Okay, so yeah, really late to the party here, but one of my groups just decided to start running Skull & Shackles. So far I've found a lot of help already in some of the other threads, but I was curious specifically about one thing. I'll be running for only 3 people and I just wanted to get some advice from the crowd as to any additional adjustments I might need to make.
Obviously combat encounters, especially early on, will have to be adjusted, but I am also a bit concerned about potential social aspects as well. Even in Chapter 1 of Book 1 I'm curious as to if there will be sufficient time to recruit enough allies. That said here are some initial ideas I had and I'm curious about these as well as any suggestions you all might have.
1. I won't be using a GMPC, but for certain situations I may hand an NPC to one of the players (two of them are very experienced so shouldn't have too much trouble handling an NPC).
2. We've long had a house rule with healing rolls where if the PC doesn't like the amount rolled for healing he or she can ask the GM to roll and then takes the GM's roll. This gets around the "I heal you for . . . 2 points." (usually).
3. As I understand it, APs in 1e are balanced around 4 PCs with a 15 point buy. I was thinking of going with 20 point buy to help with stats and skills a bit. 25 seems as though it might be a tad too high, but then, there are only 3 players.
4. I might incorporate Hero Points from 2e. Not positive. I think they largely work fine with 2e, especially if you don't hand out a ton, but they do have the drawback of near the end of the session everyone starts using them, which tends to heavily skew the results.
5. What other problems or concerns should I be wary of?
As always, thanks in advance for any help you or advice.
P.S. Yes, I'm aware the simplest solution is to find a fourth player, but that's probably not going to happen (sadly our 4th passed away earlier this year).
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I ran my Skull & Shackles game with 3 players, 20 point buy, and didn't adjust any of enemies.
There was a death early on (during book 2, which was actually Plunder & Peril) but that was over-confidence on the player's part rather than a fight being too difficult. (Player literally went off on his own, swimming ahead of the others, and tried to fight an aquatic enemy on his own).
I suggest 20 point buy. I find 20 point buy versus 15 doesn't seem to make much of a difference, except PCs that depend on more than one stat have a +1 bonus to their secondary stat.
25 makes single-stat characters noticeably stronger.
Hopefully you don't have a player that thinks a healer can't do anything other than heal. (Clerics and War Priests are pretty solid in a fight; we had a life Shaman that was very effective).
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Okay, so yeah, really late to the party here, but one of my groups just decided to start running Skull & Shackles. So far I've found a lot of help already in some of the other threads, but I was curious specifically about one thing. I'll be running for only 3 people and I just wanted to get some advice from the crowd as to any additional adjustments I might need to make.
Obviously combat encounters, especially early on, will have to be adjusted, but I am also a bit concerned about potential social aspects as well. Even in Chapter 1 of Book 1 I'm curious as to if there will be sufficient time to recruit enough allies. That said here are some initial ideas I had and I'm curious about these as well as any suggestions you all might have.
1. I won't be using a GMPC, but for certain situations I may hand an NPC to one of the players (two of them are very experienced so shouldn't have too much trouble handling an NPC).
2. We've long had a house rule with healing rolls where if the PC doesn't like the amount rolled for healing he or she can ask the GM to roll and then takes the GM's roll. This gets around the "I heal you for . . . 2 points." (usually).
3. As I understand it, APs in 1e are balanced around 4 PCs with a 15 point buy. I was thinking of going with 20 point buy to help with stats and skills a bit. 25 seems as though it might be a tad too high, but then, there are only 3 players.
4. I might incorporate Hero Points from 2e. Not positive. I think they largely work fine with 2e, especially if you don't hand out a ton, but they do have the drawback of near the end of the session everyone starts using them, which tends to heavily skew the results.
5. What other problems or concerns should I be wary of?
As always, thanks in advance for any help you or advice.
P.S. Yes, I'm aware the simplest solution is to find a fourth player, but that's probably not going to happen (sadly our 4th passed away earlier this year).
My condolences on your loss of a player and friend.
Skull and Shackles lends itself really well to a smaller party with the party eventually taking on the roles of Captain, First Mate and Boatswain of their very own ship.
1. In book 1 Sandara is a Cleric of Besmara who is automatically friendly with the party, so she can act as a source of healing, support NPC and ally. She can even make some social rolls on behalf of the party, just let your players roll the dice, and advise her on who to attempt to befriend. As the players recruit more more NPCs to their side, they'll have more allies to choose from to join them in their shenanigans. So rather than a single GMPC, it's a rotating roster of support NPCs the players decide who they like.
2. Sounds like a nice houserule. In my games the rule is healing spells are only dice rolled during combat, but anytime you can take a 10, you can provide an average healing to the party (4.5 per d8, 3.5 per d6) with spells, wands, potions and channels. Generally hit points are the least interesting attrition anyway, and spells, wand charges and potions are the more interesting resources anyway.
3. 20 Point buy is absolutely reasonable, players will be a bit more powerful than their support NPCs without necessarily making that support useless or redundant.
4. Hero points are another fabulous resource. I find hero points to be useful for reinforcing the behaviour you want to see in a campaign.
Rename them Fortune Points and award them whenever the players perform acrobatic acts of derring-do, successfully betray a hated enemy, plunder a valuable treasure or whatever else you like.
In my games, I give Fortune Points to players whenever they roll a natural 1 on a significant check or attack roll, adding a complication in the moment (not a fumble, but nothing more than the effect of a trip, reposition or dirty trick that can be cleared with an action). Makes failure a little more interesting, and fuels success after setbacks which is very Pirates of the Caribbean reversal of fortune.
5. Read the GM threads before running the books. The Rum thing is a major headache in the first book, there's plenty of great suggestions on how to resolve it better. Split time into 8 hour chunks for book one, basically Work Action, Relaxation Action, Night Action (usually sleep). Let the players know that the tension, monotony and helplessness of the first couple of chapters are temporary and eventually they'll have more freedom than they'll know what to do with, but to be patient while the foundation of the story gets laid out.
6. Good luck friend, and welcome to the sweet trade.
I ran my Skull & Shackles game with 3 players, 20 point buy, and didn't adjust any of enemies.
There was a death early on (during book 2, which was actually Plunder & Peril) but that was over-confidence on the player's part rather than a fight being too difficult. (Player literally went off on his own, swimming ahead of the others, and tried to fight an aquatic enemy on his own).I suggest 20 point buy. I find 20 point buy versus 15 doesn't seem to make much of a difference, except PCs that depend on more than one stat have a +1 bonus to their secondary stat.
25 makes single-stat characters noticeably stronger.Hopefully you don't have a player that thinks a healer can't do anything other than heal. (Clerics and War Priests are pretty solid in a fight; we had a life Shaman that was very effective).
Hey thanks for the tips! I think we'll be okay on the healing front. Not only will they have Sandara available, but one player is going with Hunter and another most likely Bard. Not sure about the last one yet, but they should be okay there hopefully!
Bunch of good advice
Thanks for the advice! Your threads were amazingly helpful when I ran Kingmaker way back when!
I like the idea of Fortune points as you describe them.
I also agree on the issues in Book 1. I'm going through some ideas already but yeah, as written there are definitely issues there. The GM threads have definitely been helpful. I'll definitely be scouring them more as we get toward the later books since I'll likely rearrange the final couple books.