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Message: <blockquote data-quote="!DWolf" data-source="post: 8795872" data-attributes="member: 7026314">I find that Abomination Vaults (and pf2e in general) works very well for a “sandbox”/“combat as war” type game. As an example of what I’m talking about:[spoiler= Minor spoilers for Abomination Vaults]This last session, the game started in the dungeon and there was a debate about whether to press on and face the ghoul librarians or go back to town. The wizard really wanted to get in there and the group had a side quest (collecting books for the bookseller) and they knew their main quest (stop the gauntlight from firing; given to them by the mayor) lay through the library (revealed by the friendly ghoul morlock). But they had other side quests (such as investigating the fires breaking out around town and running for mayor). After taking careful stock of their resources they decided to tackle the ghouls. The party then spent 45 minutes real time debating strategy. They finally settled on luring the ghouls into a choke point with a calculated retreat. They then began to execute it by making sure they had multiple clear escape routes and having the surprisingly stealthy dwarf champion do a peak into the library. Where they found no ghouls. So instead they begin to cautiously clear rooms in the library: which is when the ghouls struck with their own strategy (having learned from the last time the party fought them). The ghouls intended to distract them and seal the doors (with bars they had installed) and separate the party and prevent retreat, while the spellcasters took out the party’s light sources. The ghouls would then swarm the blinded party while a ghoul boss (the scrivener) took out the party one by one in the darkness. However, since the last time a fighter with an axe and the swipe feat had joined the party and they were absolutely devastating to the ghouls, even in the darkness. The result was a massive battle with the party escaping by the skin of their teeth with several weapons and an ever burning torch left behind — and many ghouls destroyed, including two casters. The party then spent the next several days doing downtime activities (partly because it was raining hard and they didn’t want to traverse the swamp): crafting, selling loot, rearming, and gathering info. [/spoiler]For this style of play, I find my experiences mirroring those described by [USER=6801252]@The-Magic-Sword[/USER] — with healing resources being consumed either for expedited recovery or as emergency in combat healing (there is a medic, alchemist dedication, and champion in the party). I also find that the party rarely heals up to full in the dungeon (because I roll for wandering  monsters), instead only risking 10 or 20 minutes in any area they don’t know is safe. This means that they may go into fights without full health but because of the focus on strategy and tactics and preparations (and then absolutely being willing to retreat) they usually get away with it.</blockquote>

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