A quick perusal through the book tells me that it is damn smecksy and anyone who plays in Golarion should buy a copy. On a personal note, I really like what you did with the white and silver dragons in the Elemental Plane of Air (I mean, I got a preview before and all, but seeing the full writeup in print was really cool) and with Shelyn's domain in Nirvana. :)
Let's just say that Mike exhales about a dozen copies of the letter "x" with each breath, and for Dragons Revisited it was like he was hyperventilating. (Love ya, Mike!) I changed most of them, and here you are sticking them in perfectly innocent normal words!
one thing i want to know is how do you say Golarion?
goh LAYR ee on
Mikaze wrote:
yoda8myhead wrote:
(Though you'll find that they are intentionally ambiguous on the pronunciation of Drow. Guess some controversies aren't worth putting to bed.)
Wow, how do we say drow now? ;)
There's nothing ambiguous about how we list drow. The pronunciation guide follows a very strict method of expressing sounds. It lists drow as DROW, which in the way the pronunciation guide lists sounds, would make it rhyme with cow, how, ow, pow, or now. If it were pronounced the other way (which is incorrect, btw), it would be listed as DROH, to rhyme with oh, no, go, or low. But it doesn't list drow as DROH because that is incorrect. It lists drow as DROW, because that is the industry-accepted pronunciation.
If it's hard to keep it straight, just remember this simple rhyme: How now black drow?
The Gazetteer is a slimmed down version of the Campaign Setting,
Yes, that is correct. The original intent had been to put out the Gaz about 8 months before the hardcover came out. That didn't happen, though.
erian_7 wrote:
appropriate for players, while the Campaign Setting is the DM's Guide, so to speak.
No, that is incorrect. I'm not sure why I can't put a squelch on that idea, but it seems prevalent on these boards. The hardcover is aimed equally at players (hence the 40+ feats and 4 pages of new equipment, to say nothing of spells, domains, and writeups of standard classes and the core races) and GMs (with stuff like weather and climate, flora and fauna, and trade covered--stuff players don't need but that GMs can use).
erian_7 wrote:
There is some repetition of material in the CS from the Gazetteer, but lots of new stuff as well.
Yeah, the amount of repetition is unfortunate but unavoidable.
Now that Mongoose Traveller is taking off, and there is still d20 Traveller and Star Wars and various other SF rpgs I would really like to see Paizo branch out beyond just fantasy accesories.
That doesn't make sense, though. There's only a limited market for SF RPG, and if Traveller and Star Wars are becoming increasingly popular there's no good reason for Paizo to try to compete.
I'm planning to set a little campaign in Darkmoon Vale, which I think of as a tremendous location.
As written in "Guide To Darkmoon Vale", Vamros Harg is the judge of Falcon's Hollow.
Now my Question: Who is his official superior? There must be someone he has to report to other than his unofficial boss Thuldrin Kreed.
Oh, and is there a mayor in Falcon's Hollow?
Any hints for me? Thanks a lot!
Greetings, Daniel
I would imagine that Vamros Harg's superior is in Almas, the capital of Andoran.
There is no mayor of Falcon's Hollow. Thuldrin Kreed is sort of the de facto mayor, but he's not the official one. If that makes sense.
-Maybe your Java is out of date. You can download and install the latest Java Runtime Environment at this location: http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp
Updating my Java seemed to be the trick. Thanks! I'm opening the program now. ^_^
So, if I decide to get a subscription to the Companion, when the Player's Guide for AP's come up, will I get a second one? Seeing as I have the AP sub, can I just not get the one from the Companion sub if I am going to get a second one?
I'm pretty sure that the Second Darkness PG was free for subscribers as a promotion for the new Companion line, so people could know what type of product they'd be subscribing to. Future PGs will not be free to AP subscribers.
Correct. For the foreseeable future, at least at the time I left, the days of free player's guides is in the past.
Is there any reason to get the Gazetteer if you have the Campaign Setting?
The Gazetteer is also more of a player-friendly book, whereas the Campaign Setting is a DM-only sort of tome.
Um... wut?
I'm very interested to hear why you think that. The CS was designed from the ground-up to be aimed equally at players and GMs. I'm curious to know in what ways we failed to do that.
For some reason I thought the book was sent to the printer in early July. What a difference 30 days makes. You did put future PAPs on the map.
Ah, now I see where the confusion came from. In the publishing industry 30 days can make a huge difference. I'm glad you're less unhappy about the map now. ^_^
I've been looking for a program like the one you describe for 15 years. I used to have a shareware program that did that, way back when, but I've long since lost the program. *sigh*
Paizo knows where at least the next 8 PAPs will be located on the map of Golarion. It wouldn't have taken an extra hour to the day to add them to the map as well. That is all I'm trying to say. It would have been nice for the map in the book to show all the PAPs instead of just those already published. It would have made the book seem 'fresher' until well into 2009.
