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Hello, I was wondering if there is available a small quickstarter (8-12 pages) for Golarion setting, with two sentence descriptions of deities, places, etc., without Pathfinder stats.
I have tried some search but maybe my choice of keywords is bad.
That would be great as a reading for new players that have to start a game and do not have the time/desire/inclination to read dozen of pages.
did you meen somthing like this?
http://paizo.com/products/btpy82t7?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Gazetteer
The Inner Sea Primer is probably what you're after.
I had the same thought when reading what he was looking for.
The Inner Sea Primer was helpful for me to begin to wrap my head around the world setting.
did you meen somthing like this?
http://paizo.com/products/btpy82t7?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Gazetteer
The Inner Sea Primer is probably what you're after.
Thanks but that was not my idea, probably the Inner Sea Primer is closer in size to what I was thinking, but it's still too big. The Gazetteer is waaay too long.
I was thinking something of a size that could be read before starting a demo game, whence the page limit. Actually, it doesn't even need to have every country described, it could also be Varisia or Absolom centric.
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Yeah, if the Primer is too much maybe one of the wikis out there, e.g. http://pathfinder.wikia.com/wiki/Golarion
are you looking for yourself of for others? If you are GMing and want your players to have some knowledge, maybe print the pages you want them to know about from www.pathfinderwiki.com? If you copy/paste from there you can even removed things you don't want them to know
I am looking for something to give to others, I am an old FR dm, so I am used to (metric) tons of supplements.
I was hoping to find something ready, since I should additionally translate it from english to my native tongue. Well, maybe I will find some spare time to do this and post it somewhere.Anyway, a wiki is not a solution for an handout to give to new players before playing a demo. It is dispersive, and not everyone would have a laptop or a device of a reasonable size to read many pages.
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Yeah, if the Primer is too much maybe one of the wikis out there, e.g. http://pathfinder.wikia.com/wiki/Golarion
Good day sir. If I may affer a biased opinion, I would like to point out that you will find a great deal more information at pathfinderwiki.com. Unlike the resource that you suggested (which was once a thing of beauty in its own right), pathfinderwiki.com still recieves reports from chroniclers in the field and is updated regularly.
The Pathfinder Comic issues have small 2-4 page descriptions of Varisia and the Sandpoint area, if you're interested in those.
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Good day sir. If I may affer a biased opinion, I would like to point out that you will find a great deal more information at pathfinderwiki.com. Unlike the resource that you suggested (which was once a thing of beauty in its own right), pathfinderwiki.com still recieves reports from chroniclers in the field and is updated regularly.
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Yeah, if the Primer is too much maybe one of the wikis out there, e.g. http://pathfinder.wikia.com/wiki/Golarion
Good day sir. If I may affer a biased opinion, I would like to point out that you will find a great deal more information at pathfinderwiki.com. Unlike the resource that you suggested (which was once a thing of beauty in its own right), pathfinderwiki.com still recieves reports from chroniclers in the field and is updated regularly.
That is cool, I don't use any of those wikis, the one I posted a link to was just the first one that came back when I Googled :)
If you're just looking for something to familiarize players, I'd recommend focusing on the country where you're going to be playing and just using its entry out of the Inner Sea Primer. (Each country entry is about a half-page. They're each a single column in a two-column layout.) You might also cherry-pick a few notable additional countries (either neighboring or just very worthwhile) to also provide them.
For deities, that's a bit harder, I think. The major deities' basic portfolios, alignments, domains, and favored weapons are listed in the Core Rulebook on page 43, but there's nowhere in print with super-short descriptions of them really, most of the descriptions tend toward longer descriptions of at least a couple pages.
The Pathfinder Comic issues have small 2-4 page descriptions of Varisia and the Sandpoint area, if you're interested in those.
Thanks, I will have to try to find them on some EU bookshop, tough.
If your native tongue is french, or if you understand the language there is a site in France with lot's of stuff. Even a module or two in the langue de Molière.
http://www.pathfinder-fr.org/Wiki/Pathfinder-RPG.Aides%20de%20jeu.ashx
If your native tongue is french, or if you understand the language there is a site in France with lot's of stuff. Even a module or two in the langue de Molière.
http://www.pathfinder-fr.org/Wiki/Pathfinder-RPG.Aides%20de%20jeu.ashx
Thanks, I am not a native speaker, but I can read french. The site is very interesting, there is also a 115 (!) page Golarion starter guide.
