Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Dragon Empires Gazetteer (PFRPG)

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Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Dragon Empires Gazetteer (PFRPG)
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It is a land where honorable samurai wage war against devious ninja. Where the guardian spirits known as kami stand against the ravages of evil oni. Where the martial artists of a shattered empire strive to maintain their traditions against rising chaos. A land of jade and tea, of pride and treachery, of reincarnation and vengeful ghosts. These are the lands of the Dragon Empires.

Dragon Empires Gazetteer presents the first exploration of the continent of Tian Xia, a vast realm found on the opposite side of the world of Golarion from the Inner Sea region. Inspired by the fascinating myths and rich histories of numerous Asian cultures and traditions, the Dragon Empires can be either an exotic destination for world-traveling heroes from the far side of the world, or they can be the foundation of an entirely new campaign.

    Inside this 64-page book, you will find:
  • Details on over two dozen nations and regions of the vast continent of Tian Xia, including Minkai (a land under the rule of the notorious Jade Regent), Quain (a realm of martial artists and strange spirits), the Wall of Heaven (the world’s largest and most dangerous mountain range), and Xa Hoi (an ancient empire ruled by a dragon king).
  • Rules for five new player character races (the foxlike kitsune, the reptilian nagaji, the spiritual samsarans, the crafty tengus, and the shadowy wayangs).
  • Details on the core 20 deities of the Dragon Empires.
  • A timeline of Tian Xia’s long and eventful history.
  • Information about Dragon Empires society, factions and philosophies, the zodiac, languages, and more!

Dragon Empires Gazetteer is intended for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Pathfinder campaign setting, but can easily be used in any fantasy game setting.

by Matthew Goodall, Dave Gross, James Jacobs, Steve Kenson, Michael Kortes, Colin McComb, Rob McCreary, Richard Pett, F. Wesley Schneider, Mike Shel, and Todd Stewart

ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-379-8

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

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An interesting introduction

4/5

I loved this book from page one. It is an interesting dip into cultures vastly different from my own and those most commonly found in RPGs. It was simple and fun to read. I especially liked the religions section, because it showed different perspectives on well known Pathfinder gods as well as introducing new ones.

My only problem with the booklet is that it is so short, 64 pages just isn't enough to properly expand on the vast continent that is Tian-Xia. Only a single page for each country and barely a paragraph for each god, it leaves a lot up to the imagination, and though that is also a good thing, I'd really like to know more about Yaezhing, Bachuan, and The Broken Lotus, among others.


Great introduction to the setting

5/5

Read my full review on my blog.

The Dragon Empires Gazetteer is an introduction to the continent of Tian Xia, a wonderfully flavourful setting. All the time while reading it, I was constantly getting ideas for new adventures and campaigns I could run in each area. (Alas, too many ideas and too little time to use any of them.) This is the biggest mark in the book’s favour. Any setting book that generates so many ideas has done its job admirably. Another thing I like about the setting is that it takes its influences from more than just Japan and China, but also from Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Tibet, and numerous other Asian countries. All blend together to make a varied and vibrant setting with endless opportunity for adventure.


Excellent read

5/5

One of the best RPGs supplements ever. More please from this part of these parts. Only downside was the price.


An interesting start, but barely useful

2/5

For starters, I love OA campaigns and was really looking forward to the Dragon Empires material allowing me to run such games in Pathfinder.

So....I made the mistake of paying almost 25 bucks for a print edition of the Dragon Empires Gazeteer (nearly 5 bucks in shipping and handling for this thin little booklet is excessive). Not only is it thinner and (through S&H) more expensive than 2E or 3E softcover supplements were (62 pages of actual content, if I count the inside-cover geographical map, relative to the 127 black-and-white pages of a 2E splatbook or 95 B&W pages of a 3E splatbook), but it contains only the briefest descriptions of each country, a few organizations, some deities, core races, Tian Xia humans, and the five new races.

The timeline (2-1/2 pages) and much of the "Life in the Dragon Empires" chapter are at least reasonably descriptive. But still only a cursory look at the continent of Tian Xia and its history/cultures. For a book whose introduction describes Tian Xia as more than 5 times the size of the Inner Sea region, it suffers rather badly from compressing a continent's worth of info into a few dozen pages of scant overview (roughly a fifth as many pages as the Inner Sea World Guide, and what I've heard about that book leads me to believe it's only slightly better than the DEG in descriptive content).

