Golarion-Spanning Campaign

[Seamus Greenbottle]

Lovers of Golarion,

Purely hypothetically, I think it would be interesting to create a campaign that spanned all of Golarion and could utilize all of the awesome work that the Paizo staff has put into creating this world. Perhaps this would be a way to introduce the world to players.

So, my question is: how would you do it? Would you do a glorified scavenger hunt across the world? Would you have a party that wanted to rule all of Golarion and thus set about infiltrating the governments of each country?

Any and all ideas are welcome!

[Drejk]

Voyages Of The Wayfinder, Pathfinder-sponsored ship (or possibly a small armada of ships) seeking to circle the world while collecting curiosites, lore, treasures and specimens from around the world.

[Seamus Greenbottle]

Love it!

Others?

[Nawtyit]

I plan on the "go find these ancient artifacts" quest and I'm giving them an airship.

[Gnoll Bard]

Maybe they could come into contact with some long-lost artifact, or be hit with a strange, unstable magical effect that causes them to become "unstuck" from space, and perhaps even time as well. At regular intervals (say, once a week, or once a month) they involuntarily teleport to a new location in the world, while ordinary teleportation effects don't seem to work for them at all.

Trapped in this endless cycle, they find themselves leaping from place to place, putting things right that once went wrong, and hoping each time that their next leap... will be the leap home. B)

[BobTheCoward]

I joined the forum to only respond.

It seems that the easiest, but most obvious ploy is to hide McGuffins everywhere. Is there a way to make them no longer McGuffins, but integral to the story.

I took inspiration from Mission: Impossible and James Bond movies. often, these involve tracking down affiliates to the big villain. Sure, all of the agents could be in one city, but a global spanning operation needs agents everywhere.

Let's take the film Casino Royale. The Main villain is located in Europe, his big operation happens in Miami, he is handlin money for warlords in Africa.

Can we apply that to Pathfinder?

A Cheliax noble really wants to stick it to Osirion, create havoc for an operation to poison the water.

1) He needs a mercenary force...from the orc hordes.
2) He needs to move them...ships from the Shackles
3) This operation needs to move a lot of money discretely...a prophet from Druma
4) the final battle takes place in Osirion

Players, acting as agents, need to foil the plan by striking all the components. It concludes in Osirion where the operation is more limited, but still needs their effort to stop.

Here is another idea:

A temple emerges from the soil.

I haven't came up with the exact object, but it is something that has large benefits for whoever grabs it, but is exclusive to them and limited in influence. The point is that whole nations won't make efforts to grab it, nor do they benefit from a citizen possessing it. So, it is for small groups of adventurers only.

A sphinx and a guardian of the temple emerge. The gift is available to the first person to solve the riddle...

Players (maybe level 1), here of this mystery and must travel to wherever the temple is located. When they do, they hear the riddle...

"What did a king eat for brunch in the age of darkness?"

the secret answer: No one at this point knows, or what it is making reference to. However, there are beings on Golarion do know. It is a phrase in ancient aklo, and only by traveling to the Sightless Sea in Orv, and forcing out the answer from an ancient Aboleth king is the only way to gain the answer.

The Adventure: First, the players need to figure out they need to contact an Aboleth, the knowledgeable aboleths live only in the Darklands, and this concept of Orv. Once they figure that out, they need to prepare for the mission. How do they do that? It's player driven at that point. Acquiring the gear they feel they need is a globe spanning mission itself. Then, they have to travel 3 levels of the darklands to even get to the sightless sea.

[Matt Thomason]

Drejk wrote:

Voyages Of The Wayfinder, Pathfinder-sponsored ship (or possibly a small armada of ships) seeking to circle the world while collecting curiosites, lore, treasures and specimens from around the world.

Nawtyit wrote:

I plan on the "go find these ancient artifacts" quest and I'm giving them an airship.

As a long-time fan of Bruce Heard's Princess Ark series of Dragon articles and later boxed set, I fully endorse these ideas.

[Drejk]

Matt Thomason wrote:

Drejk wrote:

Voyages Of The Wayfinder, Pathfinder-sponsored ship (or possibly a small armada of ships) seeking to circle the world while collecting curiosites, lore, treasures and specimens from around the world.

Nawtyit wrote:

I plan on the "go find these ancient artifacts" quest and I'm giving them an airship.

As a long-time fan of Bruce Heard's Princess Ark series of Dragon articles and later boxed set, I fully endorse these ideas.

If we were speaking about Eberron I would say it should be definitely an airship. Because Golarion has a lower magic level, obviously the ship should not be airship... At least not until the party finds a Shory artifact (probably in Garund) that will turn their vessel into one somewhere in the middle of the campaign.

[Richard D Bennett]

The Ultimate Wonder: In order to save the Gnomish race from the Bleaching, you must complete a ritual that will set off a global light show that causes Golarion to touch the First World for one moment of epic "wow." The quest involves traveling the world over to get Gnome communities involved and interaction with various stupendously magical locations. Your enemies are Hellknights (for whom gnomish wonder is dangerously free from order) and agents from Cheliax (triggered after a intrigue-laden run through Brastlewark).

That's how I'd do it.

[MMCJawa]

Drejk wrote:

Matt Thomason wrote:

Drejk wrote:

Voyages Of The Wayfinder, Pathfinder-sponsored ship (or possibly a small armada of ships) seeking to circle the world while collecting curiosites, lore, treasures and specimens from around the world.

Nawtyit wrote:

I plan on the "go find these ancient artifacts" quest and I'm giving them an airship.

As a long-time fan of Bruce Heard's Princess Ark series of Dragon articles and later boxed set, I fully endorse these ideas.

If we were speaking about Eberron I would say it should be definitely an airship. Because Golarion has a lower magic level, obviously the ship should not be airship... At least not until the party finds a Shory artifact (probably in Garund) that will turn their vessel into one somewhere in the middle of the campaign.

IIRC, James Jacob says that Steampunk Airship technology exists in Alkenstar. I doubt they have many airships, but stealing one could be a good part one of an adventure.

[Matt Thomason]

MMCJawa wrote:

Drejk wrote:

If we were speaking about Eberron I would say it should be definitely an airship. Because Golarion has a lower magic level, obviously the ship should not be airship... At least not until the party finds a Shory artifact (probably in Garund) that will turn their vessel into one somewhere in the middle of the campaign.

IIRC, James Jacob says that Steampunk Airship technology exists in Alkenstar. I doubt they have many airships, but stealing one could be a good part one of an adventure.

I think it'd also be feasible to have a flying ship as the discovery of a lost Azlantean or Thassolian device (albeit one that would likely have been built as a one-off rather than something common). I'd be tempted to put it somewhere around minor Artifact level though (between the Cauldron of Flying at large wondrous item and the Cloud Castle of the Storm King at Major Artifact)

[Drejk]

Shory had the suitable magic.

[Matt Thomason]

Drejk wrote:

Shory had the suitable magic.

Oh, cool, I haven't gotten as far as reading about those yet (bumping up my priority list accordingly!)

Also, shades of Floating Ar for those with BECMI memories :D

[Drejk]

It might be deliberate tribute on the developers side. I think that at least some of them are fans of modules already mentioned.