| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Ashe Ravenheart |
Posted - 24 Feb 2016 : 19:27:49
This Humble Bundle collection is a great way to get introduced to the Pathfinder rules.
Pathfinder Humble Bundle |
| 16 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Purple Dragon Knight |
Posted - 14 Nov 2017 : 06:12:54
Very good insights Wooly. My appreciation of the setting is similar to yours. The only difference of opinion I have with you is that after playing in the setting for 11 years now I've realized the NPCs are the amazingly detailed villains, and on the side of the heroes, the PCs *are* the *good NPCs*.
Paizo seems to intentionally leave a high-level vacuum for the side of good, which gives the impetus to the heroes to go above and beyond to face the high-level evil NPCs.
Skulls and Shackles and Curse of the Crimson Throne are prime examples of this where the level 1 heroes live side-by-side a high-level evil antagonist. Their hatred of this villain pushes them to rise above the muck and become a threat to the evil establishment. Same with Hell's Rebels. It's a repeated pattern in many of their APs and I find that those are the best.
If you delve into the Pathfinder Society scenarios, you'll see, however, an organization similar to the Harpers. Very similar. There you'll see high-level NPCs called 'Venture-Captains' who give missions to the PCs, so there one could find a playstyle similar to Realms'. The organization is ruled by a secret group called the 'Decimverate' which is essentially the same as Waterdeep's secret lords. They oppose the 'Aspis Consortium' which is an evil mercantile empire spread out across all lands. Does that Zhouns like Zhomething familiar to Zhou? :) |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 14 Nov 2017 : 03:44:04
Aside from the APs, I've got most of the Golarion source material. And while I do like it a lot, I've still got some quibbles. The kitchen sink approach is more evident in Golarion than I should like. Osirion has some nifty ideas, but it's too blatantly fantasy Egypt for me -- especially with the fact there are, in canon, Osirionologists.
But the biggest thing that keeps me from going all in on Golarion is that it simply doesn't have the NPCs. The people of the setting are what make it interesting, and help bring it to life. Aside from a couple notable ones like Varian Jeggare and Radovan, most of the NPCs are not all that interesting... It's not that they're boring, it's just that they don't stand out and linger in my mind.
And part of that is because Golarion was built as and will always be a game setting -- so the NPCs always follow the rules, and you don't wind up with odd cases like Baelam the Bold, Elsura Dauniir, the Seven Sisters, or even a certain well-known renegade known for his dazzling swordplay and who was, at his introduction, entirely unique. People that go outside the norm can tell stories those within the norm never can... And that's where the most interesting things come from.
That said, there are things in Golarion I really like. Hermea is an interesting concept. I like the idea (though not the name) of Azlant. The Red Mantis assassins are very interesting. Taldor and Andoran are really fun countries, and Cheliax offers some serious potential. And there is no fantasy deity I've seen that I like more than Cayden Cailean.
I'm really digging Starfinder right now, though.
|
| Purple Dragon Knight |
Posted - 13 Nov 2017 : 22:22:26
Did any of you get addicted to Golarionslore during the 2016 Humble Bundle? if so, have you improved upon your Pathfinder collection and/or started playing with a Pathfinder group? |
| Purple Dragon Knight |
Posted - 06 Mar 2016 : 18:56:49
Smart move. A big chunk of those new buyers, for whatever reasons, would not have spent another dollar on those older book releases. The large volume of purchases was probably not expected, and thus this new cash influx is probably quite nice for the Paizo people. However now, it's safe to say that a percentage of those new buyers will want more Pathfinder material (both old and new) which will lead to even more $$$ for Paizo. Very, very smart move.
I do hope, however, that they spend some of that cash on improving their website and download capacities to keep up with the new increased demand. This has been very frustrating for existing users such as me, who have had no problem with downloading until now. |
| Shadowsoul |
Posted - 02 Mar 2016 : 18:23:48
So far this has generated over $800,000.
Fair play to Paizo! |
| Purple Dragon Knight |
Posted - 02 Mar 2016 : 17:14:16
Yes, and the SRD doesn't have nice pictures in it. :)
...but like Wooly said, it's mainly for the backdated Adventure Paths and Pathfinder Society modules... DOZENS of those! with that I'm set for life and won't have to design an encounter ever again! (although my cataloging skills will have to improve... :P ) |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 02 Mar 2016 : 04:36:10
quote:
Originally posted by Diffan
Um....why not just use the SRD?
1) I'm a gamer, and gamers like books
2) Using the SRD and nothing else doesn't help keep Paizo making stuff I want
3) A lot of the stuff I got from this bundle isn't in the SRD. |
| Diffan |
Posted - 02 Mar 2016 : 01:27:14
Um....why not just use the SRD? |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 29 Feb 2016 : 22:10:34
quote:
Originally posted by Purple Dragon Knight
I think Paizo gained 26,000 new user accounts with this event (so far!). I can only imagine the kind of day their main IT guy had after their servers exploded...
He was using Red Bull instead of water to brew his coffee.  |
| Purple Dragon Knight |
Posted - 29 Feb 2016 : 20:19:05
I think Paizo gained 26,000 new user accounts with this event (so far!). I can only imagine the kind of day their main IT guy had after their servers exploded... |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 29 Feb 2016 : 18:05:53
I kept at it, and was able to download everything -- a total of 41 files (I went for regular and lite versions, where available, but not the "one file per chapter" ones).
It took about 48 hours of trying off and on. I would personalize some files, come back an hour or two later, and I'd then be able to download 2 or 3 of them. And then I'd repeat. The final attempt, I managed to download 9 files in one try.
I used Chrome, and I didn't clear anything or monkey with the settings in any way.
It's a bit irksome that it took so much effort, but from some of the commentary I saw on the Paizo forums, this particular Humble Bundle has generated a lot more interest than they normally have. |
| Purple Dragon Knight |
Posted - 29 Feb 2016 : 16:16:00
The general advice is to wait for a few days. I've been completely unable to download anything until now, where I can finally download one or two after multiple attempts. They say that you should wait 10-15 min after you see the "Personalizing" message. However this means the system will sign you out of the downloads page for security reasons. You have to sign back in and try again, hoping it will finally "go"...
One thing that helped for me is clear all my download history, cookies and cached images and files before attempting the download. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 25 Feb 2016 : 15:00:18
The deal is for a lot more pdfs than I realized... Unfortunately, due to heavy demand n the site, I've only been able to download three of the files, so far... I won't be able to try again until late tonight; the site is blocked at work ( ), and it's game night. |
| Purple Dragon Knight |
Posted - 25 Feb 2016 : 02:22:04
What's this Humble Bundle thing? all I see is Erik Mona GMing a game based in Absalom...
It says 1$ for a bunch of big books (most of which I have, but still... is this real? why such low prices? is this a charity drive?)
EDIT: ACQUIRED THEM ALL!!! about four dozen downloads for %18!! muahahahahah! |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 24 Feb 2016 : 21:14:34
I've got a lot of those pdfs, but there are enough there that I don't have to make this worthwhile.
Edit: Okay, I don't have as many of them as I thought. I've got 6, and I could download 3 more if I wanted to... That leaves like 13 that I don't have, and I'm actively interested in another 6 or 7 of those... So I will be taking advantage of this, once I'm on the other side of this firewall at work (had to flip my tablet to cellular to see the deal). |
| Joran Nobleheart |
Posted - 24 Feb 2016 : 20:50:51
Very nice! Thank you for posting this, Ashe. |
