Pathfinder Gaz / Campaign Setting ?

[jeffb]

Hello-been lurking here for about a year or so but now I have a ? :O)

I'm interested in possibly picking up the PF Gaz or the Hardcover as I've seen some interesting tidbits on ENWorld. Are there any PDF previews or such of either item. This site is a bit hard to navigate so perhaps I missed them.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[James Jacobs]

jeffb wrote:

Hello-been lurking here for about a year or so but now I have a ? :O)

I'm interested in possibly picking up the PF Gaz or the Hardcover as I've seen some interesting tidbits on ENWorld. Are there any PDF previews or such of either item. This site is a bit hard to navigate so perhaps I missed them.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

We don't yet have previews of the actual pages of the product online at this time, but we have previewed a fair amount of the art and bits in our blog, which lives here.

[jeffb]

James Jacobs wrote:

We don't yet have previews of the actual pages of the product online at this time, but we have previewed a fair amount of the art and bits in our blog, which lives here.

Thank You James, I'll take a look-see back through the Blog and see what I can find.

Of course if anyone has anything to share about the setting, I'm all ears. I've heard it's..err Greyhawk-ish, for lack of a better term (and not surprising if it is)

[Charles Evans 25]

jeffb wrote:

James Jacobs wrote:

We don't yet have previews of the actual pages of the product online at this time, but we have previewed a fair amount of the art and bits in our blog, which lives here.

Thank You James, I'll take a look-see back through the Blog and see what I can find.

Of course if anyone has anything to share about the setting, I'm all ears. I've heard it's..err Greyhawk-ish, for lack of a better term (and not surprising if it is)

The Gazetteer and Campaign Setting are both painted in very broad brush-strokes, leaving individual DMs to fill in minutiae. (Sometimes another Pathfinder Chronicles product such as the 'Guide to...' line may focus on a particular area or city, or an article in the back of an issue of the Pathfinder Adventure Path may do so.)

It is very important to bear in mind that both the Gazetteer and Campaign Setting (at least in print format) are still only in their first editions and owing to a hectic production schedule (GSL issues took too long to resolve) occasional gremlins have crept into the pages. Some of us (at least with regard to the Campaign Setting) are compiling a list of errata and seeking clarifications about points *on this thread here*.
Or you could always email James Jacobs, or pop along to a Tuesday night chat (20:00 PST) at Lilith's DMTools chatroom and ask a question yourself.

Edit:
And welcome to the boards, by the way. :D

[jeffb]

Thank You Charles for the info and the e-vite :)

What I've read so far looks pretty interesting. One thing I've not really been able to gather is, how "magic-rich" is the setting? Is it GH-ish? Forgotten Realms? Kalamar? Eberron? Glorantha? ;O)

[SirUrza]

It's not a low magic setting if that's what you're asking. D&D isn't designed to be played as a low magic either.

That said, magic seems to be just as prevalent in Golarion as it is in the Realms and Dragonlance.

[Charles Evans 25]

jeffb wrote:

Thank You Charles for the info and the e-vite :)

What I've read so far looks pretty interesting. One thing I've not really been able to gather is, how "magic-rich" is the setting? Is it GH-ish? Forgotten Realms? Kalamar? Eberron? Glorantha? ;O)

(edited, Korvosa's mention added, due to the Acadamae)

Magic varies from country to country.
Alkenstar, for example is in a magic dead zone that is leftover on the border area between two nations (Geb and Nex) whose archmage leaders made war upon each other centuries before.
Jalmeray (created by Paizo RPGSuperstar finalist, Clinton Boomer, who attained something of a reputation for wackiness during the contest) is a land where some of the rulers have djinn/efreet servants.
And if it's ancient ruins from a defunct empire ruled by wizards you're looking for there's ancient Thassilon, which features in the first adventure Path 'Rise of the Runelords'.
The parts of Golarion detailed thus far do not have the epic-level NPC wizard count (at present) of say the Forgotten Realms, or any areas where magic has been developed to provide anything like Eberron's lightning rails. (Although one country, Numeria, has a crashed 'star-ship' in it). Some countries and city-states (such as Korvosa in the latter case) have colleges for training wizards with a continent spanning reputation.
I've never played or read any Greyhawk (except what adventures came out in later issues of Dungeon magazine), but I know several of the Paizo staff (Erik Mona in particular) have long associations with the Greyhawk setting, and a good deal of respect for Gygax. There have been posts made at times where they have said that they wanted to try to go back to the roots of role-playing fantasy inspired by such authors as Vance and Howard.

I'm not certain if I've answered your question, but I've tried to help. :D

[Charles Evans 25]

Whoops, double post. Smurf!

[James Jacobs]

jeffb wrote:

Thank You Charles for the info and the e-vite :)

What I've read so far looks pretty interesting. One thing I've not really been able to gather is, how "magic-rich" is the setting? Is it GH-ish? Forgotten Realms? Kalamar? Eberron? Glorantha? ;O)

Golarion is about on par with Greyhawk as far as magic level. Maybe even between Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms. Basically... it's as "magic rich" as the core rules set things up to be. There are certain areas of the world that are more magical, and areas that are very low magic; the goal there being to give players of all types somewhere they like.

