Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Nidal, Land of Shadows

Because one of the things that interests me about SF/F is using imaginary worlds as a prism through which to consider real-life problems, one of the goals with the gazetteer was to establish ways for GMs to draw real-world ethical questions into their games. If you want to use fiction (which is what I think tabletop games are: interactively told stories) to explore ethical questions about prenatal genetic testing, paid adoption, governmental policies (esp. punitive policies) intersecting with drug addiction, immigration lotteries, immigrant communities' efforts to re-establish cultural histories that they've largely forgotten, etc., then this book should give you some openings to do that.

This sounds amazing. (I'm excited given everything you wrote in your post, but especially this.)

And I appreciate not going overboard on the gory descriptions; I've always felt that less information is scarier than more when it comes to that kind of thing.

Our own imaginings tend to be scarier than what's presented.

Pre-Age of Darkness, the inhabitants of Nidal were, IIRC, horselords with a sort of Kellid feel to them, and I'm curious as to whether or not, farther away from the heavier church of Zon-Kuthon/government centers of power, some of the locals still retain some elements of their earlier culture (such as a fascination with horses, or a tendency to think of homes and buildings as transitory and families and bloodlines as forever, even if they haven't been nomadic for many generations).

That's pretty much exactly where we went with it, yeah. :)

Nice.

Hey guys!

Probably wishful thinking on my part but I would like to see something to do with Vildeis related to Nidal.

My thought is that she is the perfect foil for Zon-Kuthon as they are both a bit self destructive with all the self-mutilation. Also, I think that they could cross pollinate each other's faiths as well. Some who can't live up to Vildeis' tenants fall to Zon-Kuthon and a few others that seek redemption from Zon-Kuthon rise to the faith of the Cardinal Martyr. That and I'm sure those of Vildeis' faith would want to kick Kuthite ass! ;)

Anyways, Vildeis is my favourite Pathfinder character. :)

On another note I would like to see some positive aspects related to Nidal. Such as extreme discipline and stoicism. As well as misguided attempts at positive outcomes. For example I think that the Kytons have the end goal of self improvement by extremely grisly means. So maybe something along those lines. :)

Four months until the next campaign setting book. It does sadden me that they had to reduce the number of campaign setting books released in a year.

Question: waaay back in Dragons Revisited, we got a description of an ancient gold dragon that lives in disguise in Nidal, quietly trying to do good and help the place's miserable inhabitants. Is that still part of canon; and if so, is the dragon mentioned or referred in this book?

Thanks in advance,

Doug M.

With how little PFS I have managed to find recently, my Nidalese character will likely still be first level when this comes out. I shall look forward to being able to tweak her to better fit the setting fluff.

Hopefully the final cover art is a lot less S&M/torture related.

Hopefully the final cover art is a lot less S&M/torture related.

You do realize this is a book about Nidal, right?

Yes and I hope there is a lot more to it then that.

I think there’s some woods.

IIRC, that art is from the Nidal chapter in Inner Sea World Guide. My first purchase from Paizo (other than Dragon mags) and still one of my favorite hardbacks.

I hope for some dragging of spiked chains through people's eye sockets, personally.

I hope for some dragging of spiked chains through people's eye sockets, personally.

You've seen one spiked chain dragged through your eye sockets, you've seen them all...

...or, rather, you won't see any more of them after that point, I guess?

Sounds like an interesting read when it gets here. However, after Hell's Rebels and Hell's Vengeance, and the custom Ustalav campaign our DM is running for us soon, I might be blown out on evil and grimdark nations by the time it gets here.

Question: waaay back in Dragons Revisited, we got a description of an ancient gold dragon that lives in disguise in Nidal, quietly trying to do good and help the place's miserable inhabitants. Is that still part of canon; and if so, is the dragon mentioned or referred in this book?

Yes and yes. There isn't a whole whole lot, but I did put in a hook if you want to use the dragon. :)

Sadly I don't think there's anything about chains going through people's eye sockets (at least not in the parts I wrote), and there's nothing about the Empyreal Lords either.

The project had some pretty detailed specifications as to what topics should be covered and how many words should be devoted to each section, and it turns out that it's actually really hard to cram that much material into the allotted wordcount. As a result, a lot of stuff that I would have liked to explore just couldn't fit into the available space, and some topics (like faith and deity interactions) mostly got omitted.

(Incidentally, after working on this project I'm even more impressed with the Qadira book, which is a really excellent piece of work, but I think is also the kind of thing that requires enough time to build an iceberg of supporting material beneath the shown text. There's clearly a lot of writing and development beyond what made it into print on that one.)

Neat, except for all the stuff that didn’t make it...

The Qadira book has been one of my favourite Setting books thus far.

*anticipation intensifies*

Hopefully there will be some interesting monsters in this one.

