Savage Pathfinder, part 1

This is what I am going with.

I had a fun campaign going for Savage Worlds and the original Fantasy Companion, and it was a fun one. This was in the world of Savage Thule, and it was a sort of Conan-inspired game with survival and mysterious ruin exploration themes. It was a fun game that got me into the system. When I saw the Savage Worlds Pathfinder game announced, I backed the crowdfunding and kind of put the game on hold. At the same time, I checked out different games, such as Castles & Crusades, B/X versions, Pathfinder 2, and a bunch of other fantasy games that I wanted to read and experience.

Primeval Thule is a fantastic setting, a mix of Lovecraft and Conan sort of horror and pulp adventure with a nod to the open fantasy standards. It is sort of a world you can pick any spot and make your own, which is excellent and allows you a lot of flexibility when coming up with adventures. I have the Pathfinder version, but they do have a PDF version of this for Savage Worlds. I just want the maps and descriptions; I can do without many rules since I have everything I need.

If I go back to Thule, I get this feeling that I want the new Fantasy Companion in my hand to do it right. That leaves me with my current book in hand, Savage Pathfinder.

Would I stick to Golarion in the 1e version, pre-Steampunk 2e timeline? Honestly, this was one of the most incredible runs of a setting in roleplaying history when you consider every adventure path and book made for Pathfinder 1e. I love that the 1e world still feels like a fantasy world. We have not advanced into the Starfinder era of robots, machine companions, androids, anything-goes ancestries, technology, flying machines, guns, and modern technology replacements. The Pathfinder 2e world feels like fantasy Starfinder without starships.

Explaining Savage Pathfinder

If I do stick to Golarion, how do I explain away the whole Pathfinder 2 thing? Well, there is always this guy...

Aroden

Well, the rumors about the god Aroden's death were greatly exaggerated. And he is a Savage Pathfinder fan. Being the god of history and innovation, he likes Savage World's ability to play in any historical era, and he also likes how innovative the rules are. Likely, he was off being a cowboy in Deadlands, giving the system a try.

...found you!

With the other gods distracted, Aroden discovered how to become the god of rules systems and gamemastering so he could impose his will on everyone and let the chips fall where they may. He walks around the Realm of the Gods like Matt Mercer and calls the other Golarion gods his players. He even narrates in the same way, "Your followers discover an evil plot to..." And yes, that pisses everyone off. But there is nothing they can do about it since without Aroden around, nobody plays anything.

Aroden's followers, who were left, became regional gamemasters of the world. I am guessing Aroden will not have an official church or religion. If they exist, they will operate in secret like a group of gamemasters secretly fixing rules, setting up adventures, and keeping abnormalities from messing up the new reality. You could have fun playing a religion that treats the Savage Worlds rules as a religion and treats bennies as a holy blessing, but then again, that is just describing most Savage Worlds fans.

Granted, with Savage Aroden back, many things in the timeline are changing. If you replay the adventure paths, I am betting things like the World-wound closing will not happen (or will end very differently) because of the war this guy returning will cause. You think, well, the ultimate good guy is back, things will be easy mode, right?

Not exactly. He is the new gamemaster in town, and things are gonna change. He sold all his 3.5 books and has moved onto a new system. He wants pulp adventure.

In this alternate world that follows Savage World rules, I am probably free to break all the plates and glasses, screw up the timeline, change the outcomes of adventure paths, make entire kingdoms fall, and raise holy hell with the timeline. Maybe because this guy returns, Asmodeus comes to  the world, makes himself King of Cheliax, and says, "Screw you, Aroden."

Nethys, god of Min-Maxing

Think of every god in the setting as a disruptive, obstinate, rules-lawyer, power gamer, flowery roleplayer, min-maxer, overly careful, or otherwise stereotype of a pen-and-paper gamer, and you will get how the gods act under this system. And then translate those behaviors to the plots they cause for their followers. And the players have to deal with all the chaos this causes. Adventure paths will be created just because of fights between "players" in the Realm of the Gods. This is Pathfinder 1e on crack.

Fun stuff.

I can create 100 first-edition Savage Pathfinder adventure paths just off the chaos this guy coming back and changing the rules of the game causes. No adventure path will ever end like you think it will. You are free to make the endings of each one make things worse in some way and create more adventures as the entire world slowly descends into madness and hell.

Crossovers will be fun since we will go to Deadlands, ETU, Flash Gordon, Sprawlrunners, Wiseguys, and other cool places instead of World War I. The rule is no crossover unless it is a Savage Worlds setting. Aroden wants to get some use out of his book collection, just like the guy running this campaign.

There will be those wanting to go back to the old ways (which will never happen, Aroden has a Deadlands ace up his sleeve); those who miss 3.75; those who know Pathfinder 2 is impossible now; those who lament the loss of Starfinder; those who know their 675 hit points and AC 40 are gone forever; and those who are just afraid of a new and uncertain future.

Let it rip.