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 Recent Posts
Last night a friend of mine and I were brainstorming every possible fantasy genre and sub-genre we could come up with and then think of a place in Golarion where a game of that style would fit. It was a fairly painless process. That said, I certainly don't ever expect to see source books or adventure paths fleshing that all out. The appeal of some fantasy sub genres can be pretty thin after all.
This is stupid and irrelevant, but I figured, "hey, it's the internet" so here we go: One problem I've always had with the wheel is it's structure. Or rather, the nature of it's structure. 9 alignment planes and 8 mixed planes all arranged around in a wheel. So 7 of these 17 planes have some sort of chaotic leaning. The 3 CE, CN & CG planes and then the half way/mixed planes. A full 41% of this ordered symmetrical cosmic structure are places of chaos and disorder. I find the descriptions of the Great Beyond in Pathfinder to be far more mysterious and lacking such simple symmetry. I like that. A lot. Between the infinite nature of the Abyss and the Maelstrom and the somewhat relative positioning of the other planes relative to Pharasma's Spire, you have a lot of leeway. It definitely doesn't come across as nearly as understandable, codified and figured out as a symmetrical 9/17 piece wheel.
I'm kind of disappointed with this myself. While very little about 4e has been a disappointment to me, I don't like how much of a departure this is from the mythological creatures. It's also a bit more of the PG rating getting applied to everything. Did Erinyes used to seduce people and take them back to hell after? However, any negative feelings I have are made up for by this: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/Monster2_gallery/96.jpg Awesomely hilarious.
It would be interesting. My first thought upon reading about Alkenstar was that it would create a less than wonderful dynamic in the typical party. The wizard, sorcerer, druid, cleric, and any other magic using class looses their shtick while fighters, rogues, etc., effectively remain at full power. I'm sure players would find the challenge of attempting to be effective without their character's main strength interesting for a short while, but it would get pretty boring/frustrating pretty quickly. Any protracted campaign time in there would effectively be saying to any player of a magic using class that they get to play the class they wanted, but with no spells, class abilities, etc.,. Now a campaign designed from the get go to be in Alkenstar could be all sorts of different kinds of awesome.
Some of it is in public domain, some of it isn't. Even the stuff that is might have sufficiently Golarion specific names, descriptions and traits and still be able to be used.
I'm currently running a game out of Sandpoint. I could have picked anywhere in Golarion, but it seemed like a good place to start. The World Wound really captures my imagination though. I love the idea of a land where the bad guys are winning. Where desperate crusades are launched to drive the demons back into the abyss. Where mortals find death either at the hands of the fiends themselves, their servants or the abyssal diseases and infections that stalk the land. With Second Darkness restoring the Drow to their former glory, a Darklands campaign would be awesome. I believe there is also the remnant of the Azlant who have become degenerate subhumans. And the ancient dwarven halls that were built as they dug tirelessly up towards the surface. And then there are the vaults of Orv with their ancient and unknown horrors. I've always been a Ravenloft fan, so Ustalav would be a favorite as well. Same goes with Axis for a Planescape style game.
The thing to remember is that within Alkenstar's borders, Alkenstar's got the guns. Outside of Alkenstar's borders, they still have their guns and they cane hire mercenaries or make alliances to get magic on their side. Similarly, their emenies could scrounge the best they could to get a few guns. Guns won out in our world for a variety of reasons, some of which are shared by magic in Golarion (range, the ability to ignore armour, taking out multiple people at once) but there are some things about guns that magic can't easily replicate-- ease of use with relatively little training, cost effectiveness once a source of the required elements is secured, etc.,. War is all about logistics and supply, so whomever can use diplomacy, technology, magic, recruitment, training, industry, etc., to pursue those ends the best is going to win. It also might be worth noting that within Alkenstar, guns may not count as exotic weapons. Or those trained in its army might get the proficiency for free. Just like 14th century England, where almost every able bodied male might get a free longbow proficiency.
It's also important to remember that rules mechanics can not be copyrighted. What is protected by copyright are the specific explanation/publication of those rules. You can integrate mechanics from 100 different games if you want. You just get into trouble when you start use trade marked terms like Dungeons & Dragons.
Awesome, thanks!
Things may well get a little more complex when Divine Power hits and the Gods presumably get an added layer of complexity Ohh! Excellent point! However, I think it'll actually make things simpler than harder. The best thing about 4e is that the fictional description of what's going on and the mechanical effect are pretty much completely separate. So every additional option that Divine Power presents is simply another element waiting to be reflavoured and repurposed.
