Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Inner Sea World Guide (PFRPG) Hardcover

The cover art has been updated to have the correct "Campaign Setting" logo.

This is still not the final cover.

Ouch! Just noticed that the publication date has been pushed way back. Amazon still has it as September 28, 2010. Now it's February 2011. I don't want to way an additional five (5) months! I want it now.

-Swiftbrook

Just My Thoughts

can we see the map sooner since its release was pushed back

The Inner Sea Map Folio is still due in November.

Will this book include 3.5 rules updates from other books besides the campaign book, like the Companion book on Elves? If not, is there any plans for such an update? A pdf that updated all 3.5 to core pathfinder rules would be greatly appreciated.

this should be a great book for all DMs...i thought i saw some place (can't remember where) that its not a whole lot different than the older version but sharpened up a lot.

James Jacobs wrote:

There's gonna be a reproduction of the inner sea region on page 7 of the book. And every nation/region will get its own larger scale map in addition. There's gonna be a LOT o'maps in there.

Good; that was the most disappointing part about the original Campaign Setting, IMO -- the only useful map was the poster map which was too bulky for me to easily consult.

My dream maps would be something like in the AD&D Greyhawk boxed set -- not just maps with political borders, but maps with natural resources, alignment by region, etc.

YES! YES! And weather by region and random weather tables!

Is it so hard to just point out the major parallels so we can go from there?

I was just reading this awesome post on customs and folklore of the Flanaess (Greyhawk) and wanted to just put a bug in your ear about considering having a couple distinct little local customs like this for each region in the Inner Sea book. Sometimes in the rush to describe a region and make sure it's got a bunch of good adventure hooks, it's overlooked to put in something characters from there can use. There's a lot of Inner Sea countries where when I read the descriptions from a "I want to draw inspiration for my character" point of view, I feel like I need a little more - there's broad brush stroke "oh I could be an escaped slave since they're into slavery" stuff but a little more man-on-the-street level regional quirks would be boss.

Fourth! Nothing makes my players (and me) happier then these cultural differences they encounter during their travels and adventures.

Regards,

Kosta

Looks at projected release date: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Fourth! Nothing makes my players (and me) happier then these cultural differences they encounter during their travels and adventures.

Regards,

Kosta

I agree, cultural differences are great. The only problem is that the focus on what a DM or player really needs for portraying a typical member of a culture can be overdone with too many numbers and micro-details.

Eg what a good cultural sourcebook needs to deliver is: the way people are dressing, thinking and speaking, their relationships to other cultures, their technology, their approach to religion, art and architecture and the unique form of their settlements

its not: 121.278 inhabitants in city xy (0,3239% of them Gnomes), wich export 653tons of blackwood each year, yadda yadda....

A minor question.

Well the spine of the book be the same color as the current capping setting books or like the original campaign book.

The reason I ask is because it sticks out like a sore thumb on my shelf next to the other hard covers I have from pazio.

Yes a little OCD but.....

Sean

I agree, cultural differences are great. The only problem is that the focus on what a DM or player really needs for portraying a typical member of a culture can be overdone with too many numbers and micro-details.

Eg what a good cultural sourcebook needs to deliver is: the way people are dressing, thinking and speaking, their relationships to other cultures, their technology, their approach to religion, art and architecture and the unique form of their settlements

its not: 121.278 inhabitants in city xy (0,3239% of them Gnomes), wich export 653tons of blackwood each year, yadda yadda....

+1

For the most part, you should be able to do that yourself with the free conversion document provided on this website. I have a lot of those books and haven't really needed to worry about it too much since it's about 90% compatible.

Will this book include 3.5 rules updates from other books besides the campaign book, like the Companion book on Elves? If not, is there any plans for such an update? A pdf that updated all 3.5 to core pathfinder rules would be greatly appreciated.

Latecomer to the Pathfinder setting, the more and more of it I read about the more I fall for the world. It's not bland (like Forgotten Realms), or overdone (like Eberron, although I certainly am a fan of the Five Nations) or just weird (like Dark Sun). It has truly interesting places that make you want to go there when you read about them. Glad I don't have to pay 60-100 bucks for the old PFCS on ebay! Thank you!!!

