The core fun of a role-playing game is taking a beloved character out for a stroll by going on adventures. When a set of adventures becomes a continuous storyline, gamers call that a campaign. The Pathfinder role-playing game has a variety of campaign settings. This review takes a look at three of them.
The Mythic Realms campaign setting book offers some cool details for running adventures with mythic-level characters. Mythic level characters are those that have become legends in their own right and continue to go on adventures of epic proportion. A beginning hero might save a village, but mythic heroes save worlds.
Complete with a mythic glossary and mythic themes, this campaign book is designed to complement the Mythic Relams hardbound book sold separately. This book contains mythic locations such as the doorway to the red star, the mana wells and the mordant spire, to name a few.
Each location contains a detailed historical overview with a complete story background as well as the challenges and threats that a mythic character might face. The most detailed entry for each location tells of the ways players can claim mythic power there. For example, at the Starstone location, the mythic power of Torag lets a character take a second attack using a warhammer if they hit with the first attack.
Another section of the book gets into places of myth that are new regions on the map that have become unlocked for mythic adventuring: detailed information on the Black Desert, the deadly Valashmai Jungle, the Pit of Gormuz, and the capital city of the undead, Mechitar. Each entry has a history, regional gazetteer, detailed sub locations and a list of mythical trials. There is plenty of content to get game masters excited and get the creative juices flowing.
The final section of the Mythic Realms campaign book details a few of the mythic characters that wander the mythic lands. Beings such as Agmazar the Star Titan, Old-mage Jatembe, Arazni and the Whispering Tyrant are presented in full detail with stats and historical background just like monsters from the bestiary book. For example, Jarl Gnargorak possesses a minor artifact called Winter's Heart that has the power to unite the lands of the north by providing stoneskin and fire shield together to protect the wielder.
With six founts of mythic powers, six detailed locations, nine legendary characters and mythic trials galore, the Mythic Realms campaign setting will provide everything game masters need to create detailed gaming experiences for players. This book can save tons of time for creating adventures in mythic environments.
The Artifacts and Legends campaign setting book is just plain fun to read. Rather than detailing locations to explore, the book is chock full of magical artifacts that are worthy of the focus of entire adventures. However the book states, "In general, artifacts should be considered unbalancing elements, items with the power to completely change the course of entire campaigns."
With that in mind, the book kicks off with information about researching artifacts and the thrill of the mystery behind them. Part of finding an artifact is the thrill of the hunt. Putting together all the pieces to even know where to look can fill days of adventuring.
The world of Golarion is a magical place filled with enough history to fill cart loads of books. It's the perfect setting for a world filled with powerful artifacts. The book details information on more than 60 artifacts about their appearance (including art for each one), stat block, construction, history, ramifications for posession and information about other books in the Pathfinder series that contain details about the artifacts.
To give an example of how much detail exists in this book, the entry for the Axe of the Dwarvish Lords artifact discusses the ramifications for owning the item. The axe is the emblem of the dwarvish people and evokes powerful emotion in its people. Most dwarven lords would pay any price to possess the artifact, so any player who owned it would need to be on constant lookout for anyone trying to take it.
For the artifact weapon called "St. Cuthbert's Mace," the book gives a description that helps create a vivid image of the item. "This simple wooden mace bears the scars and splinters of frequent use, and looks like the weapon of a traveling monk or military chaplain." It weighs eight pounds, by the way.
When it comes to exploring the world of artifacts, it's all about the details. And this campaign book delivers. After reading several of these artifact entries, one can imagine the great power and responsibility that would affect the characters in the game. It's entertaining to sit down and read each artifact description. If magic artifacts are of interest, this book is a must buy.
The Tombs of Golarion campaign setting book is a set of mini-adventures featuring the most iconic adventure site in role-playing fandom: the deep, dark tomb. This book features six complete tombs ready to play and are fully detailed.
The six tombs in the book cover everything from the cairn of ancient horselord to the prismatic lantern of an arcane siege engine powered by a self-contained demiplane. A personal favorite is the clockwork vault built in a desert and filled with traps created by a master inventor who used his creations to separate who would be worthy to inherit his wealth.
Each tomb location comes with an exciting backstory and history. A detailed description explains how it was constructed and what it might look like from a world view. General features are given as well as a color map detailing each room, including a full text description for each room. Be aware that these six tombs are not giant dungeons but consist of under 20 rooms.
Depending on the tomb, details might include the monsters that inhabit it, new magical weapons, unique monsters and non-player characters. For example, in the tomb of Everforge, a former dwarven temple has been overrun by a group of evil cultists. But a formidable dark dwarven warrior made up of living spiders must be encountered and defeated in the tomb. His special attacks and abilities make him a challenging foe.
Each tomb contains a list of adventure hooks that help get the action going for players and game masters. A foreword to the book is given by the fictional character Maiveer Sloan, the executive director of Bronze House in Magnimar.
