Does Pathfinder's 'Lost Omens World Guide” Help a PF2 Newbie Learn About Golarion?

In this episode, I review the Pathfinder campaign setting book, “Lost Omens World Guide!” And also, we talk a lot about the Forgotten Realms and mean comments.

Chapters:
00:00 - How Pathfinder Avoids the Forgotten Realms Problem
06:52 - A Word From Our Sponsor
08:46 - Why Do We Use Published Campaign Settings?
12:22 - Does Golarion Have a Clear Premise and a Distinct Tone?
15:51 - Does Golarian Have Iconic Imagery, Character Creation, and Plot Hooks?
18:23 - Does Golarion Have Daunting Lore and Blank Spaces on the Map?
21:18 - Outro

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

Music from Epidemic Sound

Recommended Reading:

Why I Don't Like the Forgotten Realms (as the Default 5E Campaign Setting)

Ravenloft: The Perfect Horror Setting? (Domains of Dread Campaign Setting Review)

#pathfinder #ttrpg #rpg #paizo

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[SupergeekMike]

Do you have another favorite resource that provides a lot more lore about this setting?

[synmad]

Thank you for this. I was recently searching for opinions on Golarion and was frustrated to see that when asked "is Golarion a good setting?" most fans basically say "it sure has a lot of stuff" (same with Forgotten Realms)

[zefiewings]

I love your points here and in the Forgotten Realms video and it's shocking how many people missed the point.
There is a difference between a setting being a good story or an optional setting and being a good default setting. And there is a difference between there having been any potential for something having been a good default setting and the actual execution of what happened.
How many movies have you seen where there were some good ideas but they just weren't executed well or didn't come together in an interesting way? When that happens you can just say "Oh it wasn't a bad movie, it had good ideas it just wasn't fun to watch." yeah man, being entertaining in some way to watch is the function of a movie. If it's not good to watch it's not a good movie even if there was potential it could have been. (I'm simplifying obviously since there are different ways to be good to watch like fun or interesting or makes you think) In the same way, you can't say "oh it's not a bad default setting, it's just hard to parse the information and it's scattered in an obtuse way that requires 3rd party intervention to get to the good stuff." That's the point of a default setting; to be an easy starting point. It's the default, it's where you start your 'new save file'. If a video game dropped you in a high-level area with no level or gear and you can't live long enough to get any, it doesn't matter if there is cool stuff in there most people aren't going to play long enough to see it!

[anthonyledel]

Just a fun note. The AI Goddess rose to deity hood in one of the first edition adventures while being an NPC that traveled along with the party to defeat an evil AI Demi god. And is important to starfinder.

[dividendjohnson]

I've been a Golarion and Pathfinder fan for over a decade, and I've literally never pieced together that the Eye of Dread is almost reverse Mordor. I mean, it's a pretty recent development--Golarion as a world moves with the various adventures--but still.

Thanks for giving me that and making me love that bit of the world all over again.

[cchaves]

I'm so glad someone else picked up that Anastasia Romanov is in the world of Golarion. Something even more obscure, she was also the Little Matchstick Girl until Baba Yaga whisked her away to Golarion, and raised her to be a Witch.

[torlight]

Honestly, VERY well said about the similarities and differences between Golarion and the Forgotten Realms; I had a lot of the same issues w/Faerun, completely agree with your takes. I had little to no interest in the world as it was presented in 5e, then Baldur's Gate 3 rolled around and really showed what people who know the setting can do with it.

Re Golarion, I've loved the setting for a long time, I've been playing in it for over 15 years, from 3.5 D&D to when it became Pathfinder and on into PF2; hell we even ran 5e games in Golarion for a time! The more they add just fleshes out and opens up more avenues of exploration, not just into the nations or regions themselves, but on the ancestries and histories, on -magic- and how it's presented in world, and it warms my heart that they aren't afraid to change things (but not by moving the world forward 1 to 2 hundred years or something silly like Faerun). This year, even, they're killing a major god from the pantheon in a long-running event players will be involved in.

TL:DR I really like the setting, it's rich and representative, as well as fun to play in. I hope you have a great time with it!

[mistaree]

I mostly play PF2E these days and Golarion is a very solid setting but one of my favorite settings is Eberron. I run my PF2E game in a modified Eberron.

[wiph]

Golarion is Fantasy STEW. In a good stew, every piece is distinct and provides myriad flavors and textures, but those flavors marry together to create a cohesive and unified flavor profile, disparate elements enriching each other.

