| pennywit |
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I compressed a little bit the events on the Wormwood and the Man's Promise. I wanted my players to get a sense of hard work on the ship, I wanted them to make friends and influence people among the pirates, and, of course, I wanted them to hate Mister Plugg and Master Scourge.
I also ran a brief early battle with that slaver ship mentioned in the back of the book. That raid ended up with four slaves in the Wormwood's hold. I randomly generated backgrounds for them, and one was a doppelganger.
One PC (a monk w/ a background as a freed slave) had a subplot with the salves that culminated in him getting her a masterwork thieves' toolkit (unknowingly aiding a doppelganger). She escaped, some blood was found.
With these mostly accomplished, we did the storm and the shipwreck. My players know their tropes, so they genuinely expected another friendly NPC to get tossed overboard, and they'd have to save that NPC.
Instead -- grindylow battle, shipwreck. The group was shipwrecked and Sandara Quinn and Jack Scrimshaw were kidnapped. Egads!! Master Scourge didn't seem too concerned. My players had a somewhat understated reaction, so I decided to ratchet up tensions a little bit. Rosie Curswell assaulted Master Scourge with her fists.
The bard hissed something at her about trying shenanigans, but things were in progress.
Now ... I intended this just to be a scene to ratchet up tension before Scourge and Plugg sent the PCs off to the island for water. But the goblin brawler didn't like things one bit ... so he joined in the assault on Scourge.
MUTINY!!!
I took about five to ten minutes to load everyone into Hero Lab, then to position all the NPCs in the ship. And I realized I hadn't included enough of PLugg's supporters. Oh well. Nothing to be done about it.
I think the fight lasted around 45 minutes real-life time, complete with a Fishguts Croop who (egad!) turned out to be a doppelganger and tried to kill the PC alchemist. (Player: "HELP!! HELP!!" Other players: "We're fighting Scourge and Plugg!!")
All's well that end's well, though. The players did successfully mutiny and I think they enjoyed the fight. Next session, they're plotting to rescue Sandara and Jack. I'm thinking of splitting the two. I like the idea of Sandara being a prisoner of the ghouls, while Jack is being held by the grindylows.
I'm also planning to expand the ghoul situation a little bit. I have an idea for a ghoul pirate ship (my take on the Black Pearl, and I like the idea of this stockade being a place that ship visits occasionally.