I have to say, for a while I didn't like Golarion. I thought it tried to do too much in one world. I was so used to worlds that had at most two or three variations on generic fantasy (or one really weird thing, like Dark Sun) that I thought it was cluttered. I thought "Where would you find all those different places, like Vikings, Egypt, Transylvania, the Carribean, Byzantium, Arabia, etc etc, in one world?"

Then one day, I realized the stupid answer to that question: Earth.

Which is why I love Golarion now - it's an honest attempt to make a world as intricate as our own.

But in terms of the book, I've noticed that a few other concepts are being mentioned in relation to this product (which I could be confusing with the shorter player's guide). I thought I read that gillmen would be in this - what other kinds of new races could we possibly expect to see in here?

James , a quick question, will the revised version grant a clearere discription of what each human ethincticity skin tone is, dake skin doesn't really make it clear on some of them....

James , a quick question, will the revised version grant a clearere discription of what each human ethincticity skin tone is, dake skin doesn't really make it clear on some of them....

Perhaps... but at the same time we aren't really 100% interested in saying something like "All Keleshites have dark olive colored skin." Just as in the real world, skin tone varies widely across ethnicities.

Enpeze wrote:

Eg what a good cultural sourcebook needs to deliver is: the way people are dressing, thinking and speaking, their relationships to other cultures, their technology, their approach to religion, art and architecture and the unique form of their settlements

+1

+2

Next week I'm going to start LoF with my group of players. I have read all over the books again: Campaign setting book, LoF adventures, Dark Markets, Gezetter, etc...BUT I have than damn feeling I can't get the setting right because I have no clue about such an "eastern / oriental" land and the people's habits...I fear the mood transported to players (who also do not have a clue about such lands) of LoF will be rather another medieval europe style campaign in the desert sprinkled with a bit of oriental flavor like turbans and scimitars and genies...worst thing of all, i have barely time to prepare for adventurs, lest alone searching the internet for various sources that could help out. Soit would be a good thing if books dealing with "lands" had some more information of the things mentioned bye elorebean above...

Got an email from Amazon today saying preorders are expected in the last week of December. Is that right?

Got an email from Amazon today saying preorders are expected in the last week of December. Is that right?

Nope the book doesn't come out until February.

Hairy Dude wrote:

Got an email from Amazon today saying preorders are expected in the last week of December. Is that right?

Nope the book doesn't come out until February.

Justin is correct.

Will this book have class variant features like the old one. The fighter getting 4 skills was nice. I don't know if giving up one feat to get it was enough though. I would have given up my first two bonus feats for more skill, if perception was one of them.

Will this book have class variant features like the old one. The fighter getting 4 skills was nice. I don't know if giving up one feat to get it was enough though. I would have given up my first two bonus feats for more skill, if perception was one of them.

Nope; the idea of class variants is now more than adequately covered by our other books. In fact, the section about the classes in the revised book is down to two pages that gives each of the 18 base classes about a paragraph of information about how those classes fit into the world.

For class variant stuff, you'll want to check out the Archetypes in the Advanced Player's Guide. We'll certainly be doing more archetypes in other books as well, including ones in the Campaign Setting line. There are no archetypes in this book, though... only feats, spells, magic items, artifacts, prestige classes, equipment, and monsters.

If this has already been answered, my apologies - I didn't feel like wading through all eight pages of posts today.

Will the World Guide contain stuff that's already in the Inner Sea Primer? Or the Companion guides? Or does it give in-depth information not found in those?

If this has already been answered, my apologies - I didn't feel like wading through all eight pages of posts today.

Will the World Guide contain stuff that's already in the Inner Sea Primer? Or the Companion guides? Or does it give in-depth information not found in those?

The Inner Sea World Guide will have some crossover between the other books, yes. That's more or less inevitable. Also, we don't want to get into a situation where, say, you HAVE to own the Inner Sea Primer to make heads or tails out of the hardcover Inner Sea World Guide.

The Inner Sea World Guide will be the foundation of Golarion. As such, it has to stand on its own.

It'll also have more room to talk about pretty much every topic, though, so there'll be a LOT more information. In the Inner Sea Primer, for example, each nation gets a half of a page of info, and not all the nations are covered. In the hardcover, each nation gets four pages of info, and ALL of them are covered.

