Nice video. I too am happy they have separated GM products and Player products. I am not sure what your “grading” system is achieving. Who is this “hypothetical viewer” who will use this grade? I’m not trying to diss the system, I’m genuinely curious.
I'll be honest... my brain chased down quite the rabbit trail on this one, before I finally stopped & realized: I'm a teacher IRL. That's how my brain naturally summarizes things! LOL!
Seems like a really cool setting. I feel like 90% of fantasy settings are just European and it would be really cool to try a more eastern approach for some new experiences. I really hope we get a pathfinder video game set in this region.
Do you consider players that may want these books just because they want to know more lore? I mean, I could see being a PFS player wanting to read these. Would they be vaible customers or really they shouldn't use them?
I think anyone who is interested in a book "just because" qualifies as a viable customer. I'm not very likely to run a game set in Tian Xia any time soon. (I've got another Pathfinder story I want to tell set in Absalom that's up on my docket first - and that'll probably be a longer campaign when I do it.) But, Paizo's books are one of the things I collect, so I still bought this book just to add to my collection & read for fun, even though I won't use it for a while. I'll never knock anyone for purchasing and/or reading just for entertainment. But - when I do my reviews, I try to look at them through the lens of someone who is "just starting on building a collection." There's a lot of stuff they "can" buy, but what is the most useful to buy "right now?" Obviously, that answer can change from person to person & collector to collector - but I want to structure my reviews in a way that someone who is building their collection from the ground up can make informed decisions about what to prioritize.
Given that Paizo is moving away from what made it popular, which is dramatic heroic fantasy, I much prefer the PF1 version of Dragons Empire / Tian Xia. Today, Tian Xia is presented to us as a travel brochure, with rowing contests of smiling people and happiness. Full of whimsy and cutsie. Gone are the representations of stern samurai courageously facing the threat of a dragon, or shinobis who are about to fall on unaware adventurers. The target audience now are the Critters and Gen-Z gamers.
I personally love the Tian Xia region of Golarion, but that stems from my fascination with real life Far East Asia.
Nice video. I too am happy they have separated GM products and Player products.
I am not sure what your “grading” system is achieving. Who is this “hypothetical viewer” who will use this grade? I’m not trying to diss the system, I’m genuinely curious.
I'll be honest... my brain chased down quite the rabbit trail on this one, before I finally stopped & realized: I'm a teacher IRL. That's how my brain naturally summarizes things! LOL!
Seems like a really cool setting. I feel like 90% of fantasy settings are just European and it would be really cool to try a more eastern approach for some new experiences. I really hope we get a pathfinder video game set in this region.
Do you consider players that may want these books just because they want to know more lore? I mean, I could see being a PFS player wanting to read these.
Would they be vaible customers or really they shouldn't use them?
I think anyone who is interested in a book "just because" qualifies as a viable customer. I'm not very likely to run a game set in Tian Xia any time soon. (I've got another Pathfinder story I want to tell set in Absalom that's up on my docket first - and that'll probably be a longer campaign when I do it.)
But, Paizo's books are one of the things I collect, so I still bought this book just to add to my collection & read for fun, even though I won't use it for a while.
I'll never knock anyone for purchasing and/or reading just for entertainment.
But - when I do my reviews, I try to look at them through the lens of someone who is "just starting on building a collection." There's a lot of stuff they "can" buy, but what is the most useful to buy "right now?"
Obviously, that answer can change from person to person & collector to collector - but I want to structure my reviews in a way that someone who is building their collection from the ground up can make informed decisions about what to prioritize.
Given that Paizo is moving away from what made it popular, which is dramatic heroic fantasy, I much prefer the PF1 version of Dragons Empire / Tian Xia. Today, Tian Xia is presented to us as a travel brochure, with rowing contests of smiling people and happiness. Full of whimsy and cutsie. Gone are the representations of stern samurai courageously facing the threat of a dragon, or shinobis who are about to fall on unaware adventurers. The target audience now are the Critters and Gen-Z gamers.