|
You know, I used to detest Taldor-spesific scenarios, particularly when it comes to PFS, since they seemed to always sidestep the most interesting parts. That was until I GM'd The Jester's Fraud.
In TJF, your party wades through the ruins of Taldor's glory. The Golden Age? That's long gone, man. Witness the new frontier, the relics left by war and neglect. Dilapitated temples used as way stations, forgotten keeps turned into bandit fortresses, etc.
It's a damn cool piece of setting, particularly because the war, that original conflict, was not fought between token forces of good and evil, but between national neighbours. There's a lot to sympathise here, I guess.
Since when did Golarion become that small?
There is so much left to explore......
Archduke VorathWho?
Yeah, where is that from?
+1 to Taldor, Cheliax and Andoran CS (and in case people don't know, they don't already have one, those where player companion...)
Updating Andoran might mean updating Darkmoon Vale...
+1 to Razmir CS + Player Companion...
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I really want a Cheliax book because I want to run CoT some day, and this AP really lacks support material. Also, a book on Westcrown plx.
I really want a Taldor book because that's one hell of a place that needs a new definitive canon-approved volume that tells us what exactly is going on down there. I suspect that the softcover Taldor book is full of hooks, storylines and ideas which will never go anywhere because Josh. We need some fresh air there!
Andoran, meh. But OK, go on, have it. Silly idealists.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Andoran's may favorite country in the Inner Sea Region; it's good to see a US as it should be, and in a fantasy setting as well!
Of course, Paizo probably won't publish a setting book if it wasn't to support an adventure path so here's some ideas for one.
• Ending the corruption of the Lumber Consortium, presumable through corporate intrigue rather than...expedient methods.
• War against Cheliax, an AP with both mass combat and special ops.
• That dragon in the Five Kings Mountains decides to attack. How does somebody go from nobody to dragon-slayer.
• The local fey are becoming aggressive, spurred on by the evil fey court living underground.
• Taldor's Prince Rat-Face dies suddenly (assume he chokes on a pretzel), sparking a civil war. Both interested countries (Andoran, Cheliax, Druuma) and powerful nobles (wanting Glory Once Again either through militarism or commerce) are backing factions and funding armies. It's a game of thrones!
I suggest combining the ideas for maximum effect; that last one'd be trick to work with the others though.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Andoran's may favorite country in the Inner Sea Region; it's good to see a US as it should be, and in a fantasy setting as well!
See, that's what I love about it as well. It's no more 'real' US than Camelot is REAL Middle Ages England, but you can enjoy the better elements being used liberally. Frankly, the whole anti-slavery angle also reminds me of the old Guardians of the Flame series by Joel Rosenberg, and as I liked that (at least the first three books), I certainly enjoy mixing doses of that in.
I know others who look at it more like 'What if the French Revolution was a success" to contrast to Galt (Which makes sense) or Poland's early attempts at Democracy. So if you really want to down play the 'America' angles, it can be done.
I sometimes wonder if the Darkmoon vale modules shouldn't be mashed, tweaked, and then republished in one big book like Rise of the Rune Lords Anniversary was with extra parts for higher level war against the Lumber Consortium or what have you turning into a true AP. Not sure if the effort and cost would be profitable enough from a business sense, but I know some folks would love it.
Course, we still haven't gotten official maps of Almas and many other Andoran locations and I'm aching for the southern part of the nation to get fleshed out.
Frankly, I have little interest in Cheliax myself. It's gotten an AP and a lot of love. Heck, the next Wayfinder mag will be all about it and will be HUGE. So good news for folk who like it.
I, myself, wouldn't mind seeing it start to crumble or the like. Sometimes it seems as if it is presented as eroding and about to fall into a pit of its own making, and other times it seems portrayed as being unstoppable. I suppose that gives GMs more ideas for their own take, but out of the three (Taldor, Andoran, and Cheliax) it needs the least attention right now.
