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There aren't very many places in Golarion I don't want to explore, but there is a plot point I just never, ever want to be touched. I have zero, nil, nada zilch interest whatsoever in ever learning anything about the death of Aroden. The very thought of this mystery just bores me to tears.
Happy holidays, folks.
Hmmm I can't think of any place that doesn't interest me. Especially since paizo always seems to find novel ways to bring a spark to something I thought inhad less interest in then other places.
I know...I want almost nothing to do with Absalom for awhile. There was just too much Kortos stuff packed together. And while each area ultimately felt different, hearing we kept returning to this one island kind of exhausted me of it. I think I wouldn't be opposed to returning to it one day, especially if they find the right spark. But for now I am excited to see any place.
Also Brevoy. There's just nothing really inspired about it.
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Isger stands out to me as the least interesting place in the Old Cheliax meta-region, but the spot on the map I'm least interested in is Kyonin.
I'm pretty bored with traditional fantasy elves, and all the interesting elves on Golarion live elsewhere.
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Andoran, so much Andoran.
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Isger stands out to me as the least interesting place in the Old Cheliax meta-region, but the spot on the map I'm least interested in is Kyonin.
I'm pretty bored with traditional fantasy elves, and all the interesting elves on Golarion live elsewhere.
IIRC they plan to do Kyonin with an accent on the back from Castrovel culture.
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Osirion as it currently stands - being Theme Park Egypt, complete with the actual Kemetic gods - is something I have 0 interest in ever touching. Do I think there’s a seed of something interesting there, with all the Jistkan history and Nethys worship? Absolutely. But as presented, it’s an entire nation I roll my eyes at.
I don’t know if I’d notice the disappearance of Varisia, Isger, Taldor, the Five Kings Mountains, or the Land of the Linnorm Kings. Avistan outside of Numeria and Sarkoris broadly does almost nothing for me. I’ve also never felt any compulsion to touch Absalom, save for the slim chance of it giving us PC Minotaurs someday.
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It's hard for me to say because almost every place which I thought was boring has proven it was only because I knew too little about what it had going for it.
On that note, so far the only interesting thing I know about Nirmathas and Molthune is their love-hate child Oprak came out of them, and that's only because I love the idea of monsters carving out a territory for themselves away from the humans who persecuted them.
On the other side of Encarthan there's Druma. The Prophecies of Kallistrade are cool, but somehow even by association with them Druma itself barely catches my attention. Maybe that would change with some deeper investigation.
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Kyonin doesn’t hook me much at all, but “the elves team up to finally stomp Treerazor” is an adventure or AP I would absolutely buy.
Especially if it took a detour to Castrovel.
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I like a lot of stuff that's unpopular, or considered boring, like Hermea, Rahadoum, Taldor, Razmiran and Druma but there's still a few nations I've got no real interest in.
Galt. Too ugly and depressing for me. (Grandmother's tales of post WWII France, and how families who 'didn't lose enough relatives in the war' were suspect of having been collaborators was chilling.)
Andoran. I like that it exists, but I kind of live in the modern version, so it feels less fantastic automatically.
Isger, Nirmathas, Molthune. Three utterly uninteresting places, to me.
And really, that's about it. Almost every other nation on the Inner Sea has *something* about it (or multiple somethings!) that makes me go 'ooh! shiny!' and want to explore it.
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Aaaah, it do be Andoran for me. I feel like... They draw a little too many problematic or suspiscious parallels from its... Inspiration, to genuinely be NG. That it is, makes it come off too on the face, or at least naive. Honestly, narrative-wise, I think it'd be pretty interesting if they went through some sort of heel turn.
But I concede that this perception might be from playing with multiple people playing PCs from Andoran, and they themselves reeaaally trying to sell Andoran's theme. Similarly how people feel about dwarves, from playing with other dwarves PCs that came off as problematic in their own way, hahaha :B. (Which, does not mean that there's any problem with dwarves themselves, for example).
I also concede that I felt similarly about Taldor and then GMed War for the Crown and really like it nowadays. I guess Andoran never really got its chance to shine though, to an extent. Is there an AP set there? No, right?
What else, what else... Oh, I'm also kind of saturated from playing a lot in Varisia throughout the years, and from the flush of content for Absalom, but I still like both places well enough. Could easily see myself playing or GMing in both places... In a few months. Maybe not right now.
Otherwise, I think most nations or regions in Golarion have really interesting seeds and hooks, but could use some rework, expansion, revision or to be cleaned up.
Isger, Iblydos and the Sodden Lands.
And Sandpoint too. I have seen too much of it. I feel the same about much of Varisia TBT.
Can I ask what's turned you off on Iblydos? We've seen so little of it, but I really enjoy what's there - the tiny article at the back of Tyrant's Grasp hooked me with those new hero-gods.
