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Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Distant Worlds (PFRPG)

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Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Distant Worlds (PFRPG)
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Golarion is the primary world of the Pathfinder campaign setting, but it is not alone. Far beyond its lands and seas, sister worlds revolve around the same sun, their residents connected by magical portals or ships of terrifying magic and technology. Now take your game off-planet and explore these weird new worlds for yourself!

This book offers a detailed introduction to the science-fantasy worlds of Golarion’s solar system, each complete with its own mysterious locations and cultures. Discover how your swords and spells match up against the trench dwellers of the Red Planet or the angelic Sarcesians who soar between asteroids. Research the mysterious origins of the sealed world-ship of Apostae, or hunt vortex sharks in the freezing seas of Kalo-Mahoi. Though strange and new, each of these worlds uses the same Pathfinder Roleplaying Game rules as Golarion itself.

    Within this 64-page book, you’ll find:
  • Gazetteers of every planet and major moon in Golarion’s system, from the steamy jungles of Castrovel and the machine-ruled rock of Aballon to post-apocalyptic Eox and divided Verces, where one side is always day and the other night. Plus, uncover information on the residents of the sun, Golarion’s moon, the asteroid belt called the Diaspora, the dark regions beyond mysterious Aucturn, and more!
  • Introductions to the major cultures inhabiting the system. Will you join Castrovel’s beautiful Lashunta, fight beside the four-armed giants of Akiton, study with the hyper-evolved Contemplatives of Ashok, petition the undead Bone Sages of Eox, or face down the insectile legions of the Forever Queen?
  • Easy new rules for adventuring on other planets, including discussions on gravity, temperature, time, vacuum, and traveling between worlds.
  • Adventure hooks for every world, tailored for GMs currently playing on Golarion.
  • Six brand-new alien monsters, from intelligent dragonkin who bond with humanoids to the great oma space-whales and amorphous, blimplike Brethedans.

Distant Worlds is intended for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Pathfinder campaign setting, but can easily be used in any fantasy game setting.

by James L. Sutter

ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-403-0

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

Hero Lab Online
Fantasy Grounds Virtual Tabletop
Archives of Nethys

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More, please!

5/5 —

I adore how much sci-fi is in Pathfinder, and the delicious sword-and-planet weirdness is my favorite flavor of that. I’m hoping 2e revisits this material as soon as possible - and with a greater eye towards PCs from these places!

Indispensable if Your PCs are Headed to the Stars

4/5 —

Distant Worlds is a 64-page softcover campaign setting book for Pathfinder that's like no other: instead of detailing a particular region of Golarion, this book takes you into space! Well-known as one of the few campaign setting-line books to receive a second printing due to its popularity, the goal of Distant Worlds is to provide an introduction and overview to the planets that share a solar system with Golarion. The Inner Sea is great and planar travel has its appeal, but sometimes a story needs to travel to whole new worlds and encounter strange, alien civilizations: if you're inclined in such a direction, this is the book for you.

The front cover is certainly cool and eye-catching, and evokes the "sword and planet" genre that inspires much of what's inside the book. The artwork is reprinted as the inside back cover, while the inside front cover provides a map of the solar system, showing the order of planets from the sun.

The Introduction (two pages) makes clear that this isn't intended as a brand new campaign setting (much less a brand new game like Starfinder), but is instead a whole new set of locales that heroes from Golarion can travel to and adventure on. Thus, the focus is on what outsiders to these planets will experience, and how they'll survive the journey to get there. I especially like the couple of paragraphs on how the gods of Golarion aren't necessarily known deities on other planets, and that their portfolios may be encompassed by deities completely unheard of to the PCs.

The first and by far largest section (48 pages) of this book is a gazetteer of the bodies that make up Golarion's solar system. Each of the planets receives four pages of coverage made up of statistics (diameter, mass, gravity, atmosphere, and orbit), a general description, a few paragraphs on what adventuring there would be like, a half-page chart of key locations on the planet, a couple of pages of written description of those locations, and then a few brief adventure hooks that GMs can use to draw PCs to that planet. Given that entire worlds are being described in just four pages, readers need to have their expectations in the right place: this is an introduction, not an exhaustive treatment. I found the interior artwork very hit or miss: many of the aliens are very cool and evocative, but some of the other drawings are rather mediocre. Anyway, here's a quick run-down of what's covered:

* The Sun: This is actually just a one-page summary, but it's actually kind of cool--I never thought about setting adventures on the sun! In Pathfinder, there's actually stuff there, including magically-protected "bubble cities" that would make an awesome setting for an adventure.

