Welcome to the Expanse!

Wednesday, July 7, 2021

You’ve been waiting, and here it is! Lost Omens: The Mwangi Expanse is out today, coming out hot just before the Strength of Thousands adventure path invites you in for an extended stay. Within these pages you’ll find never-before-revealed secrets and information on the people, history, geography, and major cities of the Expanse, brought to you by a team of exceptional authors. With people wondering what can be found inside the pages of this book, let’s sneak a peek at the table of contents.

Pathfinder Mwangi Expanse Table of Contents Pathfinder Mwangi Expanse Table of Contents

Don’t miss the introduction on this book! Written by the stellar Jabari Weathers, you may have seen snippets from this section floating around Twitter and other wilds of the internet. This section offers prompts to consider when building your character—whether you’re a visitor to the Expanse or were born and raised there—as well as advice on how to venture into the setting respectfully if you’re not sure how to approach it. After that we delve into the major social aspects of Mwangi: the history of the land, the people who live in it, and the gods who hold heavy influence over the region.

The Expanse is still a world of adventure, however, and as we move into more specifics, we get into the geography of the region. We’ll trek across mountains, savannahs, and jungles of the Mwangi before finally reaching nine of the region’s greatest nations and cities. Risk pirate havens, explore mysterious cities with dangerous histories, catch fish in the Hurricane Harvest when the tides rush through the streets, or try to find a legendary paradise in the mortal realms! But beware, the final pages of this book contain a bestiary of monsters that lurk, waiting for adventurers to blunder into their lairs!

: A half-elf woman dressed like a researcher. She is holding a glass container with a snake inside and has another snake draped across her shoulders

Art by Valeria Lutfullina

COVID Sucks

About two months before the final drafts for the Mwangi Expanse were due, the COVID shutdown hit the United States in full force. As you can imagine, it wreaked havoc with book production.

I was one of the luckiest ones. I kept my job, my immediate family was safe, and Paizo gracefully pivoted to work from home. Completing the book was still an unmitigated nightmare, one that caused multiple sleepless nights and minor mental breakdowns over the course of the year. For many of the freelancers on the project, it meant sudden financial insecurity, unexpected full-time childcare, family emergencies or deaths, and even worse. The government response at the time was deliberately inadequate and--yes, I will say it--racist, and was combined with the absolute despair of the constant police brutality that was highlighted during this time.

I’m not saying this to invoke pity, encourage token platitudes, or glorify the heroic effort the authors went through to get this book done--even those who had to bow out in the end. It was heroic, but what happened shouldn’t be glorified. I’m saying that so when everyone sees the final product, they understand just how incredible the people who worked on it are.


We Messed Up

No matter how much time and effort we put into developing and editing a book, something wrong always manages to slip through. Some are annoying but mild, like spelling “uncommon” wrong a dozen times in a row. Some are just funny, like the sarcesian in First Contact that dealt 1d810+5 damage with a sniper rifle. And some we can only stare and ask, “how the did we miss that??”

Mwangi has one of those moments.

We fixed the errors in the PDF versions but didn’t spot them in time to alter the printed books. Gripplis have the wrong ancestry bonuses in the printed copies. As a result, they lack the correct ability score boosts (Dexterity, Wisdom, and a Free boost, plus their Strength penalty). The ancestry also has a line noting “others probably assume [gripplis] are savage, simple-minded, or both.” It was meant as a note that such assumptions were flawed but didn’t convey enough context to be appropriate in any sense. Moreover, that language specifically violates our own guidelines on how we talk about people. Our developers and editors know to remove those words on sight to avoid situations like this. However, due to a process issue, this was flagged during production but not actually removed. We’ve instituted new procedures to prevent words like this from ever making it to print.

We’re sorry and will continue trying to do better.

A grippli—a humanoid frog—dressed in a hunter’s outfit. The grippli is holding an axe and squatting down as if searching for something.

Art by Mirco Paganessi

Adventures Ahead!

