So let's say you had the opportunity to make one change in the current status quo of Golarion to make for interesting story possibilities going forward. Just one -- but it can be anything. Now sure, you can make a tiny change (Abrogail II dies and her son Bobby Joe Thrune takes over to continue her policies! There's a really big sandstorm in Osirion! The Pathfinder Society starts giving out cake for every completed mission!) but why bother?
No, go big or go home.
We're talking MAJOR changes. Maybe you want the Worldwound to be closed...or maybe you want it to bust wide open and swallow Numeria and now you've got mechademons to deal with. Maybe you want the Whispering Tyrant to run a jailbreak and establish an empire of the undead on the north shore of Lake Encarthan. Maybe Aroden's back -- and this time it's PERSONAL!
What's YOUR change? And just as important, WHY your change? And make it convincing -- the Paizonians read these threads, you know!
An all out war breaks out between Andor and Cheliax. Good vs evil, the apocalypse is at had!
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An all out war breaks out between Andor and Cheliax. Good vs evil, the apocalypse is at had!
Something like this, or perhaps a state of open conflict on the Taldan / Qadiran border (where the conflict would be less clearly 'good vs. evil'). There are wars (or, at least, cold wars) going on between Mendev and the Worldwound or Lastwall and the Hold of Belkzen or Nirmathas and Molthune, but these all feel somewhat distant and unimportant to the Inner Sea 'five' nations.
Andoran and Cheliax might be interesting, just to see who sides with who. Taldor might be fonder of Cheliax, for old times sake, than upstart Andoran, while Qadira might be supporting Andoran behind the scenes out of pure mercantile pragmatism.
That being said, I'm one of the three people on the planet who liked how the Greyhawk Wars / From the Ashes kind of jazzed up the Greyhawk setting, so my tastes might run counter to the mainstream...
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That being said, I'm one of the three people on the planet who liked how the Greyhawk Wars / From the Ashes kind of jazzed up the Greyhawk setting, so my tastes might run counter to the mainstream...
I'm one of the other two. I loved Greyhawk Wars. I thought it took a lot of the different threads that were percolating both on and below the surface of canon, raised it to a logical head, and had it play out in a fascinating and reasonable way. Thumbs up from me on that one.
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I would dial back the overall level of civilization from the 1600s-1700s to the 1200s, say. I think having so much settled/urbanized land cuts back on some of the exploring the unknown ("Here There Be Dragons") fun of D&D.
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
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A new god arises, but not because of the starstone. They are open and appear to be good. However, they rule over a nation and have no problem expanding through conquest. They may start on another part of the world, take over an entire continent, and then lay siege to the Inner Sea. When people think they have their gods to power their defenses against this new holy army, a couple of the gods mysteriously join him. May one or two even disappear. Nations often against each other are forced to unite, resources in the world wound are stretched thin, and smaller cities are given up in order to keep key cities.
Absalom is successfully sieged and captured. The balance of power shifts majorly and changes the political and theological boundaries forever.
Urgathoa raises Aroden as a new god of the undead (either as her own minion, or else as an allied undead deity)...
O.O
Please provide me a link to your kickstarter...
I know nobody wants metaplot to disrupt the campaign setting, but I'd LOVE an AP which has the PCs travel to the future and see the world after this has come to pass. Sure it'd provide an answer of sorts to the fate of Aroden, but day-um.
I would go for the 5th successful person to take the test of the Starstone to appear. Not just any random dude though, I'd want to see a truly alien-minded, dangerous, and insane fey take up a position as a major deity. And they would take a very active interest in using their new deific powers on the material plane.
Golarion would be forever changed I think.
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Two for you. I like the 'Taldan falls' scenario with another wrinkle. I would, as a response make the green faith (who've just lost their Taldan Protection) much more militant and defensive over the Quadiran threat. Basically, you'd have Sarenites vs Druids.
Empowered (temporarily) by a series of coordinated revolts in Cheliax, Milani kills Asmodeus....just like she killed Aroden. Only this time it's noticed.
Mengkare decides that his utopian experiment is complete, and begins phase two of his plans for a Hermean empire: expansion.
Forseen aftermath: a different World War scenario- everybody versus Hermea. Cheliax, Taldor, Andoran, Qadira, and everybody else have to put aside their differences to conquer an aggressive utopia bent on total elimination of the unworthy. Maybe they'll wear gold stars...
