What are some of your favorite locations in Golarion to start a new campaign?
For me, Darkmoon Vale is looking REALLY good... :-)
Hmmm ... for me, there would be two variables going on.
One--the desire to have a roughly sketched area to do my own thing in (which I did a lot when I was a younger GM and had more time to fiddle with details) or,
Two--to have as much good information that the game can give me. I'm loving the APs for this reason. I can fiddle with bits of it, but I have at my fingertips most of the answers to the questions my players are going to bombard me with, and don't have to keep quite so many notes for where I came up with an answer :)
I'm having a blast in Korvosa, and Kelmarene/Katapesh are looking great for when I hit there.
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Well, I have absolutely fallen in love with Absalom. A HUGE city where just about anything goes. It has a unique feel to it (camels in the streets instead of horses for one). I plan on using Absalom as a starting place for any game that can then lead anywhere I want.
If not working on a city game I really like Osirion and Varisia, depending upon the mood I want for the game. Either one, I have Cheliax as the menacing decadent, diabolical nemesis. No desire to run a game IN Cheliax, but they make a great bad guy (duh).
Lastly I like the Mammoth Lords and Irresian (sp?) as well for their exotic Norse flavor.
What are some of your favorite locations in Golarion to start a new campaign?
For me, Darkmoon Vale is looking REALLY good... :-)
I love Darkmoon Vale! In fact, our current campaign is set there. ;-)
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The Darkmoon Vale and its surroundings are loved by me and mine. The Guide to Darkmoon Vale, as well as the adventures therein have provided days of glorious fun.
I also like Osirion. Lots of flavour.
I am also running RofRL, though there has been a break. Sandpoint is interesting, and Magnimar is a cool city.
But nothing beats the Vale for us. Granted I've changed some features (more fey, more bugbears in the north mountains), but it's a great place.
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Varisia and Osirion are probably the closest to my heart. I'm really enamoured with some of the wilder locations as well, like Jalmeray and the Sodden Lands.
Hot damn do I want to play in a Sodden Lands game.
I'm the kind of dumbass who waits for bad weather before going to the park. Sun's up and blazing? Eh. Looks like it might start raining? Time to walk on the trail! So I guess it only fits that I'd want to play an adventurer dumb enough to go to the Sodden Lands just for the hell of it. Or for an legitimate adventure hook, I guess.
But nothing beats the Vale for us. Granted I've changed some features (more fey, more bugbears in the north mountains), but it's a great place.
Yeah, I've modified the Vale quite a bit myself. In fact, I'm running the first two chapters of RotRL in Darkmoon Vale. I replaced Sandpoint with Olfden, and it's working out quite nicely. Heck, I even have a 'Darkmoon Devil' haunting the region. ;-)
Ummm...I have so many. Every time a new one gets detailed up, that becomes my new favorite. I have a fondness for Irrisen, Numeria and the Worldwound, though. :D
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At the moment I have three favorite locations. The first is Mendev/The Worldwound. I'm fascinated by the Mendevian Crusades and the whole witch hunt/inquisition aspect it includes. It also has a certain Diablo feel to it.
Other than Mendev, Orision/Katapesh is very much on my wish list for a Pathfinder Chronicles game. I love the stuff I've read about both nations so far.
My third pick would have to be Ustalav because I'm a sucker for horror games.
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Traitor! You shall be visited by the Inquisitors of our beloved Asmodeus as soon as they can divine your location...Ustalav, as gothic horror is a favorite of mine.
Also, Taldor for the political intrigue possibilities, the Land of the Linnorm Kings for all things viking, and Varisia.
Are you suggesting that in glorious Cheliax there's the same amount of chaos, turmoil, lack of order and poor enforment of the law as in the mentioned lands of slaves-to-be? o_O
Be careful with the Inquisitors, they may find their quarry closer than you intended...
;)
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Traitor! You shall be visited by the Inquisitors of our beloved Asmodeus as soon as they can divine your location...Ustalav, as gothic horror is a favorite of mine.
Also, Taldor for the political intrigue possibilities, the Land of the Linnorm Kings for all things viking, and Varisia.
Are you suggesting that in glorious Cheliax there's the same amount of chaos, turmoil, lack of order and poor enforment of the law as in the mentioned lands of slaves-to-be? o_O
Be careful with the Inquisitors, they may find their quarry closer than you intended...
;)
Nah, they wouldn't touch a senior librarian of the Infernal Library. Besides, my loyalty has been secured with several applications of Geas, and a personal Erinyes assistant! ;)
Your list should have included our beloved, majestic Empire as the *first* and foremost of your favorite places. Clearly foreign agents have dispelled the mind-control spells on you...
