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Pathfinder 1E Introducing a Tolkien-Inspired Campaign Setting for Pathfinder

askani777

First Post
Come on over and check out my new project - Many Paths to Tread.
The goal of MPTT is to provide a campaign setting for The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game that combines the flavor of Middle-Earth in the 3rd age (as seen in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit), with the sense of endless possibility present in a Pathfinder gaming session.


https://manypathstotreadrpg.wordpress.com/
 

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gamerprinter

Mapper/Publisher
No offense, but aren't 99% of all existing fantasy RPG settings, at least loosely Tolkien based? What is new about creating another one? As a player and GM, I am personally quite tired of playing in another Tolkien based setting. I'd rather play in the 1% of settings that is nothing like Tolkien. If a setting has elves, dwarves, and halflings, let alone the hundred other Tolkienesque sacred cows, I run as fast as I can away from anything like that. And for those that actually want a Tolkien-based setting, its got to be something really remarkable to stand out against all the hundreds of other Tolkien like settings. As a publisher, I'd be reluctant to even try, but good luck on your proposition.
 

Dog Moon

Adventurer
Well, I actually spent a few minutes to look at it. I agree a little bit with gamerprinter though that to me I like campaign settings that have multiple racial options. For instance my current campaign people have a Race + Origin [celestial, shifter, draconic, etc]. But just because that's what I prefer doesn't mean I wouldn't try anything else for a little bit.

I think the best thing I like about your stuff is the Noble Class. It looks neat. Although it has an ability that sounds weird: Breeding. Until I read it, I was totally off on what that ability does.

Oh and in Rogue, you have it as Rouge several times.

So there are a few things I don't like about your material.

1) Fractional stuff. I just don't like this and don't think anything should be fractional. How do I record 1/2 of a Saving Throw? Does it go up or down? I just don't like this.
2) The races don't really seem balance and the poor Dwarves, I just don't think they really got much cool stuff compared to the others unless I completely missed something. And why don't Elves and Dwarves get Hero Points like the other races? I would hate to be an Elf and seeing the Humans and Halflings using the Hero Points that they get throughout the course of the entire campaign. The Elves do get a few neat bonuses, but to me it doesn't seem right that they apparently can't be Heroic. I can see maybe limiting it or something, but not completely not having it.
3) Level Caps. I really don't like this either. I guess maybe the goal is to just have only low level campaigns, but I know for me my favorite levels tend to be around 5-13. That's when you start getting cool stuff and before everything becomes TOO bogged down by high numbers and many abilities. Apparently some others don't mind this, but it's not my type of game.

That's all I have right now. I do think you should put more flavor into this though. You said you based abilities on what you read in the books. I think if you're going to stick to this you should put quotes from the books by the abilities. Right now everything is just stats and abilities. Maybe you're planning on doing something like this, I don't know, but I kinda got a little bored just looking at stuff and I wanted to see some flavor. Don't assume everyone already knows everything, especially since people would just base things off the movies.

I don't know if you've ever checked this out, but FFG put out a game called Midnight. Basically what it did was take Middle Earth and say "The Darkness Won". With one simple little thing it took a classic setting and changed it in an amazing way. Maybe if you wanted to put more oomph into your thing, you could do something like that. Think, what is a simple little change I could do that would totally make this stand out and draw people to it.
 

askani777

First Post
Thanks for checking it out, I know its not for everyone (an understatement). But i do appreciate it.

I cant take any credit for the Noble class. I do agree though that is cool. Read about it in full if you want
http://paizo.com/products/btpy8esi?Freeport-Companion

The fractional stuff and the level caps are also lifted. Unearthed Arcana way back in the day put forward the fractional advancement. Basically its there in order to keep multiclassing fair. Under the normal numbers PCs who multiclass quickly get huge saves. The level caps are lifted from e6.

Hero points are restricted from Elves and Dwarves because in the story these people are past their prime so to speak. Their civilizations hit their peak long ago and they try nothing new. This is the age of men, so they get the hero points. It also counterbalances some of the power Elves and Dwarves have. But, the races aren't balanced and shouldn't be.

I will be putting descriptive entries for each of the races and classes, but I figured if I waited any longer to publish this I'd go crazy! I may include quotes too.

I have seen Midnight. But I'll have to give it another look. thanks for the tip!
 

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