Perfect! Dwarf leaders are among the best choices for solo play. They can heal twice per combat as a class feature and access their own second wind all with minor actions. Sounds like it's going great. I'd definitely be interested in reading more about how this all turns out, so keep us posted.
Right. So let's take an example. Page 57 has the organization known as the Sorn. In it is a stat block entitled "Typical Sorn Sorcerer". What do we know about these typical Sorn sorcerers? - The Sorn are assassins as well as a magic guild
Now let's look at the stat block itself. For some reason the typical one is a gnome. They're alchemists who are good at blasting at range. They use wands and have a good balance between offensive and defensive magic. Sounds like the Gnome Arcanist from the Monster Manual to me. And I'd probably give them a smattering of alchemical items from Adventurer's vault just to mix things up a bit. If the party is such that a gnome arcansist isn't an appropriate level creature, I'd simply level them up as per the DMG page 174.
I found making the list really helpful myself. I just got Pathfinder Chronicles: Gods & Magic and it was good to pull it out and really familiarize myself with the cosmology of Golarion. Something I was planning on doing anyway. As for approaching things in a way that is more complicated than it has to be, I've been doing that for decades when it comes to RPGs. It took me a long time to come to the place where I felt everyone agreeing produced a result with more credibility than one produced by the rules/formulas/dice mechanics of the game. The core of RPG rules are task and conflict resolution. Until someone has a stake in the results of an attempted task or a conflict, the system doesn't need to enter into it. I'm going to continue to make things like the Deity table and eventually assemble a pretty complete 4e Golarion document. I wouldn't call it a conversion article, but more of a representation advice article. I don't think there will be a single bit of new mechanical crunch involved as 4e already has everything you need to play in Golarion. So if you have any "how would you handle..." questions, definitely post them. Otherwise I'll likely only ever think of things that come up in my game and miss a lot of things that might be inspirational. I'm no expert, but I am enthusiastic about Golarion.
Do you need to convert it? Why not just get really familiar with the story/setting elements of Ptolus and represent it with the 4e rules? Why bother trying to take the 3.x crunch elements and converting them? 4e got me back into fantasy RPGs. I loved OD&D, BECMI, AD&D but really didn't like 3, 3.5 or any of the derivatives of the system. 4e got me back into it. Since then, I've been snapping up 3.x source material like crazy because the ideas, concepts and story elements are system independent. Ptolus is on my shelf and I don't see why you couldn't run it like any other setting.
I'm doing it right now. My group likes PC-centric plots rather than ones the PCs just sort of stumble upon, so the stuff from the Rise of the Runelords AP is only getting used insofar as it directly relates to the goals of the characters. They're still in Sandpoint, Magnimar, Riddleport and other places like the Cinderlands, but I'm not using the AP per se, just the info provided about the areas and some of the ideas as they fit.
Long Post Warning - EDIT: Also, I've been Ninjaed many times over. I took a dinner break during the writing of this post and a lot of activity hit this thread in that time. a significant amount has been changed to fit my personal vision of a 4E version of Golarion. I'm running 4e Golarion as pretty close to standard as I can. I hate the old FR, like the new FR, but love Golarion as published. I am curious, there are certain elements of 3.5 that don't transfer well to 4e and certain elements of 4e that I'm having trouble finding a Golarion counterpart for. That'll happen. I'm going to get into it more below, but might I suggest that there's a better approach than trying to convert elements from one to another? More below. One example are the gods. In the first gen 4e core books each god has a Divine Power feat associated with them. Any advice on who might get what feat or has anyone written up anything custom to the gods of Golarion? If so I'd love to see a thread or website that includes it. This is particularly easy. Just ask what each god is about.