Your arguments are flawed in that they don't take into account the reality of the situation when we sent the book to print (June 13th, at which time we barely knew where the next 6 AP adventures were going to be located, and certainly didn't know "at least the next 8"), nor the rest of the contents of the book (page 238 clearly sets the book in 4708 AR, which is 2008 in the real world). A campaign setting product exists at a certain time in that campaign setting's history, and this book exists in the late summer of 4708, and does not stretch into 4709.
I have nothing further to discuss on this subject. I made a decision and I stick by it. I appreciate that you would have made a different one, and I respect your non-flawed arguments, but I obviously disagree. And in the grand scheme of things, this is a relatively minor map whose importance scarcely warrants this level of discussion. (But since we're both gamers, it would be against our natures to not argue over minutia.) ;)
Based on some earlier conversions of RotRL that were made for True20 and an earlier thread about Freeport in Golarian, I was wondering if there are there currently any plans for Paizo and Green Ronin to team up to produce a series of True20 conversions of the Pathfinder Campaign Setting. I'd love to see an official Pathfinder True20 Companion, for example.
Green Ronin started translating Rise of the Runelords to True20. To be honest, I don't remember if they ever completed that project.
If any kind of conversion occurs, it won't be performed by Paizo. Those guys are way too busy and the amount of effort required to master a second rules set could be better spent doing something else. I agree, though, that it would be cool if GR converted more of Golarion into True20. :)
In fact I have grown so fond of you, Mike that I just might let you in the Keep one day to have a drink with us dwarves before kicking your human ass out the front door. :)
As DMcCoy pointed out, I'm a dragon. Which means I'm even more interested in this offer. ^_^
The Maori stuff is more interesting than the colonial stuff, simply because British colonialism is pretty much done already in Golarion (see Sargava) and Americans and Canadians already know what it's like. ;)
Pfft...
By the way, Maoris are in New Zealand, not Australia (nyah nyah nyah!).
Oh, good job, you caught me in a factual error. You get +1 "I'm better than the editor" point.
I'm surprised the map locations in Appendix A top out at August 2008, meaning the book will be out of date in a month or so. Aren't the Pathfinder APs known at least 4 to 6 months in advance of their release month? It would have been nice if the book had been published with the PAP locations through to early 2009 or so. As it is now, it seems like just a sort of advertising blurb disguised as something more useful. Looking at it a year from now will be odd, showing adventure locations from the distant past.
Please don't take this a rudness, but ...
Huh???!!??
Seconded. I'm confused.
Of course anything that talks about other products is going to be out of date in a month. There's nothing we could have done about that.
If the gang is feeling spunky and finally invented that 25th hour in the day, they might periodically go in and update the PDF of those pages, but I wouldn't ask them to do that and nor would I hold my breath.
Since this thread just started I though I would ask, do people like gunpowered weapons in their fantsy campaigns?
As long as they're specifically designed with the "weird, rare, unreliable, extremely powerful as long as everything works right, and almost as deadly to the wielder when they don't" feel. I might actually add 1 die of damage to each of the firearms in the CS, but otherwise it's just about what I would want out of them.
I tried to make them more deadly but James vetoed me. In the end, for the sake of game balance I think he made the right choice. For the sake of "woohoo, guns are awesome!" I'm saddened. ;)
Looking at the information in the Campaign Setting I do have a couple of questions.
And for just that reason I have a copy of the PDF on my work computer. Shhh... don't tell my boss! ;)
mindgamez wrote:
1) Do the Rifle, Pistol and Scattergun use a different form of ignition than the rest of the weapons? Why do these not suffer the same misfire chance?
The pistol, revolver, rifle, and scattergun all use a better ignition system than the blunderbuss and musket. The revolver has a higher chance of malfunction because it is the most advanced and intricate (i.e., prone to failure) of the better weapons.
mindgamez wrote:
2) Assuming I am reading the footnote correctly, the effective range of a Blunderbuss is 40'. 2d6 damage from 0-20', 1d6 for 21-40' and after that there aren't any damage dice left. Same goes for Scattergun. Effective out to 90'?
Yes, that's right. Beyond that distance they just loose their oomph. Exactingly realistic? Not really. Fun mechanic? Yes. :)
Please go beyond the colonial period and into the Dreaming its such a rich source of culture. Treated with respect Aboriginal culture would make a wonderful setting.
I suspect that would be the intent. The Maori stuff is more interesting than the colonial stuff, simply because British colonialism is pretty much done already in Golarion (see Sargava) and Americans and Canadians already know what it's like. ;) So yeah, that's my guess. But who knows for sure, right?
Except that they're in Korvosa, including in the section that players can read. I'm using a couple of Darklight NPCs in my CotCT game, and the fact that this thread's title proclaims them a sisterhood kind of gives things away.
