A worthy addition to Golarion
5 stars
(Reposting this review because the old one did survive migration to the new instance.)
My main complaint about this book is that it is too short. But then again, how could it be otherwise?
This book covers Tian Xia, an entire continent for #Golarion , the "default" campaign setting for the #Pathfinder #TTRPG . Just like the default "Inner Sea" region is vaguely inspired by Europe and North Africa, so is Tian Xia inspired by Asia, and does its best to make it an interesting region to play in. But Tian Xia is several thousands of miles in diameter, and this book has a mere 302 - and thus, each region and country on this continent will only get the briefest of oversights. Which for a detail-oriented setting junkie like me is frustrating, to say the least.
The authors of the various regional writeups did try …
(Reposting this review because the old one did survive migration to the new instance.)
My main complaint about this book is that it is too short. But then again, how could it be otherwise?
This book covers Tian Xia, an entire continent for #Golarion , the "default" campaign setting for the #Pathfinder #TTRPG . Just like the default "Inner Sea" region is vaguely inspired by Europe and North Africa, so is Tian Xia inspired by Asia, and does its best to make it an interesting region to play in. But Tian Xia is several thousands of miles in diameter, and this book has a mere 302 - and thus, each region and country on this continent will only get the briefest of oversights. Which for a detail-oriented setting junkie like me is frustrating, to say the least.
The authors of the various regional writeups did try to make the most out of their word count. We get a decent idea of what the local culture is like, and most regions have some good conflicts and other hooks for adventures and even entire campaigns around. However, there is a dearth of locations - each region is several hundreds of miles in diameter, but we only get three to four (briefly) described locations for each region. A GM who wants to run a campaign in one of these regions will have to do a lot of worldbuilding - which is not something I personally abhor, but if you plan to use this setting, then this is something you should keep in mind. I do hope that some of the authors of this work will publish more in-depth regional gazetteers using the Pathfinder Infinite Community Title program if Paizo doesn't support this setting further directly.
(Speaking of worldbuilding - is there a list somewhere of which real world culture inspired which region in Tian Xia? With some regions it was obvious even for me, but with others I would have to do some further research.)
Apart from the brevity, there were only a few parts of this book I wasn't fond of:
- Linvarre: A nation founded by "Western" colonizers who were welcomed as stabilizing force does not sit well with me, although I realize that this is a holdover from a previous edition where the editorial decisions were... less wise.
- The arcade games games in Goka, which were too anachronistic for my tastes.
- Quain: I don't mind martial arts as such, and have played a monk in my time, but a nation focused this much on martial arts is a bit over-the-top for my tastes. Other people's tastes might differ.
On the other hand, there were some real highlights:
- Po Li: Its worship of a vanished ruler is delightfully creep. "Trust the Eternal Emperor! The Eternal Emperor is your Friend!"...
- Tianjing: You could run an entire campaign focusing on preventing this land from becoming another Worldwound... or letting it happen and then have another campaign about containing it again.
- Kwanlai: I do love a good "underdog" tale.
To sum it up, I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to run fantasy campaigns in an Asian-themed setting, and I hope this work will not be the end of the support for this region.