Then there's Taldor. I was very surprised to find out the anti Sarenrae angle had been retconed. I've been using that one to beat the band. Player characters have been smuggling worshipers to safety, befriending the 'underground religion' and trying to help the reputation of the faith in the nation without getting themselves labeled traitors. I guess I'll need to find an in game reason for the turn around.
Maybe the Royal family fears the claim Asmodeous might try to make on them, and have embraced the Church of his old sparring partner to save themselves? That might work. I was never a fan of Asmodeous having such strong hooks in yet another nation anyway so the idea of the Dawnflower helping to 'redeem' Taldor appeals.
Out of all three, Taldor probably needs the most love. I liked "Echoes of Glory" just fine, and Oppara really shines, but other than that, it feels rather barebones. Knights of the Inner Sea at least fleshed out some of the noble families there, and I'd love to see more of that. Brevoy is ready for Civil War, and Kingmaker was about their politics leading to claiming a wilderness. I could easily see where politics could lead to RECLAIMING deserted parts of Taldor.
Better yet, might be a focus on intrigue where the characters can parlay their heroics into forcing more powerful nobles into actually doing their jobs. "Duke Dechutny, I was glad to save your daughter, but instead of coin... there are three small villages that would prosper if a certain canal were cleared and navigable again. Do that, and consider us even."
That kind of thing. The idea of members of the unbeareded and the lower nobles kicking their 'betters' in the proverbial rear to better the nation is one I like a great deal. Of course, it would also make the PCs subject to assassination attempts, deadly missions to reclaim ruins, and shadow wars against those nobles that are actively hurting Taldor. Sounds like it could be stretched into a pretty fun intrigue/action type adventure in the vein of the Three Musketeers.
|
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Taldor needs a shake-up. I would really like to see Taldor have to confront the problems it has built up over all these years and return to being an actually viable country. It's rare to see a fallen empire in fiction pull itself back up, but real life countries went through waves of dereliction and prominence. It will of course never reach the heights of the old empire again, but it could it still revitalize itself enough to be an actual force in the inner sea.
Maybe I'm just a sucker for a redemption story.
|
The problem I see is that there are so many areas of the Golarion that deserve attention that it is hard to choose any of them above others. I personally would like to see more of Andoran, Taldor, and Cheliax. But all three do have a good selection of lore already, even if some of it is outdated. Andoran did have a number of early modulars and a chronicle on the Darkmoon Vale, Cheliax had an Adventure Path, and Taldor is getting some attention with some newer modulars. Plus more material and lore slips into the setting in occasional passages in new books and even in the PFS scenarios.
But to provide updated material for these nations would come at the cost of providing new material for places that have not been touched much at all. Personally I wouldn’t want a horde of angry Aldori Swordlords on my doorstep demanding why my new Andoran book came at the cost of their Brevoy book.
Perhaps a way to meet this goal without sacrificing too much new lore was if they did a single Adventure Path that crossed all three nations. They were once all part of the same empire and perhaps someone wants stir up a revolution to crave up a new nation out of Andoran or Taldor? Or we could delve deeper into the rise of House Thrune and the exact nature of the original deal Queen Abrogail made with Hell. Or some new threat close to home forces all three nations to work together.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Patience.
Three of our most popular and prominent nations haven't simply been overlooked.
Archduke VorathWho?
Mark,
I was using a little creativity to make a point. ;)
forgot you were Master of the Wiki!
Yeah, where is that from?Archduke VorathWho?
It's from the module called The Tarnished Crown...didnt you read it?
;)
actually I made it up.
But Wes, we can likely convince them to send us pizza and donuts to bribe the books out of us. Thanks for ruining my plan!Patience.
Three of our most popular and prominent nations haven't simply been overlooked.
We´ll rather send you the barstars team or some similar fitness coaches and a lot of vegetables, so your creativity is not eaten up by diabetes, but get´s a new drive :D
An AP that crossed all three nations probably wouldn't result in CS books for all three nations. Honestly, there are enough possible plot ideas that either country could support it's own AP, or at least a module.