The orcs of Belkzen are united under a common banner and, under the direction of the new war leader, march west into Varisia and south towards Cheliax via Nidal as a sweeping horde.
The starstone cracked and its energies seep out. Slowly, Absalom became full of very powerful people.
Alternatively, I'd have Tar-Baphon succeed at the test of the starstone.
The Tarrasque wakes up. And it loves to dance!
The Dwarves stop screwing around in their fortresses and conquer a huge Empire.
The Orcs finally unify and begin to civilize.
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I'd cut all the human-based, theme park inspired cultures from Golarion and come up with some original fantasy nations that don't resemble museum exhibits.
I'd invent three new fantastic races for Golarion, each with drastically different approaches to sex, politics, power and technology. And I'd give them power, so they're not just restricted to some swamp somewhere.
I'd make strict rules on how the deities can interact with the material plane and then let the Gods relationship blossom out plot-lines from there.
I'd look at the implications of a world that has multiple connections to different planes, what implications that has for sorcerous creatures, dreams, weather patterns, epic spells, planar travel and nations that try to summon, or magically construct their empires. I'd cut the focus on slavery.
I'd have surface dwellers be acutely aware of the civilisations growing under their feet and let that influence the world's politics and trade.
I'd come up with at least 20 15-20 level NPC adventurers, give them a scheme or MO, nations of origin, or vendettas and let that blossom out from there.
I'd love to see an invading pantheon of major dieties from a dying realm try to establish themselves on Golarion. Any world could always use more dieties and conflict.
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A man claiming to be the reincarnation of Aroden begins to create a cult of the human god based in Absalom, promising to his subjects that after taking the test of the starstone and completing his apotheosis (as his past life did), he will set right all that his predecessor's death screwed up. And, strangest enough, the dude actually looks like an Azlanti and has the sort of power only high level mages or godlings display.
Rovagug escapes. Apocalypse occurs. Gods recapture/banish/something else him. Civilisations crumble and survivors are left in a new dark age to pick up the pieces.
Asmodeus gets killed
Imagine it: There would be a huge power vacuum in Hell, and battles between different archfiends would soon spill over into Golarion. Losing Archfiends might decide it's better to flee than stick around, leading to small hellish kingdoms and a lot of mortal manipulation. Cheliax would probably fall apart after the loss of it's SECOND patron diety. In the chaos from that, who knows what nations will rise and fall, and which will profit. The whole inner sea balance of power would be ruined. And with two gods recently dead, we might see a stark rise in people abandoning their gods, forming new cults and philosophies
The loss of Asmodeus would also shift the cosmic balance of power. Good Dieties might start taking a more active hand in running things, which in turn could lead to some unintended holy wars. Other evil gods might decide to attempt a rise to power, some of which are not to worried about playing nice in the Material. And what happens to the key to Rovagug's prison? Who ever gets ahold of that is going to have a huge bargaining chip in the Great Beyond.
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I'd like for Quadira to move to take out Taldor once and for all. Leading a large Kellish force Quadira would launch a land assault on Taldor proper and a naval assault on Taldor provinces like Andoran and Chelliax. Sure, they've broken away, but they are really just Western Taldor to the Kellish Empire.
Lots of interesting politics comes to a head with this. Chelliax and Andoran would have to stand together with the remnants of Taldor or fall. Nations like Absalom, Druma, Jalmeray, Molthune, Osirion and Rahadoum would be courted by both sides, and they would leverage this influence for who knows what purposes. All the stops would be pulled out to get support from Elves, Dwarves, Fey of all sorts, Geb, the Gorilla King and so forth. Additionally this would cut off support to less immediate problems, like supporting troops in Lastwall and Mendev, so they will have more problems. Inner Sea Sarenrites would be split between religion and nationalism. This would also be a good chance to expose bits of Casmaron that are near Avistan, and Vudra as well.
But practically I don't expect Paizo to go down this road, if only because it makes PFS that much harder. Shadow Lodge going from rival to faction is a big deal, but only to PCs. Outside of the Society, it was a non-event. A major shift like an invasion would make it even harder to play scenarios out of order and keep any pretense of unified character history. Plus some scenarios just wouldn't make sense in a post-invasion world. There is a reason that nothing of substance changes in most episodes on TV.
