| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| keftiu |
Posted - 30 Mar 2021 : 09:14:23
While most d20 games are crunchier than I prefer to play these days, I’ve been released impressed with some of the changes they made to break away from the 3.5 chassis and toss out a ton of weird PC options (kobolds! androids! dhampirs! Lawful planetouched!).
I’m also pretty smitten with their efforts to bring on diverse writers and draw from more diverse cultural inspirations, with the West Africa-equivalent getting a huge setting supplement with an accompanying six volume campaign coming pretty soon. Especially in the light of how Chult has been handled, it’s really heartening to see. |
| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Marc |
Posted - 08 Jul 2021 : 18:35:57
Not really interested in 2e PF, except for the new Absalom sourcebook, it will have over 400 pages.
Out of all continents I particularly liked their version of Kara-Tur, Tian Xia, and some planar stuff. |
| deserk |
Posted - 08 Jul 2021 : 11:35:57
I got it myself recently, and I'm finding it to be quite impressive tome indeed. Really great artwork in it as well. It is a good indicator of what great things might come when they finally do a Southern Garund gazetter (the Mwangi Expanse is a vast region, however it is only a small part of a much larger continent).
Paizo has done a really good job at designing the "non-European"-esque continents of Golarion. Especially so when you compare them to the other continents of Forgotten Realms, like Kara-Tur and Maztica especially, which are pretty much hackily designed and outdated by today's standards, as it mimics RW history far too much, not to mention, it is not very well attuned to the tone and style of Faerun. I would love if they could get remade and overhauled both in a way which aligns them better to the Forgotten Realms setting, and in a way that represents non-European peoples better. But of course WotC don't seem to be particularly eager to do any world-building in Forgotten Realms.
Personally if Paizo makes gazetter books for Casmaron (the Middle East type continent), Arcadia (the Americas), Southern Garund (Sub-Saharan Africa), Crown of the World (North Pole with Antartica-like continent), I might just replace all the continents of Toril (except for Faerun ofc) with these continents designed by Paizo for my own FR games.
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| Ashe Ravenheart |
Posted - 08 Jul 2021 : 02:56:06
I'm enjoying it thoroughly! |
| keftiu |
Posted - 08 Jul 2021 : 02:09:46
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
quote:
Originally posted by keftiu
Mwangi Expanse book is out for dale to everyone, yes. Clicking the link would show you that :p
I do want to say that this book differs pretty wildly from the earlier material on the Mwangi; 1e centered a colonial viewpoint and leaned hard on some gross “Darkest Africa” pulp inspirations, while the new book has a native perspective, a diverse writing team, and is infinitely more interesting, IMO. Highlights include adorable jumping spider-folk, playable gnolls, demon-hunting orcs who revere a jaguar goddess, nomadic diplomat dwarves who live in harmony with cloud dragons, a city-state rules by a child-mummy-sun god autocrat, and a portal to the setting’s equivalent of Mars!
I'm not against "dark africa" ideas... by that I'm assuming you mean like a King Kong worshipped by natives, etc.... That being said, one of the ideas I had been playing with making were a lot of bestial humanoid races (i.e. wemics, various cat folk, gnolls and other "dog folk" that would look more like seluki/greyhounds, parrot/toucan/cockatoo/stork/vulture/peacock aarakocra, mousefolk, bainligor (bat folk), loxo, rhinaurs, Noceri (my term for rhino men), giff, yak men, crocodilians, bullywugs, lizardmen, saurials, etc...) rather than human dominated. Its because of this, that I'd rather see these new "jungle drow" on the continent a little further east, so that there are few to no human like groups there (orcs would fit though).
The new Mwangi Expanse book has some interesting racial choices, though not the beastial-types you reference.
The Southlands book should have some more choices, too. Gnolls are one of the predominent races in Per-Bastet, and the original Southlands book also had a race called the nkosi -- kind of like catfolk, but they also could turn into small lions.
I mean, it has gnolls, and it has spiderfolk… plus catfolk and lizardfolk in the region, who are playable using earlier 2e books. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 07 Jul 2021 : 22:59:08
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
quote:
Originally posted by keftiu
Mwangi Expanse book is out for dale to everyone, yes. Clicking the link would show you that :p
I do want to say that this book differs pretty wildly from the earlier material on the Mwangi; 1e centered a colonial viewpoint and leaned hard on some gross “Darkest Africa” pulp inspirations, while the new book has a native perspective, a diverse writing team, and is infinitely more interesting, IMO. Highlights include adorable jumping spider-folk, playable gnolls, demon-hunting orcs who revere a jaguar goddess, nomadic diplomat dwarves who live in harmony with cloud dragons, a city-state rules by a child-mummy-sun god autocrat, and a portal to the setting’s equivalent of Mars!
