I'm looking to start a new campaign at low level. I want the setting to be more like the ancient world, Egypt, Greeks, Phoenicians, bronze weapons (no iron), etc.
Obviously the Pathfinder supplements for Osirion are set in Golarion's "modern" age. So, what Osirion supplements would be useful to me? Should I stick with a map, and build the campaign world from scratch from there? Or can I make use of the Osirion Companion and other materials?
I like to support Paizo, but I want to make sure I'll be able to get decent use out of my purchases, understanding that I'll have to do some homebrew to make it work.
You might find this useful when it comes out. *shameless plug*
It might help a little, though it's from the modern, i.e., 4712, perspective.
I suggest getting Green Ronin's Hamunaptra. And look, it's $5!
Gygax's Necropolis is a good choice as well.
The Osirion companion and the various modules would be useful. Also Dungeons of Golarion is pretty nifty.
If you want a truly ancient world feel, pick the era before the fall of Jistka (i.e., pre -2750 AR or so). Absalom, Cheliax, and Taldor are not yet founded, though Nidal exists. Qadira is going to be very different, as it hasn't been conquered by the Keleshites yet. Ninshabur is the major power in Casmaron.
http://mygeologypage.ucdavis.edu/cowen/~GEL115/index.html
I've found this page a while ago, and it's since become my main reference on the historicity of technological transitions such as stone age to bronze age and bronze age to iron age. The Egypt we know is a bronze-age setting, as well as the phenician and babylonian civilization, but the popular image of Greek History is mostly a depiction of iron age (ex: 300 and such). This blog is very rich on the subject of natural ressources and their role in the evolution of human societies.
I'm working myself on an early-iron age setting, so every ancient weapons and artefacts should be made of bronze - or even stone. The whole superiority of iron over bronze resides in the process of creating steel in a forge. Bronze can be molded with a lot less heat than iron, and mostly for that reason has been a dominant material in weapons to equip armies even in the early iron age. I would treat any steel objet as masterwork, and iron objets as non-masterwork. I would treat bronze exactly as iron - except the process of making masterwork bronze objects implies incrusting gems and drawing complex figures (which is not possible with iron due to the forging process - chinese learned sooner to cast iron but it too the industrial revolution in Europe to learn to do it efficiently). I would allow iron weapons in this setting, but however efficient, they would look very boring.
In your world-building process, it'd be great to share some other ideas! (if you don't mind)
Yes, having done some more research, I see how bronze and iron weapon-work coexisted for a long time. I'm not really going to focus too much on historical accuracy, since it is a fantasy realm after all. My main concern is introducing my players to something a little different. I want a mysterious desert realm, ancient and unusual.
I'm hoping to be able to adapt at least some pre-made material; of course I could build from scratch, but my experience with Paizo product has been really positive so far. At the very least, I hope to pull some maps.
My hope is to have a land filled with intrigue, mystery and adventure. I'll let you know how it progresses.
My personal recomendation regarding Iron and Bronze is this:
Bronze is now the standard metal, not Steel, all base equipment is assumed to be bronze.
Iron replaces Cold Iron as a material. It is only available in masterwork.
Steel is basically well forged iron, not common enough to be recognized as its own thing.
I look foreward to your eeffort. I have been wanting to try something similar.