Pathfinder 1E Pathfinder Chronicles setting: what does it offer?

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

My point was that your list should have been more than enough solid reasons to enjoy the setting. You seem to have researched a bit on your own to make that short list in the first place, anything more would just be people's opinions, which may or may not be useful.

No, what I've listed are all things that are tangential to the actual setting itself and are in fact based more on peoples' personal tastes than the actual substance of the work.

As it is fletch137 has answered the question as I was hoping it would be answered: he/she/it/they described what elements are used and what they are like in the context of the setting.

 

[smug]

Despite having just about every sort of region, including many based on our own historical earth (but with, like, magic), the potential (and in the case of regions covered by APs so far, actual) depth within each region means that, in effect, you can have just about any sort of campaign you want. Also, it's relatively well-written** and cared for by the people that did (in my opinion) an excellent job in shepherding Greyhawk when they had Dungeon and Dragon. You want Gothic Horror, Oriental, South Asian, megalopolis, ancient Egypt, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks-style buried and not-understood technology, wild and untamed/PoL, Arabian Nights, decaying once-mighty empire, devil-worshipping aristo tyrants, chaotic revolutionary France, endless steppes, perpetual crusade, a cult of atheism, jungles full of lost civilisations, evil empire under the waves, Atlantis, a permanent hurricane, etc, you can find it in Golarion. I should be clear that magic may have to be used to explain how all this stuff can exist...

It's also by Paizo, which for me is an excellent indication of quality.

*But not outstanding, I fear. Some Gygaxian prose and the Campaign Guide has a foreword by Bob Salvatore, surely the World's Worst Living Author, which raises mostly unjustified fears that the book might be similar to Savatore's work.

EDIT: In addition to the Dungeon/Dragon team, there's now SKR as well, who did great stuff on Greyhawk when he was at WotC.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

It's a reasonably generic setting, like Greyhawk or FR. The big advantage, to me at least, is that it's my chance to get in on the ground floor, so to speak. I was never able to get into Greyhawk or FR because the backlog of information about them made they practically inaccessible to a newcomer. Golarion presents a similar style of setting, without all the baggage.

But isn't Paizo busy churning out new books on Golarion each month? This is an honest question as I don't really follow their schedule, but I've got the impression that they're leaving the ground floor quickly.

 

[smug]

But isn't Paizo busy churning out new books on Golarion each month? This is an honest question as I don't really follow their schedule, but I've got the impression that they're leaving the ground floor quickly.

You can still get in on the ground, more or less. Plus it's at least all available as pdf (and much of it is available in hard copy, still).

In a few year's time, there's going to be a lot of stuff, though, for sure. I am a superscriber so I get it all but other people will want to pick and choose which regions and general issues they care about.

 

[an_idol_mind]

I would think that being well-written and consistent would be enough for a setting. If you're looking for a single hook to define the setting, there isn't one. Golarion offers what Greyhawk, Mystara, and the Forgotten Realms do, but without the large amount of mediocre or poor supplements that each of those settings came up with.

An added bonus is that because much of Paizo's focus is on adventures and adventure paths, the setting has been driven by PCs so far and allowed to progress as GMs decide based on their individual groups' adventures. Without a sprawling novel line or an official advance in timeline, there is a feeling that PCs are the ones affecting the world.

 

[Vurt]

But isn't Paizo busy churning out new books on Golarion each month? This is an honest question as I don't really follow their schedule, but I've got the impression that they're leaving the ground floor quickly.

From what I gather, Paizo has two bi-monthly product lines (Pathfinder Companion and Pathfinder Chronicles), which act to help fill in some of the gaps of the Golarion setting. That said, the books are only 32 pages, and are more gazetteer-like, leaving lots of room for individual GMs to tailor a region to their tastes.

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

I would think that being well-written and consistent would be enough for a setting.

Why? Why do people keep acting as if what's actually in the setting is unimportant?

 

[ggroy]

On another tangent, I also may eventually be turned off by the Pathfinder Golarion setting. This would be due to stuff like:

- Paizo publishing tons of novels based in Golarion, where a lot of stuff from these novels end up becoming "canon".
- More and more of the Pathfinder adventure paths and modules end up being perceived as "canon".
- With more and more "canon" proliferating, eventually Golarion "canon lawyers" may possibly become numerous enough to ruin the setting.

I get the impression that the Pathfinder adventure paths have sort of a "novel in rpg form" feel to them. They do remind me of the Dragonlance series of modules for 1E and 2E AD&D, in the how they are structured.

What turned me off from Forgotten Realms eventually, was the huge proliferation of canon produced over 20+ years and the "canon lawyers" ruining several FR 3.5E games I played in.

It would be nice if Pathfinder Golarion remains relatively "canon lite", though I doubt that will happen. If Golarion becomes popular enough, Paizo will probably want to capitalize on it with novels written in the Golarion setting.

 

[Obryn]

If it suffers from anything it's that the creators like too much fantasy literature. Thanks to their love of mythology (both ancient and contemporary), they've been tossing in everything from arcanotech to H.P. Lovecraft. They've got aliens from space, dinosaurs from the lost lands, and urban legends from right next door. You could seriously encounter a Hound of Tindalos just minutes after fighting off a pack of chupacabra.

Suffers?!

That's the first time I've been interested in checking out the setting. I don't think there's ever been a setting which has suffered from having a little Lovecraft.

-O

 

[an_idol_mind]

Why? Why do people keep acting as if what's actually in the setting is unimportant?

It's not unimportant. However, in terms of a hook, which is what it seems like you're looking for, the Golarion setting would fit into the "generic D&D" category, whatever that is. If you want to look at just the contents of the setting and ignore the quality, you're missing a huge part of the world. For example, Cheliax is a nation that has been overrun by demons. That one-sentence description doesn't make it sound like anything different from a dozen homebrews that have something similar. It's the high quality of the presentation and adventures in that region that set them apart.

Or heck, let's take something less setting specific: goblins. The very first adventure path released for Golarion started with goblins. Every setting has goblins, but the Golarion goblins immediately became iconic because of their unique artistic design and insane nature, complete with a fear of dogs and a penchant for gruesome songs. Again, looking over the setting, one could just shrug and say, "okay, this place has goblins. Big whoop." It's the presentation of those goblins that separate Golarion from other settings, though. (And, at the same time, the fact that the setting is kept somewhat generic means that homebrewers like myself can yoink said goblins or the aforementioned nation of demons and incorporate them into another setting with ease.)

Basically, Golarion is a huge D&D playground, where there are dozens of interesting places and hundreds of different adventures. The same could be said of many other settings, both published and homebrew. What Golarion offers that many other settings do not is high-quality, innovative writing and adventures. If you want to ignore that quality, you're ignoring a huge part of that product line's appeal.