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Cheliax, Andoran, Nirmathas, Molthune, and Isger all don't have much for me in them. The devil as an antagonist isn't really my jam, neither is fantasy US, and I could not tell you what was going on in the other 3 to point out that they aren't my jam. Never left a strong impression on me. Though to Paizo's credit, I do think it would take one solid AP/Adventure pitch to change my tune for any of them. I just haven't heard that pitch yet.
Man, this is wild. Numeria is the first place in Golarion to catch my eye.
I can be contrary. Varisia's so darn popular with others I'm like 'mmm I guess it's okay' ;) for example.
But for ones I really I have zero desire to play or run anything in?
Numeria for me as well for similar reasons others have mentioned. YMMV but For me, it's two great tastes that don't go great together. On the other hand, I've seen some well RPed Androids, and known folks who LOVED Iron Gods etc so more power to em ;) Different strokes.
I've also had Paizo change my mind on some areas with settings I thought I'd be blah about only to really enjoy them once they filled the setting out.
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Isger, Nirmathas, Molthune.
These are probably my main 3, I don't hate any of them but they haven't hooked me much. Doesn't even necessarily mean I wouldn't enjoy adventures in them, just not much that would compel me to run my own game there.
With Andoran it's more a matter of distaste than disinterest for me, I'd probably be fine with its premise if not for the jarring contradiction of an abolitionist nation with the aesthetics of the early United States.
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Man, this is wild. Numeria is the first place in Golarion to catch my eye.
And this is precisely why Golarion is so popular. It doesn't matter very much how many places make you go "meh" as long as there are enough places that make you go "wow".
And it doesn't matter much if your "meh" is my "wow" or vice versa, we've both bought the setting and rulebooks.
It's why kitchen sink worlds are forever popular with companies and customers.
Obviously idiosyncratic worlds are ALSO popular, mind.
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Hmm, I'd be interested in hearing what people who don't think the sword & sandal genre mixes well with robots think about the Horizon Zero Dawn or Legend of Zelda series.
Swords & spells vs bots isn't exactly a new thing — speaking from a matter of perspective, robots are only different from other fantasy encounters because we know their magic isn't actually magic. Unless we're talking about AI gods and their clerics or champions, which is such a fun concept to talk about. Regular gods usually have motivations and personalities mortals can relate to. Machines, on the other hand, are a lot more alien and inscrutable to us (existing completely apart from any anchor in our natural world), and probably approach reality itself from a pretty different framework. I like robots for the same reasons I like outer gods and great old ones — more actually, because robots are a lot easier to reason and get along with.
Maybe I'm just a little bit starved for AI stories in Starfinder. Miss ye already, Triune.
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Man, this is wild. Numeria is the first place in Golarion to catch my eye.
Oh yeah, I grew up with Thundarr the Barbarian and Krull with it's alien invasion in the middle of a medieval fantasy kingdom, and so absolutely love the whacky chocolate-in-my-peanut-butter nature of Numeria.
(Less so, Alkenstar, but I don't hate that one, either.)
And this is precisely why Golarion is so popular. It doesn't matter very much how many places make you go "meh" as long as there are enough places that make you go "wow".
Yeah, I do appreciate that there are some countries or regions that explicitly target a certain type of fan. Fan of Al-Qadim? Qadira is for you. Fan of Ravenloft? Ustalav is this way, and, like Ravenloft, it's even subdivided into multiple 'realms' for different sub-genres of horror fantasy! Fan of Kara-Tur or Legend of the Five Rings? Welcome to Tian Xa. Need vikings in your fantasy? Land of the Linnorm Kings. Place run by a wicked queen with a nation trapped under an endless enchanted winter, straight out of a faerie tale (or Disney movie)? Irrisen was your jam.
And they are all more or less limited to their geographic region, so if I don't want any of those specific things, I can set my games two or three countries away, and just never mention that country I don't care for. Somewhere, Golarion has a place for just about everyone.
It was very creatively designed, to appeal to the largest possible demographic of possible fans / cater to the widest possible number of gamers. (Much like the Forgotten Realms became, over time, gathering in all sorts of sub-settings like Al-Qadim and Kara-Tur under it's umbrella.)
On the one hand, I like tightly themed settings, over kitchen-sink settings, but a kitchen-sink setting can be used to run tightly themed games. (Just never leave Ustalav, if Ravenloft was your first and only love! There's room for a lifetime of adventures there! Same with playing only in Qadira or Casmaron/Greater Kel for a rabid Al-Qadim fan like me.) The reverse is not necessarily true. Krynn has it's own stuff going on, and there's not as much room for adding a land of dinosaurs or a crashed alien spaceship or Baba Yaga and evil faerie-queens, and even if you want to, the writers and designers for Krynn are probably not going to write much to scratch that itch for you... :)
I guess Andoran never really got its chance to shine though, to an extent. Is there an AP set there?
