It is at least 5 more awesome.
Seriously though, I have no idea. I've only skimmed the 3.5 version, and I'm only about halfway done with the new one. The art is better, as are the maps, so that's a win right there. There's (obviously) no mention of psionics, so I'm pretty happy with that as well (before I start a flame war, let me just say that I have nothing against psionics in general, just how things were generally handled in mixed psionics/magic situations).
I am seriously enjoying the read. I was more than happy to part with the cash for me copy, and that contentment has only grown the further I've gotten into the book. For my money, its definately the best campaign setting book I've come across. Though there is a decided lack of crunch to it, it is at least well written, well thought out, fluff.
It is good. I can't really say much about how much new content you will find, but it is just put together better. I probably won't be reading a whole lot of the sections in detail until I actually run a game in Golarion (my group is still having too much fun running around "ancient greece" to switch in mid-campaign.) Still, it is a great reference. It is easy to find what you are looking for. It is the best campaign setting book I've ever read.
I have the old one but it's going into the archives with my Pathfinder Beta and 3.X core books.
Edit: And those region maps are very awesome. Worth the price of the PDF at the very least. ;)
Has a bunch of stuff that isn't in the original - and the topics touched on in the original have been expanded.
Really good artwork, esp the picture of the Elven Queen - so much better than the original Campaign Setting or Second Darkness.
As for expansion - The 3.5 had 2 pages for most countries and 4 pages for the more developed ones. The Inner Sea Guide has 4-6 per country (and maps as previously said).
Plus it went from 200ish to 350ish. :)
It's just like the original, only this one goes to 11.
;)
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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I miss a few things that were not included. Particularly the class options. Especially the martial academies. 4 + Int modifier skills were nice. But the new book does not have any of the class options. Most of the sidebar info has been consolidated into the adventuring chapter.
The new book is well worth getting. Like buying the Campaign Setting to replace the Gazetteer.
So, for those that have it.
How does it compare to the original 3.5 version?
As someone who has both I do miss the pronunciation guide thats in the 3.5 version. But other then that it's really a great book, and you can't beat the PDF price, hell the 3.5 one is still $35 for the PDF.
I know, I can just use my print up from the first book but it's not the same how will I pronounce all the new names/places that have been add since the first campaign setting? I guess I will muddle through somehow.
Maybe someday Paizo will put up a blog post or a pdf with more pronunciation goodness :-)
It's just like the original, only this one goes to 11.
;)
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Some of the locations in the Inner Sea World Guide are brand new—they've never been mentioned anywhere until this book. Usually because when I was prepping that section for layout it became bluntly obvious that the section of the book was short on text and the map looked barren.
Loved it. Keep up the great work.
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Has me trying to find any other reference for Three Pines Ford since my current campaign is based in Kassen, Nirmathas. Anybody know where there is some info on it? Can't find it on the boards here or on the wiki.
Ditto - that's about my only complaint with the book, there are locations on the maps (and the Poster Map Folio) that aren't even mentioned in the Guide or anywhere else. I understand locations that are mentioned elsewhere but not in the Campaign Guide, but if they're not listed anywhere else, all we have is a name and location...
My players have asked about Three Pines Ford as well, as the nearest marked lcoation to Kassen. I didn't run Crypt of the Everflame, but I like the Nirmathis/Lastwall border region for other campaign considerations, and Kassen is a great ready-to-go starter town.
Creative Director
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Some of the locations in the Inner Sea World Guide are brand new—they've never been mentioned anywhere until this book. Usually because when I was prepping that section for layout it became bluntly obvious that the section of the book was short on text and the map looked barren.Any chance we can get a list of these so we aren't searching for material that doesn't exist? I'm going to run From Shore to Sea next and the PCs are planning their travel - including a stop in Pezzack. Does that exist anywhere? I prefer to stick with canon when I can.
A list of sources for all locations is a tremendous task. The best solution right now is the Pathfinder Wiki.
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Director of Brand Strategy
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Any chance we can get a list of these so we aren't searching for material that doesn't exist? I'm going to run From Shore to Sea next and the PCs are planning their travel - including a stop in Pezzack. Does that exist anywhere? I prefer to stick with canon when I can.
I have a list like this that I made up when scouring all released Pathfinder canon material for the Inner Sea Poster Map Folio, but it's in nowhere near a presentable format. It's mostly shorhand and strange code that only I understand. I'll echo James in pointing you to the wiki. You can find it here.
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I'm using the Wiki, so I'll probably just keep going on the assumption that if it isn't there or in the book, there probably isn't much to be had on it. Which was true for Roslar's Coffer (although I'm totally putting the Red Reaver there if the party stops to check it out on the way to Skelt).
Hah - I added Roslar's Coffer to the Wiki when the map folio came out, and I went there and found it wasn't listed. Love the Red Reaver idea for it.
BTW, Three Pines Ford *does* have an entry, it's just in Lastwall and not Nirmathis...
