In other regions of the world, we'll likely have different non-human races, but we're unlikely to, say, have "D&D Style Dwarf nations" on our Australia or Russia or China inspired regions, for example.
I would love to see Hittite and Scythian inspired regions and cultures.
I could see a Hittite style dwarf empire with military might based on superior metal working and all terrain chariots pulled by teams of dire goats. With 2 crossbowmen and 1 driver.Or a nomadic group of Scythian style elves with a strong horse based culture.
I'd like to see the Ancient Greeks represented, my biggest beef with the inner sea is there's nowhere near enough islands, I was hoping it (or at least part of it) would be dotted with islands ala the Mediterranean and Aegean seas.
Would you prefer The Hellas (Greece) of the Trojan War, Persian Wars, The Peloponnesian Wars, Philip and Alexander or the post Alexander Successor States.
I like the Peloponnesian War - Sparta against Athens, Democracy Vs Oligarchy (Militocracy?) Maritime Vs Land.
The shape of traditional hoplite warfare was changing Peltasts and other troops were comming into thier own.
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- Persia (Iran)
- Wales, Scotland and Eire. Celtic and mythical Gaels.
- Germany, Switzerland, Prussia, Austria, Black forest and alpine villages with a twist of Grimm, and a dash of Faerie.
- South Sea Islands and atolls, with merpolitik.
- Papua New Guinea. Stone age headhunters locked in a mountain valley, with no contact with the outside world. Each tribe has a language, and a religion, and totems and taboos. Add a pinch of Cthulhu for flavour.
- Tibet and Nepal. Mountain monasteries and long haired goats, with little shrines and local spirits.
- Thailand (Siam)gunboats vs oarships.
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Persia (Iran)
Qadira feels vaguely Persian, but lacks some of the Mameluke-y goodness I'd most want to see. (Yes, I made up my own Mameluke order for Al-Qadim. I also rewrote most of the Complete Sha'ir kits, which were, IMO, wonderful ideas, but horribly executed. I am comfortable in my dorkitude!)
South Sea Islands and atolls, with merpolitik.
Papua New Guinea. Stone age headhunters locked in a mountain valley, with no contact with the outside world. Each tribe has a language, and a religion, and totems and taboos. Add a pinch of Cthulhu for flavour.
Ooh, Polynesian islander stuff does sound appealing. And hey, there's this neat article on Pele as a goddess by Nic Logue to give us inspiration! Outrigger canoes, cannibalistic shark-worshippers who swim out and climb aboard your ship at night...
Tibet and Nepal. Mountain monasteries and long haired goats, with little shrines and local spirits.
Which could have even more Cthulhu-flavor. "Try the Lhasa lamb. It's quite fresh."
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Color me weird, but what I'd really love to see is a frontier region of rolling hills and grasslands, whose primary incomes are mining and livestock, with a definite "wild west" feel. You'd have to ditch the guns (maybe swap them for crossbows), but otherwise it would be a perfect high-adventure setting.
I realize that echoing real world cultures gives everyone a quick grasp on the flavor of a nation, but why not be bold and create some really 'out there' cultures--maybe shaped by an catastrophic magical event or a weird magical feature fixed to the landscape? After all, fantasy worlds are supposed to tickle our imaginations...
Alternatively, why not a culture or two that builds on 'what if' scenarios (what if Rome repulsed the barbarians and survived into the Middle Ages? What if Aztecs/Mayans/Incas invaded Europe instead of the Muslims? What if Europe went through a full-fledged ice age during the time of Charlemagne? What if Egypt repulsed Rome and became a counterbalancing sea power? What if Persia invaded Greece and killed Alexander the Great before carving out his empire?) Think of the interesting cultures that could arise from intermixing adversarial nations in unexpected ways.
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Persia (Iran) Qadira feels vaguely Persian, but lacks some of the Mameluke-y goodness I'd most want to see. (Yes, I made up my own Mameluke order for Al-Qadim. I also rewrote most of the Complete Sha'ir kits, which were, IMO, wonderful ideas, but horribly executed. I am comfortable in my dorkitude!)
South Sea Islands and atolls, with merpolitik.
Papua New Guinea. Stone age headhunters locked in a mountain valley, with no contact with the outside world. Each tribe has a language, and a religion, and totems and taboos. Add a pinch of Cthulhu for flavour. Ooh, Polynesian islander stuff does sound appealing. And hey, there's this neat article on Pele as a goddess by Nic Logue to give us inspiration! Outrigger canoes, cannibalistic shark-worshippers who swim out and climb aboard your ship at night...
