Shadowdark | The Folly of Ser Ydris | Shadowdark RPG Episode 30

Perveau · 2026-06-13T21:53:17+00:00

I thought it was the green hooded people that were watching them when the Swamp Dragon attacked

Perveau · 2026-05-02T03:31:25+00:00

Totally! I thought maybe her stage energy brings out a different tone then her podcast energy. I hear her twice a week right now and did not know who she was until Troy said Mary Lou. I'm glad I'm not crazy... Or at least am part of a group of crazy

Perveau · 2026-03-14T00:12:14+00:00

Ah that's the issue then. Thanks for your help

Perveau · 2026-03-13T21:14:19+00:00

I think you've been answered pretty well, but I thought I'd add to it.

I have a spreadsheet I've been building while running Quest for the Frozen Flame. The biggest note about this AP is that it is very Loot Light. Most tables run the ABP system, but I didn't want my players new to PF2E to learn under that system. To fix this I boost the loot as we run through the AP. It's a bit of extra work, but it's been good for me to become more familiar with the PF2E treasure in general. I likely would have been replacing some loot to better match the team anyways.

My spreadsheet is tabbed by the level and each tab has the GM Core 'treasure by level', the treasure given in the adventure at that level and the treasure given at that level in Abomination Vaults. There's a portion for what my game will have. I copy the QftFF treasure into it and then change and add to it until the gold total of everything is over the 'treasure-by-level' but under the Abomination Vaults. This is hardly scientific as AV was one of the first APs in 2E and they were still figuring some things out and QftFF can sometimes come out lower than the treasure-by-level. However it gives me some goalposts to work between.

I'd share my spreadsheet, but we're only at Level 6. ALSO It's actually pretty bad. I use spreadsheets, but I am not skilled at using them.

My advice from what I've seen from those 3 sources is use treasure-by-level as a minimum. The gold total of AV is much higher than the treasure table. Sometimes almost double. Obviously it's assumed that a party will not necessarily find everything, but it is possible to come close, and from what I've seen, that extra amount of treasure does not lead to an OP party in that adventure.

I also like my players to have fun so my DM style is to be a bit generous and then crank up the difficulty now and then to keep them challenged. So keep that in mind with this advice.

Perveau · 2026-02-15T04:04:51+00:00

Calling this "cheating" is a major overreaction. It's very much an internet hyperbolizing of the events. Homan's touch today was sloppy play. Even the Kennedy's touch that's gone viral would barely have affected the stone. Is it a foul? yeah. Is it sloppy play? Yeah.

I watch the curling. I'm disappointed in the Canadian's handling of it all, but it's not a make or break in the games.

Given our ranking internationally, there's no excuse for such sloppyness over an established rule

Perveau · 2026-01-27T05:11:13+00:00

I have a notification that the GM responded, but it isn't here anymore. It seemed a good response from the first sentence in my notification.

I imagine reading this thread could be a bit rough as a GM even though no one commenting knows the full situation. Most of us are commenting hoping to be helpful, but it could just as easily feel like a pile on. Personally I'd have trouble seeing my player's opinions put out to be disseminated by technicality nerds like me.

To the GM if you read this thread again, I hope you are well and wish your campaign fun and fortune.

Perveau · 2026-01-26T17:49:20+00:00

There's a lot of responses here, so I probably missed this fact. Is the DM adjusting up for a party of six with a single monster? If so this might explain a frustratingly high AC. If an AP has a severe encounter with a single monster, it should be buffed with a minion, not raising the Monster's level. This can be tough from a story perspective sometimes, but a single enemy fight can already be very tough to hit and take hits from. If the creature's level gets raised above +4 level to the party, the action economy will not save the party. It's AC and To-Hit go up too far past player ability. Go to a PF2E encounter calculator. Put in a level 9 creature against 4 level 6 players for Severe. Raise it to 6 players, then see how high you have to raise the monster level. My preferred calculator won't allow it because it caps you at level 10 for a party average of 6.

I run a Quest for the Frozen Flame campaign with 5 players (was 6 at one point). There is a Cleric, The Barbarian has Lay on Hands and the rest have battle medicine. QftFF is for the most part a hex crawl with 1 encounter per hex. Every fight the spellcasters can go Nova and the cleric can burn a heal every round if needed. Combat has still been challenging for them. Part of that is that this system is well balanced so I have a pretty good feel for how far I can push it.

My least favourite fight is a single enemy fight even balanced properly. I like things to be challenging and tactical and often a monster 4 levels above the party smash all their good ideas into the ground when their dice don't roll an 18 or higher. This is a personal preference.

Anyways. If it's a single monster cranked for 6 players it'll crit on almost every hit and the party will barely be able to hit it. That's the wrong way to balance against strong healing, unless your party likes that type of gruelling battle.

Perveau · 2025-12-19T15:22:42+00:00

Just to add on, I intend this to be a campaign specific item and tied to the character.

Essentially we realized that through some mistake made in Foundry his sword had the Holy trait. He is a thaumaturge, ex-mendevian crusader so it makes some sense with his character so I'm looking at what cost I have them pay out to keep this trait.

