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Im curious as to what all went in to designing Golarion. Did you start with one person designing a world map, and then build cities from there? Just curious.
Poke around the boards for posts by James Jacobs. It originated as his home campaign.
They also began with some admirable world assumptions, such as: The PCs are the heroes of the story, not the NPCs. Also, no adventure is assumed to have happened before the PCs get there (although they've broken rule this notably only once, and I think the Shattered Star AP will do so again).
These are some of the reasons it feels a little less like "the developer's homebrew setting gone pro".
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I believe Erik Mona added some from one of his home games as well. I believe it has exploded from there.
Cheliax was based on a vacation Erik went on, I believe (It's in one of the blogs somewhere).
Basicly it sounds like they came up with some ideas for nations like "devil worshipers" and "freedom fighters" and "atheist country in a world were you can prove the gods are real" and each person in the company made one or two their 'pet projects' for a few months, fleshing out the ideas to cohesiveness, and then placing them in the inner sea where they world fit aesthetically and getting freelancers lined up to write about them. A lot of the forwards in the earlier books are about the world building process. As they don't get very spoilerific, I would suggest reading those if you have them
Creative Director
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Certain parts of Golarion did indeed come from my homebrew campaign—in particular, the following elements:
Varisia, Hold of Belkzen, Kyonin/Tanglebriar, Mediogalti Isle.
The inner and outer planes in the Inner Sphere/Outer Sphere model. (Erik came up with the idea of calling the Inner Sphere and the Outer Sphere the Great Beyond.)
The majority of the deities.
The Shoanti and the Sczarni.
The Darklands (Nar-Voth, Sekamina, and Orv)
Elves being from another planet.
Thassilon and the Runelords.
I'm probably forgetting some stuff. And once those elements got put into Golarion, they ABSOLUTELY transformed and changed as other authors began adding and expanding stuff.
The first elements of Golarion that were designed were in the Darkmoon Vale region, which was mostly Wes Schneider and Jason Bulmahn working with Nick Logue on the first few modules. I was building the first Adventure Path with Wes and James Sutter's help, but as I mentioned above, a LOT of the early APs were pulled from my homebrew campaign as a way to get a head start on getting something so big as an AP detailed.
Obviously, there's a LOT more to Golarion than just what I've listed above. A HUGE amount of Golarion comes from Erik Mona as well—things like Azlant, Nex, Geb, Cheliax, Absalom, Iomedae, Aroden, and more are from him. Jason Bulmahn and Wes Schneider and James Sutter and more folks pitched in a LOT as well.
At this point, pretty much everyone at Paizo's had an influence in some way in the shaping of Golarion.
Is this after ?
What is the Setting for Shattered Star?
Any info on the basic plot?
Yes.
Varisia (IIRC, starting off in Magnimar)This is all IIRC: PCs are setting up a Pathfinder Lodge, looking for Artifacts, its assumes RotRL happened. That's all I (vaguely) remember.
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(Sorry for Threadjack)
When will we get a Blog or something on ?
Please let it be BEFORE Jade Regent finishes and Skull and Shackles begins. I've decided to cancel my Charter Subscription to the APs at the end of Jade Regent but Shattered Star sounds like something I love and would subscribe to -- I'd have to decide if I want to keep the Charter Subscription during Skull and Shackles so as not to have a 6 volume gap in my collection.
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Creative Director
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(Sorry for Threadjack)
When will we get a Blog or something on ?
Please let it be BEFORE Jade Regent finishes and Skull and Shackles begins. I've decided to cancel my Charter Subscription to the APs at the end of Jade Regent but Shattered Star sounds like something I love and would subscribe to -- I'd have to decide if I want to keep the Charter Subscription during Skull and Shackles so as not to have a 6 volume gap in my collection.
Wow.
Is it a monetary thing? Or do you just hate pirates that much?
In any event... head on over to the "Ask James Jacobs" thread or post a question about Shattered Star in the Pathfinder AP General Discussion thread if you would like to hear more.