Some campaign settings require a lot of legwork to fill in the details, but this offering contains everything needed to run the adventure. Another selling point is the fact that these smaller adventures can be run in a single evening. Tombs of Golarion is definitely worth checking out.
The Mythic Realms campaign setting book offers some cool details for running adventures with mythic-level characters. Mythic level characters are those that have become legends in their own right and continue to go on adventures of epic proportion. A beginning hero might save a village, but mythic heroes save worlds.
Complete with a mythic glossary and mythic themes, this campaign book is designed to complement the Mythic Relams hardbound book sold separately. This book contains mythic locations such as the doorway to the red star, the mana wells and the mordant spire, to name a few.
Each location contains a detailed historical overview with a complete story background as well as the challenges and threats that a mythic character might face. The most detailed entry for each location tells of the ways players can claim mythic power there. For example, at the Starstone location, the mythic power of Torag lets a character take a second attack using a warhammer if they hit with the first attack.
Another section of the book gets into places of myth that are new regions on the map that have become unlocked for mythic adventuring: detailed information on the Black Desert, the deadly Valashmai Jungle, the Pit of Gormuz, and the capital city of the undead, Mechitar. Each entry has a history, regional gazetteer, detailed sub locations and a list of mythical trials. There is plenty of content to get game masters excited and get the creative juices flowing.
The final section of the Mythic Realms campaign book details a few of the mythic characters that wander the mythic lands. Beings such as Agmazar the Star Titan, Old-mage Jatembe, Arazni and the Whispering Tyrant are presented in full detail with stats and historical background just like monsters from the bestiary book. For example, Jarl Gnargorak possesses a minor artifact called Winter's Heart that has the power to unite the lands of the north by providing stoneskin and fire shield together to protect the wielder.
With six founts of mythic powers, six detailed locations, nine legendary characters and mythic trials galore, the Mythic Realms campaign setting will provide everything game masters need to create detailed gaming experiences for players. This book can save tons of time for creating adventures in mythic environments.
The Artifacts and Legends campaign setting book is just plain fun to read. Rather than detailing locations to explore, the book is chock full of magical artifacts that are worthy of the focus of entire adventures. However the book states, "In general, artifacts should be considered unbalancing elements, items with the power to completely change the course of entire campaigns."
With that in mind, the book kicks off with information about researching artifacts and the thrill of the mystery behind them. Part of finding an artifact is the thrill of the hunt. Putting together all the pieces to even know where to look can fill days of adventuring.
The world of Golarion is a magical place filled with enough history to fill cart loads of books. It's the perfect setting for a world filled with powerful artifacts. The book details information on more than 60 artifacts about their appearance (including art for each one), stat block, construction, history, ramifications for posession and information about other books in the Pathfinder series that contain details about the artifacts.
To give an example of how much detail exists in this book, the entry for the Axe of the Dwarvish Lords artifact discusses the ramifications for owning the item. The axe is the emblem of the dwarvish people and evokes powerful emotion in its people. Most dwarven lords would pay any price to possess the artifact, so any player who owned it would need to be on constant lookout for anyone trying to take it.
For the artifact weapon called "St. Cuthbert's Mace," the book gives a description that helps create a vivid image of the item. "This simple wooden mace bears the scars and splinters of frequent use, and looks like the weapon of a traveling monk or military chaplain." It weighs eight pounds, by the way.
When it comes to exploring the world of artifacts, it's all about the details. And this campaign book delivers. After reading several of these artifact entries, one can imagine the great power and responsibility that would affect the characters in the game. It's entertaining to sit down and read each artifact description. If magic artifacts are of interest, this book is a must buy.
The Tombs of Golarion campaign setting book is a set of mini-adventures featuring the most iconic adventure site in role-playing fandom: the deep, dark tomb. This book features six complete tombs ready to play and are fully detailed.
The six tombs in the book cover everything from the cairn of ancient horselord to the prismatic lantern of an arcane siege engine powered by a self-contained demiplane. A personal favorite is the clockwork vault built in a desert and filled with traps created by a master inventor who used his creations to separate who would be worthy to inherit his wealth.
Each tomb location comes with an exciting backstory and history. A detailed description explains how it was constructed and what it might look like from a world view. General features are given as well as a color map detailing each room, including a full text description for each room. Be aware that these six tombs are not giant dungeons but consist of under 20 rooms.
Depending on the tomb, details might include the monsters that inhabit it, new magical weapons, unique monsters and non-player characters. For example, in the tomb of Everforge, a former dwarven temple has been overrun by a group of evil cultists. But a formidable dark dwarven warrior made up of living spiders must be encountered and defeated in the tomb. His special attacks and abilities make him a challenging foe.
Each tomb contains a list of adventure hooks that help get the action going for players and game masters. A foreword to the book is given by the fictional character Maiveer Sloan, the executive director of Bronze House in Magnimar.
Some campaign settings require a lot of legwork to fill in the details, but this offering contains everything needed to run the adventure. Another selling point is the fact that these smaller adventures can be run in a single evening. Tombs of Golarion is definitely worth checking out.
