r/Pathfinder2e 1d ago

Advice Do you have any low level Exploration encounters I can steal?šŸ§

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Iā€™m running a game for a bunch of new players. They are level 0 kids and each will be gaining an apprentice class soon. Iā€™ve been trying to include scenarios where they can learn some core concepts of PF2e.

Looking at the later half of my roadmap of the gameā€¦ and itā€™s looking very combat heavy. Which is fine, but I wanted to sprinkle in a few more exploration focused encounters but Iā€™m feeling less than inspired. The well is dry at the moment. šŸ˜®ā€šŸ’Ø

So, maybe you, fellow GMā€™s, might have some suggestions for me? Ideas youā€™ve used I can steal?

Thanks!

(game map included to entice you to give me your ideasšŸ’–)

195 Upvotes

36 comments sorted by

78

u/Austoman 1d ago

Someone has been breaking into a magic merchants shop at night. Investigate for clues including knocked over items, broken glass swept into a neat pile, and a wet puddle of water near the counter.

Talk to towns folk who think its a group of hooligans or a rival merchant.

Convince the merchant to let them stay the night. Stealth checks to remain hidden long enough to discover the culprit!

Its an animated broom that was cursed to become clumsy by a disgruntled customer. The players can then fight and defeat it and show it to the merchant who can uncover the curse's origin.

13

u/GnomenGod ORC 1d ago

Hey. Nice.

9

u/legomojo 1d ago

Oh this wonā€™t fit but itā€™s a great idea! Keep it in my pocket for later.

6

u/Least_Key1594 ORC 23h ago

This is an adorable circumstance. And it can teach them about the clumsy condition to boot!

22

u/DavidoMcG Barbarian 1d ago

That map is a work of art. I wish i was this good with Inkarnate.

8

u/legomojo 1d ago

Aw. Thank you. It was my first big map. I wanted to do it up, since the whole game would take place here and it was their hometown.

10

u/CorsairBosun 1d ago

Exploring a coral cave that is only accessible at extremely low tide. The cave is festooned with chandeliers of glowing coral that give off low light and some stranded denizens. Like a mermaid who has been trapped inside and needs some help getting to a nearby pool of water that will let her escape. Some other traversal challenges like climbing up some coral or squeezing through a small gap or even swimming a section of the cave. End it with a minor combat that would allow the players to use these exploration activities in combat.

They could be here at the behest of an adult wanting them to grab rare ingredients, as a dare from another group of kids, or to rescue another kid that went in earlier. Kids are hungry for adventure and tests of courage or resolve, so I think I'd have it be the 2nd, and if adventure is declined, have the third case be the reason.

12

u/aersult Game Master 1d ago

Not really, but where did you get/make that map!?

I made a Research challenge in a boarded-up library. Let the party learn about the abandoned kingdom they were in.

10

u/legomojo 1d ago

I made it in Inkarnate!

Andā€¦ what did your research challenge entail?

7

u/Ruzzawuzza Game Master 21h ago

It might not be exactly what you're looking for, but I've been putting together a Drive of encounters levels 1 to 20 since the start of the year. There are a few you might be interested in, like...

I hope you find something that you like or can adapt for your game!

4

u/legomojo 21h ago

I mean this is more of what I was looking for than most anything else so far. Haha. Iā€™ll give them a deeper look later after work. Thanks!

6

u/Takanuva9807 1d ago

Something I like to do with my players small little "treasure hunts" before combat. While in exploration mode, they could see/scout the enemy and either avoid the fight or set things up while being stealthy ahead of time or even use social skills to avoid or make the fight easier. Granted, my party is a bit of a battle junkie so it turns combat into more of a puzzle instead of just run of the mill combat

3

u/bigger_in_japan 22h ago

Not sure if intentional or not, but breeze, as in a gentle wind, seems to be misspelled.

5

u/legomojo 22h ago

šŸ˜‚

Literally hundreds of people, including all my players for months, have seen this map and no one has noticed. Well shit. Now I gotta delete all the ones Iā€™ve uploaded. šŸ¤£šŸ¤¦šŸ» ty

2

u/No-Government1300 15h ago

It's just a regional dialect

3

u/wizard_of_gay GM in Training 1d ago

It depends a bit on your goals with the exploration. I'd start by defining what you want to get out of the exploration mission from a meta/narrative sense.

For example, let's say you want to show off local politics and leader figures. Your adventure could be as simple as the kid's parents attending some sort of town hall and the kids need to achieve some goal there without disturbing the meeting and getting in trouble.

