How to IMPROVE The Menace Under Otari
Vložit
- čas přidán 29. 06. 2024
- Welcome to the video! In this one, I share my changes to Paizo's Beginner Box adventure (the Menace Under Otari) that I feel improve the experience for the players, and enhances the story overall.
I worked hard on this video to try and make it as entertaining as possible despite covering a lot of info and a whole adventure, so let me know what you guys think and consider leaving a like if you enjoyed! 😁
Time Stamps
00:00 Intro
01:22 The Adventure Begins
09:09 The Spider(s)
12:22 The Forgotten Crypt
15:05 The Gold Coin Puzzle
15:25 Kobolds & Traps
21:04 Kobold Warren & Scrazz
21:38 The Final Boss
25:35 Thanks For Watching!
#pathfinder #ttrpg #pathfinder2e - Zábava
spoiler wizard is great addition
Love the changes! It actually feels like an adventure now instead of just a tutorial mission.
Love.this video! It really helped with my first ever DM run through! I loved the friendly kobold idea!
I got a little stuck on why the hell a baby dragon is under Otari, so ended up creating an elaborate head cannon where egg was stolen from Taxtythyl - an ancient dragon in the forests near Andoran by persons unknown. This found its way to a kobold chieftan in the forest outside Otari who used it like a holy relic to unite the nearby kobold tribes. The kobold the party meets was part of a diplomatic mission sent by Taxtythyl to negotiate the return of the egg. The kobold was not a diplomat, but a nurse/midwife. Her role was to care for the egg on the return journey. Sadly her companions were all slaughtered but she was kept prisoner as her knowledge of egg care and that of dragon babies was deemed useful. This kobold convinced one of the chieftan's lieutenants to steal the egg and herself with promises of reward from her mistress. The leutenant.did so, telling her.own troops that they were on a secret mission. However they were unable to secure passage. It was at this point her allies betrayed her. Binding her and torturing her for the secrets of how to hatch the egg as, the chieftans lieutenant decided she would be able to seize power with a dragon under her care. It seemed to go down well and gave my very small party a healer - which they really needed. I added a bunch of sniper tunnels and murder holes to the lower floor. My kobolds had a tendency to turn tail and run when overwhelmed and my players liked to camp in doorways and make ranged attacks (even the monk). The snipers and murder holes.added a bit of flavor and kept them moving forward.
In the final battle with the kobolds they came pretty close to a tpk but had killed enough of the kobolds that their leader decided she should release the dragon into the room and have it attack the players. She rolled terribly so I decided the drafon was driven into a frenzy by all the blood and fresh meat and started attacking everything around it. The party retreated with their kobold friend while the dragon ate everyone else. They decided to find the tunnels the kobolds had come in by and either convince the dragon to leave or bait it into a traped cage they had built for the purpose (once they convinced the mayor he gave them.a blank check as long they got rid of it. They failed to talk it into travelling back to its mother, but did succeed in trapping it. They are now on a barge, sailing down the river and out to sea to put the dragon on a ship and send it home. Not sure what will happen next!
My party ended up sparing a Kobold and I just decided "screw it" and brought in another player to be that kobold which was convenient since they were one player short. Menace Under Otari is sorely lacking a "Droop the Goblin" haha
I am actually running my buddy and his girlfriend through this adventure this week. I will be implementing most if not all of these changes! Thank you brother.
Hey there! I’m trying to get two people to try PF2e with me, and I’m curious how your experience was with two PCs. Did you add any DMPCs or hirelings to balance stuff? How did the heroes do?
@@link090909I am running a ranged support/healbot Druid to make sure they live. I’m leaving all decisions and actions up to them and just move to support as soon as things pop off. It’s been going well. It’s a dangerous but very very fun game.
@@link090909Not the person you asked and it's an old comment, but I've got (too much?) advice.
First off, you're going to need to read the encounter building rules and understand how to adjust for fewer than 4 players. This will get you most of the way there if that's the route you choose to go, I'd also recommend being pretty generous with gold (if item level is limited to character level or a little bit over, nothing will break).
Another option is a bit of level manipulation, ie having the party be 1 level higher than they "should" be, giving enemies the weak template (lowering their level by 1), treating the party as being 1 level lower than they actually are when doing the encounter building math, or some combination of all of the above. As long as you crunch the encounter math, it should work out fine, just be wary of single boss creatures. A Severe single boss encounter is quite a bit tougher than a Severe "mini-boss with a lot of minions" encounter, ESPECIALLY for small parties.