* Aballon: A rocky world that is the closet planet to the sun, occupied by a vast society of machine intelligences created by mysterious (and now departed) First Ones. There's a really cool cultural divide among the intelligent machines between Those Who Wait (who believe that their creators will someday return and justify their existence) and Those Who Become (who believe that they should leave and seed another world, becoming First Ones themselves). Another location that stands out is Horsethroat, a small settlement of about 50 people from Golarion (and other worlds) who have arrived, quite accidentally, through a portal from their homeworld and are now trapped on Aballon. It's a natural starting point for PCs to begin their adventures amongst the stars (even if the "fall through a portal" adventure hook is overused in the book).

* Castrovel: Home to both the elven nation of Sovyrian (with major story ties to the fate of elves on Golarion) and the lashunta, a humanoid race with major and fixed divisions between the societal roles of the sexes. There's a plethora of awesome stuff on these four pages, including some fascinating hints about a mysterious portal network on the planet, some links of which have become dangerous. The ties between Castrovel and Golarion are so strong, it would be fantastic to see an AP that crosses between the two planets.

* Golarion's Moon: This section is only two pages long, but there are some interesting story elements here, as the moon was once colonized by ancient Azlanti, and there's a demon-infested area called the Moonscar (the subject of a Pathfinder module).

* Akiton: That massive four-armed creature on the book's cover is a Shobhad from the harsh, red desert planet of Akiton. This is a classic "sword and planet" setting, but features two races that we'll be seeing a lot more of in Starfinder: the ysoki (ratfolk) and Contemplatives of Ashok (floating giant brains!). I appreciate that the book's author, James Sutter, took care to insert details of continuity from previous Pathfinder sourcebooks, like noting that there's a strong link between the Contemplatives and an artifact found in the Mwangi Expanse on Golarion that was first detailed in Heart of the Jungle.

* Vercies: A tidal locked planet, with a Darkside and a Fullbright area sandwiching a narrow habitable zone along the equator. There's a great picture on page 22 of one of the three castes of the planetwide Vercite species. This is one of the more "high-tech" planets in the solar system and has a nice SF feel that sets it apart from Golarion's traditional fantasy setting.

* The Diaspora: Millions of asteroids, large and small, form the Diaspora. The asteroid belt has a cool history perhaps linked to the Starstone, and is home to a race called the Sarcesians. There's a ton of great adventure possibilities detailed in these four pages, with the Vacant Halls and the Wailing Stone serving as natural destinations for explorers.

* Eox: What if you built the Death Star on a planet, but the one time it was fired it caused untold destruction of your own world? That's sort of the backstory to Eox, a planet where the survivors of a doomsday weapon have turned to necromancy and undeath in order to survive on a blasted world. Eox is one of the most memorable parts of Distant Worlds, as the resident Bone Sages are cool and creepy at the same time. There's a location on the planet called the Halls of the Living which is mad-genius Sutter at his best.

* Triaxus: Interesting concept of a planet with a long (317 years!) orbit, so generations are either "summer-born" or "winter-born." There's a surprising amount of dragon stuff, which isn't really my cup of tea, but it's done well.

* Liavara: An enormous gas giant with several moons. The moons provide lots of variety and adventure possibilities, and I can't argue with the fantastic depiction of a giant creepy bug called The Forever Queen on p. 39 (just pay attention to the little guy at the bottom left to understand the scale!).

* Bretheda: Purple gas giant with natives that are . . . difficult for outsiders to understand. I found the planet's moons to be the most interesting, many of which are so intriguing I wish they would have had additional pages devoted to them.

* Apostae: This is the classic "world-ship" SF trope, and I'm stoked to see it here. My mind instantly jumped to an AP focussed on how to get to the mysterious "vault" at the center of the planet to understand the creators and purpose of Apostae. Interestingly, each resident of Apostae is biologically significantly different to every other one, so the PCs will likely stand out simply due to their (probably) shared humanoid-bipedal features!

* Aucturn: A cool, mysterious planet at the very edge of the solar system. Unlike all of the others, there are no magical portals to Aucturn, meaning it's a hard place to get to! The write-up shows some intriguing links to the Old Ones and the Dominion of the Black, but there's only two-pages of information on this one.

