spitfire@pawb.social Yes, CotKK was rewritten for PF2e, but and it runs fine, but it’s still a port, you know? It has some rough edges. From the players’ side of thing, I’m sure it would be just fine, but as a new GM… Let’s just say, it was the first adventure I bought, and as a new GM I waited to play it until I felt more comfortable with the system. There’s nothing wrong with it, but there are places where you can feel how it’s not representative of the system. If that makes sense.

If you can get your hands on a cheap used copy of Menace under Otari, even if you don’t want to run it, it’s worth reading through as a GM. It really is purpose built for introducing the mechanics of the game, and is quite short.

There’s no pressing need to restrict first party books, or even third party series like BattleZoo or Team+ sources, but the splat books do offer a lot of options which can cause analysis paralysis. Because the system doesn’t have the same optimization meta as other, similar products, the expansiveness isn’t really an issue, but players often get bogged down in the details. People who are used to playing the optimization meta, even if they want to stop, sometimes can’t help themselves. I include myself in that group. I’m hesitant to suggest restricting books, though, because I think some of the more interesting classes are in splats: Guardian and Commander in War of Immortals, Magus in Secrets of Magic, and Thaumaturge in Dark Archive.

A couple of more things everyone at the table should be aware of, though, now that I’m thinking about it:

• The game has some fairly distinct tiers of play, even if the boundaries between them are somewhat fuzzy. This is especially noticeable from levels 1 - 5, which is what I like to call the “deadly things are deadly” tier. HP is low, AC is low, and critical hits are common. Not only is this where the game can feel quite a bit deadlier than people may be used to, but people who are used to being able to solve the “sharp, pointy objects hurt” problem with basic class options will often find themselves feeling a little impotent.
• Because Level is Power, and Power is Level, people who are used to established caster/martial power gap tropes may be caught off guard by the class balance, particularly before casters gain access to Rank 3 spells (i.e. Level 5). On-level enemies are real challenges to casters, not canon fodder, and at early levels they can be real threats. On top of that, the numbers are balanced around save spells failing as the default outcome (but a failed save spell also does half damage), which often leaves new magic users feeling less cool than they expected. This starts to go away starting around Level 5, once they start to exit the “deadly things are deadly” tier and begin to enter the “fantasy hero” tier, but until then… Let’s just say that people have had FEELINGS.