I'm not against "dark africa" ideas... by that I'm assuming you mean like a King Kong worshipped by natives, etc.... That being said, one of the ideas I had been playing with making were a lot of bestial humanoid races (i.e. wemics, various cat folk, gnolls and other "dog folk" that would look more like seluki/greyhounds, parrot/toucan/cockatoo/stork/vulture/peacock aarakocra, mousefolk, bainligor (bat folk), loxo, rhinaurs, Noceri (my term for rhino men), giff, yak men, crocodilians, bullywugs, lizardmen, saurials, etc...) rather than human dominated. Its because of this, that I'd rather see these new "jungle drow" on the continent a little further east, so that there are few to no human like groups there (orcs would fit though).
The new Mwangi Expanse book has some interesting racial choices, though not the beastial-types you reference.
The Southlands book should have some more choices, too. Gnolls are one of the predominent races in Per-Bastet, and the original Southlands book also had a race called the nkosi -- kind of like catfolk, but they also could turn into small lions. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 07 Jul 2021 : 21:28:35
quote:
Originally posted by keftiu
Mwangi Expanse book is out for dale to everyone, yes. Clicking the link would show you that :p
I do want to say that this book differs pretty wildly from the earlier material on the Mwangi; 1e centered a colonial viewpoint and leaned hard on some gross “Darkest Africa” pulp inspirations, while the new book has a native perspective, a diverse writing team, and is infinitely more interesting, IMO. Highlights include adorable jumping spider-folk, playable gnolls, demon-hunting orcs who revere a jaguar goddess, nomadic diplomat dwarves who live in harmony with cloud dragons, a city-state rules by a child-mummy-sun god autocrat, and a portal to the setting’s equivalent of Mars!
I'm not against "dark africa" ideas... by that I'm assuming you mean like a King Kong worshipped by natives, etc.... That being said, one of the ideas I had been playing with making were a lot of bestial humanoid races (i.e. wemics, various cat folk, gnolls and other "dog folk" that would look more like seluki/greyhounds, parrot/toucan/cockatoo/stork/vulture/peacock aarakocra, mousefolk, bainligor (bat folk), loxo, rhinaurs, Noceri (my term for rhino men), giff, yak men, crocodilians, bullywugs, lizardmen, saurials, etc...) rather than human dominated. Its because of this, that I'd rather see these new "jungle drow" on the continent a little further east, so that there are few to no human like groups there (orcs would fit though). |
| keftiu |
Posted - 07 Jul 2021 : 20:49:32
Mwangi Expanse book is out for dale to everyone, yes. Clicking the link would show you that :p
I do want to say that this book differs pretty wildly from the earlier material on the Mwangi; 1e centered a colonial viewpoint and leaned hard on some gross “Darkest Africa” pulp inspirations, while the new book has a native perspective, a diverse writing team, and is infinitely more interesting, IMO. Highlights include adorable jumping spider-folk, playable gnolls, demon-hunting orcs who revere a jaguar goddess, nomadic diplomat dwarves who live in harmony with cloud dragons, a city-state rules by a child-mummy-sun god autocrat, and a portal to the setting’s equivalent of Mars! |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 07 Jul 2021 : 17:51:36
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
quote:
Originally posted by keftiu
quote:
Originally posted by keftiu
Lost Omens: The Mwangi Expanse is out to subscribers, and from what my friend is sneaking me from zer copy it seems to be AMAZING! 300 pages of really brilliant, considered African-inspired fantasy, with beautiful artwork throughout. Friendly gnolls! Adorable jumping spider-folk! An undead child-mummy-demigod running an oppressive theocratic state! Post-colonial nationbuilding!
I’m really blown away!
This book is now out for sale to everyone: https://paizo.com/products/btq027ot?Pathfinder-Lost-Omens-The-Mwangi-Expanse
I'm curious, did they just release it for sale to everyone? The reason why I'm curious is that Kobold Press just sent out its surveys for sending out its new southlands 5th edition kickstarter. I'd be intrigued to look at both of these (time permitting... which I probably don't have) to see just how different they are.
