Paizo Spicy hot take: Golarion isn't a setting...

[Zaukrie]

It's basically Pathfinder's Forgotten Realms. Both have lots of regions each with their own identity.

So I guess.... I mean it is a setting, but it has sub-settings!

Like the real world? Odd. I don't get how this is a hawt take.

 

[Reynard]

It's basically Pathfinder's Forgotten Realms. Both have lots of regions each with their own identity.

So I guess.... I mean it is a setting, but it has sub-settings!

I thought it was Paizo's Greyhawk.

 

[Desdichado]

What this tells me is that the regions are so nuanced that you can spend entire campaigns in the specifics. I dont see this as a problem.

I don't either, I see it as kind of brilliant, actually. I wish more settings explicitly followed this design parameter.

 

[Shardstone]

Okay. But how is that different than Mystara?

The names are spelled differently. .

 

[dead]

Just on the idea that Golarion has some insular regions... how does the setting stop firearms from Alkenstar and advanced tech from Numeria from spreading throughout the realm?

Has any country thought to invade Alkenstar/Numeria to acquire its tech? Or they wouldn't dare as they'd be shot to pieces?

Just think of the advantage that gear would give you in war. Everyone would be after it.

 

[FionaSmythe]

Just on the idea that Golarion has some insular regions... how does the setting stop firearms from Alkenstar and advanced tech from Numeria from spreading throughout the realm?

Has any country thought to invade Alkenstar/Numeria to acquire its tech? Or they wouldn't dare as they'd be shot to pieces?

Just think of the advantage that gear would give you in war. Everyone would be after it.

It has spread. There just isn't a huge supply, and places outside Numeria and Alkenstar don't have the raw materials and/or manufacturing facilities to start churning out their own stock.

 

[Dragonhelm]

I thought it was Paizo's Greyhawk.

That's part of it. I remember reading years ago that when they created Golarion, the team asked what all they wanted to see in their RPG setting. This included their favorite D&D/RPG tropes.

So, for example, Ustalav is inspired by Ravenloft and Numeria is inspired by Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.

 

[Voadam]

Ustalav, for instance, has a very specific tone, so if you have a campaign set there, there's probably not any reason to even treat the rest of the setting as if it even exists.

While you could use it as its own complete setting I would not say there is not any reason to consider broader Golarion.

NPCs and PCs from different areas are one big one. You could stick with just Varisians and Kellids for human ethnicities but Golarion has a lot of fun options.

Border regions can also have significant impacts. In running my Carrion Crown game the Belkzen border with the historically hostile Orcs was a decently big Ustalav setting deal in my game as the AP starts in Canterwall and one of my players was playing a half-orc.

 

[Koloth]

I consider the variety a good thing. It would be boring if everything was the same no matter where you traveled. Having things change makes the place seem more real.

 

[Justice and Rule]

Golarion seems really disparate and disconnected, but the lore is incredibly interconnected as to how different regions and states developed. For all their thematic differences, there was some real work done on the back end to connected the areas around it with a sort of cohesive regional history. Mythkeeper is a channel I found recently that does fairly deep dives into the lore of regions (as well as different races and such) and there are a bunch of connections I didn't realize existed that have been weaved through things.