Why does Pathfinder take place in 1921 Earth time?

[Yqatuba]

I keep forgetting to ask this: is there any real reason it takes place then as opposed to just modern day?

[CrystalSeas]

Yqatuba wrote:

I keep forgetting to ask this: is there any real reason it takes place then as opposed to just modern day?

It doesn't take place in any particular time as far as technical equivalence goes. Some places have really advanced technology, like the skymetals from Numaria; but only Alkenstar currently has guns.

But the Golarion calendar tracks the current calendar exactly: 4719 in the Golarion calendar was 2019 in our calendar

CRB, pg 419 wrote:

As the calendar advances in the real world, time also progresses for Golarion. The Pathfinder Core Rulebook was first published in the year 2019, with the Inner sea region's corresponding year ending in the same two final digits

So today is Wealday, 16 Kuthona, 4720 in the Golarion calendar

[Laird IceCubez]

I think what Yqatuba meant is the year on Earth in the Pathfinder setting.

In certain modules and APs, the players can meet people from Earth or even travel to Earth, and its around the 1920s there.

[Taja the Barbarian]

I believe Rasputin Must Die specifically ties Golarion to 1917 1918: Since that adventure was from 2013, I would think a 1st Edition campaign should currently align with 1925 or 1926...

[Kasoh]

Because when they wrote Rasputin Must Die, they wanted the PCs to fight Rasputin and not have a time travel plot. So, the Earth that exists with Golarion exists at that particular point in time.

It might go further than that. The Lost Omens setting is soaked with Lovecraftian Mythos stuff which has a lot of it also take place in that early 1900s era, so it could have been a decision to highlight the Mythos connection.