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This idea has been pitched repeatedly since 2e launched, and is clearly something there's a lot of interest in; while there's nothing known to be in the works, I'd love to hear what folks want from such a book. Playable Ancestries are an obvious positive, potentially handing Drow and Sekmin/Serpentfolk to players, but what else would you want between the covers?
I'm dying to hear about the Darklands in relation to each continent. We know Tian Xia has that Ysoki nation down below, along with those spooky clockworks, while I don't have any clue is beneath Arcadia. What's up with Nemret Noktoria, and those rebel ghouls sworn to Tanagaar?
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I know lost omen books are lore first and mechanic second, but the thing that hype me the most about a darkland book would be the return of the fungal pilgrim druid. Really, any shroom oriented druid archetype/order/build would be great (likewise for any other class, but druid take priority in my mind for that), it's just that the fungal pilgrim flavor just feel right, and isn't really there at all in PF2 yet (but then again, it came really late in the first edition life cycle). I would also have said a return of the vermin rider cavalier, but PF2 did away with cavalier as a class so it's not possible (but thanksfully, it also did away with treating invertebrate as lesser and needing to make archetype just to accomodate them, so not having bug focussed archetypes isn't really a problem anymore, we can ride giant bettles without them).
Lorewise however, I must say that none of what I saw in pathfinder 1e darkland really appealed to me. I never really liked the drow, altho I understand that they are very iconic to that region, and never cared much about any other darkland specific ancestries. But then again, I didn't really cared about the mwangi expanse before the lost omen book about it, So I know paizo could pull it offand make me interested in these people. It would be rather challenging and demand a lot of retcon tho I think, because it's pretty much the one place of the setting where human are the exception rather than the norm, and also because a lot of the darkland races can be summed up as "evil slaver folk that want to rise from the depth to conquer/enslave the surface but can't do it because the sun scare them".
Likewise, while I love the idea of an entire underground world, whith an entirely different kind of challenge and environment than what we see on the surface, I feel like most of what we saw here (and most of what we see of DnD darklands too) is focussed on gigantic open caverns, which function exactly like the surface would, the only difference being the absence of day/night cycle, and the fact that the sky is replaced by a ceiling. What interest me the most in these kind of setting would be the rather alien environment, more focussed on narrow, claustrophobic passageway, and on the climbing skill as the most usefull type of movement. I would like a darkland book to be less focussed on these "big cavern place", or at least that devellop more the network of tunel that constitute most of the darkland.
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I'd love to see some surprising amounts of inspiration from or similarity to Veins of the Earth.
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I'd love to see some surprising amounts of inspiration from or similarity to Veins of the Earth.
LotFP is pretty close to dead last for anyone I'd recommend drawing inspiration from.
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I would like details on how the Darklands under each surface continent/ocean are different. Because there is no reason that they should be homogenous planet-wide, especially for the layers close to the surface.
A bit like we had different Dark Kingdoms in the Wraith setting, each based (supposedly) on the local cultures' concept of the afterworld.
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I'd love to see some surprising amounts of inspiration from or similarity to Veins of the Earth.LotFP is pretty close to dead last for anyone I'd recommend drawing inspiration from.
Just because it was a supplement originally published for the system doesn't mean it really has anything to do with the faults and failures inherent to Lamentations. Patrick Stuart and Scrap Princess are really good people and terrific creators, even if they published something originally for a system that panned out to be run by creeps. They already cancelled any future printing until they have converted it to a healthier system, like OSE or DCC.
Seriously, Veins of the Earth is the best RPG supplement I've ever read, just ahead of Harlem Unbound. But more importantly, it's full of genius ideas about dealing with different kinds of darkness and how it's impacted the creatures living under the earth.
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I would like details on how the Darklands under each surface continent/ocean are different. Because there is no reason that they should be homogenous planet-wide, especially for the layers close to the surface.
A bit like we had different Dark Kingdoms in the Wraith setting, each based (supposedly) on the local cultures' concept of the afterworld.
Tian Xia’s Darklands seem like they have /so/ much spooky fun stuff, between the haunted clockwork city under Xa Hoi and the neothelid trying to build a cult in Dtang Ma.
I wanted to like the other Dark Kingdoms… the execution left a lot to be lacking, to say nothing of later Yellow Peril plotlines that resulted.
What I would want to see is how the "Darklands" are DIFFERENT from the Underdark/etc from other settings.
We all know that the Darklands started off as the non-trademark version of the Underdark. But one of the cool things about Pathfinder is seeing their unique spin on everything. Elves are aliens, Goblins are adorable, Gnomes are Fey, Dwarves are Questing for the Sky, things like that.
