How can I learn more about Pathfinder lore?


Pathfinder Society

4/5 5/5

I've been playing in PFS for about a year now and am having tons of fun, but half of the time I have no clue who I'm dealing with or why certain story points are important. What would you guys suggest for learning more about who's who and what's what in these scenarios?


Well you can start by checking out the pathfinder wiki. It has a ton amount of information on the world and the setting. There is a wealth of information that can help you out there. Next there is a ton of published material over in the campaign setting section of the paizo store starting with the inner sea World Guide Just between those you should have a much better picture of what is going on (and be able to reference things in the future).

If you are more concerned about specifics to pathfinder society scenarios, chances are the Seeker of Secrets would be a great help.

5/5

Well, you should read Seekers of Secrets and The Pathfinder Society Field Guide, but other than that it's largely just about playing a bunch of scenarios and seeing how they all fit together.

Liberty's Edge 5/5

As others have suggested, the primary two documents are going to be Seekers of Secrets and Pathfinder Society Field Guide.

Additional resources that will give you Golarion lore and some information on the Pathfinder Society and other factions is the Inner Sea World Guide and the Faction Guide.

Finally, to learn a bit more about the major city that the Pathfinder Society has their Grand Lodge check out Guide to Absalom and for season 4 stuff, both the Magnimar and Varisia books are good.

4/5 5/5

Looks like I'll start with Seekers of Secrets and the PFS Field Guide, then go to the Inner Sea World Guide. Thanks everyone!

The Exchange 5/5 RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16

The guides to Absalom and Magnimar aren't bad choices, either.

The Exchange 4/5

Inner Sea world guide (overall information on all the areas and cultures there in)

Adventure paths (Shattered Star tells you basically everything about Thassilon and it's rise/fall)

Also as Chris touched on, the "Chronicles" and "Companion" lines of books that talk about different nations or cities are all excellent.

I think the "Chronicles" line does the best job of immersing you, since it's basically the things the society publishes and finding information like this is what you're actually adventuring for :)

5/5

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Crouton,

I totally get what you're saying. Sure, lore on Golarion is everywhere, but it can be kind of hard to figure out the "Pathfinder Society Storyline". Each season (well, okay, mostly starting with season 2) has a story arc, and many of the scenarios tie into it.

The problem with publishing some sort of "The Story So Far" for PFS is that it kind of spoils big points in the scenarios. And if you're a really avid PFS story fan, you would much rather play scenarios and get the story that way.

If you're interested, you can ask on these board for people to pick out the scenario highlights of the storyline, specifically on seasons 3 and 4. Then you can attempt to play those (Like The Disappeared and Fortress of the Nail).

However, the #1 way to get storyline for the season is to GM. There's all this lovely background information that is in the scenarios. Try as we might, sometimes it's just really hard to get it out during a game session. But GMing will give you a much better understanding of the plot. Barring that...find an active GM and pick their brain. :-)

The Exchange 4/5

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I often have a little chat time after the game sessions where i explain what's going on in the backround in order to help people get into the setting, but there are often lines in the adventure that there is no way for players to find out without a GM just offering the information.

Sczarni 4/5

CroutonOfDEATH wrote:
Looks like I'll start with Seekers of Secrets and the PFS Field Guide, then go to the Inner Sea World Guide. Thanks everyone!

Much of the Inner sea world guide is in the wiki, so if you find something you want more information on, look it up on the wiki, if nothing else you can look at the references to find what other books you may be interested in (especially if you see the same ones over and over)

4/5 5/5

Nani Pratt wrote:
However, the #1 way to get storyline for the season is to GM. There's all this lovely background information that is in the scenarios. Try as we might, sometimes it's just really hard to get it out during a game session. But GMing will give you a much better understanding of the plot. Barring that...find an active GM and pick their brain. :-)
Benrislove wrote:
I often have a little chat time after the game sessions where i explain what's going on in the backround in order to help people get into the setting, but there are often lines in the adventure that there is no way for players to find out without a GM just offering the information.

Good ideas. I'll start asking some questions after each session. And I've been meaning to GM more, guess I should get started :-)

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