What are your hopes for an Arcadia book?

[keftiu]

I have no idea when we’ll finally get this, but with 2e’s steady drip of Arcadia info, I have to feel like this might finally happen sometime in the next few years - so let’s hear it! What genre spaces and cultural inspirations are you hoping Arcadia pulls from? What do you want to know more about?

[Unicore]

I think they will resist dropping the whole continent in one book, especially right away. Introducing an entire continent's worth of organizations, political factions, etc often ends up reducing it to something that feels too 2 dimensional. I would hope to see it start working its way in to other content books and maybe be worthy of splitting into two or 3 regions of their own.

[keftiu]

Unicore wrote:

I think they will resist dropping the whole continent in one book, especially right away. Introducing an entire continent's worth of organizations, political factions, etc often ends up reducing it to something that feels too 2 dimensional. I would hope to see it start working its way in to other content books and maybe be worthy of splitting into two or 3 regions of their own.

We seem to have the most detail on a sort of Central American region; Xopatl, Razatlan, Nalmeras, and Innazpa are all named as nearby one another. That could be a Meta-Region of sorts?

[Unicore]

I bet we will start to get some information in the guns and gears book that might make it more clear.

[Ventnor]

Details on how the various Arcadian Nations interacted with Azlant could be pretty neat.

[RiverMesa]

Information on nonhumans both familiar (halfings, dwarves, orcs, etc.) and new (wyrwoods, rougarous, etc.).

Similarly, gods and faiths - we know Kazutal is popular, but what does her faith look like in her home land, what are the other deities (such as Chihua Couatl) like, and what faith in other common deities like Abadar or Pharasma is like locally (I loved that section in LO The Mwangi Expanse).

But also just, a look at everyday life - the technology, cuisine, culture of common folks around the place, in addition to whatever adventures one might do there.

[SOLDIER-1st]

I'm particularly interested in couatls and Kazutal, so more info on them would be delightful.

[keftiu]

SOLDIER-1st wrote:

I'm particularly interested in couatls and Kazutal, so more info on them would be delightful.

Kazutal got some love in the Mwangi Expanse book, if you didn’t already grab it!

[SOLDIER-1st]

I don't personally have it, but I read a few excerpts from a friends copy. The only place I could find anything on her was in the section on orcs, which only made me want more haha. Was there anywhere else?

[keftiu]

SOLDIER-1st wrote:

I don't personally have it, but I read a few excerpts from a friends copy. The only place I could find anything on her was in the section on orcs, which only made me want more haha. Was there anywhere else?

Nah, you got it!

[Albatoonoe]

I wouldn't mind having some northern regions explored. With the Crown of the World and the Erutaki people, it already has a reasonable line of continuity to that location.

That said, I wouldn't mind more Xopatl.

[Deserk]

RiverMesa wrote:

Information on nonhumans both familiar (halfings, dwarves, orcs, etc.) and new (wyrwoods, rougarous, etc.).

Particularly agree with this. Will be really interesting to see what non-human lands Paizo will create over there. I think it would be cool to see a realm of sasquatch druids for example.

[Opsylum]

Unicore wrote:

I think they will resist dropping the whole continent in one book, especially right away. Introducing an entire continent's worth of organizations, political factions, etc often ends up reducing it to something that feels too 2 dimensional. I would hope to see it start working its way in to other content books and maybe be worthy of splitting into two or 3 regions of their own.

I'm not sure I agree with that. Paizo's kind of developed their entire world that way, beginning with the Inner Sea Region in the Chronicle line's Gazetteer book and later Tian Xia with Dragon Empires. In each case, it introduced a geographic map, timeline of historic events, prominent cultures & gods, and brief descriptions of the major nations & regions. These were inside 64-page books, and their entire world then ballooned outward from books that expanded upon this initial product. With a sourcebook the size of Absalom or The Mwangi Expanse, this formula can be considerably improved.

It mostly depends on whether Paizo wants to continue doing its "forest, then the trees" approach it seems to have relied on in past. I'm good either way, although I think I'd be a little sad having to wait several years for a fully mapped-out Arcadia. Paizo's proven it can do much with little before, and based on what I'm hearing from various members of Paizo's staff — the inspiration is already here to make it happen.

One thing I would be excited to see (and it's probably a pipe dream, but still) is a collaboration between Paizo's team and the people making Coyote & Crow. They're a team of Native American tabletop gamers who recently ran a million dollar kickstarter campaign to publish a fantasy-cyberpunk campaign setting spotlighting Native American culture and legends. Having Connor Alexander's creative mind contributing to this book would accelerate my hype to unhealthy levels.

[keftiu]

I don’t know if they have a freelancing team with the proper background to do the entire continent justice yet, and I’m pretty sure I’ve read regrets about how the low-detail approach to Tian Xia in 1e hurt it. It’s not unbelievable for me to imagine members of the current writing crew taking the corners of the continent they seem to have nailed down (Luis Loza’s little tangle of Xopatl, Innazpa, Nalmeras, and maybe Valiant’s setting, or Michael Sayre’s work on the Mahwek and Ulfen settlements in the north) and make a focused regional guide like the Mwangi book.

