Another Oriental Adventures?

[pawsplay]

I imagine the reason WotC hasn't rushed to replace this product is because they have discarded the barest pretense that standard D&D is European fantasy. Instead, "oriental" materials appear in regional sourcebooks appropriate for certain archetypes, new base classes pop up in splatbooks, and the Book of Nine Swords covers wild kung fu.

Really, it's silly to think "Oriental," covering a large percentage of inhabited Earth, and about three thousand years of history and myth, is something you can condense into a "generic" sourcebook. The original OA for AD&D was oriental and for D&D, but did not purport to cover all Asian-inspired fantasy, simply to offer one representation of it.

I would like to see Kara-Tur material again.

 

[Treebore]

Qin is based on the kingdoms just prior to them being united into China. Not d20, but gorgeous art, great historical info, and actually a pretty cool and relatively simple system to learn.

Other than that it isn't exactly hard to get the D20 Rokugan books, and personally I prefer to play L5R and their 3E rules.

 

[Ranger REG]

They already exist. Check out Legends of the Samurai (here on the ENWorld RPGShop) for one example.

The Quintessential Guide to Samurai and The Quintessential Guide to Ninja from Mongoose Publishing.

The Cavalier's Handbook from Green Ronin (customizable to make Asian Cavaliers).

 

[bento]

There has been a push on the WoTC boards to get the company to make the OA rules available through the SRD. I don't know where it stands today, but if it was done, someone would have to revise it to comply with the 3.5 rules.

I know you're looking for a setting with more of a China flavor, but this weekend I picked up a new d20 campaign setting - "Kitsunemori" from Dog Soul Games, and have been pleasantly surprised. It's much more Japan-flavored, but if you have your party travelling around from place to place, you might consider looking at this for something decidedly more non-western.

As for China-inspired, I get a lot of inspiration from the old Kara-Tur campaign setting, the Horde campaign setting and some of the free modules on the WoTC/D&D site.

 

[Psion]

Legend of the Samurai is my favorite.

I beleive Chuck is also working on a Legends of China book, but it won't be the same scale.

Still in the Japan mold, Dog Soul Publishing has released Kitsunemori, a bit more mythical take on Japanese fantasy. You can get it here at the EN Game Store. (Review forthcoming!)

 

[Kesh]

They've been promising OA in the SRD for a few years now. Each time, one of the staffers said that they had the documents, they just needed permission from Wizards to add 'em.

Then the Complete series came out, with 3.5 versions of many of the classes & spells. I have a feeling we won't see OA in the SRD until those go OOP, now.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Ashanderai is writing a setting for Arcana Evolved called Lands of the Jade Oath. It mixes D&D 3.5 and AE. It's based on Chinese and Korean myths primarily, with only a little Japanese influence. I recommend it. I DMed it at Gen Con, and it's brimming with flavor and neat stuff.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

Ashanderai is writing a setting for Arcana Evolved called Lands of the Jade Oath...

Is this for publication? If so, when will it be released?

I ask these questions becuase I am quite mad you see. I mean, I am working on a d20 spec product and OA style in formation is relavent to it... Some wisecracking racoons and mystic warriors from the prehistory of China plan a bank hiest.

 

[Razz]

WotC's mistake was writing OA with Alderac in the first place.

They should've stayed true to the original OA and its original setting, Kara-Tur. Kara-Tur can, without much modification at all (all Realms references can easily be replaced), be for anyone's campaign. Kara-Tur also fits more of the theme of the OA setting in that it has multiple countries and regions themed after the multiple Asian regions we have in the real world from Japan, China, Mongolia, Thailand, Phillipines, and others.

Why WotC didn't do Kara-Tur from the start just beats me. They must've had the silly pretension that the Lot5R players would jump right into D&D and start purchasing more WotC books...well, a lot of good that did them.

 

[Ranger REG]

WotC's mistake was writing OA with Alderac in the first place.

They should've stayed true to the original OA and its original setting, Kara-Tur. Kara-Tur can, without much modification at all (all Realms references can easily be replaced), be for anyone's campaign. Kara-Tur also fits more of the theme of the OA setting in that it has multiple countries and regions themed after the multiple Asian regions we have in the real world from Japan, China, Mongolia, Thailand, Phillipines, and others.

Why WotC didn't do Kara-Tur from the start just beats me. They must've had the silly pretension that the Lot5R players would jump right into D&D and start purchasing more WotC books...well, a lot of good that did them.

Word!

Err, I mean QFT!