Project Corona: Northern Crown for Pathfinder

I've begun a long-term off-and-on project of making a Pathfinder RPG-compatible version of Northern Crown. I don't have any particular deadlines for this, it's more something to occupy my time and help familiarize me with Pathfinder on a deeper level while working with one of my favorite settings. Since I intend to post the rules online eventually (and not just as "change X text on page Y"), I'm working according to the terms of the OGL and the identification of Product Identity in the Northern Crown books.

[size=150]SUBSTITUTIONS[/size]
This means that the first thing I have to do is to make substitutions for all the PI stuff in NC, especially:
[]the name "Northern Crown" for the continent[/]
[]the name "Southern Cross" for the continent[/]
[]the name "Republic of Sophia" and the titles of Sophian officials[/]
[]the terms "Coven of Naumkeag", "Dark Years", "First Ones" "Greening of Albion", "Kelt Renegado", "L'Order du Sang", "Le Dragon Rouge", "Los Illustrados", "Moundraiser", "Solomonic Order", "Sons of Cincinnatus", "Uncounted Time", "Unknown West", "Unseen Hand", "Uropan", "Vinlander", "Witchling", "Woodland Confederacy"[/]
[]the names "Chiron Franklyn", "Kieran Scot", "Philathelias Jeferson", and "Rebecca Blackthorn"[/]
[]pretty much everything related to Nyambe[/]

I've got the following (possibly temporary) substitutions set up:
[]"Northern Crown" becomes "Corona Borealis", or just "Corona" in brief. Similarly, "Southern Cross" is "Crux".[/]
[]"Sophia" is now "Fredonia" due to the name's early suggestion as a name for the United States, and its place in popular culture as a name for a tiny nation with an emphasis on independence[/]
[]"Vinlander" took some thought. I've gone with "Marklander" instead, and will probably have some alteration where colonists at Markland (Labrador in modern-day real life) overtook the Vinland colonists in power.[/]
[]"Uropa" became "Europa", rather simply.[/]
[]"First Ones" became "Aboriginals" based on the similar meaning and the use of the term in Canadian discourse on the subject. I'm not 100% certain about this, and may change it to something else.[/]
[]"Witchlings" are now "Witchan", from an older pronunciation of "Wiccan".[/]

Suggestions of further substitutions are welcome!

[size=150]CLASSES[/size]
As far as the classes, I'm thinking that the Raider, Scout, and Soldier are very simply Archetypes of the Barbarian, Ranger, and Fighter classes. The NC Witch fills a similar role to the Pathfinder Witch from the Advanced Player's Guide, so I think what I'll do is take its class features and lend them to an Archetype for the PF Witch class, tentatively named the Diabolist. On first review, the Natural Philosopher is distinct enough from the Wizard that I can't too easily call it an Archetype, but it may work as a variant class with some slight modification to keep it on-par with the Pathfinder classes. For now, I'm leaning towards saying the Agent and the Rake are the only classes that must be updated as new classes.

I'd also like to add at least two original Archetypes: the Natural Historian (Bard), and the Pugilist (Monk): the Natural Historian will be a Bard that compliments the Natural Historian, albeit more interested in the act of observation than of experimentation (specializing in History, Zoology, Geology, Biology, and so on...), while the Pugilist will drop the mystical aspects of the Monk in favor of representing things like bare-knuckle boxing and perhaps even Bartitsu.

The other Base Classes offered in Pathfinder may need some work to fit in with the mood and period of NC, if they're included at all: the Gunslinger seems like an obvious choice, but is based in a later period's style with a strong tie to the ideas of the Old West. The Magus and Summoner don't immediately seem like good fits either, but this could come down to a matter of flavor. However, I think that the Cavalier and Inquisitor could definitely work in Northern Crown... or Corona, as it were.

[size=150]CULTURES[/size]
Fredonia, Markland, and the Witchans need a bit of work to fit the new terminology, but this is nothing huge. I'm definitely including my Swedish culture, and I'm also considering creating Cathayan, Muscovite Rus, Portuguese, Scotian, Jewish (specifically Sefardim), and Ottoman cultures, or at least brief rules to make them based on other cultures. In terms of native cultures, Seminole and Winnebago/Ho-Chunk are strong possibilities based on my own familiarity with their culture, myths, and folklore. However, I think there could be a better balance of native to colonial cultures, and welcome suggestions of other strong candidates.

The alterations necessary to the Cimarrons to keep them compatible with the OGL are gonna be tricky. Any suggestions related to substitutions for Nyambe-specific content are encouraged!

[size=150]NPCs[/size]
There's a few characters I'd like to add in as prominent figures:
[]Adriaen van der Donck- I must confess some bias, living within what would have been his lands, but he's a fascinating figure and makes a great foil for Stuyvesant- as well as a great ally to any democracy-loving characters in the Nieu Nederlands.[/]
[]René Descartes- possibly as "Cartesius". IRL, Descartes was invited to tutor Christina of Sweden. If instead he makes the oceanic voyage to tutor Cristina, we can extend his life a little (especially with the influence of Natural Philosophy) and have him present as a powerful Natural Philosopher reinforcing the position of New Sweden.[/]
[]Edward Bishop III- ancestor of H.P. Lovecraft, and a good stand-in for some of Lovecraft's characters: Bishop and his wife were accused of witchcraft IRL. I'd like to instead make him a prominent figure in Naumkeag, taking after both Lovecraft himself, and several of his characters, perhaps a Natural Historian/Witch.[/]
[]Feathertop- for more supernatural campaigns, this scarecrow-turned-human could be an interesting character to include.[/]
[]Nanabozho- the Ojibwe hero/trickster might make a good addition as both an opponent and an ally, particularly as a protector of Ojibwe interests against Europans.[/]
[]Other people/characters- Tituba, Big Mose, Benedict Arnold, and Tadeuz Kościuszko are all also possibilities for one reason or another, though I can't quite defend them as strong choices just yet.[/]

I'd be especially thankful to find other people who are willing to help transcribe the OGL portions of the books, but help creating new content is just as welcome! I think there's a lot more that can be done in terms of monsters, especially.

I think it's wonderful that my game is still being played in any format. Do you really need to rename the IP if you're just doing this for your own amusement? It sounds like a lot of work. I certainly don't mind.

As far as I understand it, if i want to post any of this online (as is the intention), I do have to remove any Product Identity in order to have it be legal according to the terms of the Open Game License- unless both you and Atlas Games were to offer a new license which expressly permits the use of that Product Identity. Otherwise, I would be violating the terms of the OGL.

Another substitution: I'm tentatively using the name "Libua" for the African continent in place of Nyambe, a transcription of the ancient Greek form of "Libya". The reason is that Libya/Libye/Libua was used as a name for the whole continent of Africa by both Roman and ancient Greek scholars, and a bit of anachronism in place names seems to fit, no?

Reviewing the Raider in preparation for translating it to Pathfinder, I've come to have the opinion-- based on input from friends with more gaming experience --that the Raider as-is winds up a bit too powerful to balance with other classes. The best option for maintaining its flavor and style, in my opinion, is to take the Wardance and Gaze abilities and turn them into Rage Powers- the wealth of options Barbarians in Pathfinder have for channeling their fury has more in common with the style of the Raider than it does with the original d20 Barbarian class, at least in my opinion.

did you get very far in this?

Mike

I've had the Pathfinderification of Northern Crown in the back of my head for a while, so I'd be very interested to find out what else you've done as well.

I think I will wait for the final version of IZ before downloading the Pathfinder version... unless, there the beta version rules are totally rez

O