Hello everyone, first time posting here.
So since, gosh like 1998, I've been running games in Forgotten Realms. Most of you know the Realms went through some serious issues around 2008 and is really only now recovering from those dark days.
I've run many many stories there and still have affection for the setting, despite its flaws.
However I'm more and more interested in Pathfinder - Golarion more specifically.
Many people I've seen seem to equate Forgotten Realms and Golarion on roughly the same page.
But Pathfinder/Golarion has a certain je ne sais quoi about it that I cannot place. Maybe its in the art? I love looking at Pathfinder art - there seems to be something more adventurous, dare I say a kind of comic book or pulp fiction to the art compared to the Realms art we are seeing now which is more subdued.
So I'm really interested in running a game there, embracing this pulp fiction like element - but I always keep thinking I'll be missing something by leaving the setting I know so well.
So now to my purpose - has anyone here left Forgotten Realms for Pathfinder/Golarion? Why did you do it? Did it go well? Please share any and all experiences or even just general thoughts or tips.
|
WELCOME TO THE BOARDS!
.
We play in FR for high-fantasy/ high magic, big-name-NPC campaigns.
We play in GH for low-fantasy/ lower magic, little campaign-setting heavy campaigns.
We play in PF for newer Players, for currently-published material, for easy-to-analogize-setting-areas, and for longer-term campaigns.
.
I think the biggest thing we keep is deities. For us, Paladins of Bahamut and Clerics of Pelor are often found for us in PF. Clerics of Lathander and Alchemists who revere Gond are found in PF. If we're playing in GH a Player may build a Cleric of Sarenae.
More importantly are the evil biggies:
Lolth is in our PF.
So is Maglubiyet.
So is Gruumsh.
.
But in the last handful of years we've mostly done GH and PF. Only two adventures, both brief, were in FR.
My suggestion is to build a campaign spanning both worlds. We did a Red Hand of Doom-inspired campaign that started in GH and quickly evolved into a Rod of Seven Parts-like campaign where we looked for the Rod pieces in GH, PF, FR and even Krynn from Dragonlance.
Someone in Candlekeep could hire your PCs to gather some lore from PF.
Or like we did, all various parts of an artifact have to be assembled and a couple are in FR and a couple are in PF; go back and forth.
Or you find a Gate that goes from Point A in FR to a few various Points in PF.
Hello everyone, first time posting here.
So since, gosh like 1998, I've been running games in Forgotten Realms. Most of you know the Realms went through some serious issues around 2008 and is really only now recovering from those dark days.
I've run many many stories there and still have affection for the setting, despite its flaws.
However I'm more and more interested in Pathfinder - Golarion more specifically.
Many people I've seen seem to equate Forgotten Realms and Golarion on roughly the same page.
But Pathfinder/Golarion has a certain je ne sais quoi about it that I cannot place. Maybe its in the art? I love looking at Pathfinder art - there seems to be something more adventurous, dare I say a kind of comic book or pulp fiction to the art compared to the Realms art we are seeing now which is more subdued.
So I'm really interested in running a game there, embracing this pulp fiction like element - but I always keep thinking I'll be missing something by leaving the setting I know so well.
So now to my purpose - has anyone here left Forgotten Realms for Pathfinder/Golarion? Why did you do it? Did it go well? Please share any and all experiences or even just general thoughts or tips.
I can't really help answer your actual question (I'm a little too young and came into role-playing a little too late to have made a "switch" from Forgotten Realms to Golarion), but you've definitely got a point in that the two present some interesting differences.
Forgotten Realms owes a lot of its inspiration from Tolkien, of course, and to Greyhawk. Golarion does too, but it draws on just as much pulp fantasy as epic or high fantasy. There's a lot of Conan in there, and a lot of Elric of Melnibonne, and even non-fantasy pulp stories like Tarzan have clearly inspired parts of Golarion. Not to mention the liberal sprinkling of Lovecraft in there. And it's got the art style (and art talent!) to match those inspirations. The majority of Golarion's art gives the world a lot of character; the locations actually look like places where you might find some crazy adventure or terrible danger around every corner, and it's capable of swinging from fearful and gloomy to bright and colorful depending on the "genre" of the adventure.
I think one of the interesting differences between the two settings is also the fact that stories about Golarion - including the Pathfinder Society - very rarely revolve around powerful NPCs. There's no Elminster or what-have-you whose presence needs to be accounted for or whose absence needs to be explained whenever something big goes down.
Not to say Golarion doesn't have its own flaws. In fact, the above-mentioned dearth of high-level NPCs can sometimes feel a bit off in itself, as I've mentioned elsewhere, since it leads to your average Adventure Path party eclipsing seasoned and famous professionals who've been doing the same kind of stuff you're doing for much longer by about Volume 4-5.
In my completely subjective view, I see a tonal difference between the Realms and Golarion.
My interpretation of the Realms is that it's supposed to give a feel of wonder. The way the setting gets described in a lot of the material, it feels like PCs are supposed to look with awe upon floating islands, ancient mythal, and other magical wonders. You've got NPCs like Elminster who do a little fourth-wall breaking and wink at the camera, providing some meta humor.
Golarion provides more of a sense of danger to me. While magical wonders still abound, they often serve as a clear and present danger to the mortals of the world. It feels to me like a world where there's a lot more demonic activity and fewer benevolent rulers. You don't really have as much overt humor - even the crazy-funny goblins still eat babies.
Both settings probably have more in common than different, but that's my take on the tone of the two worlds.