Another Oriental Adventures?

[Razz]

The whole Realms continuity would not be much of a problem with having Kara-Tur as the default OA setting. There were very few references of Faerun in Kara-Tur supplements and vice versa (though Kara-Tur has more mention in Faerun than the other way around). I don't think it would matter much if even it had up to 25% Faerun references. Because I believe a lot of people use Greyhawk not just as the canon campaign setting itself, but also as the default of setting for their homebrew games. The same can be done with Kara-Tur. Heck, Kara-Tur was supposed to be originally part of Greyhawk, but it was obvious from the start the place was supposed to be the generic default campaign for OA settings as well.

The most Faerun talk I have seen in all the Kara-Tur products was mention of the Hordelands tribes, trade routes with Faerun, Elminster speaking with that spirit dragon guy (long name, I think a shortened version was Mei Ling?), a cult of Chauntea worshipers in the nation of Wa, spelljamming ships created and owned by the nations of Shou Lung and Kozakura and I believe that's about it.

One thing is for sure, Kara-Tur was huge. They even covered parts outside of main Kara-Tur in one of their adventure modules, closer to the center where Faerun, Zhakara, and Kara-Tur meet. If anything, it deserves a book the size of the FRCS all of its own. Beef it together with OA, and you have the OA setting you dreamed of.

 

[JoeGKushner]

You left out Green Ronin's Jade Dragons and Hungry Ghosts.

I think Green Ronin is doing an Asian-themed setting for True 20 as well.

Isn't that an out of print 3.0 monster book as opposed to setting book?

 

[Psion]

I don't know how "mysterious" Dragonfist is; depends on how much they change it.

The original Dragonfist was written by Chris Pramas and originally put out as a free download from (TSR? WotC?). It was pre-3e, but not really 2e either. My print copy is buried, and I'm not sure where the files are, but from what I recall it was very much a "wuxia-effects" ruleset, with minimal setting. I thought it was neat, but never played it.

There was an sizeable debate over on the Green Ronin forums in which Chris Pramas solicited opinions on the course of Dragonfist. My input (and it was shared with some others) is that I principally wated to see something that could plug into my D&D game. But Green Ronin has drawn further and further away from that approach to doing things, and seems to be actively fearful of writing anything to 3.5/d20.

For the time being, the shape of the final product is unknown outside of the GR folks, who have not said anything about it in a while.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

Isn't that an out of print 3.0 monster book as opposed to setting book?

Yes, that is correct. But I've now added to my list above anyway.

 

[Ashanderai]

Lands of the Jade Oath

Thanks, Varianor.

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.

The book is indeed for publication as a series of three PDFs and will possibly see print if the PDFs do well enough. We do not have an official publication date at this time, but the manuscript for the first PDF, Heroes of the Jade Oath, will be handed over to my publisher shortly. The other two PDFs will be Arts of the Jade Oath and Secrets of the Jade Oath. Lands of the Jade Oath is officially licensed as a product for use with Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved and compatible with d20 3.5. I do not have an official page count as of yet for the first PDF, but if I had to guess right now, I would say that it might be around 140 to 150 pages.

Heroes of the Jade Oath is more of a player's guide for the setting and rules and includes rules on how to merge d20 3.5 and Arcana Evolved (AE) to run the setting, going so far as to take many of the core 3.5 classes all the way up to 25th level just like AE does. There are some new rules, new class variants, 4 new base classes (including the Enlightened Scholar that was so popular at GenCon), a couple of new races (including the Mandragorans and the Bakemono), feats, and other neat stuff in it such as enlightened proverbs and new and flavorful mechanics to give your d20 game more of an oriental feel.

Arts of the Jade Oath will focus more on setting information and will have rules for a few prestige classes and a few other new mechanics for the setting, including rules for martial arts that will be introduced in the first PDF, Heroes of the Jade Oath. This PDF will be player friendly, meaning that a player can read it without the DM having to fear for the player learning too much about the setting.

Secrets of the Jade Oath will focus more on the magic of the setting and the material the DM needs to run a game in Lands of the Jade Oath, such as monsters, NPCs, spells, new magic, and setting secrets and tips. This one will have sections that only the DM should read, but the magic in it will be needed by certain players. The DM only sections will be clearly marked as such.

The setting focuses on a large scale approach to the setting and centers around a Chinese-like empire at the center of the region, with other areas that roughly correlate culturally, mythologically, and somewhat historically like India, Nepal, Korea, Tibet, Mongolia, Southeast Asia, and Japan. It will address the dominant cultures of the region to include their customs, dress, food, religions, mores, and other cultural phenomenon. The PDFs will also address certain "AE-isms", such as truenames, lack of alignment, and ceremonies, and how to merge them with 3.5 and with the cultures of the setting. The setting makes use of all the AE races and classes and generally assumes the AE rules set as the default rules set.

Also, since it isn't really a secret anymore (since it was unveiled at GenCon), I suppose I could mention that we already have a Wayne Reynolds cover painting that will be posted at my publisher's website, Throwing Dice games, at a later date.

We ran Jade Oath games at GenCon and it was a big hit with the players. The adventure was called Feast at the Hungry Tiger Inn. I even made some hand-made DM screens with the Wayne Reynolds cover art to hand out to a single player at each game. I also gave varianor one for being such a champ and helping me run the games.

If you want further information about Lands of the Jade Oath, you can check here and here.

 

[sniffles]

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.

James Wyatt wrote an article for Dragon several years ago revising some of OA to 3.5. I don't recall what issue # it was, though.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

If you want further information about Lands of the Jade Oath...

This sounds like exactly what I'm looking for. Thank you - I will keep my eye out for this product in the future.

Also, Ashanderai please contact me at "grumpycelt @ hotmail.com" becuase I would like to contact you away from these boards.

Thanks.

 

[WayneLigon]

The PDFs will also address certain "AE-isms", such as truenames, lack of alignment, and ceremonies, and how to merge them with 3.5 and with the cultures of the setting. The setting makes use of all the AE races and classes and generally assumes the AE rules set as the default rules set.

Sounds like I'll have to pick this up. Thank you for the info.

 

[Ashanderai]

Sounds like I'll have to pick this up. Thank you for the info.

No problem. I hope you enjoy it when it comes out. Right now I have to get back to finishing the manuscript for the first PDF.

 

[Aus_Snow]

I will almost certainly be buying this one. I've been waiting for (good) d20 fantasy stuff like this for a while now.

That the mechanics have AE rules as a foundation is icing, and tasty icing at that.