* Other Worlds: The part ends with a two-page overview of some miscellaneous topics: constellations, Cynosure (Golarion's north star), the Dark Tapestry (the haunted void between the stars), and the Ice Belt. I wasn't particularly impressed with the material here, and would rather have seen it used for something else.

Part Two, Stellar Adventures, is just four pages long but they're an extremely important four pages. It's here we get some insight into ways for PCs to travel to other planets, including portals, spells, and vessels. There are brief discussions on how to handle environmental problems (including vacuum, extremely high and low gravity and temperature, etc.). Last, there are two new spells ("Planetary Adaptation" and "Mass Planetary Adaptation") and a new magical item ("Pressure Suit"), all of which are indispensable. GMs planning a space-based campaign should note that this section sets some very broad rules, but leaves the vast majority of questions that are bound to come up to GM discretion. Again, this is an introductory sketch to an interplanetary campaign, not a full rules system.

Part Three, Aliens, is eight pages long. One of the best parts of this section is a list of the couple of dozen of established Pathfinder "monsters" that are explicitly extraterrestrial in origin or that could logically be found on particular other planets. The list is drawn from Bestiary 1, 2, and 3, so there are probably more recent monsters from volumes 4, 5, and 6 that could be used as well. Last, six new alien creatures are given stat blocks and descriptions: the insectile machine creatures called Aballonians, the dirigible-like Brethedans, the previously-mentioned giant brains called Contemplatives of Ashok, the Dragonkin of Triaxus, giant interplanetary "space whales" (capable of being used as transports) called Oma, and the four-armed giants from Akiton called Shobhad. Interesting, creative ideas executed well.

Distant Worlds is a campaign setting book that will either sit on a shelf gathering dust (if you play purely pre-published materials like APs, PFS scenarios, and modules) or serve as *the* book for a homebrew campaign in which the PCs find themselves on alien worlds. It's thus not a must have for most GMs, but if you have serious plans to integrate Golarion's solar system into your campaign, then it's indispensable. There are a ton of great ideas in the book, and even if it's not quite as spectacular as some of the buzz indicates, it represents a worthy expansion of Pathfinder's core campaign setting.

A great spark for extreme fantasy

5/5 —

Not only does this book give some very unique interplanetary ideas, but is also very good to create earth based areas. That all comes with the fact, however, that this is an idea book like any gazatter.
This book runs through various inhospitable Terrain and the requirements to survive in them. With some clever alterations you can create very alien worlds with them. Those glaciers in real life that bleed red water because of heavy iron? Easily adapted to the Mars setting. Need a compelling volcano? The sun can help. Magic gas filling the area? Look to the gas giants.
Aside from the obvious and welcomed return of fantasy space this will be very much enjoyed by anyone who enjoys the most extreme fantasy setting. Again, this is a gazetteer so don't expect too much to be done for you, it just has the basics. Still the best example of a gazatter I've seen in ages.

Possibilities for the future!

5/5 —

As many of you have noted, this book provides many hooks, and basic background for these new worlds, but few new rules, items, and monsters. But think of the future Setting books this may spawn! I can easily see at least one book for each of the planets, plus a space-travel/vehicles book, magi-technology book, augmentations book (mystical&technological), etc.. I've already come up with an addition to the dragonkin, the True-blooded (dragonkin with the half-dragon template, with the damage, energy type, and DC of their breath weapon changing to that of their progenitor, along with their fire immunity being replaced with the respective type).

A Good Start

3/5 —

I'm an old school fan of SpellJammer although Spider Moon is growing on me, like a fungus really but I digress. I am a GM that wants to resurrect SpellJammer using Pathfinder rules and this was not enough. But I am aware of 2 more third party books coming down the pike to supplement what little is here so I'll take this book for what it is.

Now keep in mind I like the book as a whole but there were some teasers I found annoying in illustrations of being I would love to have stats for towards the end of the first section. It's a nice solar system model I may steal for my own campaign and there are some nice ideas in here, that I wish had been given more info. And in the intro would it have killed you to list some stories that feed into this, I mean, Heck Planet Stories has a good chunk of them, pimp yourselves!

The space travel is a little too light for my tastes but I had the same problem with the first section of being too short. The one new magic item inspired me to create my own. That said the image that starts the chapter off is just fun.

The last bit was all about Aliens and this too could have been expanded. Great stuff and suggestions of other monsters to add in that you may already have was nice. I love the space whales and living clouds best but there isn't a bad monster in here.