I've read the earlier Mwangi Expanse stuff... It differs from KP's Southlands in that the Mwangi Expanse is heavily focused on an Africa-esque jungle, whilst the Southlands is a fantasy version of the entire African continent -- jungles, plains, deserts, Egyptian-esque Nuria Natal, the whole shebang.
Looking forward to the City of Cats book, myself -- I love Per-Bastet.
Gotcha. Although I've only thrown out ideas for a while, I was wanting to look at ideas people have used on a range of "Africa like" environments for Katashaka. If Mwangi is mostly just jungle, it could be useful though, but the price tag is a little rich for something I probably wouldn't use I guess. Wonder if I can find some of the older mwangi stuff to read (maybe they have something out for free). |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 07 Jul 2021 : 15:53:41
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
quote:
Originally posted by keftiu
quote:
Originally posted by keftiu
Lost Omens: The Mwangi Expanse is out to subscribers, and from what my friend is sneaking me from zer copy it seems to be AMAZING! 300 pages of really brilliant, considered African-inspired fantasy, with beautiful artwork throughout. Friendly gnolls! Adorable jumping spider-folk! An undead child-mummy-demigod running an oppressive theocratic state! Post-colonial nationbuilding!
I’m really blown away!
This book is now out for sale to everyone: https://paizo.com/products/btq027ot?Pathfinder-Lost-Omens-The-Mwangi-Expanse
I'm curious, did they just release it for sale to everyone? The reason why I'm curious is that Kobold Press just sent out its surveys for sending out its new southlands 5th edition kickstarter. I'd be intrigued to look at both of these (time permitting... which I probably don't have) to see just how different they are.
I've read the earlier Mwangi Expanse stuff... It differs from KP's Southlands in that the Mwangi Expanse is heavily focused on an Africa-esque jungle, whilst the Southlands is a fantasy version of the entire African continent -- jungles, plains, deserts, Egyptian-esque Nuria Natal, the whole shebang.
Looking forward to the City of Cats book, myself -- I love Per-Bastet. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 07 Jul 2021 : 13:05:27
quote:
Originally posted by keftiu
quote:
Originally posted by keftiu
Lost Omens: The Mwangi Expanse is out to subscribers, and from what my friend is sneaking me from zer copy it seems to be AMAZING! 300 pages of really brilliant, considered African-inspired fantasy, with beautiful artwork throughout. Friendly gnolls! Adorable jumping spider-folk! An undead child-mummy-demigod running an oppressive theocratic state! Post-colonial nationbuilding!
I’m really blown away!
This book is now out for sale to everyone: https://paizo.com/products/btq027ot?Pathfinder-Lost-Omens-The-Mwangi-Expanse
I'm curious, did they just release it for sale to everyone? The reason why I'm curious is that Kobold Press just sent out its surveys for sending out its new southlands 5th edition kickstarter. I'd be intrigued to look at both of these (time permitting... which I probably don't have) to see just how different they are. |
| keftiu |
Posted - 07 Jul 2021 : 09:40:58
quote:
Originally posted by keftiu
Lost Omens: The Mwangi Expanse is out to subscribers, and from what my friend is sneaking me from zer copy it seems to be AMAZING! 300 pages of really brilliant, considered African-inspired fantasy, with beautiful artwork throughout. Friendly gnolls! Adorable jumping spider-folk! An undead child-mummy-demigod running an oppressive theocratic state! Post-colonial nationbuilding!
I’m really blown away!
This book is now out for sale to everyone: https://paizo.com/products/btq027ot?Pathfinder-Lost-Omens-The-Mwangi-Expanse |
| keftiu |
Posted - 24 Jun 2021 : 04:59:10
Got my hands on it and I’m really, really blown away. The three elf nations are all incredible, and I say that as someone who doesn’t like elves! |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 23 Jun 2021 : 03:34:00
quote:
Originally posted by keftiu
Lost Omens: The Mwangi Expanse is out to subscribers, and from what my friend is sneaking me from zer copy it seems to be AMAZING! 300 pages of really brilliant, considered African-inspired fantasy, with beautiful artwork throughout. Friendly gnolls! Adorable jumping spider-folk! An undead child-mummy-demigod running an oppressive theocratic state! Post-colonial nationbuilding!
I’m really blown away #128522;
I need to go download my copy... |
| keftiu |
Posted - 23 Jun 2021 : 02:58:29
Lost Omens: The Mwangi Expanse is out to subscribers, and from what my friend is sneaking me from zer copy it seems to be AMAZING! 300 pages of really brilliant, considered African-inspired fantasy, with beautiful artwork throughout. Friendly gnolls! Adorable jumping spider-folk! An undead child-mummy-demigod running an oppressive theocratic state! Post-colonial nationbuilding!