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I hate pirates that much.
I was gonna cancel my subscription prior to Serpent's Skull but vol 6 of Carrion Crown came in the mail with vol 1 of SS. Ayup. As it turned out, I like SS (new Dwellers of the Forbidden City) so it's all good.
Then I was adamant about cancelling prior to Jade Regent; I already have a Sandpoint volume and my taste for "oriental" flavor D&D is considerably less than my taste for pirates, like, it's anathema to me. But then I heard that the first 2 volumes were Brinewall & Linnorm King's lands. The name Brinewall grabbed ahold of me in August 2007 the exact same way To the lair of Dragotha grabbed you and your childhood friend who told you to do Dragotha in Age of Worms. And as for Linnorm Kings -- I love vikings -- and the Crown of the world is appealing as well and, as volume 52 arrived in the mail yesterday and I saw Hongol, I think I'm okay with that, too, so long as Hongol means "Mongol." (Haven't read it, yet.) So I'm very happy to keep my subscription through Jade Regent even though I don't want the last 2 volumes. That's no biggie; 2 volumes & $40 I can deal with.
I'll be convinced to keep my Charter Subscription through 6 volumes of pirates & The Shackles in order to avoid a gap -- I love the idea of Shattered Star -- I RAN something that is exactly like it this summer in Varisia. But $120 for an AP that I REALLY don't want, it's tough to swallow.
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Creative Director
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I hate pirates that much.
I was gonna cancel my subscription prior to Serpent's Skull but vol 6 of Carrion Crown came in the mail with vol 1 of SS. Ayup. As it turned out, I like SS (new Dwellers of the Forbidden City) so it's all good.
Then I was adamant about cancelling prior to Jade Regent; I already have a Sandpoint volume and my taste for "oriental" flavor D&D is considerably less than my taste for pirates, like, it's anathema to me. But then I heard that the first 2 volumes were Brinewall & Linnorm King's lands. The name Brinewall grabbed ahold of me in August 2007 the exact same way b]To the lair of Dragotha[/b] grabbed you and your childhood friend who told you to do Dragotha in Age of Worms. And as for Linnorm Kings -- I love vikings -- and the Crown of the world is appealing as well and, as volume 52 arrived in the mail yesterday and I saw Hongol, I think I'm okay with that, too, so long as Hongol means "Mongol." (Haven't read it, yet.) So I'm very happy to keep my subscription through Jade Regent even though I don't want the last 2 volumes. That's no biggie; 2 volumes & $40 I can deal with.
[b][ooc]HOPEFULLY I'll be convinced to keep my Charter Subscription through 6 volumes of pirates & The Shackles in order to avoid a gap -- I love the idea of Shattered Star -- I RAN something that is exactly like it this summer in Varisia. But $120 for an AP that I REALLY don't want, it's tough to swallow.
Well... and pardon me for perhaps sounding like a company shill... but the fact that Serpents Skull and and Jade Regent, both APs you originally thought wouldn't be interesting to you, ended up being interesting to you in the end should perhaps tell you that we're pretty good at giving spins to things that might make them more palatable to you.
AKA: You've got the first 54 APs already... why not take a chance on #55? It'll have all the support stuff it has normally anyway (new monsters, deity articles, etc.) even if you end up hating the AP itself.
Who knows? We might just fix what you hate about pirates! And even if you don't, there'll be articles about Norgorber and Torag, dozens of new monsters, articles about naval combat, and other things that go far beyond pirates.
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Also keep in mind, Pirates have wenches and really who doesn't like Pirate wenches? :)
LOL
In real life or in gaming?
Actually, even in real life I don't think I'd like a wench of anykind, (one of those guys who prefers ladies).
And in gaming, if I'm paying $120 for a Campaign, the wench better come off the page and do something for me -- and bring her friend!
(Heh, do you remember the infamous letter to Dungeon Magazine back in issue 95 (I think that was the "deviant" issue) from "Mistress Luxora" asking for more adult content in the mag?!)