An AP that crossed all three nations probably wouldn't result in CS books for all three nations. Honestly, there are enough possible plot ideas that either country could support it's own AP, or at least a module.
Hell, some of them have enough plots for several AP. Just the Darkmoon Vale has enough points of view for at least 6 concurrent AP (if we include monsters and Evil AP).
OK, I think it's about time we can badger Paizo for Campaign Setting line books on Cheliax and Taldor.
But hey, you're getting a book with 7 ships in one of those annual 64-page slots.
Be grateful!
|
|
OK, I think it's about time we can badger Paizo for Campaign Setting line books on Cheliax and Taldor.But hey, you're getting a book with 7 ships in one of those annual 64-page slots.
Be grateful!
I'd be grateful if it was the only annual slot, but it's one of 12, so pleae take that snark somewhere where you aren't anonymous :)
|
|
How about "revisited" and "unleashed" books about Taldor, Cheliax, Andor and Quadira?
Especially "unleashed" might fit two of those in some ways.I would prefer more material on other regions though, like Tian Xia.
And not just the whole continent in one thing.
An AP in the kraken run country for example would be super awesome!!!Also there needs to be the Kitsune Player Companion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I cannot agree enough with all these points. Especially Cheliax. I've got two players now at my table running characters from there and they keep wanting more and more and I have nothing to give them.
And good lord you are certainly right about the Kitsune companion. Been seeing a lot of those lately. Either they're a sleeper hit or Paizo did a great job on that race and we're seeing more openness at the tables for uncommon races.
Retconning the banning of Saranrae kinda invalidates several scenarios, as well as the Hidden Priest archetype and the Dawnflower Dissident PrC doesn't it?
|
|
Retconning the banning of Saranrae kinda invalidates several scenarios, as well as the Hidden Priest archetype and the Dawnflower Dissident PrC doesn't it?
Not really. The hidden priest is still good no matter where our what you worship really, since it's more about disguising your faith as something else which really could be good with just about any character with the right background. Hell you could be just really secretive about your faith for fear of either reprisals in foreign lands or as a way to distance the church and faith from your actions. Think like a forgive me father for what I'm about to do or like a Sam Fisher for Sarenrae, the secret hand of the angels vengeance.
As for the dissident that is meant more as a follower of the dawnflower who roots out followers in the faith who have become so militant that they are losing sight of the tenets of the faith.
Hell actually I could see a pretty cool character who's both. Like a sleeper cleric who hides as an explosives expert alchemist and goes undercover with radical dawnflower cells in order to ferret them out and bring them to justice.
Well, Hidden Priest, as written then. My preferred use of it is actually for a cleric of Norgorber passing himself off as anything else.
I really want a Cheliax book because I want to run CoT some day, and this AP really lacks support material. Also, a book on Westcrown plx.
I really want a Taldor book because that's one hell of a place that needs a new definitive canon-approved volume that tells us what exactly is going on down there. I suspect that the softcover Taldor book is full of hooks, storylines and ideas which will never go anywhere because Josh. We need some fresh air there!
Andoran, meh. But OK, go on, have it. Silly idealists.
I feel like the best time for a Cheliax 64pger is when they update CoT for Pathfinder! :D
I really wanna play CoT, but the idea of updating an entire AP isn't in my time budget.
I'd be grateful if it was the only annual slot, but it's one of 12, so pleae take that snark somewhere where you aren't anonymous :)OK, I think it's about time we can badger Paizo for Campaign Setting line books on Cheliax and Taldor.But hey, you're getting a book with 7 ships in one of those annual 64-page slots.
Be grateful!
*chuckle*
I was actually joking.
Lighten up, Francis. (Oh and: "take that snark" + Gorbacz = amusing.)
:)
|
I really want a Cheliax book because I want to run CoT some day, and this AP really lacks support material. Also, a book on Westcrown plx.
