stat the NPC without the mythic abilities. I definitely wouldn't avoid this plug-in based on one easily-avoided use of the mythic rules.
Okay, that also is really good to know. These, especially:
- only one NPC has mythic abilities- the PCs aren't told that the NPC's abilities are mythic
(and if mythic abilities are kept FAR AWAY from the PCs), then I can easily work with that.
Good thread - these are really helpful for me to make 3rd-party purchasing decisions (since the adventure-type plug-ins are what I'm interested in from Legendary Games... especially for Skull & Shackles - even if I think they've gone a little nutty with the mythic stuff, which I consider to be bad rules overall).
quick question-my party consists of 6, and and they are right on the verge of APL being 5. Would it be too mean of me to add the Advanced template to Shayonna?
quick question-my party consists of 6, and and they are right on the verge of APL being 5. Would it be too mean of me to add the Advanced template to Shayonna?
@2ndGenCleric: You'll know your PCs better than I will, but that said, 6 PCs, rather than 4, usually ups the APL by 1, as does adding the advanced simple template. I'd say go for it, just keep in mind that if the PCs have to chase her underwater through the reef and some aren't good swimmers, the party is going to get split and we all know what that could mean.
@Richard: Cool, let me know how your PCs go.
Well the one thing I was thinking of doing was not using the mage armor wand, as she already has a high ac once advanced. However, I somehow missed this was a chase. My pcs showed up, made a deal, then went on their merry way. Shortly after leaving the area, they did some stuff and now theyre back. The two Merrlow showed up, died, and now they're going under to hunt her down to get on the good side of the pirate goddess.
So with it not a chase,think it'll be a problem? And another question-is this entire encounter underwater? Just checking
Well the one thing I was thinking of doing was not using the mage armor wand, as she already has a high ac once advanced. However, I somehow missed this was a chase. My pcs showed up, made a deal, then went on their merry way. Shortly after leaving the area, they did some stuff and now theyre back. The two Merrlow showed up, died, and now they're going under to hunt her down to get on the good side of the pirate goddess.
So with it not a chase,think it'll be a problem? And another question-is this entire encounter underwater? Just checking
Well, if the PCs made a deal and sold the slaves then those slaves should now all be transmogrified into merrows. So it won't be as much a chase as the PCs getting swarmed by merrows led by her. If you want to be particularly nasty you could have Shayonna and her merrows board the PCs' ship while they are busy underwater searching the reef. Being even more nasty could involve the PCs and the survivors of their crew being marooned on the tiny strip of sand while Shayonna and her crew of merrows sail away on the PCs' ship. I'd also remember to mention when the PCs are fighting how the merrows seem to have have exactly the same tattoos and scars as the slaves they abandoned to a terrible fate :-)
Any yep, Shayonna would absolutely fight underwater if possible.
Definitely going to use the slaves they left as Merrow but they weren't gone long, so there are only 5 merrow-possibly 7 including the 2 more I plan on adding
Definitely looking forward to haVing them try to deal with this
Heh-my players almost lost it when she hit their touch AC with the spear lol. Unfortunately they made like every save, but oh well. Was fun, plus it gave a bit of backstory for the changeling on the ship. They're related