Ultimately this is your primer to fantasy space, if doubling the page count would have upped the price I would have paid the extra gladly. I'm looking forward to what Zombie Sky is putting out and I'm sorry I couldn't put in a bid for that one, but i expect it will supplement this nicely. Clockwork Gnome's book I did help get launched and with my pledge I'm getting a copy to use with this and I hope others will too. If you want interplanetary adventures this will get you started but as I have said, there could have been so much more in here.

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Dragon78 wrote:
Sweet, the Lashunta in will be statted up...in another product.

Which I will gladly buy!

Contributor
Mikaze wrote:


The news that something is in the works on the lashunta is definitely going to stir up psionics fans. :)

Good point! Lest I risk unduly disappointing folks, let me state right now that the reference to the lashunta showing up somewhere soon is NOT a reference to a scheduled psionics product. Seriously. I know we've got ideas about what we want to do regarding psionics, but it's not something we're ready to tackle just yet. In the meantime, I've heard great things about some of the third-party folks doing Pathfinder-compatible psionics work...

Dark Archive

When will this book be available in stores? I have some friends flying from the States and I plan to send them a shopping list...
James Sutter wrote:
Mikaze wrote:


The news that something is in the works on the lashunta is definitely going to stir up psionics fans. :)
Good point! Lest I risk unduly disappointing folks, let me state right now that the reference to the lashunta showing up somewhere soon is NOT a reference to a scheduled psionics product. Seriously. I know we've got ideas about what we want to do regarding psionics, but it's not something we're ready to tackle just yet. In the meantime, I've heard great things about some of the third-party folks doing Pathfinder-compatible psionics work...

Can you tell us anything about the upcoming product?

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer
nightflier wrote:
When will this book be available in stores? I have some friends flying from the States and I plan to send them a shopping list...

The official retail release date is Feb 22.

Contributor
Scott Andrews wrote:
James Sutter wrote:
Mikaze wrote:


The news that something is in the works on the lashunta is definitely going to stir up psionics fans. :)
Good point! Lest I risk unduly disappointing folks, let me state right now that the reference to the lashunta showing up somewhere soon is NOT a reference to a scheduled psionics product. Seriously. I know we've got ideas about what we want to do regarding psionics, but it's not something we're ready to tackle just yet. In the meantime, I've heard great things about some of the third-party folks doing Pathfinder-compatible psionics work...
Can you tell us anything about the upcoming product?

Not until it's solicited, unfortunately. And I don't want people to get too worked up about it yet--while stats for the lashunta are coming, it's as part of something mostly unrelated to the solar system. For the time being, Distant Worlds is by far the most outer-space-friendly book we've got, so please spread the word. If you want to see more, let us know. :)

Well you got my vote for more "space madness".
James Sutter wrote:
Scott Andrews wrote:
James Sutter wrote:
Mikaze wrote:


The news that something is in the works on the lashunta is definitely going to stir up psionics fans. :)
Good point! Lest I risk unduly disappointing folks, let me state right now that the reference to the lashunta showing up somewhere soon is NOT a reference to a scheduled psionics product. Seriously. I know we've got ideas about what we want to do regarding psionics, but it's not something we're ready to tackle just yet. In the meantime, I've heard great things about some of the third-party folks doing Pathfinder-compatible psionics work...
Can you tell us anything about the upcoming product?
Not until it's solicited, unfortunately. And I don't want people to get too worked up about it yet--while stats for the lashunta are coming, it's as part of something mostly unrelated to the solar system. For the time being, Distant Worlds is by far the most outer-space-friendly book we've got, so please spread the word. If you want to see more, let us know. :)

I would Love to see alot more. Be it modules, APs, or player companions, anything expanding this area of the game would be much appreciated.

Silver Crusade
Mikaze wrote:

still waitan on shipment

gettin the shakes

It turns out it was sitting by my door when I posted.

Looks hot. Gonna be reading this thoroughly, but at a glance:

Space Merisiel is awesomely retro.

Want that foreground alien in the lower left corner of pg. 4's art as a cohort, animal companion, or familiar badly.

The lashunta's headgear is appropriately crazy and Frazetta/Vallejo-y.

The Augmented look really cool.

Sarcesians and Desna probably go together really well on aesthetics alone.

Brethedans look like they're going to be a lot of fun. Really have to try not to voice them like hanar.

