Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Nidal, Land of Shadows

4.20/5 (based on 6 ratings)
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Nidal, Land of Shadows
Show Description For:
Non-Mint

Add Print Edition $22.99

Add PDF $15.99

Non-Mint Unavailable

Facebook Twitter Email

A Land Chained in Shadow

Ten thousand years ago, faced with extinction, the terrified leaders of Nidal heard whispers in their minds—promises of salvation for their nation if only they'd submit their people's bodies and souls to perpetual servitude. Those leaders' assent transformed them into conduits for Zon-Kuthon, the god of envy and pain, and has sealed Nidal's fate to this day.

Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Nidal, Land of Shadows draws back the curtain from one of Golarion's most wicked and mysterious theocracies. Within these pages, you'll find:

  • Detailed descriptions of Nidal's history, including its tragic fall into Zon-Kuthon's grasp.
  • An in-depth gazetteer of the entire nation, from settlements to more sinister features.
  • Malevolent adventure sites from the Castle of the Captive Sun to the Tower of Slant Shadows.
  • A bestiary of shadowy creatures, including the suffragan kyton, that lurk in Nidal and beyond.

Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Nidal, Land of Shadows is intended for use with the Pathfinder campaign setting, but it can be easily adapted to any fantasy world.

ISBN-13: 978-1-64078-033-0

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

Hero Lab Online
Fantasy Grounds Virtual Tabletop
Archives of Nethys

Note: This product is part of the Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscription.

Product Availability

Print Edition:

Available now

Ships from our warehouse in 11 to 20 business days.

PDF:

Fulfilled immediately.

Non-Mint:

Unavailable

This product is non-mint. Refunds are not available for non-mint products. The standard version of this product can be found here.

Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at store@paizo.com.

PZO92108


See Also:

1 to 5 of 6 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | next > last >>

Average product rating:

4.20/5 (based on 6 ratings)

Sign in to create or edit a product review.

At long last...

5/5

... all the bits and pieces of information we've had coming out piecemeal over the years coalesce into a quite enjoyable write-up of Nidal, arguably the most screwed-up nation-state in Avistan.

The sense of just how oppressive the place is really comes across in the art and the writing, and the historical bits are quite well fleshed-out.

While not quite as outré as it maybe could have been, it's still pretty grim going in places. At the same time, you get a taste of what Nidal was before it knuckled under to a god of pain and darkness, and a sense of what the place has to offer.


A terrific description of one of the most evil countries

5/5

Nidal is an intriguing nation and one of the most unique to Golarion, in my view.

This first part of the book does a brilliant job of portraying the thorough depravity of the place and what it’s like to live under the oppressive, slightly insane theocracy. The following chapter on adventure sites is full of adventure hooks and places/reasons to visit. The book finishes off with half a dozen well chosen, nidalese themed monsters.

I think it’s hard to portray a truly evil place without descending into parody and this book has avoided that trap with great skill. It was exquisitely written and a joy to read (albeit with the occasional shiver).

As with all good sourcebooks, I ended up with half a dozen campaign/adventure ideas rolling around in my head. That’s the point of these kinds of supplements and I can’t give it anything other than five stars.

More like this please!


At best, I am not impressed...

1/5

I bought this book in the expectation of a little edgy goodness. It is a guidebook about Nidal for crying out loud. It even came with a "graphic content"-warning.

Well, that warning was overselling the content in the worst way. I expected a horror movie and I got the disney-fied all-ages version. I am so disappointed. This book has no spells, no magic items, no classes. In fact, no crunch at all. It is one big, sanitized National Geographic article. Yawn! I could have pieced the entire content together myself with a few hours of work from previous sources, with the possible exception of the city maps.

If it was possible to get a refund on the basis of "try again, buddy", I would.

Needless to say, this book is not recommended.


Seems like a cheerful place.

5/5

This book does a great job of conveying what a country being run be Zon-Kuthon for millennia actually looks like and how the practicalities work out. Nidal really makes a lot more sense to me, and I'm a lot better equipped to run an adventure there after reading this. Check it out!


Beautiful and Horrific

5/5

Long shrouded with secrecy and terror this books finally dives into the shadowy horror that is Nidal. And it is wonderful.

