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I just want to add on what everyone else is saying, I love this method of approaching preparation you've provided here and will be implementing it immediately. Thank you so much for both sharing this and doing it in such a way that it was incredibly clear and concise. I know you haven't uploaded in a bit but want to give my love regardless.

I really enjoy this series. Will you be continuing it?

I must say, especially the end example of yours, it felt kinda "directed" a lot and I'm unsure about that. Unless I misunderstood something, as english is not my primary language, you, as a GM, are taking control of characters as in "you think hear scratching from a fork in the tunnel to the left, so you continue down that hallway". I see that you get a story going, but what if my party would actually explore the other hallways first. Though I like the idea of having the exploration mode "encounter-like" and proficiency checks based on the level for certain actions. I will use that way more in my game!

It's insane that you have less than 1k subs. This is extremely high-quality, high-level advice presented in an extremely natural manner.

I'd say part of the problem there is twofold. First is that there's this belief that unless you're taking turns to roll and perform actions - you're not doing much and that's boring. Second (though mileage will vary by group) the idea that unless you specifically engage you might miss something. So while "searching for hazards" what if you miss that hidden loot or secret clue. Downtime has a similar problem, where it almost feels as if a lot of dislike for downtime derives from the idea that you're wasting time that could be used to fight the BBEG or further the narrative. When really these activities are part of the role being played. Literal logistics aside (waiting for transportation/long trips etc), adventurers would die from heart failure and stress if they were constantly in life or death situations and definitely develop PTSD if they lived through it. Plus doesn't your character have a life? Family? A job?

Excellent explainer on a hard and less covered subject. Thanks.

I really dont get why in pf2e, the DM rolls for the players with secret checks. Can somebody explain the thoughts behind that for me?

Another great video showing clear and concrete ways of implementing narrative exploration mode. I am pretty jazzed to try this the next time I run. Thanks again for such high quality content.

Just stumbled across this video and I must say how impressed I am. Clear and concise delivery of the topic with excellent examples. Well done. As a forever DM who started back when THAC0 was king, you've taught me something today. +1 sub!

I appreciate the clear, concise delivery in this video.

Slightly off topic, but does anyone know who did the character illustrations in the example play section? They're awesome!

An interesting twist in the Remastered rules is the Light cantrip. It allows for 4 separate globs at a time now. Three could be attached party characters and the caster could also control one ahead of the party by up to 120 ft allowing and archers to potentially start the encounters at a large range. Makes the search options interesting even if whole party does not have Darkvision.

13:10 - I had a group who did this constantly. And apparently reassuring them again and again and again, over and over, that further investigations yields no additional knowledge isn't a good reason to nudge them towards the adventure. 😂 I remember having to pull up my big boy pants and tell them "We got 4 hours to game, and this first room is taking 2 hours. As much as I want to make sure you understand every state of matter in your vicinity, the rogue in your party has been waiting patienty to go deeper." And lord have mercy if I EVER try to spring up combat without giving a logical non-skill-rolling chance to identify EVERYTHING. Needless to say, that group is gone and I'm playing with a much better group for my style. ✌️