I have a few questions - some rule-related, some not.

Rule-related:

-Regarding the spell "planetary adaptation," does casting it protect you against every hostile environment on the Material Plane? Or do you need to choose a specific planet (Verces, Aucturn, the void, etc.) to protect againt?
-The starsoul bloodline for sorcerers grants an ability at 15th level called "breaching the gulf" that sends a target into outer space. Though it doesn't expressely say so, is it safe to assume that the target of this ability can't talk, use spells with verbal components, etc.?
-There's suggestions about how spells from the teleport and scrying subschool are unable to work between different planets as if they were different planes. What about similar long-range spells like sending, dream, demand, nightmare, etc.? Should those spells be similarly impeded?

Non-rule-related:

-As far as I can tell, Aucturn has some kind of field around it that makes it appear different every time its observed. Am I right about this?
-Speaking of Aucturn, how is it that humans live there, what with the poisonous atmosphere and the warping effects? Are those living in the Citadel of the Black protected from these ultimately deadly effects?

Thanks for any help!

Is this product that has the Lashunta's stats coming out this year?
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Devoured this PDF. Completely unrelated to this book, Eox (and a former Dire Gambler's Club guy trapped there due to an unlucky Void draw from the Deck of Many Things) came up in my Saturday game the day before the download was available. Now I have a bit more information to tease them with if they follow up on that hook. Bone Sages look bad.

Dragonkin are cool, as are the other aliens. The entire book is just so full of awesome, I can't really focus on one part. I feel sorry for those people who were unable to utilize the awesome simply due to a lack of Lashunta stats.

This is stellar work.

Two more minor issues: first, in the "Aliens" chapter, cerebric fungi are noted as being common on Catrovel and Nchak. However, in their two past appearances in PF products (first in a PFS Scenario, and later in an Adventure Path), they are said to come from Aucturn. Was this just an oversight or a retcon?

Also, plasma oozes live on the sun, yet have no protection against fire whatsoever. I'm guessing they were meant to have the fire subtype (and this will hopefully be fixed in later printings), but as written in the Bestiary III, they'd be vaporized in seconds.

Well as long as the female Lashunta have a racial bonus to Cha and males have a penalty to Cha(or at least no bonus) I will be happy.
Silver Crusade

Bouncing around the book.

Absolutely in love with Verces now. Awesome planet to play around with.

Love the biome setup. Really makes for some wonderful alien skies to describe. I think I'm going to add a moon or two just to get a little on Darkside. May be able to play with some arctic-flavored Pitch Black-ish scenarios that way too.

Love the Vercites. Love their caste system. This culture looks like its going to be a lot of fun. They way they view other races along caste lines is going to make for some neat interactions with offworld PCs. Heck, just the cosmopolitan nature of their civilization is a wonderful change of pace. Imagining their cities as a bit of a hybrid between Coruscant and Citadel Station, as far as aesthetics, but surrounded by actual green. Great big pastoral fields with silvery steel roads and rails running over or through them, joining all these towering cities together in a ring-spanning network. Replacing "pastoral fields" with "seas", "tundra", and "jungles" where appropriate...

Love the meshing of all types of magic with technology. Just the simple phrase "divination scans" really gets the imagination moving. I really like that this civilization didn't go along the expected "magic/tradition vs technology/advancement" route but rather went with a fusion. This is going to be a very fun culture to explore. Love the range between them having a rocking space program and sprawling metallic cities and simple Golarion-tech-level farms.

Thinking the hoarbats could be reskinned cloakers with a bleeding Con-drain attack. Can't help but visualize them as having hollow "teeth" lining the underside of their bodies and wings. The bloodbrothers are horrifying by the way.

So far it seems if one wanted to do a straight-up planet vs. planet campaign, Verces/Diaspora vs Eox would be the most natural fit.

As far as I'm concerned, the Aethership captain art sets the fashion baseline for most Vercites in the Ring. I bet they have hoverbikes. Totally putting hoverbikes on my Verces.

Man, I just really love this planet.

This book is really reminding me of the original campaign setting book in a lot of ways. These worlds are brand new, and there's so much space to play with, and there aren't many limits on what absolutely does not exist according to canon. Really enjoy getting that feel from setting books like this.
Contributor

In answer to folks' questions:

*The Planetary Adaptation spell indeed requires you to choose a given planet (or "void" if you just want it to apply to open space).

