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I'm curious as to how to include this upcoming book into this campaign... I'm currently GMing this AP and we're about 1/3 of the way into Chap 2 (PCs are pirating the Fever Sea, increasing infamy and plunder)
I've ordered the book; waiting for it now. Does anyone have it and can provide feedback? specifically if it's too early to drop some of these ships as part of Chap 2...
Thanks!
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hoping to throw these ships at the PCs... wondering if it will unbalance the party plunder/infamy wise...
also, are most of you sticking to the few ships listed in Chap 2 or did you add additional ships when you ran that portion of the campaign? I wonder if the AP was balanced with a set amount of ships so not as to throw party gold out of whack... I'm wondering because if the party does several small hauls instead of big hauls, they deduct 1 pt. of plunder every time they turn plunder into gold due to the crew's share...
any insight would be appreciated!
cheers!
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I don't have the book yet so I can't answer your original question, but I can tell you how I'm handling chapter two.
I've given my PCs motivation to want to get a letter of marque, and I've told them that they'll need a certain amount of infamy as well as a minimum amount of plunder in their hold when they apply, and I haven't told them what those amounts are yet. I plan to just run miscellaneous stuff until they get their letter of marque and then advance immediately to chapter three.
My group is way behind on plunder because they've decided to follow the pirate code. This decision is also resulting in a very motivated crew and a lot of demand to join their ship's company, so their support in that respect is very high. All of this is resulting in me needing to pad out chapter two. I'm mostly working my way through the Legendary Games adventure path plug-ins for Skull & Shackles at the moment, which my party is really enjoying. I recommend checking them out.
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tbug: not sure if you saw it, but Chap 2 has a sidebar that deals with plunder sharing with the crew, in order to simplify the game. Basically, when you convert plunder pts. to gold, you deduct 1 pt. of plunder before the conversion to take care of the crew. This point of plunder represents the crew's shares and the general restocking of the ship. As you found out, the AP assumes that PCs will convert plunder to cash and keep the cash, otherwise their gear becomes paltry for their level...
Above and beyond that, the PCs in my game have equipped all pirates with MW studded leathers and all of them have a composite longbow (captured from enemy crews) - i.e. they have kept some of the captured equipment for the crew and not converted all that gear for half-price gold... The PCs have also purchased a lot of siege weapon ammo (I have ruled that every time they go to port to convert plunder to gold, the 1 pt. they deduct for the crew also now covers the restocking of siege weapon ammo, to further simplify, as they have made "one big ammo purchase" the first time they went to port... this abstraction helps a lot and can also somewhat represent the crew's ability to scavenge for big rocks for the catapult and/or craft some of the stuff themselves, as in the case of regular arrows and ballista bolts)
I did see that sidebar, and I presented it as an option to my players, but they opted to actually follow the Pirate's Code instead.
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I did see that sidebar, and I presented it as an option to my players, but they opted to actually follow the Pirate's Code instead.
My players also tried that "every pirate gets an equal share" crap but I houseruled that this meant 1 pt. of plunder per trip to simplify... otherwise I was looking at an Excel sheet after each game session and crunching numbers for hours on end each week, accounting for EVERY - SINGLE - DAGGER or copper piece captured... no way! :)
I allowed my players to make the decision, but I told them that they had to track the shares and buy equipment for their crew. I also gave a guideline that the first 10% of every payment the crew got likely went to the equivalent of chicks and booze as soon as they got into town.
My players only split Plunder with the crew. They figure that if they get loot during a dungeon crawl then it doesn't count as something to be shared out. Given that they're paying their crew more than almost anyone else anywhere, nobody complains (out loud, in front of the PCs, at least).
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The cheap stuff gets put into ship's stores. One of the players is the quartermaster and maintains a database. Another of the players is in charge of tracking NPC loot and equipment, and the crew is allowed to buy stuff out of stores at half book price. The crew receives shares of plunder from anything that's received as plunder, including selling captured ships.
Generally speaking, the answer to your question is "yes". This still results in an extremely well paid crew.
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Concerning the OP, I think that the Impervious makes an obvious inspiration in case you need to have more detailed stats for the Dominator, and also works as an ideal member of the escort if you're using the adventure path plug-in "Raid on the Emperor's Hand".
I feel like I definitely need to use the Ravishing Ruby somehow, possibly as a raider attacking the PCs before they get their letter of marque. I haven't decided about the other ships yet.
I'm also delighted to see a map of the trade routes. I'm sure that will excite my players no end.
