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In two weeks I will be making a presentation of the Pathfinder phenomenon at a local RPG/LARP club. I have around 1 hour of time to speak about the RPG and Golarion.
I will be focusing on the setting for about 80% of the time, because the crowd will be mainly non-D&D gamers who won't really understand most of the nuanced changes in PFRPG. Also, they are a WoD/L5R/7th Sea crowd - much focus on the world and the story, mechanics are somewhat a secondary consideration.
Right now I am trying to figure out which elements of the setting should I focus on. The draft outline of my speech looks like this:
1. History of the setting
(Dungeon/Dragon era, Pathfinder AP)
2. Inspiration behind the setting
(Greyhawk, Lovecraft, Pulp, Planescape)
3. Overview
(kitchen-sinky heroic fantasy !)
4. The races
(focus on the anthropocentrism and of course gnomes)
5. The classes
(quick one, as most will be covered while speaking about the RPG)
6. The religion
(I'm somewhat lost here. Which gods should I talk more about ? Which ones are innovative/breaking the usual cliches ?)
7. The world - Inner Sea
(an overview with highlight on the major countries and new/interesting ideas such as Hermea)
8. The world - other continents
(a quick mention of Tian Xia, Darklands etc.)
9. Organizations
(Red Mantis, Hellknights, etc.)
10. The great beyond - the planes
(planar cosmoslogy)
11. The great beyond - planets
(Castrovel, Aktion etc.)
That's the outline. Any hints and advice are greatly appreciated. If you would talk about Golarion to new players, what would you highlight ? Which elements of the setting are "selling points", so to speak ?
If all goes well, I will give this presentation on a major RPG convention in March next year (ca. 4k attendants), so it's a big chance to promote Pathfinder in my country. Can't blow this one ;-)
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I would begin the gods stuff by talking about Aroden, follow up with Asmodeus in Cheliax and beyond. Then go to first gods (Pharasma, Desna, Rovagug) and the shackling of Rovagug. After that you've got the Shelyn/Zon-Kuthon relationship and you can zip along to the starstone and the three gods who passed (it's a great mix, Cayden tends to get a laugh). Then you can mention Irori (ascended without Starstone) and that's done, except for a passing mention to Achaekek when you cover the Red Mantis.
You'll be missing some of the more cliche/typical gods (Nethys, Torag, Erastil, Gozreh) but that shouldn't be a problem.
The classes don't really exist as social classes or anything so I'm not sure they need covering for Golarion.
I would mention the impact of history on adventures in the setting (Thassilon, Azlant, etc.) and talk about what it's like to be in the setting.
Perhaps some 2nd-person description of interesting locations: "Imagine, you're in the city at the centre of the world, walking down the street of a thousand gods..."
Mhar Massif is interesting, I'd definitely include that.
Just some thoughts.
11. The great beyond - planets
(Castrovel, Aktion etc.)
Not really the Great Beyond. Space is usually referred to as the Dark Tapestry.
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The audience will be mostly in the 18-30 age range, with medium to good RPG experience.
Lots of LARP/Storyteller system players, so I'll pass any crunch as discussing the merits of multiclassing for EK builds will likely kill the audience :)
Girls ! There will be women there ! Quite a lot of them ! Aieeee !
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The audience will be mostly in the 18-30 age range, with medium to good RPG experience.
Lots of LARP/Storyteller system players, so I'll pass any crunch as discussing the merits of multiclassing for EK builds will likely kill the audience :)
Girls ! There will be women there ! Quite a lot of them ! Aieeee !
I would make sure you drive home that almost any archtype campaign can be played in the world - Want Robots and crashed spaceships? - we got that. Want court intrigue? - got that too. Want Ravenloft-like horror theme, got that, want pirates and general anarchy? that's there too. Want Aribian knights? yup, we got that... Have Egypt-themed, and gun themed and places where hell is invading the world theme too..And tell them that the oriental themed part of the world, exists, but not too much is known about it yet (you mentioned it was a WoD/L5R/7th Sea crowd - this way you're telling them that the gaming they are currently comfortable with can still be done, albeit with a slight Golorian twist)
I would make sure you drive home that almost any archtype campaign can be played in the world - Want Robots and crashed spaceships? - we got that. Want court intrigue? - got that too. Want Ravenloft-like horror theme, got that, want pirates and general anarchy? that's there too. Want Aribian knights? yup, we got that... Have Egypt-themed, and gun themed and places where hell is invading the world theme too..And tell them that the oriental themed part of the world, exists, but not too much is known about it yet (you mentioned it was a WoD/L5R/7th Sea crowd - this way you're telling them that the gaming they are currently comfortable with can still be done, albeit with a slight Golorian twist)The audience will be mostly in the 18-30 age range, with medium to good RPG experience.
Lots of LARP/Storyteller system players, so I'll pass any crunch as discussing the merits of multiclassing for EK builds will likely kill the audience :)
Girls ! There will be women there ! Quite a lot of them ! Aieeee !
Yep, this is one of the things that my group liked and why we chose to use the Golarion setting.
And earlier you mentioned gods, the story of how the Archangel Sarenrae ascended to godhood after the great imprisonment of Rovagug was entertaining to me. And of course, you MUST include the stories of the starstone ascended.
As for races, gnomes and elf eyes were the parts that stood out most for me. Hated gnomes since first edition. Read the fluff for them in Pathfinder Beta and was wowed.
But definitely go with the versatility of the settng. Underwater, ancient ruins, grand dungeons, caverns of ancient breeding experiments, mammoth riders, norse raiders, and an island ruled by a dragon intent on improving the breed of man.
