Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Sandpoint, Light of the Lost Coast

any new monsters?

Uh, Bestiary 6 has goblin troops right? And relationship rules are in ultimate campaign and jade regent's player's guide

Oh yeah, will we finally learn what is up with Sandpoint Devil or will it stay a mysterious local cryptid? :D

So in this age of massive projects (Pathfinder: Kingmaker, Starfinder, Pathfinder 2nd Edition playtest, etc.), it's actually pretty cool to just return to where it all began for Pathfinder. I dig it.

And to reiterate: I'm still finishing this up, so if anyone has any hopes and ideas and suggestions for what to include in what's more or less gonna be a big sandbox setting/96-page gazetteer of a town and its Hinterlands... now's the time to speak up! I'll be here watching and reading and occasionally commenting.

Do we get a map and more infos about Wisher's Well? That would be cool!

One more thing...
If I remember correctly, there was a trapdoor in the Old Lighthouse, which couldn't be opened. Has this been handled somewhere? If not, will we get to know what's down there?!

Really looking forward to this one! :)

If not big lists, then how about some small sidebar lists? For example, "10 active feuds in Sandpoint" (with page references to those involved) or "10 common topics of discussion".

What about maps for areas beneath the Old Light? (Assuming that there's more than just the Catacombs of Wrath and Lamashtu temple from RotR.)

Between this, Jade Regent’s Sandpoint Hinterlands article, and Rise of the Runelords Sandpoint Article I expect there’s going to be plenty of information on gown to run a Sandpoint Sandbox. I think the only thing I really want to see is some plot threads with adventure seeds for Low-Mid-High levels.

Also a hex map of the Lost Coast would be great for those exploration adventures.

I think most specifically I want at least a few locations that are brand new, some dungeon that the PCs will be the first to uncover.

There probably isn't an explanation, but one of the things which stood out to be is that the farms and hamlets of the hinterland are on the far side of the "The Devils Platter" and the "MossWood"
This makes any journey to town intrinsically dangerous.

How does Sandpoint defend it's hinterland?

Wow! Awesome! Cannot wait!

This is wonderful.

What I hope for in the book is a way for new GMs to take this book, plus the Beginner Box, and run lots of interesting adventures with just those two bits.

And a flip mat
And pawns for all the NPCs and monsters that aren't already included in the BB.
And a card deck with NPC portraits that I can show to my players, and perhaps with their stat blocks on the back.

I envision clipping the card to the top of my GM screen so that I can be behind a "mask" as I portray each NPC.

Sandpoint already exists in the Beginner Box as a place for new GMs to explore and expand on.

This 96 page book is NOT that product; it's presented in the same way, say, the Magnimar or Korvosa books were presented. It won't do the same amount of hand-holding and advice giving the Beginner Box did, but it WILL be 100% compatible with the Sandpoint as presented in the Beginner Box and will absolutely be an invaluable resource for any GM, beginning or experienced, to use as a resource.

An associated flip mat is possible, but not this year.

Pawns for all the NPCs and monsters? Nope, not planned (although many of them already have pawns in existing sets).

No card decks planned (but again many of the regional NPCs already have cards in products we've published already).

Thanks for pointing me to the thread James! wish-list for this book, if you're still taking orders at this late hour:

-goblin stat blocks (with cool PC levels)
-goblin troops stat block (at least one would be really cool... for high level heroes wading in seas of goblins... :) )
-encounter tables for various areas surrounding Sandpoint (with encounter % chance per hour or per day)
-potency of drinks at the Rusty Dragon (using the Inner Sea Taverns rules)
-munsterz
-rules on love... for PCs falling in love with Ameiko

Thank you! :)

This book's about Sandpoint, not goblins. There'll be a few goblin treats in the book, but that's nowhere near the focus of the book. Further, goblins are thematically inappropriate for high level heroes. We've put a goblin troop in print already (check Bestiary 6) and that's about as tough as I want to make goblin troops. Just as they represent a classic low-level threat individually, I want them to represent a "classic" low level troop.

There'll be LOTS of encounter tables.

I'm not sure yet how much of the Inner Sea Taverns rules I'll incorporate—I'm wary of doing much of that because folks tend to react with a "Pay to Play" complaint there. I don't want folks to think that the only way to use this book is to buy a different book other than the core rulebook. But we'll see... Inner Sea Taverns will certainly inspire the stuff for not just the Rusty Dragon but all of the town's taverns to a certain extent. But again, there's more to Sandpoint than taverns, so it's very likely that in order to fit all the other stuff in there I want, the tavern element will be downplayed.