So essentially narrate more and let them interact less. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I think "tedious" is better description than wrong when talking about D&D exploration mode. Mainly because it's NOT FUN. ONE Player hogs the spot light as they describe every tiny detail of what they do and I've practically fallen asleep or gone for snack/bathroom break because I knew the next 10-20 minutes wouldn't require my attention. If your that attention hogging one player than you probably think it is fun. The whole thing is a very selfish way to play, kinda like players the other end of the extreme on player who doesn't know their character and waste everyone's time spending 5+ minutes trying to figure out what they are gonna do. And when I wanna do something like search the room I don't wanna have to describe every last detail like, I search the top of the desk, i open the top draw, i search it for hidden panels, i open the 2nd drawer, i search if for hidden panels, i open the third drawer, i search for hidden panels, i check on bottom of desk for any hidden panels. I search the sides of the desk for loose panels, and so on. Only to have DM reveal later, "Oh you didn't search for key holes as there was one on inner side of desk." Or you didn't twist the desk leg. Or whatever the smarter than thou DM thought was clever to come up with. I got better things to do with my time and wanna get to the actual story of the campaign. When I was young and had to get ride over to friends for occasional D&D we only had a few hours and didn't wanna waste them on that BS. Then when got older limited time between classes and work for both highschool and college meant limited game time so I want it to count and move story along. Sitting through one of those sessions was like being excited for the next episode in a show only to find out it's a filler episode were almost nothing happens except people dragging their feet or recapping stuff you already know. The exploration system is one of the many things I like about PF2e. I remember my first campaign which also had one of the first strict DMs I've had as he was very blunt about the table rules. Basically we start on time, if you not here we are starting without you. You should know your character and pay attention to what is going on so your are ready on your turn to declare your actions. If you can't decide within about a minute you get a final prompt and if not action is declared your turn is skipped. And several other such things. Rules I think many previous DMs I'd played with out have felt bad implementing and I think is partially the reason for their games falling apart. He stated the reasons for the rules which after some thought I completely agree with. That is we are here to play a game and have fun. We all have lives and limited time to play so making others wait means your inconveniencing several other people because of your scheduling issues. That said we did agree on holidays off since most in group would be with family it was more when just 1 player not showing/late. The turn time is because players should be there and focused on the game, not playing on phone or distracted with something else. If the game wasn't important enough for them to focus on he wasn't gonna allow that selfish person to hold up everyone else's enjoyment as your here to play a team game so be present as part of the team because when one person holds up things others start to lose attention as they get bored. Basically just putting into rules good table top etiquette that from my own previous games as been a bit lacking. That said he applied the same rule to exploration mode and things went so smoothly with quick pace compared to previous games in other TTRPGs. The story moved along at a good pace, we search rooms and found traps, secret doors, and so on in quick order without having to stop for 30 minutes each time to describe in painstaking detail what was going on. The tedious exploration I think is one of the reasons why most people don't bother with traps or find them unfair in D&D. Because it slows down the gaming having to explain how to tap everything with a 10 foot pole, careful examine each piece of furniture, and so on.

Im still running book 1 about to hit chapter 3. Iv been preping for book 2 trying to figure out a way to stretch the time. I was thinking making book 2 split into 2 have then focus in frog legs 1st have them do all the quest related to froglegs, have the froglegs climax. Then let time pass while doing the non related quest like the folke tales quest. After that pick up with the serpentfolk quest. Go though all the quest related to that and finish off the book with the mansion. Im trying to work out the pacing.

Oh my gosh you're back!!! Perfect timing we're just about to start book 2 ❤

So, do you recommend doing any downtime during this chapter? I'm using your downtime module and it's been good so far (I'm dropping it to 8 weeks instead of 10 weeks because there hasn't been enough content in the book itself to make the cramming have the risk/reward it's supposed to) but I'm worried there's not enough time allotted in the book. They'll have two blocks of downtime in chapter 2, which we'll finish up in the next couple of sessions, but it seems weird to have downtime in chapter 3.

Ah nice, just checked in on this channel the other day. Top content

Oof that sounds like a lot of work to make good

Nice video! Glad to see you back :)

Good to see you back!

Amazing work! Everything is so well explained, i feel like you dont miss a single word 10/10

I'm happy you're continuing this series! I've just recently started with book 2 myself, and, tbh, both of the 2 "clue" locations given by Janatimo require so much suspension of disbelief to pull off from the player side without them feeling just... lacking sense. The Hababe Building really kicked me in the head with the way that the school is set up as some type of grand magical academy, yet... here we are with students having to walk around with full equipment at all times, since they are stumbling into deadly danger RIGHT ON CAMPUS (where, according to book 4, Level 17+ entities kinda just walk about). Might just be a problem of my DMing style, but I still find it really annoying to try and fit all of this rationally into the world.

Was worried you weren't gonna post anymore. I'm glad to see you're back with great advice!

This is an amazing tip and it clarified a lot for me on how to perform exploration in my upcoming game

You could have them make a few pre-rolls to see if they have "their head in the game" and change the outcomes to reflect those rolls without having to interrupt the flow.

Nice walkthrough, insightful😊

My biggest thing with exploration mode is making sure to give each player agency for the exploration action they are doing. Especially when treat wounds become robotic. Combat ends and immediately hear i treat wounds. Great that takes 10 minutes? What is everyone else doing? Scouting? Cool where are you scouting ahead? Investigating? Cool here is a description of whats around? What would you like to investigate? But to stop everything entirely because of treat wounds really breaks the rythym for me. Actions have pros and cons. If you want to spend less time healing between combat maybe consider healing magic or potions.