The overview of the various areas and the art along with it are awesome, and an absolute treat for GMs and players who have long had/wanted characters to be from this dreadful place.

Warning: this book contains VERY disturbing themes and certain pieces of art, being, ya'know, the country of misery and torture. And now that you've been warned, enjoy ^w^


1 to 5 of 6 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | next > last >>
201 to 222 of 222 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | next > last >>

Heine Stick wrote:

-Hive brute (CR 8 NE aberration), another hive creature

-Joyful thing (CR 6 LE outsider)
-Suffragan kyton (CR 5 LE outsider), creature with spiked chains for arms and no lower body

More kytons and hive beasts are always fun.

But I feel some surprise to see the Joyful Thing listed as an outsider. I though they were just mortals who were tortured beyond the limits of sanity by the Kuthites and got hung up in bags in their temples to aid the ambiance?

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Well yeah, apparently you get ascended to outsider status when you under go that Joymaking ritual .-.

Dark Archive

4 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

So this book is so full of content you could probably run multiple books in Nidal with this book alone ._.;

The Exchange

3 people marked this as a favorite.

Finally got my hands on it. Read it literally cover to cover in a day. This is almost <i>perfect</i>. Now I just need those two planar books and I can really start working on my campaign!

Also, most of the art is absolutely gorgeous (I say mostly just because of the few rather disturbing ones, which are still amazingly well done). And oh my god, the <i>map</i>. A while ago, I made a shoddy map edit to add Crosspine and the Uskheart and Karpad to a Nidal map, but this has almost everything! It's really only missing Karpad, and a few minor obscure things, like the dueling liches and the umbral dragon in the mountains (names are escaping me at the moment). But all in all, this is amazing.

Dark Archive

7 people marked this as a favorite.

Random thoughts;

There is a lot of Occult Adventures stuff in here. Multiple mesmerists and mediums, for instance. That's kind of neat.

After the Qadira book, this may be my second favorite of the regional sourcebooks, and that's surprising to me, since I like Qadira a lot more than Nidal!

Tons of stuff going on, and I like the expanded backstory on the horselords of old, and the somewhat lip-service nature of the faith of Zon-Kuthon outside of the long shadow of Pangolais.

As for races, I really enjoyed the expanded information on the caligni, particularly the kind of sad attempts they are undergoing to create a culture from fragments of lore about Azlanti practices, and that the 'fetchlings' have their own name for their race, and consider fetchling to be insulting. That's some neat development.

Contributor

10 people marked this as a favorite.

I'm really happy this book is getting a positive reception. It was the first time I'd written any out-and-out gaming materials, and I wasn't altogether sure we'd hit the brief. But hey, looks like it came out all right after all. :)

I thought Lyz did a really amazing job with the adventure locations, btw. Lots and lots of neat game ideas nested into each of those.

Dark Archive

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

Pardon me, but I need to fanboy for a moment.

I absolutely love what I'm reading in the book. I'm forcing myself to go slowly and not devour it all in a single sitting. I'm hopeful we'll see more Nidal in the future, either in the form of another novel (Nightglass and Nightblade were excellent!) or in the form of additional lore material in a Pathfinder 2 supplement.

Okay, enough flailing.

Thank you for writing this for us, Ms. Merciel! And thank you to Erik Mona for confirming it was in the pipe after I kept pestering him. The wait was worth it.

Silver Crusade

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Echoing Zhern, Liane and Lyz kicked ass!

*daydreams about possible 3rd Night book*


2 people marked this as a favorite.
Rysky wrote:

Echoing Zhern, Liane and Lyz kicked ass!

*daydreams about possible 3rd Night book*

Mines still on the slow boat. :(

Getting fidgety!

Silver Crusade

Steve Geddes wrote:
Rysky wrote:

Echoing Zhern, Liane and Lyz kicked ass!

*daydreams about possible 3rd Night book*

Mines still on the slow boat. :(

Getting fidgety!

