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I'm still wondering about the differences between these products...why produce them both? Is one meant as a low cost introduction and the other a more in depth treatment? How much material is the same between the two, and if a bunch is did I pay twice for the same material? If its different...why bother?
I've just finished the Gazetteer and been very impressed. I have not dug into the Campaign Setting as of yet, except to notice that "Region" is misspelled on the big map. So right now I'm just looking for some other impressions.
Thanks,
Scott
The Gazetteer is a slimmed down version of the Campaign Setting, appropriate for players, while the Campaign Setting is the DM's Guide, so to speak. There is some repetition of material in the CS from the Gazetteer, but lots of new stuff as well. I'll be handing the Gaz to my players as a world intro, and will provide more detailed regional info from the CS when they settle on a character concept.
I'm used to this approach from the Gazetteer and Living Greyhawk Gazetteer that WotC put out 8 years back, which did basically the same thing.
Contributor
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The Gazetteer is a slimmed down version of the Campaign Setting,
Yes, that is correct. The original intent had been to put out the Gaz about 8 months before the hardcover came out. That didn't happen, though.
appropriate for players, while the Campaign Setting is the DM's Guide, so to speak.
No, that is incorrect. I'm not sure why I can't put a squelch on that idea, but it seems prevalent on these boards. The hardcover is aimed equally at players (hence the 40+ feats and 4 pages of new equipment, to say nothing of spells, domains, and writeups of standard classes and the core races) and GMs (with stuff like weather and climate, flora and fauna, and trade covered--stuff players don't need but that GMs can use).
There is some repetition of material in the CS from the Gazetteer, but lots of new stuff as well.
Yeah, the amount of repetition is unfortunate but unavoidable.
appropriate for players, while the Campaign Setting is the DM's Guide, so to speak.No, that is incorrect. I'm not sure why I can't put a squelch on that idea, but it seems prevalent on these boards. The hardcover is aimed equally at players (hence the 40+ feats and 4 pages of new equipment, to say nothing of spells, domains, and writeups of standard classes and the core races) and GMs (with stuff like weather and climate, flora and fauna, and trade covered--stuff players don't need but that GMs can use).
Oh, I'm not saying the Campaign Setting is entirely inappropriate for players, but at the price it's most definitely not aimed at them. I'm saying most players (at least mine) aren't going to buy it and will rather reference the DM copy. In general I've seen that most "I'm just a player" folks do not by campaign settings because the players are very focused on the information needed for character backgrounds, but might buy a gazetteer because the price-point is low enough. I've already cut out all the feats and alternate class abilities into a spreadsheet for player reference, actually.
The CS also has more detail about the races, countries, gods, etc. and I can readily make that info a break-point between general common knowledge (what's in the Gaz) and more character-concept specific knowledge (what's in the CS).
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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The Gazetteer is a less expensive "try out book" appropriate for players and for people who want to take a peek at the setting without making a major investment. There's hundreds of pages of things to explore in the Campaign Setting, but someone can read the Gazetteer quickly and can still "get" just about everything in the larger book.
It's great as a Player's Guide to the world.
It's a good way to see if you're going to like Golarion.
It is brilliantly written and just won an ENnie for Best Campaign Setting.