Remember, it's almost always better to say "yes" to a player than "no." Especially when there's not really a balance issue or any similar factor going on. So if the player can even remotely justify the equivilancy of a PHB god with a Golarion god, let them count as worshiping it for purposes of selecting feats, paragon paths, etc.,. There's just no real reason to say no as they all cost the same single feat, paragon path choice, etc.,. Also look at the effects of the Channel Divinity feats. For example, The Raven Queen's Blessing. If you knock someone to 0 HP, someone gets healed. Which Golarion gods might grant such a power? Pharasma as the obvious equivilant to the Raven Queen, but why not Gorum, who would reward someone who demonstrated prowess in battle? Basically if you can in any way by common domains of the gods or an explanation of the effect have it make sense, it's better to say yes than no. Also remember that there are way, way more dieties and diety like beings in Golarion than in the implied setting of 4e, so there's bound to be some overlap. Apparently, Paizo is not alone with the opinion that 4e can't work for Golarion. :P Back to the idea of converting elements from one game to another. Does anyone remember the text from various RPGs in the past decades that are usually found in a "What is an RPG?" section in the introduction? Usually they'll reference something like kids playing make believe. Cops and Robbers for example. One kid yells "Bang! I shot you" and the other says "No! you missed". RPG rules provide a way of resolving this. RPG Rules serve the purpose of giving authority/credibility to one person or another's statements about the shared game. A player can declare they attack a monster, point at the dice result and appeal to the authority of the game rules to make their desired effect credible to everyone at the table. 4e can't work for Golarion? Nonsense. Because you only need to reference the rules when the credibility of a statement is in question. Any edition of D&D, Pathfinder, GURPS, whatever can work for Golarion. As long as it can serve to give authority to people's statements about the shared game, it will work. So instead of converting elements from 3.x/Pathfinder to 4E, it's best to think of them in story terms and ask yourself how you'd resolve/adjudicate/grant credibility using the new system. Don't convert, just represent. One of 4th edition's strengths is that it is an exception based design that embraces the concept of "design for effect" rather than "design for a framework/formula." The mechanics and the fictional description aren't married anymore. There isn't some humanoid leveling rules for making NPCs. There's not some absolute framework where the monsters and the PCs all follow the same formulas and rules. NPCs don't have levels anymore. They have whatever they need for the effect the DM needs them to have. A local priestess of Serenrae might be able to raise the dead. Is she a high level cleric? Not necessarily. She might have 1 hit point, no combat abilities, and the ability to cast the Raise Dead ritual. You'll find this approach rampant throughout OD&D, Redbox/BECMI and 1st Edition AD&D. It wanes during 2nd edition AD&D and 3.x heavily embraces the formulaic/framework approach. In this way, 4e is definitely a revival of a traditional/old school approach to D&D. So instead of trying to figure out some sort of conversion formula or how to transfer the mechanics of 3.5/Pathfinder specific stuff in Golarion, just represent it using 4e mechanics. And only ever define as much as you need to in order to give the statements about the given element the authority and credibility they need to be accepted by everyone as part of the shared game.
# A fearful look into the savage cult of Rovagug, the imprisoned god of wrath, disaster, and destruction, by Sean K Reynolds Sold! I absolutely love Rovagug. I really like how the adventure path books have information that's useful/interesting even if you don't plan on running the AP in the near future.
The creator of the term "multiverse" is M. Moorcock, not some guy at palladium, so it should be save to use it. AFAIK golarion has some elements from Moorcocks multiversum. Actually, the term was coined by William James, a psychologist and medical doctor in 1895 and first appeared in a published work in 1897 (the publication of his lecture, The Will To Believe). The word is 114 years old-- ofcourse it's safe to use it. It is by no means a trademark or copyrighted title. It's just a word. I was merely talking about my own hurdle with the word because of my own gaming history. Even if Palladium has stopped using it in favor of the term "Megaverse."
You can't be held responsible for what others have done with the word :) I am overjoyed that "multiverse" in Golarion doesn't mean that every possible universe/world/whatever is out there somewhere and it's all connected to the setting regardless of whether or not it's compatible in terms of genre, tone, etc.,. Imagine if you will, a post apocalyptic Earth with rifts to everywhere and everywhen, mashing together fantasy, sci-fi, westerns, comic book super heroes, anime, cthulhu-esque horror, Bond style spy antics, etc., including specific things like Robotech and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Thank you so much for meaning something else by the use of that word. I really mean that.
