Hello All,
I've decided to play Skull and Shackles with slow XP progression and if someone have created additional events during Wormwood journed (Part 1 of first module) or any ideas what side quests can be easily implemented - I would gladly use your ideas and help. ;)
Thank you in advance!
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I recently finished up with Wormwood Mutiny and I remember having a few things happen on the 'off' days, most of them were skill/RP since combat is scarce but RP XP is still XP:
1) Conchobar Shortstone has an Elixer of Love, a generally frowned upon magic item. One of my PCs had actually started a relationship with him, so one night he offered that they share it so that they could 'feel closer to each other, as if they had just fallen in love'. The PC accepted, but when Conchobar went to pour the Elixer he found that it was missing. The PCs remembered that Scourge had been making unwanted advances towards Sandara earlier in the journey and now had to protect her from getting drugged. My PCs succeeded in distracting Scourge and spilling Sandara's drink, but Scourge took it personally and slipped his dark reaver powder into the rum of the PC who foiled the plan. I think they were at 2 or 3 Con after the poison ran its course, it was a scary minute at the table though. This ate a couple of otherwise uneventful days.
2) We had a ghost story night on the ship which was one of my PCs ideas, but it was an excellent RP experience. They rechristened their ship The Blood Drowner because of it and I'm planning to have the ghost actually show up towards the end of book 2.
3) The voyage of the Wormwood takes you past the X for 'The Lost Messenger'. Mgange Cove is well known for juju zombies, so I had my players fend off a juju zombie attack to save Liat who rewarded them with some jewels. (I can probably post the stats for the zombies I built if you want). My players actually did this after Bonewrack Isle so I threw a ton of zombies at them to make it level appropriate but two or three stray ones could make a good challenge for a low-level party.
4) Blostin's Second Chance, Ginger Belle and The Pelican are some encounter seeds that appear at the top of the book's Bestiary. They can happen at any time, but 2 crystal oozes will TPK a level 2 party (maybe even a level 3 one) so I would avoid The Pelican. As for the other two either one can be 'Advanced Boarding School' where the PCs are to test their mettle against some easy prey not worth Harrigan putting on his pants. I also have alternate stats for the captains in either of these encounters if you'd like me to share. My PCs repelled an attack from Blostin's Second Chance once they were aboard the Man's Promise (I re-skinned them so that they were Andoran privateers). They met the Ginger Belle after their mutiny and bought some slaves from them to fill out their crew, turning them into indentured servants.
5) TBD - I'm still in the process of building a number of encounters for my players including personal quests and I'd be more than happy to share anything I come up with for you to use in your game.
Cheers,
-Excalibur
Ive got a list of modules I plugged in (based on recommendations in the GM Reference thread) back at home. I'll find it and share later tonight. I know one addition I made was the Ship of Fools module, reskinned to be a derelict that the Wormwood comes across and Plugg selects the PCs to go over and inspect. Just have to be careful with that module as it can be a bit of a PC killer.
Oh, thank you very much!
When I was thinking of running this, I wanted to add in almost the entire Souls for Smuggler's Shiv module from the Serpent Skull AP as a prelude using the slow advancement too. This module is a perfect fit
I figured starting the group shipwrecked and later "rescued" by The Wormwood would be way more interesting and diabolical. While I never got to run it, I did save my outline with the modifications I had planned to keep it safer for a level one party.
