A seemingly endless war rages between the expansionist nation of Molthune and its fiercely independent neighbor Nirmathas. To Molthune, it's a civil war to preserve its legacy of unification; to Nirmathas, a war to throw off tyrannical occupation. Ancient ruins, headstrong leaders, and longstanding feuds are present on both sides—but the similarities end there.
Cosmopolitan and wealthy, Molthune grasps at glory and power as it struggles for recognition and security. Rugged and resourceful, Nirmathas operates less as a nation and more as a free frontier, bound together only in its resistance to outside control. Nirmathas and its conflict with Molthune provide the setting for the Ironfang Invasion Adventure Path, making this comprehensive sourcebook a perfect supplement for that campaign.
Within these pages, you'll find:
An extensive look at the region's history, stretching back before the current conflict, before its occupation by Cheliax, and even before the Whispering Tyrant's stranglehold on the region.
Detailed gazetteers on both Molthune and Nirmathas, offering over 50 distinct locations within both nations, such as the hidden druid enclave of Crystalhurst, the architectural wonder of Canorate, and the fey-infested Fangwood.
A comprehensive overview of the front lines of each nation, the distinct tactics they employ, and the regular shifts in activity and control.
Nine fleshed-out locations that take adventurers from the fringes of each nation to the front lines of the main conflict.
A detailed militia system, allowing players to organize, train, and direct their own rebel militias or mercenary legions.
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lands of Conflict is intended for use with the Pathfinder campaign setting but can be easily adapted to any fantasy world.
I've been running the Ironfang Invasion and using Lands of Conflict as a resource. I had no idea how valuable this resource could be until my players and I agreed to add Militia rules to our ongoing campaign. The rest of the book nicely fleshes out some places in Nirmathas and Molthune while leaving room for gazetteers in other books to fill in the blanks.
It will help you run adventures based in the area, such as classic modules like Fangwood Keep, Crypt of the Everflame and Masks of the Living God. The Ironfang Invasion currently running in Pathfinder Adventure Paths 115-120 makes extensive use of the Southern border between Nirmathas and Molthune. Hence the need for this book as a setting.
What makes this book so valuable is far and away the inclusion of the Militia rules subset. These rules are based on the downtime rules framework found in Ultimate Campaign. Militia rules are designed to allow your players to give a militia orders and have them carry them out in the background while your players handle their own actions and encounters independent of it all.
My players and I included militia rules in our Ironfang Invasion campaign and we're all absolutely loving it. It adds a layer of flavor with easy to understand and use mechanics that don't eat up a lot of time at the table. Just download the Ironfang Invasion Player Guide and print out the Militia Sheet inside and you're ready to go!
Check out my notes on using the militia rules in game in the Pathfinder Adventure Path 117 Assault on Longshadow GM Thread in the Paizo forums.
By and large, I'm much more of a fan of the fantastical in my tabletop roleplaying. The backdrops of wars and uprisings don't interest me over much when it's also possible to travel to Hell and punch devils in the face with enchanted gauntlets.
This book changed that opinion. It presents the two fuding nations of Molthune and Nirmathas and their struggle against one another in a fun, flavorful, and interesting way. More importantly though, it doesn't commit the mistake that many such books do of subtly painting one of the factions as evil. I sympathized with Molthune just as much as Nirmathas while reading it, and I'd love to see that conflict play out over a table as either a player or a GM. Thankfully, the book suggests several such places where that can happen, from fey-haunted woods to bustling towns and more.
There are one or two sticking points, however. Namely, there isn't enough space. There are two nations detailed here, not just one, and because of that we have a lot more background to read through and nowhere near as many fun player goodies like magic items, spells, or class archetypes. Actually, there are none of those in the book at all. We don't even have a bestiary apart from six troops which, if you're like me and love the concept of troops, isn't really that much of a downside. Nevertheless, the fact that there are no new items or anything to play with was something of a letdown. The militia system is also somewhat confusing, and it's equally confusing why this system wasn't placed into the Player's Guide or in the adventure path itself. Does that mean that this book will be a required extra purchase if that system is going to be used?