There's a very basic geographical map of Tian Xia and a geopolitical map that only really shows the capitols and borders. No zoomed-in maps of the individual countries/regions and their features, and no cities or the like beyond capitols. Each country/region of Tian Xia gets a 1-page description or less, with nice but useless illustrations stealing space away from some of those pages. Only a few actually show leaders or locations within the country/region described on the page. Others show monsters that must be detailed in other books like the Bestiaries. They're interesting places but still terribly lacking in detail for an actual campaign in any of these regions.

There are a few pages of scant description for major deities of Tian Xia, such as Daikitsu the Lady of Foxes, including a few Golarion deities like Irori and Shelyn with notes regarding their worship on Tian Xia. Each deity gets hardly a paragraph, with a few useful bits of info beside their holy symbol and domains. The Moon subdomain is given a sidebar, but nowhere is the Moonstruck spell described; you need the Advanced Player's Guide for it. There's 1-1/2 pages describing philosophies and 1-1/2 pages describing some factions in the Dragon Empires. The 5 races get a page each (1/4th illustration, 3/4ths description). For some reason, you need the Dragon Empires Primer (not free) in order to view the kitsune's 3 or 4 measely racial feats (1 for fox form, 2-3 related feats). Core races get a paragraph each regarding their place in Tian Xia (generally as solo wanderers), while human ethnic groups get 2-1/2 pages total.

All in all, I'm not even sure if this is enough to run the Jade Regent AP well, let alone make my own campaigns in the Dragon Empires.


Land of the Rising Fun

5/5

I alsways like my fantasy game worlds to have many different cultures because lets face it every land being like eruope is boring. So thanks to Paizo we get some nice info on an asian style continent and not just Japanes and Chinese ether. This book has interesting places such as a huge mountain range with a portal Leng, a steamy jungle with anciemt ruins build by 15ft tall lizard people, a kingdom run my a dragon, a land ruled Oni, an underdark with undead clockwork creatures and so much more. My only regret is we didn't get a big hardcover book for this (and the other continents) but maybe one day we will.


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James Jacobs wrote:

1) This is FAR beyond the scope of what we can do with these new PC races in the Dragon Empires book. Information on this type of content will instead be in the upcoming Advanced Race Guide.

2) Yup; the goal is to include ALL zero-HD races in the Advanced Race Guide. That includes all the new races we're introducing in Dragon Empires.

You'll get a chance to purchase these races in a setting-ambiguous guide in the Advanced Race Guide... but if we weren't doing a Dragon Empires book and the Jade Regent AP, those races wouldn't be in there at all. If you can't wait to see rules for things like kitsune and wayangs, your first chance to check them out remains the Dragon Empires Gazetteer.

Perfect! That (especially part #2) is exactly want I wanted to hear. The way I see it, putting those races in the Dragon Empires book makes perfect sense given the subject material and I'm glad that this particular region is being expanded on, if not only for additional game content all around. Keep up the excellent work!


James Jacobs wrote:

Close, but no.

These five races are core races for Tian Xia. They're treated in the same way as the core games treats elves, gnomes, halflings, and the like. They'll have a page of info in Dragon Empires each (just as elves, etc. have a page of info in the Core Rules), and they'll ALL be expanded upon somewhat in the Advanced Race Guide.

But just as we didn't include entries in the Bestiary for humans or halflings or gnomes, we won't include entries for wayang or kitsune or samsarans or nagaji in Bestairy 3.

That we included tengu in Bestiary 1 was more a result of us wanting to get tengu into the game early, at a time where we weren't sure we'd ever be able to expand Golarion beyond the Inner Sea in any appreciable way.

So am I reading this right.

In order to use the 5 new core races of Tian Xia, you need Dragon empires book, and the Advanced Race Guide just provides the options for the races of Tian Xia?
Am I right or wrong?

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Azure_Zero wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:

Close, but no.

These five races are core races for Tian Xia. They're treated in the same way as the core games treats elves, gnomes, halflings, and the like. They'll have a page of info in Dragon Empires each (just as elves, etc. have a page of info in the Core Rules), and they'll ALL be expanded upon somewhat in the Advanced Race Guide.

But just as we didn't include entries in the Bestiary for humans or halflings or gnomes, we won't include entries for wayang or kitsune or samsarans or nagaji in Bestairy 3.