You could also look at the free archetype and dual class variants, with the caveat that they add some complexity. But free archetype is pretty manageable imo and also a whole lot of fun. I'm also a fan of giving out feats as RP rewards, just don't go above PC level and keep it even between party members and nothing will break.
And because I think it's worth repeating, don't be stingy with gold. Personally, I'd consider either giving the party the loot for a party of 4 or using the automatic bonus progression variant (and still probably giving a little extra gold tbh, everything is limited by the 3 action economy and by item level).
Anyway, those are the main dials I see for adjusting the difficulty of PF2e for smaller parties and/or less threatening encounters/campaigns. Hope that helps!
Love the addition of the flavour characters. The one thing the adventure was lacking was RP prompts.
I had two factions of kobolds living together - the "kill first, ask questions later" stonescales and another group that are more cunning but less aggressive. So the party befriended one of the latter who tried to introduce them to the current joint leader but on his way to the leader's room he got in an argument with the more belligerent stonescales in the warrens causing the beginnings of a civil war between the factions (the PCs walked in on a fist fight with the two factions facing off in that room).This gave the PCs two kobold factions to deal with spread across the various kobold encounter rooms and hints at why the kobolds were now under Otari (having been ejected from areas of the Abomination Vaults adventure). It also gave the Xulgath a reason to be there in the first place as they were behind the kobolds exile, and this scouting party of Xulgath had followed them to these caves.
This is amazing!
🎉 We killed Skraz before he woke up and I couldn’t be more disappointed
I am not surprised. Kobolds are monsters and need to be treated as such.
the adventure has two of the three traps from the kobold trapmaster already set up by the time the adventurers get there, so she would only need to take one turn to finish that off before joining the fray
I used it to introduce 13 year olds to RPGs and Pathfinder. So, I had them as middle teens who were friends who palled around in all the ways described and were recognized as developing skills like adventurers of long ago. So, when Tamily needed someone to clear out whatever was ransaking her basement, this was a 'let's see what the kids can do' kind of thing.
Interesting additions, I liked your thoughts and narrative style. As for videos about Troubles in Otari and Abom Vaults being 40+ min sometimes that's ok, or you could do them in parts. Maybe that isn't youtube friendly but if people are invested in your vids they will stay/come back.
Those are great ideas! I'm planning my first campaign and my players are going to be going to the fishery to investigate why the ship they've been hired to accompany had to dock on the second dock (to not force them directly in the fishery from the pier), and can't restock their rations.
Awesome video! I’ve ran the BB at least 5 times now and I’ll be doing it again next month. I’m going to “Enhance” that session and see how it goes. It typically takes my groups 2 sessions to complete but I think adding the shopping list, combat in the marketplace, and with the orc chef will breath more life to it. My main goal is to teach the basics since 3/4 of my players will be new. This will allow some RP and get them right in it. Thanks for the suggestion. Subscribed!
Awesome! I hope the campaign goes well! 🧙♂️🎲😁 Running a game for new players is so much fun.
Love your videos. Do you help people with setting up foundry. Love all the effects and such.
I'm hoping to do some more Foundry content sometime in the near future, just a matter of time. 🔨
Love the changes and I hope to add some of this to my own adventure. Thanks again for sharing this.
Awesome video! Really good
Hey Natertot! Great additions to an already fantastic adventure! I would however suggest if you're able to invest in a Pop Filter for that mic of yours that will definitely help to get rid of those nasty s's at the end of your sentences. Much Appreciated and looking forward to more of your great content for us GM's and players alike.
I like all the social RP additions you make to it. I'll definitely be adding those if I run it again.
(and after you called attention to it, I did start to notice how frequently you say "normally" in your video. Aaaa! Sorry)
Hahaha yeah I totally do. 😆
Just finished running through this adventure for the third time and then found your video. I think all your suggestions are spot on. You have a great feel for the game and a great imagination. I look forward to your future videos and any Foundry content you put out.
Thanks! 😁 I'm happy to hear that you liked the video. 🤘😊
Excellent ideas!! My players saved one of the kobolds from dying, and after some intense roleplaying, and I re-writing that this kobold was a bullied and surviving member of another enemy tribe, the PCs recruited him.
Another adventure seed I included was to have a “broken” teleportation ring hidden below the undeads room tomb. This I am already using to connect with the Abomination Vaults AP.
This is an amazing idea!
More of these Nate! Great video!
Thank you so much! 🤘😁
Gotta say this is pretty good
Another tip for spider encounter: *play nosk theme during it*
I also changed the adventure bit currently running for 6 players and had them meet in a tavern and interact with some personal pc's i added at the bar along with Wrin and Tamily, hell I even had Wrin offer a side quest to retrieve some items that were stolen from her
18:30 So a funny thing happened with my group. The martial characters charged right in... but none of them had darkvision, and only one had low-light. This meant that for several rounds they couldn't even see most of the kobolds. I took this chance to have the Trapmaster fully cover the steps on the right hand side of the room in traps!