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At the moment I have three favorite locations. The first is Mendev/The Worldwound. I'm fascinated by the Mendevian Crusades and the whole witch hunt/inquisition aspect it includes. It also has a certain Diablo feel to it.
Other than Mendev, Orision/Katapesh is very much on my wish list for a Pathfinder Chronicles game. I love the stuff I've read about both nations so far.
My third pick would have to be Ustalav because I'm a sucker for horror games.
Another fallen one... perhaps we need to tighten the leash on the adventuring members of the beloved Empire. Yes, I must talk to the esteemed Lictors and the Inquisitors about this problem...
I'm currently running a game out of Sandpoint. I could have picked anywhere in Golarion, but it seemed like a good place to start.
The World Wound really captures my imagination though. I love the idea of a land where the bad guys are winning. Where desperate crusades are launched to drive the demons back into the abyss. Where mortals find death either at the hands of the fiends themselves, their servants or the abyssal diseases and infections that stalk the land.
With Second Darkness restoring the Drow to their former glory, a Darklands campaign would be awesome. I believe there is also the remnant of the Azlant who have become degenerate subhumans. And the ancient dwarven halls that were built as they dug tirelessly up towards the surface. And then there are the vaults of Orv with their ancient and unknown horrors.
I've always been a Ravenloft fan, so Ustalav would be a favorite as well. Same goes with Axis for a Planescape style game.
The planes. I'm biased. ;)
For on Golarion itself, in no specific order:
Ustalev
Worldwound
Osirion
Irrisen
Nidal
The Darklands
Darkmoon Vale.
The locations, NPC gallery and support through modules have just been fantastic.
Absalom
Absalom > Waterdeep any day of the week. I will start a new campaign there this August, but as we are using PFS scenarios, they will take place all over the Inner Sea, giving the players a better idea of what the different nations on Golarion is all about.
The Realm of the Mammoth Lords.
Ice age! Prehistoric life! Savege barbarians!
I really like the idea of Varisia, a vast frontier region dotted with the monolithic ruins of an ancient empire just waiting to be explored, and the social and political instability brought about by the presence of so many races all attempting to stake a claim and build new nations. It reminds me of the colonization of the Americas, only with gypsies, goblins, and cyclopean structures tossed into the mix.
Beyond that, I am intrigued by the possibilities of Osirion, Katapesh, Jalmeray, Qadira, and Vudra, because the "Near East" seldom plays an important role in most fantasy settings, which tend to be "Euro-centric".
Beyond that, nothing in the Campaign Setting has jumped out at me.
-C. Robert Brown
The Cinderlands. Classic hostile environment. It's like Golarion's Darksun.
The Worldwound is pretty cool too. Reminds me of Warhammer in a good way.Definitely wouldn't mind a chronicles product about the Worldwound.
Your list should have included our beloved, majestic Empire as the *first* and foremost of your favorite places. Clearly foreign agents have dispelled the mind-control spells on you...
Bah. First we close the World Wound, and then we'll take care of the little devil-infestation-problem in a certain backwarter country ...
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The Cinderlands. Classic hostile environment. It's like Golarion's Darksun.
The Worldwound is pretty cool too. Reminds me of Warhammer in a good way.Definitely wouldn't mind a chronicles product about the Worldwound.
A sourcebook and a few adventures about Worldwound and Mendev and the Mendevian Crusades would be very high on my wish list.
Hmmm....
Locations in Golarion detailed so far - I'm loving Sandpoint and Magnimar (as I'm running RotRL currently), and I'm itching to use Riddleport, even if I don't run Second Darkness.
Locations in Golarion only hinted at so far - the ruins of Azlant. An expedition/exploration AP based on going there would be most relevant to my interests.... :)
Your Friendly Neighborhood Dalesman
"Bringing Big D**n Justice to the Bad Guys Since 1369 DR"
Love Riddleport... reminds me of a fantasy Deadwood, but can't wait for the Land of the Linnorm Kings truth be told...
What are some of your favorite locations in Golarion to start a new campaign?
So many good locations! don't forget that when you are preparing notes for your adventures, that many of these locations either don't have articles on The Wiki or have articles that are not complete and could be helped by your expertise. Also check the articles there for the locations you like, some of them are surprisingly complete, including most if not all of the businessesin Sandpoint.