That we included tengu in Bestiary 1 was more a result of us wanting to get tengu into the game early, at a time where we weren't sure we'd ever be able to expand Golarion beyond the Inner Sea in any appreciable way.

So am I reading this right.

In order to use the 5 new core races of Tian Xia, you need Dragon empires book, and the Advanced Race Guide just provides the options for the races of Tian Xia?
Am I right or wrong?

My understanding is that in DE there will be five pages covering the races in an identical style to the corbook covers the base races. ARG will have that info, plus expanded stuff, in effect treating them more or less the same as goblins or aasimar will be treated there.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Azure_Zero wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:

Close, but no.

These five races are core races for Tian Xia. They're treated in the same way as the core games treats elves, gnomes, halflings, and the like. They'll have a page of info in Dragon Empires each (just as elves, etc. have a page of info in the Core Rules), and they'll ALL be expanded upon somewhat in the Advanced Race Guide.

But just as we didn't include entries in the Bestiary for humans or halflings or gnomes, we won't include entries for wayang or kitsune or samsarans or nagaji in Bestairy 3.

That we included tengu in Bestiary 1 was more a result of us wanting to get tengu into the game early, at a time where we weren't sure we'd ever be able to expand Golarion beyond the Inner Sea in any appreciable way.

So am I reading this right.

In order to use the 5 new core races of Tian Xia, you need Dragon empires book, and the Advanced Race Guide just provides the options for the races of Tian Xia?
Am I right or wrong?

All you need to play one of the five new Tian Xia races is the Dragon Empires book, correct.

Advanced Race Guide adds options, but it's not necessary at all to play a kitsune.


James Jacobs wrote:

All you need to play one of the five new Tian Xia races is the Dragon Empires book, correct.

Advanced Race Guide adds options, but it's not necessary at all to play a kitsune.

Will those five races have their unmodified racial traits in the Advanced Race Guide, or will the book say something like "Refer to the Dragon Empire's Book for the core rules regarding X Race."

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Golden-Esque wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:

All you need to play one of the five new Tian Xia races is the Dragon Empires book, correct.

Advanced Race Guide adds options, but it's not necessary at all to play a kitsune.

Will those five races have their unmodified racial traits in the Advanced Race Guide, or will the book say something like "Refer to the Dragon Empire's Book for the core rules regarding X Race."

As Paizo tries hard to keep their Roleplaying line and the various campaugn lines separate, I'd be very surprised if these races did not have their full stats appearing in the Advanced Races Guide. I'd also be more than a little surprised if all the non-core races didn't get this treatment.


Hmm. I was wondering how cosmology would be handled in different bits of the world. I'm not sure how much sense it makes to have it change, but I'm really eager to see you guys' take on it. A good shifting cosmology execution would really lend well to other world-builders. Not only that, but it lets you have some serious fun with the cosmologies of Casmaron, and Arcadia and so on.


Spiral_Ninja wrote:
bigkilla wrote:
PSST, you got Ninjas in my fantasy!!!

But...but...I *like* ninjas in my fantasy.

Plus, where else would they put them?


cappadocius wrote:
Kthulhu wrote:


How in the hell is the cosmology different? The entire planar structure of the multiverse re-arranges itself if you move a few thousand miles on a one single planet?
Really, dude? The Lovecraftian horror is bothered by localized physical laws?

Physical laws? You mean those ridiculous stories man tells himself to pretend he can make sense of everything?


James Jacobs wrote:


Nope, it doesn't automatically mean an Elemental Plane of Wood/Metal, or an Elemental Plane of Void either (for the Minkai elements).

What about an Elemental Plane of Surprise?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Golden-Esque wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:

All you need to play one of the five new Tian Xia races is the Dragon Empires book, correct.

Advanced Race Guide adds options, but it's not necessary at all to play a kitsune.

Will those five races have their unmodified racial traits in the Advanced Race Guide, or will the book say something like "Refer to the Dragon Empire's Book for the core rules regarding X Race."

I suspect that ALL of the races will have their baseline race info in Advanced Race Guide, so you won't have to lug around multiple books. We'll see.

Sovereign Court

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber
vagrant-poet wrote:
Hmm. I was wondering how cosmology would be handled in different bits of the world. I'm not sure how much sense it makes to have it change, but I'm really eager to see you guys' take on it.

