RSS RSS Facebook Twitter Email
Louis Porter Jr. Design / Downloads / Pathfinder Roleplaying Game / Other PFRPG Sourcebooks

Trade Routes: Expanded Caravan Rules Sourcebook (PFRPG) PDF

5.00/5 (based on 5 ratings)
LPJ9496E

Our Price: $2.99

Add to Cart
Facebook Twitter Email

A train of camels, carrying a thousand vials of puum dust—the wealth of nations—strides slowly across the desert, its lookouts alert for the shadow of a dragon, passing high overhead. On a king’s road crossing the old growth forests of the North, just ten miles from the sanctuary city of Hillsboro Downs, bandits waylay a twenty-horse team carrying casks of fine halfling cheese and dwarven brandy. Fleeing a loveless marriage, a young half-elven princess signs on to work a traveling circus as an acrobat, hiding her true identity behind a velvet mask. Caravans are more than just a part of the mundane economy of the world. They are a springboard to future adventures. The following new rules not only include the original rules but build upon innovative caravan simulation rules published by Paizo Publishing. These new rules offer new possibilities to players and game masters alike engaged in nomadic adventures. This sourcebook contains:

  • 20 wagon types including including Bordello Wagon, Penitentiary Wagon, Skeletal Horse Team and Steam Engine
  • Over 20 caravan equipment including Cargo Balloon, Letter of Passage, Proud Colors and Sin Caravan
  • 35 caravan feats including Banker’s Caravan, Fighting Beasts, Phantom Drivers and Reputable Mark
  • Real world logistics of caravans
  • Nearly 10 caravan plot hooks
  • Over 20 threats to the caravan from avalanche to drow marauders to necromantic horde.
  • Plus 5 sample caravans to use in your games.

Product Availability

Fulfilled immediately.

Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at store@paizo.com.

LPJ9496E

See Also:

Average product rating:

5.00/5 (based on 5 ratings)

Sign in to create or edit a product review.

Top Quality!

5/5 —

For anyone running or playing in the Jade Regent AP this is a must need. It builds on a strong foundation laid out in the Jade Regent Player guide and makes it something wonderful.

This product worth so much more than it's asking price!

Absolutely Fantastic!

5/5 —

The title here basically says it all but I think you may want more to go on then a title and a star rating. To begin with it reprints all the material for caravans from paizo's jade regent ap right along side all the new material. Now this may not sound that inventive but it allows all of us to look over all of these rule quickly and easily in a settings neutral format without having to cross reference with other books. Next is just the sheer amount of expansion they managed to add to the system with everything from alternate horse trains like mules to elephants to plants you can grow on the side of your wagons and mobile bordello's this book has thought up so many new and inventive ways to play with the caravan system that it just begs to be played with. The thing is also well edited To top it all off the book is just 3 dollars which is an absolute steal for what content you're getting which could go for triple what you're paying here from other guys. In short if you have any plans to run a caravan game you need this book the content is solid and at this price is a steal, pick it up and show support for more content of this quality and style.

Caravan Support!

5/5 —

First I got to say Chris Field and Louis Porter JR need to do more things like this book.

It was well done, well written, looked good and over all it added to rules that I thought were a very good idea by Paizo. Taking these rules and making them something I could do out side the Jade Regent Adventure Path.

I love the adventure seeds that were included in this.

The break down it was used at my gaming table, well written, fun expanded on a set of rule that were optional.

My Rating 5 Stars

Excellent addition to the caravan rules

5/5 —

This pdf is 17 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial & SRD, half a page advertisement, leaving 14 1/2 pages of content, so let's check out this expansion of Jade Regent's caravan rules.

If you're like me and only today got the first installment of Paizo's new AP, this pdf will be cutting edge and significantly expand the available material for your caravans, but what exactly do we get?

First, we get 13 new types of wagons and draft animals that range from wagons that add a bonus to resolve for crossing rivers to bordello wagons, snake-oil herbalists (with d8-mini-table ranging from healing several points of damage to being temporarily blinded/deafened) to mobile stages, nursery wagons, passenger carriages and reliquaries. On the draft animal side, we get the speedy, yet very hungry mule teams, the expensive steam-engine if you want some steam-punkish elements in your caravan and even skeletal horse teams that don't eat and can't carry riders.

