Roughly a million years ago on the internet, I wrote about what supporting diversity looks like in the tabletop RPG world. This was in reference to the differing efforts between Paizo’s Mwangi Expanse book and Wizards’ representation of Chult. And it’s time for a short revisit and assessment on how things are going with Paizo’s efforts.
Background
A simple reality is that within the hobby, many non-European coded settings don’t have the same amount of penetration into the common imagination. They’re broadly seen as “adventure vacation spots” where the game goes for a short-term change of venue to mix things up before getting back to the “real adventure” in the European-coded areas. Paizo made a big splash in 2021 with the Mwangi Expanse book, a comprehensive and largely West African inspired book, and followed up with more non-European coded setting books. I’m still confident with my last write up about Paizo and diversity. But diving deeper, things are hitting stumbling blocks.
Strong Start, Weak Follow Up
Paizo has had strong starts with its efforts. The Mwangi Expanse, Impossible Lands, and Tian Xia have all come out swinging, but the effort hasn’t been equal across the board. And unfortunately, it’s broadly reflecting the usual treatment that non-European coded areas. The big issue here is the “make it, launch it, and forget it” approach that Wizards established with 5e that other mainstream publishers are now emulating. In that a book will be hyped, released, and then all but forgotten as time moves on. For publishers aiming to show that they’re supporting diversity in the hobby and in their setting, this is counter to the goal.
Siloed Creations
I brought this up a bit in my original review of the Mwangi Expanse, that it felt disconnected from the larger setting. And since then, I’ve picked up Guns & Gears, Impossible Lands, and Book of the Dead. And it’s become clear that Paizo is still practicing Wizards/TSR style world build planning. For the continent of Garund, these books and the Mwangi Expanse one make up a significant portion of the known parts of it. But the Mwangi Expanse barely exists relative to them.
In the Impossible Lands book, there are multiple mentions of the Mwangi Expanse, but almost entirely in a historical context. Despite the continent of Garund literally being the home to floating city and airship magic-technology, the Mwangi Expanse is treated as an “unreachable” place. And its peoples? Mostly incompatible with those in the Impossible Lands culturally, apparently. Guns & Gears is basically a European-coded industrial settler colony where people of colour are a minority, and Book of the Dead offers a short write up on Mzali and again, no connection to the place. This is called “siloed” or “atomistic” world building, where places are largely islands unto themselves, and it’s not good when diversity is a stated goal.
Uneven Support
I hate making this sound like an “us vs them” thing, but it’s challenging. Publishers have, since the Ninja and Hong Kong Action Movie fads of the 80s and 90s, poured more attention and support into Asian (and specifically East Asian) coded settings than any other non-European Coded setting type. And we’re watching Paizo do the same thing now. The largely West African themed Mwangi Expanse book got 312 pages; the South Asian themed Impossible Lands got 334 pages; and now the East Asian themed Tian Xia is getting two books. A world guide with 304 pages, and a 136 page character guide. And this is an actual problem. It means that the creators had significantly more space in Tian Xia to stretch their legs and develop, while the other books and their associated coding had to pack it all into dramatically less space. This isn’t to denigrate the efforts of any of the creators involved, but shows how it’s harder for some settings to thrive when they have less space and opportunity.
Another, arguably larger issue here is the lack of support within Pathfinder Infinite. The Mwangi Expanse was released in 2021. There’s still no art packs for it on the Pathfinder Infinite Site. Or any of the other non-white parts of the world that Paizo has released books for. A lack of supporting assets means that creators in the Infinite ecology are less likely to create for that region, because it’s a higher upfront cost to them in either money if they must commission art or time if they have the skill to create their own. Only the core book region of the Inner Sea is really supported with assets, and this shows in the Impossible Lands too. These settings on Golarion cannot thrive or develop or gain more attention without support.
What Can Be Done?
For one, Paizo could simply advertise older books on their social media more regularly. Putting a spotlight on old content doesn’t take away from the advert campaigns for new material. Another step would be creating comprehensive asset packs for places like the Mwangi Expanse and Impossible Lands so that creators will feel supported and start putting out more material. But, overall, I think it comes down to the need for better planning on two levels. On the base level, it’s about switching from a siloed to holistic world building design model, where locations that aren’t isolated islands in the middle of the sea aren’t treated like that. The setting has the technology and the magic to overcome things like “mountains” and cultural exchange and coexistence is normal, not unusual. The other planning piece is to develop long-term advertising and support schemes to ensure that areas that are historically underrepresented or supported are uplifted and normalized.
Like I said earlier, Paizo is making big steps and is getting a lot of strong starts. They deserve the kudos they get for their efforts at diversity. They just need to start playing the long game now. They have the writers, the artists, the new Core books and a refreshed outlook post OGL 1.1 scandal; so it’s on them to either move forward or keep holding themselves back.
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