Pathfinder Adventurer's Guide hardback?


Product Discussion


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At this site, ICV2 put out an announcement purportedly from Paizo about a new hardback in the RPG line called the Adventurer's Guide that is purportedly coming out in May 2017 -- but this site and everything I know about how Paizo operates not only fail to support this story but contradict it in many ways.

As best I can tell, Bestiary 6 is still on schedule for an April 2017 release -- so how likely is it that Paizo would publish another hardback in the same product line a month later?

Furthermore, this book details various Golarion specific organizations, which is against the usual practices of the RPG line.

Finally, there is no mention of this product anywhere on the Paizo site.

It would seem to be possible that perhaps this book is supposed to be in the Campaign Setting line, but the announcement specifically mentions the RPG line and has a mockup cover identifying it as a Roleplaying Game rather than a Campaign Setting product.

So -- did these guys mangle a genuine announcement, or is this information completely bogus?


Huh. Interesting... no idea, personally!

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Pathfinder Accessories, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Owen posted the link on Facebook as well, so despite the mangling, it appears legit.

Lantern Lodge RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4

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The shape of things to come is non-Euclidean.


Shhh!

It's a secret. ;)


Annoys me that this is RPG-line when it's all about Golarion. I hope the cover is a screw up like ACG saying it's an Adventure Path.


It's a mock up cover anyway, so it just might be in the campaign setting line. :-)


I also hope it's a Campaign Setting line book instead of RPG line. I realise Paizo now wish they didn't keep the RPG setting-neutral, but I love that about it and hope the RPG line remains setting neutral.

That said, if it is CS line book, I'm pretty keen.

Dark Archive

1. Bestiary 6 is due in march 2017, so another hardcover 2 months later is fair game.

2. Maybe and just maybe, Paizo will finally do away with the separation of the RPG line from the Golarion line.
Nobody i know makes this distinction, people i tell about this look at me and don't understand it and to me it doesn't make any sense either.
Pathfinder = Golarion.
Is there another Paizo setting/world you can play on using Pathfinder rules? Nope, Starfinder is called differently and has it's own rules.

And if i want to use a monster or adventure or something else in another game setting, it's easy enough to change or leave out additional lore.

Just a thought.


.

Lantern Lodge RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4

The cover is not a misprint or a mistake.


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Marco Massoudi wrote:

2. Maybe and just maybe, Paizo will finally do away with the separation of the RPG line from the Golarion line.

Nobody i know makes this distinction, people i tell about this look at me and don't understand it and to me it doesn't make any sense either.
Pathfinder = Golarion.
Is there another Paizo setting/world you can play on using Pathfinder rules?

Well considering Golarion has houserules that don't apply to RPG-line, I find it rather dumb to combine the two. Can't even have a Cleric of Justice in Golarion.

Robert Brookes wrote:
The cover is not a misprint or a mistake.

That's disappointing. Guess RPG-line's not for me anymore, I'll just have to note which RPG-line books are allowed at my table from now on rather than just saying "RPG-Line".

Paizo Employee Developer

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Milo v3 wrote:
Can't even have a Cleric of Justice in Golarion.

Sure you can. The GM is the ultimate arbiter of what you can and can't have in any campaign set in Golarion.


Mark Moreland wrote:
Sure you can. The GM is the ultimate arbiter of what you can and can't have in any campaign set in Golarion.

*Facepalm*

1. Missing my point entirely.
2. That's not Golarion, as such a major change would mean you'd have to alter several nations and philosophies within the setting.
3. A GM could decide that everyone in his Golarion is an elf, doesn't mean that's Golarion.

Also, a question. Since this will be RPG-Line, does that mean that Campaign Setting Line is no longer being produced?


Is there a link?

Dark Archive

"Pathfinder RPG: Adventurer's Guide'
Posted by Adrian Sullivan on October 25, 2016 @ 4:22 pm CT

Art not final
Paizo, Inc. has announced a spring release for Pathfinder RPG: Adventurer's Guide, a new supplement that gives details on numerous different organizations that make use of adventurers.

The book gives details on the goals, history, and personalities of 18 famous organizations in the Golarion setting, from knightly orders, to freedom fighters, networks of assassins, infernal-worshipping groups, and more. Each of these groups is explored deeply, and each organization includes at least one prestige class and two archetypes for specialization. The book also contains new spells, magic items, feats, and other character options that each of the organizations open access to.