They did a bunch of adventures based in Andoran's Darkmoon Vale region. Most of the content is D&D 3.5. Crown of the Kobold King, Revenge of the Kobold King, Hungry are the Dead, and Carnival of Tears. They also made a region book for it, Guide to the Darkmoon Vale.
There is also the Realm of the Fellnight Queen, set in Bellis.
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Can I ask what's turned you off on Iblydos? We've seen so little of it, but I really enjoy what's there - the tiny article at the back of Tyrant's Grasp hooked me with those new hero-gods.Isger, Iblydos and the Sodden Lands.
And Sandpoint too. I have seen too much of it. I feel the same about much of Varisia TBT.
It just does not resonate. Feels like some Ancient Greece paint hastily thrown on part of the Golarion setting and PF rules.
I will probably change my mind if they go in depth with the same care they gave the Mwangi Expanse. I feel Paizo could make any part of the setting interesting.
But right now, zero interest.
A thread to point out what you don't like? Gross. An entire thread dedicated to negativity is a bad idea, particularly given the state of the forums lately. You do realize the writers read these forums, yes? Merry Christmas to them, I guess. Much better to focus on what you actually like.
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A thread to point out what you don't like? Gross. An entire thread dedicated to negativity is a bad idea, particularly given the state of the forums lately. You do realize the writers read these forums, yes? Merry Christmas to them, I guess. Much better to focus on what you actually like.
Did you really read the OP ?
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Kyonin doesn’t hook me much at all, but “the elves team up to finally stomp Treerazor” is an adventure or AP I would absolutely buy.
Especially if it took a detour to Castrovel.
Every indication is that Castrovin elves are just "Aiudeen, only moreso." It could hardly be otherwise, since the Aiudeen are Sovyrian colonists and Kyonin is a fortress kingdom meant to protect Sovyrian. And since Treerazer is only a threat to Sovyrian rather than to Elvendom as a whole, I far prefer the concept of the elves who've "gone native" on Golarion just leaving Kyonin to its own problems (and both Kyonin and Sovyrian being conquered eventually).
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Every indication is that Castrovin elves are just "Aiudeen, only moreso." It could hardly be otherwise, since the Aiudeen are Sovyrian colonists and Kyonin is a fortress kingdom meant to protect Sovyrian. And since Treerazer is only a threat to Sovyrian rather than to Elvendom as a whole, I far prefer the concept of the elves who've "gone native" on Golarion just leaving Kyonin to its own problems (and both Kyonin and Sovyrian being conquered eventually).Kyonin doesn’t hook me much at all, but “the elves team up to finally stomp Treerazor” is an adventure or AP I would absolutely buy.
Especially if it took a detour to Castrovel.
I don’t know about that; I imagine the Alijae aren’t too enthusiastic about such a powerful demon trapped on the material plane, and Kyonin’s queen is marrying a Mualijae of some sort if memory serves.
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I don’t know about that; I imagine the Alijae aren’t too enthusiastic about such a powerful demon trapped on the material plane, and Kyonin’s queen is marrying a Mualijae of some sort if memory serves.Every indication is that Castrovin elves are just "Aiudeen, only moreso." It could hardly be otherwise, since the Aiudeen are Sovyrian colonists and Kyonin is a fortress kingdom meant to protect Sovyrian. And since Treerazer is only a threat to Sovyrian rather than to Elvendom as a whole, I far prefer the concept of the elves who've "gone native" on Golarion just leaving Kyonin to its own problems (and both Kyonin and Sovyrian being conquered eventually).Kyonin doesn’t hook me much at all, but “the elves team up to finally stomp Treerazor” is an adventure or AP I would absolutely buy.
Especially if it took a detour to Castrovel.
Good if true, although depriving the Aiudeen of power is no substitute for their hiving off.
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I don’t know about that; I imagine the Alijae aren’t too enthusiastic about such a powerful demon trapped on the material plane, and Kyonin’s queen is marrying a Mualijae of some sort if memory serves.Every indication is that Castrovin elves are just "Aiudeen, only moreso." It could hardly be otherwise, since the Aiudeen are Sovyrian colonists and Kyonin is a fortress kingdom meant to protect Sovyrian. And since Treerazer is only a threat to Sovyrian rather than to Elvendom as a whole, I far prefer the concept of the elves who've "gone native" on Golarion just leaving Kyonin to its own problems (and both Kyonin and Sovyrian being conquered eventually).Kyonin doesn’t hook me much at all, but “the elves team up to finally stomp Treerazor” is an adventure or AP I would absolutely buy.
Especially if it took a detour to Castrovel.
Yep, her fiance is an Alijae named Zazirele.
