Life with Dot

Talk Like a Pirate Day 2024 was on September 19th, and I got a group of friends together to play through the titular One-Shot. We were given 48 hours to prep before we actually played.

The premise of the adventure is a group of ex-pirates receive a letter from their recently deceased former captain stating he has left them his treasure and to travel to the final resting place of their old ship in the morning following to claim it. So each player character arrives near the same time, not aware of the others until that moment. But they still work together to find the treasure left for them. There are 3 encounters, 2 puzzles, and a final boss fight all packaged nicely together.

As a GM, it was very easy to just pick up and go. I intended this to be a play once and not continue, so I didn’t bother reading too much into any specific character lore. It was quick to get through without feeling rushed. Overall, it took our party about 4.25 hours to complete, which is a little bit more than the prescribed 3-4 hours.

Our group consisted of 3 relative Pathfinder newbies, and one who had never played it before (or even used FoundryVTT at that). So working with level 5 characters did come with it’s challenges. The most salient criticism received was from the player who chose the Sorcerer pre-made. The character’s kit does not fit well in this adventure, as there are many tools available that have no use in the adventure as written. For example, their primary reaction was “Warding Sign”, however no part of the adventure incorporates the Trigger. Overall, the player did not feel that impactful and was left feeling frustrated by the end of the adventure.

Everyone did enjoy the premise of a pirate group reunion, and the final boss encounter was completed with happy relief to have survived. Our newest player was able to learn the system pretty quickly, even utilizing minor parts of their kit that would have been easy to ignore. Because of that, I think this would be a good introduction to Pathfinder for a few players if given patience and guidance.