*offers hugs*

Lantern Lodge RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Liane Merciel wrote:

I'm really happy this book is getting a positive reception. It was the first time I'd written any out-and-out gaming materials, and I wasn't altogether sure we'd hit the brief. But hey, looks like it came out all right after all. :)

I thought Lyz did a really amazing job with the adventure locations, btw. Lots and lots of neat game ideas nested into each of those.

I hardly post on here anymore, but I wanted to step in and say that this is my favorite CS book since Qadira. It's so well thought out and easily could've been twice as long and still kept me as interested. I read it cover-to-cover in a single, eager sitting.

Excellent work, Liane and co. Truly excellent.


4 people marked this as a favorite.

Quality book! Thank you very much for the great work. This does a fantastic job of fleshing out what it's like in Nidal, and how things have persisted this long. The distinctions between rural and urban life were especially useful.


3 people marked this as a favorite.

This was a fantastic book. Congratulations to all the authors. I wouldn’t have changed anything. The campaign setting books have really been great of late.

We need more books written by Liane (and Lyz - the adventure sites were universally brilliant).


any new dragon type in this book ?

Silver Crusade

Steve Geddes wrote:

This was a fantastic book. Congratulations to all the authors. I wouldn’t have changed anything. The campaign setting books have really been great of late.

We need more books written by Liane (and Lyz - the adventure sites were universally brilliant).

I second this.

Silver Crusade

demiurge108 wrote:

any new dragon type in this book ?

Nope.


Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Taskuhecate wrote:

Finally got my hands on it. Read it literally cover to cover in a day. This is almost <i>perfect</i>. Now I just need those two planar books and I can really start working on my campaign!

Also, most of the art is absolutely gorgeous (I say mostly just because of the few rather disturbing ones, which are still amazingly well done). And oh my god, the <i>map</i>. A while ago, I made a shoddy map edit to add Crosspine and the Uskheart and Karpad to a Nidal map, but this has almost everything! It's really only missing Karpad, and a few minor obscure things, like the dueling liches and the umbral dragon in the mountains (names are escaping me at the moment). But all in all, this is amazing.

I just want to double-check because I'm start to prep The Midnight Mirror. This book doesn't have anything on Karpad?


Jhaeman wrote:
I just want to double-check because I'm start to prep The Midnight Mirror. This book doesn't have anything on Karpad?

A search of the PDF for Karpad yielded 0 results.


Starfinder Charter Superscriber

Fair enough, thanks.


absolutely loved the Smokeshade and the Hive Critter.

Spoiler:
on the fence about the Joyful Things, and the Kyton that creeps out other Kytons.


200 posts of "ooh can't wait!" followed by a dozen posts actually discussing the book. Of which about half are "IS THERE A NEW KYTON?!?" followed by "AW YEAH KYTON!". Then silence.

Okay, snark aside, I'm intrigued by this, but am not sure I want to drop $16 on a .pdf. So far this thread isn't giving much guidance, and the reviews are pretty vague, too. Does anyone want to discuss it in a little more detail? Like, what's the fluff-crunch ratio like? Just how high is the squick factor? Presumably it's in the standard Campaign Setting format, basically a gazetteer full of adventure hooks; did anything in particular stand out? Could you run low level characters here?

Also, RPGs have a very problematic track record with S&M related issues; there's a strong tendency to collapse into parody. I could relate a dozen examples, but the one that stands out in memory is the "Nipple Clamps of Exquisite Pain" item from the 3e Book of Vile Darkness, back around 2006 or so. Does this avoid the Nipple Clamps problem; and if so, how does it pull this off?

Thanks much in advance,

Doug M.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I definitely recommend the book. It's been a little while since I've gone over it, but it does an excellent job of fleshing out the practicalities of living in a nation that's been ruled by immortal servants of an evil god of pain and torture for thousands of years. It makes distinctions between how people act in the highly-supervised urban areas vs. in rural communities. How do crops work in an area that receives very little sunlight? It addresses communities of fetchlings, as well as how they're viewed, covers the major political players and factions, and goes into why people would choose to live in Nidal.

There's not much crunch that I can recall (certainly nothing like archetypes), no parody, and I don't think there was anything all that squicky.

201 to 222 of 222 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | next > last >>
Community / Forums / Paizo / Product Discussion / Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Nidal, Land of Shadows All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.