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If you're just looking for something to familiarize players, I'd recommend focusing on the country where you're going to be playing and just using its entry out of the Inner Sea Primer. (Each country entry is about a half-page. They're each a single column in a two-column layout.) You might also cherry-pick a few notable additional countries (either neighboring or just very worthwhile) to also provide them.
For deities, that's a bit harder, I think. The major deities' basic portfolios, alignments, domains, and favored weapons are listed in the Core Rulebook on page 43, but there's nowhere in print with super-short descriptions of them really, most of the descriptions tend toward longer descriptions of at least a couple pages.
I was thinking about something organized more or less like this:
1 page for the races;1 page for the deities and the religions;
2 pages for all the the countries of the inner sea, with the ones farther from the sea less detailed;
2 pages for Varisia with details on the cities;
2 pages for Absalom;
1 page for a short history, and a calendar;
maps of inner sea, Varisia, Absalom.
11 pages total, leaving 1 face for a cover. :)
My suggestion of Varisia and Absalom is mostly due to the greater amount of short adventures produced (also PF society) for those areas (by cursory measurement), that would probably be the first choice for intro adventures.
This kind of booklet would also be a perfect complement with the Beginner box, showing the "world outside" the dungeon to new players.
I don't think there's anything that will fit that bill.
Why just Absalom and Varisia?
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I already have some write-ups of the nature you're asking for, that I distributed to new players looking to write their backstories for a one-shot we ran. However, they're written as my perspective on them, not necesarily how the book writers intended. Also, they're meant as character building blurbs, not GM info blurbs. They're definately not polished for publication. That said:
In -4202, gnomes show up from their home plane, fleeing something.
Things get better, then in year 1, Aroden raises the Starstone from the sea and becomes a god. Over the years, many others take the test of the starstone, but only 3 succeed, going on to also become gods. In 2632, the elves finally come back, but it's been 7000 years, so they only get one small nation.
In 4606, Aroden dies in a big battle. The empire of Cheliax looses its divine mandate and falls apart. The Eye of Abendego hurricane forms off the west coast, and drowns two nations. The worldwound forms in the north.
4620 guns introduced.
4711 now
Absalom (Jeruselum): Trade city with holy relic in the middle. Anyone who can pass the mystic tests and reach the relic becomes a god. It's happened 4 times.
Andoran (1790's & 1870's USA): Rebeled away from Chelaxian empire. Now fights for Freedom (anti-slavery, specifically)
Belkzen: Orcland stronghold
Brevoy: northern kingdom split between fueding families. Has good sword-duelists
Cheliax (The Empire): Was big empire, then their god died. After lots of fighting, and loosing some perifery regions, they turned to devil-worship. Now they're a very efficiently lawful evil empire, and they're still one of the biggest countries around.
Druma (swiss): Lots of mining and trading, and following prophesies to get rich
Five Kings Mountains: Dwarfland stronghold
Galt (French Revolution): They broke away from Cheliax just like the Andoran, but they're still stuck in the revolution.
Geb: Ruled by a lich, big nation of undead and necromancers
Irrisen (russia): Baba Yaga rules the perma-winter
Isger (Poland): Tried to break away from Cheliax, but failed because too important. Now it's heavily occupied
Jalmeray (arabia/india): Bound genies work for the people and make fabulous palaces.
Katapesh (arabia 2): Can buy or sell anything at the huge trade hub.
Kyonin: Elfland stronghold
Lastwall: fight against the orcs on one side and make sure the seals on the evil-in-a-can stay sealed.
Linnorm Kings (scandinavia): Viking land + dragons
Mammoth Lords (scandinavia 2): Viking land + mammoths
Mana Wastes: Mana storms make magic unreliable or dangerous. Let's make GUNS!!!
Mendev: Last stop before going off to fight the demons in the worldwound. Has more foreign crusaders than natives.
Molthune: Another that broke off from Cheliax, now very milateristic and expansionistic
Mwangi Expanse (Congo): deep african jungle, now fighting off the northern colonists
Nex: Magic land of the south. Lots of mage colleges. Once fought quite a war with Geb.
Nidal: After a great disaster, they turned to the gods for help. Unfortunately, the one who answered was Zon-Kuthon, god of Darkness, envy, loss, and pain. His priests have been ruleing a country of shadow and fear ever since.