What will NOT be reprinted in the Hardcover from the Inner Sea Primer, though, will be all of the traits and most of the Combat/Faith/Magic/Social information.

Thank you very much for the information - it's precisely what I wanted to know.

As a company, you guys just ROCK, mainly because you answer questions and interact with the community, which is rare these days, unfortunately. Thanks again!

If this has been answered I apologize - I noticed that the Inner Sea setting and the map folio were supposed to come out in late November (if memory serves). What was the delay - I wanted it for Xmas ;)

Also, quick question. What is the scale of the map for the Inner Sea Primer?

It certainly has been answered before, many times in fact, but it came down to there are only so many hours in the day, days in a month, and so much sanity damage that the Paizo crew can sustain from working on hardback books. GMG + APG + Bestiary II + World Guide: Inner Sea all in a six month span proved to be far too much for them to take without losing it, so something had to give, ie, the World Guide. It got pushed back to February to ease the strain on everyone involved.

And then Bestiary II got pushed back to Novmeber from October. And then again to late December (if we're lucky, and it doesn't get shoved even further back to January). The map folio should be out next month, though.

If this has been answered I apologize - I noticed that the Inner Sea setting and the map folio were supposed to come out in late November (if memory serves). What was the delay - I wanted it for Xmas ;)

Also, quick question. What is the scale of the map for the Inner Sea Primer?

As mentioned above... we simply bit off more than we could chew last year and had to significantly delay some products as a result.

The scale of the map for the Inner Sea Primer should be about 280 miles per inch, if I recall correctly.

That's completely understandable - as I think back to when I was looking a the catalog in late summer or so; I was thinking they were putting out a lot of product. I'm all for it because I'm new to Pathfinder and never played with any of the previous 3.5 products. I love game and the changes that have been made from 3.5 to Pathfinder.
Actually my only complaint was where the 3.5 material stopped and the PFRPG products began. I believe I can figure it out, now.

Thanks Kvantum

As mentioned above... we simply bit off more than we could chew last year and had to significantly delay some products as a result.

The scale of the map for the Inner Sea Primer should be about 280 miles per inch, if I recall correctly.

Thank you all for the quick responses and information ;)

wraithstrike wrote:

Will this book have class variant features like the old one. The fighter getting 4 skills was nice. I don't know if giving up one feat to get it was enough though. I would have given up my first two bonus feats for more skill, if perception was one of them.

Nope; the idea of class variants is now more than adequately covered by our other books. In fact, the section about the classes in the revised book is down to two pages that gives each of the 18 base classes about a paragraph of information about how those classes fit into the world.

For class variant stuff, you'll want to check out the Archetypes in the Advanced Player's Guide. We'll certainly be doing more archetypes in other books as well, including ones in the Campaign Setting line. There are no archetypes in this book, though... only feats, spells, magic items, artifacts, prestige classes, equipment, and monsters.

Does this mean that class variants that didn't make it into the APG are gone, like the Wizard's Arcane Duellist option for example?

Does this mean that class variants that didn't make it into the APG are gone, like the Wizard's Arcane Duellist option for example?

Only until they get reprinted in some other product, and only if you lose your copy of the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting. AKA: You can certainly still use them if you want.

But the game's changed. Pathfinder has a MUCH more robust system for customizing characters right out of the gate. In 3.5, customizing a wizard pretty much meant "picking different spells" than other wizards; the choice to specialize in a school of magic didn't really have much of an impact at all. In the Pathfinder RPG, you essentially have nine different wizard variants to pick from, and as we continue to produce books like the APG, the upcoming Ultimate Magic, or all of our Pathfinder Companions and other books, we'll continue to expand those customization options.

In a way, you can think of the alternate class abilities we included in the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting hardcover as "rough drafts" for not only archetypes and other new things in the APG, but core elements of the game like bloodlines or barbarian rage powers. During the 3.5 era, we didn't have the luxury of putting those options into your (already purchased) core rulebook. With the Pathfinder RPG, we did.

And as a result, we got back about 9 pages for the "Inner Sea World Guide" that allowed us to put in more new stuff rather than paraphrasing stuff from the Player's Handbook.

Not complaining at all, but I would love to hear what the current thinking on this book's delivery is. mid-late Feb used to be the estimate, but I notice there are now 4 campaign setting books in Jan+Feb in my sub, and this one isn't in that list.

