Pathfinder Campaign Setting: the Inner Sea World Guide [ハードカバー]

I've been running a Pathfinder game, and I'm constantly stunned at the quality of this fully-realized world. Golarion's Inner Sea is a small part of a much larger world, but the vitality in every inch of this world will take your breath away. Each nation and city state in the Inner Sea region has a four-page writeup and there are also plenty of resources for GMs and players alike (though players may wish to consider starting with the Pathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer which gives a much shorter and player-focused view of the setting in soft-cover.

Twenty of Golarion's major deities get a 1/2-page writeup, which, along with information about the minor deities and planes makes this book worth an extra few bucks. When combined with the information available in the expanded history and nations sections, there's a trove of background on the religions of the Inner Sea.

But the best part of this book has to be the maps. There is a poster-map in the back. There's a small full-world map (with almost no detail, but it's our first print-book view of the whole of Golarion) and then the real selling point: small maps at the start of every nation section that give more detail on each nation's geography and cities than we've ever had!

Bottom line: if you aren't already running or playing in a game set in Golarion... why not?

3 years ago Paizo released the first edition of Pathfinder Campaign Setting. With the original book out of print, a new rule set (PFRPG) and several ideas on how to refine the setting, the team lead by James Jacobs and Erik Mona set out to refine their tome of Golarion lore.

===PRESENTATION===

A solid sewn hardcover book with over 320 pages in full color. As usual, the artwork and layout is above and beyond. Paizo books have their unique art style, and it shows. There are several navigational aids, including a comprehensive index. The book is a pleasure to look at and use. Of special note is the cartography. Both the new global poster map and the individual country/are maps are great, crisp and clear. Rob Lazzaretti went above and beyond here. Bonus points with me: regional maps highlight the area described and "gray out" the surroundings, much like the Eberron maps.

===CONTENT===

The new Campaign Setting books offers a comprehensive look at the Inner Sea region of world called Golarion. Paizo's setting can be described as a nostalgia-infused "kitchen-sink" of historical, mythological and fantasy archetypes, mixed with several unique creations and sprinkled with some techno-fantasy and Lovecraftian bits. Despite the "one size fits all" mentality of designers who tried to fit as many classic genre tropes in one world - from Ravenloft-ish horror to Arabian Nights and everything in between - the world feels coherent, seamlessly joining elements which seem odd at the first glance, yet make perfect sense once you read about them. It's a setting for everyone, unique yet universal enough to encompass virtually every style of fantasy and reflecting all the classic historical periods.

Any reader well-versed in D&D settings will instantly notice Greyhawk vibes flowing from the book, as well as a dash of Planescape and few nods to other classic themes of the game. It's a setting of modern nostalgia, looking back to the history of D&D far enough to reach and take the best elements yet close enough to the modern day as to keep things fresh and interesting for a reader unfamiliar with the "old times".

The book opens with a chapter on races. What strikes here is the anthropocentrism - humans dominate the setting, and several human ethnicities are described. Demihuman races get their share, too - each "core" D&D race is described shortly. There's also mention on how the fan-favorite humanoid races, such as tieflings or drow, fit into the setting.

The next chapter is The Big One - Inner Sea, with 4-page description of each country/region. It opens up with a detailed timeline, and follows with a gazetteer on over 40 areas, each provided with a map and information on history, government and important locations. The chapter ends with a short glance on other continents of the setting (eg. the equivalents of Asia and Americas), followed by a quick description of forgotten/lost empires and areas.

Coming up next is the deities chapter. The 20 core gods of the setting are presented with short descriptions, along with quick write-ups on the minor deities. This chapter also describes the cosmology of the setting, a Great Wheel planar arrangement that borrows heavily from the rich history of D&D and the Planescape setting.

A chapter of the book which I particularly enjoyed is the next one, entitled Life. It contains information on time, climate, languages, society, trade, fauna, flora and technology of the setting. One very important part of it is the Society section, it lays down basic foundations on how prevalent magic is in the world, and how do the "power levels" of NPCs factor in. Those are very important design decisions, and I'm glad that they are described directly.

Coming up next is the Factions chapter, describing the most important organizations and groups such as Pathfinder Society or Hellknights. Nothing revolutionary here, just a solid read.

The Adventuring chapter contains the "crunch" for players and GM's alike: prestige classes, feats, spells, equipment and magic items. Again, a standard fare for a campaign book, although I really love the Low Templar prestige class, both for the lore and crunch.

The final chapter, Monsters, presents a couple of setting-specific creatures. I must say that the choice is somewhat puzzling, I wouldn't exactly call Aluum or Calikang iconic monsters of Golarion. I guess it's because several such monsters already made their way into Bestiary 1 and Bestiary 2, and overlap wouldn't be a good thing.

The book concludes with a handy index and a poster map. The map is a scaled-down version of the massive Inner Sea Map Folio, and does the job very well. Slightly too colorful for my tastes - I prefer the more subdued look, but then again colorful maps do a better job of showing where's the sand and where's the swamp

===CONCLUSION===

The team at Paizo took their old campaign settings and polished it, smoothed the rough edges, updated everything to the new rule set and packed it all in a truly gorgeous layout. For somebody who doesn't have the first edition, I would recommend to buy this book now. Those who already have the old campaign setting should consider purchasing the hardcover or at least the very affordable PDF. It's good enough to warrant replacing the first one, but your mileage may vary.

GMs have long used "canned" campaign settings in their various game worlds - ofttimes to save effort, or just because they find little interest in the actual creation of the world itself, and would rather spend their time crafting exciting adventures for their players to enjoy. Whatever the case, the pre-published campaign world has long been a staple of the tabletop RPG. When I played AD&D, it was Greyhawk. When we changed over to 3.5, it was the Forgotten Realms. Now that I have started using the excellent Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, it is Golarion, and the Inner Sea Campaign Setting.

This is truly an exciting product. The book expands upon the first version of the setting, and advances the campaign timeline by three years or so. Events introduced in the various Pathfinder Adventure Paths are covered briefly, and each and every nation of the Inner Sea region is given an exhaustive update, including histories, important personages, and cultural items of interest. One nice touch is that few important NPCs are detailed via game stats, allowing a GM to customize his world as he or she sees fit. Also included are new monsters, prestige classes, magic items and more. The production values are top-notch, with beautiful art and excellent maps of the world itself.

My only complaint is one that seems to hound most modern RPG products. The actual book seems a bit flimsy, and will not hold up under extended use. The 1st Edition D&D books I bought back in 1981 are still in pristine condition, and saw heavy use back in the day. For $50 I was hoping for more quality in that regard, but there you go. Highly recommended.