The 192-page full color hardcover releases in May 2017. Rules from the book are immediately sanctioned for play in the Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign."

The network(s) of Assassins has to be the Red Mantis Assassins.

@master_marshmallow: At the top of this page in the first post, the first three words are the link. ;-)

Grand Lodge

Milo, have you considered that maybe this isn't quite the end of the world?

What I mean is, this is a book about certain organizations in Golarion right? So you should be able to just leave out the "in Golarion" part and use them perfectly fine in your prefered setting with no adjustment.

And I'd imagine if Paizo did start publishing Golarion material in the RPG Line that it'd be more content like this that was based in Golarion, but portable into any other setting with no conversion.

Also I assume the reason for the "in Golarion" part is just so that these cool organizations can officially exist within the cannon.


Yeah not quite sure what the distress over Golarion elements creeping into the RPG line is all about. Thats been in there from the beginning with the gods.

I mean for one, mechanics are mechanics in regards to Golarion specific stuff. Just change the names or requirements of a few things and pretty much every feat, spell, item, and archetype is useable for whatever world you are running.

Lore wise, just disregard or alter an organization if it doesn't fit your world.
Hell just steal an organization specific spell or feat if thats all you need.


Jurassic Pratt wrote:
And I'd imagine if Paizo did start publishing Golarion material in the RPG Line that it'd be more content like this that was based in Golarion, but portable into any other setting with no conversion.

Wouldn't it be simpler to just leave the Golarion specific stuff in the Campaign Setting line, and let GMs continue to adapt whatever material they like to their own settings, like people have been doing for the past 8.5 years or so?

There's already a lot of stuff in the Campaign Setting books that's portable with minimal conversion, so I'm curious about what motivated this change. Personally I'd prefer the "RPG" line stick to things that are setting agnostic, but it's not the end of the world as you say.


Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

According to James Jacobs in his Ask James Jacobs thread, we should hear more about this product tomorrow.


Jurassic Pratt wrote:
Milo, have you considered that maybe this isn't quite the end of the world?

I think you may be misinterpreting how much this bothers me. I'm disappointed and will have to say "RPG-line books are allowed except for Bestiary 6 and Adventure's Guide" to my players rather than "RPG-line books are allowed", that's it.

Quote:
What I mean is, this is a book about certain organizations in Golarion right? So you should be able to just leave out the "in Golarion" part and use them perfectly fine in your prefered setting with no adjustment.

Except for the infrastructure all around the mechanics, the history, the gods, etc. etc. For content that's organisations you can just drop into any setting it makes more sense to handle it in the manner Paizo has with of the NPC codex and Villian Codex books.

Quote:
Also I assume the reason for the "in Golarion" part is just so that these cool organizations can officially exist within the cannon.

This is a book about famous organisations in Golarion so it's likely several already are canon.

Quote:
Yeah not quite sure what the distress over Golarion elements creeping into the RPG line is all about. Thats been in there from the beginning with the gods.

For me it's simply I don't like Golarion so I just don't buy Golarion books. RPG-line was a good way to get Pathfinder content without needing to purchase golarion books. Also... it sort of does raise the question on why bother having the RPG-line and Campaign-Line separate if RPG-line now includes books that are focused on Golarion content (and raises the question on whether Golarion canon is now RAW for the RPG-line).


I can see Milo's point. It is easier to deal with the RPG line setting neutral. I love Golarion...but I do play in other settings as well using the Pathfinder ruleset. While I find it rather easy to file of the serial numbers I know alot of GMs who don't want to bother. So I am curious to hear why the policy changed.

Now saying that I can see why this book includes alot of Golarion lore. 18 generic organizations would probably be boring. Hopefully the book will also have rules on building your own organizations. Otherwise it should be in the Campaign Setting Line.

Also I am really hoping that the Wasp Queens are one of the organization detailed.

Silver Crusade

Milo v3 wrote:
I'm disappointed and will have to say "RPG-line books are allowed except for Bestiary 6...

?


Rysky wrote:
Milo v3 wrote:
I'm disappointed and will have to say "RPG-line books are allowed except for Bestiary 6...
?

Weird, thought I edited Bestiary 6 out of my post when I reworded it.

Silver Crusade

Milo v3 wrote:
Rysky wrote:
Milo v3 wrote:
I'm disappointed and will have to say "RPG-line books are allowed except for Bestiary 6...
?
Weird, thought I edited Bestiary 6 out of my post when I reworded it.