Nirmathas (sherwood forest): Indirectly broke away from Cheliax, now fights for self-suffciency and liberty. But not actively crusading for it like the andarans. Just stay out of their forest, and let them do their own thing.
Numeria: Barbarians, dark magic, and harvesting from a massive spaceship that crashed thousands of years ago.
Osirion (egypt): Broke off from the indian empire, starting to return to their roots and explore their ancestors culture & pyramids.
Qadira (arabia 3): Trade-hub outpost of the indian empire
Rahadoum (Morocco): Decided the gods weren't worth the trouble and banned all worship. Trade port at mouth of the sea.
Razmiran: Ruled by a living god, a theocratic nation of force and intimidation.
River Kingdoms: Lots of tiny kingdoms along a vast river system. A half-decent hive of scum and villany, with a few good eggs around.
Sargava (south africa): So Cheliax made a colony down in africa. It did typical european colonial things. Then Cheliax started going to hell (literally), and a big permanent storm made it really hard to get down to the colony. So they broke away too. Now they get attacked by the natives trying to take the land back, and extorted by the pirates who helped them break away.
The Shakles (caribean): Pirate land!
Sodden Lands: A giant huricane has been swirling at the coast for the last 100 years. They're some pockets of settlements, but not much left.
Steaming Sea: Independent islands along the northwest coast.
Taldor (Byzantine Empire): Once a huge Empire, then Cheliax left and took half of it. Qadira has a unhappy border with them. It tries to hold onto power, but it's gotten too decadent and desparate.
Thuvia (Libya): Big desert, but it's the only place where Sun Orchids grow. Properly processed, it temporarily halts aging. They sell it for lots of money. There's also ruins for exploring out in the desert.
Ustalav (Ravenloft/Transylvania): Dark and fractured nation barely holding together. Plenty of things going bump in the night.
Varisia (the frontier): A few city-states, but mostly wilderness. Lots of ruins to explore.
The Worldwound (Diablo3, Act3): A century ago, a small rift appeared in a nation in the far north, and demons started coming out. It has continued to expand ever since. Now it's a mile wide and several miles long, most of the country is overrun and swarms with demons. There have been several crusades to push them back; some with moderate success, but the demons have numbers. We've got some nifty monoliths holding them back for now...
Distant lands:
Arcadia (North America): The Linnorm kings made a colony out here long ago, and now there's regular trade.
Azlant (Atlantis): There's ruins a thousand miles off the coast. Very dangerous ruins that are bad for ships. But hey, ancient tech!
Casmaron (Indian subcontinent): Mostly ruled by the Padishah Empire of Kelesh (indian empire). Has some other nifty ruins and tombs too.
Crown of the World (farthest north) Has some inuit tribes, lots of monsters, and a trade-route to Tian Xia (china)
Garund (Africa): The northen third was talked about above. There's lots more further south. I can give more info if there's interest.
Sarusan (australia?) Very far away. Only bizare legends available.
Tian Xia (East Asia): Various far east nations. Lung Wa is china, it's the most important and biggest, but the rest are there too.
Planets:
Hey, they got a bunch of other planets with people on them. No, you can't go there today. Well, maybe.
*Cayden Cailean - CG - The Drunken Hero. God of bravery, ale, freedom, and wine - became a god on a drunken dare
Desna - CG - Song of the Spheres. Goddess of dreams, luck, stars, and travelers
Erastil - LG - Old Deadeye. God of family, farming, hunting, and trade - "Get off my lawn!"
*Iomedae - LG - The Inheritor. Goddess of honor, justice, rulership, and valor - Joan of Arc, the goddess
Sarenrae - NG - The Dawnflower. Goddess of healing, honesty, redemption, and the sun
Shelyn - NG - The Eternal Rose. Goddess of art, beauty, love, and music
Torag - LG - Father of Creation. God of the forge, protection, and strategy
Abadar - LN - Master of the First Vault. God of cities, law, merchants, and wealth.
Calistria - CN - The Savored Sting. Goddess of revenge, lust, and trickery
Gorum - CN - Our Lord in Iron. God of battle, strength, and weapons
Gozreh - N - The Wind and the Waves. God of nature, the sea, and weather
Irori - LN - Master of Masters. God of history, knowledge, and self-perfection
Nethys - N - The All-Seeing Eye. God of magic
Pharasma - N - Lady of Graves. Goddess of birth, death, fate, and prophecy
The Green Faith - any N - Veneration of the natural world.