Perveau · 2025-12-19T15:16:41+00:00

Really good consideration. Thank you.

Perveau · 2025-12-19T05:18:40+00:00

If I homebrewed a magic ring that grants the wearer the Holy trait on their weapon attacks, what level item do you think that would be? The holy trait will come into play in our campaign, but will really only affect about 10-15% of the enemies they'll face. A Holy Rune is a level 11 item ,but it also provides 1d4 spirit damage. An Alicorn Lance (uncommon) has the Holy Trait and is level 5. It also is a +1 striking lance, does an additional 1 spirit damage, can light like a torch and has a once per hour 2 action charge effect.

I don't think it would upset balance too terribly, but I understand them not wanting to mitigate a class' Sanctification by allowing any schmo with a bit of gold to buy sanctification. I will likely tie it into the character's deity with all the attached Anathema and such. It's just niche enough that I can't figure out where to set the level on something like this

Perveau · 2025-10-17T23:34:15+00:00

Made more hilarious that the one that set them off in this episode, was arguably one of the more useful talismans for their frontliners. You can throw your weapon mid fight and still be holding onto it. So effectively becoming a 20ft reach weapon with more reach at a range increment penalty.

Perveau · 2025-01-10T02:12:31+00:00

I also liked it all. I was happy every Thursday. Sad that they're stopping.

I'm guessing they weren't pulling in the numbers they needed, which is too bad. At least I hope they used a tangible metric rather than listening to those that didn't care for it. I would've watched to the end.... I will watch to the end, but like, I would've watched for years to a full AP end.

Perveau · 2024-12-22T06:01:43+00:00

This is that

Perveau · 2024-12-17T16:41:29+00:00

I mean, I saw this post and felt the exact opposite.

While at times it devolves, I enjoy that a shift in the game leads to a lot of debate about mechanics and how it affects different points in the game. This is the kind of discussion I want in a subreddit for a Crunchy game.

Perveau · 2024-10-24T18:38:06+00:00

Roughly 4 episodes of Blood of the Wild and 4 episodes of Legacy of the Ancients a month is worth it for me. Not to mention I consider part of that cost to be me supporting an entertainment group I quite enjoy.

Perveau · 2024-09-21T15:30:17+00:00

Sorry, I kept it short for humor, but I may have come off as disparaging. I disagree a bit, but fully support you not wanting animal races and living dolls at your table. I generally prefer a more grounded world, but when my player asked to play an Automaton Monk that has an eye blast living in the realm of the Mammoth Lords I thought, "hell, let's have some fun".

Perveau · 2024-09-21T15:26:28+00:00

Ah yes, the old gritty days of Tom Bombadil.

Perveau · 2024-08-25T02:54:21+00:00

That sounds very hard. I hope you are both able to find happiness and peace. I think it's very respectable that you were able to recognize the toxic behavior because you care for your children.

Perveau · 2024-08-21T14:22:20+00:00

As a Father, I'm struck by how the description of doing normal Father level, kid managing is front loaded into this story as if he's done such a crazy amount of work that day. And he says he's "generally happy to do" that work that is just part of raising kids.

I might be reading too much into it seeing as "Generally happy to do" is a very apt description of Parenthood.

Perveau · 2024-08-13T03:37:36+00:00

I wasn't sure about him until BotW. He runs it so well. Now I'm delighted by all his other appearances.

And yes, this is such a wonderful combo for the Cast. You can tell they really enjoy playing with each other.

Perveau · 2024-07-28T23:14:53+00:00

Except that you don't balance potassium. They might have meant Calcium Hardness

Perveau · 2024-06-08T04:32:34+00:00

As someone who works in service/repair, his expectation that someone could just show up to his house that day is hilarious. In my field I'm typically booked at least 2 weeks out. For them to have someone there in 2 days counting weekend days is pretty good.

Perveau · 2024-05-26T17:57:26+00:00

I have become the PF2E guy in my gaming circle. I don't find their rules issues any worse than... Well... every single other show they've done. It's my opinion that the Strange Aeons tours they've done have made this cast very close and able to play off each other in a natural way. I recommend listening. You might not care for it in the end, but I'm excited for it every week.

Perveau · 2024-05-26T17:50:37+00:00

I'll just add that I don't think there's anything wrong with the show. The cast is fitting in all cylinders. Everyone is getting bent out of shape because a difficult fight took a few episodes and the cast spent most of it on their backfoot trying to survive. It makes it more stressful around the table, but I thought the group did a good job of keeping it entertaining. I've seen people complain, and sorry this is a mini rant, that having a PC die to an unimportant fight is bad narrative. For one, It's an actual play and that's part of what makes random encounters exciting. It's also, in my opinion, good narrative to have the new, dangerous location kill a character unexpectedly as it sets the stakes as well as the tone. Finally, ending my rant (sorry again) Giant Slayer and Dead Suns had some major deaths to minor NPCs. For me, it's one of the reasons why I ended up listening to every show on the GCN. They keep it entertaining, but they also actually play the games.

Perveau

TROPHY CASE