Pathfinder Lost Omens: World Guide

I'm hoping this is a good into for someone who has never played or read Golarion books. Tho that might not be popular on these boards, with some invested fans! :)

It looks like this book has been moved from august 1st to august 28th!
Why is this the case?

Especially for people starting a new adventure/campaign in Golarion, this seems like an unfortunate thing.

^Wonder if this has something to do with trying to pack the next 6 part AP into 5 months.

I have no idea whether it has been moved or not, however for what it's worth, I wouldn't put a lot of store in the "PDF will be available" marker on the paizo webstore (it often does weird things and doesn't constitute a formal release announcement, in my view - just the computer's best guess).

I'd wait for the July/August Subscription Thread for certainty.

They have already updated the Release Schedule page to make the Lost Omens World Guide a late August release.

Among other things, that means that the option to pick this book up at Gen Con needs to go away.

Folks, this product comes out August 1st just like everything else. Any reference to a July release is a mistake.

Does this quote from Erik Mona earlier in the thread still apply?

Erik Mona wrote:

Folks, this product comes out August 1st just like everything else. Any reference to a July release is a mistake.

Does this quote from Erik Mona earlier in the thread still apply?

I don't think so. It applied to the original posting of this product back in March, when this page said that this product would be out in July. In the past couple of days, however, they made two independent changes (to this page and to the Release Schedule page) that would seem to supersede the August 1st release date.

Also note that this delay comes soon after the Druma book got pushed from June to August 1st, which makes a delay of the book that follows it all the more likely.

Of course, the part about this product not being released in July does remain accurate.

Perram from Know Direction got confirmation:

“I can confirmed that The Lost Omens World Guide will not be available until late August (around the 28th). It will not be available for Gen Con pickup. We are still in the process of updating our website details to reflect this change. Questions can be directed to our Customer Service Department which is open Mon–Fri, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Pacific. They can be contacted at (425) 250-0800 and customer.service@paizo.com.”

- Aaron Shanks

That's really too bad.

Official (Mark Moreland) post about cause of delay.

I'm sure this will be the very first 2E book I read.

No longer quite so sure. :(

It is unfortunate that this isn't going to be available for launch, but 27 days later isn't too bad.

I think as long as there is enough information in both the "Fall of Plaguestone" module and "Hellknight Hill" adventure path volume to play them on their own, we'll be fine. :-)

It is unfortunate that this isn't going to be available for launch, but 27 days later isn't too bad.

I think as long as there is enough information in both the "Fall of Plaguestone" module and "Hellknight Hill" adventure path volume to play them on their own, we'll be fine. :-)

That's the case for all of our adventures, or at least we try to make it the case. If you want to know more about the context of the world the adventures are set in, then there's other books to buy—the World Guide is intended to be the baseline for folks, and the fact that it won't be out is VERY disappointing, but at least newcomers to the game will have some context for Golarion in the form of a short chapter in the core rulebook.

It's disappointing, but 4 weeks will fly by in the blink of an eye, and then nobody will remember it ever happened.

4 weeks is still an early release compared to the likes of the inner sea world guide and the pact worlds book.

Is there any reason this is $36.99 when the 2 Lost Omens books after this are only $34.99?

Is there any reason this is $36.99 when the 2 Lost Omens books after this are only $34.99?

It includes a large foldout poster map.

Grumpus wrote:

Is there any reason this is $36.99 when the 2 Lost Omens books after this are only $34.99?

It includes a large foldout poster map.

Good reason!

Regarding the connection between Aroden and prophecy, I think it's just that since he died (if that is indeed what happened to him) prophecy hasn't worked. Also, from the pathfinder wiki:

Aroden himself had prophesied thousands of years before that he would return on the cusp of mankind's greatest triumph and usher in the Age of Glory. His priests and followers calculated the supposed exact time of this event and prepared for it with lavish pomp. On the prophesied date, instead of his return, all contact to the god was lost and the world was devastated by terrible storms, the opening of vast planar rifts, and decades-spanning political upheavals. Since then, no major prophecy has come true, a condition for which historians have named the current era.