Prelude - Souls for Smuggler's Shiv.
a) This adventure will be run using the long experience point track and all encounters scaled down to level 1.
b) The adventure will begin with the shipwrecking of the Jenivere, and end with the Thrunefang cannibals.
c) Ieana/Yarzoth, the Tide Stone, the Azlanti Temple and it's story elements should be omitted.
d) The Castaways are optional. Any or all of them could be used as fodder, NPCs,etc.
e) The Red Mountain devil is optional, but should be a weaker creature (CR3). Choices include Cockatrice (bestiary, p48), Moss Troll (leaning towards this as it fits the scenery more, bestiary 3, p273), etc. The dryad named Aycenia can provide information on the Red Mountain Devil if the PCs help her.
f) Personal preference-wise, keep Ishirou of Bloodcove (give him the Profession:Woodcutter skill), and Sasha Nevah of Ilizmagorti (give her the Profession:Engineer skill). Both will be useful in fixing the lighthouse, as well as their survival skills and use as camp guards. Both NPCs should be scaled down to level 1, and at least one of them should always remain at the camp, the other can accompany the party to be used as fodder for any one of the harder encounters.
Plot Hook -
*****Replace First Mate Alton Devers with one of the castaways. This NPC may or may not survive.
The PCs board the Jenivere from various ports of call on its return voyage to Sargava, though their destination is Port Peril. The party wakes up one storm-tossed night to shouting from the main deck. When they investigate, they find the First Mate and the Captain fighting. The captain looks crazed but has the upper hand when the main mast swings around slamming into him and knocking him overboard. The first mate runs to the upper deck to try and steer the ship to safety while yelling at the PCs to secure the mast. It's too late though, the ship strikes the rocky reef off the northern coast of the Shiv. The first mate releases the damaged lifeboat as the currents carry them to shore further south.
Later the first mate will reveal that the captain was behaving erratically for the past few days. Through luck (and a Fortitude save) the first mate woke up and found the rest of the crew dead, apparently poisoned by the captain as the ship was led off course. He does not know where they are, as he does not know how long he was unconscious. They are effectively marooned regardless, even the lifeboat is too badly damaged to be seaworthy. Captain Kovack survives and will be encountered again on the island.
Changes -
1) Sinister Omens... remove Ghosts in the Surf (except for Area G, The Brine Demon) and Strange Dreams. Adapt Wings in the Dark for the Moss Troll (Eyes in the Dark).
2) Predator Dens (area C)... C6 only has a single Shocker Lizard.
3) Shipwrecks (area D)... If haunted, these shipwrecks will have half the number of undead.
4) Creeper's Clearing (area H)... The PCs should encounter the Yellow Musk Zombies and the Yellow Musk Creeper separately.
5) The Treasure Pit (area K)... The PCs should only encounter one Lacedon Ghoul.
6) The Nightvoice (area R)... The PCs should encounter the Vegepygmies and the Vegepygmy Boss separately.
7) Thrunefang Camp (area V)... Remove one level of Barbarian from Klorak the Red. Additionally, there will be no pit in V2, as the Caves of the Mother and it's denizens are removed. Captain Kovack should be a prisoner somewhere in the camp, perhaps he is there next meal!
8) Trapped Shark (area Y4)... The Blue Shark is not trapped and wandered into the channels looking for food.
9) The Salty Strumpet (area Y6)... Remove the Spear Urchin and replace it with another Giant Crab which Ekubus considers dangerous, effectively separating him from his magic rope which has nothing more than sentimental value. Ekubus will attempt to enlist the aid of the PCs in retrieving his beloved rope.
Souls for the Smuggler's Shiv ends when the PCs repair the lighthouse, and eventually attract the attention of a passing ship called "The Wormwood".
XP-wise the above prelude will certainly go past level 1. I was going to probably omit some of the less flavorful encounters like all the extra shipwrecks (including the Salty Strumpet/Ekubus encounter, but excluding the Thrunefang ship of course, since its needed for the story), etc.
Hope I spark and idea or two for you. :)
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Paizo user Uri Meca wrote out their plan for all of the side quests listed in the back of the Wormwood Mutiny book.
Link to the plans
I took what Uri did and ran with it in my S&S campaign. It was pretty easy to elaborate on Uri's plans, and the hooks definitely set in.
The players loved it. We finished Tempest Rising in mid 2016 and they were still following clues and mulling over the possibilities of solving some of them.
Highly recommended.