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So, we are taking you all on a trip. Yeah, that's right- we bought your group a mental ticket to Polynesia!
Heroes of the Waves a source book for Polynesian Pathfinder. It is in line with our Heroes of the East (Asian source book), Dragon Tiger Ox, Heroes of the West (ancient Americans source book), and Odyssey (a Greek source book).
It includes:
-Setting and cultural notes. This section covers all you need to know, in the broad strokes, about how pre-western contact life in Polynesia functioned. It covers a lot of things (and took many hours of research). This book is very close to my heart as my wife is from New Zealand and contributed many hours of help to this book's creation. While it covers Polynesia in general (a tall order by any stretch of the imagination) it focused on Maori and Hawaiian cultures to lend context so certain areas.
-Rule changes for a Polynesian game including a balance AC (sans armor) by level chart and the seafaring skill.
-We also have a section dedicated to describing how to use existing material (races and classes) in a Polynesian context. This covers both Paizo and Little Red material.
-The Samebito player race. I mean, who doesn't want o play a feral shark person? (This is a reprint from DTO).
-The Menehune player race. This is a Polynesian specific subrace for gnomes.
-The mysterious Nawao player race ("wild men"). This includes full racial write up for the Nawao wild men who are a race of semi-savage monstrous humanoids with a fear of water.
-The mystic, blue-skinned, Turehu player race. They dwell in tees, fear fire, and know great secrets that no other known.
-The Kahuna base class. A simple, skill-rich, divine, full caster class who can invoke tapu to restrict enemy actions. Enemies can ignore this... for a price. They are a great support caster, a decent healer, and offer a lot of options to a group though their spell list. They do not outright lack offensive spells but are not blasters by any means.
-This books includes a reprinted copy of the Tataued Warrior base class from our Alternate Path martial book.
-New feats as well as the new "Broken Bone" condition and the Kapu Kuialua style of Hawaiian martial art to go with it (as well as other talents, class features, etc that relate to it).
-7 new Polynesian weapons and their non-Polynesian equivalents. ("Equivalents" is a rule that allows them to count as other weapons for the purpose of class features and feats)
-4 new magic items including the Surfboard of the Endless Wave and Maui’s Hook!
-A dozen new deities (complete with domains, favored weapons, etc). Half dedicated to Maori deities and half to Hawaiian.
We are just waiting on some final pieces of artwork (coming in either this week or next) and then we will launch it! It's about 45 pages long with page assets created from scratch just for this book, a lot of artwork, and artwork commissioned exclusively for this book! Yeah, we've been talking about this one for about a year now (maybe more?) but it's just been THAT good and we wanted to make sure it was nothing shy of amazing before it went out the door!
Note: I don't think we've ever really reprinted any material before. We ARE including a copy of the Tataued Warrior (Alternate Paths Martial) and Sambito (Dragon Tiger Ox) because the book just didn't feel "right" without them in it!
Are you guys pumped? We are kind of excited for this one. :-)
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There definitely could be more Polynesian content. We did up the menehune as a fey creature for Monsters of Porphyra 2.
There definitely could be more Polynesian content. We did up the menehune as a fey creature for Monsters of Porphyra 2.
They are something similar. We did them as a player race and it looks like we tapped into a little bit different sources but it's good to see Poly stuff getting some love.
We've been wanting to write this book for a few years. It always just kind of got pushed back. It took a few months of research and stayed in a notes/draft form for a long time. Finally Scott just sat down and banged out all the notes into a formal product. I know a few people on these boards were very excited about this product but Gonzo 2 took up so much of our time (particularly with the print run coming up) that it got pushed back further and further. The time wasn't wasted however- it was made all the better for it I think.
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All this content in only 45 pages? Whoa.
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I'm still waiting to throw my money at you. I've been excited since you announced this.
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Pretty excited! I look forward to seeing this book's contents.
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All this content in only 45 pages? Whoa.
We strive, with books like this, to give you the information you need to know to get you playing. We aren’t going to bury you under an avalanche of text about the fauna of the islands nor are we going to pad our page count with unnecessary material (you don’t need to conch of natural armor if the amulet of natural armor exists). Everything in the book is material vital to your experience.
It’s not a full campaign setting but a source book to get you playing a Polynesian game (or take your game to somewhere like Polynesia). This means we are not covering a made-up government or doing maps of the local island chains. Instead we are giving you insight into stuff like how tapu works and it’s relationship to hara/pono, explaining that the islands don’t have mammals, and the like.
And we are super glad to hear that guys! Again, we are just waiting on the last few pieces of art to come in and we are good to launch. Probably the next week or so. :-)
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Sorry about the delay guys- artist had real life get in the way! Anyway, without further ado we are super proud to present: Heroes of the Waves- a Polynesian Sourcebook!
Coming to Paizo.com soon!
So, we are taking you all on a trip. Yeah, that's right- we bought your group a mental ticket to Polynesia!
Heroes of the Waves a source book for Polynesian Pathfinder. It is in line with our Heroes of the East (Asian source book), Dragon Tiger Ox, Heroes of the West (ancient Americans source book), and Odyssey (a Greek source book).
I bought the Odyssey yesterday after I read this.
I noticed all these books aren't in one place. Why?
Does this book include a bibliography for gamers wishing to further look into the research material? I'd be interested in hearing the sources you used for this rulebook!
Does this book include a bibliography for gamers wishing to further look into the research material? I'd be interested in hearing the sources you used for this rulebook!
Those are not included in the book itself. However, if you PM me I could see if I could pull up some of my personal reference sources used during the writing of this book (which took a few months). My wife is actually from New Zealand and we also had a lot of first hand account stuff from her growing up there.