Hooray for Pirates! There can't be anything bad about a Pirate AP. Or Pirates. They're great. They got my vote. (I'm totally, 100% serious about the vote thing, by the way. I voted for the Pirate Party.)
Anyway, I recently read an interesting article about some of the more persistent pirate tropes and what they're really about. Stuff like eye patches to keep one eye accustomed to the dark when you go fighting below deck.
(Nar-Voth, Sekamina, and Orv)
Since you mention those: Whenever I read those names, I get flashbacks to a certain female Space Pirate hunter who also routinely went below the surface, travelling through realms that had names that sounded a lot like those.
She can turn into a ball and roll around, and at first it was a huge surprise that she was in fact a she.
Where those names in anyway inspired by Sammy's antics?
And in gaming, if I'm paying $120 for a Campaign, the wench better come off the page and do something for me -- and bring her friend!
Consider everything else you'll be getting.
Monsters. Nation and city writeups. Gods. Short stories (which, to be fair, would probably be about pirates). All that kind of thing, as Egg Shen would say. Seems like a good deal to me. :)
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Creative Director
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Since you mention those: Whenever I read those names, I get flashbacks to a certain female Space Pirate hunter who also routinely went below the surface, travelling through realms that had names that sounded a lot like those.
She can turn into a ball and roll around, and at first it was a huge surprise that she was in fact a she.
Where those names in anyway inspired by Sammy's antics?
Since I'm not sure who you're talking about... I don't THINK they were inspired by "Sammy."
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@ W.E. Ray: I'm not a fan of the current pirate craze that's come about since The Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise started. The last thing I want to deal with are PC-created Jack Sparrow clones running rampant in the game (I grew up watching the classic films - Errol Flynn, Burt Lancaster, Douglas Fairbanks, etc.). Don't get me wrong, I like Johnny Depp...just not as Jack Sparrow. I'd done Age of Worms (set in the Iron Kingdoms) where the PCs became pirates in the process of running through the AP. They loved it, but the only complaint they had was that they didn't get to do enough piratey things in the campaign (a fair one as I prioritized the campaign goals over their pirate goals).
I was going to give Skulls and Shackles a pass. But then I read the description of the second adventure... "Now masters of their own ship, the adventurers can become pirates in their own right, but they must first rename and refit their stolen ship. But to be considered equals by the pirates of the Shackles, they have to prove themselves worthy of the name. When they discover a treasure map tattooed on a defeated pirate rival, the adventurers go in search of buried treasure. If found, they’ll have enough plunder to return to the Shackles as true Free Captains!"
I saw this as an opportunity to do right by my players and their need to be pirates in the manner that I wasn't able to in AoW. However, there was that image of 6 Jack Sparrows running around on a ship that I was having a hard time shaking. But then an amazing thing occurred....
Carrion Crown happened.
One of my players decided to play a human rogue (knife master archetype). When it came time to discuss what ethnicity of human, he went with, of all things, Lirgeni. That took me by surprise, but I rolled with it and looked into that obscure bit of humanity. Other than that they claim to be pure descendants of the original humans of Golarion, there wasn't much else. I needed more. And I can possibly get it...but that would mean having to get Skulls and Shackles because the Lirgeni have ties to Sodden Lands and (more importantly) the Eye of Abendego (it destroyed their home).
So now I have a reason to pick up this AP that has nothing to do with pirates.
I can live with that.
@ James Jacobs: "Sammy" is Samus Aran from the Metroid games. You played Metroid, right?
@ James Jacobs: "Sammy" is Samus Aran from the Metroid games. You played Metroid, right?Ah. Nope, never played Metroid. I suspect it came out after I came up with the name "Sekamina," in any case (which would have been back in 1983 or thereabouts).
'86 in Japan, so you were indeed first.
Anyway, whenever I hear Nar-Voth, I have to think of Norfair, Brinstar and so on.
It's not that the names are similar per se, they just have the same vibe, if you know what I mean.