Of course, that's not where the new material ends - caravans also can buy from a selection of 13 new equipment pieces that range from cargo balloons and sledges, driver's compasses, land sails and letters of passages, a special kind of allowance to trade poisons, drugs, etc, repeating crossbow turrets and even a super heavy ballista.

No general crunch-book would be complete without new feats and 19 new feats for caravans are provided - From cargo unit-expansion to better unrest resolution to more useful beasts (either fighting or offering friendly animal attractions), to desert nomad-caravans, finding a oasis whenever you need one to essential powers to slave traders and slave caravans for the morally corrupt, there are a lot of cool ideas.

The slave trade in particular could make for a great way to jumpstart a campaign and introduce the caravan mechanics- have the PCs start as slaves, work and then take control of the caravan and lead it to freedom - very iconic and cool.

And hey, thankfully feats to let you ride the sides of wagons and dig latrines to minimize danger by disease are also included.
Next up is a rather informative piece of writing dealing with real-world logistics of running a caravan, offering some neat ideas like royal roads and the concepts of dry camps. Special mention should go to the 9 sample plot hooks: One of them e.g. has the idea of sheltering and escorting a fugitive dragon from his pursuers...

That's a lot of new material, but we'll also need some threats for the expanded caravan, now, don't we? 21 new threats to the caravan are presented over the next couple of pages. The dangers range from marauding teams of humanoids to hunting dragons, an encounter with a dim-witted giant's herd, bad winds that carry gluttony with them or seek to whisk the caravan to the astral plane to bad road conditions, tengu tinkerers and kobold cave-ins - enough to keep your caravan busy!

Finally, there are 5 sample caravans to drop into your campaign, though all are somewhat small suitable for low-level caravans and ready to expand - from the perfume guild's candor and pleasures to the royal mail, players are sure to find a caravan to join on these pages.

Conclusion:
Editing and formatting were top-notch, I didn't notice any explicit glitches. Layout adheres to the two-column standard, is easily readable, and while it comes with red boxes, still belongs to the very printer-friendly category. The pdf has no bookmarks, which is a bit of a pity, as it would have improved the user-friendliness, but at this length I won't detract a star for this omission. Artwork is stock and fitting. The rules are concisely-presented and written and you get exactly what you signed up for - easy rules-options and more material for your caravans. While some of the options are exactly what you'd expect and closes some omissions from the original rules, several of the options are both cool and imaginative. The hooks and sample campaigns are nice bonuses and add even further dimensions to the book. I also like that the pdf is mature about handling themes like bordellos and slavery and includes them for their narrative potential. All in all, apart from the lack of bookmarks, I have nothing negative to say and like several of the new options presented herein and the very fair and low price serves to counteract this minor blemish. Thus, my final verdict will be 5 stars.

Endzeitgeist out.

A perfect companion to the Jade regent AP

5/5 —

When I first read the Player's guide for the Jade regent adventure path I immediately fell in love with the caravan rules provided there. The idea of developing and running your own caravan was original and a welcome diversion from the usual dungeon crawl, hack and slash kind of game-play which dominates most Campaigns.

When I first read about this product at the Paizo forums, I was thrilled. While the rules in the player's guide was more than enough to let you get started, there was to many more things to be explored in A caravan based game. I am not to familiar with LPJ design, as I usually don't use to much 3rd party material in my games, but this PDF seemed to fill a niche that no other product has done yet so I gave it a shot. I was not disappointed, this PDF has so many fun ideas and is a perfect companion to the rules written in the Jade regent player's guide. I could run entire Caravan based Campaigns with these rules.

The PDf has 18 pages. The cover depicts a group of Persian looking nomads with camels resting on a beach. The artwork is decent enough, but does not perhaps evoke the feel of a caravan as there is no wagons and little cargo to speak of. The first page has the OGL and LPJ contact information. The next three pages describes the new wagon types.

There are 13 new wagons;

• Bordello Wagon
• Chuck Wagon
• Conestoga Wagon
• Giant Beast Train
• Herbalist Wagon
• Mobile Stage
• Mule Team
• Nursery Wagon
• Passenger Carriage
• Penitentiary Wagon
• Reliquary
• Skeletal Horse Team
• Steam Engine

All the wagons have interesting and useful rules and allows you to create caravans with specific themes like a slave caravan or a performing caravan by focusing on or combining certain wagons.