Not to be too short about, but if you're using more than one Darklight in your campaign you're using too many. It's a very small group.
I'm basing this on my reading of the Korvosa book:
** spoiler omitted **
I'll grant you that this particular quote isn't in the section that players can read.
Spoiler:
D'oh! Damn my forgetfulness.
Disregard my previous post to you, then. Ha ha... ha... heh. Phooey. :(
Meh... the SRD never hurt Wizards of the Coast. This is the same logic that keeps books out of libraries "If people read it in the Library they won't buy it".
Your logic there is flawed only in that the majority of third edition players didn't know the SRD existed and are not on the Internet, whereas by definition right now everyone who has the PFRPG does know about the electronic version for free.
Dennis da Ogre wrote:
Besides, if they don't publish it someone else will, it is all OGL content.
The SRD is a document of 3.5 mechanics that the OGL makes open. As it stands, everything presented in Pathfinder RPG is open content, except for the gods.
Who needs a SRD for that exactly? I know.. the people that want Pathfinder RPG without paying for it.
On the other hand, in 3.5, that's not true.. there's a lot of stuff in the 3 core books that isn't open content.
With all that in mind, I don't think 3PP really need a SRD, they can afford to buy a copy and I'm sure Paizo would be happy to give them a copy. For those guys trying to produce their own compatible content.. well right. If there has to be a SRD I don't think it needs to be made available to the general public.
I agree with SirUrza. The other way Paizo could do it without making their books unnecessary would be to leave out key parts of the rules, much like the standard SRD does...
huh. i'm not sure why, but renaming the sisterhood didn't occur to me. reading your comment was a real facepalm moment. in the middle of the office. wow.
Anyway, Thanks for the answers Mike. this was worrying me all day.
and consider that the official new name in my setting. the O'Macfitzibnovichson sisterhood.
I also have a question about small characters and the guns. I noticed a few of the guns apply penalties when wielded by small characters, do they still need to have small sized guns fashioned so that they can use them though?
No. The rules specifically state that guns are guns are guns. They are all the same size (Medium), so the usual penalty for using a mis-sized weapon applies to Small characters.
I would guess that they could get between 50%-60% will buy at least one copy. That would be about 12,000 copies, which is not a great run for a release, but still considering the focused nature of the market for such a release, it wouldn't be bad either.
I think you greatly overestimate the size of the gaming industry. 12,000 copies sold would be huge. Only WotC can put up numbers like those, usually.
Holy crap! Really? That's lame! No, bullets shouldn't weight that much, and neither should sling stones.
Bullets weigh like 10 to a pound. Maybe even 20.
For reference a 10 gauge shotgun firing ball ammo would be 10 rounds per pound (that is what gauge means, how many rounds of that diameter ammo equal one pound of lead). A 10 gauge is .775" bore or slightly more then 3/4 of an inch. That is coincidentally the bore (.750) of a Brown Bess musket. So that would be about right.
Except that they're in Korvosa, including in the section that players can read. I'm using a couple of Darklight NPCs in my CotCT game, and the fact that this thread's title proclaims them a sisterhood kind of gives things away.
Not to be too short about, but if you're using more than one Darklight in your campaign you're using too many. It's a very small group.
Isn't the requirement that members of the Darklight Sisterhood change their surname to "Darklight" a bit, for wont of a better term, silly?
Um... no...? :D
Callum Finlayson wrote:
Why would they do that? Isn't it going to be a bit obvious, even if the group is semi-secret?
For solidarity. And who said they were secret?
Callum Finlayson wrote:
Even if most people never encounter more than one or two, some will look through the Pathfinder Chronicles back catalogue and notice a Chelaxian dystaff-dynasty that dosn't appear to line up with any actual Chelaxian family. A few people in-the-know make this discovery and the knowledge filters out -- why would a mid-level Andoren Pathfinder not warn all his fellows that any girl with the surname Darklight is likely a Chelaxian agent?
You're taking their importance WAY out of proportion. The Pathfinders don't even know (or if they do know, they certainly don't care) that the sisterhood exists. Seriously. Even if the Pathfinder Chronicles do show the occasional Darklight, at most it would make a curious person wonder why Pathfinders never met any Darklight men. Also, lots of Darklights are married. They just don't have their husbands' last names.
Callum Finlayson wrote:
Why not go for something more discrete?
Why bother? They are meant to be seen, especially when performing good deeds. They're meant to win over people in the way that most Chelaxians can't, so they need to interact with people and be friendly. Sure, there are evil Darklights, but even they are charismatic and don't go around stomping on puppies.
GeraintElberion wrote:
Thanks for the spoiler!
No spoilers here. You can relax.
