Pathfinder GM's Guide

ggroy · August 16, 2010, 12:19:21 AM

Quote from: Benoist;399479What you say is just cursorily based on titles alone. Not on content. How many of these books have you read?

I've read through the ones from 2008 and 2009.

The 2010 ones I haven't picked up many of them yet. Just skimmed through them at a gaming store.

Benoist · August 16, 2010, 12:20:56 AM

Quote from: ggroy;399485I've read through the ones from 2008 and 2009.

The 2010 ones I haven't picked up many of them yet. Just skimmed through them at a gaming store.

Then we must have a very different appreciation of Pathfinder publications, because I think that they are light years better than the Quintessential and Slayer's Guides series of Mongoose in CONTENT, not only in editing and layout.

ggroy · August 16, 2010, 12:30:22 AM

Quote from: Benoist;399479These are not comparable to Mongoose titles and such in terms of actual content, since these are generally shockful of specific (Golarion) flavor

The Mongoose crap didn't mention anything in regard to specific worlds.

In regard to the Golarion specific stuff, some of it sounds like typical generic fantasy lore.

What kind of prior research was done for these titles (whether Paizo or Mongoose or somebody else), is hard to say judging by what they have written.

Quote from: Benoist;399479are generally extremely coherent, and not vanilla piece-meal crap put back together in editing.

This I agree with. Paizo puts a lot of effort into editing and presentation. In contrast, Mongoose put in a minimal amount of effort back in the d20 glut days.

I don't have a link offhand, but IIRC Paizo's CEO had a previous career in editing in an unrelated niche.

ggroy · August 16, 2010, 12:45:35 AM

Quote from: Benoist;399486Then we must have a very different appreciation of Pathfinder publications,

I tend to read things to see how much of it is already familiar to me, and looking more closely at stuff which is new and/or unfamiliar.

Quote from: Benoist;399486because I think that they are light years better than the Quintessential and Slayer's Guides series of Mongoose in CONTENT, not only in editing and layout.

I haven't looked at the crunch heavy stuff that closely from the Pathfinder supplements titles, to see how much of it is overpowered or too underpowered.

So far I've only really read through the fluff of crunch heavy books.

Benoist · August 16, 2010, 12:49:02 AM

It's just that your comparison seems completely superficial to me. You might conclude for yourself that then, this is Paizo "shit dumping" on the market as during the least producing days of the d20 era... but personally, I'm just not seeing it. The comparison seems like a big stretch to me.

PS: note that it doesn't mean I fully endorse the Pathfinder catalogue as utterly awesome in its originality. It's not, and it could be much, much better in terms of organization of content than just copying, in terms of titles, what has gone before. That I agree with.

ggroy · August 16, 2010, 12:59:40 AM

The ones I did like (or found useful) were the area or region supplements books, such as: the River Kingdoms, City of Strangers, Heart of the Jungle, Sargava, Cheliax, Absalom, Korvosa, etc ...

Benoist · August 16, 2010, 01:00:25 AM

We agree. This is some of the best stuff right there.

ggroy · August 16, 2010, 01:13:57 AM

During the d20 glut era, I don't remember many companies producing lots of area or region type books, which could be placed into a game easily.

Mongoose had three or four. One was an orc villiage. Another IIRC, was a city in the sky.

Green Ronin had a few. One was an elf village. Another was a drow fortress. There were the Freeport books.

ggroy · August 16, 2010, 01:34:15 AM

Quote from: Benoist;399500PS: note that it doesn't mean I fully endorse the Pathfinder catalogue as utterly awesome in its originality. It's not, and it could be much, much better in terms of organization of content than just copying, in terms of titles, what has gone before. That I agree with.

For some of the titles, it's not exactly that easy to produce highly original new stuff. This would be the "revisited" books on various monsters, treasure, etc ... as well as the player books on races. Titles covering NPCs, guilds, groups/cults/organizations, etc ... tend to be somewhat generic too.

What exactly is going on with a title like "Pathfinder Chronicles: Seekers of Secrets—A Guide to the Pathfinder Society", I'm not entirely sure. When I first skimmed through a copy, at first I though it was a "Volo Guide" group of some sort.

ggroy · August 16, 2010, 09:10:09 AM

One of the few Mongoose d20 glut books which could measure up to a Pathfinder equivalent book, are the respective books about dragons.

Though this may not be quite a fair comparison, considering that that author of Mongoose Slayer's Guide to Dragons is Gary Gygax.

Benoist · August 16, 2010, 11:26:55 AM

Quote from: ggroy;399518For some of the titles, it's not exactly that easy to produce highly original new stuff. This would be the "revisited" books on various monsters, treasure, etc ... as well as the player books on races. Titles covering NPCs, guilds, groups/cults/organizations, etc ... tend to be somewhat generic too.

Agreed.

Quote from: ggroy;399518What exactly is going on with a title like "Pathfinder Chronicles: Seekers of Secrets—A Guide to the Pathfinder Society", I'm not entirely sure. When I first skimmed through a copy, at first I though it was a "Volo Guide" group of some sort.

From my understanding, it's a group/organization book that basically provide this overarching plot device the PCs can confront or be part of all over the world. It gives adventure opportunities, hires the PCs, tests them, provides contacts and refuges, etc etc. It's similar in function to the Harpers of the FR.

ggroy · August 16, 2010, 11:32:38 AM

Quote from: Benoist;399592From my understanding, it's a group/organization book that basically provide this overarching plot device the PCs can confront or be part of all over the world. It gives adventure opportunities, hires the PCs, tests them, provides contacts and refuges, etc etc. It's similar in function to the Harpers of the FR.

Sort of like a "Freemasons" type group?

Seanchai · August 16, 2010, 12:32:53 PM

Quote from: Benoist;399479There is no comparison to be made.

I agreed about the content, but you can make some comparisons. It's not as if his entire comparison is off base.

Seanchai

Benoist · August 16, 2010, 12:39:57 PM

Quote from: Seanchai;399603I agreed about the content, but you can make some comparisons. It's not as if his entire comparison is off base.

Seanchai

It's not entirely off base. We've worked that out. *nod*

Benoist · August 16, 2010, 12:41:14 PM

Quote from: ggroy;399593Sort of like a "Freemasons" type group?

Sort of, yes. A secret society of watchers with cells all over Golarion, who study the mysteries of the world, intervene when necessary, explore unknown regions, and so on, so forth. They can be patrons, bosses, or competitors to the PCs in various ways. The PCs of course can become part of the organization themselves.