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<blockquote data-quote="TheSword" data-source="post: 9753538" data-attributes="member: 6879661"><p>8,000 pages of reading. I see you have mentioned this before in other posts. You’re obviously very proud of it. There are plenty of us who have consumed the wide range of fiction, read up on the history and immersed ourselves in the genre beyond Disney. I never counted the pages though. We still enjoyed Skull and Shackles for what it was. It sounds like you’re looking for a campaign that maps to your precise idea of the age of sail and what you think a pirate campaign should look like though and anything that doesn’t fit that prickles like a burr. That has always been a painful way to approach published campaigns.</p><p></p><p>As I said, let’s be fair to Paizo (and I’m by no means a Paizo fanboy) they were very up front about what Skull and Shackles was… it was Pathfinder in a pirate setting. Not a pirate simulation game. The books are really explicit about why they made certain choices. Not least the assumed absence of cannons which kind of invalidates a lot of the age of sail assumptions. There are conventions about treasure shares, hirelings, sailing and the reality of combat in Pathfinder that just don’t work in a 1-15 campaign. Even the act of chasing ships and raiding villages is a side hustle not the main event of the book. Part of the campaign but not repetitively. Instead the campaign is built around other more interesting aspects. After all in three seasons of Black Sails how much screen time was taken up by piracy against merchant vessels? 30 minutes? An hour?</p><p></p><p>The balance between verisimilitude and playability at the table, selling ships as prizes, sharing plunder with hirelings and much more are all detailed in the books. The random encounters in chapter 2 make it clear that you are expected to range outside of the shackles themselves - particularly events 7, 8 and 9. It specifically references heading out to the Fever Sea and even lists some of the specific areas you might range at this early point - the coasts of Mwangi and Sargava and which ports are too big a mouthful. I mean the book is called Raiders of the Fever Sea right? As I said I think you do the campaign a disservice suggesting these things aren’t addressed. Though it’s totally fine not liking the suggestions.</p><p></p><p>Difficulty, that’s a trickier one. I ran it for three players and they coped fine but they were very experienced players that were expecting a certain amount of water combat (piercing weapons and could all swim well etc) and of course different groups will fare differently. If you entered riptide cove at high tide, after a few other encounters instead of going in fresh across rocks and relatively shallow water then I can see that being pretty damn tough. I don’t get the issue with swarms though, by that point you’re at least level 3 a CR 3 swarm should be a relatively easy challenge. Either way, a DM needs to judge difficulty and signpost / pace the game accordingly. One groups impossible is another groups easy.</p><p></p><p>All that said though. I find that when an AP doesn’t match your expectations the solution is one of four things.</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Change the AP</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Change your expectations</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Be unhappy</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Don’t play</li> </ul><p>There is a ton of advice out there for folks with your concerns with suggestions for adaptions. If you’re not the DM though then you don’t have much say on that. It sounds like you’ve opted for the third or fourth options. Which is a shame because time and time again I see Skull and Shackles recommended as great fun not just by myself. Just maybe not the fun you’re looking for.</p><p></p><p>Perhaps give Razor Coast a go? I don’t think it will be the perfect campaign or system you’re looking for but again we had a lot of fun with it. Particularly the more simulationist approach taken in Fire as She Bears - the author of which seems to have similar passions and feelings to yourself.</p><p></p><p>Or one better, write your own. If it’s as good or better than Skull and Shackles I’d definitely buy it!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="TheSword, post: 9753538, member: 6879661"] 8,000 pages of reading. I see you have mentioned this before in other posts. You’re obviously very proud of it. There are plenty of us who have consumed the wide range of fiction, read up on the history and immersed ourselves in the genre beyond Disney. I never counted the pages though. We still enjoyed Skull and Shackles for what it was. It sounds like you’re looking for a campaign that maps to your precise idea of the age of sail and what you think a pirate campaign should look like though and anything that doesn’t fit that prickles like a burr. That has always been a painful way to approach published campaigns. As I said, let’s be fair to Paizo (and I’m by no means a Paizo fanboy) they were very up front about what Skull and Shackles was… it was Pathfinder in a pirate setting. Not a pirate simulation game. The books are really explicit about why they made certain choices. Not least the assumed absence of cannons which kind of invalidates a lot of the age of sail assumptions. There are conventions about treasure shares, hirelings, sailing and the reality of combat in Pathfinder that just don’t work in a 1-15 campaign. Even the act of chasing ships and raiding villages is a side hustle not the main event of the book. Part of the campaign but not repetitively. Instead the campaign is built around other more interesting aspects. After all in three seasons of Black Sails how much screen time was taken up by piracy against merchant vessels? 30 minutes? An hour? The balance between verisimilitude and playability at the table, selling ships as prizes, sharing plunder with hirelings and much more are all detailed in the books. The random encounters in chapter 2 make it clear that you are expected to range outside of the shackles themselves - particularly events 7, 8 and 9. It specifically references heading out to the Fever Sea and even lists some of the specific areas you might range at this early point - the coasts of Mwangi and Sargava and which ports are too big a mouthful. I mean the book is called Raiders of the Fever Sea right? As I said I think you do the campaign a disservice suggesting these things aren’t addressed. Though it’s totally fine not liking the suggestions. Difficulty, that’s a trickier one. I ran it for three players and they coped fine but they were very experienced players that were expecting a certain amount of water combat (piercing weapons and could all swim well etc) and of course different groups will fare differently. If you entered riptide cove at high tide, after a few other encounters instead of going in fresh across rocks and relatively shallow water then I can see that being pretty damn tough. I don’t get the issue with swarms though, by that point you’re at least level 3 a CR 3 swarm should be a relatively easy challenge. Either way, a DM needs to judge difficulty and signpost / pace the game accordingly. One groups impossible is another groups easy. All that said though. I find that when an AP doesn’t match your expectations the solution is one of four things. [LIST] [*]Change the AP [*]Change your expectations [*]Be unhappy [*]Don’t play [/LIST] There is a ton of advice out there for folks with your concerns with suggestions for adaptions. If you’re not the DM though then you don’t have much say on that. It sounds like you’ve opted for the third or fourth options. Which is a shame because time and time again I see Skull and Shackles recommended as great fun not just by myself. Just maybe not the fun you’re looking for. Perhaps give Razor Coast a go? I don’t think it will be the perfect campaign or system you’re looking for but again we had a lot of fun with it. Particularly the more simulationist approach taken in Fire as She Bears - the author of which seems to have similar passions and feelings to yourself. Or one better, write your own. If it’s as good or better than Skull and Shackles I’d definitely buy it! [/QUOTE]
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