What are the essential PF books?

[kennethk]

I am working on rebuilding my gaming collection after losing all my books due to a flood. I started with the smaller series first and now have worked my way to PF. While I would love to get all the books at once, that is not possible. I am able to get 2, possibly 3 books a month.

I ask my fellow gamers, what do you consider the essential PF books (besides the core book of course)?

[Library Ogre]

Monsters and Animals
Dragons and Gods

From there, I'd look at where you want to game, and consider buying books as sets based around that. Old Ones will give you Timiro, and I'd lump it with Island at the Edge of the World. Western Empire and Baalgor Wastelands go together well, and Mt. Nimro would be a good third. You might also look East, in which case you're talking Eastern Territories and the various Norther Wilderness books. I'd leave off Land of the Damned, since it's end-game material, and relatively incomplete.

[Braden Campbell]

I'll just echo what Mark said above, and add that Yin-Sloth Jungles is... well, a book that also exists in the PFRPG line.

[kennethk]

I appreciate the advice. Slow and painful process trying to rebuild. Monsters and Animals and Dragons and Gods will be first on this month's order list.

[Library Ogre]

I'll just echo what Mark said above, and add that Yin-Sloth Jungles is... well, a book that also exists in the PFRPG line.

Conveniently, it doesn't really pair well with any of the others.

[Braden Campbell]

Not to mention, it only covers the western half of the jungle...

[Jack Burton]

Not to mention, it only covers the western half of the jungle...

Does a comprehensive map of the Palladium Fantasy world exist anywhere? As someone who isn't really familiar with PF yet, it would be much easier to see the world on a map so I can better understand the dynamics of it.

[The Beast]

Not to mention, it only covers the western half of the jungle...

Does a comprehensive map of the Palladium Fantasy world exist anywhere? As someone who isn't really familiar with PF yet, it would be much easier to see the world on a map so I can better understand the dynamics of it.

A fan made a very good one and linked it here. I'll see if I can find it.

[Whiskeyjack]

Hotrod makes the best maps. Just look for his latest post on it, and that will bring you to his page with all the maps he's done. It's not the whole world, but it is large sections of it in incredible detail.

[ShadowLogan]

Not to mention, it only covers the western half of the jungle...

Does a comprehensive map of the Palladium Fantasy world exist anywhere? As someone who isn't really familiar with PF yet, it would be much easier to see the world on a map so I can better understand the dynamics of it.

As mentioned forum poster by Hotrod has done maps.

Though depending on what you consider comprehensive for your purposes, there is the Map in PF2E that covers the entire world, just don't expect cities and such to be marked, at best your looking at more of geography map with regions marked off and major geographic features (mountain ranges).

[Hotrod]

Not to mention, it only covers the western half of the jungle...

Does a comprehensive map of the Palladium Fantasy world exist anywhere? As someone who isn't really familiar with PF yet, it would be much easier to see the world on a map so I can better understand the dynamics of it.

That's a good question. There are several comprehensive maps of the Palladium Fantasy world out there.

The original world map that Kevin drew that has been reproduced in many published books. While this map gives a good overview of where all the regions are, it's not very accurate with local details, as regional sourcebooks have changed coastlines and added or removed islands, lakes, rivers, and mountains. Its use of shading is ambiguous in may places (is it marking climate or a region?), and it doesn't include the Edge of the World or the Great Ice Shelf. You can find versions of this map in the basic book, Monsters and Animals, Northern Hinterlands, and many others. A great map-maker named Tad Davis turned this mapinto a photo-realistic map as a commission for zyanitevp, and this image was put on the back of the Bizantium book.

There's also a version of this map that shows up inside the Bizantium book which includes the Great Ice Shelf and some of the Edge of the World. It's not great for clarity, but it's the most complete map of the world (within the Edge of the World) that's been published.

A few years back, I took scans of every local Palladium Fantasy map I could find, superimposed them on each other, and drew in Inkscape what I consider to be the most accurate world map out there in terms of coastlines. I use this image as the basis for all my Palladium Fantasy maps. If you like, I'll upload it so you can check it out yourself.

Finally, there's a fantastic hand-drawn map by AberzombieLiche that I came across a year or two ago. It's not well-known, but I regard it as the best overall world map that's ever been made for Palladium Fantasy. It captures both world-wide information and regional details, and it's got some spiffy heraldry to go with it. The only beef I have with it is that its creator only took pictures of it, not scans.

Beyond these options, I've created many regional maps of the Palladium World, including the Great Northern Wilderness, the Eastern Territory, Timiro, The Land of the Damned, and Bizantium and its Colonies. You can find these in my gallery below. I've also created unreleased regional maps of the Great Inland Sea and the Land of South Winds. I may someday create a world map built from these assembled pieces and other regions that I haven't mapped yet, but that's probably a few years away, as I still haven't made regional maps of the Western Empire, Yin-Sloth Jungles, Floenry Isles, Baalgor Wastelands, Nimro, or the Old Kingdom. I'd also have to recreate the Timiro map, as the source files for that map went poof in a hard drive crash a couple of years back.

[Braden Campbell]

I'm super curious about the South-Winds map... is someone actually working on a book to go along with it?

[Hotrod]

I'm super curious about the South-Winds map... is someone actually working on a book to go along with it?

I can only speak to the map; I worked up some icons and the bare geography of the South Winds map a year or two ago. Some of the icon elements have worked their way into other bits of art I've done since. I have no idea whether or not anyone's currently working on a book.

[Reagren Wright]

I'm super curious about the South-Winds map... is someone actually working on a book to go along with it?

Yes someone (not me) did turn in a Land of the South Wind manuscript. So when Kevin talks about it that is the one he is
refering too.

As for starting off with a collection of Palladium Books, you definitely want the main book, Dragons & Gods, Mysteries of
Magic, and Adventures on the High Seas. After that you want four of the five human kingdoms Old Ones for Timiro (along
with Island at the Edge of the World (1st edtion) and Rifter #63) for official cannnon material. Then its Eastern Territory,
Western Empire, and Bizantium. The others book deal with monster lands and wilderness. And yes we await the long awaited
arrival of LoD3 to tell us what is in the Bleakness, Minotaur Kingdoms, and the Citadel. However, you can still do some
extensive game play in the LoD using Book 1 (Chaos Lands) and the Book 2 (Eternal Torment).