[Razor Coast] Not enough Piracy - Help?


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I'm running the Razor Coast campaign. My players are very interested in pirating stud, but the sea based adventures don't really start until the end of the campaign. How can I change stuff up?


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

What level are they now?

There's a few other sea-going adventures available that can be plugged into Razor Coast easily or with a little tweaking. Obviously there's Heart of the Razor, which has four adventures to get your PCs out on the water starting from level 5. Paizo has Plunder and Peril for levels 4-6. I'm sure there's others, but it's hard to find things without an idea of their level.

The alternative is to just let them join a pirate crew and home-brew some stuff, with the help of what's in the Razor Coast book. Depends how much work you're able to do, though I guess.


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There are small modules at the back of RC - have you seen them? Beyond those: Heart of the Razor and Dead Man's Chest by Frog God Games; Legendary Games' Islands of Plunder-series (plus Cutthroats & Crews and Pirate Codex for NPC-stats) are what immediately comes to mind. (Reviewed all of them.)

If you're willing to do conversion work/statblocks, 13th Age's "The Strangling Sea" is a superb module that fits tone-wise with RC (reviewed that one as well).

If you need more, drop me a line.

Sovereign Court Contributor

They beat me too it. However, here's some other thoughts: have them hire onto another ship as crew for a few adventures. A ship sent to investigate

Spoiler:
the wreckage Harthagoa is making of shipping
, whereat they can find and fight scavengers and acquire clues
Spoiler:
regarding the Ring of the Kraken
. other ships looking to hire might be "Shakes" Donovan and Jenky Barnes needing protection for a run, Quell's Whore on a pirate hunt, the Pride even.

Editor, Jon Brazer Enterprises

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The key to making the players want to do some pirating and seafaring is twofold, IMO:

One, adapt the mechanics to suit their level of interest in sailing and ship to ship combat.

Two, give them antagonists they actively want to rob and/or kill, or at least arrest if they're not the killing type.

The first one is pretty easy: Start out with very simple ship-to-ship combats. Only narrate battles between crew and exchanges of cannon fire such that they add flavor but have little actual mechanical consequence. Then, if the players want more of that, dial it up gradually: use barebones mass combat rules from Ultimate Campaign to simulate two crews fighting, or incorporate vehicle rules from Ultimate Combat. Players who are really into wargaming and nautical minutia might want to go as far as to use Fires As She Bears, although be advised that standard PF vehicle rules aren't really compatible with FASB, so switching between the two will take some serious work.

The second component requires you to find the PCs' emotional hot spots and exploit them. Money is a great starting motivator: good cash for a "blue milk run" from a Dragoon captain, privateer, or pirate crew is one way to get them out to sea. "The Black Spot" in Heart of the Razor offers decent impetus for getting out of port, and you can easily run a series of side encounters for fun before you get to the meat of that scenario.

RC spoilers ahoy!:
Are they scofflawing do-gooders? Drop hints that the Dragoons are complicit in slave trade or trafficking stolen goods from exploited cultures, then have them sign on with a crew that targets Dragoon vessels... maybe one clandestinely sponsored by the Church of Quell or the Tulita. Let this go on for a bit until a large ship like the Albatross or the Pride catches on and throws them into the brig at Fort Stormshield. They'll probably escape, of course, but the rivalry is kindled nonetheless.

Do they want to help enforce law and order? Sign them on with the Dragoons instead and have them target smaller slaving and smuggling operations like Bonegnaw. Then let them pick a bone with a nastier pirate crew that they can't quite get the best of--the Nightslinks are a decent choice, since they play right into the Act I climax and they're the epitome of Chaotic Evil. They'll happily rob, torture, and kill the PCs' comrades and provoke more conflict.

Do they just want loot? Give them some red meat pirating of other outlaw vessels to start, and then hit them with something super-high CR like the frost giant pirates. Don't try to kill them--embarrass and inconvenience them. Have the giants pound them into submission, tie them to their own ship mast, and rob them blind. The PCs will almost certainly formulate a plan to get all that treasure and gear back. These guys were a great running encounter in my own RC campaign--the players hated the Gert Brothers by the time they were strong enough to actually kill them!

Always try to initially build up higher-CR piratical threats such that the PCs come to hate their antagonists and want to hunt them down and get even.


Also at low levels, environmental encounters can be ridiculously deadly.

Falling into the water in heavy armor is practically a death sentence of you didn't prepare for it. And if you did, that was a chunk of your precious few resources for the day.

It isn't terribly surprising they wouldn't toss the pirating on a boat in right off the bat.


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Pirates don't wear plate! It's all about the frilly shirts and sashes tied about the waist. Plus armour won't save you from pistol fire (in the first range increment). :P

I didn't know about the mini-modules hiding in the back of the Razor Coast book, I think I stopped reading in the appendix before they started. So if nothing else, I'm glad this thread exists for helping me discover them! Not that I'll have time to start a Razor Coast campaign in the forseeable future...


Wow. Thanks!

I'm actually using Savage Worlds. For whatever weird reason, it's very easy to convert between the two. No problem w/ Pathfinder, SW is just easier for me to run.

I didn't know about the mini adventures.

I'll go ahead and buy

Dead Man's Chest by Frog God Games;
Legendary Games' Islands of Plunder-series

Thanks!

Scarab Sages RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4; Contributor; Publisher, Legendary Games

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Endzeitgeist wrote:

There are small modules at the back of RC - have you seen them? Beyond those: Heart of the Razor and Dead Man's Chest by Frog God Games; Legendary Games' Islands of Plunder-series (plus Cutthroats & Crews and Pirate Codex for NPC-stats) are what immediately comes to mind. (Reviewed all of them.)

If you're willing to do conversion work/statblocks, 13th Age's "The Strangling Sea" is a superb module that fits tone-wise with RC (reviewed that one as well).

If you need more, drop me a line.

Here's a link to that fine, fine piratey goodness at Legendary Games!

You can read Endy's reviews here at Paizo (along with other reviews too) or on his own site.

Editor, Jon Brazer Enterprises

Just FYI, I don't know how valuable Dead Man's Chest will be to you if you are running this in Savage Worlds--that book is mainly piratey Pathfinder crunch.


Razor Coast is not piracy in its strictest sense. The players are more would be heroes whether they are reluctant or not. Yes, there is a lot of sea based adventuring in it though.

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