Jan:
Campaign Setting: Lost Cities of Golarion
Campaign Setting: Serpent's Skull Poster Map Folio

Feb:
Campaign Setting: Rule of Fear
Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Poster Map Folio

Oddly, the sub for Campaign Setting itself says next-to-ship is Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Book of the Damned—Volume 2: Lords of Chaos, but that doesn't appear in the big list for the next 3 months, or in downloads. The interface really is confusing to me, and I've been doing ecommerce on the Web since I wrote a subscription billing system in the late 1990s.

Presumably this means March or late enough in Feb that those of us who batch our deliveries will either have to special-request or get it the next month?

I ask because my campaign starts in early Feb, and while the first two sessions don't require this book (they'll be introducing the setting in broad enough strokes that it won't matter if I'm using the older, less detailed material), I'd love to have the expanded and updated material to work with when I'm moving on from the introductory stuff to the meat of the campaign.

Not complaining at all, but I would love to hear what the current thinking on this book's delivery is. mid-late Feb used to be the estimate, but I notice there are now 4 campaign setting books in Jan+Feb in my sub, and this one isn't in that list.

The place to get the best picture of upcoming releases is our Product Schedule page. Currently, you'll see the following estimates for the Campaign Setting Line:

late December:
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Book of the Damned—Volume 2: Lords of Chaos

late January:
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lost Cities of Golarion
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Serpent's Skull Poster Map Folio

early February:
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Rule of Fear

mid-February:
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: World Guide—The Inner Sea
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Poster Map Folio

Regarding the two groups listed for February, frankly, that's a long way off, and very much subject to change... but if you have more than one subscription, you have a couple of choices (which you can make on the My Subscriptions page) on how to group them. Assuming that schedule stands:

If you choose to hold for monthly shipments, you'd get all of the stuff listed under early February and mid-February in one shipment when the last February items arrive.

If you choose not to hold for anything, you'd get a shipment with the early February products and another with the mid-February products.

If you choose to hold for Pathfinder Adventure Path, we're currently anticipating #43 in early February, so Rule of Fear would ship with that; #44 is expected in mid-February, so the two Inner Sea products would ship with that.

The place to get the best picture of upcoming releases is our Product Schedule page.

Out of curiousity, is there any regularity as to when these get updated?

On a related note - any ideas on when we'll here about late 2011 releases?

On a related note - any ideas on when we'll here about late 2011 releases?

I'm not sure, but I seem to recall Paizo showing their next batch of releases every 4 months.

The place to get the best picture of upcoming releases is our Product Schedule page.

Almost snorted my Coca-Cola out of my nose! How have I been a Pathfinder subscriber for months (came back after hiatus since PFAP#6) without knowing about this?! Thank you!

If I may venture a suggestion, please link to this from the Subscription page.

Regarding the two groups listed for February, frankly, that's a long way off, and very much subject to change... but if you have more than one subscription, you have a couple of choices (which you can make on the My Subscriptions page) on how to group them.

Yep, I was definitely aware of the grouping. I had to un-bundle one book this month via customer service request in order to get it in time for some player prep, so that's why I was asking about Feb. ... that and the fact that the dates on the subscription page keep floating around.

But this is just me obsessing over every last detail of the game I'm starting up. Please understand that I'm a very satisfied customer, and the fact that you're willing to take the time to respond keeps me jumping up and down at my various gaming groups singing your praises!

Steve Geddes wrote:

On a related note - any ideas on when we'll here about late 2011 releases?

I'm not sure, but I seem to recall Paizo showing their next batch of releases every 4 months.

I think what he was getting at was the pre-order listings ala the Campaign Setting list You can get to these by going to any product from the side-bar and in the list of products, click the sorting pull-down menu and select the "Newest first" option.

I don't know when that update that, but obviously, with Carrion Crown being next and -- so far -- Jade Regent coming after that, I would expect lots of tie-ins like Pathfinder Player Companion: Ghasts of Golarion: A View from the Other Side of a TPK and Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Endangered Eastern Enemies Exposed! ;-)

Vic Wertz wrote:

The place to get the best picture of upcoming releases is our Product Schedule page.

Out of curiousity, is there any regularity as to when these get updated?