And, Scary harpy, are they all not under "Tomes"?
The cultural source books we have written are:
Heroes of the East
Heroes of the East 2
Heroes of the East 3
Heroes of the East 4
Dragon Tiger Ox
Odyssey: A Greek Source Book
Heroes of the West (Early America/Mesoamerica)
Will any of this stuff make it up on the d20pfsrd.com site like previous offerings in the 3PP sections?
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Will any of this stuff make it up on the d20pfsrd.com site like previous offerings in the 3PP sections?
We have our own Wikip that we post some of our material up on. This is mostly classes and races we reference in other books so people can just look them over. (Btw we love d20PFSRD, it just got to be too much of a headache to get stuff up for us.)
I don't think a lot of the actual rules for playing a Polynesian game will end up there as that's not something we will be cross referencing. Some of the races, possibly. The Kahuna class will probably be up there too at some point. We do things on a few month delay.
Do you like the Wikia? I would be more than happy to host your content over on the Porphyra wiki as well?
Do you like the Wikia? I would be more than happy to host your content over on the Porphyra wiki as well?
We do- we just like that we can edit it super quick and easily with no holdups. By all means though- rehost away.
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While I'm a filthy grognard when it comes to crossing genres (I like my medieval fantasy to stay western europe), I do like to see multi-cultural options. I've played L5R and love the Asian setting, as long as it doesn't sit right next to my medieval warlords.
Polynesia was something I hadn't even considered, I think that is so cool that someone is thinking outside of the normal limitations.
While I'm a filthy grognard when it comes to crossing genres (I like my medieval fantasy to stay western europe), I do like to see multi-cultural options. I've played L5R and love the Asian setting, as long as it doesn't sit right next to my medieval warlords.
Polynesia was something I hadn't even considered, I think that is so cool that someone is thinking outside of the normal limitations.
That was really what we tried to do with these books. Take a genuine look at the mythology and history (from their own sources) and explore what a campaign that originated in their culture would look like. What's important to them, how did they differ from stock European fantasy, etc.
Appreciate it- we hope to do more in the future possibly. Any suggestions you guys would like to see?
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Slightly closer to what would be considered "variations", I'd love to see a purely Finnish setting (there's a few elements shared by a Norse style campaign). The language seems very different than Old Norse, and a lot of the cosmology/mythology is also different. I'm not sure if runic magic is even a part of that culture.
Also an ancient Slavic setting. Not just having a few elements tossed into (again) a viking/Norse setting. Actual stats on Taltos, Slavic Shamans, their social structure and how it was different than more familiar Norse culture.
A native american setting. Either choosing a particular tribe/nation (Lakota, Sioux) or a mash up that generalizes but still captures the feeling of the various cultures.
Beat Paizo to the punch and create a complete African setting based on real world ancient African mythology rather than The Mwangi Expanse.
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Oh boy that's another thing that slipped past me. I'll have to take a look.
Edit: Actually I was thinking more of a setting that didn't involve whites or European settlers at all. Something purely native american without any outside influences.
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Personally I would say:
1) Nenet/Samoyed, Lapp/Sami, Chukchi, Inuit/Aleut/Yupik: a closers look to the inhabitants of the Arctic Circle.
2) Australian/Tasmanian aborigenes: distinct enough from Native Americans (North, South and Central) and the Polynesian/Maori.
I'd like to take a stab at something Arctic. I did a little look over that area when we were writing some races for (I think) it was Racial Guide 4. If we touched that I'd tap into stuff like Frostburn but base it more on 1st Nation People and their mythology (rather than "LOOK! SNOW!")
Not as hot on Australian/Tasmanian aborigenes.
Oh boy that's another thing that slipped past me. I'll have to take a look.
Edit: Actually I was thinking more of a setting that didn't involve whites or European settlers at all. Something purely native american without any outside influences.
Heroes of the West, like Heroes of the Waves, is a source book for Early America- both pre and post western contact. It also covers Mesoamerica and some of South America.
Personally, and I know this sounds weird, but I always wanted to do a very Slavic book. Maybe include some of the mythologies and cultural elements from the Balkans.
That or straight up Golden Horde (post Genghis) period Mongolian empire- political strife and Mongolian mythology.
Personally I would say:
1) Nenet/Samoyed, Lapp/Sami, Chukchi, Inuit/Aleut/Yupik: a closers look to the inhabitants of the Arctic Circle.
2) Australian/Tasmanian aborigenes: distinct enough from Native Americans (North, South and Central) and the Polynesian/Maori.
I'd like to take a stab at something Arctic. I did a little look over that area when we were writing some races for (I think) it was Racial Guide 4. If we touched that I'd tap into stuff like Frostburn but base it more on 1st Nation People and their mythology (rather than "LOOK! SNOW!")
Not as hot on Australian/Tasmanian aborigenes.
Oh boy that's another thing that slipped past me. I'll have to take a look.
Edit: Actually I was thinking more of a setting that didn't involve whites or European settlers at all. Something purely native american without any outside influences.
OK well you would know about the product better than I would, sorry for shutting down so fast. I'll have a look.
Heroes of the West, like Heroes of the Waves, is a source book for Early America- both pre and post western contact. It also covers Mesoamerica and some of South America.Personally, and I know this sounds weird, but I always wanted to do a very Slavic book. Maybe include some of the mythologies and cultural elements from the Balkans.
That or straight up Golden Horde (post Genghis) period Mongolian empire- political strife and Mongolian mythology.
Nice to hear someone else is interested in a Slavic styled setting. And a Golden Horde setting would be amazing. Forgotten Realms touched on this in the 80s/90s but maybe it wasn't well-developed or maybe the timing for it was bad and people have a more multi-cultural worldview nowadays.