My "Savage" Experience

[dbm]

I know some people have that experience. I can only say mine is very different and combat moves along at a nice clip for our group.

 

[BrokenTwin]

In my personal experience (having taught a few group both Savage Worlds and Savage Pathfinder), I find combat only really goes slowly when people try to treat wounds as hit points and race to the bottom with just basic weapon attacks. Using Tests and Tricks to soften up and Shake opponents, throw in Wild Attacks and Gang Up bonuses, and overcoming even high toughness opponents becomes fairly manageable as long as folks are working together to set up big hits and not just all going for the killshot independently.
And the best way to teach players to use those tricks is to use them against them as the GM.

Having said that, I haven't played or read the adventure noted in the OP, but from what's been said, the enemies do sound overtuned there. And sometimes there's just sessions where the dice are against you.

 

[thullgrim]

If I wanted to run SWADE as a dungeon crawler I’d grab the Gold and Glory book. It’s an OSR take on SWADE.

Regarding AP style adventure in Savage Worlds I strip and combine encounters ruthlessly. Sometimes that means opening up the space involved as well Any I leave that would be a chaff encounter I run as either a Quick Encounter or a Dramatic Task.

Regarding combat length and style Tests are important. I hand out the combat cheat sheet at my table to each player. It has an advice on using tests to inflict conditions which can make hitting things easier, for instance.

You have to be careful with high toughness or it can get frustrating.

 

[BrokenTwin]

Oh yeah, I prune the Savage Pathfinder AP conversions ruthlessly for combat, either by eliminating them or converting them to Quick Encounters. And a lot of them are solvable just by making sure that violence isn't the only option the players have (which frequently isn't the case for base PF paths).

 

[Retreater]

For my preference, there's too many combats that are also too long in standard PF AP modules. I'd prune them down to something like a 32 page adventure of 3rd edition and prior.

 

[payn]

For my preference, there's too many combats that are also too long in standard PF AP modules. I'd prune them down to something like a 32 page adventure of 3rd edition and prior.

Im not sure if its changed in PF2 era or not, but PF1 era AP early levels were excellent. There was enough room to make interesting combat, exploration, and social encounters. However, the sheer amount of resources the PCs are capable of collecting and getting via leveling up meant later modules were packed with combat at expense of everything else.

 

[Staffan]

Im not sure if its changed in PF2 era or not, but PF1 era AP early levels were excellent. There was enough room to make interesting combat, exploration, and social encounters. However, the sheer amount of resources the PCs are capable of collecting and getting via leveling up meant later modules were packed with combat at expense of everything else.

In PF1, APs started at level 1 and went on to level whatever things ended up at. In PF2, there's been a mandate that APs go to 20 (or 10 for 3-part APs that start with 1), because that's how high the system goes.

 

[payn]

In PF1, APs started at level 1 and went on to level whatever things ended up at. In PF2, there's been a mandate that APs go to 20 (or 10 for 3-part APs that start with 1), because that's how high the system goes.

Ok... but do the modules go from being balanced across encounter types to combat heavy as they rise in number?

 

[Reynard]

In PF1, APs started at level 1 and went on to level whatever things ended up at.

What PF1 APs did not go to level 20?

ETA: looks like none of them. I think WotR went highest (18th).

 

[payn]

What PF1 APs did not go to level 20?

All of them if I am remembering correctly. Some stopped around level 14 and others around level 16 or so. The final module often had an entire "continuing the campaign" section with ideas on how to get to 20. The reason for this is what I hinted at as how difficult it was to write high level adventures in 3E/PF1.