*Regardless of how you got there, if you don't have the appropriate precautions in place, you can't speak or breath in hard vacuum. That means no verbal components.

*Which spells are capable of bridging the gap between planets is left up to GMs, as that choice has a big impact on the sort of games you can play. That said, our recommendation is that only really high-level magic can affect things on different worlds.

*Aucturn indeed appears different to different observers depending on who's looking at it--it seems to be an extremely powerful illusion effect.

*Aucturn is *not* a nice place to live, and the humans who manage to live there do so through personal magical power, unpleasant mutations, or the patronage of other powerful figures or dark gods.

*The book with stats for the Lashunta should be out late this year, I believe. And yes, I hope to reflect the differences in gender mechanically, as that's a big part of what makes them interesting.

*Cerebric fungi are on Aucturn as well, though they're also found on the planets listed. For many of the creatures found on multiple planets, it can often be difficult to tell where something originally evolved, but I agree that the cerebric fungus seems likely to be an Aucturn Original that traveled to other worlds. Regardless, scholars from Golarion are likely to believe that a given organism is native to wherever they happen to encounter it, thus creating such confusion.

*Plasma oozes were indeed intended to be immune to fire. The author has since been hired by Paizo, and therefore we are free to utilize corporal punishment, and the Yardstick of Reform will be employed heavily (with perhaps a visit from the Whip of Do Better Next Time). By which I mean that yes, we'll be fixing that in the B3 reprint.
Scarab Sages
Pathfinder Maps Subscriber

James is it the solar system hardcover??? :)
Contributor
Shem wrote:
James is it the solar system hardcover??? :)

Sadly, there is no solar system hardcover currently in the works. :) But if we can sell a lot of Distant Worlds, you never know...

Dark Archive
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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber
James Sutter wrote:
Shem wrote:
James is it the solar system hardcover??? :)
Sadly, there is no solar system hardcover currently in the works. :) But if we can sell a lot of Distant Worlds, you never know...

I think this is my single biggest problem with Paizo right now, in a nutshell - the "toe in the water" approach to weirdness and anything outside traditional pseudo-Medieval European fantasy. Give us the madness! We wants it! Numeria AP! Mythic level rules! Gazetteers for Geb and Nex, and the Mana Wastes and Alkenstar. Dragon Empires hardback. Embrace the weird already!

Contributor
3 people marked this as a favorite.
Kvantum wrote:
James Sutter wrote:
Shem wrote:
James is it the solar system hardcover??? :)
Sadly, there is no solar system hardcover currently in the works. :) But if we can sell a lot of Distant Worlds, you never know...
I think this is my single biggest problem with Paizo right now, in a nutshell - the "toe in the water" approach to weirdness and anything outside traditional pseudo-Medieval European fantasy. Give us the madness! We wants it! Numeria AP! Mythic level rules! Gazetteers for Geb and Nex, and the Mana Wastes and Alkenstar. Dragon Empires hardback. Embrace the weird already!

Don't worry, there's some extensive weirdness coming down the line. :)

But in seriousness, the "toe in the water" approach is really important to our business model. This company has had some great success over the last few years, but it's not like we're out of the woods. If we hitched a big chunk of our business--like a hardcover, or an AP--to a topic and nobody bought it, we'd be hurting. Bad. Dipping a toe lets us gauge interest and make sure we focus our energy on things that our community actually wants (and which, subsequently, people will buy). And it also lets us experiment with a much broader range of weirdness than many people would think sensible... such as a solar system book for a fantasy world!
Silver Crusade

Wow, the Ilee are something else. Tempted to implement Eidolon building rules for them. Really like the nod to reskinning in the Aliens section.

I'm a little confused about something on Verces: The nations as described in the text seem like they would be rings, all of them bordering each other. But the shape of Kashak on the map doesnt match up with that description. Am I interpreting the text incorrectly, or is Kashak as drawn on the map an anomoly?

The details on what's done with those Ascetics of Nar raises a lot of possibilities and questions too. Should probably just make a thread for that planet. :)

edit-Hot damn the Wailing Stone is spooky.
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James Sutter wrote:
Don't worry, there's some extensive weirdness coming down the line. :)

I now want an Ultimate Weirdness hardcover.

Ambrosia Slaad wrote:
James Sutter wrote:
Don't worry, there's some extensive weirdness coming down the line. :)
I now want an Ultimate Weirdness hardcover.

Seconded.