I like stew

[endlesspotentialenergy]

I've enjoyed delving into pockets of the Golarian setting and like the variety (Varisia, Numeria, Nirmathas, Thuvia, and Cheliax in particular). I've had the benefit of playing through the adventure path featuring that A.I. god, beginning to end in PF1e. Started as a psionic gunslinger (Ultimate Psionics shoutout) who retired after his story arc; continued as an elemental, support focused sorceress who was a devotee of The Black Butterfly (Sirocco and Particulate Form were my top spells, honourable mention to Web 🤭). Characters from that campaign have become legacy characters that have come up in future games too!






**Spoilers**
This is the Iron Gods AP. The factions present were interesting, leading to some PCs choosing built-in history/ties, which was fun. We had two different NPC allies at points (Isuma and Casandalee), and I even ran the second NPC for our DM when our party built an android body for her to inhabit – very durable with some support abilities, but bad at combat. My sorceress developed a meaningful friendship with Longdreamer, and our party treated Torch as our homebase. My favorite combat was a fight on and around a high-speed train in transit during the final dungeon (sorceress was able to fly alongside and keep up with the occasional double move, and could grant resistance to laser fire). Our DM treated tech as a burgeoning presence in the rest of the world, though common to Numerians. The Conan-esque barbarians variously clashing or adopting tech was fun to play with. Highly recommend the AP/setting as a result, though i'm sure some amount of that is due to my DM 😌

[kennyshack]

I love the Golarion setting and I love all the supplements that Paizo puts out. Half of my own world is Golarion I collect all the setting expansions I can get my hands on but I do run 5e mechanics...

[Nac]

As someone recently getting into Pathfinder as a system, and through some adventures set in the world of Golarion, I've really taken a shine to it. Hearing even more details about it through this is amazing, and hugely inspires me as both a player and GM (also, because of that level of inspiration I finally got my World Anvil sub, so thanks for that).

Also as someone recently getting into Pathfinder as a system, really interested for that alluded-to future video of looking at P2E as a system. I've fallen fairly hard for it, but I look forward to your level-headed take on it.

Great stuff as usual!

[Lockfin]

The Lost Omens line are some of the best fantasy setting material in TTRPGs right now. They are consistently phenomenal products. I’d recommend the Mwangi Expanse or Tian Xia books if you want to see Golarion’s take on West African and East Asian inspired fantasy respectively, both with hearty contributions from people of those cultural groups.

For something a little less grounded, the City of Absalom book is a massive gazetteer for the most significant city in the setting and the Impossible Lands book gives you a look into an area of the world defined and devastated by the eternal war between two wizards.

[andrewhildner]

This is great! I agree I might not run pathfinder but I still might use golarion

[grais]

I love how even the 1e lore books are still incredibly valid for reading and getting ideas and hooks from. Paizo does answer some of their mystery hooks they posit, and some areas have drastocally changed in universe over time (looking at you beautiful Varisia/poor Lastwall) but even the stuff piblished a decade ago has great ideas that can be tweaked or borrowed for your campaign and fit into the world

[postopken]

Love to see more Pathfinder videos on this channel! I like Golarion a lot, its a classic fantasy world with all the bits and bobs you expect to find while still managing to surprise you. Elves are aliens?? Gnomes have to play pranks or they turn greyscale and go Yes please!

[Keryusupercoologuy]

One thing I love is that this book comes *after* a decade of first edition adventures having their own plots and stories, but it doesn't feel like a world of "solved" adventures. Like, that AI God you mentioned. She's a consequence of the Iron Gods AP but she still has open story concepts to use, there's more to her. Personal favorite detail: The current ruler of Irrisen and how she got to be there. Look it up, it's amazing

[jackalbane]

I think one of the reasons why, even if people don't always play the Adventure Paths, many people tend to use the Golarion setting for their homebrew games because it's already interesting and full of tidbits that you can run with. As a previous PF1E player, pretty much most of my games used at least the pantheon of Golarion, if not full stolen concepts.

[Nikuthulhu]

I definitely enjoy the setting of Golarion. I appreciate the "salad bowl" or "buffet" style of being able to run any adventure there.

[FernandoDolande]

I'm always happy to see more pathfinder love out there. I would offer to run some Pathfinder games for you and your friends over Foundry, but I'm sure you already heard that a few times already!

My advice would be to give more of the Lost Omens books a try. The gods book is great! Also, it wouldn't hurt to read some of the Pathfinder adventures, and see how they compare side by side to the WOTC books.