Overall, this is a fun book about a pair of nations which, until now, haven't really gotten the attention or love they probably deserve, and that's good. It is trying to talk about both of them at once, as well as introduce a new subsystem at the expense of other, more immediately useful or fun content, and that's less good. Still, if you're running Ironfang or drool over history and good settings to have a war-themed campaign, this is definitely worth picking up.
As a GM, I judge the overall quality of campaign setting books based on the inspiration they provide. Almost every page of Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lands of Conflict provides a story hook or adventure thread, a veritable font of creative seeds to inspire adventure. It is true that almost every region of the Inner Sea can support a wide array of campaign styles, but this book does an exemplary job of laying the groundwork for high-court adventures, skirmishes between armies, classic dungeon crawls, and more. Take your pick.
I appreciate that neither nation detailed in this book is painted as outright villains, both Nirmathas and Molthune can exhibit virtue and embrace choices of questionable morals, a perfect backdrop for deep, intelligent stories. Of course, I would have liked even more write-ups on the cities, NPCs, and notable locales, but this leaves plenty of space on the canvas for my own creative strokes.
I particularly enjoyed the quality of the writing and look forward to the output of this team in the future. The layout is seamless and logical, the artwork is, as always, top-notch. This is a product that will see use in my games. My players are eager to employ the new militia rules, and I am anxious to get my GM-claws on the new troops rules. An excellent book cover to cover.
While this book doesn't feature as much of weird and exotic as other recent Campaign Setting books did, it brings some nicely nuanced insights into Golarion's only major ongoing war. I doubt I'll ever use it, but I did enjoy reading it a lot. The only slight nag is that we didn't get a new, *functional* map of Nirmathas and Molthune, with the book using reprints of Inner Sea Map Folio instead. Still, a solid 4/5 for this one.
Seriously suffering from too much irrelevant info & too few details!
GOOD:
The history/timeline on pages 3-5. The five settlement maps. The "Crystalhurst Druid" illustration. The Molthune section.
BAD:
The weapon-grip of the Molthuni soldier on the cover is all wrong, as can be clearly seen on the inside back cover - there is no way she could bring her halberd to bear against the Nirmathi rebel before he strikes.
The inside front cover maps of Molthune & Nirmathas are divided, it would make much more sense to put them on one large map side by side to show the nations position in regard to each other.
Out of 10 settlements in Molthune, only two get a map: the capital of Canorate (plus 1 page gazetteer) and Korholm (almost 1 page description). Most of the interior art (maps excluded) is unimpressive or printed too dark - this is found in a lot of Pathfinder books lately.
A lot of the info about the 12 Nirmathi settlements is not found in this book, you have to either buy "Ironfang Invasion" books 1-4 or some modules. Pages 31-32 repeat parts of the history/timeline (already on pages3-5) in more detail, which seems repetitive.
UGLY:
The Militia rules are not only clunky and overly complicated, they reminds me of the caravan rules in Jade Regent. The worst is, they take up 12 pages that could have been used to describe Molthune or Nirmathas in more detail. It is mostly needed for "Ironfang Invasion" and should have been put in it´s players guide instead of this book - the militia "character" sheet will be in the "Ironfang Invasion" players guide, but is not in here.
This is the least detailed of all Campaign Settings which describe a nation so far, it wasn´t such a good idea to pack two nations into one book and then only give them 40 of the 62 available pages.
The descriptions of the locations are flavorful, but every single one feels too short and would have greatly benefited from a little more text (like population numbers - you have to look them up in the Inner Sea World Guide).
Wow, a militia/mercenary system seems unexpected for a campaign setting product.
I think it was a good choice to put both of them in the same product, after all they WERE one nation until ~50 years previous,
so they are going to share much of the same social/cultural underpinnings, even if fraught by conflict now.
Seems ripe for plot lines involving divided loyalties, families split by different political loyalties,
intra-Nirmathi or intra-Molthuni political tensions leading to secret alliances "across the border" etc.
And of course how they relate to "neutral" groups like the Dwarves, Druma, Nidal, Varisia, etc.
Interested to see if it's cleared up what happened to noble class in Nirmathas,
if they decamped to Canorate-controlled Molthune, where they might be the strongest proponents of war of reclamation (?),
or otherwise highlighting the multiple agendas/interests (on both sides) that intersect with the over-all conflict.
The large scale animated object usage in Molthune, and large scale labor immigration (and caste system) also seem ripe topics.
