You grew up in (insert cold place). Something horrible happened to someone you loved (AKA they froze to death). You resolved to go some place warmer.
You grew up in (insert cold place). You outgrew the local knowledge on (insert profession). You traveled south to study. By chance you are passing through.
Stuff like that. Just remember Irrisen isn't the only cold location in Golarion. The lands of the Linorm Kings, Brevoy, Numaria, Lands of the Mammoth Lords, and Tian can all generate excellent cold based characters.
Taldor is also a very historic land, many peoples would know of it in legend and wouldn't mind being tourists.
well, I thought the same thing at a quick glance, but our group managed to come up with some stuff.
We have an arctic druid and a winter witch.
The arctic druid is an elf who took restless wayfarer and is just traveling.
The winter witch is a changeling (child of a hag) and as such was discarded on random persons doorstep. works out ok.
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It's also worth remembering that Taldor has a tradition of importing warriors from the Land of the Linnorm Kings to serve as guards and soldiers (the Ulfen Guard being the most famous example).
One of my players is a failed applicant to the Ulfen Guard, who now works as a guide in Heldren.
You could always change the starting village to be somewhere that actually does get snow in the winter-- maybe you start in Turtleback Ferry in Varisia, or in Falcon's Hollow in Andoran. That way, you can have a "winter expert" PC in an area where it isn't winter all the time.
Yea but you have to rewrite (essentially) the first part of AP 1, as the cold and cold creatures are supposed to be abnormal and the locals are prepared for it, there is a lot that would happen that wont really jive if it isn't out of place to begin with.
This is *my* take on the Taldor starting point and not anything I discussed with Rob, Adam, or Neil. That being said, it makes sense to me and might make sense to you.
Starting in Taldor emphasizes that the threat of eternal winter is a global crisis. Osirion and Garund are not not exempt. Elvanna means to make it forever winter everywhere, and never Christmas (C.S. Lewis joke there).
One way to underscore that is to have the origin of the cold phenomena not occur where you expect it, but where you least expect it.
That left unchecked, these portals of winter are going to continue to open and expand in Cheliax, the Mwangi wilds, and Katapesh.
So characters from Taldor have a special appreciation that this is a global threat.
From a secondary perspective, it allows the GM to present Irrisen as a "fresh" and "new" country to explore. Everything they encounter is something both the characters and players are experiencing for the first time, because there's been relatively less material available for Irrisen until just recently.
Compare that to Varisia. Now when players make Varisian characters in Varisia—they players themselves can assume also sort of information about the setting because a lot of general information is known.
By having PCs start outside of Irrisen, both the PCs and the Players have a fresh experience with few preconceptions. Yes, that does come at a price of strategically creating your character background as to be well suited to the future challenges. But then learning to cope with the environment is no longer a challenge because a player can neutralize it with their character design.
I'm not telling anybody they're running their game rightly or wrongly. That's between them and their group.
What I am saying is that you can tell a slightly different story depending on where you start your campaign, and the starting options you allow the players. Are they part of the community, or are they outsiders drawn from elsewhere through magic? What do they know from the start, or what must they learn from NPCs? How much do they rely on the NPCs for advice and information, or how much can they "just do their own thing because they know the situation from their whole life experience"?
I think one valid way to run the campaign is not to tell the players a dang thing about it. "We're playing a campaign. It starts in Taldor." Don't discuss Baba Yaga. Don't mention Rasputin. Let it all be a surprise.
Anyway, that's all the time I have for editorials today. Again, there are no right and wrong ways to handle this. The choices just alter the flavor is all.
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As a side note, rangers may not have the wherewithal to know they should pick a cold environment for a favorite terrain, but many terrains may still be good choices—like forest. And rangers do get multiple favorite terrains, and can pick cold next time. Its not that much of hardship!
Being a stranger in a strange land also makes Linguistics suddenly a valuable skill choice, but not a super punitive one. Common is still common, but it only takes 1 point to pick up Skald, or Giant, or Hallit.
I mean, some people loved Serpent's Skulll #1 because the PCs really had to overcome challenges from being shipwrecked. I look at it the same way, only not nearly so harsh as that adventure. After a few levels, these initial challenges won't feel nearly so severe, and I think they're ways to really take a character through the process of starting small (or just humble) and becoming great heroes.
Okay, now I'm shutting up for real!
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Lots of good stuff.
Jim is spot-on with his analysis on the reasons for starting the AP in Taldor. At the same time, however, this is why we made Heldren as "generic" as possible, so that those GMs who don't want to start in an area so far-removed from the north can easily place it anywhere they want in their campaigns.
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I hope that this campaign will start in the Stolen Lands during summer. The town of Heldren will be replaced with what has become Oleg's Town (Trades meet in Kyshahn for my game).
It makes sense to have some winter themed characters make an appearance that far north, but Snow in Summer will be weird. The heroes of Kyshahn will be checking the last place a frost bloom appeared (Talon Peak) unaware the real threat is in the Narlmarches.
Or maybe I'll go a little further West and place a village near Thousand Breaths, so while the old heroes chase down what they think is a First World Problem (pun intended), our 1st level PCs end up finding the portal firmly in the material plane.