Oh my, I dont have enough time to run all the games I want!!!!
Speaking about gods, I think that the Starstone is a very cool idea...and Cayden Callean is the best god ever :D
One of our fans put together this video here which still serves quite well as an introduction to Golarion.
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In two weeks I will be making a presentation of the Pathfinder phenomenon at a local RPG/LARP club. I have around 1 hour of time to speak about the RPG and Golarion.
Here's what I would do. I'm not you and you're not me, so I understand if this isn't how you'd approach it, but hopefully it will be useful.
I'd start by thinking about what's most interesting about Golarion to a newcomer and then what's most interesting to an old hand. The fascinating thing, to me, is that they seem to be the same thing: the massive diversity of the world. Thus, that's where my talk would start (and it might even lend it its title... something like "Golarion: Genre Diversity on a Tectonic Scale")
Part 1: Genre Mixing
A. Cheliax to the Worldwould; Andoran's democracy to Ustalav's Undead themed totalitarianism; Varisian barbarian frontier to Absalom's melting pot metropolis; Garund's dark jungles to Nex's harsh wastes. Golarion is a world of contradictions waiting for any combination of genre stories.
B. The tech level can be anywhere you want it to be. There are primitive regions of barbarism; standard high fantasy city states and magic; nations with pre-industrial guns and construction; alien ultra-tech is even tucked away in one remote nation that guards it jealously.
C. While Golarion is a high-magic world, it has a rich diversity of magical "flavors" ranging from creatures that structure their tribes around a shamanic figure to the classic wizard's school to the deep caverns of strange magic that borders on world-building.
Part 2: Epic Possibilities
A. The Gods: The gods of Golarion are structured roughly around the OGL d20 system's planar layout, but they're not just your typical "sun god, war god, love god, death god, there you're done." Instead, it's mix of deity types that map to many different cultural outlooks. I'd focus a bit, here on Cayden Cailean for two reasons: he's a nice segue into Arodan and Absalom and he's just freakin' cool.
B. The Cities: Golarion's cities are better fleshed out than those in most major works of fantasy fiction. Absolam and Korvosa especially have been the focus of so much attention that they have become rich pools of story and setting on which to draw.
C. The Cultures: When cultures clash, there's always epic storytelling to be done, and in a world with so many different genre-inspired cultures, there's quite a lot of clashing to be done. The Adventure Paths (another segue) have touched on a good deal of this, putting characters into an Arabian-themed nation or on a jungle safari has allowed players to explore these cultural seams, and national cultures that abut each other have given rise to some excellent story-lines in the borders between Cheliax/Andoran, Ustalav/Lastwall, Taldor/Qadira.
Part 3: Reality in Fantasy
A. Stories as background: The short stories in the Pathfinder Journals and Web fiction have really helped to bring the world alive. From the turtle statue outside of the swamp village of Wartle to the mushroom-flavored porridge of the dwarves, everything in Golarion has some bit of story that's unique to the world, and this flavor continues to expand.
B. Never quite perfect: All too many fantasy worlds end up being either squeaky clean or hellish dystopias. The ones that leave their mark bring balance to the shine and the grime, and Golarion does that perfectly. The gleaming marble monuments of Magnimar are no better exemplified than by the massive ruined bridge whose pillars stand 400 feet tall, and yet this beautiful icon of a faded culture that stands within one of the most harmonious fusions of local and invasive cultures is the overhang in whose shadow the city's seedy slums exist.
Part 4: The Details
Now that the generalities have touched on just about everything, it's time to cover the specifics in more detail.
A. Geography: The maps that are provided through the Blog are a great place to start. I'd just walk the crowd through the broad layout of the Inner Sea region.
B. Major Characters: Some more about specific gods, leaders, etc.
C. Publications: The Adventure Paths are the place to start. Discussing their mix of campaign, background and fiction is useful. Move on to the various branches of publication: Companion, Setting, Modules, Rules.
D. Pathfinder Society: The Pathfinders are an interesting organization, and while I'd touch on them briefly, earlier, this might be a better place to go into detail.
Gorbacz - with your list it's fine but i'd leave out 10 and 11. People can find out about that stuff during the game, and it may not even come up for many sessions.
With races, i'd mention the different races and how they are pcs and npcs, thus sometimes not allies and even enemies, but this creates roleplaying opportunities.
I would not go into too much detail about any one god, but mention there are multiple gods, and highlight the contrast eg god of war, goddess of sun, god of undead etc. Each god/goddess has favoured creatures and areas of focus and locations of influence.
And to think this all started because Gary Gygax and friends wanted to do something with their table top miniatures wargameing that involved individuals instead of mass units :)
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I'd push
7. The world - Inner Sea
8. The world - other continents
9. Organizations
up the order to before
4. The races
5. The classes
given the fluff-over-crunch crowd that you are speaking to.
You are also looking at a huge amount of material to cover in only 30 mins of speaking (to leave time for questions, then your 12 mins on the RPG then more questions). You may need to trim items.
If I were speaking, I'd have started with the stuff below and then expanded in most of the headings that you already have:
Paizo primarily write adventure paths. Details of what one is.
They created Golarion to act as a setting and incorporated as many tropes as possible to allow almost anything to be set there. Details... (stuff in OP)
To ensure that they would always have a set of rules to allow these adventure paths to be played, Paizo fixed most of the worst problems with the 3.5 edition of the worlds oldest roleplaying game to make Pathfinder. Since then, they've managed to extend the system while keeping their promise that you'll only need the core book to play. Details... (balance, capstones, etc.)