Absalom would seem the obvious choice for this, I'd think, were it ever done.
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We're always looking at new types of books to put out, and I think more than one of us here in the office think something like that would be really cool. Currently, nothing like that is on the schedule, but I wouldn't put it completely out of the realm of possibility. When the time's right, a really detailed city book like the ones you mentioned would be a lot of fun to put together.
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We're always looking at new types of books to put out, and I think more than one of us here in the office think something like that would be really cool. Currently, nothing like that is on the schedule, but I wouldn't put it completely out of the realm of possibility. When the time's right, a really detailed city book like the ones you mentioned would be a lot of fun to put together.
Don't stop at a book! I'm hoping this product suggests boxed sets might not be as impossible as they've seemed recently. The quality they achieved in that product is terrific, plus all the knick knacks took me right back to that "Christmas present" feel I always experienced exploring a new TSR boxed set.
I know they're not an ideal regular thing, but maybe as a one-off...
Steve, you also get the benefit of built in storage for campaign notes and Character sheets!
Well I was commissioned to create the original hand-drawn version of the City of Kasai for The Empty Throne module of the Jade Regent AP (and the Dragon Empires Map Folio) - and with the level of detail I included, it was designed to be an extemely detailed city. I also did some of the writing for the City of Kasai Gazetteer - and I really wanted to include a lot more than I did, but Paizo didn't want that much extra detail. Besides some of it was cut in editing, to include other material elsewhere in the adventure.
If I'd been allowed more of a free hand, I would have done a lot more, but of course, its not my project, so I could l only include what Paizo wanted to include.
Absalom boxset would be awesome. I miss the tsr boxsets not sure why but they always makes me happy.
Boxed sets are awesome. That is a fact.
Absalom would make a great candidate for this sort of treatment. A box filled with maps, player handouts, several adventure ideas that could be linked into a campaign, and lots of great art.
That said, another model for this was the Ptolus book. This singular tome offered a complete campaign along with detailed maps and location information.
Translated into Paizo's product lines, I think the following:
1) AP set in Absalom.
2) Campaign setting book on Absalom
3) Another Campaign setting set of maps relating to the AP.
4) A players companion for the AP
5) A tales novel set in Absalom
With the current subscription model, wrapping all of the above into a fancy box set for $150 would be difficult. It would mean devoting a whole lot of development to a single large product that would break the mold. Would it mean a third AP in a year? I would buy it, but it would be a significant expansion to the current product lines.
Maybe all we need is just boxes for the AP related material already released each year. I would buy that.
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Creative Director
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The guide to korvosa is only softcover, but leaves little to be desiredDitto the already published books on Absalom and Magnimar.
Although the ?Magnimar book was fairly comprehensive. I wonder if tripling the word count (at least) would be an adequate use of space.
Is that the only flaw? There needed to be more words?
Personally, I'm a HUGE fan of city books and each one we do I seek to make better than the one before. I'm eager to learn more about how to improve things! What could Magnimar have done better (other than just be longer! :P)?
EDIT: And while we do periodically look into box set possibilities... they remain something that we can't really do for a brand-new product. They're just too expensive to put together. We'd have to charge so much that no one would buy it.
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Is that the only flaw? There needed to be more words?
I would recommend the addition of words with these topics in mind:
- Organizations and their operatives in the city. For example, Lord Mayor Grobaras will have many organizations under his control. I would be interested in his web of power. How are the various factions arrayed against each other? What players owe their allegiance to which team? This might best be done with a diagram linking each faction.
- Example encounters at various locations. For example, area D9 the Impound Yard for ships that have been abandoned for more than 90 days. Maybe an example encounter here? Details of a particular ship for example. I liked the plots and perils chapter, but more encounter ideas, the better.
- Art. I would love more art from the point of view of the street. For example, I used the picture of the shadow clock for a recent adventure. I find sometimes when the art is good, it really is worth 1000 words. So having art that depicts the flavour of each district would be good.
- GM advice sidebars. Ideas could include, suggested uses of NPCs on a given page, plot hooks and how they connect to other areas in the book, helpful examples from the author's games (or other authors games) that were set in Magnimar.
- Maps! I really like the district maps and the main map on the inside cover. They can be used to show players where they are, but a dedicated player friendly map would be great.
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Is that the only flaw? There needed to be more words?Personally, I'm a HUGE fan of city books and each one we do I seek to make better than the one before. I'm eager to learn more about how to improve things! What could Magnimar have done better (other than just be longer! :P)?
Well, two things I can think of that I'd like to see are:
1) Cost adjustments by district. I liked the prices of houses listed in each district in the Absolom and Katapesh books. That was probably taking up too much space to do in other products, but an addition to the city/district statblocks to adjust the cost of living helps to give each settlement and district more flavor, and to bring home the flavor of different economical regions. It would also help to indicate when certain levels are not available at all, such as Destitute not being available in the rich part of town.
2) Some representation of local politics in a form similar to the Factions from the Faction Guide, but scaled for "local" use.
Why stop at one city? Ultimate Settlement. In-depth write-ups of a couple iconic cities and then an expansion on the creation of one's own cities so as to build unique districts, villages in the hinterlands and a thorp from a single defensive tower.
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Ultimate Settlement -- a "town and city tookit for GMs" -- is a cool idea.
However, to answer your first question: stop at one city, rather than a couple of cities, so that city is really done in depth, and not as just an overview leaving all the details required to be filled. Mind you, it's nice to have lots of places within a city where details can be filled by GMs, but it's also nice to have lots of places detailed out as well. For instance, I thought In the Cage plus Uncaged plus The Factol's Manifesto did a nice job of filling out the huge city of Sigil in the Planescape setting. There were lots of fully realized NPCs, locations, plots, etc., but there was also plenty of room to put your own stuff in if you wanted.