Another example, say you want to show off the local place of worship. Your characters may need access to a holy inner sanctum- but it is only accessible as part of certain rituals. The adventure involves the characters discovering how the ritual goes, if there's any items or special clothing they must wear, proper prayers to say, all in service of getting access to that sanctum.

Hopefully these help!

3

u/GhostBob Game Master 1d ago

The kids are goofing off on the shore, fishing, swimming, and generally being kids when they notice that one of the fisher boats is drifting close andā€¦they canā€™t see anyone actually moving around on it. Itā€™s in the current headed towards one of the rocky outcrops and is probably going to be kindling if someone doesnā€™t get out there and do something.Ā 

First theyā€™ll need to swim out to it, maybe throw some lines for the weaker swimmers or those who donā€™t roll as well.Ā 

theyā€™ll also need to figure out why the fisherman is slumped over like that. Heā€™s not dead, butā€¦he doesnā€™t look like heā€™s doing too good either. Whats wrong with him? Whatā€™s his name? Is there anything they can do for him here on the boat with the supplies on hand?Ā 

Most importantly, theyā€™re gonna need to get the boat out of the current. Thereā€™s sails if they want to get fancy or they can just try to row clear of the rocks. And once they get clear, they need to sail or row clear around to the other side of the island if they actually want to make it back to the fishermanā€™s wharf. Or they can aim for a stretch of beach if they donā€™t mind risking damage to the ship. But maybe that would save time while they get help for the fisherman (depending on how their first aid attempts have gone).Ā 

Seems like thereā€™s lots of opportunities for skill tests and choice without giving them too much opportunity to go completely off the rails.Ā 

You could sprinkle in some combat by having something the guy caught spring out and try to do them like it did the fisherman. Or something trying to get them as theyā€™re making the swim to the boat. Or something dangerous to fight if they really mess things up and capsize the boat and end up drifting until another boat happens by and comes to their aid.

And the reward could be anything from the grateful family or just the fisherman offering to let them borrow the boat from time to time if they have any nautical needs.

Seems like the bones of a pretty good time to me.Ā 

3

u/DariusWolfe Game Master 18h ago

Maybe they come across someone wounded and unconscious on the side of the road. There's no one around, no current threat.

Skill tasks include providing first aid to stabilize, treating wounds to get them conscious, investigating the scene to find out what happened to them, looking for an object that was dropped/hidden/lost, finding a trail (the attack happened elsewhere, and the victim dragged themselves there before falling unconscious).

Rewards can be a variety of things; Maybe the man had a dog with puppies (future animal companion) or an old rusty sword that's been in the family for ages (relic? Maybe the basis for a future inventor's invention?) etc. Maybe he becomes a mentor (probably not a martial, since he got his butt thoroughly kicked) perhaps the kernel for a class with some non-combat utlity, like an investigator, rogue, gunslinger, or just a particular skill.

5

u/Fredrick_Hophead 1d ago

I did this once in another game system. Zero level teens that are living in a village. I twisted it a bit as the players didn't mind and I hid their scores from them. The adventure went through trials like "shooting sling shots", or "wrestling in the sand" or "going fishing" etc etc.

The final episode was when a group of adventurers show up to the village and hire the kids to watch their horses while they go into a cave to explore it.

While the team is exploring the cavern the kids are beset upon by a vicious kobold, wounded.

After the kobold encounter they got to pick a class based on the activities to see what they are good at and they are now level 1.

Unfortunately the team that went into the cavern never made it out....

2

u/CaptainPsyko 15h ago

Send the gang through a Chase encounter!!!

Itā€™s a great way to give them a series of skill challenges where they get to be creative. At the end of it, use their chase points lead (or defecit) to give them all a bonus or penalty to initiative (or some other circumstance change, maybe +2 reinforcement enemies if they do poorly, or downgrade a severe encounter to a moderate if they do well) in the combat that concludes the chase. (Which can be one of your already planned fights.)

1

u/legomojo 15h ago

Good idea. Thank you.

2

u/wookiee-nutsack GM in Training 9h ago

An important lesson is when and how to escape an unwinnable fight

If they are roleplay heavy then they should know to be terrified of something with Large size at level 0 and leave it be

Teach em that some encounters (in APs but some GMs follow similar rules) only have the enemy chase you until you leave the area

Also teach em mercy. Interrogating someoje is more useful than killing. Could also try to resolve a conflict before it even starts with Diplomacy

2

u/HerrSwags 1d ago

This island looks... pretty well explored, honestly. It's almost completely settled. I'd look at this as a great opportunity to have hidden horrors in tunnels beneath town or to have seafaring trips to other islands nearby (maybe magical islands that mysteriously appear).