Great video! Thanks 😊 Gonna run that soon as well
Also, may I ask what music you are using in this video? Relaxed fantasy style is awesome to listen to while working 😊
@@crushl2451The music playing in the background is Warm Light by David Fesliyan. Enjoy!
@@nattertot Awesome, thank you!
I've been playing 5e for quite some time now as a player. After watching a couple of Pathfinder videos however, I'm eager to try that with my group (most likely as DM). So this video is gold for me.
I am however thinking about also adding a prequel for every character, that puts them into the setting (like a 1-2hours 1:1 session with each player). Like a player with a merchant backstory that shipwrecks near Otari and is found and rescued by Tamily (possibly even fished out of the sea by one of the fishing boats), getting the connection without the need to be grown up in Otari.
My group is quite sceptical about the switch to Pathfinder. So I'll have to hook them so hard, they want keep playing further into Troubles and Abo vaults - which of course, I'm also preparing.
If you have tipps on those, I'd take them as well 😁
I've run both TiO and AV (as in Troubles In Otari and Abomination Vaults) and I would LOVE to make a video going over them, but I've found it difficult to try and condense the video to be digestible and not 40+ minutes long. 😆 Especially in AV's case! 🤯 But it's definitely on my to-do list for potential videos. 😁📝
My players are completely new to TTRPGs, so I’ve written backstories for them based on the pre-generated characters. I am going to have them meet in the nearby tavern, with two of them knowing Tamily, and the other 2 brothers looking to make a quick coin. I want them to feel personally attached to their characters without teaching them how to create characters- there’s lots of rules!
Turtle? or maybe Tortoise? reveal at 6:58! I just wanted to say this video is fantastic, honestly it's probably the best beginner box supplement I've found so far. I found your channel looking for module recommendations for PF2e in Foundry and noticed this one. A little backstory here, I'm going to be running this module with SIX players (apparently I have an issue saying no to players who are eager to learn). None of them, including myself have played PF at all, but some of us do come from D&D 5e, so I've been looking for ways to kind of spice up this tutorial adventure.
One question I did have though, you mentioned the Dragon having a treasure, and show a window labeled Dragon's Horde with loot inside. I don't see this as a lootable object, a journal item, or anything really in the Beginner Box. If it's not terribly complicated, can you tell me how you created this? This definitely seems like something that can have a multitude of uses, and I've been trying to find ways to create more lootable objects in my adventures. Thanks again, big fan, and you've definitely earned a sub!
Happy to hear you enjoyed the video! 😁 so if you're using Foundry VTT, the dragon horde at the end is a lootable actor which you can access by just double left clicking on it. I believe it's a part of the base module, but if it's not then they're super easy to make. 👍 You just create an actor and change some of the sheet settings to make it a lootable actor, and then you add in whatever loot/items you want, and then reveal it when your characters find it. 🪙🗡️ Hope this helps. 👋😊
@@nattertot Thank you so much for the reply. I didn't consider it being an actor, so this already points me in a better direction!
I generally run this adventure in connection with Wrin so I have her be the npc that is the connective tissue to people. I have the pcs known of tamily because they’ve most likely partaken in her game nights. Though sometimes I might have someone with appropriate lore know her because she’s also the harbor warden. But I have Wrin be their friend who helps them find work because she's foreseen they'll play a large part in saving Otari and she asks them to help Tamily as a favor.
I fix my issue with “burn the spider webs” because I’ve also ran into this issue by using what the dungeon already puts forward as trait of the dungeon. They’re wet and flame just doesn’t seem to take hold of it like they expect. I also have the webs draped across the room making their spider obscure to see and requiring players to make balance checks to not touch the web if they sneak through.
I also tie the kobolds to lamashtu because that can connects them to Troubles in Otari, and I connect the dragon to a larger adult dragon who eventually (once the players reach the appropriate level) sends a delegation to retrieve the stolen egg and if the players kill the delegation or let it known they killed the baby wyrmling the dragon shows up to level the town.
If the players didn’t kill the baby’s dragon and turn it over the adult green dragon also demands a tribute for it not to destroy the town. Leading to the dragon being a recurring plot point much later into the campaign.
I also turn the fishing camp the players get into a guild hall. I'll have Oseph come out and offer to fix the place up free of charge if they'll pledge it as a guild hall to help Otari. By agreeing to this they don't pay anything to fix it up plus build on additional rooms such as a lab or smithy for the players to use.