Hm... now I wonder how Samus would fare against drow....
Hm... now I wonder how Samus would fare against drow....
Fully kitted out, she'd go through them like hot plasma through butter. Samus can see and kill through tens of feet of solid rock! She can navigate tunnels that kobolds would get stuck in! She can SWIM IN MAGMA!
...You remember all those terrified Space Pirate logs from the Prime series? It'd be like that. :)
...You remember all those terrified Space Pirate logs from the Prime series?
Yeah. I also remember those logs from Echoes, where some space marines were discussing her as a practically mythical figure.
Oh, and to make this not too much off topic: With Psionics Expanded and the soulbow archetype multiclassed with aegis, you could totally play a very Samus-like character, complete with Varia suit and arm cannon (including charge shot and everything). And if you want an excuse why this is in Golarion, Numeria to the rescue! No telling what sort of crazy stuff you'll find in that Starmountain (or whatever they call it).
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Creative Director
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@ James Jacobs: "Sammy" is Samus Aran from the Metroid games. You played Metroid, right?Ah. Nope, never played Metroid. I suspect it came out after I came up with the name "Sekamina," in any case (which would have been back in 1983 or thereabouts).'86 in Japan, so you were indeed first.
Anyway, whenever I hear Nar-Voth, I have to think of Norfair, Brinstar and so on.
It's not that the names are similar per se, they just have the same vibe, if you know what I mean.
Hm... now I wonder how Samus would fare against drow....
Well... the actual inspiration for Nar-Voth, Sekamina, and Orv as three deeper layers of an underworld came from a story HP Lovecraft ghost wrote with Zealia Bishop—The Mound. Lovecraft actually did a fair amount of writing about underground kingdoms; there's essentially an Underdark/Darklands in his Dreamlands setting that I think played a strong role in inspiring D&D's Underdark. Those Lovecraft ideas have been around for close to a hundred years now, so it could well be that all of us are drawing inspiration from the same source.
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Well... the actual inspiration for Nar-Voth, Sekamina, and Orv as three deeper layers of an underworld came from a story HP Lovecraft ghost wrote with Zealia Bishop—The Mound. Lovecraft actually did a fair amount of writing about underground kingdoms; there's essentially an Underdark/Darklands in his Dreamlands setting that I think played a strong role in inspiring D&D's Underdark. Those Lovecraft ideas have been around for close to a hundred years now, so it could well be that all of us are drawing inspiration from the same source.@ James Jacobs: "Sammy" is Samus Aran from the Metroid games. You played Metroid, right?Ah. Nope, never played Metroid. I suspect it came out after I came up with the name "Sekamina," in any case (which would have been back in 1983 or thereabouts).'86 in Japan, so you were indeed first.
Anyway, whenever I hear Nar-Voth, I have to think of Norfair, Brinstar and so on.
It's not that the names are similar per se, they just have the same vibe, if you know what I mean.
Hm... now I wonder how Samus would fare against drow....
Fixed the link for you.
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Not really.
Pretty much the first sentence of Golarion is this:
So now, for the first time in the history of the multiverse, prophesy and destiny are wack -- so for the first time PCs can have the spotlight on them, win or lose, and forge their own future, without some lame prophesies from the "god of humans" hanging over their shoulders, dictating the future as history.
This design of "for the first time heroes can Make Themselves" is, I feel, the crux of the entire Game, not merely the Campaign World.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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During Paizocon 2011 they shared a lot of the 'world building' secrets, etc during one of the seminars which was recorded by the Know Direction crew. You can DL the podcast here "secrets of golarion' I believe is the one. Lots of good stuff from James, Erik, and I think Wes and... can't recall who else.
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The name Brinewall grabbed ahold of me in August 2007 the exact same way To the lair of Dragotha grabbed you and your childhood friend who told you to do Dragotha in Age of Worms.
Oops.
I was reading one of my old Dungeon mags and saw that it was Erik Mona (not Jacobs) that had that Dragotha memory.