[RPG] Which books are most important to learning the setting, not the rules

golarionpathfinder-1e

I'm an experienced Pathfinder player and GM, but other than a single attempt at play-by-post Rise of the Runelords, I've never actually run anything set in Golarion and not played much more. I want to give my players in my upcoming Mythic campaign free reign to go where they want and do what they want after a short introduction arc, and since creating an entire world from whole cloth is beyond my spare time right now, I've decided the best existing setting to use is the one the game already assumes. However…

…I've never previously purchased setting books, not even in PDF format, and I need to get up to date fast. Which books or PDFs are most important to figuring out Golarion, so I can get started in the right place?

If it matters to your answer, we'll be starting near the north-eastern coast of Katapesh, as the published adventure I'm going to start with is set there. After that's done I have little ability to predict what will draw my players.

Best Answer

Inner Sea World Guide

This book is meant to be the egg-laying wool-milk-sow (if I may use translated German idioms) regarding the Inner Sea Region, the main focus of Golarion (despite the name, this region extends quite far into the north of the Inner Sea). That means, it introduces just about everything, at the expense of detail that is found only in the more focused Campaign Setting books.

It contains an overview over (non-inclusive list)

  • Races of Golarion (including the different humans, such as Chelaxian, Keleshite or Vudrani) and their relations with another.

  • A brief overview over every nation in the world, about 4 pages each, for a total about 170 pages. These provide insight into the most important landmarks and characteristics and typically include a ½ page map. However, detailed descriptions of cities (or even maps) can not be found in this book.

  • Major history of Golarion, including mythical history (such as the entrapment of Rovagug), up to the recent past. It does not include more recent events such as the most recent Crusade against the World Wound.

  • Description and portfolio of the major gods (½ page each), as well as brief paragraphs concerning the archfiends and similar god-like creatures such as the Four Horsemen, the Eldest, and the Elemental Lords. As well as a couple of non-religious philosophies.

Other books of interest

There is not much to suggest beyond this book, as it really depends on where your players are headed (or on how well-filled your wallet is and how fast you can read). There are a handful of books about specific topics, as well, such as Inner Sea Gods (another 300 page book) or the smaller (64 page) Inner Sea Magic/Combat/Knights. Most of the other books or booklets about the setting focus on specific areas or organizations.

Lastly, should your guys decide to travel half-way around the world, the pseudo-asian continent of Tian-Xia is described in the Dragon Empires Gazetteer.

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