This is so good, and I will be using a lot of this at my table now. Thanks for the breakdown and tips.

Just setting up a solo campaign now this is really useful to me ❤

Your Prerequisite quests are very thoughtful, thank you for the ideas!

nice suggestions

aw man i'm looking forward to much more videos from you!, prepping newer APs and other adventures!

Great videos, really helpful!

I definitely think there's a conversation to be had here about how exploration works in PF2e. Activities done while exploring should act like a passive perception in 5e. If a player is investigating then they should notice things. Even if those things prompt more investigation to best a DC. I think a lot of people (I was guilty of this) fall into this mentality that players need to declare that they stop and investigate stuff. If that's the case why even use exploration activities?

Where did you go?

I fell into this trap and it was made worse by the fact that we would play on a VTT. So if sit there and wait for character to move square by square and tell me what they were doing everywhere and unless they told me what they were doing I didn't consider it done, but this presented an issue for me. I got frustrated with my players not exploring places or doing the 'right' tasks. But see I did this because "player agency." I had watched so many people tell me I needed to not be hands on but let the players tell me what they were doing. So it created this warped mentality in my head. Then one day I was watching someone play and I noticed he was describing things. He wasn't sitting there waiting for them to describe their each and every step. He'd ask me hem what they were doing in a general sense, they'd tell him, and he just took over. And watching that made a light turn on inside my head. Also something that's helped me a lot is not having my players worry about skills and actions. Just describe what your character is doing. That's it. They're looking for danger. Great roll me perception. I don't need them to sit and try to find the best skill or action for the situation. I want them to be in their character's shoes and just tell me what they do. I'll worry about the crunchy stuff such as which skill best aligns with that narrative and what rolls need to be made. If any.

I am about to run a game of SoT, and my division of downtime is to take events, festivals, and roleplay with npc opportunities I designed based on NPC interest so when they get two periods of downtime there is an event that breaks that up, doesn’t let them know it is going to be more downtime or right back into the story, not let them get complacent and give them time to think about options to proceed. We will see how this goes.

I've really been struggling with exploration mode coming from 5e, so thank you for this video!

As someone running abomination vaults where an empty room or a closed door can slow the game down with little narrative point, this is a good reminder both to hammer on exploration activities and to keep the game flowing faster and more interesting.

Who plays DND like that? No one I've ever played 5e with has ever played that way...

I wanted and didn't find an answer or suggestion online in a conclusive manner, so I'd love to hear your thoughts on the magical masks presented in the chapter (they are otherwise entirely absent from reward lists and so on). I'm a bit confused as to what to do with the masks provided considering they have different item levels and only a few options seem to fall into each particular power grading. I would love for my players to each have a mask with interesting effects that grows with their character level (as it is... kind of implied with their greater versions presented in each magic item description), but the masking itself, as well as the presence of these masks within Magaambya (and consequtively their significance) I feel like is greatly underplayed through the whole adventure path besides minor mentions, which makes the idea of highlighting it absurd. Feels like the writers forgot something :D Would love to hear a response, thank you for the video.

That was amazing. An easy way to teach.

Thanks for this!

Where exactly does this group interview take place?

I just ran the first half of this adventure and this video was integral in helping me seamlessly transition from room to room. All four of my players really felt empowered and special whenever a trained skill allowed them to bypass something or when their character spotted something handy thanks to exploration. Great video!

I quite like this. I think I’d rather try using the proficiencies rather than getting players to make rolls or me make rolls for them, and having to fudge them just to keep the story going. Great presentation. Keep making videos.

I think a workshop series of videos called "5e Intervention" or something like that would be amazing, where you discuss how to play Pathfinder 2e from the perspective of 5e veterans, and warn us of things we may reflexively want to do from our understanding of the other game. I'm having difficulty in some areas understanding the ruleset. In particular, various rules such as crafting due to having an Inventor player. Explorer mode is also still kind of a strange concept, too.

This is great content! The pathfinder community needs more stuff like this. Keep it up!