Asmodeus - LE - Prince of Darkness. God of contracts, pride, slavery, and tyranny
Lamashtu - CE - Mother of Monsters. Goddess of madness, monsters, and nightmares
*Norgorber - NE - The Reaper of Reputation. God of greed, murder, poison, and secrets
Rovagug - CE - The Rough Beast. God of destruction, disaster, and wrath
Urgathoa - NE - The Pallid Princess. Goddess of disease, gluttony, and undeath
Zon-Kuthon - LE - The Midnight Lord. God of darkness, envy, loss, and pain
*These became gods through the Starstone. So did Aroden, but he died some 4500 years later.
Minor Deities
Apsu - LG - good dragons
Kurgess - NG - strength and athletic competition
Milani - CG - devotion, hope, and rebellious uprisings
Alseta - LN - doors, portals, & transitions.
Besmara - CN - pirate queen
Brigh - N - inventors
Groetus - CN - put out the lights at the end of the world.
Hanspur - CN - waterways
Naderi - N - Suicides, especially romantic ones.
Sivanah - N - Illusions
Achaekek - LE - Assassins
Archdevils - LE - some specific named devils
Dahak - CE - Evil Dragons
Demon Lords - CE - some specific named demons.
Elemental Lords - NE - power through a particular element.
Ghlaunder - CE - Disease
Gyronna - CE - Bad Luck
Lissala - LE - duty and obedience (corrupted as the empire which worshiped her decayed)
Ydersius - CE - serpentfolk
Zyphus - NE - Accidental, meaningless death
Dwarves mostly worship Torag, but turn to lesser gods in a dwarven pantheon for special needs.
Elves have their own pantheon, and they'll go to different gods depending on the need of the day.
Halflings mostly use the human gods, but also have one goddess that's important to them:
Chaldira Zuzaristan - Halfling luck, bravado, and the importance of making good friends.
Gnomes also mostly use human gods. The dark gnome of the underground also worship a special gnome goddess.
Nivi Rhombodazzle - promotes community, mainly of the dark gnomes.
The gnomes also had powerful beings on their home plane, which some still look to on Golarion.
Count Renalc - CN - darkness and the chaos of creation
Imbrex the Twins - LN - statues?
The Lantern King - CN - trickster
The Lost Prince - things lost and forgotten
Magdh - LN - three-faced prophetess of complexity, fate & triplets.
Ng the Hooded - N - secrets, seasons, and wanderers
Shyka the Many - N - time travel
There are also semi-devine Empyreal Lords, powerful being from the outer planes, who get worshiped. I'll not go into them today.
Garundi: north africans
Keleshites: Arabians
Kellids: tribal scandinavians/Visigoths & Gauls
Mwangi: central africans
Shoanti: native-american barbarian tribesman smash!
Taldans: Byzantines, southeast european
Tians: far eastern
Ulfen: Vikings
Varisians: Gypsies
Vudrani: indian
I already have some write-ups of the nature you're asking for, that I distributed to new players looking to write their backstories for a one-shot we ran. However, they're written as my perspective on them, not necesarily how the book writers intended. Also, they're meant as character building blurbs, not GM info blurbs. They're definately not polished for publication. That said:
Nice work. Very helpful for new players.
<snip>In 4606, Aroden dies in a big battle.
<snip>4711 now
A couple points: unless something has come to light recently, Aroden didn't die in a battle, he has just disappeared. Canon from the developers says that, yes he is dead, and no, they aren't saying how/why.
It's actually 4712 now, about to become 4713. The canonical Golarion year is (current year + 2700). This is, of course, adjustable as needed for home games.An excellent summation, though. Nice work!
I don't think there's anything that will fit that bill.
Why just Absalom and Varisia?
Not just, but 5 AP start in Varisia, and lots of scenarios of the Pathfinder Society are set imn Absalom, so that would be a good starting point.
I already have some write-ups of the nature you're asking for, that I distributed to new players looking to write their backstories for a one-shot we ran. However, they're written as my perspective on them, not necesarily how the book writers intended. Also, they're meant as character building blurbs, not GM info blurbs. They're definately not polished for publication. That said:
** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **...
Thank you, this is the kind of thing I had in mind.