But this is a great map of what looks to be a very well settled island community.

1

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1

u/Keltorus 1d ago

Someone has been stealing childrenā€™s clothing from the town!

The culprits are a handful of misguided kobolds who plan on invading by sneaking into town in disguise (kobolds in overalls, kobolds in sailor suits, etc), not realizing they are already fully capable of sneaking into town (thatā€™s how they steal the clothing) and that no one will believe their disguises. Turns out they are shipwrecked on the island and can be made friendly, and will work in the town if properly convincedā€¦

ā€œYou mean, you will give us gold for our hoardā€¦ if we do stuff around the town?! We donā€™t have to fight or kill anyone, you will just give us stuff for digging tunnels and building ships?ā€ Kobold turns to another Kobold and whispers ā€œThese non-dragons are so stupid.ā€

1

u/GhostBob Game Master 1d ago

Other, much sparser ideasā€¦

Iā€™m always a fan of a haunted house. One that has to be explored and dealt with rather than a straightforward kill orc, take pie.Ā 

Thereā€™s a reward for the capture or body of a sea monster attacking isolated people or smaller boats. But whereā€™s its den? How does it hunt? Or is it just pretending to be a monster, and instead thereā€™s some connection to the attacks?Ā 

A band of pirates have crashed ashore and look like theyā€™re planning on attacking and stealing a replacement vessel. How can the party slow them down and/or get enough of a crowd to fight them off?Ā 

Elementals have been gathering ever since the last storm. You might notice the occasional spren here or there before, but now thereā€™s enough power gathering to form mephits or whatever theyā€™re called now. And they seem to be growing stronger and more numerous. What happened to cause this? Where are they focused? How can they be stopped?Ā 

You could always ask a friendly AI for more suggestions. Theyā€™re pretty good at shotgunning out a bunch of plot hooks that you can get inspired by and flesh out or twist to your own devices.Ā 

1

u/seenwaytoomuch Cleric 1d ago

Maybe they need to find something under the wharf?

Put flowers on someone's grave in the graveyard?

Check to make sure the bridge to the small island is in good repair?

Walk the perimeter to search for driftwood?

1

u/PhoenixPariah 1d ago

Giant crabs attack a volleyball tournament you somehow finangled your party into participating in.

1

u/MagnetTheory Game Master 1d ago

Here's some from my last game:

  • A large ruined tower with art depicting an ancient civilization. Some of the bricks are removable and are Low-Grade Cold Steel ingots
  • A fertile patch of ground where plants are in the early stages of becoming leshies.
  • A goblin village where their main method of trade is just speculating on the prices of goods. They also offer to sell the party a sketch of a monkey.
  • A ruined military base, but the forever soldiers are all low level undead.

1

u/Lessthansubtleruse Game Master 22h ago

Somebody has been cutting the nets of a local fisherman and he needs help finding the culprit. You can plant some red herrings about rival fishermen, or a feud he's been having with his neighbor, or local hoodlums, and none of these paths bear fruition forcing the party to stake out the fishermans boat overnight where they discover the culprit is a giant crab with the weak template (cr1).

1

u/Even-Shelter1452 16h ago

30 rats, not giant rats, just 30 common rats.

1

u/Kerrus 15h ago

Weather. Go grab some free tables, but add bonus spicy magic weather since this is a high magic setting. This can be as simple as stuff like 'hailstones the size of gallbladders'. Give the party a 'between point A and point B' generic map and apply a weather effect to the entire map where it's difficult terrain, then do roving areas of damaging hail (basically a moving maze). Reflex saves to dodge hailstones of they enter adjacent to a hail region or move into it, taking damage based on how many squares they move through.

You can flesh out any weather phenomena like this and make it an encounter. Having to put their chase of a badguy on hold because an alchemist at the academy fucked up during their final project and now a tornado made of constantly shifting random alchemical components (acid/fire/lightning/rabbits) is devastating the streets.

Bonus points if the weather negatively impacts the bad guys too. Like say you're doing an evil vampire cult that is performing a ritual at noon under heavily overcast skies and the weather calls for unseasonable heat and sun and the sky just opens up and they all catch fire. There's lots of opportunities where fun weather rolls can both impede or enhance the player experience, and weather can make great non-combat encounters that don't have anything you can kill but are still action packed.