I'm eagerly awaiting more information on the "dark druids" :P

dark druids count me in that means there is chance to proper shifter stuff will be in this book

As a result, a lot of stuff that I would have liked to explore just couldn't fit into the available space, and some topics (like faith and deity interactions) mostly got omitted.

If only Paizo had a blog where stuff like this could be published as supporting material. :D

(I know there's probably tons of reasons why that is not actually possible, but still, that's the one thing why I miss the old WotC page so hard, when they still used to publish said tons of additional material.)

Naturally we could also open an Ask Liane Merciel thread and pester you about those things after the book has been published :D.

I'm eagerly awaiting more information on the "dark druids" :P

Yeah. One thing about Golarion that occasionally delights me is how they'll mash up some of the things I would consider incredibly unlikely, like druids of gods like Zon-Kuthon (or Gorum!), who, on paper, seem to have zero interest in nature or weather or animals or other more typically 'druid-y' concerns.

That's just totally out of the box, and therefore totally cool.

Dark Druids

This is a message from Lord Nergal, "I await you on Dread Isle."

"Dark Druids"?

Quote:

Dark Druids

This is a message from Lord Nergal, "I await you on Dread Isle."

Hah, a random Fire Emblem reference :D

"Dark Druids"?

The Uskwood Druid Order ;)

I think I remember them being mentioned a while ago but I don't remember where.

Four months until the next campaign setting book. It does sadden me that they had to reduce the number of campaign setting books released in a year.

They did? What was the reason for that?

I think I remember them being mentioned a while ago but I don't remember where.

There's a brief mention of Albino druids in the Uskwood in the description of the "Shade of the Uskwood" feat in th Inner Sea World Guide as well as a more extensive write-up in the Inner Sea NPC codex

Dragon78 wrote:

Four months until the next campaign setting book. It does sadden me that they had to reduce the number of campaign setting books released in a year.

They did? What was the reason for that?

At Gencon, Paizo announced that the Player Companion and Pathfinder Campaign setting lines were being reduced to every other month, alternating between the two lines. I am not sure where the "four months" bit is coming from, as the Nidal book in April will be followed by the Distant Realms book in June, and there has so far been no statement saying that there won't be an August book in this line.

It would be early for an august announcement anyway;)

Exactly, although they did already put out the page for the August release in the Pathfinder Adventure Path line.

re: Uskwood druids, there's a pretty neat plot of theirs in Horror Realms under the location writeup for the Uskheart, and I'd suggest checking that out if you want more information about what they might be up to.

This book will have some glancing references to that, mostly in terms of how you might use that to set up Umbral Court intrigues (there are a couple of Umbral Court members that have simmering disagreements with one another, and the Uskheart plays into one of those conflicts), but there's not a whole ton of additional material on that.

re: monsters, I had no involvement in that part of the book and it will be as much a surprise to me as to you, so no hints there. :)

What August release was that?

What August release was that?

This one.

Places where you can find info on the Shades of the Uskwood: Inner Sea World Guide has a small write up, and Horror Realms has a larger - but also there's one in the Inner Sea NPC Codex, under Uskwood Druid. The last two combined probably give the best look at the Shades. I know it was a pain trying to find scraps of information for my own Shade of the Uskwood PC. xD (He's currently the only evil character in a mostly good or neutral party running through Strange Aeons, lol.)

I particularly liked the small nod that, even when wildshaped, their animal forms retain their albinism.

If your not a fan of Zon-Kuthon, masochistic priests, and/or evil druids what would be the selling point to this book?

Liane.

Aside from her, spooky woods!

Liane?

Liane Merciel (7 posts up), her writings are wonderful to read ^w^

I am really looking forward to this book. Hopefully it will be a great read an Liane will kill it (or maybe torture it - more apt for this book :P). I've been p;laying my Kuthite inquisitor for a while now and cant wait to give him even more background story.

Right there with you, Shivok! Both for my Shade of the Uskwood (that I mentioned earlier) and my Shadowcaster wizard I'm playing in Way of the Wicked. I've already pre-purchased it!

Any chances to see more about the Whispered Song in the book? According to what was written in Faiths of Purity some of the members of the Whispered Song have tried to burrow into the Umbral Court itself and would be interesting to see members of the opposition hidden in place of relevance between the Kuthonite followers.
I also hope that the book says more about the Milanite activities in Nidal to put an end to the Kuthonites' tyranny.

Looks like I will have to find my copy of Faiths of Purity to remember who the Whispered Song are.

Well looking back on the Nidal section in the Inner Sea World Guide, Pangolais sounds interesting along with the Barrowmoor, House of Lies, and Orolo's Quay.

Updated with final product description and cover image!

Updated with final product description and cover image!

I can't see it

Try clearing your cache. Also, clicking on the cover lets you see the final version.

That is a great dragon picture!

I can see it now, and it looks awesome.