Pathfinder 1E [Pathfinder | AGE System] Midgard Campaign Setting

Knightfall · Feb 4, 2011

I'm curious to find out who else is psyched for this patronage project being done by Open Design. The project will support both the Pathfinder RPG and the AGE system (as done for Green Ronin's Dragon Age RPG).

Midgard Campaign Setting (Patronage) [MCS1] - $29.95 : Kobold Quarterly, http://www.koboldquarterly.com/

While my finances don't allow for me to partake in the patronage part of the setting, I am very interested in the end result, regardless. The setting will be available as a softcover book for the general public. I will definitely be getting that book once it becomes available.

So, who else is looking forward to Midgard? And how involved do you plan to be?

Cheers!

Knightfall

Aberzanzorax · Feb 4, 2011

I am hugely excited by this.

I'm currently a major donor and plan to contribute more to this than any other Open Design Project I've been a patron of.

Everything I've seen from OD has been 4 or 5 stars, IMO.

Every. Single. Thing.

It helps that Wolfgang's stuff is exactly my cup of tea (I like him more than the other 3e giants, including Monte Cook). He's so story driven. I feel, when playing (or even READING) his adventures, that there is much more story than is on the pages.

I know he doesn't write everything, but his oversight of the process and development of works is just stellar.

I don't think there has ever been a single product I've been this excited for.

Ever.

Knightfall · Feb 5, 2011

Aberzanzorax said:
I am hugely excited by this.
.
.
.

I don't think there has ever been a single product I've been this excited for.

Ever.

I'm definitely excited about the setting. I like that it's being done for Pathfinder (as well as the AGE System). I really like PF, but I'm not a huge fan of Golarion as an RPG setting. (I'm more likely to be a fan of the PF Tales, going forward.)

Midgard will likely become my PF setting of choice. I really like the clockwork elements of the setting and that it won't be a "kitchen sink."

aco175 · Feb 5, 2011

I read some things on this and find it worth checking out further. I believe that the book is in design phase and will not be out for public for about another year. I looked at paying the money to get into the boards and trying to contribute, but do not have the money to pay enough to be able to submit ideas and such. I would like to see it come out in 4e though.

Aberzanzorax · Feb 5, 2011

In my opinion,

if you love how worlds live, this will be great for you regardless of system.

if you are looking for a dungeon crawl or system driven "adventure", look elsewhere.

I think this is something that I will enjoy regardless of system, and something that others will enjoy regardless of system as well.

I would describe the feel that the place has as "ancient real world with hints of mystery and magic".

What if the peasants were right about the brownies in their kitchens and the banshees in the fields at night?

This is that kind of place.

What if people were right about the evil forest witch who would eat their children and make flutes of their bones?

That kind of place as well.

Real world, subtle magic, pain, glory, angst, heroism...the conflicts matter on a narrative level, which is what any and every system really can offer to me...but they matter on a "gaming" level just as much. The point I'd want to put forward, though, is that both story and game are equivalent...and in this world, and regardless of system, that is a good thing.

Knightfall · Feb 5, 2011

aco175 said:
I read some things on this and find it worth checking out further. I believe that the book is in design phase and will not be out for public for about another year. I looked at paying the money to get into the boards and trying to contribute, but do not have the money to pay enough to be able to submit ideas and such. I would like to see it come out in 4e though.

While it won't be 4e, I believe the book won't be crunch heavy. Instead it will focus more on the background of the setting. At least, that has been my initial impression based on the Midgard thread on Kobold Quarterly's 'Open Design' forum.

Here's a post from the thread by Wolfgang Baur...

Wolfgang on KQ Forum said:
Yeah, I can't quite believe it either, but just not enough people signed up for 4e. So there it is.

OTOH, the project is 85% setting and 15% rules, so... It may still be of interest. Certainly the setting has supported 4E play in the past.

slwoyach · Feb 5, 2011

I'm a fan of Wolfgang Bauer's work, but I don't like that he calls the setting Midgard. Midgard brings to mind a Norse setting, which this appears not to be. If there's no Odin, Thor, Ygddrasil, and dark ages technological limitations the term Midgard should not be used.

Knightfall · Feb 7, 2011

Small bump

Keefe the Thief · Feb 7, 2011

Okay, i read the "Bridge to Another World" section, but i'm still a little confused.

Let's ignore the fact for a moment that Midgard is a German roleplaying system and setting that came out in '81, is still being supported and has a hardcore following. I mean, researching that should have been easy, right? Enter Midgard into the Pen&Paper database. Pathfinder is heavily pushed in Germany by Ulysses, and selling it here should have been a piece of cake. Now it will land on the shelves beside a brand that has over 40 supplements for the current edition alone. Is this some kind of "who cares about Europes biggest RPG market" thingy?

But whats more problematic for me is pairing uniqueness with age-old clichès that should've been killed with fire long ago:

- Dragon empires in the east with a sultan and "harem assassins" (do i want to know what those are?).
- North: dwarves, giants, Thule, valkyries.
- Ex-urban centers of the ex-empire fight with assassination and intrigue.
- Magocracy in the west.
- Western empire has fallen, instant ruins.
- Tsars & steppes (because steppe means east means faux-russia means tsars, right?).

Really, we need more creative campaign settings, and the authors are top-notch. But i cannot see yet what makes this setting special & different. Can somebody more in the know chime in?

Aberzanzorax · Feb 7, 2011

I'll ask others to answer your questions on the KQ forums, but here's what I'd say:

I'm not personally a fan of the name, myself. I'll leave that part alone.

I don't agree with "age-old cliches". I'd say that a major theme and strength of the materials released from OD is that the material is drawn from age-old mythology...and is anything but cliche. There is usually a richness to to the details, and rathern than feeling like "here's something made up for a game" it feels like "here is a fairly faithful treatment of ancient cultures beliefs, in gaming form". It's a thin, but, I think, important line of distinction.

Why I'm excited about this is that, for me, everything so far from OD has felt more "real" than many other supplements/products out there (and I've seen quite a few, and practically all the major ones). So worldbuilding an entire setting has me really happy, because I'm hoping it will meet these same standards that have been met in all the OD projects so far.

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