I don't see any problem with changing cosmology. What we've seen so far is what an Avistani believes to be the cosmology, be he or she is not entirely correct. A mortal mind can only go so far in understanding the multiple infinities of the Great Beyond. Now we will see the Tien attempt to describe the indescribable. They may revel some nuances and secrets the Avistani missed, but will likewise only capture a portion of the truth.


kitsune???

SOLD!!!!!! okay I LIED!!!!!!

SOLD LATER maybe next month


Zaister wrote:
I think shapechanger PC races are a bad idea. Ah, well. And furries on top of ninja and Samurai... *sigh*

The shapechanger race has roots in the eastern folklore. Just like the Hengeyokai in the original AD&D Oriental Adventures.

Shadow Lodge

Mosaic wrote:
vagrant-poet wrote:
Hmm. I was wondering how cosmology would be handled in different bits of the world. I'm not sure how much sense it makes to have it change, but I'm really eager to see you guys' take on it.
I don't see any problem with changing cosmology. What we've seen so far is what an Avistani believes to be the cosmology, be he or she is not entirely correct. A mortal mind can only go so far in understanding the multiple infinities of the Great Beyond. Now we will see the Tien attempt to describe the indescribable. They may revel some nuances and secrets the Avistani missed, but will likewise only capture a portion of the truth.

My problem with it is that when I see a description of the cosmology in a product that generally geared towards GMs, and it doesn't specifically say something like "this is how the planes are assumed to be arranged by most scholars in the Inner Sea region", then I make the assumption that it's how the planes are actually arranged.


Mournblade94 wrote:
The shapechanger race has roots in the eastern folklore. Just like the Hengeyokai in the original AD&D Oriental Adventures.

Don't be too worried about what people say in regards to monstrous humanoids and the classification of "furry." There's some magical white line in the collective childhoods of 90s kids where suddenly any and every anthromorphic animal becomes a furry. Ask most of the furry haters whether or not they think Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, etc. are furries and you'll usually get one of two responses. #1 - A strong 'no' along with some weak reasons as to why a separation is in order or #2 a factitious 'yes' that is easily translated into personal uncertainty.

While I'm not a fan of the fandom and things like 'yiff talk' freak me out, most of the work is harmless (there's always that 1% vocal minority that is applied to everything else that is similar. The only furries I acknowledge are those whose artists or creators have directly stated that their work should be identified as such. For example, I would consider the Fursona PDF a furry work since the authors clearly stated that theme as their intent, but nowhere did James Jacobs or any of the other Devs say that kitsune, lycanthrophes, or the agathions are furries so therefore they're not.

Dark Archive

KaeYoss wrote:
Spiral_Ninja wrote:
bigkilla wrote:
PSST, you got Ninjas in my fantasy!!!

But...but...I *like* ninjas in my fantasy.

Plus, where else would they put them?

I love the oriental setting, I have never liked it mixed with my fantasy games that have Elves and Dwarfs and such running around. The though of a bunch of Gnome Ninjas or Samurai running around makes my stomach churn.


bigkilla wrote:
KaeYoss wrote:
Spiral_Ninja wrote:
bigkilla wrote:
PSST, you got Ninjas in my fantasy!!!

But...but...I *like* ninjas in my fantasy.

Plus, where else would they put them?
The though of a bunch of Gnome Ninjas or Samurai running around makes my stomach churn.

Gnomurais vs. Orcamurais. :)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Kthulhu wrote:
My problem with it is that when I see a description of the cosmology in a product that generally geared towards GMs, and it doesn't specifically say something like "this is how the planes are assumed to be arranged by most scholars in the Inner Sea region", then I make the assumption that it's how the planes are actually arranged.

That's more or less a safe assumption... but remember, the Great Beyond is a huge place. We haven't even detailed every continent on Golarion... what says we've detailed every outer plane?


"Drools on the floor" want! Want! WANT!

i guess i have to wait :)


Alakqualyn wrote:

"Drools on the floor" want! Want! WANT!

i guess i have to wait :)

I hear ya.

I want it now,
but patience is a virtue.


Something to consider, is that the 'Planes' are technically infinite. The Material Plane is, in itself, almost beyond mortal comprehension in size, light itself taking trillions of years to cross between different nebula, so imagining that the Planes are quite literally infinite in direction makes it all the more plausible that the Plane of Fire can be domianted by both the Efreeti and again by another race.

