Aus_Snow said:
As compared to the other type of icing?
Ashanderai, how often do you run games or play in this setting?
Another Oriental Adventures?
As compared to the other type of icing?
Ashanderai, how often do you run games or play in this setting?
Ashanderai
Explorer
Well, I currently run a weekly Eberron campaign that will end in a month or two. After that I will be running a weekly Lands of the Jade Oath game merged with Ptolus, where Ptolus will be the gateway city to the Far East that is halfway between the East and West.The Grumpy Celt said:
You see, one of the details of the Jade Oath setting is the interaction with the West with explorers, merchants, pilgrims, and others from distant parts of the world. This oriental setting does not exist in a vacuum, but it doesn't detail the West too much either. DMs can put whatever they want in the West for a Jade Oath game. There is also a religious reason built into the setting for Western characters to want to come to the Lands of the Jade Oath besides the obvious economic reason. Many of those currently in the West are descended from Eastern explorers who journeyed to the West long ago during the time of the dramojh. The Lands of the Jade Oath can be a sort of ancestral, holy land for certain groups from the West; leading to missionaries and crusaders coming to the lands in the Far East for various religious reasons as well as for trade. This gives players and DMs another means with which to play a game with a mixed party with Eastern and Western characters.
Jade Oath even uses the distinction between East and West for a basis for the difference between the 3.5 magic system and the Arcana Evolved magic system, where the flexible and adaptive AE magic is the magic of the Far East and that more static and inflexible, though slightly more powerful, magic of 3.5 is the magic of the West. These two magic systems cannot mix (i.e. mutliclass or mix metamagic feats between them) because it takes a monumental change in one's personal world-view, philosophy, and core beliefs to shift to the point of view and beliefs necessary to access the type of magic available to those in another part of the world. There is a way to do this, but it is difficult as you might expect.
The following is something I posted a while back over at the Jade Oath forum at Throwing Dice Games, here.
The beauty of the lands of the Jade Oath is breath-taking; however, these lands are also dangerous. They are home to exotic and deadly creatures, strong and skillful warriors, inscrutable mandarins, beautiful courtesans, scheming eunuchs, forbidden secrets, sagacious monks, unknowable intrigue, ancient societies, strange and immaculate spirits, cursed swords, and immortal sorcery. The infernal dramojh rage and devise their revenge unceasingly in their spiritual prisons, while those who have sworn the Jade Oath attempt to maintain it by keeping the dramojh from escaping into the world. However, the corruptive influence of the dramojh and their infernal allies has seeped into the dark places of the world where it can take hold and entrench its taint.
The powerful and priveleged weave their plots and fight for their goals with a devotion and grace that is both immaculate and depraved. All the while, those who can work magic continue to seek either enlightenment or power as they wish while the politics of the various nations race along in an attempt to reign supreme. An incessant war between two different forces of undead rages at the Ghostwall in the North, while many who are dispossessed suffer from the famine and disease that is exacerbated by this conflict. Daring bandit kings take to reaping their ill-gotten rewards from any who approach, while pilgrims and merchants return from the far West seeking the ancient and holy homeland of their ancestors as well as their fortunes. The greatest empire in all the lands moves closer to civil war as a new and untested emperor of an uncertain bloodline takes the jade throne. Secret societies enact their centuries old plans and demon hunters roam the lands searching for cursed artifacts and the infernal footmen of the coming apocalypse as they bind these horrid forces to the land itself to ensure its survival.
Many secrets, both ancient and new, lie undiscovered in these exotic lands and it is here that glorious adventure awaits both the honorable, yet untried hero and the unworthy, but lucky outlaw. Whether it is your destiny, enlightenment, or your fortune that you seek, you can find it in the Lands of the Jade Oath.
There are plenty of conflicts to get involved with in this setting besides all the traditional intrigues and wars that can be found amongst the powerful of any setting.
You can take up the mantle of the Jade Oath and work to keep the dramojh in their prisons by securing their prisons and cursed artifacts and places of power, like the organization known as the Dragons of Ash do. You can fight alongside the Ice Falcons and the ghostly undead of the Ghostwall and defend the empire from the depredations of the corporeal undead serving an ancient, undead dragon who was long ago corrupted by the influence and power of the dramojh spirits. You can work to repair the damage of the war by helping those in need, such as those who suffer from famine and pestilence. You can assist the government in fighting the bandits that are now plaguing the countryside or you can become a bandit king. You can be a merchant or pilgrim from the West bringing merchandise for trade or a religious desire to find the holy sites relevant to your ancestors and heroes of your people before they left the Lands of the Jade Oath so long ago to explore the rest of the world. Or you can be someone who either profits from the presence of the Westerners or resents them for bringing their unwelcome wares and strange ways. You can move against the new emperor and the eunuchs who sponsored his move to power as a rebellious xia in the countryside or you can support him in the court (or secretly oppose him in the court). You can be a member of a faction that hunts, banishes, and binds demons, undead, and other infernals, such as the Ghost Tigers. You can be a part of a secret society with an ancient agenda and specific goals to meet or just a member of an organized criminal element, while holding a position in your nation's government.