My favorite locations:
1) Runewells. I was ready to watch as evil gained by the 'normal' actions taken by (gasp) the heroes! Also, I was combining them with runestones, for a uniquely operating magical device. Pity they only exist in Varisia, but I was confident the party could be encouraged to build one or two (maybe four) of their own.
2) There were rumors of kobold traders operating out of the Sunken Queen, or some other pyramid. The idea that monsters might not have monstrous motives if they were able to earn an honest living has always appealed to me. I was eager to see the kobolds do something other than lurk in dark caves, worshipping dragons who gave them nothing in return.
3) I suppose I'd like to see something that has politics. Just to have a more up to date system than the combination of Glantri and Red Arrow Black Shield that I currently use. But I'd also like to see something like 'agricultural reductions' used by Romans. What happens in a town of twenty thousand when the farms can now only support five thousand? Do people desperate for their children's lives behave any less monstrous than monsters themselves?
4) I'd like to see a land where the alliances are based on more than 'alignment' and racial discrimination. In spite of a few mis-steps, I think Pathfinder was headed to a more real world. If my voice stifled that development, I'm sorry. (But I'm still balance-centric. If only ONE race has super-feats, the game is unbalanced. Not that it wasn't fun playing brain-slave Hemlock, but really there SHOULD be limits to PC power, ESPECIALLY at first level.)
5) I'd like to see more proof that Varisia is a WILD BORDERLAND; read literally, the entire Samos wood is pacified by gnomes, all of the Cinderlands is dominated by wandering Shaonti - I prefer the 'night sky' analogy. Civilization is a few points of shimmering light - and every so often, one of those lights gets snuffed out. And I like that Golarion is a world where I can read beyond the literal, where the Thorn Scrub exists, and more than one layer of threat menaces the bright, bright lights that produce ale for adventurers.
All of it! Okay, that's not a fair answer because it's a copout. Locations that I'm most likely to use?
Alkenstar
Katapesh
Numeria
Osirion
River Kingdoms
Varisia
What do I like for just sheer coolness?
Jalmeray
Mediogalti Island
Sodden Lands
Ustalav
My top three is:
1.- The Darklands.
2.- Varisia.
3.- The Worldwound.
nothing in the Campaign Setting has jumped out at me.
Your book must be defective, then. It is supposed to have a little surprise for you in the centrefold, a bit to shock you awake.
Nah, they wouldn't touch a senior librarian of the Infernal Library. Besides, my loyalty has been secured with several applications of Geas, and a personal Erinyes assistant! ;)Your list should have included our beloved, majestic Empire as the *first* and foremost of your favorite places. Clearly foreign agents have dispelled the mind-control spells on you...
Ah, drones! Sometimes they are useful.
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Until now, my favorite location was wherever the AP I'm running at the moment is ;)
I've recently started a sandbox PBP game set in Darkmoon Vale (I'll use elements from D0-2, but probably none of them exactly as written). The Chronicles book about it is screaming for something like that, and who knows, if the adventure lasts long enough, where will it end! ;)
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I've been reading the (PDF) Guide to Absalom...
And I have been loving it!
My two "quibbles" with it, is the lack of a poster map, and the lack of specific locations (found within the book) on the map given...
I guess The (early) Forgotten Realms spoiled me where maps are concerned...
Oh well, nothing to keep me from really enjoying Pathfinder and Golarion... :-)
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
I'm enjoying running a couple of Play By Posts in Darkmoon Vale but the more I read up on the Legacy of Fire campaign the more I'm falling in love with Katapesh. Absalom is pretty cool (I have a fondness for big city supplements, my favorite realms product was the 2nd edition Waterdeep Box Set) and Korvosa is the least on my list. Not for any lack of quality on it's part I think I'm just sore than Magnimar only got an article in the Pathfinder and not it's own supplement, it was the city I enjoyed the most in Varisia. If there were sports teams and Magnimar and Korvosa were fierce rivals I'd be rooting for the Magnimar Magmen all the way! :P
Hmmm, that sounds like a fun little goof thread: Sports Teams of the Cities/Regions of Golarion.
By the by, for anyone who just mentioned Ustalav on their list, I just went on a tirade about it over here.
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Thanks Wes.
There is also another thread in which you graciously reveal a boatload full of infos regarding Ustalav.
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I must say, I am enjoying Korvosa quite a bit, it's so nice to run a low maintenance game there with so much information available to me. I am very interested in running a game in Ustalav next, maybe even extending my current CotCT AP to take place there after the main campaign is over.
Another place that I am tremendously excited to see more about is Alkenstar, I absolutely love the concept behind the country, and I can't wait to run a game there.