I’m really blown away! |
| keftiu |
Posted - 07 Jun 2021 : 01:51:02
quote:
Originally posted by Adhriva
I've really been enjoying the system. The gameplay feels and flows much more like a Realms novel that I have fallen in love with the system. It's been really nice to run too because there isn't as much of a burden on the DM to brew up an answer on the spot. I'm currently playing an Elven Bladesinger of the Leopard School (Wizard with some melee archetypes, but will transfer/retrain to Magus w/ archetype wizard when it comes out) and it already feels like your traditional Elven Bladesinger. It's amazing. I personally love the system.
They described some of the changes between playtest and final release Magi in a recent stream, and it sounds killer! Confirmed that the ranged class option works with firearms, and revealed the others (one-handed melee with a teleport, two handed melee, staff, and sword-and-board). |
| Adhriva |
Posted - 07 Jun 2021 : 01:19:39
I've really been enjoying the system. The gameplay feels and flows much more like a Realms novel that I have fallen in love with the system. It's been really nice to run too because there isn't as much of a burden on the DM to brew up an answer on the spot. I'm currently playing an Elven Bladesinger of the Leopard School (Wizard with some melee archetypes, but will transfer/retrain to Magus w/ archetype wizard when it comes out) and it already feels like your traditional Elven Bladesinger. It's amazing. I personally love the system. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 30 May 2021 : 15:33:25
And thank y'all for the explanation of gish.  |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 30 May 2021 : 15:31:55
quote:
Originally posted by sfdragon
now I'm looking to get the monte cook books from his company's game...
He's got a lot of them, mostly built on the Cypher System, but there's a new one he recently came out with that I believe uses some new system.
I've played a couple games of The Strange, at GenCon, and one of Predation. Couldn't get into any Numenara sessions, though -- those sold out fast.
I've got a fair amount of the books he's put out for The Strange and Numenara. The Strange is, I think, a particularly interesting setting, and I like the way characters translate for other recursions. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 30 May 2021 : 15:19:16
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by keftiu
Worth noting here: by the end of the year, 2e will have Magus (a dedicated gish class), Summoner, Gunslinger, and Inventor are all going to be out by the year’s end, and next year has a book that apparently adds playable undead.
I have to admit: I do not know what "gish" means.
Its a mix of warrior and spellcaster (spellsword, eldritch knight, etc...). The original term came from the Githyanki I believe, as this was a title in their culture.
I did originally pick up the PF 2e ruleset, and I will give them props for making a much more detailed ruleset than D&D 5e. You pretty much are going to need a program to help you keep your character correct as you level (making it initially is one thing, but as individual leveling up happens, it will become hard to keep track). To note, it got that way in 3.5e as well, so that's not necessarily a complaint in my book. The one thing I will say though against it is that they kept the 20 point of advancement on base attack bonus and similar on saves thus many other things at high level play will just spin way out of control. In comparison to 5e, I think they curtailed it too far (going from +2 to +6 isn't a whole lot of difference). I think if they ever put out a happy medium between these two, they'll have a really good design. To note, my worry on this is on mechanics and not necessarily "lore"..... as my feel is that any world can with modifications be made to fit most rulesets. I've barely looked over the PF2e worldbook, though I did buy it on the off chance I'd be interested in the game itself. I wouldn't mind trying it out, but that's looking less likely as work consumes my life more these days. |
| keftiu |
Posted - 30 May 2021 : 09:53:27
quote:
Originally posted by sfdragon
I saw it during its play test and did not like it
read through the rule book and imo it read the same way the 4e fr campaign setting did as a travel brochure
read the character book and thought it was good, still didnt like the rules though.
For what it’s worth, the setting material is pretty great, and most of the Lost Omens line are primarily lore with minimal mechanics - worth a peek, IMO!
quote:
went looking for The Dark Eye books and found em so now I'm looking to get the monte cook books from his company's game....
You’re welcome to start a separate thread about that |
| keftiu |
Posted - 30 May 2021 : 09:01:44
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by keftiu
Worth noting here: by the end of the year, 2e will have Magus (a dedicated gish class), Summoner, Gunslinger, and Inventor are all going to be out by the year’s end, and next year has a book that apparently adds playable undead.
I have to admit: I do not know what "gish" means.