But Greyhawk is easily the strongest influence on Golarion, along with the writings of authors like Fritz Leiber, HP Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E Howard, and Michael Moorcock.

[jeffb]

James Jacobs wrote:

But Greyhawk is easily the strongest influence on Golarion, along with the writings of authors like Fritz Leiber, HP Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E Howard, and Michael Moorcock.

SOLD! :D

[Erik Mona]

Charles Evans 25 wrote:

Jalmeray (created by Paizo RPGSuperstar finalist, Clinton Boomer, who attained something of a reputation for wackiness during the contest) is a land where some of the rulers have djinn/efreet servants.

While Clinton did an excellent write-up of Jalmeray for the Campaign Setting hardcover, my ego demands that I point out that, in fact, Erik Mona created Jalmeray in the Gazetteer, and that young upstart merely updated and expanded it in the larger resource. :)

[Charles Evans 25]

Erik Mona wrote:

Charles Evans 25 wrote:

Jalmeray (created by Paizo RPGSuperstar finalist, Clinton Boomer, who attained something of a reputation for wackiness during the contest) is a land where some of the rulers have djinn/efreet servants.

While Clinton did an excellent write-up of Jalmeray for the Campaign Setting hardcover, my ego demands that I point out that, in fact, Erik Mona created Jalmeray in the Gazetteer, and that young upstart merely updated and expanded it in the larger resource. :)

I noticed Boomer responded to answer my questions when I posted errors/queries about Jalmeray in the Campaign Setting thread, and since you don't actually indicate anywhere who has what responsibility for each country...

I take it that you're safely back in the states now, Erik. Hope you don't go down with pneumonia like the Marketing Director (I'm never certain if it's proper to referto him as Josh, Joshua, Mr. Frost, 'Sirrah', or 'your evil overlordship with plans of global domination'; I should have asked when I had the chance... :D)
I've been waiting to read on your and Jason's blogs about York & your trip to the Leeds Armoury.

[Erik Mona]

I'm back, yes, and not sick at all! (Well, my back hurts a bit from sleeping funny last night, but I can't blame the UK for that!). York and the armoury were great. I'll post thoughts on them on my personal blog soon!

[Clinton Boomer]

Oh, yeah, uh .... Erik most ASSUREDLY created Jalmeray.

I just took it and ran off into a corner with it and nibbled on the ears a little.

All the cool stuff: Mona
All the mistakes: Boomer

[Charles Evans 25]

Clinton Boomer wrote:

Oh, yeah, uh .... Erik most ASSUREDLY created Jalmeray.

I just took it and ran off into a corner with it and nibbled on the ears a little.

All the cool stuff: Mona
All the mistakes: Boomer

<laughing out loud>

[Mark Peyton]

Erik Mona wrote:

I'm back, yes, and not sick at all! (Well, my back hurts a bit from sleeping funny last night, but I can't blame the UK for that!). York and the armoury were great. I'll post thoughts on them on my personal blog soon!

Leeds Armoury is great. We're running a Comic convention there in November and can't wait to get to see the WETA exhibition as well.

[Joana]

I'm new to Golarion with the Second Darkness AP and picked up the Campaign Setting to get some background on who exactly all these different people are and where they're from and how it all fits together. My impression of the book, however, is that it's more like an encyclopedia for people who have a general idea of Golarion and just want the details on specific bits than something that can be read through cover-to-cover and leave one feeling like one knows something about the world.

Should I have bought the Gazeteer instead? Is it more newbie-friendly? I was looking for something really basic, and the Campaign Setting leaves me feeling rather overwhelmed by how much I don't know.

[Charles Evans 25]

So far, as far as I can see, the Gazetteer contains very little information (at least where it has not been superceded and updated) that the Campaign Setting does not also contain.
Apart from the various map errors, I currently find the Campaign Setting more appealing than the Gazetteer, but I concede it is likely that I am more of a 'reference book' sort of person and that the Gazetteer might be an easier and more appealing read to other people.

[Charles Evans 25]

As a further comment, don't feel overwhelmed by how much you don't know; Paizo themselves are still developing the world, and don't know a good deal about it yet. :)

[James Jacobs]

There's a lot to Golarion, and we did try to make the hardcover Campaign Setting as easy to navigate as we could so that it's relatively easy to find topics you need to read about. The Gazetteer is a much smaller book and while it has less content, it's also less overwhelming as a result.

That said, the Adventure Paths themselves are meant to be self contained too. It's cool to just focus there and get familiar with the world via the adventure path; that's one of the things the adventures are supposed to do in the first place. Then, as you find parts that are interesting, you can read up more about them in the Campaign Setting.

In any event, posting to and reading these boards is a great way to ask questions and become more familiar with the world of Golarion. And on that note: Glad to have you aboard! :)

[Charles Evans 25]

Edit:
Smurf.
Post formerly here moved to the correct thread.

[The Wolf Morkain]

gotta say, I started off with just the gazatteer and thought that it was quite sufficient. I WAS WRONG!!!! after obtaining the campaign setting, I really wouldnt want to game without it...but I am not willing to give up the gazatteer...so the best thing to do, in my humble opinion is to do what I did and grab em both.