For the record, we added way more content than we cut. Most of the space we needed for maps and things was made by condensing the wording of existing information rather than axing things wholesale, and we all wrote quite a lot of new material for the various nations and regions--usually in the form of new locations.
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Creative Director
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Good call on replacing the 'Great Beyond' art by the way. :)
I'm curious why the previous half-page Absalom art went? Was it because to open with you wanted a more general view of the city, 'from the sea upwards', so to speak?
Becasue we wanted a view of the city, not a view of one building. Especially not a view of one building that somehow forgot to put buildings in the background. The art we went with for Absalom is better since it evokes a city, not a single building.
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Creative Director
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When it comes to the national entries, the most obvious loss of content is from the entries which were already four pages long in the first edition. Even with the Feat sidebars having been removed and the contents of those either placed elsewhere or dropped, Absalom lost 'The Cornucopias', Andoran lost 'The River Bird Catcher' fable, Cheliax lost 'Notable Noble Houses', Mendev lost 'The Crusader's Oath', The River Kingdoms lost a couple of paragraphs on 'Religion', and Ustalav lost the section on 'The Nobles of Ustalav'. Osirion seems to have escaped with the removal of just the feat sidebar owing to having already had a map and half-page picture incorporated into the first edition Campaign Setting entry; with the national details being inset into the opening art, the larger font of The Inner Sea World Guide just about balanced with the rather lengthy removed feat of the first edition Campaign Setting. The only previously four page national entry where I see condensing of information without loss of information is in the Mwangi Expanse, which had a rather lengthy preamble which did repeat some stuff which came later.
Now all this said, if details of any sort had to go, my perspective is that the most expendable ones went in these cases (although if I were more interested in the mechanical side of the setting, I might well be aggrieved by the feat losses where the feats didn't make the new Adventuring chapter); the Paizo editors working within the limitations of the four page national entries, made good judgement calls where they had to wield the axe. And I wouldn't be surprised if some of the cut material shows up again at some point in the future in region-specific Chronicles line books (if indeed it hasn't already done so - I'm pretty sure the Guide to Absalom had a section on the Cornucopias, for example).
As I mentioned on a previous thread... the choice of what did and didn't make the cut for the book was mine, and I made that choice on a case-by-case basis. In most cases, I cut content because it didn't warrant being mentioned in a book about an entire continental region (such as the River Bird Catcher fable). In a few cases, I cut content because I felt the idea was somewhat poor and wanted to shift away from that idea going forward (Absalom's cornucopias are a great example of this—a city the size of Absalom, with as many magical resources as it has even BEFORE you look at the vast non-magical resources, would not have its fate tied to a few minor magic items like the cornucopias—just made no logical sense, so I downplayed them). And in some cases, while the information would have been nice, I just had to cut to make room. In cases like these (such as with the Cheliax noble families), I made the cuts knowing that we have plenty of other books that talk about that information—in this case, the Council of Thieves Adventure Path, the Cheliax player's guide, and several other books.
Note that in some cases, information you cite as having been cut wasn't cut at all. It was simply moved to a more logical location in the book. The Crusader's Oath is a great example of this—by moving it to the start of the Low Templar prestige class, it's located in a section where it's actually helping bolster the topic at hand, rather than taking up a paragraph that's better spent talking about history, government, and politics.
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Creative Director
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On the Cornucopia front, they're part of the trappings of office for some members of the Absalom government - in fact possession of one is mandatory for the positions - so it goes a bit beyond they're just magical items in a city already jam-packed with them, but I see the rationale that they're more of a local political than geographical concern.
And that's what they're likely to remain as—little more than badges of office. Not really worth mentioning in the four pages we had to talk about Absalom, where we wanted to cover things that were more interesting and relevant.
I wouldn't be too surprised if there's background on a lot of Ustalav aristocrats and other NPCs in the forthcoming Carrion Crown arc and accompanying support material.
The fact that we just published a 64 page book about Ustalav that, among other things, has pictures of its rulers, certainly helped me make the decision to reorganize Ustalav's entry so that it was built like the other 40 some entries in the book.
Indeed, the fact that we've got a healthy, robust line of products that is now solid and not going anywhere allows us to shift the weight of lots of this support material into other books. We didn't really have that option back in the day 3 years ago, when we weren't sure how long Pathifnder, or Paizo for that matter, was going to stick around. (AKA: Losing the license to do D&D magazines was pretty scary for a company that didn't do much more than publish D&D magazines.)
And that's what they're likely to remain as—little more than badges of office. Not really worth mentioning in the four pages we had to talk about Absalom, where we wanted to cover things that were more interesting and relevant.
Ouch!
:)
Nothing to say. I don't disagree, contest, or complain. But I still have to wince and walk it off.
(Context: RPG SS 2010)
+1It's just like the original, only this one goes to 11.
;)
So does this mean the new book now goes to 12?
Even better! :^)
On a more serious note, I just picked up the new Inner Sea World Guide hardcover, and after skimming through it I must say this is an absolutely gorgeous book. I am looking forward to spending more time reading through it.