The next two pages discuss new types of Caravan based equipment. here you find anything from caravan balloons used to lighten the load of wagons to new caravan weapons like the super heavy ballista or repeating crossbow turret. All of the new equipment looks useful and interesting.

Next up are the new caravan feats, there are 19 new feats to customize and enhance your caravan.

The feats are;

• Banker's caravan
• Desert nomads
• Decadent caravan
• Efficient packers
• Expert gunners
• Fighting beasts
• Friendly animals
• Find oasis
• Hair harvest
• Hard working caravan
• Latrines
• Phantom drivers
• Reputable mark
• Ride the sides
• Slave caravan
• Slave trader
• Storm tested
• Supply caches
• Vigilant lookouts

There is also a sidebar about including rules for slavery in your Campaign. The feats do everything from giving you bonuses to your caravans income to increasing it's defense or allowing you to have monsters fighting for your caravan. I didn't find any feat here that i thought was overpowered or boring.

The next part gives a short description on how caravans worked in the real world and a few plot hooks to get your caravan campaign going.

Next is a description of various new threats your caravan might face like avalanches, rampaging dragons and a necromantic horde.

The PDF rounds out with a few sample caravans.

The layout is Ok and it's not very hard to navigate the document. Some sort of index would have been useful, but the PDF is short enough that this isn't really a big issue. There is little artwork apart from the cover, and a few pictures of the new wagons and equipment would have been nice, but at this price it's not very important. All in all I think this product is great, and if you, like me, love the Caravan rules from the Jade regent player's guide, this product is a MUST HAVE.

I would vote 4.5 but given the price I will increase my vote to 5 stars. Good work LPJ

Search Thread

Search this Thread:

Now on sale at Paizo!

I picked this up because I'm always interested in variant rulesets and options, and caravans are near and dear to my heart. As such, I'm holding off on a review, but think this should be noted:

You need the Jade Regent Player’s Guide to use this PDF. That's not clear in the product description, and it's not immediately clear in the text. The PDF launches directly into the material, and the material's well written-- but it doesn't reproduce the rules for caravans at all, or provide basic descriptions explaining the modified stat blocks. Unless you go download the Jade Regent Player’s Guide (which is fortunately free) you won't be able to do much with this except mine it for ideas.

To me, that's an unfortunate missed opportunity. The text could have covered much more than just catering to the Jade Regent Player’s Guide supplemental rules.

-Ben.

‎4 out of 5-star review for Trade Routes: Expanded Caravan Rules Sourcebook (PFRPG) for use with Paizo's Jade Regent Player's Guide. Read it here!

2nd Review: 5 out of 5-star review for Trade Routes: Expanded Caravan Rules Sourcebook (PFRPG) for use with Paizo's Jade Regent Player's Guide. Read it here!

We are #12 on DriveThruRPG.com and #13 on RPGNow.com!!! Sweet!!! Thank you Pathfinder fans for this great support!

Reviewed here, on DTRPg and sent to GMS magazine. Cheers!
Endzeitgeist wrote:
Reviewed here, on DTRPg and sent to GMS magazine. Cheers!

Thanks for the review!

I've been wanting to review this for a week now, but my FLGS failed to get Jade Regent and the basic rules until today. Some shipping problem, I guess.

Great work on this one!
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Now also reviewed on RPGaggression.
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Nice review End and this is another one I was debating picking up. Think I will add it to my cart for the next time i buy stuff.

For the 3rd week in a row, Trade Routes: Expanded Caravan Rules Sourcebook has made Top Downloads at Pazio.com!!! Thanks to all the Paizo fans that have purchased this product. Best of all to all the first time buyer of LPJ Design you decided to give us a chance by purchasing this product and enjoyed it.

Ok, so I finally broke down and picked this up.

I like it, I enjoyed the new wagons and teams. (Dating myself: twenty-mule team!)

My main disappointment was no maps of the new wagons.

Are you planing to release any updates?

I'd love to see, say, a cage wagon for circus animals or a vardo (the traditional traveler's wagon).
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Yeah maps would be nice. This is on my short list to buy due to End's review. I will review it once I buy it and read it of course.
Contributor

PDF has been updated to include material from Pathfinder Adventure Path: Jade Regent Player's Guide.
Liz Courts wrote:
PDF has been updated to include material from Pathfinder Adventure Path: Jade Regent Player's Guide.