Ah, okies.


Marco Massoudi wrote:

The 192-page full color hardcover releases in May 2017. Rules from the book are immediately sanctioned for play in the Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign."

I wonder if that makes it a replacement for/update to the Field Guide and Faction Guide


Andy Brown wrote:
Marco Massoudi wrote:

The 192-page full color hardcover releases in May 2017. Rules from the book are immediately sanctioned for play in the Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign."

I wonder if that makes it a replacement for/update to the Field Guide and Faction Guide

It would have a tough job completely replacing either. The Faction Guide had far more than 18 factions, while the Pathfinder Society Field Guide was a 64-page book; the Adventurer's Guide can't possibly cover all of that material and still address seventeen other factions.

That said... it's hard to say, at this point, just what it will update. ^_^

Dark Archive

Pathfinder LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

I was curious about whether it should be a Campaign Setting or RPG product too. I'll wait till James Jacobs updates us.

Also, the sky is falling! oh noes!


Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
David knott 242 wrote:
According to James Jacobs in his Ask James Jacobs thread, we should hear more about this product tomorrow.

Hmm.

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

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Folks,

The Adventurer's Guide will be appearing here officially soon. Sometimes with the way we solicit this information to distributors, sites like icv2 can "leak" material before we've had a chance to get it up on our site ourselves. Some staff illnesses and other boring, unimportant day-to-day business stuff contributed to us not having our ducks in a row on this book this time, but I'm hoping that all gets sorted out by Monday.

The Adventurer's Guide IS a Pathfinder RPG book, published in the Pathfinder RPG line. This is a bit of a departure for us because the book WILL have more "Golarion" content in it than a regular book, but the emphasis is largely on character options, equipment, and other rules elements aimed at player characters, not on detailing the precise history of each of these organizations.

Organizations and power groups pose an interesting creative challenge for us when it comes to maintaining a strict wall between Campaign Setting and RPG line material. We started this book thinking "we should do a cool book with tons of character options related to different groups players can join." From there we faced a key decision: Do we make up a bunch of "generic" placeholder knighthoods, assassins guilds, mercenary leagues and the like, simply to preserve that distinction, or do we add some more cool details and further flesh out organizations that people presumably already care about, and sometimes care about a great deal?

With the assumption that people who don't care one way or the other will just carry on blissfully using the stuff they like and ignoring or changing the stuff that they don't--something that doesn't change whether the book uses Golarion organizations or not--we decided to go with the better-known organizations.

This is an experiment. To be completely honest, there is a bit of a school of thought here that thinks the big wall between the campaign world and the rules is more trouble than its worth. This book is a test to see if that is true. I'm excited by what I've seen from the book so far, and I believe it will be a worthy addition to the Roleplaying Game hardcover line.

I hope (and to some extent expect) you'll feel the same way once you've had a chance to check it out for yourself.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Pathfinder Accessories, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Thanks for putting the questions to rest Erik!

Sovereign Court

To me Pathfinder is Golarion, so it is neat to see the lines blurred between the two.

I also like how Erik is reinforcing that it will still be a very rules heavy book, to differentiate it from the Campaign Setting Line.


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I'm in the boat that think the wall is more trouble than it's worth. I'm interested in the best books that can be written, and if Golarion examples and info end up in a rules book... I'm all for it.

Most of the people I've heard of pick and choose for their home world anyway from the 'rules' book... No alchemist, no ninja/samurai, no gunslinger, no Summoners... And the rules book have a ton of alternate systems that aren't for everyone anyway... Armor as DR, Words of Power, Sanity checks... So why would giving a generic assassin guild vs detailing Red mantis Assassins be such a big deal? People still take what they want and ditch what they don't...


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I for one prefer to keep the RPG line campaign neutral.


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If the Golarion material can remain in the "fluff" part of the system text, and the crunch can remain most of its system neutrality I can see this working nicely.

I'd recommend a section or sidebar covering how to treat the guilds in a setting neutral way. I'm guessing there's going to be a section on developing your own organizations, chances are they'll include something in there for recreating aspects of the Golarion material in a way that can fit into other settings.

I'm sure this release will be fine. Most savvy DMs can refluff things anyway. My general rule of thumb is to try and include analogues of the Golarion material in my home setting.

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