What I want to know is what makes the Darklands UNIQUE from the hollow earths from other settings?!
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What I would want to see is how the "Darklands" are DIFFERENT from the Underdark/etc from other settings.
We all know that the Darklands started off as the non-trademark version of the Underdark. But one of the cool things about Pathfinder is seeing their unique spin on everything. Elves are aliens, Goblins are adorable, Gnomes are Fey, Dwarves are Questing for the Sky, things like that.
What I want to know is what makes the Darklands UNIQUE from the hollow earths from other settings?!
The Vaults and Rovagug's influence seem pretty specific. I think there are likely several other things too.
Here's a question - what do we think happened to the drow Great House sworn to Nocticula's service?
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Here's a question - what do we think happened to the drow Great House sworn to Nocticula's service?
Civil war. Nocticula's faithfuls going on their own Quest for the sky, Drow Traditionalists joining other houses and hardcore orthodoxy extremists trying to keep their house as it was before and pull back their divine patron from her current non-Evil madness (which is likely just a test to see who is truly faithful, you know).
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With some changes coming to the region soon as Sky King's Tomb takes us down below, I figured this thread could be exhumed!
What new stories are folks excited about? What Ancestries are you holding out hope for?
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Fungus people. Like I know we have Leshies that can be fungi, but is there room for another? Leshies didn't keep us from having Ghorans too.
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I'm in your camp, Keftiu, and want a full on aberration-based versatile heritage.
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I'm in your camp, Keftiu, and want a full on aberration-based versatile heritage.
"Some Alghollthu made you very, very yucky" feels like such an easy VH.
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In connection to the above, playable Worms that walk (and other swarm people, and ooze people too BTW).
And definitely playable Sekmin considering the far greater role they are going to play in the setting.
A surface then Darklands AP about a shadow war between Sekmin and Alghollthu through pawns would delight me to no end.
With the Sekmin's role as the big bad cemented and playable ancestry status being complicated, how would you feel if Caligni or Xulgath were to become playable? They're a bit contentious as well, but recent books have made Caligni a bit less evil-inclined, and a lot of people care about Xulgath a lot more since Extinction Curse. It's something I'm having trouble envisioning as playable as is, but probably not impossible.
Either way, our Elves, Gnomes, Dwarves, and Fleshwarps of the Darklands should probably receive a feat expansion that has their Darklands heritage as a prerequisite.
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With the Sekmin's role as the big bad cemented and playable ancestry status being complicated, how would you feel if Caligni or Xulgath were to become playable? They're a bit contentious as well, but recent books have made Caligni a bit less evil-inclined, and a lot of people care about Xulgath a lot more since Extinction Curse. It's something I'm having trouble envisioning as playable as is, but probably not impossible.
Either way, our Elves, Gnomes, Dwarves, and Fleshwarps of the Darklands should probably receive a feat expansion that has their Darklands heritage as a prerequisite.
I've always liked Caligni and my Extinction Curse group has been befriending a handful of Xulgath, so that fits for my table at least.
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Munavri that aren't a cringy racist fantasy for starters.
More info on the full on cities would be nice.
Belatedly responding to this, but I'd also enjoy more places to go in the Darklands that aren't expressly dangerous. Cities and towns that surface characters could possibly want to visit for peaceful reasons, and where Darklands characters could be from that wouldn't be hardscrabble.
I'd also like a bit of the Lost Omens Legends treatment and get info on some heroic and otherwise notable figures who live down there. Well perhaps not all heroic, the Darklands doesn't seem like the friendliest place, but a few would be fun.
Basically I'd like to see people and places that other Darklands dwellers would look up to and aspire to be like or make better, respectively. The stuff they care about rather than only various dangers that surface dwellers have to deal with.
Might be time to get some more chatter in this thread, so I want to say I absolutely agree with this. I would love to see more emphasis on the Darklands as a place that players should want to go to and explore, not just somewhere where everything is deadly.
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Im honestly super excited about Nemret Noctoria getting some more information on them perhaps including Tanaagar's Arrows.
I'd like more of a glimpse what the Darklands are like outside the Inner Sea region, although that might be a lot given how little developed they are elsewhere.
For me, I want the place to REMAIN DANGEROUS. Ports in the storm should be somewhat limited, as the realm is an inherently dangerous place, outside of perhaps a few vaults and scattered colonies of Cavern Elves and gnomes.. I mean, caving already is very dangerous in the real world, without having to throw in alien abberations and other monsters that can eat your or do worst.
Along with that, I really want them to flesh out the perils, both natural and otherwise.And I would like to see a deep dive into some of the Vaults of Orv, especially the Lost World one.