The bustling bazaars of Absalom offer countless delights, but even they do not sell everything. Only in the peerless markets of mysterious Katapesh can one find anything for sale, from the lost diamonds of a fallen empire to a clutch of slaves freshly captured off the Inner Sea coast. This exotic desert locale serves as the backdrop of the Legacy of Fire Adventure Path in the monthly Pathfinder series, and this informative, lushly illustrated full-color guide presents everything players and Game Masters need to know to bring the dark markets of Katapesh to terrible life.
I picked this book up to give myself a little more background for a Legacy of Fire campaign I'm playing in. All of the locals were interesting to me, and almost all the places listed had adventure hooks built in. At this point I almost want to come up with a homebrew that chains together some of the ideas listed. If you need a foundation or inspiration for desert locals or a "laze-faire" city for a campaign, I'd definitely recommend this book.
Este livro consegue escapar um pouco de ser um livro de nicho especifico por trazer excelentes exemplos e idéias para construir uma fabulosa cidade mercante com um toque de mil e uma noites. Mas mesmo assim é um livro interessante e ajuda bastante na aplicação de Legacy of Fire, mas não é obrigatório. Senti falta de mais detalhes sobre as guildas de ladrões que são tão fascinantes nesse tipo de cenário. O grande foco em narcóticos no entanto (mesmo tratando-os de maneira adulta), torna o livro tabu para aqueles que não querem esse toque de realidade em seus mundos fantásticos.
I have referenced this chronicle so much it's falling apart. Chock full of inspiration and adventure ideas. I am currently running two campaigns based largely on material provided in this little book: pesh magic, 22 pages on the many markets and wonders of the capitol city, and 24 about the mysterious ruins and desert hazards that compose the rest of the nation, and watch out for the dhabbas and sand eels.
I admit, I probably would never have picked this book up otherwise, but it came bundled with my Legacy of Fire Black Friday deal. I honestly wasn't familiar with the region and the little I did know didn't grab me like some of the other regions in Golarion (Numeria, Iobaria, Kaer Maga being the ones I gravitate towards). However, after quickly flipping through this book, I saw enough to hook me and get me to read more. I have to say, like "City of Strangers", this book has enough information in it to give you ideas for countless adventures and campaigns. The region and city of Katapesh are so richly described that you want to play there. It's perfect for the classic loot the tombs/ruins dungeon crawl campaign or an entirely urban one. I loved the inventiveness of the adventure hooks seeded througout the descriptions, my favorite being
Spoiler:
the one about the sentient magic carpet hiding in the bazaar.
The book ends with some additional longer adventure hooks as well as a new prestige class, rules for Pesh magic, and some monsters. Some of the monsters, like the Aluum and Ghuul, off the top of my head, have already been updated. The prestige class is interesting and looks like it would work pretty well without needing any real tweaking.
So even though this is an older OGL book, it is definitely worth picking up. The authors did an excellent job of exciting me about a region that I previously was apathetic towards. I really want to use this setting now when I eventually run Frog God Games's "Death in a Painted Canyon."
Still not working for me. I was a bit surprised to see that it isn't a Reynolds cover as I thought he did the Chronicles covers. Oh well, I must've missed that memo. :D
[EDIT] Aha! Through my mighty deductive skills (hah) I found the cover here, and very snazzy it is too.
Ooh, that cover's hot. Of course, I'm rooting for the poor guy just trying to walk his cute widdle doggies, and getting all anbushed by that crazy fanatic...
That is one SWEET cover! I love the action, and even the "Battlefield Earth" angled shot is working. Plus, I didn't know the cleric was a dual-wielding "Crouching Tiger" type fighter! Man I want this book!
That is one SWEET cover! I love the action, and even the "Battlefield Earth" angled shot is working. Plus, I didn't know the cleric was a dual-wielding "Crouching Tiger" type fighter! Man I want this book!
She isn't. She's just doing something that looks cool at the cost of a lot of minuses on her To Hit roll.
i agree with Sean... style goes a long way with me:D
and a decently buffed cleric shouldn't have so much penalties
also... Saranrae Clerics are know for their skilled derbish... who is not to say that Kyra took the rpestigue class and know she is a two-dual wielding cleric bringing pain to the evil doers and awesome art to our covers? :D
There's a map of Katapesh the city and Katapesh the country, yes. Although there's not an awful lot of details on the regional map of Katapesh, since so much of it is either desert or savannah.
The product blurb reads like it's more about Katapesh the city than Katapesh the country. If I'm correct, where would I go to find out more about the nomadic tribes of Katapesh?
The product blurb reads like it's more about Katapesh the city than Katapesh the country. If I'm correct, where would I go to find out more about the nomadic tribes of Katapesh?
The chapter on the country of Katapesh is about the same length as the one about the main city. The country section talks about the gnoll and jann nomadic tribes that live in the wildlands—however, the LOF AP has much more info on the gnoll tribes than [iDark Markets[/i] does.
I'm excited to find out about the Pactmasters. Are they mercane? Denizens of Leng? A completely new statblock? I'm on tenterhooks, I tell ya!
Ha! And I thought I was a cunning ******* for coming up with a wealthy merchant nation run by "alien" masters (the Mercane) specializing in magic item trade (this was for my homebrewed setting). Seems like others have come up with the same idea... :)
I'm excited to find out about the Pactmasters. Are they mercane? Denizens of Leng? A completely new statblock? I'm on tenterhooks, I tell ya!
Ha! And I thought I was a cunning ******* for coming up with a wealthy merchant nation run by "alien" masters (the Mercane) specializing in magic item trade (this was for my homebrewed setting). Seems like others have come up with the same idea... :)
The Fritz Leiber short story, "Bazzar of the Bizarre" (from which Katapesh borrows its nickname) has a pretty similar setup as well...
I'm excited to find out about the Pactmasters. Are they mercane? Denizens of Leng? A completely new statblock? I'm on tenterhooks, I tell ya!
Ha! And I thought I was a cunning ******* for coming up with a wealthy merchant nation run by "alien" masters (the Mercane) specializing in magic item trade (this was for my homebrewed setting). Seems like others have come up with the same idea... :)
The Fritz Leiber short story, "Bazzar of the Bizarre" (from which Katapesh borrows its nickname) has a pretty similar setup as well...
Now that you mention it, it does... maybe that's where I got the idea, too! You know, it's been nearly ten years since I last read it -- maybe it's time revisit Lankhmar again! :)
When I read all Vance's 'Dying Earth' -stories, I blatantly and consciously stole some ideas from them as well, but now I'm dropping the homebrewed setting because I've got so much good stuff for Golarion! :)
(BTW, James, it's nice that you guys placed 'Castle Odranto' in Ustalav... a great way to give a nod towards Walpole's gothic horror classic!)