Also:

Aroden Th best known of the dead gods, Aroden was the god of innovation and history, a strong influence in the development of human culture, and the diety who raised the Isle of Kortos and the Starstone. The Starfall Doctrine prophecy predicted his manifestation on the material plane once again, but instead his worshippers were severed from his power and a series of catastrophic storms marked his mysterious and abrupt death.

is 26 dollars really the price for all setting pdfs compared to rulebooks being 15 dollars? ._.; I mean, I'm kind of confused about how the physical's book's price is less, but pdf is way more expensive for smaller book

is 26 dollars really the price for all setting pdfs compared to rulebooks being 15 dollars? ._.; I mean, I'm kind of confused about how the physical's book's price is less, but pdf is way more expensive for smaller book

They’ve always tended to heavily subsidise their Rulebook PDFs. (In other words, this cost/page is more commensurate with what they’d charge on purely economic terms). They take a hit on selling electronic copies of the rules, since presumably doing so drives sales of other products (amongst other reasons).

is 26 dollars really the price for all setting pdfs compared to rulebooks being 15 dollars? ._.; I mean, I'm kind of confused about how the physical's book's price is less, but pdf is way more expensive for smaller book

It's only confusing when you're new to free market capitalism and don't know that price does not reflect only production costs, but also your desires to shape the market and to earn the target value knowing more or less what the demand will be.

Shocking fact: Paizo sells Beginner Boxes at a loss because they're the entry product.

Hm, shouldn't by that logic this be the entry product for Golarion in 2E and they should sell it at a loss (like their $10.00 PDF's for hardcovers?). This should be the book which hooks new players to use Golarion as their main campaign setting, after all.

Hm, shouldn't by that logic this be the entry product for Golarion in 2E and they should sell it at a loss (like their $10.00 PDF's for hardcovers?). This should be the book which hooks new players to use Golarion as their main campaign setting, after all.

You can't say that without knowing what's the sales of CRB compared to the setting book. And I can hazard a guess that CRB is multiple times a bigger seller, because everybody wants one, while the setting book is really of interest only for GMs (a subset of the market) who want to run Golarion (a subset of a subset).

The number of reviews of ISWG (34) compared to the number of reviews of CRB (130) is likely a good indication of how one compares to the other in terms of number sold.

magnuskn wrote:

Hm, shouldn't by that logic this be the entry product for Golarion in 2E and they should sell it at a loss (like their $10.00 PDF's for hardcovers?). This should be the book which hooks new players to use Golarion as their main campaign setting, after all.

You can't say that without knowing what's the sales of CRB compared to the setting book. And I can hazard a guess that CRB is multiple times a bigger seller, because everybody wants one, while the setting book is really of interest only for GMs (a subset of the market) who want to run Golarion (a subset of a subset).

The number of reviews of ISWG (34) compared to the number of reviews of CRB (130) is likely a good indication of how one compares to the other in terms of number sold.

Sure, that makes some sense. I'd say that probably quite a few players would like to have the setting book as well, but overall you're right.

I'm gaming on regular basis with 20+ people across 4 groups and only two of us have the setting book.

Everybody else just uses Pathfinderwiki if they need any info about the setting.

What I would love was an updated Inner Sea Primer, tho. That was a neat booklet, hope it sold well enough to warrant an update.

I'm gaming on regular basis with 20+ people across 4 groups and only two of us have the setting book.

Everybody else just uses Pathfinderwiki if they need any info about the setting.

What I would love was an updated Inner Sea Primer, tho. That was a neat booklet, hope it sold well enough to warrant an update.

Isn't the companion line gone?

Gorbacz wrote:

I'm gaming on regular basis with 20+ people across 4 groups and only two of us have the setting book.

Everybody else just uses Pathfinderwiki if they need any info about the setting.

What I would love was an updated Inner Sea Primer, tho. That was a neat booklet, hope it sold well enough to warrant an update.

Isn't the companion line gone?