There'll be plenty of monsters. Not a bestiary chapter though.

No rules for love; folks tend to get weirded out by that, more than rules for violence, alas. Falling in love with NPCs and so on is going to be an assumed part of the book, but it's not going to be something we codify via rules in this book at all.

any new monsters?

There'll be at least one, maybe a few more, but presented as unique creatures in the context of an area, not as Bestiary page writeups.

Oh yeah, will we finally learn what is up with Sandpoint Devil or will it stay a mysterious local cryptid? :D

Yes you will. The Sandpoint Devil is all over this book. Literally. As in it's on the cover.

James Jacobs wrote:

And to reiterate: I'm still finishing this up, so if anyone has any hopes and ideas and suggestions for what to include in what's more or less gonna be a big sandbox setting/96-page gazetteer of a town and its Hinterlands... now's the time to speak up! I'll be here watching and reading and occasionally commenting.

Do we get a map and more infos about Wisher's Well? That would be cool!

And Grubber's Hermitage...

More info, yes, but no maps. No room for those. Well... MAYBE a map of Grubber's Hermitage, but Wisher's Well is too complex to include full details on in this book.

One more thing...

If I remember correctly, there was a trapdoor in the Old Lighthouse, which couldn't be opened. Has this been handled somewhere? If not, will we get to know what's down there?!

The Old Light will have a lot of info... including what's under it.

Really looking forward to this one! :)

If not big lists, then how about some small sidebar lists? For example, "10 active feuds in Sandpoint" (with page references to those involved) or "10 common topics of discussion".

Those can be fun... but they tend to end up being space hogs. I put some of these into the Magnimar book and would love to build some for this book as well, but they're a priority down from giving information on the town's locations. There'll probably be a few lists, but most of that type of information will be in the descriptions itself.

What about maps for areas beneath the Old Light? (Assuming that there's more than just the Catacombs of Wrath and Lamashtu temple from RotR.)

There are indeed more than just those two complexes under Sandpoint. There WILL be a map that finally shows the layout and orientation of the smuggler's tunnels. Zoomed in maps of some of the locations will be in there too... not sure if the complex under the Old Light will make it in but we'll see!

Between this, Jade Regent’s Sandpoint Hinterlands article, and Rise of the Runelords Sandpoint Article I expect there’s going to be plenty of information on gown to run a Sandpoint Sandbox. I think the only thing I really want to see is some plot threads with adventure seeds for Low-Mid-High levels.

Also a hex map of the Lost Coast would be great for those exploration adventures.

I think most specifically I want at least a few locations that are brand new, some dungeon that the PCs will be the first to uncover.

A lot of the info in this book is stuff I made up for the Shadows Under Sandpoint campaign I ran for several years for folks here at the office. That group got to 11th level or thereabouts without going much further than Magnimar, and even then they spent most of their time in Sandpoint and the hinterlands. There are absolutely threats in the region that could, in theory, support a campaign all the way to 20th level, although the bulk of the stuff will skew to levels 1 to 10.

A hex map would be fun but kinda pointless, since the Lost Coast is already very much explored, and it's not really a large enough area to justify a classic 12-mile-across hex map like we did for Kingmaker. At that scale, all of the Sandpoint Hinterlands would fit into 2 hexes.

There won't be "brand new" locations, but there will be plenty that have never had maps presented or haven't had more than a few sentences describing them.

There probably isn't an explanation, but one of the things which stood out to be is that the farms and hamlets of the hinterland are on the far side of the "The Devils Platter" and the "MossWood"

This makes any journey to town intrinsically dangerous.

How does Sandpoint defend it's hinterland?

The Devil's Platter has a high rising escarpment that serves as a natural barrier that generally keeps the things up there more or less separate from the things below. And the denizens of Mosswood mostly stay to the woods. That said, the Lost Coast Road IS dangerous. If it wasn't, it'd be a boring place to run adventures along or write about.

The book WILL talk about how the farms and region is patrolled and protected, as well as explaining why it is a dangerous area in the first place (advance hint—it hasn't ALWAYS been this dangerous... events put in motion around the time we first started doing stuff in Sandpoint have triggered things).