No—they're updated pretty quickly anytime we get new information from our printers and shippers. So whenever you're looking at it, you're seeing our current best guess until new information arrives. I would also add that the further in the future you're looking, the greater the chance that it will slide one way or the other.

On a related note - any ideas on when we'll here about late 2011 releases?

Well, things have changed on that front. We used to have to submit several months of products three times per year for our book trade distributor, and we let that drive our announcements... but they've recently switched to wanting a month at a time, so they don't need to be the driver anymore. We haven't quite worked out what works best for us, but we'll probably be announcing at *least* the June products in the next month or two.

If I may venture a suggestion, please link to this from the Subscription page.

I'll pass that suggestion to Gary.

Steve Geddes wrote:

Vic Wertz wrote:

The place to get the best picture of upcoming releases is our Product Schedule page.

Out of curiousity, is there any regularity as to when these get updated?

No—they're updated pretty quickly anytime we get new information from our printers and shippers. So whenever you're looking at it, you're seeing our current best guess until new information arrives. I would also add that the further in the future you're looking, the greater the chance that it will slide one way or the other.

Steve Geddes wrote:

On a related note - any ideas on when we'll here about late 2011 releases?

Well, things have changed on that front. We used to have to submit several months of products three time per year for our book trade distributor, and we let that drive our announcements... but they've recently switched to wanting a month at a time, so they don't need to be the driver anymore. We haven't quite worked out what works best for us, but we'll probably be announcing at *least* the June products in the next month or two.

Cheers. I for one would love to be able to see where you're heading. I appreciate the fact that it would be hard to unannounce something if you changed your mind though.

Are you going to be updating Firearms in this?

*Really want firearm rules so I can convince Hyrum to allow them in PFS so I can make my Gunslinger for PFS*

Are you going to be updating Firearms in this?

*Really want firearm rules so I can convince Hyrum to allow them in PFS so I can make my Gunslinger for PFS*

Yes. Firearms are still a part of Golarion, and those rules are getting updated in this book. There won't be MANY firearms to choose from (the list in this book includes 2 one-handed firearms, 1 two-handed firearm, and 1 siege engine firearm). We may take a more detailed look at firearms in the future, though.

Dragnmoon wrote:

Are you going to be updating Firearms in this?

*Really want firearm rules so I can convince Hyrum to allow them in PFS so I can make my Gunslinger for PFS*

Yes. Firearms are still a part of Golarion, and those rules are getting updated in this book. There won't be MANY firearms to choose from (the list in this book includes 2 one-handed firearms, 1 two-handed firearm, and 1 siege engine firearm). We may take a more detailed look at firearms in the future, though.

SQUEE!

Ah it's a pity that an archetypes per class didn't feature - I think that would've made a good "this is Golarion in classes" exhibition. I certainly would've voted in archetypes over prestige classes.

To paraphrase: prestige classes are old and busted, and archetypes are the new hotness ;)

Gearsman,Technic League or other Numeria info/goodies added?

(Ever since reading this entry in the original guide I've had visions of an "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks" style AP or home-brew campaign.)

Ah it's a pity that an archetypes per class didn't feature - I think that would've made a good "this is Golarion in classes" exhibition. I certainly would've voted in archetypes over prestige classes.

To paraphrase: prestige classes are old and busted, and archetypes are the new hotness ;)

Well... the four prestige classes we DID put in the book are already established parts of the world, and we use all of them a fair amount in our publications, so updating them is more or less a requirement... if only for ourselves! :)

While archetypes are indeed cool... they also take up a lot of room. There'll be a lot more of them in our rulebooks next year, and I would expect them to be showing up relatively regularly in the Player's Companion line.

The idea of building archetypes for a bunch of Golarion stuff REALLY appeals to me, though, since we can't actually draw upon world flavor in the rulebook line. There's just not enough room to do the topic justice in the Inner Sea World Guide, alas.

Gearsman,Technic League or other Numeria info/goodies added?

(Ever since reading this entry in the original guide I've had visions of an "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks" style AP or home-brew campaign.)

Yes; there's more info about all three of those.

March now? Seriously? How many delays can this book get?

March now? Seriously? How many delays can this book get?

Starcraft II says: a dozen, and it still will be awesome.

Hey, you can't rush perfection!