Imagine that the infite substance of the planes can be warped by those of sufficient power and affinity, being turned into whatever said entity, be it Gods or powerful Outsiders, desires. Bending several points of their domain to 'touch' the material plane, especially one insignificant speck like Golarion, is well within such entities abilities. Wether out of the desire to elevate the 'primitives' to their own level, harvest livestock, capture slaves or for any number of reasons both sane and insane do the Planes seek footholds on the Material Plane.


I am not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I shall as it seems the most appropriate.

Will this book have some DM info on how to play an oriental adventure type campaign? And if you did want to run such a campaign, what Pathfinder books are the most helpful? I am a bit confused as the info is spread all over the place.


Kerobelis wrote:

I am not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I shall as it seems the most appropriate.

Will this book have some DM info on how to play an oriental adventure type campaign? And if you did want to run such a campaign, what Pathfinder books are the most helpful? I am a bit confused as the info is spread all over the place.

Well, in order to play ANY Pathfinder Game, you're going to want the Core Rulebook. The Advanced Player's Guide adds six new classes, but none of them are uniquely Oriental in feel. However, your players may appreciate having those books in order to play the character they want. Ultimate Magic offers you the Geisha Archetype for the Bard and the Wizard gets Wood and Metal schools (the Advanced Player's Guide offers Fire, Water, and Air); with those two books, you could have wizards whose philosophy is extremely oriental in nature (akin to the old Wu Jen class in 3.5). Ultimate Combat is going to be your go-to book for Oriental Combat when it comes out in August; it has tons of oriental weapons, the Ninja and Samurai alternate classes, and style feats that will help make your Monk even more of a martial arts master. Finally, Bestiary 3 is stated to have many Asian-themed Monsters when it comes out in November, so that will probably be a must-have as well (though Phoenix is in Bestiary 2, and most of the classics are in Bestiary 1).

There's also two entire Oriental Adventure Paths, plus this new book that details what you might call the "Oriental" continent on Golarion. Hrm, I think I just recommended most of the Pathfinder range to you. Sorry ^_^".

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Kerobelis wrote:

I am not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I shall as it seems the most appropriate.

Will this book have some DM info on how to play an oriental adventure type campaign? And if you did want to run such a campaign, what Pathfinder books are the most helpful? I am a bit confused as the info is spread all over the place.

A little, but not a lot. Our "how to run an Asian-themed campaign" resources are pretty much focused on the Jade Regent AP; folks can pick that up and look through how we handle introducing Inner Sea PCs into an Asian setting, as well as how to handle things like honor and the like.

But an actual significant section that provides advice on such a topic isn't something we'll have room for in Dragon Empires Gazetteer or many other books we've got scheduled so far, unfortunately.


This book in conjunction with the Jade Regent AP is certainly the Pathfinder product i´m most looking forward to this year!

I´m really wondering how they´ll handle asian touchstones like the Great Wall, Holy Mountains, Tibet or the Terracotta Army in the setting.

And i certainly hope they managed to squeeze an nice Tian Xia Magocracy into the book...

So, i´m probably going to buy two of the books just to slightly increase the probability of a hardcover somewhere in the future!


James Jacobs wrote:
Kerobelis wrote:

I am not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I shall as it seems the most appropriate.

Will this book have some DM info on how to play an oriental adventure type campaign? And if you did want to run such a campaign, what Pathfinder books are the most helpful? I am a bit confused as the info is spread all over the place.

A little, but not a lot. Our "how to run an Asian-themed campaign" resources are pretty much focused on the Jade Regent AP; folks can pick that up and look through how we handle introducing Inner Sea PCs into an Asian setting, as well as how to handle things like honor and the like.

But an actual significant section that provides advice on such a topic isn't something we'll have room for in Dragon Empires Gazetteer or many other books we've got scheduled so far, unfortunately.

Thanks for the reply.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Albus wrote:

This book in conjunction with the Jade Regent AP is certainly the Pathfinder product i´m most looking forward to this year!

I´m really wondering how they´ll handle asian touchstones like the Great Wall, Holy Mountains, Tibet or the Terracotta Army in the setting.

And i certainly hope they managed to squeeze an nice Tian Xia Magocracy into the book...

So, i´m probably going to buy two of the books just to slightly increase the probability of a hardcover somewhere in the future!

There's no great wall in Tian Xia for one thing. That's a touchstone we deliberately avoided putting into Tian Xia.