Tibet and Nepal. Mountain monasteries and long haired goats, with little shrines and local spirits. Which could have even more Cthulhu-flavor. "Try the Lhasa lamb. It's quite fresh."
Maaaaaaan we can do without that Logue wackiness stuff... well OK maybe not keep it coming keep it coming!
I vote also for Greek (Yes to all of the above periods- can be different city states) Rome, and Polynesian Islands...
Hmm...I think there was another thread like this a while back, but it has been a while, so...
I would like to see the part of the world that was inspired by North America. I believe they are planning to call it "Arcadia." I'd really like to see Turquoise Dragons (Blue Desert Dragons who look kinda faded), Native Arcadian Centaurs who are a proud, noble and nomadic people, Red Sand Deserts with Mesas, Dry and sandy Lizardfolk whose shamans practice a rare form of magic, folks who fight with bolas and sabres, giant rattlers and scorpions, gnolls...etc. Maybe throw in some prospectors and abandoned silver mines...
I think that would rock.
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Hmm...I think there was another thread like this a while back, but it has been a while, so...
I would like to see the part of the world that was inspired by North America. I believe they are planning to call it "Arcadia." I'd really like to see Turquoise Dragons (Blue Desert Dragons who look kinda faded), Native Arcadian Centaurs who are a proud, noble and nomadic people, Red Sand Deserts with Mesas, Dry and sandy Lizardfolk whose shamans practice a rare form of magic, folks who fight with bolas and sabres, giant rattlers and scorpions, gnolls...etc. Maybe throw in some prospectors and abandoned silver mines...
I think that would rock.
You sold me on visuals alone.
Seconding Polynesia and Tibet/Nepal as well.
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I would like to see the part of the world that was inspired by North America. I believe they are planning to call it "Arcadia." I'd really like to see Turquoise Dragons (Blue Desert Dragons who look kinda faded), Native Arcadian Centaurs who are a proud, noble and nomadic people, Red Sand Deserts with Mesas, Dry and sandy Lizardfolk whose shamans practice a rare form of magic, folks who fight with bolas and sabres, giant rattlers and scorpions, gnolls...etc. Maybe throw in some prospectors and abandoned silver mines...
I think that would rock.
I think it would rock too.
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Color me weird, but what I'd really love to see is a frontier region of rolling hills and grasslands, whose primary incomes are mining and livestock, with a definite "wild west" feel. You'd have to ditch the guns (maybe swap them for crossbows), but otherwise it would be a perfect high-adventure setting.
I remember a Voyage of the Princess Ark story doing something like this with small, repeating hand crossbows.
My vote is for Prussia, Cossacks, Magyars, Italian condottieri/city states, Bedouins, and the Tuareg/Mali Empire.
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My vote is for Prussia, Cossacks, Magyars, Italian condottieri/city states, Bedouins, and the Tuareg/Mali Empire.
Renaissance Italy is one of the most fascinating and exciting places to set fantasy games. I've based my campaigns in Mystara's Darokin (totally based on the Italian city states) for twenty years now, and it has yet to stop yielding adventure ideas.
What would I like to see?
Fewer real world inspired regions :)
In my experience, the problem with non-real-world-inspired regions, is that they often do feel real world inspired, like a generic fantasy melange of Eastern European tropes... with 'cool' elements from other cultures, (kung-fu monks and shuriken as core in D&D, I'm lookin' at you.) tossed in for badass factor, often without any real thought for how they popped into a culture with no context for them.
To create a fantasy region that feels like it is its own place instead of being rehashed from Europe and Middle Earth takes a lot of doing. Taking inspiration from other real world cultures is a good shorthand way to make a place feel different and instill a sense of real -culture- with solid background to it. At the same time, it pays more than lip service to the idea that places other than Europe are rich in... fantasy vibe. We have Naga from India, Manticore from Persia, Ogre Magi from Japan, Wendigo from North America, and fantasy wouldn't have them without those places.
Sorry, this turned into a shpiel, and remember, when I say "in my experience," I'm probably actually saying "in my opinion." ;)
By the same token, I admit that anytime someone can create a fantasy region/world that really feels distinct and like an entity in its own right, I love it (well, providing that I like it.) Kudos to that!
