I'm running this at the moment, and would like your advice. And yes I'm aware I'm maybe 2 years behind everyone else, haha. But I'd like your "advice" in the form of PC obituaries. For example:
Eznorb, Dwarf Monk 1
Aim: discover who murdered Bort
Methods: Surly, strong, flurry of blows.
Cause of death: After surviving the fight with Hallod, he succumbed to the poison that entered his bloodstream after kicking the locked chest under Hallod's bed, failing each and every Fort save, beginning with a Crit fail straight to stage 2.
Final moment: As the party were carrying their fallen comrade (see below, "Bard") back to Plaguestone, Eznorb lead the way, got stuck in the final tunnel, and died from his final failed save, blocking the path forward.
Heritage: Strong-blooded dwarf
Bard, the Gnome Champion 1
Aim: discover who murdered Bort
Method: Strongarm people, heal where needed, solo the Boar (and need rescuing by the NPC)
Cause of death: After barely surviving the encounter with Hallod, Bard was 1 of 3 PCs left unconscious while the 4th PC went and hid, allowing Hallod to escape unseen. Upon returning the PC revived everyone, beginning with the healer, unfortunately rolling a natural 1 on Medicine. Despite having his head wrapped in a bandage and his shoes put on the wrong feet, Bard succumbed to his wounds and went to meet his maker still in the boss fight room.
Brat Worst, Goblin Bard 1
Aim: Get out of Hallod's Hideout, with the new PC friends he'd made
Method: Convince the PCs that they were part of his team, and this was their initiation.
Cause of death: Sneaking successfully into the final fight, Hallod could only see 2 PCs to attack. Taking advantage of this, Brat Worst snuck closer with dagger drawn, totally missing the Spear Launcher trap and copping a Critical to the chest.
I'm very much enjoying Plaguestone, but I have warned my players how lethal it is, and they all accept that I'm going to run it exactly as written =)
I've seen Jason Buhlman's stuff, and honestly it forces the issue which is great. He admitted he didn't need to put 2 Extreme encounters back to back tho (Blind mutated Wolves into that damn Plant with stacking bleed damage and the potential to critical hit the team all at once with 3 action range attack).
We got ALL the way up to the last dungeon, which I even printed out and made a really nice map of, before covid hit and we went to online playing. Then it never took off, so I haven't finished Plaguestone yet.
I have a team going through Emerald Spire, but once we get 2 or 3 levels of that finished I'm asking them to swap and try out PF2, which I'll run Plaguestone again.