Pathfinder 1E Dungeons of Golarion

[GlassJaw]

Hey all, has anyone checked out Dungeons of Golarion yet? I don't use the Golarion setting specifically but I'm a sucker for all things dungeon.

What does it have for maps? Can the dungeons be run right out of the book or it more of a sourcebook?

Would this still be useful to drop into other generic fantasy settings?

Thanks!

 

[IronWolf]

I thought it was very good. I did a review of it on the Seekers of Secrets site:

Review - Dungeons of Golarion

Think more sourcebook. It has a dungeon layout map for each featured dungeon and then usually one floor with a more detailed map. Sometimes the detailed map has keyed rooms, but most often it is just a starting point. There is enough level by level description to help with getting you started with populating each floor.

You might need to tweak the dungeon history some to drop into another setting, but that would be pretty easily done.

 

[DaveMage]

It's a tease product.

Megadungeon overviews essentially.

They each have a sample level, but to use any of the dungeons whole cloth would likely require extensive work on the part of the DM (unless you only use the sample levels, of course.)

Maybe one day Paizo will make a megadungeon out of their Campaign Setting line (or, even better, introduce a magadungeon line on its own). At 64 pages/book, they could do a few levels at a time. I think it would make a good series.

 

[IronWolf]

Maybe one day Paizo will make a megadungeon out of their Campaign Setting line (or, even better, introduce a magadungeon line on its own). At 64 pages/book, they could do a few levels at a time. I think it would make a good series.

Yeah - a fully detailed megadungeon from Paizo would be great!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It's sort of surprising that they don't have a megadungeon series, now that you mention it.

 

[GlassJaw]

Nice review Iron Wolf. Sounds like an interesting product. From what I've gathered, I'd probably like more maps personally but I may still check this out.

 

[IronWolf]

Nice review Iron Wolf. Sounds like an interesting product. From what I've gathered, I'd probably like more maps personally but I may still check this out.

Yeah - if you are wanting lots of maps then you might be disappointed.

 

[Reynard]

This is a great book, IMO. It basically provides the guiding principles for six megadungeon campaigns, to be fully fleshed out by individual groups. What I find most interesting about that is how it relates to the shared experience element of RPG gaming. That is, everyone (who has played through it) can talk about their Rise of the Rune Lords experiences, and contrast and compare war stories, but with, say, the Red Redoubt, folks get to compare and contrast their whole campaign experiences in a totally different light.

I think a couple of the dungeons make great potential dungeon for a full on mega dungeon AP (which James Jacobs has said is a pretty popular poll option), and still others would make a great community project. I'd love to see and be involved in an attempt to develop and populate a community designed Hollow Mountain, for example. With the right amount of organization and community policing, and input from Paizo here and there, we could build one hell of a megadungeon, I think.

 

[Henry]

It's sort of surprising that they don't have a megadungeon series, now that you mention it.

Not as surprising to me, because I get the impression that mega-dungeons just dono't sell well historically speaking. For one thing, you have a site that's hard to get into and out back to town between adventures, unless you build a conceit into it for this; most groups I know don't have necessarily consistent attendance from session to session, and if someone misses, it's a pain to run their character without them; in smaller scenarios, you can just say they're away in town on business.

Also, many groups tend to get tired of being stuck in the same adventure location more than a session or two. They might want a diplomatic session one week, a combat-heavy session the next, an exploration heavy session after that, and the dungeon favors combat-heavy over that. There are a few exceptions (legendary dungeons like Castle Greyhawk or Ptolus or Gallowspire) but largely I'm not sure there's enough push for a whole series on a megadungeon.

It could be that Paizo is using this product as just that -- a means to either gauge potential interest in a "mega-dungeon subscription", or to drum up enough hype to make Gallowspire, SIlvermount, etc. into "Legendary" dungeons and build enough audience desire to make a mega-dungeon path a reality.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Well, Ptolus has the benefit of both being a megadungeon and having a metropolis atop it. I've been in a Ptolus campaign for years and the Dungeon has only been barely visited for a few rooms here and a few rooms there -- it's mostly been an urban campaign where weird stuff bubbles up out of the sewers regularly.

And while I agree that a megadungeon isn't as useful as some other formats, looking over Paizo's modules, I doubt that all of them are equally profitable. They could take a note from Necromancer and publish a module per level and see how it goes, maybe by starting with one of the smaller megadungeons in Dungeons of Golarion. If a three-part megadungeon series sells well, then they could try an AP.