Menace Under Otari: PF2E Beginner Box Game Master Guide

[@CooperativeWaffles]

13:41 Passage to Darklands from Room 15: Place a large, locked, steel, circular hatch with snake motif to block further travel. Especially, have a relief in brass of snakes intertwined around the edge. Just ensure to place a brass key in the Abomination Vaults. This can be with the unusable rusted & couple usable keys found in the Vaults. MKe proper notes to include and adjust the description of the set of keys. Describe this ancient key as being larger than the others, looking more like a small handle for the other keys This key shaped handle has a circular-top with a bronze loop where the other keys hang. This ends is engraved with the same motif around the hatch.

[@RdotDoyle]

I like this idea a lot. If you really make the details on the door stand out with a little luck the players will remember it and go back down when they find that key, which happens pretty early in the adventure. In one of my games this passage goes under the Thirsty Alpaca, and for a few sessions I was going to point it at the Scar from Trouble in Otari

[@Aktuvor]

Ive been playing TTRPG's for about 15 years now and DMing for about 9. 90% of the time my rolls were in the open. And to me rolling some stuff in secret feels like a breath of fresh air. I think doing a solid balance of hidden and open rolls is where the beauty is at.

[@RdotDoyle]

Right? Lately I've been thinking of getting like a dice tower inside a screen so it's still the player rolling but I'm the one seeing the result

[@Aktuvor]

@@RdotDoyle that's actually a very nifty one. I'm gonna check if I can do something similar. Gives players a certain feeling of agency

[@norcalbowhunter3264]

When I deal with a creature with any sense of intelligence I go through some basic steps to make them feel alive. 1. Self preservation. Everything except the most mindless of mindless creatures and possibly a honey badger has a sense of self preservation. From the mightiest angel to the lowest rat. Creatures generally don't want to die and will avoid combat if possible. 2. What are the creature's goal? Are they seeking food, are they trying to get something, are they fleeing a dangerous foe, are they standing guard, etc... 3. What are they doing when the creatures encounter them? This is mostly driven by point 2 but it can help deepen the story. A group of words of orca might be hunting for food but are they just setting out, pursuing prey, field dressing it, or taking it back to camp when the heroes cross paths with them? 4. What are their motivations? Why are the rats looking for food? Why are the ords hunting? This can deeply help with RP because if a hag is out collecting plants to make a potion to help heal her sick covenant sister this gives her a reason to not want to fight. Her falling to battle may mean that other hag gets no help. It could also lead into a quest if the hag thinks the group will be able to help them. 5. What would it take to avoid combat? Again self preservation is something everything has. It's something you should encourage in players but as a GM you should also use it for monsters. They don't want to fight so what would it take for them to convince the players to leave? What would it take for the players to convince the monster to leave? For a wild animal this could be food, for smarter creatures it could be a favor owed or something or value, or it could absolutely be just the fact they both agree to live and let live. I've found that approaching features like this let's me build a situation where the players find monsters fun because they're more dynamic and gives the players many different ways to resolve an encounter. Instead of each room just being a static stat block waiting to fight to the death.

[@RdotDoyle]

Fantastic, this is exactly the kind of depth I like to bring to the monsters and other characters in the world myself

[@b0sanac]

Coming from 5e and running this adventure for my DnD group for the first time tonight. These videos are helping ease my anxiety tremendously.

[@RdotDoyle]

This is a great on ramp to PF2E and just a great little adventure in its own right. I'm sure you'll have a ton of fun with it. Also, you might enjoy this one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mJfSiH-KprSApKM

[@diegovazquez7339]

Just watched this video, and it was very helpful! Thanks! I found an issue while running this adventure, and want to share: It was In room 7, when PCs found the kobolds trying to open the lock for the cage. The players struggled to understand why they were doing this, and they came even suspecting Tamily to be associated with the kobolds! I understand the focus on having the creatures actually doing something instead of simply waiting for the PCs to come in, but the nature of their actions was not easy to justify. Maybe it is worth to include some dialog from them, such as one that shows that they don´t agree with Zolgran guarding the treasure in the cage, and maybe using this encounter to add more info for the players on the nature of the clan´s operation (which may be handful if the PCs end killing all the creatures instead of interrogating them, as they actually did 🙂)

[@RahvunTheWhite]

This series was awesome, please do more PF content.

[@RdotDoyle]

Thanks, I appreciate the comments. When the remaster drops in full I plan to do more

[@nathanmcewen7614]

Incredibly helpful vid! I'm a new GM and my party is about a third of the way through the Beginner Box. I applied some of your suggestions to my last session and they worked really well! Thanks for allowing us to tap into your wealth of wisdom and experience.

[@RdotDoyle]

Thanks for that, happy to help!

[@TheMfreeb]

Great walkthrough GM guide. Did I miss where one can purchase the game master's compendium of explosive creation? Looks interesting. I would like to look into it further.

[@RdotDoyle]

Thank you! I'm still cooking up The Compendium but I am very happy about what we've got so far. It's going to launch on Kickstarter in a bit over a month

[@CooperativeWaffles]

Would appreciate the DM Screen discussion.

[@RdotDoyle]

Thanks for the input. I've started playing with secret rolls in PF2E and some hidden encounter checks and morale stuff these last couple of months. I've got a lot to say about this topic so there will definitely be a future video on it