Contributor
Mikaze wrote:


I'm a little confused about something on Verces: The nations as described in the text seem like they would be rings, all of them bordering each other. But the shape of Kashak on the map doesnt match up with that description. Am I interpreting the text incorrectly, or is Kashak as drawn on the map an anomoly?

Many nations on Verces indeed run all the way from one side of the Ring to the other, forming rough rectangles, but not all of them--as with most national borders that evolve naturally, they also tend to twist around and follow natural features. Due to various political issues, Kashak's hasn't been able to hold the area closer to the eastern border of the Ring. (Honestly, that's probably one of the reasons they're more disgruntled and prone to conflict than other Ring nations.)

So in short: Nations on Verces *tend* to form rectangular striations in the ring, but it's not terribly uncommon for a given section of ring to have several small countries within it (especially if they were once a larger nation that broke into several pieces).
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Kvantum wrote:
James Sutter wrote:
Shem wrote:
James is it the solar system hardcover??? :)
Sadly, there is no solar system hardcover currently in the works. :) But if we can sell a lot of Distant Worlds, you never know...
I think this is my single biggest problem with Paizo right now, in a nutshell - the "toe in the water" approach to weirdness and anything outside traditional pseudo-Medieval European fantasy. Give us the madness! We wants it! Numeria AP! Mythic level rules! Gazetteers for Geb and Nex, and the Mana Wastes and Alkenstar. Dragon Empires hardback. Embrace the weird already!

Hear Hear! I use 4E for my pseudo-Medieval fantasy fix. Bring on the Numeria!

Thanks for the answers James! With my minor issues cleared up, I can honestly say this is one of my favorite Paizo products of late. It's oozing with sandboxy goodness.

Man I wish my copy would hurry up and get here.
Pathfinder Adventure, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
Scott Andrews wrote:
Ambrosia Slaad wrote:
James Sutter wrote:
Don't worry, there's some extensive weirdness coming down the line. :)
I now want an Ultimate Weirdness hardcover.
Seconded.

I would buy that in a minute!

Silver Crusade
James Sutter wrote:
Mikaze wrote:


I'm a little confused about something on Verces: The nations as described in the text seem like they would be rings, all of them bordering each other. But the shape of Kashak on the map doesnt match up with that description. Am I interpreting the text incorrectly, or is Kashak as drawn on the map an anomoly?

Many nations on Verces indeed run all the way from one side of the Ring to the other, forming rough rectangles, but not all of them--as with most national borders that evolve naturally, they also tend to twist around and follow natural features. Due to various political issues, Kashak's hasn't been able to hold the area closer to the eastern border of the Ring. (Honestly, that's probably one of the reasons they're more disgruntled and prone to conflict than other Ring nations.)

So in short: Nations on Verces *tend* to form rectangular striations in the ring, but it's not terribly uncommon for a given section of ring to have several small countries within it (especially if they were once a larger nation that broke into several pieces).

Ah, I was misreading the description of how their borders are laid out. :) I was actually thinking of each nation as being rings along rings, all forming the actual Ring. Should have caught on what with the rectangle-shape mention, but I think I was looking at the thing sideways in my head.

Thanks!
Silver Crusade
Brainiac58 wrote:
Scott Andrews wrote:
Ambrosia Slaad wrote:
James Sutter wrote:
Don't worry, there's some extensive weirdness coming down the line. :)
I now want an Ultimate Weirdness hardcover.
Seconded.
I would buy that in a minute!

Only if it has a Forever Queen cheesecake cover.

oh I'd buy it anyway
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber
Brainiac58 wrote:
Scott Andrews wrote:
Ambrosia Slaad wrote:
James Sutter wrote:
Don't worry, there's some extensive weirdness coming down the line. :)
I now want an Ultimate Weirdness hardcover.
Seconded.
I would buy that in a minute!

Like what the Gamemastery Guide was supposed to be, but with a focus on crunch rather than just 2 page treatments on the various topics.

Is there a picture of the Forever Queen in the book?
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32, 2012 Top 4
Dragon78 wrote:
Is there a picture of the Forever Queen in the book?

There is indeed. But, regardless of what Mikaze says, you really don't want to see her in a swimsuit/lingerie cheesecake style photo spread. Trust me.

