Can you streamline / condense the AP?

[tara9999]

So my PCs have decided they want to go and do some pirating, this wont be the start of a new campaign but merely a chapter in thier story before they move onto another part of the world. I have heard that skull and shackles is the best pirate themed adventure path out there.
The thing is, its a whole campaign and im not sure if they are going to want to do a 2-3 year campaign doing just this. I was thinking of doing about half a year to a year, we only play every 2 weeks but I could probably do a "Part" of the module in 1-2 sessions. The way I run combat is OSR like, no maps, declare your action immediatly or lose your turn, means that we speed through combat cos we prefer roleplaying anyway.

I was thinking of condensing it. Do the modules work as standalones if you change a few things, my PCs have very little interest in domain play so I was wondering if I could do modules 1-3 and then the shipbattle from 5.

From looking through there seams to be a lot of filler that could be cut, book seams to mostly just be random encounters for assasin creed: Black Flag put into pathfinder. So my questions are.
1. What events are essential
2. What can be cut (Minigames, random encounters, dungeons?)
3. Can entire modules be cut, module 4 looks like I could remove entirely, it would mean I would have to have the PCs merely be a participant in the great ship battle but I think they would prefer that to micro managing a whole fleet.
4. Are there other ways to fasttrack the story with the story still being there.

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

Instead of trying to condense 6 books down to form a part of your campaign. Might I recommend instead running Plunder and Peril as standalone module.

It'll give you all the tasty goodness of high seas, piratical adventure, without overfilling on an entire adventure path.

[tara9999]

Looking at it now, appears to be much more boomy boomy guns than the AP.

[tara9999]

Think ill probably run Plunder and Peril along with bits of Raiders of the fever sea. I do want to do a big ship battle at some stage though. Maybe I can do Plunder and Peril + Raiders of the fever sea (simultaneously) and then Part 5 for the big fleet battle.

[Warped Savant]

Depending on what you're looking for, the AP comes down to:
Book 1: being press-ganged onto a ship, with a mutiny at the end (this can be cut)

Book 2: Random encounters against ships, villages, a keep, and a underwater cave / dungeon. The ghost ship was a favourite for my group. (This book can have a very typical pirate feel to it. I suggest using at least parts of it)

Book 3: Bar brawl, mystery / detective story, racing into a hurricane. (hints at enemies yet to come, but is easy to cut. Hurricane is great fun though.)

Book 4: Clearing out an island, including a fort, establishing a base. (Probably not something you need, but it can be shortened down to "get to fort and clear it out" if you wanted to. You'd have to remove or change an enemy's reasons.)

Book 5: Pirate Politics, some good exploration, getting back at an old enemy. (Exploration might be useful for you, getting back at the old enemy can be slotted in as an old or new enemy)

Book 6: Ship mass combat, attack a fort. (Depending on how you run the ship mass combat, this can be a lot of fun, but some people might hate it. I suggest removing the Morale check otherwise too many ships sail away.)

Plunder & Peril: Pirate games, exploring an island, dungeon crawl to a suitable cave. (Highly suggest all of this.)

If I were to insert this into a campaign and wanted it to be pretty short, I'd probably:
1) Run Plunder & Peril with the group being part of the crew of a ship for the first part, insert some of the encounters from book 2, then run parts 2 and 3, they get their own ship at the end of P&P, then running more adventures from book 2.
2) Have the leaders of the Shackles put on a competition (use the hurricane in book 4) to decide who is the "best captain and crew in the Shackles" with the winner being given command of a fleet to fight off an imminent invasion from Cheliax.
3a) Pirate Council / leaders of the Shackles tell the PCs that the pirate captain in the fort in book 5 is a traitor and has the secret plans / maps that the enemy fleet is using to attack the Shackles so the PCs are tasked with infiltrating the fort, getting the plans, possibly killing the pirate captain.
3b) If the PCs lose the hurricane race, the PCs somehow discover that the winner is a traitor (maybe he left them for dead during the hurrican challenge) and the PCs have to go through the fort to find proof, while finding the enemy fleets attack plans.
4) Ship mass combat from book 6, with the PCs being in charge of the fleet.