| Growlly |
I'm prepping to start GMing some sessions set in the Inner Sea, and I'm building a gazetteer to help the players get in the mood and as a useful quick resource that isn't omniscient. But it has raised an interesting question: what would a gazetteer about Golarion look like in Golarion? I assume that the gazetteer's creators would have above average access to information but not access to all knowledge.
I think it would contain things like:
- Days of the week, months of the year
- List of countries and major cities in the Inner Sea with basic information
- Major deities
- A full map of the Inner Sea
- General history of the last 20 years
- Ongoing conflicts/disputes (does anyone have a list of these?)
- Something about Earthfall (unsure how much detail)
- Something about the Starstone and Aroden founding Absalom (unsure how much detail)
- Something about the Worldwound (unsure how much detail)
- Something about the Whispering Tyrant (unsure how much detail)
- The Ages with 1 or 2 sentences about what happened during each
But would it contain these?
- Other major events that people on Golarion might know about?
- A full planet map of Golarion
- Minor deities
- A list of planets in the solar system
- Planes of the Inner and Outer Spheres
- Detailed history since -5300 AR (is that when "recorded history" starts?)
Anything else I left out that might be useful? Thanks.
| Growlly |
It would really depend on the knowledge geography or local check of the author. Earthfall would have sparse detail, mostly myths and guesses regarding Aroden and the Starstone.
Hmm, let's say it's written by a notable historian, based on a toned-down version of this super legendary one: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/npc-s/npc-16/mast-historian-dwarf-bard-10- loremaster-7/
He has Knowledge Geography +10, History +20, Planes +10, Local +10, Religion +10. He has plenty of time and assistance (this could even be a revised edition), but there's limited space in this small pamphlet-sized publication (so it covers a broad range of things without too much detail).
It's a history DC20 to "Know obscure or ancient historical event." With the other skills, it seems like brief descriptions of the major planes, planets, countries are available. With +20 history, it seems like would know pretty much anything that could be known by someone on Golarion about history, but is that still limited to " mostly myths and guesses regarding Aroden and the Starstone"? And are things like a full world map available?
| Mark Hoover 330 |
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So... you want an entire WORLD guide? Well, what it would look like, based on the skills you're talking about, would be a multi-volume set of encyclopedias, like the old Encyclopedia Britanica books, that show lots of hand drawn/magically improved maps, descriptions, etc. Think about it: what you're describing is a person or persons with a +10 Knowledge: Geography, perhaps about another +2 - +10 in Aid Another bonuses, and the time/wherewithal to take 20, meaning that the author(s) are rocking about a 32 or more on Knowledge: Geography, magic and items notwithstanding!
Might I suggest, instead, creating a player guide to a specific region? Pick one, say around the town of Sandpoint. In the back of my hardcover of the Rise of the Runelords there's a nice regional map showing the hinterlands of the town as well as a 3 page primer on the settlement and outlands. There's a brief synopsis of the town's history, a couple of movers and shakers, key locales in the town and then about a paragraph or 2 on the areas of note in the hinterlands.
Again, back to what that would LOOK like... that would depend on the region. If your PCs are starting out in Absalom the info might be presented in the form of a gazetteer folio with a regional and city map, pages on the local history and information on the Pathfinder Society, since they are the publishers of the work. On the other hand if you're talking about Falcon's Hollow way out in rural Andoran, you'd likely be handing out a hand-scrawled piece of vellum showing a very rude map of Darkmoon Vale with the town noted, areas under timber contract (legally off limits to the PCs) by the Lumber Consortium, and some rather biased/prejudiced write-ups of the region by the personal scribe to Boss Kreed.
Or, y'know... you could just do a bunch of screenshots from the Golarion Wiki and call it a day...