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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 793
EAN num: 9781601251121
ISBN number: 1601251122
Label: Paizo Publishing, LLC.
Manufacturer: Paizo Publishing, LLC.
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 256
Printing Date: September 03, 2008
Publishing house: Paizo Publishing, LLC.
Sale Popularity Level: 216340
Studio: Paizo Publishing, LLC.
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
The exciting world of the Pathfinder Adventure Paths comes alive in this massive full-colour hardcover tome primed up and ready to go for your new d20 campaign! Detailed sections on more than 40 nations - from the barbaric frontiers of Varisia to the devil-tainted cities of Cheliax to the frigid Hold of the Mammoth Lords - provide a full picture of the world of Golarion, with new rules, new magic and spells, detailed descriptions of more than 30 gods and their religions, and a gorgeous poster map detailing the entire campaign setting.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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Pretty derivative (if you like Ravenloft, Greyhawk, Al Qadim, steampunk, et al, it's all here!) but put together in a fairly intelligent and interesting way. If only one 3.5 world is going to be supported by "the powers that be," this is a worthy creation and I would have no problems GMing or playing in this campaign world. Definately recommend using this as well as the other Pathfinder modules (high-quality, all!) if you and your crew are staying with 3.0 or 3.5!
Rated by buyers -
Golarion is a fantastic world and this book does a great job covering it. First off, it's extremely well-written: concise when that's called for and in-depth when it needs to be. Each country has a 2-4 page spread detailing government, geographic overview, and important locations, as well as how it interacts with neighbors. There are in-depth class and race descriptions for those of you playing the Pathfinder Beta and wishing you had more info.
As for the setting itself, rarely does a book inspire like this. Each realm is more or less fashioned on a setting stereotype- the land of desert nomads, the unexplored jungle expanse, the gothic realm of horror, the Mordor-like homeland of the orcs, et cetera. Any type of campaign you want to run, you'll find inspiration here. Fitting them all together was brilliant on Paizo's behalf. It's also nice that a GM can briefly describe each of these lands and have the players immediately get a feel for them. Saying "Galt is like Revolutionary France" immediately lets players understand what they're in for, without having to explain a full history. Very nice.
Each realm section has enough information to run it, but leaves enough open for the gamemaster to tweak it to her liking, filling in blank map space and important figures. This really impressed me, because as much as I love settings like Forgotten Realms, they contain just too much "canon" to soak in at once. The last thing you need is a PC correcting you on the local lord's name.
A special mention goes to the chapter on Race. Everyone gets a two-page spread, including the sub-races of humans, and none of it is silly stat-balancing. Paizo has really added some cool flavor to the standard PC races, and provided nice touches that bring out the feel of each race more than just an excuse to give stat bonuses and penalties. I never liked Gnomes before, but Pathfinder turns them into unbearably cool Outsider-like Fey that explains their oddity without making them goofy anymore. Awesome.
As someone else mentioned, there is quite a bit of "crunch" here, too- new regional feats, gods, class descriptions, and some prestige classes. I'm less interested in those aspects, but they're helpful. The most important thing to me is that this book really fires up your imagination. Every time I pick it up and randomly flip to a page, I find myself wanting to send the PCs there. Even realms that I initially dismissed turn out to be distinctly cool (hello, Qadira). No matter what rules set you're running, you owe it to yourself to buy this seriously well-crafted book. I'll be running every game in Golarion from now on.
Rated by buyers -
What pleases me the most is there is lots of crunchy kernels in this primarily fluff book. The fluff is great too, though, a little vague in specific geographical locals represented here. It is an excellent foundation for the world, its history, and races there in. It is more than enough to kick start a campaign or for general reference and use in an international club environment.
Rated by buyers -
This is one of the best rpg "world" books for D&D that I have ever looked at. It compares to the monster tome that was the 3.0 Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, but gives D&D a fresh and updated setting in which to play campaigns. I have purchased the 4e offerings that update the Realms and they do not compare.
For production value, this book is worth the cost. It is dense with information about the world, its gods, and history, and its people. Furthermore, for rules' enthusiasts it adds new feats, regional traits, prestige classes, and new equipment.
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