Playing Paizo in Faerun

It's a Brand New Day

Or year as the case may be. Actually, it's now nearly been 2 since the last time I decided to make use of my D&D blog. The reasons were simple: while I continued to keep close record of my party's adventures, demands of school and work eventually eliminated any free time which I had once used to convert those adventures to prose. 

The group I had meant to document is still together, having finished our adventures in the Underdark. In fact, our actions at the end of OotA ended up launching our own personal version of the Forgotten Realms setting, which we have been playing all our games in ever since. 

Why then have I returned? Certainly it's not to dominate the ranks of Blogger. 

I have returned now because I have become the second DM of the group I play with--and have been so for some time, in fact. But the niche I have fallen into, in that role, is unique at best. And, after a particularly intensive week of preparing for my weekly session, it has occurred to me that this might once again be an affair worth documenting. 

My group still plays in 5th edition D&D and, as previously stated, in the Forgotten Realms setting. That being said, as wonderful as the arrival of 5e has been for my group, the rate at which APs are produced... leaves a bit to be desired. With all the official 5e adventures going to my comrade, our primary DM, I found myself searching for other places to locate material suitable for adventuring. Eventually, I settled on Pathfinder. 

Though set in the far-off world of Golarion, and designed for a wildly different d20 system, the Pathfinder APs provided a source of unique material that I knew no other players in my D&D group would touch. This made them ideal for campaign crafting without having to worry about spoilers or repetition for my players. Having played Pathfinder in my (unfortunate) younger years of tabletop gaming, I was familiar with the system and its setting, and felt confident I could manage the APs--most of which I had played at least in part. But the problem of course was obvious: wrong setting, wrong RPG, and using rules, gold, and DCs more suited to D&D 3.5 than 5e. 

The problems would be two-fold: I would have to mod both the AP's mechanics from PF to D&D 5e, and the setting from Golarion to 'modern-day' Faerun. While this wasn't too much of a bother, it did create interesting changes in the Pathfinder APs which--coupled with my group's unique play-style--resulted in campaign decisions that I have seen detailed nowhere else. Thus, it occurred to me that maybe I should throw my group's play experiences out there, as well as my musings on PF-5e and setting mods in general. And thus, our adventures begin with the first... 

Skulls & Shackles

Though one of Paizo's more-recent (ie in the last 5 years) modules, the Skulls and Shackles adventure path was one of the first I decided to mod. The decision was made by my team, who selected it from a list of potential campaigns I had offered them. It was convenient, however, as I had actually played much of this one, and had been sad when my own S&S group fell apart. 

------Spoilers to Follow------

In its original Pathfinder incarnation, the AP is set in the wild world of the Shackles--a coastal and island region of Golarion where Free Captains rule, and there is little other law of the land. The PCs find themselves dragged into this world--literally in some cases--as they are press-ganged one drunken evening onto the crew of a pirate ship. Here, the PCs are faced with a harsh and unfamiliar world, and must eventually mutiny or die when the opportunity at last presents itself. Now, finding themselves the unexpected owners of a small pirate ship, its rag-tag crew, and trapped in hostile territory, the PCs must become pirates themselves if they ever hope to see home again. 

The AP is littered with hints of its overarching plot--a wicked attempt by the Infernal nation, Cheliax, to take over the Shackles and end its union of Free Captains once and for all. But this plot is not immediately apparent to the PCs, who are usually busier with surviving and building their pirate empire. 

------End of Spoilers------

The AP doesn't specify any particular alignment, and in fact any can be played. Evil characters obviously have a reason to remain pirates once on their own, though evil PCs tend to prevent their own problems. Particularly in 5e, where most evil PCs are banned in organized play, and the various books all declare sermons against evil characters, evil isn't really an option. And it certainly never is one at our table. So, evil aside, what's left? 

The AP seems to expect the PCs to be neutral. They are not initially pirates--or at least not the majority of them--when they are press ganged. This suggests that the characters' initial intent is probably not to become the next great pirate lords. After the PCs escape, however, the AP makes it clear that they cannot just return to their old lives. They are trapped in the Shackles, and would have to sail through hostile pirate territory to make it home again. And, without a reputation and enough power to make them feared, any attempts to return home would probably result in another press-ganging. Thus, the PCs must become pirates--and the AP initially suggests they do so by raiding merchant vessels and small villages for plunder. Perhaps they'll even sell some prisoners from the mutiny as slaves! 

The fact that the PCs did not start out pirates, but are expected to leap so whole-heartedly into the pirate's life suggests to me that the AP expects neutral characters. And, indeed, most of the blogs detailing S&S games on the internet seem to feature these sort of parties. But there is a third option: good alignment. While it may seem like an odd choice in a pirate game, in 2 out of 2 S&S games I have participated in, this was the general net alignment of the parties. When I was a player, my good-aligned group had intended to become privateers--to pirate other pirates, and the likes of the Chelish navy, while seeking answers on behalf of the Free Captains' council. 

My players, without consulting each other, rolled up 4 Chaotic Good, 1 Neutral Good, and 1 Chaotic Neutral character. Thus I found myself in an interesting situation. Not only would I have to mod the setting, characters, and game mechanics, but also some key parts of the AP to better suit a good-aligned party. Thus, I decided it would be an experience worth sharing, and will be detailing the highlights here whenever I have the time.