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So I'm currently running a PF2 Homegame as a bit of a playtest. So I thought it would be prudent to put our trials and tribulations, our thoughts, on the forums, and hopefully a member of the PAIZO staff will see it and look at our feedback.
So, some basics: Our game doesn't take place on Golarian, but I kept all the mechanical rules 100% as written in the book and errata. I did not change anything as to how the game is supposed to run except for one monster ability. First session started at level 1, and we used the fast XP track (800XP to a level). First session got people from levels 1 to 2 through a dungeon crawl.
Party consists of five people:
Human Rogue: (planning to go into fighter dedication)
Halfling Rogue:
Half-Elf Fey Sorcerer
Human Paladin
Half-Orc Cleric of Gorum
Session in General: PCs start as an entourage at a giant multi-race peace/trade accords summit. There was some initial schmoozing opportunities, where everyone got to interact twice with various dignitaries and some hints at the campaign in general were dropped. This Allowed the PCs to get plot and role-play. They got XP for overcoming a MODERATE social challenge (30 XP). There were generally no problems with this section.
Then the party was attacked by what appeared to be Goblins. Instead I had them be Goblin Dummies animated by magic, using the Animated object-Broom stats except (and this was the only change) Instead of the sweeping dust ability, I made it difficult to tell that the Goblins were constructs instead of real goblins, calling for several checks to figure it out.
After that the floor collapsed because of sabotage, and the PCs were deposited into an underground dungeon underneath the meet-and-greet grand hall, and had to explore to get out.
This was the meat of the scenario-with PCs fighting an encounter, entering exploration mode until they hit the next big encounter, so on and so forth. They fought-3 Goblin Skeletons, A summoning trap, 3 Giant Rats, 2 Goblin Dogs, a couple simple traps, 2 Hobgoblin Warriors, and finally 4 Goblin Pyros. I did some re-skinning (the Hobgoblins as half-elves, the pyros as humans) but did not change their stats at all. The Human Rogue did fail to see a trap and got crit, nearly killing him, but that was the only time anyone went down.
What worked well:
1) In a very straightforward dungeoncrawl, the transition from exploration mode to encounter mode worked fine, and it prevented shenanigans like: "I'll stealth and keep an eye out and keep concentrating on my detect magic!"
2) Despite the Paladin having a string of bad luck, everything worked out well combat-wise. Rogues are RIDICULOUSLY strong though. As their dex adds to hit, damage, AC and Reflex saves, they were out damaging the cleric of Gorum and Paladin most of the time. They had a pretty easy time of the combats, but I was softballing it.
What needed work:
1)It was hard for me to remember for enemies to make multiple attacks. Especially with three or four enemies on the board at once, remembering their to-hits, what attack they were on, if their attacks were agile or not, all of that was difficult for me (as a GM) to remember and keep track of. Often Times I would only attack once and then move on to the next guy, forgetting that the enemies could attack again.
2)Rogues were REALLY strong. Like, Stupid Strong. They had the Best ACs, the human rogue could dodge as a reaction for an additional +2, did the most damage, and had the best skills.
3)The cleric of Gorum's Anathema of "Never avoid violence through negotiation" was SUPER difficult to deal with, as he was a bodyguard at a social situation where the goal was promoting peaceful trade. We eventually handwaved it, but a more narrow Anathema like "Never try to diffuse a tense situation through negotiation" might make role-playing them a bit easier.
4)Our Sorcerer's player got confused by the character creation rules (which everyone agreed could have been written better) and gimped herself on her stats, essentially missing out on three stat boosts. We have fixed her for level 2