So...my first post ever so hello message board world. I've been gaming for over 30 years now, however, I'm very new to Pathfinder as a whole. After doing some research I've decided to run the Rise of the Runelords AP for my friends on our weekly game night.
I've picked up both the new updated edition as well as each old individual 3.5 OGL versions. What I'm curious about is Golarion as a whole. I own the Pathfinder base book, a couple of the Beastiarys and the Campaign Setting Guide to the Inner Sea. Reading people's posts on these boards it just seems like the background knowledge and information for this world is incredibly huge...however I can't recall gaining such knowledge through reading the core book.
Now I've read through limited amounts of the Inner Sea campaign setting at the moment, however, I've noticed that that won't completely fill in the world knowledge. For instance it seems like the Jade Regent AP takes place on a continent not even covered in that guide, yet it's the only one I've really been able to find.
So here's my real question in which I'm hoping you all can help. What supplements would you suggest to help fill in my knowledge so that I can help bring in the world view as a whole into my running of Rise of the Runelords? I've read through the first 2 AP books already for it and where I find the content to be excellent...there's always roleplay moments and flair that I think would be fun to throw in that's not contained within those books.
Where's the best place to learn about the Pathfinder Society, world views, etc that I can bring in to add additional elements to NPCs etc? Is that Campaing Setting for the Inner Sea more than sufficient if I completely read it? If not, what else exists that you all would suggest to help fill my knowledge of Golarion. For instance I see talks about people excited about APs being created for Numeria etc...yet how did you all learn about Numeria to be so excited? Sorry for the long post, and thank you all in advance.
Theres always the pathfinderwiki, id link it but its hard to do on this device. Its pretty much the go to database for golarion info. The reason there isnt alot of information in the core rule book is paizo made the rules line pretty setting neutral, all the info on golarion can be found in various companion supplements.
For Jade Regent, you're probably okay with the info in the AP itself. However, there's also
http://paizo.com/products/btpy8pfu?Pathfinder-Campaign-Setting-Dragon-Empir es-Gazetteer
And
http://paizo.com/products/btpy8pg0?Pathfinder-Player-Companion-Dragon-Empir es-Primer
If you want more.
Dragon Empires is the product for Tian Xia... (There is one PC-focused product, one more GM-focused)
Other than what is covered in Jade Regent AP articles, that continent is sparsely detailed at this moment.
Basically, understanding the real-world/historical cultural references is your recommended way to understand Tian Xia at large.
Once you're aware of the basic geography, you're best off browsing the Campaign Setting section of Paizo's products...
There's products for a decent number of 'nations', and the new 'People of X' products (so far just People of the North, which is really just NW Avestan) seems a fresh and useful approach to covering ethnically/ environmentally linked cultures. Otherwise there is more detailed national/regional/city-level detail in AP articles, as well as some city-specific books. Rise of the Runelords AP was written even before the Inner Sea Campaign Setting was, so it's relatively self-contained in terms of explaining at least the local context. Most APs do a good job of that (they are also usually simultaneously released with relevant regional products), so if you have a decent understanding of the broader setting, APs are usually a good way to go to get deeper into a certain region.
Gods and Magic is a pretty good resource to understand how Gods fit into the picture, and there are a series of products focusing on Good/Evil/Neutral deities, as well as a recent one "Faiths & Philosophies" which also includes 'secular'/atheist philosophies. The products on the Outer Planes, Demons, etc, have alot of useful info although that probably isn't your first priority.
And as far as I know, there is very little actual information on Numeria, people just like to rave based on the few hints and known facts, and based on it's inspiration from previous D&D products. There is certainly bits and pieces scattered around, and people are also basing their information on stuff that hasn't been published per se, but has just been mentioned by Paizo staff re: their future product plans and the like. And because giant robots. Besides the outerspace stuff, the base culture of Numeria is within the Kellid cultural sphere, so that gives you an understanding of the "X" in Numeria's theme of "Sci-Fi meets X".
And the "Pathfinder Core Book" isn't INTENDED to convey much information about the Golarion setting, it's supposed to be setting-neutral for any 'general fantasy' game, although it happens to touch on Golarion simply because it uses some major Golarion gods as the 'standard' examples for Clerics and Domains. So don't feel like you missed out on anything serious there.
Ultimately, alot of stuff IS left undefined, and don't be scared to improvise when you throw in a side-trek to some city that you can't seem to find any information about.