Adventurers are one of the primary ways that Sandpoint defends itself though. AKA: It's up to your players to save the day. If it wasn't... that'd be a pretty dull and boring book to write for gamers to use as a place to set adventures, after all.

An associated flip mat is possible, but not this year.

I would preorder now even if it comes out in 2019...

Beyond there being stat blocks for all the NPCs and villains of note, there'll be some new things here and there (mostly in the form of new items or spells or monsters unique to the area), but it's not intended to be a player's book. It's VERY focused toward the GM who wants to run a Sandpoint campaign (it will have elements of "build your own campaign using this book as a sandbox workshop") and to folks who just want to know more about Sandpoint.

James,

Re: "sandbox workshop"

Question - will there be distinct themed-organizational header text for each section and subsection so that a GM who goes back to review certain pages to will be able to easily borrow the "skeleton of organization" of Sandpoint to better organize his/her own campaign bible?

I am rearranging/editing my Darkmoon Vale/Falcon's Hollow campaign bible, and I'd like to be able to upgrade my information organization with the latest "best practices" from Paizo in Sandpoint, as DMV and related products are 5-10 years old now.

Thanks,

Zanzibaran

I'm not sure yet how much of the Inner Sea Taverns rules I'll incorporate

The only thing you need to remember is that a 'strong drink' counts as two drinks, and that there are rarely 'incredibly strong drinks' out there but those 'are often unfit for mortal consumption'. Thus, on your end there would be no rule to memorize, only flavor: Inner Sea Taverns takes care of the mechanics.

We've put a goblin troop in print already (check Bestiary 6) and that's about as tough as I want to make goblin troops.

Ok thanks - I will add this one to my sudden and unexplained shopping spree! :)

Ok, it's 96 pages, that explains the price.

James Jacobs wrote:

Beyond there being stat blocks for all the NPCs and villains of note, there'll be some new things here and there (mostly in the form of new items or spells or monsters unique to the area), but it's not intended to be a player's book. It's VERY focused toward the GM who wants to run a Sandpoint campaign (it will have elements of "build your own campaign using this book as a sandbox workshop") and to folks who just want to know more about Sandpoint.

James,

Re: "sandbox workshop"

Question - will there be distinct themed-organizational header text for each section and subsection so that a GM who goes back to review certain pages to will be able to easily borrow the "skeleton of organization" of Sandpoint to better organize his/her own campaign bible?

I am rearranging/editing my Darkmoon Vale/Falcon's Hollow campaign bible, and I'd like to be able to upgrade my information organization with the latest "best practices" from Paizo in Sandpoint, as DMV and related products are 5-10 years old now.

Thanks,

Zanzibaran

Yes.

James Jacobs wrote:

I'm not sure yet how much of the Inner Sea Taverns rules I'll incorporate

The only thing you need to remember is that a 'strong drink' counts as two drinks, and that there are rarely 'incredibly strong drinks' out there but those 'are often unfit for mortal consumption'. Thus, on your end there would be no rule to memorize, only flavor: Inner Sea Taverns takes care of the mechanics.

Sounds like the type of thing that's easy enough for a GM to decide on based on the name and description of the drink. So... yes.

Something called "Raspberry Ale" would not be as strong as "Tooth Cracker" rum, for example, even if that's all the information in the book about those two drinks.

I'm writing the whole book. I've got a week or so left on finishing it up so now is a great time for folks to drop in requests and suggestions

My request: an index of NPCs with class & level. I almost always want to have a definitive answer about what kind of spellcasting services the PCs can find, and what kind of magic item creation they can expect, and what kind of training they can expect (if I use the optional training/retraining rules).

I did this with Falcon's Hollow too. They wanted healing, so I scoured all the books that mention Falcon's Hollow, and found every healer. They wanted scrolls, so I found every wizard. And so on.

Not having to search the PDFs and assemble that list by hand would be awesome.

Wow! Leave the boards for two months and looks what happens!

I am SO HAPPY this book is coming out!!

Varisia/Sandpoint is my absolute favorite region of Golarion. Even though my main group has switched from using PFRPG to Dungeon World as our ruleset, we're still adventuring in Golarion, and I'm still happy to buy more Campaign Setting stuff!

Will the cults and creatures from Parhfinder Comics be included in the book?

Ooooooo! Sandpoint Devil! Lighthouse! Very intrigued with this one. I have yet to own any Varisia Campaign Setting books...got the PC, though!

