So was it announced that this is coming out next year or just that it will be the next World Guide. I am assuming that this will be timed with Jade Regent, and possibly a core book Oriental Adventures type (plus a companion probably Player's Guide to Tian Xia). Is that too much OA stuff all at once? Do we think they will spred it out more?
Is that too much OA stuff all at once?For an entire continent? Two hardcovers and an adventure path? Nah, seems about right to me. :)
I guess I was going more with too many OA products that might not sell as well. Obviously it is not too much content for those of us who are interested.:)
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Let's look at the products then.
A core Oriental Adventures'ish book. It' my impression that a lot of people have asked for such a book, based on various discussions here on the forums. It probably won't sell as well as the core rulebook but I think it'll be popular enough to justify the effort.
A World Guide: Tian Xia book. In this case I think a hardcover book is an obvious choice for a product covering an entire continent. I think it'll be fairly popular as well as many people have asked for Paizo to expand beyond the Inner Sea. It'll make for a tremendous resource for GMs to draw upon when running a Tian Xia adventure path and planning side treks and expansions/tweaks of the adventures.
Jade Regent? Tian Xia World Book? OA type rulebook?
Uh... where have you been hearing about these products (PaizoCon?) and where can I read up on them?
I'm just happy that it's been somewhat confirmed, though I would wait for it to show up on the schedule to be 100% about it. :D
Creative Director
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If and when we do the Jade Regent adventure path, it HAS to be supported by Tian Xia stuff. And that does pretty much mean releasing a lot of it at once.
Which is not all that different than how we released "Into the Darklands" and "Elves of Golarion," and the "Second Darkness Player's Guide" to support Second Darkness.
Or "Princes of Darkness" and the "Cheliax Player's Guide" to support Council of Thieves.
Or "Dark Markets," and the "Legacy of Fire Player's Guide" and even "The Great Beyond" to support Legacy of Fire.
Or "Guide to the River Kingdoms" to support Kingmaker.
Or the "Sargava Companion" and "Heart of the Jungle" and the "Faction Guide" to support Serpent's Skull.
Releasing material to support an Adventure Path is sort of what we've been doing from the start, in other words. How would releasing a couple of support books for Jade Regent be any different, aside from being about something other than the Darklands, Katapesh, devils, jungles, or the River Kingdoms? ALL of those will have folks who don't want to buy those products, but that didn't stop us from going forward with them.
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Creative Director
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Jade Regent? Tian Xia World Book? OA type rulebook?
Uh... where have you been hearing about these products (PaizoCon?) and where can I read up on them?
They were talked about at Paizocon. We haven't officially announced anything yet, so there's nothing really to read up on yet, apart from messagboard threads like this one! :)
Excellent. I know from a design stand point it is probably quite a bit easier to do all of them at once. So then I guess we just wait to see when it will come out. I assume around GenCon 2011.
Official product announcements lately have been done in four month blocks and about six months in advance of the beginning of the block. For example, the thread in this forum announcing the Sept-Dec 2010 products was posted mid-Feb, so do not expect any official announcements til maybe mid-July for Jan-Apr 2011. There will probably be a hardcover book on that schedule, though whether it will be the next book in the new version of the Campaign Setting series is hard to say, though that is the only hardcover I can think of that would be coming out at that time.
Edit:
Just read the Ustalav thread next to this one, and James confirmed this:
Yup. Carrion Crown is the next Adventure Path after Serpent's Skull.
So if all the Tian Xia stuff is released at the same time as a Tian Xia AP, then like Justin said, a July 2011 date is most likely before we get to see any of this goodness.
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Contributor
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So was it announced that this is coming out next year or just that it will be the next World Guide. I am assuming that this will be timed with Jade Regent, and possibly a core book Oriental Adventures type (plus a companion probably Player's Guide to Tian Xia). Is that too much OA stuff all at once? Do we think they will spred it out more?
Personally, I would dive in with eyes closed hoping for a deep, deep bottom when Tian Xia comes out. Most if not all of my players have a thirst for such a non-European setting, and they'll almost certainly want to play native characters.
I wouldn't be surprised, however, if many groups take their Avistan characters across the globe to experience the setting. That'll make it more comfortable for the fantasy RPG paradigm yet still let them encounter the awesome fantasy elements of Asian legend. Especially in this case, an AP and setting are the bare minimum!
Caveat: I'm a big freak for Asian settings and played the hell out of Oriental Adventures back in the day. Mad Monkey vs. the Dragon Claw!
I can assume we will get a rules heavy book in addition to a Golarion setting book. Unless there is a plan to put samurai base classes in the Tien Xia book
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I can assume we will get a rules heavy book in addition to a Golarion setting book. Unless there is a plan to put samurai base classes in the Tien Xia book
Note the following is tongue in cheek humor:
Rogue or assassin=ninja (weren't the basicaly assassins anyway?)
fighter or pally = samurai (figured the whole honor code thing fit well enough)
Monk/cleric/magic users translate over fine, just with different fluff
bard =?
ranger = ?
Barbarian=farmer (let's use our farm tools to rebel against soldiers with swords)
So most need very little work to make them work, maybe the APG will have options that make them feel more OA-ish
I can assume we will get a rules heavy book in addition to a Golarion setting book. Unless there is a plan to put samurai base classes in the Tien Xia bookNote the following is tongue in cheek humor:
** spoiler omitted **
I frankly hope they use archetypes along the lines of the APG to do Asian classes rather than full base classes that just do what other classes already do but with an asian name.
In addition to using archetypes for many of the Asian classes, I would like to see a feat-based martial arts system. In the old (1st edition old) Oriental Adventures, anyone could learn martial arts, not just monks. They used the relatively new "proficiency" system back then.
I would be all for a setting book as long as my wu jen (wizard), ninja (rogue), and samurai (fighter) could also fight unarmed when needed. Note that unarmed combat wasn't necessarily the preferred method of fighting, but in historic China and Japan, peasants weren't allowed weapons. That's why unarmed combat and farming tools were the weapons of choice (the kama is nothing more than the Asian style of sickle, for instance).