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Ok, long story short, I kinda ended up doing a Total Party Wipe last session (I got lucky rolls, they got crappy ones, yadda yadda yadda) I was running a 10-year old campaign in Eberron that I slowly converted to Pathfinder rules and such.
Bad luck occured, all players get killed, game over, new characters (I'm staring them at level 11), but we didn't start right after creation. I also thought about going for Golarion since I want to try something new, and in the meantime I wanna try a campaign setting that saves me the trouble of converting to PF rules. Surprisingly enough, ALL my players went for Asian-flavored characters. So... I got a few questions:
- If I want to run a Golarion campaign, in the world/Material Plane where Golarion is located, what books/booklets do I need?
- Asian-flavored characters scream Tian Xia adventures. Again, what books would be best to get?
A few guidelines:
- I'm allowing a lot of stuff from the standard PF books, such as firearms.
- I'm allowing some 3rd-party materials for character creation, be races, classes, spells, feats, items, etc.
- My characters are:
* Male human fighter (cad) 9 / wizard 2
* Male aasimar (archon-blooded) magus (spellblade) 11
* Female suli samurai 11 (archetype to be determined later)
* Male kval ninja 10 / shadow dancer 1
* Female human sorcerer (destined bloodline) 11
* Male tiefling (standard) gunslinger (pistolero) 11
(Please refrain yourself from commenting on my players' choices. I told them to do what they want, not what they should do. Some roles are not covered, like a cleric/healer, but they decided as such and they'll deal with it on their own.)
- I have a lot of the standard Pathfinder books, but only Gods & Magic and Inner Sea Bestiary as campaign-exclusive books.
- The books I'm looking for could possibly be compared to the same line of books that WotC released for Forgotten Realms. Y'know, books that describe specific regions, specific empires, lost empires and such. I don't know if Paizo ever made such material, but it would be a good place to start.
- BUDGET IS NOT AN ISSUE! Well, to a certain extend, it isn't much of a problem. I'm a guy that when from a library of physical books to a folder loaded with PDF books. PDF files cost between 10 to 20 bucks, which is 75 to 50% less than a physical book.
So, what all that being said, what books do I need to run a Golarion campaign?
Thanks in advance
P.S. to mods: I posted this here because I believe that it's an advice on Paizo Products, but feel free to move it to the right section if necessary.
Obviously start with the Inner Sea World Guide. Tian Xia has not been specifically covered in a book yet (unless there's one I'm not aware of), so you're only going to find information as asides in other books. Perhaps your players would enjoy the Jade Regent adventure path.
And I must comment on one player's choice: I think I would have a blast RPing a tiefling gunslinger. In the interest being a genuine pain in the ass, I might even get a ten gallon hat and ride a horse.
You may want to take a look at "Heroes Of The Jade Oath" from Rite Publishing... lots of applicable fluff and more than enough extra crunch...
So, basically, every region-specific booklet that counts as a Player's Companion?
For Tian Xia, Dragon Empires Primer is the only thing we've gotten in the Player's Companion line. Apart from that there's the aforementioned Dragon Empires Gazetteer in the Campaign Setting line, the second half of the Jade Regent adventure path, the module The Ruby Phoenix Tournament, and several Pathfinder Society Scenarios - particularly from season 3.
You can get by with just the Dragon Empires Gazetteer and/or Primer for the Tian Xia elements.
Hmmm? Primer?
Can you provide the link?
P.S. to mods: I posted this here because I believe that it's an advice on Paizo Products, but feel free to move it to the right section if necessary.
P.S. to mods: I posted this here because I believe that it's an advice on Paizo Products, but feel free to move it to the right section if necessary.
Oh, I see... thanks for the input ^_^
Recap:
- Inner Sea World Guide
- Inner Sea Primer
- Dragon Empires Gazetteer
- Dragon Empires Primer
- Ruby Phoenix Tournament
That would be about it - although I don't think the Inner Sea Primer has anything about Tian Xia (if you're going for an East Asian feel) that isn't already in the other books.
That would be about it - although I don't think the Inner Sea Primer has anything about Tian Xia (if you're going for an East Asian feel) that isn't already in the other books.
Well, they eventually move out of Tian Xia for journeying, so it's not a waste to have a book that can help me with it.
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I would heartily recommend the Inner Sea World Guide if you are going to be moving out of Tian Xia at some point.
If you are going to take your characters on an over-land route to the Inner Sea region of Golarion (where most of the Adventure Paths and Modules are based), I would definitely recommend getting the Jade Regent Adventure Path Book 3, The Hungry Storm. It details going over "The Crown of The World," i.e., Golarion's North Pole/Bering Straight in order to reach the other continent.
If you want to put your characters through a harsh area where they are forced to put their survival skills to the test, that is a good adventure path, except instead of going from the Inner Sea to Tian Xia, you are doing the reverse. Thankfully, the book is perfect either way you choose to go.
Recap:
- Inner Sea World Guide
- Inner Sea Primer
- Dragon Empires Gazetteer
- Dragon Empires Primer
- Ruby Phoenix Tournament
Jade Regent AP.
And if you really want to go crazy, Distant Worlds, which outlines Golarion's entire Solar System. Reign of Winter #4: The Frozen Stars also has more about one of the planets in the system.Also, most of the areas mentioned in the ISWG also have CampaignSetting/Chronicles books further exploring the area (especially Varisia), while others are explored in the various Adventure Paths (a few have both). If one of them catches your fancy, feel free to come back and ask again.
Adventure Paths by Location:
Varisia
Rise of the Runelords
Curse of the Crimson Throne
Second Darkness
Jade Regent (Begins there, but moves elsewhere)
Shattered Star
Katapesh
Legacy of Fire
Cheliax
Council of Thieves
Brevoy/Iobaria/River Kingdoms
Kingmaker
Mawangi Expanse/Sevarga
Serpent's Skull
Ustlav
Carrion Crown
Lands of the Linnorm Kings/Tian Xia
Jade Regent
The Shackles
Skull & Shackles
Irrisen/Iobaria/Triaxus/Russia
Reign of Winter
Mendev/Worldwound
Wrath of the Righteous
@SAMAS
The reason I didn't include APs is because it can become expensive. Yes, I said that budget isn't much of a problem, but personally, I'd pick an AP only if it's bundled into one $40 PDF file, like Rise of the Runelords was.
Aslo, APs seem harder to adapt to higher or lower levels than single quests, like the Ruby Phoenix Tournament.
If you're not using the full AP, you can usually get away with just the part(s) that has the information you need. But otherwise, I see your point.
Something else to think about - you can browse The Wiki and find some subjects that you like, then look at the bottom of the page to see which books reference that subject, and make a list from there
Something else to think about - you can browse The Wiki and find some subjects that you like, then look at the bottom of the page to see which books reference that subject, and make a list from there
A problem I have with wikis is that they don't get updated as fast as one would think, and their resources can be limited, be in text or image or both. There might be some info that a wiki won't have.
With a book, the info is all there and there might be some that cannot be found in a wiki due to licenses and publishing rights.
Plus, if my internet connection goes out, I'm still good with a nice PDF file, so...
There is a bit of info on a couple of the different types of Imperial Dragons in Dragons Unleashed, which might help with Tian Xia. Mythic Realms also has info on a couple of high level Tian Xia locations (Valashamai, i.e. Kaiju-land, and a partially damaged floating Shory city).
I like the revisited series, which is a good source of flavor for different monsters in Pathfinder. you might consider browsing through those books and seeing if there are any particular monsters covered that you think you might be using a lot (The emphasis has largely been stuff found in the Inner Sea Region though).