Those are only some of the causes for adventure and conflicts within the setting
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Nellisir
Hero
I'm going to have to spend more time on the Diamond Throne (and Throwing Dice Games) boards.
Lands of the Jade Throne sounds magnificently incredible, both setting-wise and mechanically. I've already done some work on my own adapting AE classes (the spellcasters) to a more core 3.5 rules; it'll be great to see how you've done it.
Lands of the Jade Throne sounds magnificently incredible, both setting-wise and mechanically. I've already done some work on my own adapting AE classes (the spellcasters) to a more core 3.5 rules; it'll be great to see how you've done it.
occam
Adventurer
The Grumpy Celt said:
There's also Jade & Steel, the Chinese sourcebook with the cheesecake cover from Avalanche Press, which has a few interesting things in it.
Some of the AEG Rokugan d20 stuff is also quite useful in a non-Rokugan campaign, particularly Creatures of Rokugan and Magic of Rokugan.
And if you include India in the OA sphere, there's the Mahasarpa Web enhancement for OA, the Sahasra line from Dog Soul, and one or two other things.
Beyond sourcebooks, there have also been some d20 adventures published: Lean & Hungry, Burning Shaolin, 4 of the AEG Adventure Keep scenarios, etc. I can get a full list at home.
occam
Adventurer
occam said:
Published 3e Oriental adventures:
- Rana Mor (Dungeon #86) (Paizo) - 3e, SE Asian
- Honor and Eta (Dungeon #89) (Paizo) - 3e, Japanese
- The Palace of Plenty (Dungeon #130) (Paizo) - 3.5e, vaguely Japanese, but easily transplantable to other Oriental cultures
- Treachery's Reward (AEG) - 3e, Japanese
- Unspoken Shame (AEG) - 3e, Japanese
- The Daisho and the Ninja (AEG) - 3e, Japanese
- Blood on White Petals (AEG) - 3e, Japanese
- Lean and Hungry (Atlas) - 3e, Japanese, but works fine in a Chinese-inspired setting, too
- Burning Shaolin (Atlas) - 3e, Chinese
- Jade Magi Sewer Crawl (MonkeyGod) - 3e, Chinese (barely)
- Sahasra: The Spirit in the Spice Groves (Dog Soul) - 3.5e, Indian
The AEG adventures were also collected and updated to 3.5e with several other adventures in Adventure II.
There are others that are pretty easily adapted to OA, but the above are explicitly Asian in nature.
Oh yeah, another good reference for an Indian-style campaign is The Complete Guide to Rakshasas from Goodman Games. More types of rakshasa, the yogi class, other good stuff in there. Also, I recently got The Slayer's Guide to Yuan-Ti, which is heavily Chinese-influenced, but I haven't gotten to read it yet.
I prepared a 3e campaign set in the Dragon Fist world. (I had another campaign prepared as well &--at the time--the players choose the other one, so the OA/DF one never happened.) After spending a lot of time with the 3e OA & the original Dragon Fist, I decided that a China-influenced campaign can be run just fine with the core rules by just giving Chinese names to things.
Which I found kind of funny because I remember when Gurps China first came out, a friend who'd bought it told me, "Think of the generic fantasy world; that is medieval* China." (*I don't remember if he actually said "medieval" or "ancient" or something else, but you get the jist.)
Which I found kind of funny because I remember when Gurps China first came out, a friend who'd bought it told me, "Think of the generic fantasy world; that is medieval* China." (*I don't remember if he actually said "medieval" or "ancient" or something else, but you get the jist.)
trancejeremy
Adventurer
Yeah, if you watch some of the Chinese fantasy movies, a lot of them are very, very D&D-ish. Maybe not the more historical ones (like the Ang Lee snooze-fests), but something like the Twins Effect 2, or some of Jet Li's earlier films (not the artsy, recent ones).
Ashanderai
Explorer
For a further glimpse into the Lands of the Jade Oath go to JadeOath.com where you can see the Wayne Reynolds cover and a Jade Oath PC a week.
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