We have other nations were it would make sense to put them together into one book (because it would be hard to fill 64 pages with one of them alone or because they are linked thematically):
"Lands of Frost": Realm of the Mammoth Lords & Crown of the World (from Jade Regent Book 3)
-"Lands of Mists and Veils": Mendev & Brevoy
-"Lands of Legacy": Lastwall & Razmiran
-"Lands of Commerce": Druma & Isger
-"Lands of Sands": Rahadoum & Thuvia
-"Lands of Hurricane": Illizmagorti & Sodden Lands
-"Lands of Magic": Nex & Geb (with the Mana Wastes in between)
Varisia, Kyonin, the Five King´s Mountains and Taldor are probably big/interesting enough to get their own books.
We have other nations were it would make sense to put them together into one book (because it would be hard to fill 64 pages with one of them alone or because they are linked thematically):
"Lands of Frost": Realm of the Mammoth Lords & Crown of the World (from Jade Regent Book 3)
-"Lands of Mists and Veils": Mendev & Brevoy
-"Lands of Legacy": Lastwall & Razmiran
-"Lands of Commerce": Druma & Isger
-"Lands of Sands": Rahadoum & Thuvia
-"Lands of Hurricane": Illizmagorti & Sodden Lands
-"Lands of Magic": Nex & Geb (with the Mana Wastes in between)
Varisia, Kyonin, the Five King´s Mountains and Taldor are probably big/interesting enough to get their own books.
Eh...I get why doing these two nations together makes sense (since from the beginning there big deal was fighting each other), but don't want to see this really pop up too often. Most of those nations have very different themes that do not jell at all together well.
Eh...I get why doing these two nations together makes sense (since from the beginning there big deal was fighting each other), but don't want to see this really pop up too often. Most of those nations have very different themes that do not jell at all together well.
^ What MMCJawa said.
While a Geb/Nex book *might* make sense since from an in-game historical perspective, I'd hate to see those nations each reduced to 32ish pages, and I'd absolutely hate for Alkenstar to be lumped into such a book, either as an afterthought, or by reducing the number of pages per nation to 20ish pages.
Mendev and Brevoy might be close geographically, but there's not much connecting them beyond that. A Mendev/The Worldwound book would have made a *lot* more sense, and I'm glad that didn't happen. (I'm still hoping for a Mendev sourcebook).
Generally speaking I'm not a fan of the two-nations-in-one-book approach. I understand why the decision was made with this book, but it's not something I'd like to see become a trend. Most nations, as I see it, contain enough potential within them to merit a book for each nation.
So, information on Molthune AND a system for using militia/mercenaries? While the latter will have to be ***** amazing to make me forsake Legendary Games' books on mass combat, I'll still enjoy reading it.
I want to learn more about the city of Cettigne. A previous city-state that was forced to join Molthune and resents it. Sounds like a great place for some Hell's Rebels-esq adventures.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
This...this is almost ALL of what I want! More info on this area, and info on how to make your own mercenary bands! I'll be able to REALLY recreate the Black Company in Golarion!!! AT LAST! AT LONG LAST!!! THANK YOU AMBER SCOTT!!!
Oh my... oh my! Of course, this was to be expected after the pre-release info on Ironfang Invasion, but that does not diminish the feel of me getting SO stoked for this! I've been waiting for some Molthune goodness on my way ever since I laid my eyes on the country in the pages of Inner Sea World Guide. To get their adversary neighbor in the same package is the welcome plus, although normally I would prefer that both would get their own 64-page treatments.
I´m mostly interested in the maps.
I hope there are lots of them and that they are of a better quality than the ones in the last couple Campaign Settings.
After this Campaign Setting there will be the drought of march, april and may, where no CS comes out. :-(
Then in june, Aquatic Adventures will wash the dust away, followed by the Ironfang Invasion Poster Map Folio in july, before august will bring another, shorter drought.
September will see a 96 page issue or even a hardcover?!
Since pdfs are available to subscribers starting today, i'll ask for a detailed descriptions of the maps:
1. Which maps are in it?
2. How detailed are they (is every building/how many locations are marked)?
3. How good are they (are there enough different colors to distinguish regions, settlements, and sites from each other - this has been a problem lately, especially with last months Qadira book)?