A martial/caster, like a bladesinger or swordmage. |
| sfdragon |
Posted - 30 May 2021 : 06:48:36
I saw it during its play test and did not like it
read through the rule book and imo it read the same way the 4e fr campaign setting did as a travel brochure
read the character book and thought it was good, still didnt like the rules though.
went looking for The Dark Eye books and found em so now I'm looking to get the monte cook books from his company's game...
As to the word Gish, don't know either... unless it's slang for sword mage or something. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 30 May 2021 : 05:53:26
quote:
Originally posted by keftiu
Worth noting here: by the end of the year, 2e will have Magus (a dedicated gish class), Summoner, Gunslinger, and Inventor are all going to be out by the year’s end, and next year has a book that apparently adds playable undead.
I have to admit: I do not know what "gish" means. |
| keftiu |
Posted - 30 May 2021 : 05:04:00
Worth noting here: by the end of the year, 2e will have Magus (a dedicated gish class), Summoner, Gunslinger, and Inventor are all going to be out by the year’s end, and next year has a book that apparently adds playable undead. |
| Eldacar |
Posted - 26 Apr 2021 : 15:48:33
I played Pathfinder (1e) for a while, but ultimately fell away from it somewhere around the Mythic ruleset release and then later their Occult/Psionics playtest, mainly because of how terrible their mechanics development was in both cases and growing - later immense - frustration with Paizo among a chunk of their userbase about it. To this day Mythic is an immense disappointment to me, as was the campaign based around it.
Of course, then there was my collapse from fantasy RPGs in general for a while, helped by life getting in the way. What gaming I did do was either superhero (Mutants and Masterminds) or cyberpunk (Shadowrun) until I was slowly drawn back into fantasy settings.
I haven't looked at Paizo's PF2E system, but I'm more or less comfortable with the 5e D&D anyway. Nobody I game with is interested in it either. |
| Diffan |
Posted - 26 Apr 2021 : 15:31:47
quote:
Originally posted by Zeromaru X
It's really worth my time as a guy who prefers the 4e approach?
If you're investing in a different system than 4E, I'd give both Pathfinder 2 and 13th Age a look. Both, I feel, draw on 4E in some regards yet 13A has more 4E-isms with less mechanical crunch than PF2 offers. If having a LOT of options and feats and skills etc is your thing, then definitely check out PF2.
Or we can collaborate and make our OWN successor to 4th Edition that "fixes" some of the base issues, both mechanically and thematically! |
| Ashe Ravenheart |
Posted - 26 Apr 2021 : 13:09:52
It's weird and I'll probably never use it, but I love it! |
| keftiu |
Posted - 26 Apr 2021 : 05:16:09
For any fans of extra weird stuff: they recently revealed one of the new ancestries that's going to be playable in the upcoming Mwangi Expanse setting book, and they're super strange. They're shards of aeons (planar outsiders of Law, in the same way that fiends embody Evil and celestials embody Good) who live in exoskeletons of living wood, whose limbs slowly harden into branches, prompting the growth of new arms.
They look like this: https://i.redd.it/d9pk3y2151v61.png |
| Renin |
Posted - 05 Apr 2021 : 05:46:19
I run a PF2e campaign by post, that I have set in Waterdeep. 3 actions makes it very easy to for people to set their rounds up.
I quite enjoy that enemy creatures are designed in a manner the just make them dangerous, and are not something that has to follow core rulebook creation. Reminds me of AD&D.
I like the system. |
| keftiu |
Posted - 02 Apr 2021 : 23:51:01
quote:
Originally posted by Zeromaru X
Numeria is a site where an alien starship crashed and now they have advanced tech? Well, they just copy pasted Blackmoor there.
I'm not being a fan of Pathfinder since its first edition ruined one of my first campaigns as a DM. It was a 4e one, in the middle of the edition wars, so you can imagine. I've been shunning Pathfinder ever since, just becase the anti-4e camp like it. So, I've been shunning PF2 as well. It's really worth my time as a guy who prefers the 4e approach?
PF2 has been borrowing a fair amount of ideas from 4e (Rituals came over pretty much completely intact, and abilities sure are formatted a lot like Powers), and the new edition has also brought with it a very explicit push to get away from colonial mindsets and the assorted gross baggage of D&D stuff. The lore stuff is worth a read, even if you don’t touch the rules - but I think the rules are solid, and a lot more elegant than 1e (though still exponentially more crunchy than the stuff my indie storygame-obsessed self plays). |
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