I’m so curious if the Meta-Region approach will be used outside of the Inner Sea region; I really, really like it.

[Konradleijon]

A positive depiction of Mesoamerican spiritual practices. One of the closest depiction to a Mesoamerican land portrayed as not evil is the Lizardmen from Warhammer Fantasy.

I always hated the trope of Human sacrifice being something only baby eating cultists do. When in fact the idea of sacrificial victims as worship is incredibly varied and nuanced.

In Mesoamerican unlike what Mel Gibson will tell you full on Killing humans in religious rituals was rare. Limited to a few hundred per year in the Mayan Kingdoms. And much of which where enemy nobles and not random people picked off the street. The vast majority of offering was self-bloodletting and animals .

[The Raven Black]

FWIW I find human sacrifice as abhorrent as slavery.

Now, I am all for a respectful portrayal of RL cultures through RPG books. But I do not want sugar-coating of human sacrifice, cannibalism or slavery.

[Konradleijon]

He’s it’s not good but it isn’t a thing only blood drenched savages do to worship the god of eating babies. The practice has been used to smear certain cultures that practiced religious rituals ended in a persona death. Like the Romans thought it was abhorrent and used it as a excuse to wipe out the RL Druids. Unlike working a slave to death or Killing a Vestal Virgin when the empire isn’t doing will.

Or the Spainish saying how abhorrent it is right after they ethnically cleansed the Moors and Jews out of Spain. Human sacrifice was only a small part of many cultures complex spiritual practices. Like is sacking a city any worse.

[The Raven Black]

We agree there. Life was cheaper before and what was good and proper differed strongly based on cultural standards.

But Golarion is striving hard not to be a fantasy version of Earth in the past with all its evils (slavery, discrimination, misogyny ...).

[Konradleijon]

The Raven Black wrote:

We agree there. Life was cheaper before and what was good and proper differed strongly based on cultural standards.

But Golarion is striving hard not to be a fantasy version of Earth in the past with all its evils (slavery, discrimination, misogyny ...).

Actually all those things exist in Golarion like a major point in Cherilax is the Halfling Underground Railroad, And human sacrifice definitely does occur. Have you looked at the setting

[The Raven Black]

Konradleijon wrote:

The Raven Black wrote:

We agree there. Life was cheaper before and what was good and proper differed strongly based on cultural standards.

But Golarion is striving hard not to be a fantasy version of Earth in the past with all its evils (slavery, discrimination, misogyny ...).

Actually all those things exist in Golarion like a major point in Cherilax is the Halfling Underground Railroad, And human sacrifice definitely does occur. Have you looked at the setting

You are right, of course. But my point is that they are clearly identified as evil.

[Konradleijon]

The Raven Black wrote:

We agree there. Life was cheaper before and what was good and proper differed strongly based on cultural standards.

But Golarion is striving hard not to be a fantasy version of Earth in the past with all its evils (slavery, discrimination, misogyny ...).

You seem to be totally ignoreing the cultural context behind the practice of sacrificing humans. In the Mesoamerican world it was considered a very honorable way to die. And the deep philosophical questions of reproitcy between humans and “gods”

[keftiu]

Mentioned in another thread as well, but figured any Arcadia nerds would like to see: the Guns & Gears section of the keynote showed two illustrations with a character from the Xopatl chapter of Tyrant's Grasp #5 - we might have an iconic (if not Iconic) Arcadian character sneaking up on us!

[The Raven Black]

Konradleijon wrote:

The Raven Black wrote:

We agree there. Life was cheaper before and what was good and proper differed strongly based on cultural standards.

But Golarion is striving hard not to be a fantasy version of Earth in the past with all its evils (slavery, discrimination, misogyny ...).

You seem to be totally ignoreing the cultural context behind the practice of sacrificing humans. In the Mesoamerican world it was considered a very honorable way to die. And the deep philosophical questions of reproitcy between humans and “gods”

But then we are talking about Golarion.

[keftiu]

Luis Loza seems to be hinting on Discord that we might see Arcadia’s Meta-Regions in G&G.

[CorvusMask]

keftiu wrote:

Luis Loza seems to be hinting on Discord that we might see Arcadia’s Meta-Regions in G&G.

I was under impression that Deadshot Lands IS one of the meta regions.

[David knott 242]

CorvusMask wrote:

keftiu wrote:

Luis Loza seems to be hinting on Discord that we might see Arcadia’s Meta-Regions in G&G.

I was under impression that Deadshot Lands IS one of the meta regions.

Luis said that it is. I guess the question is whether any Arcadian meta-regions other than the Deadshot Lands are identified on the trade route map he mentioned.