I really want a Taldor book because that's one hell of a place that needs a new definitive canon-approved volume that tells us what exactly is going on down there. I suspect that the softcover Taldor book is full of hooks, storylines and ideas which will never go anywhere because Josh. We need some fresh air there!
Andoran, meh. But OK, go on, have it. Silly idealists.
I feel like the best time for a Cheliax 64pger is when they update CoT for Pathfinder! :D
I really wanna play CoT, but the idea of updating an entire AP isn't in my time budget.
Council of Thieves was the first PfRPG AP. Not that it couldn't stand updates and revisions, mind you, but still. Already PfRPG.
We just need 320 page books for Taldor/Cheliax/Qadira/Andoran ("Heartlands of the Inner Sea"?), and then one for Garund, Casmaron, and Vudra, finally saving Arcadia, Azlant, and Sarusan for their own book which will serve as the capstone to Golarion development prior to the release of PfRPG 2.0 and a new Inner Sea book at GenCon 2020.
A wild Mona sighting! Quick, before it escapes!We will get to all of these for sure.
Some sooner rather than later.
I'll cover the back.
I definitely am all for a Taldor sourcebook. Since I want to set a campaign there (though mostly in Oppara), it would be very helpful for me. So, I support this motion!
We will get to all of these for sure.
Some sooner rather than later.
Oh no... now we get to speculate over which one will come soon... and how soon...
-Matt would flip if the next AP were in Taldor. It's about damn time.
|
A new Cheliax book could do with a lot of taming down in terms of feats.
The current book contains some of the most abuse-able feats around. Every time I see some crazy feat like Hellcat Stealth, it comes from Cheliax, Empire of Devils...
A new book on Taldor would really be great!
Recently had a chat we a fellow player over Taldor and we both come to realize that Taldor is really a much better county then some other nations. For example, they respect the forest that other "good" nations like Andoran is just cutting down with out care.
Would really love to see more info on Taldor.
|
Ah, ahh, ahhh, Vudra! Pardon my sneeze.
Seriously, though, Jalmeray and Vudra are overdue for some attention. The Empire of Kelesh could use some development, too. We don't even know the names of most of the vassal states of the Empire.
Some information on Arcadia would be great, but with Golarion's timeline frozen, and only a couple of tiny colonies on the continent, I doubt there's much to say.
(I'd love to see the Hellknights bringing Diabolism to a pseudo-Aztec Empire in a twisted parallel to the Conquistadors, but I don't think official Golarion history is headed in that direction any time soon.)
Can't imagine Vudra getting any attention until / unless Paizo gets around to their psionic rules.
On the other hand, the idea of Hellknights bringing Diabolism to the new world is rather interesting.
with Golarion's timeline frozen
It's not frozen. It just advanced in real-time.
|
|
with Golarion's timeline frozenIt's not frozen. It just advanced in real-time.
Interesting. So theoretically, someone could discover a reliable, reasonably-safe passage to Arcadia in the next couple of years? Instead of jumping ahead to the pseudo-Aztecs being already half conquered, we could witness the first boatload of Hellknights being sent. Very interesting (but still pretty unlikely).
|
|
Since several of the developers have already posted, I have a questions for them. Since there seems to be some movement on the release of new material for areas of the world, is there any plan on revising and releasing a small book for Korvosa? Maybe with a tie in for a re-release of CotCT with pathfinder rules? Perhaps even some info in the Korvosa book that covers how things look in the city after CotCT ends?
Also, new book on Cheliax and Andoran could be pretty useful for a high level AP (starting at 12 or 15 maybe) that covers the "shadow war" between the two, and perhaps has open warfare the PC's are involved in. If the developers are feeling really ambitious it could be somewhat open ended and allow the PC's to take either side (or neither ala kingmaker).
|
|
Yeah, where is that from?Archduke VorathWho?It's from the module called The Tarnished Crown...didnt you read it?
;)
actually I made it up.
I actually think an AP called "The Tarnished Crown" would be awesome! Set it in Taldor, and the storyline has you aiding Princess Eutropia, working your way through the cut throat political minefield.