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Tian Xia: Honestly, nothing about romanticized, exaggerated, yoink-and-twisted Asian earth-inspired cultural stuff appeals to me in the least. Even if I have a fair misunderstanding of what the core actuality of the lore and "intent" for the region is the marketing, flavor, art direction, and anachronism that it puts off just doesn't inspire me to feel or think that it is much more than a huge segment of the planet that is effectively devoted to Asian tropes and aesthetics, if anything it feels forced and tacky to me.
I felt the same way about this kind of material going all the way back to the 3.0 D&D era, and to a lesser degree pretty much all books, lore, and content intended to "evoke the idea or spirit" of real human cultures.
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least favorite is wherever... DRUMA! that's what it's called. took me a minute to even remember it. just a boring, nothing of a place. they love trade. EVERYONE LOVES TRADE. ugh. it's a nothing sandwich.
Folks seemed to like the Druma book that capped off 1e; I haven’t read it, but it might be worth a peek?
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Thuvia. It's got a flower and...sand?
The place is so utterly forgettable, everyone's forgotten to even complain about it, let alone do something in it. It's Golarion's version of Chad.
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least favorite is wherever... DRUMA! that's what it's called. took me a minute to even remember it. just a boring, nothing of a place. they love trade. EVERYONE LOVES TRADE. ugh. it's a nothing sandwich.Folks seemed to like the Druma book that capped off 1e; I haven’t read it, but it might be worth a peek?
Personal opinion, good book that had some interesting plot hooks and reveals underpinning Druma.
It didn’t actually make me care about the place though, and this is the first time I’ve remembered it existed since the book originally came out.
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Thuvia. It's got a flower and...sand?
The place is so utterly forgettable, everyone's forgotten to even complain about it, let alone do something in it. It's Golarion's version of Chad.
One of many, many reasons I want the Golden Road to get a Lost Omens book. Between problematic old material and how underbaked a lot of the region feels, it reeeaaally needs a 2e pass to spice it up.
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Seconding Thuvia. I don't dislike the material that's been written, I just don't think there's enough going on in the region yet. Hopefully the future Golden Road book creates more material, can't wait to see what the writers come up with!
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Seconding Thuvia. I don't dislike the material that's been written, I just don't think there's enough going on in the region yet. Hopefully the future Golden Road book creates more material, can't wait to see what the writers come up with!
I think “five /very/ competitive city-states loosely align to make a country, bound together by a resource only a single man can make” is a fine foundation. Give each of the five a really distinct identity, the sort players will want to play proud examples of, and you’re good to go.
To say nothing of the inevitable “what happens when someone kidnaps/kills Artokus Kirran?” plotline, especially if algollthu are in the mix like LO: Legends suggests.
Thuvia could be cool. All the pieces are there. It just isn’t yet.
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least favorite is wherever... DRUMA! that's what it's called. took me a minute to even remember it. just a boring, nothing of a place. they love trade. EVERYONE LOVES TRADE. ugh. it's a nothing sandwich.
Not merely nothing - the country of hucksters and middlemen with peculiar dietary restrictions that controls the finances of a continent has, shall we say, problematic implications.
Surprised at all Andoran hate. The place seems relatively inoffensive and the Trotskyite themeing is really interesting when juxtaposed with the rest of the setting (though I guess that in and of itself might be what chafes people).
For me I can't really think of anything that I strongly dislike. The Five Kings Mountains feel maybe a little too 'typical dwarf' to really catch my eye. Kyonin kind of has similar problems.
Maybe Molthune? It describes itself as Budget Cheliax and that's all it pretty much feels like.
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For me I can't really think of anything that I strongly dislike. The Five Kings Mountains feel maybe a little too 'typical dwarf' to really catch my eye. Kyonin kind of has similar problems.
With how much cooler the dwarves everywhere else seem to get with each passing book, the Five Kings Mountains just keep receding further into the distance. It's hard to make the classics interesting.
People do seem to like the Pallid Peak line in PFS, though.
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Isger stands out to me as the least interesting place in the Old Cheliax meta-region, but the spot on the map I'm least interested in is Kyonin.
I'm pretty bored with traditional fantasy elves, and all the interesting elves on Golarion live elsewhere.
Eberron has elves who do ancestor worship and said ancestors still walk around as a kind of positive energy undead.
Glorantha/Runequest elves are actually plant beings.
These types might be interesting to use.
Tian-Xia has that asian spin but still LOT5R/Bushido lite. I suspect that traditional 4+ person bands of adventurers who skip across borders and liberate villages from bandits would be regarded as lunatics in the LOT5R world and hunted down.
Cheliax. Invincible villains who always win are not fun to me at all.
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Cheliax. Invincible villains who always win are not fun to me at all.
I don't mean to quibble, but... they lost both Ravounel and a huge chunk of their navy in 1e APs. Cheliax has gotten beat up so many times that I've seen other users complaining that they seem like jobbers now.