Mechanically I use this for my players to have alts. The idea being that adventures from Absalom have heard about this budding group of adventurers and their guild hall and they come out to join their ranks. I let each player make 1 alt and the alts are the same level as the player's main characters. I use these alts to run one shots from time to time to let players explore new character ideas and take a break from abomination vaults, but also should a character death or tpk happen the players already have level and gear appropriate characters with a connection to the story to continue it.
Oh I also throw out the Xulgath encounter and replace it with a haunt because this is one big thing about the game that players never really know how to handle when they first encounter it and oddly enough they never included one in this adventure.
Amazing! I had the same idea about the older dragon sending a delegation to find the egg. They ended up meeting a kobold prisoner in the. Kobolds camp which was all that was left of the delegation. The party told the mayor what they had found and he was desperate that they find a way to remove it without killing it. Mature dragons in that world were thought.of.a.walking tactical nukes and there are histories of towns who slighted a dragon and were razed to the ground as a result. 😊
Thanks for sharing! Did you make the letter for Foundry? Would love to see if if you did. I will be running this in Foundry as well.
The letter was a handout that came with the adventure pack for Foundry VTT. If the module didn't automatically make it a handout for you when you imported the adventure, it should be in the module folder under assets. Data -> Modules -> Pf2e-beginner-box -> assets -> artwork-other. It should be called "letter.webp".
Hope this helps! 🧙♂️
Cool changes! Can you add the pictures you picked of the kobold and the orc chef? 😄
23:15 Ahh... The classic "You murdered all of my friends and now are trying to force me into slavery- oops I mean FRIENDSHIP."
Yeah.... i usually have the critter backstab the character later on. That's what they get for leaving monsters alive.
The maps are gorgeous. Are they from the foundry bundle or did you get them from somewhere else? awesome video btw ^^
They're from the foundry bundle I believe, and they're made by Forgotten Adventures. 🗺️🗡️
scrazz is a cool dude!
When you were talking about the "light the webs on fire" topic, my mind imediatelly went to the problem of a fire with smoke in a cave. I mean... can you breath or even see in hot smoke? Wouldn't players basically kill themselves if they stayed near it once it burns? Or is this cave somewhat opened up to the surface in that area?
I've brought this point up to players during my first couple of run-throughs of MUO, but it normally doesn't stop them from throwing a bunch of torches into the webs and then leaving the cave until the fire settles down. But I've only ever had one group set the webs on fire and then leave immediately, so in my experience it doesn't happen all too often. 😊👍
i'm actually playing this right now (will watch when we progress) but i was wondering if you could give me some advice on how to better incorporate my character into this area/ setting for the rest of the abomination vaults campaign. given that this is our campaign hub.
My advice would be to read a bit about the area surrounding Otari and find a way to incorporate local lore into your character backstory, or work with your GM on how to incorporate your character into the world. In the world of Golarion (the world that Paizo created for Pathfinder), Otari is on the isle of Kortos and nearby the city of Absalom, so there are plenty of possible routes to go with for your character backstory. Or you could go the easy route and just say your character is from the area around Otari (meaning you're a local), which would be a good way to tie in your character with Tamily Tanderveil. 😁 Hope this helps!
How did you add the fire effects at the forgotten crypt? I tried using sequencer but the flames just keep burning below the sconces instead of above them.
You have to have the tiles set to "overhead tiles" otherwise they'll burn underneath them. Hope this helps! 😁👍
How did you add all these cool animations to foundry?
I use a combo of mods:
- Automated Animations
- JB2A patreon collection (or free collection)
- Token Magic FX
- and all the supporting mods they have you download along with these (it should automatically give you a download prompt for the supporting mods when you try to download any of the aforementioned using Foundry... or it won't if you don't need them.)
⭐ Bonus! ⭐
If you use D&D 5e or PF2e as your game system, there are free mods made by MrVauxs that come with entire catalogues of premade animations so you don't have to do any of the work to set them up (if you don't want to).
- D&D5e Animations
- PF2e Animations
Hope this helps! Happy gaming. 🧙♂️🎲
@@nattertot Youre the absolute best thank you so much! I'll download all of these, and currently im using the PF2e system (:
The shopping list is dumb. If she sent them letters, that means they are not in town. And there's no idea how long it would take the letter to be read by the adventurer, or when they could get to Otari. Just keep it simple, dude.
That side quest with Element's room is actually a good idea for the point you've mentioned, because my party has decided they've done the work after killing the rats :D I had to turn on Karen mode on Tam to send them back which wasn't really fun to do , lol
Great video and ideas!