James Jacobs wrote:

I'm writing the whole book. I've got a week or so left on finishing it up so now is a great time for folks to drop in requests and suggestions

My request: an index of NPCs with class & level. I almost always want to have a definitive answer about what kind of spellcasting services the PCs can find, and what kind of magic item creation they can expect, and what kind of training they can expect (if I use the optional training/retraining rules).

I did this with Falcon's Hollow too. They wanted healing, so I scoured all the books that mention Falcon's Hollow, and found every healer. They wanted scrolls, so I found every wizard. And so on.

Not having to search the PDFs and assemble that list by hand would be awesome.

There'll MAYBE be an index (it'll be the 1st thing to cut if I have to though), but the way I'm organizing things, every location has a "Wares" entry that notes if the character there can provide spellcasting, sells magic items, etc. And with full stat blocks for everyone, you'll see their spells they can offer.

Will the cults and creatures from Parhfinder Comics be included in the book?

Some of them, yes. Not the ones whose stories started and ended, though.

I was originally pretty soft on this book - the Campaign Setting line is usually the one I don't subscribe to, for money and interest reasons. But the descriptions given, and the number of long-held secrets being revealed, make it more and more tempting...

I'm pretty cool about having something that says Sandpoint on it. :P :)

I'd like to see some closure for Cyrdak Drokkus and Sir Jasper Korvaski. As the first openly gay couple in Golarion, I've never quite understood why they keep their relationship secret, other than the Scarnettis might disapprove. Scarnetti disapproval doesn't seem to bother anyone else in town, so I don't see why they shouldn't "go public" with their relationship, if not tie the knot. It's been ~5 years since Runelords, so their relationship either progress to the next level, or cool and move on.

On a related note, any chance we'll find out the source of Cyrdak and Ameiko's rivalry?

I'd like to see some closure for Cyrdak Drokkus and Sir Jasper Korvaski. As the first openly gay couple in Golarion, I've never quite understood why they keep their relationship secret, other than the Scarnettis might disapprove. Scarnetti disapproval doesn't seem to bother anyone else in town, so I don't see why they shouldn't "go public" with their relationship, if not tie the knot. It's been ~5 years since Runelords, so their relationship either progress to the next level, or cool and move on.

On a related note, any chance we'll find out the source of Cyrdak and Ameiko's rivalry?

This is a GREAT example of how much progression 12 years of real-world time passing makes the world a better place, and a great example of the type of thing that I'm glad to be able to finally adjust in print.

As for Cyrdak and Ameiko's rivalry... probably...

A whole lot of things

You really seem to be energized by this one, like way more than I've seen from you in quite some time (based on board postings). Happy to see you back that way again.

I want it!

Oh oh, I know that there will probably be new pictures for old NPCs, so what kind of portrait will Sheriff Hemlock have?

Will he look like his Anniversary Edition picture or like his Pathfinder Adventures's picture that is combination of his original 3.5 and Anniversary edition picture? I would myself prefer latter at least!

For reference for people who haven't played Pathfinder Adventures, this is Hemlock's picture from it and this is the hardcover RotR version.

Whatever they do, they should not use the bald version of him. He gave up the "style" of his homeland; it's part of the reason his brother is upset with him. Any image of him should have him looking similar to others in Sandpoint.

Whatever they do, they should not use the bald version of him. He gave up the "style" of his homeland; it's part of the reason his brother is upset with him. Any image of him should have him looking similar to others in Sandpoint.

Well that Pathfinder Adventures one, which is combination of that second previously posted pic and 3.5 one, does show he is definitely growing facial hair at least. Haven't ever seen pic of shoanti with facial hair either

Oh oh, I know that there will probably be new pictures for old NPCs, so what kind of portrait will Sheriff Hemlock have?

Will he look like his Anniversary Edition picture or like his Pathfinder Adventures's picture that is combination of his original 3.5 and Anniversary edition picture? I would myself prefer latter at least!

For reference for people who haven't played Pathfinder Adventures, this is Hemlock's picture from it and this is the hardcover RotR version.

I suspect there'll be all new art. What it looks like will depend on who the artist is, but we'll be using the existing art we have from Rise of the Runelords as starting points.

Whatever they do, they should not use the bald version of him. He gave up the "style" of his homeland; it's part of the reason his brother is upset with him. Any image of him should have him looking similar to others in Sandpoint.

He's still bald. And the value of him NOT looking like the others in Sandpoint is a huge part of why he's in there in the first place—to help Sandpoint be diverse.