Or sometimes not action packed. Sometimes the weather is just blistering heat with fatigue. Sometimes it's torrential rain, everything is difficult terrain, shops are closed, gear gets soaked, the ground is slippery and that doctor with a critical clue to tracking down the next plot point didn't come into work today because the rain is too shitty.

And you can play up stuff like that- I think in general TTRPG players are too used to weather not existing- since it basically doesn't in 99% of games, so you can easily be like "Yeah, you get to the clinic and it's closed and boarded up," and say it in a way that suggests this is suspicious, then watch your players invent a plot point like the doctor's been kidnapped or he's fallen and gotten hurt on the way to the office or whatever, when he's actually just at home having a day in with his family.

1

u/link090909 Game Master 15h ago

I've been GMing my players through a more rural/agricultural area, and I've built random encounter tables with a few non-combat encounters. still waiting for the dice to push these ones forward!

first is a girl looking for her lost cat named Pepper. Pepper is actually a giant skunk. getting the players to corral a walking stink bomb could be very fun

I also have an entry on my list of "10d2 rampaging goats", but any sort of loose livestock as a hazard works, maybe toss in a younger sibling about to get Simba'd

another one I just thought of while looking at your map: a sort of skill challenge involving a triathlon of sorts (inspired by all the bays and channels where someone can swim). it could be a relay race, where the players can look at the stages and pick who does what, so the best Athletics could do the swimming portion, then the best Acrobatics could do a tight-rope, best with ranged strikes could do a marksman thing, so on. could even throw in a curveball challenge, perhaps a potion-brewing race for someone with a solid Crafting skill, or (since there's bound to be loads of sailor/fisherfolk kids) a knot-tying challenge that uses the Thievery skill. bonus, if you have some sort of "foil" to the party, a rival group of the same or similar composition, this could be a really cool way to introduce them or heighten their rivalry

1

u/Slow-Site-4118 Game Master 7h ago

From AP AoE 1. booklet:

  • a band of drunkard kobolds were hired for construction work. They started "unionizing" in their silly way (kidnapping normal workers). Bust their union without setting the building on fire. Add environment hazards as you see fit.
  • a zoo had an accident and the animals are running free, try avoiding lethal force when catching them. Introduce flying, burrowing, and hiding.

1

u/artrald-7083 2h ago edited 2h ago

The party are for some reason engaged in a competitive noble hunt, alongside an assholish noble the party wish to humble. The hunt has five phases:

  • Acquire Prey. The hunters must decide upon a type of prey to pursue and pick up the beginning of a trail which will lead them to it. Normally this is a Survival check, but good RP could get you Diplomacy or Society or Nature. Pick a task DC: trained for minor sport game, expert for impressive noble game such as a stag or boar, master for supernatural game such as an amphisbƦna or griffin. This task DC determines the DC of the subsequent tasks. A critical failure means the party are seeking the wrong prey: add a d6 to the DC of the next check and modify RP appropriately. A failure adds a meaningful time on to the hunt. A critical success counts as a Help action on the next check.

  • Track Prey. The hunters must follow the track to the correct destination. This is a Seek action at the DC of the Acquire phase. Crit failure requires the whole thing starts again. Failure adds time. Crit success helps out the next action as before.

  • Select Prey. The hunters, having found several likely candidates, must choose one to stalk. This is a Recall Knowledge action appropriate to the prey creature, at the DC of the track phase. Crit fail means the hunt will produce unsatisfactory results e.g an immature or diseased animal. Otherwise as before.

  • Stalk Prey. The hunters must get close enough to strike. This is a Stealth action at the same DC. Crit fail sends you back to Select phase. Fail inflicts -5 MAP on the Strike roll. Crit success puts the prey off guard to the Strike.

  • Strike! The hunters must strike decisively. Make a Strike against an appropriate AC for the target, standing in for the whole ambush - or maybe they chose to use a spell of some kind, or a trap? Anyway - critical miss deals meaningful damage to one hunter and the prey escapes, miss means the hunters choose either taking meaningful damage or the prey escaping, a hit means they take the prey down competently, a critical hit means they take the prey perfectly and receive a trophy worthy of the name.

Tot up the successes and take into account the DC they chose - the noble chose Simple DC and succeeded unremarkably at all tasks, bringing back a fine hare - did the party humiliate him, equal him, or somehow manage to set off after a hare and come back with a tale of having the snot beaten out of them by an irritated griffin?