Usefulness of Inner Sea CS with Kingmaker

[Munin]

First, writing as a relative noobie to the setting itself, I'm under the assumption that the Kingmaker AP actually takes place within the Inner Sea region. If it doesn't, well, I guess this post is moot.

If it does, I'm wondering what the value of the setting book is when weighed against the $50 price tag. I know the APs are self-contained, but if there is enough value to warrant the purchase, I'll consider it.

On a side note, I also wonder about the balance of player goodies vs GM tools. I don't know how many so-called campaign settings I've skimmed through that are little more than a collection of PrCs, feats and various player props. Well, enough to turn me off of anything D20 for the last several years I suppose.

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

Strictly speaking it's not necessary. But it is useful. More depth of knowledge about the various races a broader understanding of neighbouring regions might give you ideas for subplots or additions.

Useful, but not necessary.

[Kvantum]

For Kingmaker? No, it's not that useful, at least when compared to Guide to the River Kingdoms. If you don't have that one, there's where you should spend some money if you want support material for a Kingmaker game.

Of course you really don't need either one to run Kingmaker, but they'd help.

Edit: And as far as the player vs. GM usefulness ratio goes, the book is 320 pages long, and out of that only 30 pages are feats, PrCs, magic items, spells, and whatnot. The whole rest of the book is 20 pages of monsters to torment PCs with and 270 pages of campaign setting flavor.

[PJ]

DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:

Strictly speaking it's not necessary. But it is useful. More depth of knowledge about the various races a broader understanding of neighbouring regions might give you ideas for subplots or additions.

Useful, but not necessary.

+1

[Archmage_Atrus]

If you're thinking of getting the Inner Sea world guide only for Kingmaker - don't. It will honestly be a waste of your money.

(That being said - if you like the Golarion setting, get it - it's a great book.)

I suggest if you're looking for background material you get the Guide to the River Kingdoms and, possibly, the player companion Inner Sea Primer (mostly for the Aldori swordlord alternate fighter features.) The Guide was/is pretty invaluable in my game, and the Primer has allowed me to actually differentiate the Aldori swordlords mechanically from other fighters.

[Erik Freund]

I'll chime in with "not useful."

Get Guide to the River Kingdoms and lean into the Brevoy article in the first book and the Iobaria article in the third book and then you're good.

The only other thing you might be missing is info on the dieties. Those you can crib from one of the Pathfinder Wikis, or pick up the dieties book if your players care that much.

[Munin]

Thanks for your input, guys, I really appreciate it. My gaming dollar is rather limited of late.
I'll pick up the River Kingdoms guide and go with that.

[Zombieneighbours]

The river kingdoms board something like six of the nations of the inner sea region, with the stolen lands themselves boardering the river kingdoms proper, numaria and brevoy.

There is a lot of infomation in the original guide to the inner sea(and presumably even more in the new one) that will nicely expand your understanding of the region, and those countrys which make regular appearances. The infomation on Gods, races/ethnicities, and culture are invaluable for making a game feel like it is part of golarion.

Is it worth $50s? Well if this is the only AP you ever run, and you have no intention of playing Pathfinder society games, running further adventures in golarion or even reading the rest of the book, you'll probable find that it isn't worth the money.

However, what almost certainly would be worth the money is purchasing the PDF of the book. At $10, you get all the same info, and can get guide to the river kingdoms as well, for less than the print cost of the campaign setting.

[Brian Bachman]

I'll add to the chorus saying that it is not necessary, but is potentially useful. The content can certainly significantly enhance a Kingmaker campaign, but everything you really need is in the AP itself, and a few cheaper supplements mentioned above can also provide some nice enhancement.

I just got my Inner Seas setting book last week and am still going through it, and must say it is very well done. It provides a wealth of detailed material that I think any GM intending to run a campaign in Golarion will really want. I really felt its lack when I started Kingmaker (our first forasy into Golarion) several months ago, as I had to scratch around on the Internet or elsewhere for the background material I wanted to bring the world alive. I despaired as they kept pushing the publication date further and further back, as I would have liked to have it before I started. That's me, though, and peculiar to my style of GMing. I like to include a lot of context to my players so they know what is going on in the rest of the world and how what they are doing fits into it. My Kingmaker game is rich in political intrigue and diplomatic relations with surrounding nations, and the Inner Seas book helps me a lot in providing detail to that. In contrast to the OP, my gaming dollar is also a lot less limited than it used to be, so the big pricetag isn't much of a deterrent for a good product.

So my bottom line is that, if I were in the OP's shoes, I wouldn't buy it if Kingmaker is a one-off and you don't intend to continue adventuring in Golarion. On the flipside, if the OP does intend to continue playing in Golarion and/or run other APs, I would recommend saving his nickels for the purchase. And if someone suddenly leaves him an unexpected inheritance (so long as it isn't a long-lost uncle he never heard of in Nigeria) it is a good book and worth the price.