I must admit that as a DM who's totally into the cosmology of a setting and loves knowing every tid bit of information about it regardless of the game, I find Golarion's cosmology to engender wonder/confusion and curiosity in me just from reading about it. It reminds me of the first time I encountered Plansecape stuff. In my last session the PCs encountered their first outsider-- a demon servant of Pazuzu. After they dug into it a little more, I read them some of the stuff related to Pazuzu in the Campaign Setting book. I got a visible shudder from one player and the group came to the conclusion that it would be best not to attract any more attention from the denizens of the Abyss. I've been waiting for years for the opportunity to re-live my first planar experiences, but the tone of the material I'd seen thus far was not quite what I was looking for. The Great Beyond seems like a good fit to me. I didn't think of it until you said it, but you're exactly right. For me, it's the tone of the material that works so well. Old school isn't quite the right term, but there's something classic about it. It's the same thing as the tone of the drow in the Second Darkness stuff. The only thing I don't like is the word "multiverse." From playing too much Rifts back in the day, it gives me an icky feeling. A lot my players are old Rifts veterans as well and I don't even want the word uttered at the table. At no times do I want to conjure any image or emotion connected with the mish-mash splat-book-fest power creep twinkery that was the Rifts multiverse. That experience has ruined that word for me. The first time I saw it in the Campaign Setting, I had to promptly make sure it meant something else, and thankfully it did. I still get a bad taste in my mouth every time I see the word in print though-- as irrational as that is.
So maybe a reboot of the planes is good, but of course my players already know to much. So in essence the only way to keep my game fresh is to use as much non-cannon as I can. You could try reskinning stuff. It's a shame to resort to that, but it changes/obfuscates the first pieces of information that people use to metagame in a negative way. Or perhaps it's time for the group to sit down and talk about out of character knowledge. It sounds like meta-gaming with out of character knowledge is something they enjoy, so why not see if you can't get them in on it and then concentrate on surprising the characters rather than the players? Perhaps they'd enjoy a bit more of an author/director stance on controlling their characters rather than being in actor stance. As for the structure of the cosmology in Golarion, I see it as how mortal scholars are trying to diagram and represent it within the world of Golarion itself. Like the Platonic cosmology being an attempt to diagram and understand our world. The spatial relation of the different realms within the Great Beyond isn't exactly that meaningful in play/telling stories set in Golarion.
and we currently only have about 1300 articles up, so right now you may not find what you are looking or, but feel free to write some articles as you research for your campaign) I'm also new to running games in Golarion and am doing what's been suggested in this thread-- I grabbed the campaign setting and some adventure path releases and some other titles of interest. Once I get more familiar with contributing to a Wiki, I'll write some articles.
James Jacobs, I had some questions about this product but a quick skim of your posts in this topic gave me the answers-- just wanted to say thanks for the info. I'm totally into Golarion but not into the PFRPG rules and while I'm disappointed that this book isn't chocked full of Golarion specific stuff, I'm glad to know that now and not after I asked my local store to get this for me. To the Pathfinder Chronicles section!
As for BBEG/Conspiracy type adventures go, I usually blow things out of the water early in those types of adventures. I've seen enough good and bad television and movies to realize that you need to show things to your audience rather than hide them. In the case of RPGs, all the participants are the audience. I'm not familiar with the later Adventure Paths, being a relative new comer to Paizo's products. I picked up the Rise of the Rune Lords AP and the Golarion Campaign Setting at a local shop. Upon my first read through, I decided the way to go was to make up index card character sheets for some townsfolk in Sandpoint and run through a few flash back scenarios where the players play some pregen townsfolk. Some will get killed by Stoot, others will be the midwives that dispose of Nualia's miscarried bestial child. Interspersed at dramatic moments will be similar scenes showing the use of the soul lense and the like.
I would like to know - if anybody does know it - if golarion has something like a draconian race (or a similar reptiloid race which should be more evolved than lizardmen or troglodytes) included? In the CG I didnt find anything, but maybe I overread it. And if yes, where could these race be loctated geographically? thanx for your answers. I don't think there's anything in the actual campaign setting. My group migrated from 4th edition's implied setting to Golarion so I had to find a way to make a dragonman fit. I eventually decided that they were the product of dragons using magic to create servitors. They're very rare as making such servitors is now a bit of a taboo among dragons. The last time they made servitors in any numbers, they ended up breeding and exploding in population and spiraling out of their makers controls. No one wants another kobold epidemic.