That's what I figured;)
Brainiac58 wrote:
Scott Andrews wrote:
Ambrosia Slaad wrote:
James Sutter wrote:
Don't worry, there's some extensive weirdness coming down the line. :)
I now want an Ultimate Weirdness hardcover.
Seconded.
I would buy that in a minute!

Count me in as well ;)

Scarab Sages
Pathfinder Maps Subscriber
James Sutter wrote:
Shem wrote:
James is it the solar system hardcover??? :)
Sadly, there is no solar system hardcover currently in the works. :) But if we can sell a lot of Distant Worlds, you never know...

I am betting it is the Bestiary 4....

I just finished the rest of Distant Worlds. I am not sure how big a fan I am of the gas giants but everything else, for me, including the moons of those giants was excellent. Clearly in my mind the best campaign supplement I have read (I have not read them all mind you).

I am considering buying a couple more to give away as gifts just to boost sales. Then again, I don't want my players to read any of this. I am running two different adventure paths right now, and I am considering taking them off planets once the paths are over. I have wanted to play a Barsoom style campaign for a long time and you did a good job of making that possible for us. All the other ideas out there are outstanding.

Every time I read about another planet I was again blown away. I love all the ideas you used and can't wait for more information on the solar system.

You should really do another book this size on the Dark Tapestry. And of course the coveted solar system hardcover book (I know but I am going ot keep mentioning it until ya'll get so tired of hearing it you just do the book to shut me up)...

Awesome job...

EDIT
Because I sound like a Knucklehead.

Put me down for Ultimate Weirdness.
Sketchpad wrote:
Brainiac58 wrote:
Scott Andrews wrote:
Ambrosia Slaad wrote:
James Sutter wrote:
Don't worry, there's some extensive weirdness coming down the line. :)
I now want an Ultimate Weirdness hardcover.
Seconded.
I would buy that in a minute!
Count me in as well ;)

Any my axe!

Seriously though, more weird stuff; there's enough western fantasy content on the shelves to last a life time. My kingdom for dragon empires and solar system hardcovers; I'd pay full tag for Distant Worlds: The Green Planet, Distant Worlds: The Red Planet, and Distant Worlds: Beyond the Line. Ideally with two to three new xeno player races in each.

Now I still haven't got my copy of this tome in my hands yet, and I have a question that has been eating at me... WHERE IS SOVRYIAN LOCATED? (inb4 Castrovel)

Does Aballon, Castrovel, Akiton, or Verces have any moons?

Someone tell me where Sovyrian is... please?

Also does this book shed any light as to where the Numerian wreckage came from?

They have already said that the Numerian wreckage was from outside of the solar system.
Dark Archive
Someone said wrote:
Someone tell me where Sovyrian is... please?

Spoiler:
It's a continent on Castrovel. Roughly Austraila-position by the map.
Someone said wrote:
Does Aballon, Castrovel, Akiton, or Verces have any moons?

Aballon and Verces I can confirm as 'no', at least as far as info in this book goes. I haven't fully read the Castrovel and Akiton sections yet, but haven't noticed a moon for either yet.

So they have maps for the planets, that's cool.
Scarab Sages

I absolutely can't wait! I'll pounce on the first copy I find at my FLGS!
Scarab Sages
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Maps Subscriber

This is one of the reasons I subscribe. I have had it for several days. Read the entire thing and have a PDF. Another reason I subscribe is I do not have to worry about missing anything as it comes out. Much like the Tome of Horrors Complete that so many people did not hear about until the first preorders were on the street, I do not want to miss anything. I want my Paizo gaming goodness (PGG) when it comes out without having to search the products to make sure I am completely informed and sometimes something just shows up that I did not realize was being released.
Scarab Sages

Shem, I have considered subscribing, but there's a catch: I'm in Canada and that means extra costs as well as worry about the various shippers mangling/damaging my books and soft cover paperbacks over the border. My FLGS gets PF books at competitive prices such that I usually pay in Canadian dollars the same Americans pay in the US. (The currencies are often at par lately so I'm happy.) The only real drawback is I don't have a PDF copy of any of the PF books.

Edit: I also gain a 10% "loyal customer discount" at my FLGS.

I wish I did start my subscription for this one but my copy had already shipped when I thought of doing it.

So for those that have read the book, what is your favorite world or worlds?
Starfinder Superscriber

Well I for one have decided that the various inhabitable moons around some ofthe gas giant planets (sorry don't have quick access to the names currently) are going to be the published worlds from other books. I'm looking at Zobek to be on one...;)
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