Mikaze wrote:
I kind of saw them as simply "trying too hard." The one-sided rivalry with the Pathfinder Society and the feeling that they were some pet project cooked up somewhere in the Cheliax bureaucracy without a well-established support plan makes them rather underdoggish. They're the sort to pull together that much tighter due to mutual frustration and antipathy for their much larger and much more popular rivals.
Yup, that's exactly what I was going for. Thanks for being on the same wavelength. :)
Mikaze wrote:
I imagine there are a number of superfluous sorority-style initiation rites beyond the expected diabolic sort meant to instill a unified identity, the surname change being among them. I can see a lot of their number living up to the "big ego/small name" image.
That and they want to be known. They're competing with the Pathfinder Society after all.
Yup yup.
Mikaze wrote:
I kind of see myself using some of their members as somewhat incompetant rivals that PCs could grow comfortable and complacent around. And then turning it all around when the Sisterhood decides to show they actually have teeth.
Except that, as a group, they really don't. LoL. Individually, sure, there are some powerful Darklights. But as a group? Not so much.
Jumanah Al-Anazeh wrote:
But Darklight is so kewl.
Thanks. ^_^
kessukoofah wrote:
Mikaze wrote:
Jumanah Al-Anazeh wrote:
But Darklight is so kewl.
Jumanah Darklight...
That too.
Now I want to play a paladin of Iomedae that just happens to have that last name.
"I bet Jenny Obeder down the street doesn't have to put up with this crap."
That's more the issue I'm concerned with. What if someone happens to have that name already?
Well, that's easy. In Golarion, they don't. It's a name invented by some Chelaxian noble. Nobody who isn't in the sisterhood has the name.
kessukoofah wrote:
In a freakish coincidence, one of the noble families in my homebrew setting has that name, and has had it since before pathfinder. would the order assume she's in it? would there be a three's company situation where there's "a big misunderstanding?"
Just change the name of the sisterhood, then, to a surname nobody in your setting has. I recommend the O'Macfitzibnovichson Sisterhood. *nod*
Moab wrote:
I like that they all change their names. Reminds me of the Ramones.
Does anyone have any ideas on what kinds of 'ranks' the Korvosan Guard would use?
The Black Fox wrote:
I'd keep ranks very simple.
I agree.
When I was creating Korvosa I was taking inspirations from the WWII German army for various things, like what I figured the rank names would be for higher-level officers. Hence "field marshal."
The Black Fox wrote:
If you want to demonstrate that there is a lot of decadent top heavy baggage, just make sure there's a whole lot of colonels. Once they've met the 14th Colonel...
Ha ha! I would actually recommend against this, at least in the Korvosa as envisioned for Paizo. Although Korvosa's government is bloated and pathetically sluggish, its military is sleek, trim, and full of awesome. It's a militaristic city, after all. You can bet it's got one of the best militaries within hundreds of miles. At least, in 4707...
Illessa wrote:
The Black Fox wrote:
Field Marshall - Cressida Kroft herself. "Field Marshall" is a bit too ambitious a title for a commander of a city guard, but I guess some people need to compensate. She probably has some staff. Some who do real work, and others who simply collect a paycheck and have a big title because their uncle is important. The staff would all be Colonels and Captains.
I suspect the Field Marshall title is in honour of the city's founder Field Marshall Jakthion Korvosa, rather than a symptom of a particularly up-himself watch leader in the past :).
That's a pretty cool breakdown Black Fox, I think I'll be snagging it :).
Agreed. The title is made overly grandiose because of the city's founder. It basically just came down through the years unchanged.
The Black Fox wrote:
Edit: Knowing the Sable Company ranks would be cool too, I have another player interested in them. Even if they ** spoiler omitted **
I'll be honest, right up there with getting to write a 3.x Fiendish Codex III (fat chance), this is a prime example of my idea of a dream writing assignment. Oh man, several weeks since I got handed this and I'm still grinning like a fool. I just need to try not to feel overwhelmed against expectations, and try to come in under the word count. Almost certainly I'll end up trimming stuff because I'll grossly write above the limit after the initial draft. Lots of ideas for this baby.
And I have every intention of snagging a copy of your Dragons Revised book as soon as it's out. :)
Btw, you going to be at GenCon?
I'm glad you're looking forward to writing this and not totally burned out on the planar stuff. :)
I will not be going to Gen Con. If you are, have fun! :D
I was wondering, just how much crossover there is between this book and the Gazzeteer?
I am interested in picking both up, but the budget is way too tight to justify picking both up if the amount of shared info is too great. From what I have seen and heard so far, Paizo is not in the habit of gouging their customers by publishing two books of similar material, but need to know in order to justify the expense to "higher"
(my past spending record has brought me to this sad, sad point so no one to blame but myself :( )
The crossover between those two books is pretty mighty. Think of the Gaz as the Hardcover Lite.
