|
My experience has shown me that there are usually 3 dimensions to RP world design. To some degree or another these are all pushed and the results are mixed.
As a world ages it can become more wide. That is that the core areas of the world are explored in greater detail that there is then a push to find new vistas. Be these Spelljammer (or Spelljammeresq) or hidden dimensions, or new continents that have just been discovered, or additional planes/realities there is some need to have a new area to explore. The goal is freshness, but the end result can often be a fracture of the original market, and this leads to a lack of profitability.
A game world can increase height. That is to say that there are ever greater powers and levels and challenges for the players possibly including immortality and beyond. This eventually leads to a near rewrite of earlier material (ie x monster was supposed to be one of the toughest things on the planet with a CR of 27, but now players can be level 30 and there are hosts of dragons, demons and undead that are routinely in the CR 35 range, so this monster either needs to be retrofitted or it is obsolete.)
The third dimension is depth. Stick with the same power scale and the same areas to explore but provide more details. The bloat here is prestige classes that no one really needs or wants and spells and weapons that one has to logically ask where they came from and why they were not in earlier material.
The only other way I have seen this done was in Forgotten Realms were they attempted to move the time line forward, but those I have talked to about that said it was a disaster. (I think to a lesser degree this was tried with Ravenloft and Dragonlance as well). I am guessing the "reboot" model requiring so many new books be bought leads to a certain fatigue. This said, I think this last approach is the only possible way to keep a setting fresh, but care would have to be taken to make sure that the auidience was not fractured etc.
Golorian is a healthy young adult now. Gone are the days when whatever was posible. Limits are there and this is a good thing. The world is grounded and while the sky is no longer the limit there are still wonderful possibilities ahead. That said, one day this world will start to show it's age and I wonder if the designers here have thought of how to keep the setting young? Or designers of other worlds/even home brewed perhaps have suggestions to retain the vibrance of this setting.
One thing to bear in mind is that Golarion was largely designed by some very veteran setting designers. The approach (of the three you outline) has been Depth, but as a result of the creator's experience and planning I think they dodge some of the bullets you mention above. Especially when it comes to things like the role of prestige classes.
Golarion's timeline has its own policy, specifically no published module or adventure path is ever considered to have "happened" in the larger setting material. Every part of the setting is lying in wait for new PCs. I think this is an excellent approach, and I hope they stick with it.