I suspect there'll be all new art. What it looks like will depend on who the artist is, but we'll be using the existing art we have from Rise of the Runelords as starting points.

*sigh*

He's still bald. And the value of him NOT looking like the others in Sandpoint is a huge part of why he's in there in the first place—to help Sandpoint be diverse.

James, your own products say that he's rejected the style of his people (which is baldness, even for the women) AND that he's done this to fit in. You can't use him as the guy that looks different if you own text says he's trying to fit in. If you're trying to use him to fulfill a diversity quota, you need to revise the text in the books and stop having his brother be mad at him for trying to fit in. Or play up his brother instead, who is different and is celebrating his differences.

(In addition, the only image showing him bald is the old 3.5 material. This was corrected in the Pathfinder version onward, which all show him with hair. He's not bald, by all your own recent images.)

James Jacobs wrote:

He's still bald. And the value of him NOT looking like the others in Sandpoint is a huge part of why he's in there in the first place—to help Sandpoint be diverse.

James, your own products say that he's rejected the style of his people (which is baldness, even for the women) AND that he's done this to fit in. You can't use him as the guy that looks different if you own text says he's trying to fit in. If you're trying to use him to fulfill a diversity quota, you need to revise the text in the books and stop having his brother be mad at him for trying to fit in. Or play up his brother instead, who is different and is celebrating his differences.

(In addition, the only image showing him bald is the old 3.5 material. This was corrected in the Pathfinder version onward, which all show him with hair. He's not bald, by all your own recent images.)

The picture on page 72 of the Rise of the Runelords Hardcover is what he officially looks like, and will be the image of him that we send as reference for the new illustration. He does have hair, but what style it might be is not yet clear since his chainmail hood covers all of his hair but a few strands. He's still part of being diverse. His brother is still mad at him. Part of what confused me was your original post imploring us not to use the bald version—we have ALREADY addressed that issue, obviously (and thus you shouldn't be worried about us going back to art we've already fixed in the reprint), but you mentioning him being bald triggered my older memories of the inappropriate artwork (which itself was generated well before we wrote anything about Shoanti favoring baldness anyway).

In any event, Belor will be fine. Don't worry.

And maybe I should avoid posting to the boards at 7:00 AM in the morning when I'm not completely caffeinated and kinda cranky about working on a weekend though.

OK, cool.

(I just checked, and there are other more "traditional" Shoanti in Sandpoint. Belor's brother Garridan, Belor's jail assistant Vachedi, and Kaye's 3 bouncers. All 5 of these NPCs are Shoanti, presumably with the traditional Shoanti style. It seems to only be Belor who is trying to fit in.)

And to reiterate: I'm still finishing this up, so if anyone has any hopes and ideas and suggestions for what to include in what's more or less gonna be a big sandbox setting/96-page gazetteer of a town and its Hinterlands... now's the time to speak up! I'll be here watching and reading and occasionally commenting.

A very small thing, but it would be great to finally have a definitive version of the Firepelt cougar. Currently, it has been statted mainly as a cheetah, with Sprint. But it is described as a Leopard, which would give it Pounce.

Would be cool to see a definitive image that matches the description. As well as a proper stat block and animal companion version.

Looking forward to this book. Alas, my group just finished RotR Anniversary Edition a few months ago. Perhaps I will have the opportunity to run it in the future. Of course, then I will be converting all your hard work to PF2!

James Jacobs wrote:

And to reiterate: I'm still finishing this up, so if anyone has any hopes and ideas and suggestions for what to include in what's more or less gonna be a big sandbox setting/96-page gazetteer of a town and its Hinterlands... now's the time to speak up! I'll be here watching and reading and occasionally commenting.

A very small thing, but it would be great to finally have a definitive version of the Firepelt cougar. Currently, it has been statted mainly as a cheetah, with Sprint. But it is described as a Leopard, which would give it Pounce.

Would be cool to see a definitive image that matches the description. As well as a proper stat block and animal companion version.

Looking forward to this book. Alas, my group just finished RotR Anniversary Edition a few months ago. Perhaps I will have the opportunity to run it in the future. Of course, then I will be converting all your hard work to PF2!

There won't be really any room for a firepelt cougar stat block. My preference is to use leopard stats for them, but when they're used as animal companions, that's weird since animal companions use different rules.

Page 44 of the hardcover Rise of the Runelords has the definitive image for them, in any case.