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hmm, well my usual favorite of Egyptian is already there, so i'd have to say that the ones i most want to see if i had the choice are
-the Celts (Ireland, Scotland, Wales)
-North america in either the native american or frontier flavours (the first being more nature and going with the flow of it, the second being an attempt to civilize it)
-a whole new concept based on magic evolving. maybe taking on an isolated, arrogant outlook. might be interesting. impossible architecture, maybe a place for all those lovecraftian ideas mentioned above, everyone is an abberation due to magic infiltrating the genome there.
-Atlantis. I'd like the concept of a city or region that is missing. either there are still people there or it's long dead. either fantasy of technology based. either way, a place that just disappeared one day. maybe combine this with the magic area above.
other then those, i can't think of anything that i think is "missing".
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In my experience ... this turned into a shpiel, and remember, when I say 'in my experience," I'm probably actually saying 'in my opinion.'
You're absolutely right, and I'm not in any way suggesting this is a Paizo-problem -- it's a genre-wide problem. Deeply original fantasy is very rare indeed, and when you find it it's often incompatible with RPG gaming.
I can come up with classical west European fantasy, or Egyptian stuff, or Norse, or Amerind, or Greek, or ... all of which are, as Hollywood (oh so very often) puts it, "inspired by ..."
What I want are guys that are smarter than me creating realms I couldn't imagine but which are marvels to adventure in.
The OP asked what I'd like to see, not necessarily what I thought was reasonable to hope for! As much as I love trad-fantasy I want fairytales and fantastique, I want Clive-Barker-does-the-Wizard-of-Oz and a freaky east European Alice in Wonderland.
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In my experience ... this turned into a shpiel, and remember, when I say 'in my experience," I'm probably actually saying 'in my opinion.'You're absolutely right, and I'm not in any way suggesting this is a Paizo-problem -- it's a genre-wide problem. Deeply original fantasy is very rare indeed, and when you find it it's often incompatible with RPG gaming.
I can come up with classical west European fantasy, or Egyptian stuff, or Norse, or Amerind, or Greek, or ... all of which are, as Hollywood (oh so very often) puts it, "inspired by ..."
What I want are guys that are smarter than me creating realms I couldn't imagine but which are marvels to adventure in.
The OP asked what I'd like to see, not necessarily what I thought was reasonable to hope for! As much as I love trad-fantasy I want fairytales and fantastique, I want Clive-Barker-does-the-Wizard-of-Oz and a freaky east European Alice in Wonderland.
A Nicholas Logue freaky east European Alice in Wonderland! now that'd be something i can get behind!
I would love to see an "Arabic"-style setup somewhere. (Think Aladdin w/o all the Disney)
AFAIK that's Qadira in the Campaign Setting.
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I strongly support-
Germany, Switzerland, Prussia, Austria, Black forest and alpine villages with a twist of Grimm, and a dash of Faerie.
South Sea Islands and atolls, with merpolitik.
Papua New Guinea. Stone age headhunters locked in a mountain valley, with no contact with the outside world. Each tribe has a language, and a religion, and totems and taboos. Add a pinch of Cthulhu for flavour.
Tibet and Nepal. Mountain monasteries and long haired goats, with little shrines and local spirits.
Something based on the Khmer civilization that built Angkor Wat
Though I’ve never read Wheel of the Infinate, and
I would like to see the part of the world that was inspired by North America. I believe they are planning to call it "Arcadia." I'd really like to see Turquoise Dragons (Blue Desert Dragons who look kinda faded), Native Arcadian Centaurs who are a proud, noble and nomadic people, Red Sand Deserts with Mesas, Dry and sandy Lizardfolk whose shamans practice a rare form of magic, folks who fight with bolas and sabres, giant rattlers and scorpions, gnolls...etc. Maybe throw in some prospectors and abandoned silver mines...
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I thought I read something about an area of Tian Xia that already included a fantasy version of Thailand, but my recollection of such is fuzzy and I can find no actual proof of such. If there isn’t one already, I also support this idea.
I also thought Casmaron had Persia and Arabia fairly well covered, and lost Azlant, the former greatest (and first) human empire that was sunk beneath the waves by the fall of the Starstone, seemed to fit the Atlantis bill perfectly, but that may just be me.
In response to
I realize that echoing real world cultures gives everyone a quick grasp on the flavor of a nation, but why not be bold and create some really 'out there' cultures--maybe shaped by an catastrophic magical event or a weird magical feature fixed to the landscape? After all, fantasy worlds are supposed to tickle our imaginations...
and
Fewer real world inspired regions :)
I do, in general, tend to agree. I love seeing and playing in “completely out there” fantasy settings, provided, of course, that they are well done. This is part of why I look forward to more info on the planes and other planets. I think, though, that it was important to ground Golarion, as Pathfinder’s base setting, in a more traditional setting, and I think James and the rest of Paizo have done very well in making an Earth-based world that doesn’t feel so much like Earth that it sucks the fun out of the game for me (which some other games have done). That being said, I heartily encourage that there be more material on odd settings, particularly off-world ones.
