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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kenada" data-source="post: 8390771" data-attributes="member: 70468">I’ve said a <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/looks-like-i-will-be-running-a-pf2e-game-in-a-few-weeks-suggestions.680292/page-7#post-8387897" target="_blank">few</a> <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/looks-like-i-will-be-running-a-pf2e-game-in-a-few-weeks-suggestions.680292/post-8388524" target="_blank">times</a> in this resurrected thread that Pathfinder 2e wouldn’t be my default choice for an old-school sandbox game. For one, the community is better-suited to that style. There are more resources, and it tends to be the assumed default rather than trad play (though I see no reason why someone couldn’t do trad if that’s what they wanted). To be fair, while I have my issues with PF2 discourse, I also have them with 5e. For all the different ways people play it, there’s an annoyingly vocal segment who are blind to 5e’s limitations or gaps.I don’t think the combat system is problematic either. Old-school games are pretty dangerous too. I would probably suggest using the Proficiency Without Level variant for an old-school game, but it’s not strictly required for sandbox play in general. As we’ve been discussing, you can have a sandbox game with curated encounters. It takes some work on the GM’s part, and it helps to get advance notice of the players’ plans, so you can prep for them, but I don’t think it’s fundamentally incompatible.If people like the PF2 system and want to try doing a sandbox game, I see no reason not to figure out how to make that work. For the most part, it’s a few GM principles and maybe a couple of tools imported from old-school games or adapted from existing PF2 subsystems. The issues you’ve raised may be problems in the specific style you discuss, but they’re not for old-school sandbox games. Bringing them up just doesn’t seem topical.However, I will add that there are conflicts between OSR play and PF2, but they haven’t been discussed at all. There’s a saying, “the answer is not on your character sheet.” There’s a specific conception of “skilled play” where players are supposed to use their own creativity to solve problems and not just look for a skill they can roll or an ability to invoke that can solve them. Even low ability scores aren’t an issue in that approach. Your character may have a 3 INT, but that just means you need to be extra clever to avoid ever having to roll it.I don’t think that style resonates with people who want to do an old-school sandbox using PF2. They obviously don’t mind the extra crunch. To be honest, that style doesn’t resonate with me, and I am running an OSR-adjacent game (Worlds Without Number). I try to strike a balance, but I think you need to roleplay your character. If your character is dumb or anti-social, being clever is not a workaround. Anyway, I expect most people who want to use PF2 probably view skills about how like I do, so it’s not even worth mentioning. It wouldn’t be very helpful, and it’d risk coming across as trying to invalidate what they want to do.</blockquote>

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