Meaning no offesne to Paizo, but didn't I read recently that James Jacobs admitted the caravan rules from Jade regent were...lacking in utility?

Paizo Employee Creative Director
7 people marked this as a favorite.
Damon Griffin wrote:
Liz Courts wrote:
PDF has been updated to include material from Pathfinder Adventure Path: Jade Regent Player's Guide.
Meaning no offesne to Paizo, but didn't I read recently that James Jacobs admitted the caravan rules from Jade regent were...lacking in utility?

Not quite... but the unfortunate truth is that the caravan rules didn't get the full playtesting that they needed—PARTICULARLY in higher level encounters, like those that occur in the third part of the Jade Regent Adventure Path.

To be more precise... caravans just don't do enough damage at higher levels. The best and easiest fix, and the one that I recommend, is to assume that a caravan inflicts damage equal to its level in d6s. Thus, a 1st level caravan does 1d6 damage, while a 10th level one does 10d6. On average, a caravan against a CR appropriate fight will do enough damage to take out the foe in 4 or 5 rounds—sooner, assuming the PCs use tactics and that the caravan's got more defenses and whatnot.
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

This sounds like a useful product. I'll be playing in this adventure path, so I'll let my GM check it out.

However, I wonder if it isn't an OGL violation to refer to the Pathfinder Adventure Path: Jade Regent Player's Guide in the product description?
James Jacobs wrote:
Not quite... but the unfortunate truth is that the caravan rules didn't get the full playtesting that they needed—PARTICULARLY in higher level encounters, like those that occur in the third part of the Jade Regent Adventure Path.

Ah, good. Thanks for the clarification, and that is a very easy fix.

So, do I understand correctly that these "not quite ready for primetime" rules were added as is to the LPJ product?
Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer
Zaister wrote:

This sounds like a useful product. I'll be playing in this adventure path, so I'll let my GM check it out.

However, I wonder if it isn't an OGL violation to refer to the Pathfinder Adventure Path: Jade Regent Player's Guide in the product description?

You're correct that that's not on the list of things that commercial publishers can refer to in that way. Thanks! We'll let LPJ know.

reviewed.
Realmwalker wrote:
reviewed.

Thank you so much for your review!

No problem at all, the PDF gave me a wicked idea for a Gnomish Snake Oil salesman :)

I was going to pick this up but was holding off because the 4 star review you mention in your earlier rpgnow review post has a couple 2 star in front of it, namely this, "What really fails with this product is the lack of editing of the repeated information from the Player's Guide. Page numbers reference the original document, not the new page numbers of the current document for example. If this is to be a generalized expansion on the Caravan Rules, then references to the Jade Regent should be omitted entirely. Someone reading this blindly is going to wonder who the heck "Sandru" is and why some PCs start with three wagons. The most irritating aspect of the product is the omission of the caravan month salary table"

Will these issues be cleared up in a future edit, or have you moved on and the caravan guide will remain "as is"?
greipr wrote:

I was going to pick this up but was holding off because the 4 star review you mention in your earlier rpgnow review post has a couple 2 star in front of it, namely this, "What really fails with this product is the lack of editing of the repeated information from the Player's Guide. Page numbers reference the original document, not the new page numbers of the current document for example. If this is to be a generalized expansion on the Caravan Rules, then references to the Jade Regent should be omitted entirely. Someone reading this blindly is going to wonder who the heck "Sandru" is and why some PCs start with three wagons. The most irritating aspect of the product is the omission of the caravan month salary table"

Will these issues be cleared up in a future edit, or have you moved on and the caravan guide will remain "as is"?

We just updated the file to remove all the issues that were started including the Paizo's Product Identity. So expect for it to be updated on this site by Monday.

Greipr, if you purchase the PDF and you find issue with it, please feel free to contact me directly and I will refund your money and offer you another LPJ Design product.
Contributor

Product updated.

What's different now?
Contributor
Twin Dragons wrote:
What's different now?