I could use the deities section as it is, the timeline is minimal but, who's gonna actually remember more than that anyway? :)I would expand the nation profiles like this:
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Andoran
The birthplace of liberty
Andoran is a democratic nation governed by the principles of freedom, choice, and personal development.
The country citizens revolted in 4669 AR against Cheliax diabolic domination. Since then Andoran actively opposes slavery in all the Inner Sea region with its corp of elite soldiers, the Eagle Knights.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
And in case of Varisia and Absalom, the descriptions of the cities that are the starting point of the adventure path would be probably the most useful thing to add.
Actually, that could be expanded to a short description of all the starting point of the APs.
PS: Feel free to correct my english. :)
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Andoran
The birthplace of liberty
Andoran is a democratic nation governed by the principles of freedom, choice, and personal development.
The country citizens revolted in 4669 AR against Cheliax diabolic domination. Since then Andoran actively opposes slavery in all the Inner Sea region with its corp of elite soldiers, the Eagle Knights.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
And in case of Varisia and Absalom, the descriptions of the cities that are the starting point of the adventure path would be probably the most useful thing to add.
Actually, that could be expanded to a short description of all the starting point of the APs.PS: Feel free to correct my english. :)
Another capsule description:
----------------------------------------------------------------------Geb
Domain of the Dead
Geb is a land of undead ruled by the ghost king Geb and his lich queen Arazni. The land became an undead kingdom as a way to quicly rebuild an army during the war with the wizard-king Nex, more than 4000 years ago.
Part of the population of Geb is composed by living people enjoying free citizenship, but another part of the human populace is kept as slaves and cattle for the sentient undeads.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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The Rise of the Runelords Players Guide was the first one and was designed as an introduction to the world, using Varisia as a gateway. It has many of the things you are looking for.
Find the free pdf here.
Not sure if print is still available.
The Rise of the Runelords Players Guide was the first one and was designed as an introduction to the world, using Varisia as a gateway. It has many of the things you are looking for.
Find the free pdf here.
Not sure if print is still available.
Thanks, the religion bits are practically spot on, I could use them almost verbatim.
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<snip>In 4606, Aroden dies in a big battle.
<snip>4711 nowA couple points: unless something has come to light recently, Aroden didn't die in a battle, he has just disappeared. Canon from the developers says that, yes he is dead, and no, they aren't saying how/why.
It's actually 4712 now, about to become 4713. The canonical Golarion year is (current year + 2700). This is, of course, adjustable as needed for home games.An excellent summation, though. Nice work!
Good to know.
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I was thinking about something organized more or less like this:
1 page for the races;
1 page for the deities and the religions;
2 pages for all the the countries of the inner sea, with the ones farther from the sea less detailed;
2 pages for Varisia with details on the cities;
2 pages for Absalom;
1 page for a short history, and a calendar;
maps of inner sea, Varisia, Absalom.
11 pages total, leaving 1 face for a cover. :)
My suggestion of Varisia and Absalom is mostly due to the greater amount of short adventures produced (also PF society) for those areas (by cursory measurement), that would probably be the first choice for intro adventures.
This kind of booklet would also be a perfect complement with the Beginner box, showing the "world outside" the dungeon to new players.
Pay attention Paizo, this post is telling. Lots of adventures in Absalom and Varisia, so much so that that's all some of us want to see more information about.
The kind of information pico is talking about is the same kind of "brief" you get in the Pathfinder Society Guide about the factions, where you can get pages of information summarised to a column or two of information, summarised to a couple of lines of the most important info.
This is great for me as well, because I only want the 25-words-or-less summary when I'm reading about these kinds of things. If it's a book or a few pages, I'll either avoid it or forget what it said after I read it.
The kind of information pico is talking about is the same kind of "brief" you get in the Pathfinder Society Guide about the factions, where you can get pages of information summarised to a column or two of information, summarised to a couple of lines of the most important info.
This is great for me as well, because I only want the 25-words-or-less summary when I'm reading about these kinds of things. If it's a book or a few pages, I'll either avoid it or forget what it said after I read it.
Thanks, that was exactly my point, and I was starting to be afraid that my idea was not stated in comprehensible enough way.
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What I love about Absalom is that it's so huge and is such a great Golarion sampler plate. Even if you didn't know where your campaign was going to go, just plop your players in the middle and see where they go. Then expand from there. There's connections to all over the globe (solar system?). The Guide to Absalom, one of the first books I bought, convinced me you don't even have to leave the city gates.