What year is Curse of the Crimson Throne? (Spoilers)

[JeremyK]

I have the re-release of CotCT. I assumed it took place during 4708 as the original print of the book was 2008. That's Paizo's typical method of dating a game.

I came across section on page 88 where it suggests that characters could research the Direption and learn that it was owned by a man who frequented Korvosa from 4703-4711 and later died in 4713. Unless this research uncovers and almanac from the future, the math doesnt add up. Can anyone help me out here?

Thanks.

[Callum Finlayson]

Officially none of the APs are set in any particular year -- the PF timeline never advances in an absolute sense, though some APs can be positioned relative to one another -- e.g. SS takes place a couple of years after RotRL and SD.

However, as you indicate, adventures are sort-of treated as taking place in the real year + 2700. So CotCT was sort of originally set in 4708, and the hardcover is sort of set in 4716. In your game it can be fairly easily set to whatever year you prefer with only minor tweaks.

Advancing the official timeline causes one set of problems, nt advancing it causes a different set. *shrug*

EDIT: RoW must occur in 4713 AR unless you rewrite a bit of Irrisen lore.

[MarkEpton]

To add further confusion, one of the rumours states 'They never caught the Key-Lock Killer; he just vanished after killing nine people in their own locked homes back in 4797.'

I have just set mine in 4816, giving enough time for Rolth Lamm to age enough, but not too much

[shadram]

I chose to read the 4797 as a typo for 4707, which makes the 4716 dates work.

But yeah, none of the APs are assumed to happen on any particular timeline, so that you can run them in any order to build your own history of Golarion. As noted above, Reign of Winter is the exception here.

[Auspician]

This is absolutely not true. An event takes place in Rise of the Runelords that leads to the events in Book 2 of Curse of the Crimson Throne. The players can squint and never know the difference, but if they play Rise of the Runelords after a clever player will think 'wtf - did this happen before Curse'? Because yes, in fact, it did.

[Zatjegob]

Page five of the official book of the adventure in the text that appears in the illustration.

"Korvosa, the Jewel of Varisia, has long sparkled on the shore of
Conqueror’s Bay. Established just over 300 years ago by Cheliax
at the height of that empire’s expansion"

Korvosa was founded in 4407, so the current year should be approximately 4707.

In the month of Erastus the 14th is the festival of the foundation of Korvosa

So the adventure can start before or after the 14th of the month of Erastus.

Regards.

[Trichotome]

Quite the necro we've got here.

But in the interest of putting this matter to rest once and for all:

The original Edge of Anarchy book, Pathfinder Chronicles: Guide to Korvosa, and Pathfinder Lost Omens World Guide all set the canonical start to Curse of the Crimson Throne as 4708 AR. This is also supported in most other official and unofficial records of the timeline of Golarion.

From the Adventure background in Edge of Anarchy (page 7):
"Barely 17 years old when she took Eodred II’s side in 4704 ar, Queen Ileosa has managed a minor miracle in the past 4 years."

From the Timeline on the back cover of Guide to Korvosa:
"4708: Current year."

From the Timeline in Pathfinder Lost Omens World Guide (page 110)
"4708 AR: King Eodred perishes, leaving Korvosa in the hands of Queen Ileosa, whose harsh rule brings about a time of plague and cruelty."

With regards to the Key-Lock Killer's most productive year, Guide to Korvosa sets that as 4697 AR, which would make 4797 a logical typo.

As for the notes about the Direption, I notice that the lines about the records of the ship's activity are a new addition to the Anniversary Edition (released in 2016), so I'm willing to bet whomever added it forgot to account for the timeline of the original book and used the anniversary's release as the baseline. Given that, I'd set the timeline as being 13-5 years ago (so 4695-4703), and the owner's death as 3 years ago (so 4705).

[Willowmoon]

This is excellent! Thank you!

Trichotome wrote:

Quite the necro we've got here.

But in the interest of putting this matter to rest once and for all:

The original Edge of Anarchy book, Pathfinder Chronicles: Guide to Korvosa, and Pathfinder Lost Omens World Guide all set the canonical start to Curse of the Crimson Throne as 4708 AR. This is also supported in most other official and unofficial records of the timeline of Golarion.

From the Adventure background in Edge of Anarchy (page 7):
"Barely 17 years old when she took Eodred II’s side in 4704 ar, Queen Ileosa has managed a minor miracle in the past 4 years."

From the Timeline on the back cover of Guide to Korvosa:
"4708: Current year."

From the Timeline in Pathfinder Lost Omens World Guide (page 110)
"4708 AR: King Eodred perishes, leaving Korvosa in the hands of Queen Ileosa, whose harsh rule brings about a time of plague and cruelty."

With regards to the Key-Lock Killer's most productive year, Guide to Korvosa sets that as 4697 AR, which would make 4797 a logical typo.

As for the notes about the Direption, I notice that the lines about the records of the ship's activity are a new addition to the Anniversary Edition (released in 2016), so I'm willing to bet whomever added it forgot to account for the timeline of the original book and used the anniversary's release as the baseline. Given that, I'd set the timeline as being 13-5 years ago (so 4695-4703), and the owner's death as 3 years ago (so 4705).

[Sannos]

I was reading the hardcover edition of Curse of the Crimson Throne and I was confused by the year thing too.
Thank you everyone.
Thank you Trichotome.