A Nicholas Logue freaky east European Alice in Wonderland!
Is something that I too like the sound of, particularly since I want more info on Golarion’s fae and the First World.
To contribute another idea to the thread, I’d like to see some sort of large marsh-type area in Southern Arcadia, reminiscent of the Louisiana Bayou. I’d love to see more swamps, and I could easily see tribes of gator-variant lizardfolk, mysterious swamp spirits, monsters that lurk in the mire, and local magic traditions practiced by mystics and hermits reminiscent of voodoo, complete with juju zombies and some new undead.
Wales, Scotland and Eire. Celtic and mythical Gaels.
Yes please! Gimme head hunting, Warp Spasming, woad covered, honor obsessed, cow herding maniacs who build wicker men at the instruction of inscrutable Druids and both honor and fear their Elven/Sidhe antecedents. And lets not forget their witches who train their best warriors.
And gimme proper formorians too- not the deformed itinerant giants of 3.5 or the oddball rabble of 4.0- I want chaos itself- magnificent, alien beauty next to nightmare horrors, who build crystal towers and take both cattle and women for breeding purposes- perhaps giant-kin that are or were a client people of the Aboleths? Could certainly explain the "evil eye" of their god-king.
I’d love to see more swamps, and I could easily see tribes of gator-variant lizardfolk, mysterious swamp spirits, monsters that lurk in the mire, and local magic traditions practiced by mystics and hermits reminiscent of voodoo, complete with juju zombies and some new undead.
I think I speak for everyone when I say that by definition, by sheer definition itself, as if writ in stone at the beginning of time, gator-men are inherently awesome.
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And if I'm not speaking for you when I say that... go away. Just... go away. There's no room here for gator-haters. (I kid, I kid! This is me, kidding!) ;)
But not kidding about gator-men. They're great.
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I would also like to see a non-primitive African-inspired land. Give it technology equal to the rest of the world but hold closer to the cultural practices so that it feels different than the more common settings.
Seriously! I was a bit disappointed with Mwangi Expanse, which is very "Tarzan's Africa." I'd love to see something modeled on the Mali Empire of the 13th to 15th century, which was as advanced as any European nation of the time.
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Yes please! Gimme head hunting, Warp Spasming, woad covered, honor obsessed, cow herding maniacs who build wicker men at the instruction of inscrutable Druids and both honor and fear their Elven/Sidhe antecedents. And lets not forget their witches who train their best warriors.
I second that.....but make it a matriarchal society where the men are to busy fighting and cattle stealing to bother with the day to day business of ruling the place.The flavour could be quite distinct if you do it that way.
And on the suject of africa..I'd like to say yes to the Mali Empire too...but I think there should be a place for ...Halfling Zulus
Dwarven Sergeant to his officer at Orks Drift
"Excuse me Sir but sentries report halflings to the southeast...
thousands off 'em"
Stygia.
What? Stygia is RW, ain't it?
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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The "Beyond the Inner Sea" section in the hardcover contains a 4,000-word overview of distant nations by yours truly that checks off a whole bunch of these (including some that are "not" so much inspired by real world cultures). I think most of the posters here will find it interesting reading.
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What about under the ocean? There should be several kingdoms beneath the waves, tritons, merfolk, aventi, sahuagin, koa tuo, kraken, sea elves, etc.
What are the borders, the politics, the trade routes? Where are the wars happening? What effect do land-dwellers have?
Are there great underwater cities, sub-oceanic dungeons filled with aboleths, or commoners beset by rampaging sea dragons?
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What about under the ocean? There should be several kingdoms beneath the waves, tritons, merfolk, aventi, sahuagin, koa tuo, kraken, sea elves, etc.
What are the borders, the politics, the trade routes? Where are the wars happening? What effect do land-dwellers have?
Are there great underwater cities, sub-oceanic dungeons filled with aboleths, or commoners beset by rampaging sea dragons?
Kuo-Toa and Aventi (and those anthropomorphic Orca-mos or whatever, Darfellen?) are WotC IP, but the rest should be usable.