There ARE terracotta soldiers and some holy mountains, though.


The Great Wall had to make room for a Sizable Ruckus.

More seriously at James Jacobs: is there any chance that one of the lesser Inner Sea Gods (i.e. not one of the Big 20) is actually a Tian Xia major god? (For example, possibly Milani made it real big in Minkai.) Or are lesser deities confined to their lot?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

LoreKeeper wrote:

More seriously at James Jacobs: is there any chance that one of the lesser Inner Sea Gods (i.e. not one of the Big 20) is actually a Tian Xia major god? (For example, possibly Milani made it real big in Minkai.) Or are lesser deities confined to their lot?

Nope. We've already picked which deities from the Inner Sea region are going to make the transition over to the core 20 of Tian Xia, and all of those deities are also core Inner Sea deities.

Part of what makes the minor gods in the Inner Sea minor is that they've got relatively small cults and churches. Not just in the Inner Sea region... but all over.


Milani is like a punk-rock band, she works best underground.


Just like to point this out to all those who may have a problem with this "changing cosmology": it's more or less the same in the real world and has been since the beginning of man, Babylonians, Egyptians, Greek/Roman, Nordic, Hindi, Pagan, etc. all the way up to the current religions.

So, why is it ok for Earth to have a changing cosmology, but not Golarion?? And if you have a problem with Earth having the same, then I don't know what to say.

Also, bear in mind, somewhere, very, incredibly way far, far, far away Earth exists in Golarion's universe. Which means that some place in the Great Beyond exist some being akin to God and Satan, along with Zeus, Ares, Thor, Odin, Shiva, Set, Osiris, etc, etc.

More to the actual topic: this book can not rock enough!! I can't wait for this to come out, along with all the other tasty stuff for Tian Xia :) :)


Oh if only the release dates were reversed, and this came out ... right after the Land of Linnorm Kings... or sooner. ; )


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Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Golden-Esque wrote:

Don't be too worried about what people say in regards to monstrous humanoids and the classification of "furry." There's some magical white line in the collective childhoods of 90s kids where suddenly any and every anthromorphic animal becomes a furry. Ask most of the furry haters whether or not they think Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, etc. are furries and you'll usually get one of two responses. #1 - A strong 'no' along with some weak reasons as to why a separation is in order or #2 a factitious 'yes' that is easily translated into personal uncertainty.

While I'm not a fan of the fandom and things like 'yiff talk' freak me out, most of the work is harmless (there's always that 1% vocal minority that is applied to everything else that is similar. The only furries I acknowledge are those whose artists or creators have directly stated that their work should be identified as such. For example, I would consider the Fursona PDF a furry work since the authors clearly stated that theme as their intent, but nowhere did James Jacobs or any of the other Devs say that kitsune, lycanthrophes, or the agathions are furries so therefore they're not.

Actually, for me the answer is a clear "yes". With "furry" I'm not referring to what you call fandom; I know there are people dressing up and acting out and maybe even using this as a sexual fetish. That's not what I was referring to. I was using the term as a catch-all for any kind of anthromorphic animal. Personally, I despise stories - or movies, or whatever - with any kind of talking or anthromorphic animals. It turns me off even for otherwise fine stories. And yes, that includes Bugs Bunny and the like as well. I don't really like animation of any kind anyway. So there you are.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Zaister wrote:


Actually, for me the answer is a clear "yes". With "furry" I'm not referring to what you call fandom; I know there are people dressing up and acting out and maybe even using this as a sexual fetish. That's not what I was referring to. I was using the term as a catch-all for any kind of anthromorphic animal. Personally, I despise stories - or movies, or whatever - with any kind of talking or anthromorphic animals. It turns me off even for otherwise fine stories. And yes, that includes Bugs Bunny and the like as well. I don't really like animation of any kind anyway. So there you are.

While I usually frown at Zaister's "purism" when it comes to fantasy themes, I agree that every time I see anything furry related I get the "twitch".

Now that I read the reviews about the Fursona 3PP supplement, the twitch is getting more frequent.


Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Gorbacz wrote:
While I usually frown at Zaister's "purism" when it comes to fantasy themes ...

I think you misinterpret my preferences. And the "furry" statement I made above doesn't even have anything to do with fantasy. :)

The Exchange

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

Okay. Just so I follow. There is no big Hardbound book for the setting. Just his Gazetter, the Player's Primer, and the AP right?

