Pathfinder 2E Looks like I will be running a PF2e game in a few weeks...suggestions?

[payn]

Given your experience last time, I’d suggest two things:

1) Really emphasise to your group they can do more than just move and attack, an action spent demoralising an opponent, or moving into position to give a team mate a bonus on their attack is not a wasted action.

2) Depending on your group vibe, consider applying the weak monster template to most of the encounters. This isn’t saying “you’re not good enough, get good scrub” or giving your group freebies. Think of it like a video game difficulty slider, sometimes you want every combat to be intense, on a knife edge, other times you might just want a chill sesh where you’re comfortably kicking butt but still getting thrills out of it. Besides, your players don’t have to know you’ve done that. It gives them a chance to get use to the “expectations” of the system without being punished for “mistakes”.

Ill second this. I'd say the default mode for PF2 is hard, not easy. Teamwork and tactics are expected. You can temper this by paying close attention to the rating of the encounter.

In PF1 I ran many APs and often kept the party 1 level behind for most of the campaign. This was due to the system mastery my players had and their ability to play up. In PF2, I'm finding many of the dynamics have changed. The tight math makes it more difficult (particularly for those who dont work as a team). So I find moving the party 1 level ahead of the milestone marker makes the game a better experience.

 

[dave2008]

So I find moving the party 1 level ahead of the milestone marker makes the game a better experience.

I heard this works well for PF2 as well. At least it is a good place for @GreyLord to start

 

[payn]

I heard this works well for PF2 as well. At least it is a good place for @GreyLord to start

Indeed. On top of that, learning the PF2 encounter threat level guide is really important. Severe and extreme encounters are exactly as described. I know if PF1/3E the CR system varied greatly depending on group, but the PF2 system holds much truer.

 

[FrozenNorth]

Other than traps and hazards, investigation is limited to clues that add some flavor to the story. Like "you notice this painting that tells you what happened here 200 years ago." That's usually just presented in boxed text, so the GM just gives it to the party. Uncovering deeper meaning with Recall Knowledge is also possible (like any other post-TSR D&D game). If it's important to the story or adds to the experience, I'll give it to the players, because the story is already so light on detail that I want to share anything that can interest them.

I’m one of Retreater’s players, and I can second what he says here. In addition, because the dungeon is so story-lite, and the characters have such a nebulous reason for being there, there is very little reason to engage in greater exploration or investigation activities.

The dungeon is pretty much just presented to interact in. If you bite off more than you can chew, you can retreat 15 minutes to the mid-sized town filled with people who don’t care enough to clear out the dungeon at their doorstep.

I will take umbrage to @Retreater ’s comment with respect to 4e dungeons. I have a bunch of old Dungeon magazines from that era, and overall, they do a pretty good job setting up the combats you engage in.

 

[Retreater]

I will take umbrage to @Retreater ’s comment with respect to 4e dungeons. I have a bunch of old Dungeon magazines from that era, and overall, they do a pretty good job setting up the combats you engage in.

I guess I was primarily thinking of the H1-E3 series, as I didn't run much from Dungeon in those days - and not much more than a few from the H1-E3 series and a few seasons of Adventurer's League.

 

[dave2008]

I guess I was primarily thinking of the H1-E3 series, as I didn't run much from Dungeon in those days - and not much more than a few from the H1-E3 series and a few seasons of Adventurer's League.

The H1-E3 series was, IIRC, the first 4e AP. It was not WotC best work for that edition.

 

[Retreater]

The H1-E3 series was, IIRC, the first 4e AP. It was not WotC best work for that edition.

*Only AP for 4e that I recall.
Did Scales of War in Dungeon make it to 20th level? I heard that was better, but my groups were basically done with 4e by that point.

 

[kenada]

Scales of War went all the way up to 30th level. I ran it up through The Lost Mines of Karak. I thought the adventures were okay but not particularly great. They apparently needed to be usable outside of the AP, so they felt a bit disjoint. However, I thought they were better than Keep on the Shadowfell and Scepter Tower of Spellgard.

We never got any further because one player was toxic, and I hit my limit when he complained vehemently after the harpy encounter. I declared I was done GMing right there. A few of us met back up later and formed a new group that went on to become my current one.

 

[dave2008]

*Only AP for 4e that I recall.
Did Scales of War in Dungeon make it to 20th level? I heard that was better, but my groups were basically done with 4e by that point.

Scales of War went all the way to 30 (fighting Tiamat on her home plane even).

Those may have been the only 1-30 campaigns; however, I have heard the adventures got better as the years went on and some are highly regarded. I don't run published adventures so I can't personally comment on that though.

 

[BigZebra]

RPG.net had one of these "Let's read" with Scales of War, which I read not long ago. Some of the episodes seemed quite great actually.