I was wondering if there were going to be certain areas in the new Pathfinder world that you guys (James, Eric, and company) had no plans on developing in future products - areas that we as DMs could freely flesh out without running into conflicts with future official development of said areas.
I for one would like to see a few forests, a couple towns/cities, and a mountain range or two left untouched by the official products so that I could go to town on them.
Creative Director
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I was wondering if there were going to be certain areas in the new Pathfinder world that you guys (James, Eric, and company) had no plans on developing in future products - areas that we as DMs could freely flesh out without running into conflicts with future official development of said areas.
I for one would like to see a few forests, a couple towns/cities, and a mountain range or two left untouched by the official products so that I could go to town on them.
That's possible. The Forgotten Realms tried this with Sembia for a while, but then that kind of backfired when they finally decided they WOULD detail it. And since Sembia's really in the middle of things for the heartlands... it didn't seem like a good choice for that role in the first place.
I suspect that we will have some regions that will remain untouched by us, but they'll probably be at the edges of the map or in other remote places.
Assuming there's a call for that, of course. What does everyone else think? Should we leave a few areas untouched forever?
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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Maybe not forever - cause there is no telling how big the world of Golarion actually is (I don't think you should ever answer this question with a finite measurement).
That way, there will always be a new land over the horizon that is untouched....as the map expands, the lands on the new edges are left undetailed.
Make us want it...then every once in a great while, give us little tidbits about one of those undisclosed places. Every few years, give us a lot of info. about them. As they get fleshed out, create new places on the edge for us to wonder about.
But I don't ever want to know how big or small Golarion is. I want it's overall size to always be a mystery. I want to know that no matter how long I play in it, there is always room, somewhere, for something undiscovered.
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Regardless of what's done, you'll run into the canon issues. Provide an undeveloped land for DMs to mess with and then when you or someone else decides it's time to develop it, whoops.
I would suggest perhaps a generic product with the quality of the Pathfinder books, but in the tradition of the GameMastery maps. In other words, something that'd fit perfectly into Pathfinder, but isn't Pathfinder.
The designers at Paizo should feel free to go where their imagination takes them. If I don't like something, I'll ignore it. I presume this approach isn't unique to me...
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The designers at Paizo should feel free to go where their imagination takes them. If I don't like something, I'll ignore it. I presume this approach isn't unique to me...
I agree. My plans are to build a party around Korvosa (or move them there) such that they are ready to take on W1. Once the party gets to a high enough level, I plan to have them create low level retainers who will act in Curse of the Crimson Throne. What things I develop in this area will stay in my notes. I will then append adventures accordingly as they arive from Paizo. If I like something that doesn't quite fit, I can retcon it. Much like someone said on another post, paizo supplies the tools, and I use them how I see fit.
So to answer James' question, do what you will. I trust you guys. I'll either make it work or I'll ignore it. You just keep 'em commin!
If I don't like something, I'll ignore it.
Thirded. I have never let canon stifle my imagination.
If I don't like something, I'll ignore it.Thirded. I have never let canon stifle my imagination.
Same here. In fact, it always kind of surprises me when people talk about the Forgotten Realms being "ruined" by canon--like from developments in the novels. Whenever I've played in the Realms it was pretty much, "Um, here's what the world looks like, Waterdeep is the largest city, there's this ancient ruined Elven city called Myth Drannor, and uh, there's a famous Wizard/Sage named Elminster." That was about it. We pretty much made up the rest.
That being said, having recently been inspired by Mr. West's excellent Lands of Mystery, and given that I expect to be wowed by pretty much everything Paizo does with Golarion, I wouldn't mind one or two smallish continents at the edges of the known world that have maps and nothing else. That way we could feel free to develop those on our own without worrying that the powers that be would come behind us later and create something so much cooler that we'd want to scrap our homebrew ideas.
I was wondering if there were going to be certain areas in the new Pathfinder world that...had no plans on developing in future products
I suspect that we will have some regions that will remain untouched by us, but they'll probably be at the edges of the map or in other remote places.
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Assuming there's a call for that, of course. What does everyone else think? Should we leave a few areas untouched forever?
Easiest solution is to publish a larger map, showing a neighboring continent, close enough to travel to (say 1 to 3 months by ship).
This theroretical continent (lets call it Tennintoc) might have a large city (Port Cireneg) fleshed out. Beyond that, Tennintoc would remain untouched. Ideally the map could show -some- geographical features and a few major roads and cities leading away from Port Cireneg, but everything else would be left a blank slate.Even naming the cities or continent would be optional, but I think it would be best to give them a name so they could be referenced in other adventures. "A ship from Port Cireneg vanished off the coast..." or "Rumors of civil unrest in the lands of Tennintoc..."
Of course the actual names might be better than those above.. >:)
Just one man's opinion
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Assuming there's a call for that, of course. What does everyone else think? Should we leave a few areas untouched forever?
I don't think any area should remain completely untouched. What I usually want from a published campaign setting like Pathfinder Chronicles is a good framework to set adventures, I used to play quite a bit in Greyhawk and it always bothered me how hard it was to find information and maps about even some major towns. A good campaign setting should color in enough to get your imagination going, but not so much that it hardwires a region a certain way.
What does everyone else think? Should we leave a few areas untouched forever?
Give us a couple "Here there be dragons" areas, with little more than sketchy rumors.
Pick a couple of areas. Tell us what they are. Leave em untouched.
Pathfinder is the first non homebrewed setting I've decided to use in 17 years of DMing. That's a pretty big deal for me, changing my DMing style so radically.
Having a couple of areas that I know I can homebrew without complaints from canon lovers... that would be very reassuring to me.
That way we could feel free to develop those on our own without worrying that the powers that be would come behind us later and create something so much cooler that we'd want to scrap our homebrew ideas.
I have some bad news for you if you live in fear of someone coming up with cooler ideas than yours. (grin)