Paizo will still be producing books other than the Core Rulebooks and Adventure Paths in 2e.

The companion and campaign setting lines have been folded together into the new Campaign Setting line. They could do an Inner Sea primer type book, but it would be heavily expanded to fit the new format (honestly I think the Lost Omens World Guide will fit that niche pretty well)

As someone who starts out with Pathfinder 2, will this be the only setting book I'll need for now?

Or should I get the old "Inner Sea World Guide" as well?

Thank you for the answers!

It should be enough to have the LOWG.

The companion and campaign setting lines have been folded together into the new Campaign Setting line. They could do an Inner Sea primer type book, but it would be heavily expanded to fit the new format (honestly I think the Lost Omens World Guide will fit that niche pretty well)

Hey Cori Marie, you're not quite correct here.

What's actually going to happen is the Campaign Setting line will morph into the Lost Omens line and the Player Companion line will just cease. We discussed merging both lines into the one but two things stopped us. The first was the high percentage of overlapping subscribers to both lines. The second was that the Player Companion subscribers, who are used to paying $14.99 per book, might not be interested in the higher priced books and forcing them into that subscription wouldn't be fair.

And yet... the kinds of things that were in the Player Companions will at least sometimes appear in the Lost Omens books, no?

And yet... the kinds of things that were in the Player Companions will at least sometimes appear in the Lost Omens books, no?

That's the intention, from what I've seen. Certainly this book is stuffed full of player options - archetypes, backgrounds, new items, etc.

Yeah I think that’s what CM was talking about, not the subscriptions themselves.

That is indeed what I was talking about, sorry for the confusion. I meant the content is merging, rather than the subs themselves

Just to be sure, this is being released after the Core stuff?

Yes.

Ok. I was a little worried. I got my Core Book and Bestiary yesterday and wanted to make sure, since this book was not in the box.

*nods*

It is going out with next month's subscription window.

Thank you!

I'm curious, what's in the book?

Is it just lore and potential plot hooks or is there something else in there too.

I'm curious, what's in the book?

Is it just lore and potential plot hooks or is there something else in there too.

This book? It's the Campaign Setting/Inner Sea World Guide for 2e.

It also contains 10 regional archetypes.

captain yesterday wrote:

I'm curious, what's in the book?

Is it just lore and potential plot hooks or is there something else in there too.

This book? It's the Campaign Setting/Inner Sea World Guide for 2e.

It also contains 10 regional archetypes.

Awesome, thank you!

I knew it was an update on the World Guide, it's great to know about the archetypes though!

Either way, it's in my sidecart waiting for the next round of subs.

Order spawning begins on tuesday, shipping on thursday.
Can't wait to see that map of Golarion! :-)

Order spawning begins on tuesday, shipping on thursday.

Can't wait to see that map of Golarion! :-)

Thank god this means I may finally get my darn core book and bestiary. I had not realized that due to the delay with the world guide it would cause them to not ship the other two until this one came out until it was too late to change anything.

That sounds like a glitch, kaid. At least, I got my CRB and bestiary in the late July shipment. OTOH, I was subbed to both the rpg line and the campaign setting line before 2E.

I was not subbed I preordered all three books right when they first became available. It looks like due to that they held the other two books until this one becomes available. In the customer service thread a few other people responded to me that they had basically the same issue.

I still haven't received my order yet, I ordered the deluxe Core and this one, I guess I should have ordered them separately

I was not subbed I preordered all three books right when they first became available. It looks like due to that they held the other two books until this one becomes available. In the customer service thread a few other people responded to me that they had basically the same issue.

I did the same. They moved my Lost Omens World Guide to a "sidecart" after I noticed the delay, which allowed my other material to be delivered prior to release.

FWIW, it’s probably not too late for both of you to amend your preorder to a subscription if you get onto Customer Service (phone is best, then messageboard post and slowest is email).

There’s pretty much no downside and you’ll get a free PDF of the books. If you don’t want to continue, you can always cancel (via the same channels of communication).