Guide to Absalom....


GM Discussion

Silver Crusade

Is anyone using this fine book to help them run Society rounds and how?

Lantern Lodge 4/5

brent norton wrote:
Is anyone using this fine book to help them run Society rounds and how?

The map of the city of Absalom makes a great handout (printed from PDF onto card-stock) to pass around the table to point out which district the current scenario is happening. It really helps to visualise in the minds of the players where the Puddles, Precipice, Vines etc districts are in relation to each other, gives a better sense of cohesion, that these events are really occurring in a physical city, affecting real people etc, rather than just random scenarios occurring in the ether.

Other than that, I've given the guide a cursory glance through, parts seem interesting, but generally I feel that Pathfinder Society scenarios themselves provide the living detail for city of Absalom. I'm not sure that the guide really helps me run Pathfinder Society scenarios any better than I would without it? Maybe I just haven't had the chance to read it thoroughly enough yet. It's good for getting the bigger picture of Absalom, rather than one piece at a time as you do GMing/playing scenarios.

For a city as large as Absalom, and being the focal point of a world-wide organised play campaign, I think it could have benefited from being a much more detailed campaign setting hardcover. Maybe in a couple of years when more Pathfinder Society scenarios have been released, setting details from each of these adventures could all be compiled to form a campaign setting hardcover.

If someone purchased the guide first and liked it, they might be tempted to seek out Pathfinder Society to explore the setting more.

1/5

That's a good idea, having the map of the city printed out so that I can show the districts and the distances between regions. Given that so many of the adventures take place in the city, that would be a nice visual.

Scarab Sages 1/5

Having some familiarity with the Absalom guide is helpful for background information and giving the PCs a sense of being immersed in the Patchwork City.

Knowing the gods and cultures from the Campaign Setting Book is also very helpful.

My two pennies...

The Exchange 5/5

I'm kind of disappointed with the guidebook because it offers such a scant overview of the city. I'd have been happier if they had broken the map of the city down by districts and notated where each temple, business, place of interest, etc was on the map that they mentioned in the text. Of particular interest would be the locations already semi-fleshed out in the PFS scenarios and Gamemastery Adventures. It was also lacking in detail on the laws of the city in regard to crime & punishment. I have printed the map off and use it to orient my players but its not as helpful as it could have been.

Sczarni 4/5

Doug Miles wrote:
I'm kind of disappointed with the guidebook because it offers such a scant overview of the city...

I think wit the page count, they did a fairly good job. About 25 square miles of city in 64 a page book? 72% of the size of Miami for the same population. Would you suggest a 64 page book detailing every church, business, and place of interest on a map of Miami? The map itself would have to be zoomed in so much that it would take 36 of those 64 pages...

The Exchange 5/5

Cpt_kirstov wrote:
Doug Miles wrote:
I'm kind of disappointed with the guidebook because it offers such a scant overview of the city...
I think wit the page count, they did a fairly good job. About 25 square miles of city in 64 a page book? 72% of the size of Miami for the same population. Would you suggest a 64 page book detailing every church, business, and place of interest on a map of Miami? The map itself would have to be zoomed in so much that it would take 36 of those 64 pages...

...which is why I would have thought they'd devote more than 64 pages to a city that is the centerpiece of an entire organized play campaign.

Sczarni 4/5

Doug Miles wrote:
Cpt_kirstov wrote:
Doug Miles wrote:
I'm kind of disappointed with the guidebook because it offers such a scant overview of the city...
I think wit the page count, they did a fairly good job. About 25 square miles of city in 64 a page book? 72% of the size of Miami for the same population. Would you suggest a 64 page book detailing every church, business, and place of interest on a map of Miami? The map itself would have to be zoomed in so much that it would take 36 of those 64 pages...
...which is why I would have thought they'd devote more than 64 pages to a city that is the centerpiece of an entire organized play campaign.

If I understand the printing process correctly the next availible size is 98 pages (same as the APs). Which would raze the price point to around 26.99 I think they went the right way, they gave us a taste of the setting, allowing DMs to use it as a sandbox, while keeping it open so that modules such as U1: Gallery of Evil can detail out smaller sections of the city without having to verify that every shop matched the Guide, creating editing headaches.

That is my personal opinion, I'm not going to argue either way at this point. because its printed and delivered so why argue ;)

Scarab Sages 1/5

Cpt_kirstov wrote:
Doug Miles wrote:
Cpt_kirstov wrote:
Doug Miles wrote:
I'm kind of disappointed with the guidebook because it offers such a scant overview of the city...
I think wit the page count, they did a fairly good job. About 25 square miles of city in 64 a page book? 72% of the size of Miami for the same population. Would you suggest a 64 page book detailing every church, business, and place of interest on a map of Miami? The map itself would have to be zoomed in so much that it would take 36 of those 64 pages...
...which is why I would have thought they'd devote more than 64 pages to a city that is the centerpiece of an entire organized play campaign.

If I understand the printing process correctly the next availible size is 98 pages (same as the APs). Which would raze the price point to around 26.99 I think they went the right way, they gave us a taste of the setting, allowing DMs to use it as a sandbox, while keeping it open so that modules such as U1: Gallery of Evil can detail out smaller sections of the city without having to verify that every shop matched the Guide, creating editing headaches.

That is my personal opinion, I'm not going to argue either way at this point. because its printed and delivered so why argue ;)

I liked the broad overview of the city, although a few more details on the districts would have been nice too. I do like that it is open enough that mod writers can create their own areas of interest.

Lantern Lodge 4/5

Aratus75 wrote:
I liked the broad overview of the city, although a few more details on the districts would have been nice too. I do like that it is open enough that mod writers can create their own areas of interest.

I do agree with this observation. If the guide detailed the city too closely, there wouldn't be much room for Pathfinder Society scenarios to add it's own interesting new areas. Pathfinder Society scenarios are what make Absalom a living, vibrant city full of mystery and new surprises around every corner.

Dark Archive 1/5

Sorry for reviving the post,

It is said that in page 48, the Varlokkur investigates the illegal spells. It also mentions that Invisibility is one of the illegalized spells.

So, I'm just wondering, what would be the consequences of casting an Invisibility spell in Absalom? Is it only considered in other crime issues? What can the magical investigators do, do they go along the city and trace the magic in tit, or do they use divination magic to sort it out?

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