Ultimate Combat, Ultimate Magic, Advanced Race Guide fill out the rest of the tangental information?

Or are there going to be more books?

I'd LOVE to see a "this is the set" information provided like what you all did with Serpent Skull and Carrion Crown.


bigkilla wrote:


I love the oriental setting, I have never liked it mixed with my fantasy games that have Elves and Dwarfs and such running around.

But you're okay elves fighting medusae (Note the plural!) or dwarves vs. minotaurs?

Liberty's Edge

TheLoneCleric wrote:
Okay. Just so I follow. There is no big Hardbound book for the setting. Just his Gazetter, the Player's Primer, and the AP right?

No hardcover at this time. If the setting is popular they may come back to it and revisit with a hardcover in a few years.


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KaeYoss wrote:


But you're okay elves fighting medusae (Note the plural!) or dwarves vs. minotaurs?

Excellent point. Why is Oriental mythology/culture so difficult to smoothly incorporate into PF (a fantasy setting), when no one has the same issue with Greek, Norse, Native American, Arabic, Egyptian, Russian, Indian, etc?

Knights, Rajput, swashbucklers, jaguar warriors, and janissaries? All a-okay in a fantasy setting. But ninja and samurai? Nope, that's apparently not fantasy anymore. Very strange.


Generic Villain wrote:
KaeYoss wrote:


But you're okay elves fighting medusae (Note the plural!) or dwarves vs. minotaurs?

Excellent point. Why is Oriental mythology/culture so difficult to smoothly incorporate into PF (a fantasy setting), when no one has the same issue with Greek, Norse, Native American, Arabic, Egyptian, Russian, Indian, etc?

Knights, Rajput, swashbucklers, jaguar warriors, and janissaries? All a-okay in a fantasy setting. But ninja and samurai? Nope, that's apparently not fantasy anymore. Very strange.

I think it's because ninjas are from that horrible animanga stuff that is always horrible and bad acting and about tentacles raping schoolgirls and it's always icky and always bad and badly painted and horrible and silly plots and bad!

Because I watched this one show one time for two minute and now I'm a world-class expert on everything Japanese of course.


KaeYoss wrote:
Because I watched this one show one time for two minute and now I'm a world-class expert on everything Japanese of course.

WOW, I can smell the sarcasm through the screen

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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TheLoneCleric wrote:

Okay. Just so I follow. There is no big Hardbound book for the setting. Just his Gazetter, the Player's Primer, and the AP right?

Ultimate Combat, Ultimate Magic, Advanced Race Guide fill out the rest of the tangental information?

Or are there going to be more books?

I'd LOVE to see a "this is the set" information provided like what you all did with Serpent Skull and Carrion Crown.

Initially, the books that'll contain your Tian Xia information will mostly be:

Ultimate Magic and Ultimate Combat (for stuff like geishas, magical monks, ninja, samurai, martial arts, etc.)

Jade Regent All six volumes of this AP will contain new stuff to expand Tian Xia, from ecologies on things like kami and oni to Tian magic items to examinations of ninja clans to gazetteers of Minkai and so on.

Dragon Empires Gazetteer This book will focus on the regions of Tian Xia; it'll be a "core" book for GMs who want to run adventures there.

Heroes of the Dragon Empires (title subject to change) Not officially announced yet (although we mentioned it at PaizoCon); this'll be a Player's Companion for Tian Xia. Just as the 64 page gazetteer will focus on the flavor of the continent, this book will augment that one by focusing on the world-specific rules of Tian Xia. It'll be a "core" book for PCs who want to build Tian Xia-themed characters, or for GMs who want to run adventures in Tian Xia.

Of course, once Dragon Empires is out, we'll probably be expanding Tian Xia intermittently through ALL of our books after that. For example, if we decide to do a book like "Swamplands of Golarion," we might do an entry on the Sodden Lands, the Mushfens, Tanglebriar, Frostmire Fen, and Hooktongue Slough (all Inner Sea region swamps), but we might also throw in a chapter about Wanshou (a swamp nation in Tian Xia that's ruled by a kraken).

Likewise, if we did a book like "Defenders of Golarion" we might do a chapter on the Risen Guard, the Knights of Ozem, the Eagle Knights, the Sable Company, and the Children of Westcrown, but we might also decide to include a chapter on the Samurai of Shokuro (a nation founded by an exiled daimyo).