Per the post just above mine:

LMPjr007 wrote:
We just updated the file to remove all the issues that were started including the Paizo's Product Identity.
Liberty's Edge
LMPjr007 wrote:

I was going to pick this up but was holding off because the 4 star review you mention in your earlier rpgnow review post has a couple 2 star in front of it, namely this, "What really fails with this product is the lack of editing of the repeated information from the Player's Guide. Page numbers reference the original document, not the new page numbers of the current document for example. If this is to be a generalized expansion on the Caravan Rules, then references to the Jade Regent should be omitted entirely. Someone reading this blindly is going to wonder who the heck "Sandru" is and why some PCs start with three wagons. The most irritating aspect of the product is the omission of the caravan month salary table"

We just updated the file to remove all the issues that were started including the Paizo's Product Identity. So expect for it to be updated on this site by Monday.

Product Identity has been removed, great. Are the caravan job salaries listed somewhere in the update? Having purchased this (and that's my review, btw), can I download this again with the updated info from DriveThru?

Liberty's Edge
James Jacobs wrote:
To be more precise... caravans just don't do enough damage at higher levels. The best and easiest fix, and the one that I recommend, is to assume that a caravan inflicts damage equal to its level in d6s. Thus, a 1st level caravan does 1d6 damage, while a 10th level one does 10d6. On average, a caravan against a CR appropriate fight will do enough damage to take out the foe in 4 or 5 rounds—sooner, assuming the PCs use tactics and that the caravan's got more defenses and whatnot.

Good to know. I had already noticed that the caravan fights were skewed towards the adversaries for damage ability at the low levels.

It seems that the caravan should be earning some additional ability points as it advances as well. There aren't a lot of options to raise Mobility in the Caravan Feats and many of Mobility-based feats have prerequisites that may never be achieved without some sort of increase from a non-Feat/equipment source. So I am thinking the PC's caravan should earn an ability point increase at 3/6/9/12/15 levels. Is that reasonable or am I missing an established rule that does this already in some fashion?
Shadow Lodge

I actually have a question regarding the banker caravan feat which seems a bit wonky to me. As written it says that you treat 200 gp treasure as 1 cargo unit but by the standard rules you treat 50 lbs. of treasure as 1 unit, is this meant to be 200 lbs. or is something missing from the description?

It should be 200 lbs. Sorry about that.
Shadow Lodge

Ty answers so many questions. Also excellent work on the piece man a whole lot of incredibly solid content crammed into 14 some odd pages and very well priced. Hope you guys do more stuff like this in the future.
doc the grey wrote:
Ty answers so many questions. Also excellent work on the piece man a whole lot of incredibly solid content crammed into 14 some odd pages and very well priced. Hope you guys do more stuff like this in the future.

We are trying to. When Paizo puts something out for their AP that touch us directly, like this did, it is very easy to make a product based on it.

Shadow Lodge

Do you guys have any plans to add on to or expand this line? I've thought the caravan rules were really cool and had a lot of potential they just needed more testing and content.
doc the grey wrote:
Do you guys have any plans to add on to or expand this line? I've thought the caravan rules were really cool and had a lot of potential they just needed more testing and content.

It has always been a thought to do that, but due to the lack for available LPJ Design writers for it we have not been able to do so.

BUT...

That might be changing VERY soon. Keep your eyes peeled.
Shadow Lodge

Does the super heavy ballista have an analog siege weapon?
Shadow Lodge

Other question, is the Conestoga wagon supposed to grant a resolve bonus or a security bonus?

The Bordello Wagon mentions that each member of the caravan with the
Prostitute job provides a +1 bonus on a Resolve check...

Yet, this particular Job is not listed in Travelers section - thus no Wage for that just is listed!

Should we assume that the Prostitute do not get any wage from the caravan itself (but just from their clients)? They should be added to the list of travelers...

http://TheOnlySheet.com
Grand Lodge

Are there actual Golarion trade routes in this? Really looking for a map of Golarion with trade routes on it.
Community Manager
Dhrakken wrote:
Are there actual Golarion trade routes in this? Really looking for a map of Golarion with trade routes on it.

This is a third-party supplement not released by Paizo, so no. To date, Paizo has not released a map with trade routes on it (alas) for Golarion.

Grand Lodge

Too bad... the title is a bit misleading...

Does it offer any fixes or workarounds for the shortcomings and flaws of the base caravan rules that it builds upon?

Specifically does it address the grievous flaws of caravan combat and the fact that one could not simulate a merchant caravan using the base rules or turn a profit by engaging in trade?
Community / Forums / Paizo / Product Discussion / Trade Routes: Expanded Caravan Rules Sourcebook (PFRPG) PDF All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Product Discussion