Legendary Games announced a new Pathfinder 2e product this week called Asian Spell Compendium.
Jason Nelson quickly apologised, asked retailers to delist the book, so it is no longer available and done so for the entire Far East product line. The forthcoming Asian Monsters Kickstarter has been delayed, and more information will be made available later.
How Asian culture inspired RPGs and supplements is a matter of on-going concern in the gaming community. As Legendary Games explains in their apology, the timing here was especially awkward.
In the States, there have been murders with Asian Americans targeted. Jason writes;
Xenophobia and anti-Asian racism is nothing new. My former father-in-law and his entire family were rounded up and sent to the concentration camp at Tule Lake, California, surrounded by barbed wire and machine gun nests, for the simple crime of being Japanese-American, and even after their release could not return to their former home for years. Even in the 1970s, he had his phone wiretapped by the FBI for “potential anti-American activity.” Anti-Asian racism, violence, and discrimination are pervasive in the USA, from the federal government on down to individuals, from the 1800s right down to today.
The Asian Spell Compendium was, as the name suggests, a collection of 100+ spells for Pathfinder inspired by “the mysteries of the Orient”.
Legendary Games buyers were quick to raise concerns.
Jason Nelson, who worked on the book himself, was equally quick to react with the apology and delisting request coming within the day.
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Seriously Legendary Games…?Having been a role player since 1976, I must say I am deeply saddened, and have this to say about your decision to cave into the opinions of people claiming this product line is racist is plain wrong. This a game, and no doubt there are heroes and villains to be found. Good vs. Evil, the good guys vs. the bad guys. To pull the plug because some people may be upset is just wrong. We are a capitalistic society, how about letting the role players decide instead of activists who spout views on subjects they may not… Read more »
i do not understand your logic at all. in a free society people can complain about whatever they want. legendary games can pull the book whenever they want and it is none of our business if they do.
the satanic panic was religious madness from the same people whining about cancel culture today like hypocrites.
This entire situation regarding this game content has been severely exaggerated. I’ve skimmed through previous content that Legendary Games has produced and found that the content is a tribute to a culture that they are keenly interested in role-playing in. The content was no more offensive than that of any RPG or other medium based on fantastical South East Asia. Retracting all of their content with this theme is a major over correction but has become entirely too common. I suspect that the original battle cry over whether or not this content was offensive specifically targeted a smaller publisher intentionally… Read more »
Thanks for taking the time to respond, Chris. I should be clear; in my research, I did not find anyone calling for the entire Far East line. I found concern about the Asian Spell Compendium, which resulted in Legendary Games looking at their whole range and delisting it. There’s another hot debate in fantasy RPG right now; “Should a white guy play a non-white character?”. That’s not happening here, although I see why it is related. Out of interest, which Asian culture do you represent? It would be good to get some data points, and it’ll surely help Legendary Games… Read more »