We’re excited to share the Mwangi Expanse with players and readers of all kinds. Whether you’re a Pathfinder veteran or brand-new player, we think that Lost Omens: The Mwangi Expanse has exciting and memorable content for everyone. We’re looking forward to hearing about all of the great characters and adventures that this book inspires. Let us know what characters you’re looking to play, locations you’d like your characters to visit, and your favorite bits from the book!

Eleanor Ferron
Pathfinder Developer

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Tags: Mwangi Expanse Pathfinder Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Pathfinder Second Edition
Second Seekers (Jadnura)

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Very excited for this!

Grand Lodge

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Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

Thanks for the peek behind the curtain, Eleanor! This book looks incredible!

Liberty's Edge

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Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

There's no need to be sorry. You all have done amazing work in impossible times. This book is a masterpiece.

Horizon Hunters

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I need this in portuguese right now!!! Super Excited!!!

Scarab Sages

2 people marked this as a favorite.

I still love grippli

Contributor

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I want to thank Eleanor, Luis, and everyone else at Paizo for how supportive they were during that time. I was writing for this book while my city was on fire. There were days I didn't even want to get out of bed, let alone open a computer or check my phone just to be greeted with even more bad news.

I can't speak on behalf of any other freelancers, but I truly appreciate you for holding this all together and giving me the space I needed to make something I could be proud of.

Grand Archive

3 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Michelle A.J. wrote:

I want to thank Eleanor, Luis, and everyone else at Paizo for how supportive they were during that time. I was writing for this book while my city was on fire. There were days I didn't even want to get out of bed, let alone open a computer or check my phone just to be greeted with even more bad news.

I can't speak on behalf of any other freelancers, but I truly appreciate you for holding this all together and giving me the space I needed to make something I could be proud of.

I'm not sure I would have been able to do what you did in these circumstances... Heck, I'm not sure I could do it in great circumstances! You're awesome! :3


It is a gorgeous book!

Paizo Employee Customer Service Representative

4 people marked this as a favorite.

No bug, just moderating. Also locked the thread (probably should have done that earlier... sorry about the confusion), we'll reopen it shortly!

Lantern Lodge Customer Service & Community Manager

26 people marked this as a favorite.

I'm reopening the thread. Thank you all for your patience.

At Paizo, we've been excited for the release of Mwangi Expanse for quite a while. It is a celebration of Black lives within our settings, our company, and within our community of gamers, creators, and business partners.

Human lives, and the value and importance we place on recognizing, celebrating, supporting them, isn't up for debate. If someone feels they need to discuss disagreement on how we are going about that, then starting a new thread would be more appropriate than jumping into this blog post's discussion thread.

Black people in and out of our gaming community deserve to be able to celebrate content like the Mwangi Expanse book, and have discussion threads on gaming forums like ours that do not question or debate their right to an existence free from constantly being overshadowed by the systemic racism that is so deeply rooted in American and world history. It's critical that we acknowledge not only the amazing content from so many amazing people published in this book, but also the blood, sweat, and tears that went into it. In the case of this book, a lot of the tears came directly as a result of the lived experiences of freelancers and our staff, and I am dedicated to making sure that this space doesn't attempt to erase that, either by accident, naivety, or intention.

Remember: it is your choice if you post in this thread (and our forums in general), and if you choose to post, do so with grace and thoughtfulness; as if you were talking to an acquaintance or friend at a convention, or at a coffee shop.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Sara Marie wrote:
Remember: it is your choice if you post in this thread (and our forums in general), and if you choose to post, do so with grace and thoughtfulness; as if you were talking to an acquaintance or friend at a convention, or at a coffee shop.

I for one don't talk to people in any other way.

Waste of time being something you're not. Not even sure why anyone would ever bother.

Anyways, I just wanted to thank all the authors and other contributors for another great book! Also, thank you Paizo for your transparency and honesty! Though we don't always see eye to eye on things, I can certainly appreciate your sincerity.

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