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I'm considering having a pirate themed event, and possibly a session that is only open to swashbuckler PCs.
Any ideas on what might be some of the best choices for the latter?
I've seen quite a few PFS scenarios with pirates or ships, but I suspect there are several other good options out there which I've yet to consider.
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Cyphermage Dilemma and Slave Ships of Absalom have lots of opportunity for swashbuckling, and they're thematically on-point. Outside of the pirate theme...
Maybe a different kind of swashbuckling and theres a potential to struggle in one encounter, but potentially Midnight Mauler.
They could have some fun with The Horn of Aroden.
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You can also run a the Skulls and Shackles Adventure path in Campaign Mode. When running that, just inform when you reach the section for PFS credit. Just have their characters mirror the ones used for PFS
You can also run it in PFS mode, where PFS characters run the PFS specific portions of the Adventure Path.
The Plunder and Peril mega-module can also be an option. And if you are running both Plunder and Peril, as well as Skulls and Shackles, you can intertwine the two games.
But remember that this would be a heavy commitment in terms of playerbase, since this can take weeks to complete.
In terms of scenarios, I just recently played Slave Ships of Absalom, and though it had a nice finish of piracy-like themes. Part two of the Quest for Perfection chain is also nice.
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No clerics of Besmara? Or inquisitors and warpriests, either? Many in a pirate crew might be rogues, as well. I usually think of a single swashbuckler as a pirate leader, with cutthroats and ne'er-do-wells working with him.
"It is, it is, a glorious thing, to be a Pirate King!"
It's more of a gimmick idea, to not have a "balanced" party, but instead to have too many pirate leaders, each trying to show up the rest with bravado and derring-do. What happens if everyone wants to be the pirate captain, and nobody wants to have a different role in the crew? Perhaps one stands out and becomes the pirate king, or maybe it just turns into general silliness and mayhem with a crew that knows swashbuckling and nothing else.
If I did this with a higher level game, I think I'd relax the restriction to allow some amount of multi-classing; it might too severely limit the chance of success in some scenarios if the party lacks diversity.
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You can also run a the Skulls and Shackles Adventure path in Campaign Mode. When running that, just inform when you reach the section for PFS credit. Just have their characters mirror the ones used for PFS
You can also run it in PFS mode, where PFS characters run the PFS specific portions of the Adventure Path.
The Plunder and Peril mega-module can also be an option. And if you are running both Plunder and Peril, as well as Skulls and Shackles, you can intertwine the two games.
But remember that this would be a heavy commitment in terms of playerbase, since this can take weeks to complete.
In terms of scenarios, I just recently played Slave Ships of Absalom, and though it had a nice finish of piracy-like themes. Part two of the Quest for Perfection chain is also nice.
Do you have an estimate, for PFS mode, of how long it would take to play the sanctioned content in Plunder & Peril? e.g. could each of the 3 parts be played 5 hours or 6 or 8 or 10? For a 3 day event, we probably have at most 35 hours of gaming (7 slots of 5 hours each).
If we wanted PCs to start at lower levels (playing some scenarios and then part 1 of the Skull & Shackles AP first), I'm sure we could NOT get though all of Plunder & Peril at the same event. Although maybe it would be better to just open it to PCs of the requisite level and run it campaign mode with one level per day. The other option would be to build PCs up from level 1 during this weekend, and try to have them ready to play Plunder & Peril at a future event.
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Do you have an estimate, for PFS mode, of how long it would take to play the sanctioned content in Plunder & Peril? e.g. could each of the 3 parts be played 5 hours or 6 or 8 or 10? For a 3 day event, we probably have at most 35 hours of gaming (7 slots of 5 hours each).
We are running all 3 parts at an upcoming con.
We assigned parts 1/3 2 slots each and part 2 we assigned 3 slots.
Venture-Captain, Netherlands
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Do you have an estimate, for PFS mode, of how long it would take to play the sanctioned content in Plunder & Peril? e.g. could each of the 3 parts be played 5 hours or 6 or 8 or 10? For a 3 day event, we probably have at most 35 hours of gaming (7 slots of 5 hours each).We are running all 3 parts at an upcoming con.
We assigned parts 1/3 2 slots each and part 2 we assigned 3 slots.
I have planned it, but not yet ran it, but for everything I assigned six slots, as I anticipate part one will only take one slot with the players we have. 3 Slots for part 2 and two slots for part 3.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16
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Perils of the Pirate Pact is full of pirates, but has only one upper-deck shipboard combat (although it is ship-to-ship). It's also very easy, so the party balance won't be an issue.
I'd also consider opening it up to archetypes of other classes that get panache (Kata Master monks, Hooded Champion rangers, Daring Champion cavaliers).
Hydra's Fang Incident has quite a bit of swashbuckler action, as it's set entirely around a port. Murder on the Throaty Mermaid is all ship, and it's quite a fun roleplaying-focused scenario as well. I seem to remember that The Glass River Rescue from S5 had a fair amount of stuff on a ship as well, and then turned into a mystery.