It depends on how well-recieved what we do with Tian Xia is that'll determine how much attention we keep paying to it, honestly.


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Can we have more info on how the kitsune will be implemented.

I love the idea of a fox-like race!


James Jacobs wrote:
TheLoneCleric wrote:

Okay. Just so I follow. There is no big Hardbound book for the setting. Just his Gazetter, the Player's Primer, and the AP right?

Ultimate Combat, Ultimate Magic, Advanced Race Guide fill out the rest of the tangental information?

Or are there going to be more books?

I'd LOVE to see a "this is the set" information provided like what you all did with Serpent Skull and Carrion Crown.

Initially, the books that'll contain your Tian Xia information will mostly be:

Ultimate Magic and Ultimate Combat (for stuff like geishas, magical monks, ninja, samurai, martial arts, etc.)

Jade Regent All six volumes of this AP will contain new stuff to expand Tian Xia, from ecologies on things like kami and oni to Tian magic items to examinations of ninja clans to gazetteers of Minkai and so on.

Dragon Empires Gazetteer This book will focus on the regions of Tian Xia; it'll be a "core" book for GMs who want to run adventures there.

Heroes of the Dragon Empires (title subject to change) Not officially announced yet (although we mentioned it at PaizoCon); this'll be a Player's Companion for Tian Xia. Just as the 64 page gazetteer will focus on the flavor of the continent, this book will augment that one by focusing on the world-specific rules of Tian Xia. It'll be a "core" book for PCs who want to build Tian Xia-themed characters, or for GMs who want to run adventures in Tian Xia.

Of course, once Dragon Empires is out, we'll probably be expanding Tian Xia intermittently through ALL of our books after that. For example, if we decide to do a book like "Swamplands of Golarion," we might do an entry on the Sodden Lands, the Mushfens, Tanglebriar, Frostmire Fen, and Hooktongue Slough (all Inner Sea region swamps), but we might also throw in a chapter about Wanshou (a swamp nation in Tian Xia that's ruled by a kraken).

Likewise, if we did a book like "Defenders of Golarion" we might do a chapter on the Risen Guard, the Knights of Ozem, the Eagle...

Thank´s so much for the information Mr. Jacobs; that´s really appreciated!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Alakqualyn wrote:

Can we have more info on how the kitsune will be implemented.

I love the idea of a fox-like race!

They'll be zero HD races, like elves and humans.

They'll have some shapechanging powers, but we'll probably be experimenting a bit with delaying the full amount of these powers to higher levels.

They're also just recently done being designed, and I haven't developed them yet, so actual details of how they'll be implemented are still very much up in the air. I can say that they'll still be zero HD races at the end of it all, and that they'll be humanoids with the shapechanger subtype.


James Jacobs wrote:
Alakqualyn wrote:

Can we have more info on how the kitsune will be implemented.

I love the idea of a fox-like race!

They'll be zero HD races, like elves and humans.

They'll have some shapechanging powers, but we'll probably be experimenting a bit with delaying the full amount of these powers to higher levels.

They're also just recently done being designed, and I haven't developed them yet, so actual details of how they'll be implemented are still very much up in the air. I can say that they'll still be zero HD races at the end of it all, and that they'll be humanoids with the shapechanger subtype.

Thank you.

This is what i love about paizo i ask a request for info and in less then half an hour there is a response :)

Edit: and the creativity


James Jacobs wrote:
Alakqualyn wrote:

Can we have more info on how the kitsune will be implemented.

I love the idea of a fox-like race!

They'll be zero HD races, like elves and humans.

They'll have some shapechanging powers, but we'll probably be experimenting a bit with delaying the full amount of these powers to higher levels.

They're also just recently done being designed, and I haven't developed them yet, so actual details of how they'll be implemented are still very much up in the air. I can say that they'll still be zero HD races at the end of it all, and that they'll be humanoids with the shapechanger subtype.

Any chance of play testing the new races before release?

For feedback and possible design issues that might need fixing.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Azure_Zero wrote:

Any chance of play testing the new races before release?

For feedback and possible design issues that might need fixing.

Nope; we don't have time to incorporate a public playtest for this content. And races aren't nearly as complicated to build as are, say, entire base classes or rules subsystems, so there's not really a need for a big public playtest.

The Exchange

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

Thanks James. Well now I know what books I must buy. :)

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