Pathfinder 1E Best starting location in Golarion?

[Vyrolakos]

I've been working on a Pathfinder campaign starting in Varisia, which seems like an ideal place to start off at, what with it having the three (mostly) independent city states of Korvosa, Riddleport and Magnimar. But am I missing a trick?

Is there a better place to start off a campaign, what worked for you?

Is there an epic PF module or AP that just can't be missed for the first time on Golarion?

 

[JeffB]

I am partial to Sandpoint, but NOT because I like or ran RotRL. I came to know Sandpoint through the Beginner Box, and then some more info garnered from PF#1.

Its just a neat little saltmarsh meets shadowdale type of starting place for a new campaign. I have used it for PFBB and my OD&D games.

 

[NewJeffCT]

I've been working on a Pathfinder campaign starting in Varisia, which seems like an ideal place to start off at, what with it having the three (mostly) independent city states of Korvosa, Riddleport and Magnimar. But am I missing a trick?

Is there a better place to start off a campaign, what worked for you?

Is there an epic PF module or AP that just can't be missed for the first time on Golarion?

The new Reign of Winter AP seems pretty good so far, but it does not start in Varisia. It's on the eastern portion of the Inner Sea in Taldor, which is a long ways away. (It then quickly travels to the frozen north...)

I agree with Sandpoint, as it's a starting point of both the original Paizo AP Rise of the Runelords, and also the Jade Regent AP. However, it's a town of about 1,000 people, or a bit more than that. If you're looking for a bigger city, then Magnimar or Riddleport or Korvosa might be the place.

Overall, the two most popular APs are Rise of the Runelords and Kingmaker. RotRL starts in Sandpoint, as stated above. Kingmaker starts outside of Varisia.

The new upcoming demon invasion AP sounds promising to me - that takes place in and near the Worldwound.

Personally, I've always been fascinated by big city adventures, as I'm not a great "think on your feet" DM, so I've always admired DMs who could smoothly handle all the NPCs needed in a city adventure. So, I might also be interested in Absalom as a starting location. Not sure which APs are centered in or near the City at the Center of the World, though.

 

[Kinak]

Like [MENTION=518]JeffB[/MENTION], I'm also a fan of Sandpoint, although it's totally because I like and am running RotRL. If you're looking for a quick guide to the town, there's actually one in the first issue of the Pathfinder comic.

If you're starting in the cities, you have some great options. There's also Kaer Maga if you have that group that always want to play the weird races and party combinations that you can't justify in any rational setting. Kaer Maga lives and breathes that stuff.

Of the other three, I'm only really familiar with Magnimar, but I would happily start and run a campaign there. I'm a little sad it doesn't get more screen time in the Adventure Paths, but that's me being greedy. If you're running a campaign there, I'd grab City of Monuments with a caveat: the index doesn't live up to the quality of the material and it's really hard to find things on the fly, so you'll need to give it a few read throughs.

As far as epic APs, I'm partial to the Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition. Depending on your group, it'll either be really nostalgic, a nice introduction to old-school gaming without some of the absurdity, or both for different people. It's also way cheaper than buying one of the normal adventure paths and has had some of the rough corners sanded off, which is nice. It also leads into the Shattered Star path if you decide to stick with APs.

For adventures, my players freaking loved We Be Goblins. Like not "they thought it was fun," but more of a "seriously, they can calm down whenever they want, it's been almost a year." It's not really a campaign-starter, but it's definitely a great one-shot. Also, it's free, which is hard to argue with.

My favorite sandbox place in Golarion is Isger. There's not too much canon to worry about, the government's a mess, there are the remnants of goblin tribes everywhere, and the place needs heroes badly. Oh, and both Cheliax and Molthune can sweep in if you need a threat at mid-levels.

That's about all I've got. Welcome to Golarion and I hope you have a great campaign!

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Jester David]

Sandpoint is the go-to starting locale. But Magnimar might be a nice second choice, as it has its own book. (See [MENTION=6694112]Kinak[/MENTION] for a link.) It's hard to go wrong with 64-pages of details you don't need to make up. Plus a poster map is available in the Shattered Star map pack.

 

[marquisdean]

Sandpoint is really good.

 

[innerdude]

I started my 2011 Pathfinder campaign in Almas, in Andoran.

Andoran is a GREAT starting point if your party's into the whole "fighting to restore peace and justice," classic "hero" types. You've got ready-made political enemies in Cheliax and Taldor, plus you're reasonably close to places to interact with other races (elves in Kyonin, dwarves in the Five Kings mountains).

 

[GM_Chris]

Absalom IMO.

 

[Crothian]

It depends on the campaign I want to run and the characters the players want to play. I loved our campaign that started in Westcrown. A great city filled with all kinds of fun conflict with plenty of enemies and trouble for the PCs to experience.

 

[S'mon]

Definitely Sandpoint & Varisia, for traditional swords & sorcery/dungeoncrawling play. They did a great job there. Personally I like Molthune for a 19th-century-Prussia feel, if I wanted a political/military homebrew campaign it'd be a good choice.