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Important Pathfinder lore question (hexbear.net)
submitted 2 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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What's the equivalent of a TV show or film on Golarion? Are there any references to cinema-style places already, especially in or around Absalom? Not a theatre with actors recreating the piece each time, but somewhere that plays recordings of events. Camcorders exist, surely somewhere to watch them must too.

Urgently need an answer within the next two months, I'm closing the campaign with a session of Come Dice With Me starring the PCs and would prefer to justify the film crew with existing lore if possible.

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[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

There's an AP about a theater troupe, that might be a good place to look. Golarion is weird in that it's very kitchen sink fantasy, materialism is out the window. Heavy armor paladins exist alongside alien tech and Gatling guns, and they are effective cause of uh... Magic? I guess. Could easily say scrying orbs are common household appliances

Low-key I think starfinder is more of my jam it feels easier to justify some of the silly stuff with a scifi handwave. A lot of the spells in pf2e if used fully every day would result in a high tech situation imo

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

The thing that really pulled me to Golarion over the D&D settings is the amount of materialism it displays for a kitchen sink fantasy. The alien tech is mostly breaking down because of how old it is. The guns stick to black powder weapons of the same types as coexisted with full plate irl. Even with magic, once you take a look at how each discipline is learnt you can start to see the difference in integrations to different societies - the cosmopolitan Nex has tons of powerful wizards because it focuses of magical educations, while they're much sparser in feudal Taldor, leading to Nex having quite a high tech society compared to other places, and Taldor being relatively backwards as magic is reserved for those who can afford it.

It's definitely not perfect, and it's still recovering from the fundamental problem of being written by white men, but it does do a really good job of taking answers like "magic I guess" seriously and looking at the effects of that on societies. Like with real life though, you do have to learn a lot of the lore to really start putting together the pieces.

Will have a flip through Curtain Call though, that's a good shout.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

The answer is that as far as I am aware, in PF2e there are no such things.

However, my understanding is that there are often abjuration and conjuration enhanced puppet shows, that have some running schtick characters but are more often than not just light satire of current events. My DM has made use of them frequently as exposition teasers in Andorran, but I see no reason that Absalom wouldn't have it either, being the largest trading port in the Inner Sea.

That said, having places that are experimenting with new magic and technology and the repercussions of those things is always fun. If you are looking for some inspiration, I would suggest Terry Prachet's book Moving Pictures.

To contradict @[email protected] abit, materialism absolutely exists in Pathfinder, it is just the logic of that materialism happens to be much different than it is in our world, as the science of magic is a real thing, along with magic also being part of the emotional and spiritual essence of things. It means you, as a DM, get to play around and decide what the logic means, and if and when you want to break it or keep it.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Most of my knowledge about the movie industry comes from Moving Pictures, so I've already got that down.

I had forgotten about the puppet shows, I've definitely heard about those - makes me think it would be worth making it more of a travelling show, but that could run on a single episode for years as it moves around, so doesn't give a reason for these to be made regularly (I may want to keep a TV crew around for future silly side stories).

I think I'll have to make it a pair of Gnome's pet projects, one that's been experimenting with recording rods and has built devices that use a magazine of rods for seamless recording and playback, and the other as director/showrunner. Probably working out of a shop front in Absalom showing short character pieces, with this intended as their first big show. I can speedrun the development of movies and TV through their various appearances, until they're selling scrying spheres for on-demand streaming.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

That sounds like a good way to go. Perhaps as they get bigger, it has affects on the puppeteers market, putting some out of business, but others start making puppet shows for the company, then the government gets involved, etc.

Skies the limit really. The real key is to not get too bogged down in explaining what is happening unless the party is actually knowledgeable about it AND wants to investigate it. Otherwise it can just sorta happen in the background around the plot.

this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2025
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