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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kenada" data-source="post: 8285335" data-attributes="member: 70468">[USER=4348]@GreyLord[/USER] Thanks for sharing. I remembered that discussion but not the specific points. My expectation is that while Paizo should be better at encounter design, they’ll probably still skew towards higher threats. It would be interesting hearing @Retreater’s experience on this since his group had some challenges likewise in the first AP they did, and whether Abomination Vaults is any better. There’s another thread here on Abomination Vaults, which has some good advice in it. In particular, <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/tell-me-about-the-abomination-vaults.678535/post-8212242" target="_blank">this post</a> has a good list of things.From a general dungeon-crawling perspective, I’d make sure that the Chase subsystem is available to facilitate retreats from combat. If the PCs looks like they are in a really bad situation, don’t hesitate to remind them that it’s available. Retreats are an important escape valve in dungeon crawls as a way to avoid TPKs and mitigate the risk from pushing into dangerous environments. It’s also a good idea to err on the side of letting them escape even if the mechanics or situation don’t call for it, so be judicious with your use of the Chase subsystem as well.I wish I could say I am disappointed by what [USER=42040]@Retreater[/USER] says about factions, but I’m not. I remember running Shattered Star. It’s another dungeon-focused AP. The first dungeon has a neutral faction called the Tower Girls. It even goes out of its way to give them names, but everything is set up with the expectation that the PCs will murder their way through them. I ended up running that section very differently than as it was written because just murdering people for living in the dungeon is psychotic. I don’t know how difficult it would be to change Abomination Vaults to make its factions more palatable to the PCs, but it’s something worth considering.</blockquote>

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