Sahuagin, Sea Elves, Aboleth and Kraken are my favorites. (Never liked Merfolk or Tritons or Locathah.) Then again, if ideas from earlier editions are used, there are also Aquatic Trolls, Ogres, Gargoyles, Ghouls, Hobgoblins and Umber Hulks, as well as the odd aquatic Storm Giant!
Busy place down there, even without Aventi and Kuo-Toans...
I kinda liked how Dragonlance went into how the Sea Elves were divided up, and in Eberron, the Sahuagin had established territories. Greyhawk didn't do as much in that area. The Scarred Lands went one step further and had Piscean cities instead of Sahuagin, and Kraken territories as well as the whole Blood Sea thing.
I'd like to see South/Mid American (Aztec,Inca or Mayan) and Arabian.
I'm a big fan of Al-qadim,so anything for that( yay, Legacy of fire) ...I felt the WotC adventures for Maztica were rather poor, so would be interested in seeing what Paizo might make of that sort of setting.
Heck, even an Australian Aboriginal inspired region mihgt be good. I've not seen many RPGs address that (outside of Terror Australis) and there's whole myth cycle there.
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I felt the WotC adventures for Maztica were rather poor, so would be interested in seeing what Paizo might make of that sort of setting.
Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan was evocative as all heck, but the Maztica stuff kinda failed to hit that mark, IMO. While I wouldn't care to see a slavish reproduction of Central and South American Aztec / Inca / Mayan / Toltec style cultures, it would be neat to see some nods to it in the cultures of the Mwangi Expanse.
Some stuff blows away traditional 'over-the-top' fantasy depictions, such as the 'great skull rack' at Tenochtitlan, which was believed to have as many as 60,000 human skulls displayed (from war captives and sacrifices) and to be the largest of the five skull racks in the city! Even if the number was grossly inflated, it would still make the old fantasy trope of a necromancer-king having a throne made from the bones of his enemies seem like small potatoes!
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I'd like to see South/Mid American (Aztec,Inca or Mayan) and Arabian.
I'm totally for Mesoamerican or Inca civilization. But none of this "conquistador" stuff. No, I say Pathfinder's "Americans" should win. They should crush what foolish invaders spill into their fierce lands and repulse the outsiders with ease and impunity. And I have two words for you: llama chariots. Even better, dire llama chariots. How about scythed dire llama chariots. With guns. I think I just made a new campaign setting. ;D
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Once the pile of misfit monsters reaches critical mass, Australia.
A sub-Saharan salt empire. With mostly trade goods for treasure, instead of coins, for a change.
The Atacama/Nazca deserts. With lines. And Aucturn. Far from Osirion. Maybe the lines refer to some of Golarion's constellations.
The Landes, back in the day when it was swampy heath with lots of stilts and sheep, instead of the present-day pine forest. (This one I read about 6 books or so ago in The Discovery of France.)
Tunguska in summer. With myconids, or mi-go. On reindeer-back. Maybe!
Stonehenge or the Iasc version of Ireland, where a big herd of livestock is the loot or maybe needs rescuing. Or sacrificing to open the portal to somewhere.
Also ripped from the headlines, a glacier melts and something from a long time ago is now revealed or maybe set loose.
Any of the lesser known of the Seven WOnders of the Ancient World, or maybe the Ishtar Gate. (Though I could see saving that one for the street that goes to the Starstone.)
The Shey Citadels of Irrere!
not a fan of real world copies
but I'd like to Phoenician style culture
I didn't have any problem with real world "inspired" cultures, I just hated some of the encyclopedia "cut and paste" from 2nd edition.
A Mongolian inspired culture? Great!
A culture that is almost word for fricking word mongolians, right down to not using magic in a magic rich setting, and taking up the majority of a boxed set to present information that was lifted almost straight from a history book on mongolians? No, please . . .
I think that we're not going for copies as much as inspiration and loose cultural analogues.
Except for the Land of the Linnorm Kings. Those guys are Vikings.
I know, that's much better than e.g. Maztica, Mulhorand ...
considering Ulfen I particularly like that their pillaging days are mostly over and are mercenaries, closer to Normans
I didn't have any problem with real world "inspired" cultures, I just hated some of the encyclopedia "cut and paste" from 2nd edition.
indeed
I would really like a Mesoamerican and/or north american indian locale. Like other posters have mentioned though, without the Europe influence.
I would really like a Mesoamerican and/or north american indian locale. Like other posters have mentioned though, without the Europe influence.
I would like to see a Mesoamerican region as well, because then we would have Llamas!