I think that this scenario is a great way to introduce the players to the deep fear of the unknown that grips Golarion in the Age of Lost Omens. A fear that was powerful enough to destroy the mighty Chelaxian Empire in a handful of years when Aroden died. The first session went well. The group traveled to Sandpoint via Magnamar (I ended up going with that as I have copies of some of the adventure path stuff) and have 8 days left until the conjunction. Try to play on the themes of unpredictability, loss of control, but also renewed freedom, free will and responsibility. They're really the only game in town, so the PCs are quickly realizing that if anyone wants whatever is going to be unveiled by the conjunction, it's up to the PCs. So far, they've met the reps of the Pathfinder Society as well as a minor Chelaxian noblewoman from the House of Thrune who has aspirations of a larger role within her house. While they are down in the tunnels beneath Sandpoint, other interested parties are going to arrive. The Harbingers and later the Hell Knights-- which are going to be a big problem. Maybe the expected result never happens. Or maybe the conjunction of efforts from so many powerful factions (including the PCs) was the expected result. Regardless of what happens, the PCs will likely be the only ones down in the lost temple when the conjunction happens. So whether anything actually happens or not, or the actions of those pursuing the results of the conjunction are the results themselves, no one is going to accept nothing from the PCs. The Chelaxian noblewoman isn't going to take no for an answer. The Hell Knights won't be satisfied that there's no chaotic fate changing ritual/spell to worry about until every one of the PCs has been questioned under torture. If the PCs tell people that nothing happened or that they missed it or were too late, no one is going to believe them. In the end, Fate works in mysterious ways. Absolutely. The next session is going to include some more delving beneath the city (clock's ticking on finding the shrine), meeting the Harbinger agent(s), more delving, the arrival of the Hell Knights and will probably end with the PCs coming back to the surface to find that the Hell Knights have collapsed the entrance they used to get in, trapping them in the tunnels. In future sessions, they'll have to deal with the fallout of having the reputation of being the only ones to possess fate altering magic knowledge that everyone wants, regardless of what they actually get out of the conjunction-- heck, they might even not make it to the central chamber in time for the conjunction if things go badly.
My group has recently migrated from the implied setting of 4th edition D&D to Pathfinder/Golarion and I'm trying to hammer out the best way to go for my first adventure in Golarion. My design goals: 1) It has to involve larger organizations/nations/groups from the world of Golarion so as to introduce the players to the unique and awesome world that is Golarion. 2) A dungeon crawl is a must. Or rather a dungeon jaunt-- faster paced. So some sort of ticking clock is needed. The group generally dislikes attrition/resource management/level clearing style dungeon crawling-- if the PCs are going to be down in some horrible underground death trap of a locale, it better be for a good reason and the play time be about that reason. 3) The results of the PC's actions need to matter. How it all goes down and the decision they make need to have an impact. So here's what I've got that I think meets those requirements. There's a conjunction of certain stars rapidly approaching. It happens very infrequently, like every 173 years or so and only lasts for about a day. As far as constellations go, the motions represent the hand of Pharasma moving to touch was is known as the Mortal star. There was a temple built just for this conjunction. It was built by followers of Pharasma to take advantage of this rare and special omen. A time when Pharasma's mastery of prophecy and fate is present such that it can be tangibly touched under the right conditions. The priests built an alter and a special chamber to channel the strange effect produced by the conjunction. That's about all that is currently known about it. Other than what city it was built under. Any suggestions about what city? So that brings us to the organizations. It's been 173 years and those who are aware of this abandoned temple know that it's time to once again pay attention to it. The Pathfinder Society missed the last window and definitely want it looked into. A venture captain will likely approach the PCs with it as some of the PCs have decided their characters will be part of the society. Then I'm thinking of bringing in the Harbingers. The prophecies of failure have failed. They need to make them work again. :D So this temple with this day where fate and prophecy are especially potent might be a step towards righting everything they see as having gone wrong. This will also bring up stuff about Aroden and the ages of Golarion's history and future that are unique and interesting facets about the setting. Another group that will likely be involved will be the Hell Knights. Particularly the Order of the Rack. Unlike the other involved parties, they know exactly what's what. They know what the temple contains and what will happen on the conjunction. And the idea that something might come from that which would allow the fates of the ordinary to be transformed into the extraordinary is just too dangerous of a thing to allow. I'd like to add in another faction or two, just to introduce them to the players and give the players the sense that the world is a big place that is currently in flux with all certainty about the future having died with Aroden. The conjunction being a fixed date adds a ticking clock to everything. If they're not in the temple's central chambers when the conjunction is happening, they've failed. So there won't be time for a 5 minute adventuring day where they nova with all their spells and then hole up somewhere to rest. As for what happens during the actual conjunction, I'm thinking that a powerful spell is revealed. Casting it rewrites a person's history, fate and prophetic future. A peasant could become a great hero, the cursed could lose their infliction, the weak be made powerful and the powerful be made weak. So there's basically going to be bargaining, double crossing, attempts to steal the mcguffin spell, different organizations who all want it or want it destroyed and the PCs are going to be caught in the middle. Thoughts? Advice?
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