|
As it stands, isn't Sandpoint too far north climactically?
I picture Riddleport as having roughly the same climate & weather as Boston and Magnimar similar to Baltimore. That gives Sandpoint Atlantic City weather; I don't like it. Shouldn't it be more like St. Augustine weather?
My solution is to drop Sandpoint down to the Nidal coast, near Nisroch -- probably replacing Nisroch and pretending that port town never ever existed.
I don't have much of a problem because I don't like Nidal that much, it can always just be that one town in the Uskwood (Pangolais) and not a State or Nation unto itself.
This makes sense for me on a few levels: Making Pangolais a more secretive and "shadowy" town deep in the Uskwood and not the center of a Nation, bringing Sandpoint away from Magnimar while simoultaneously making Riddleport even more remote, putting Sandpoint closer to the Chelish-founded Korvosa and, indeed, Cheliax itself (Sandpoint Devil and all), and lastly, by bringing Sandpoint a few zones south to a more warm-weather climate.
Of course, putting Sandpoint on the southern coast of Cheliax would be more obvious, climate-wise, but I dunno, it still feels more Varisian than Chelish.
My question is thus, is the location of Sandpoint too much of a Sacred Cow already? Would it be too hard to run RotRL if Sandpoint were on the Nidal coast? (not that I'm running RotRL).
Or even better, to the Paizo designers, now that you've developed Avistan and Garund much more than back in, literally, Day 1, if you were designing Sandpoint today, would you put it where you originally put it?
Creative Director
|
Although Sandpoint is based on my hometown of Point Arena, which is on the northern California coast about 3 hours north of San Francisco and about 6 hours south of the Oregon border, the decision to put it where it is in the world was actually based on where I live now, which is the suburbs of Seattle. Sandpoint's at about the same place on the planet that Seattle, or maybe Portland, Oregon is. It's weather is supposed to be a cross between Seattle and Point Arena, as a result: LOTS of fog in the morning and evening, lots of rain, and lots of green. Having never been over to the East Coast, and since Sandpoint's on the west side of a continent, I'm really not sure how accurate saying it's weather is like Boston or Baltimore is, to be honest.
And Sandpoint's proximity to Magnimar is on purpose. The history of the town is pretty closely tied to Magnimar, in that it was settled by a bunch of folks FROM Magnimar, and that settling hasn't been 100% without frustration and political backlash with the locals. Nidal doesn't have the frontier, new land feel that Varisia and the Lost Coast does, since Nidal's been a nation for a long time already. And a nation whose goals and themes are more or less the opposite, in a lot of ways, from Varisia. Heck; the primary Varisian deity, Desna, is more or less an outlaw deity in Nidal. The "Varisan" way of life would choke and die (or more likely be arrested and executed) in Nidal.
One of the #1 axioms of writing is to write what you know. And setting a core, iconic town in a region that I grew up in combined with a region that I've lived in for about 15 years makes a lot of sense to me. As a result, if I were starting over from Day 1, I would put Sandpoint exactly where it is today.
|
|
THANKS James!
I guess that, because my life has been mostly East Coast: Philly, VA, NC and all over FLA, I thought of Gulf Breeze, FL or maybe even Venice, FL when I first read about Sandpoint (Those towns, not as well known as St. Augustine, are similar climactically).
I guess it would behoove me to go back to Pathfinder 1 and reread your article on Sandpoint with a "Redwoods Nat'l Forest" consideration (I've never been to Point Arena; Redwoods is about as close as I can think of.).
. . . . Or I'll just keep my FL Sandpoint and nix Nidal from my game.
|
Having never been over to the East Coast, and since Sandpoint's on the west side of a continent, I'm really not sure how accurate saying it's weather is like Boston or Baltimore is, to be honest.
Well, I've been to Baltimore many times (PA born and raised), but this PaizoCon will be my first time to the West Coast, so I'll let you know how the weather compares! :)
I can speak for Boston, as I'm from there, and currently in Seattle.
Boston is more extreme: more humid in the summer, and far more snow in the winter. Less rain, but more deciduous trees so it is brighter in the fall.
If Sandpoint were more like Boston, it would have more of a real winter. But... it's not.
I can speak for Boston, as I'm from there, and currently in Seattle.
Boston is more extreme: more humid in the summer, and far more snow in the winter. Less rain, but more deciduous trees so it is brighter in the fall.
If Sandpoint were more like Boston, it would have more of a real winter. But... it's not.
I have to concur with Evil Lincoln, being bi-coastal (formerly Philadelphia area, now Seattle).
Boston and Philly and such have actual seasons. In fact nothing beats the colors of New England in the fall.
Seattle has weather. It is wetter in the fall, winter, and spring and drier in the summer, but without the humidity that the eastern seaboard experiences (thankfully). When it snows in Seattle it is AN EVENT. When it snows in Boston, it is, "yeah, whatever".
The west coast doesn't get that typical crappy northern latitude weather until you get north of Vancouver Island.
So you are local, Evil Lincoln? What would it take to drag you to some local Pathfinder Society tables?
CJ
So you are local, Evil Lincoln? What would it take to drag you to some local Pathfinder Society tables?
Not much. Timing mainly. What've you got?
|
|
Well, I skimmed through "Burnt Offerings" and read the article on Sandpoint last night. I also went ahead and browsed the RotRL Players' Guide stuff on Sandpoint.
Sandpoint's cliffs and fog are certainly more westcoast. On the southeast coast the fog is as thick as a 9th level spell but you have to go inland a good 25-100 miles to get it. And there are no cliffs.
But still, SANDpoint still sounds like it would be in Fl to me.
And you can easily change every reference of Magnimar to Korvosa and it all makes sense. In some cases, better sense.
Hmmm.