I think there’s something mystical about the first encounter of a game that’s specifically made to introduce new players. first two rounds of combat, the only thing that did damage from the player’s side was magic missile from the wizard, their rolls were abysmal, and my rats crit twice.
I’m DMing a S&S homebrew campaign, homebrew story but using established lore. I’ve been using a combination of the Smoke and Sails and 2e Naval Combat rules. Smoke and Sails has more busywork for most of the party, but each action tends to have a pretty low impact like giving a +1 bonus to a different roll that can give a +1 circumstance bonus to one siege weapon attack.
I ended up hybridizing it with the Naval Combat rules, which is slightly closer to the PF2e vehicle and siege engine rules, but adds customization and upgrades on top of that, unfortunately as with pf2e vehicles, the pilot of the ship does most of the actual decisions and positioning.
with the changes to ~~underdark ~~ darklands lore, I’m sure we’ll see serpentfolk make a big comeback soon.
Yeah, one of my groups caught on that the tunnel they came through was full of water that the rat would not follow them through, so when shit hit the fan they bolted :P
There’s something about rats in the beginner box, I’ve run it four times, twice as a GM and twice as a player. At least one person went down to the rats in the basement or the cinder rat (or both)
Pathbuilder has this option, look for Campaign Management in the hamburger menu