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<blockquote data-quote="IronWolf" data-source="post: 2008476" data-attributes="member: 21076"><p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p><p></p><p>(This review is long and meanders into lots of minor places nitpicky places. So the Conclusion is at the beginning. This is what I think, why I think it follows.)</p><p></p><p>The book is great. Pound for pound it probably has more rules and less filler than any other book around (probably more than the PH, even). You can look around the WotC website for a big list of everything included. The strongest sections are the new character classes and prestige classes, a clan system for feats, the magic section is just the right size and doesn't replicate from Players Handbook. Like it or not (and I don't) the Rokugan setting has some good stuff.</p><p></p><p>Wyatt did a great job "rebuilding" D&D to get rid of a lot of the western elements and allow DMs to make their own eastern flavored worlds.</p><p></p><p>In a sense it's a real shame the book is called Oriental Adventures because its really applicable beyond the "Orient". Want a bunch of Knights responsible for keeping out barbarian tribes to the north, or an order of honorable men-at-arms specializing a refined fighting style or a bunch of dastardly dukes from the south who are only as honorable as they have to be? Change a name or two and that's what you've got. Want elemental wizards who can cure as well as throw a fireball but won't unbalance your game? A (correctly organized) Shugenja is for you. Bear worshiping Barbarians? Eunuch wizards visiting your kingdom as representatives from the efreet slavers in the Western Sands? I could go on and on but this game synthesizes a lot of the best parts of the old Oriental Adventures (1st edition) book with 3rd edition. It also provides the first resources to people who want to play games with Indian or South East Asian feels. Finally it has lots of stuff for Rokugan (I don't love it but its different and new and well if you like angst ridden horror then you will probably be doubly happy).</p><p></p><p>The biggest flaw is that integrating the setting into your D&D world will take quite a bit more effort than your average supplement. Unlike the rest of the core books there is no "core setting" like Greyhawk (or the Forgotten Realms), and much of the stuff presented for Rokugan requires some tweaking to work in a D&D setting.</p><p></p><p>But the book is designed for picking and choosing and, like the Manuel of the Planes, does a good job of explaining where and how bits and pieces can be taken and put into your world. I -would- have liked more background on Eastern (non-Rokugan) worlds. But I can't really complain that they left the big picture creative stuff to the DM and just gave him/her all the building blocks one could want.</p><p></p><p>(So that's the synopsis of what I think, go buy the book already.)</p><p></p><p><strong>The Details</strong></p><p></p><p>This is a good, though schizophrenic, product. All the usual things true about big releases by WotC handled by one author who was/is very enthused about the product (if you don't believe me see James Wyatt's web page) are true about this one: the ideas are good, the writing is pretty consistent with almost no inconsistencies, some stuff is positively inspired (shaman, eunuch wizard), the rule stuff looks balanced (excluding the Shin Tao Monk) and only modifies stuff in the PH when absolutely necessary and maintains the focus WotC set with 3e: allowing people make stuff for their own campaigns. In particular on the last point the whole book is written in a style similar to the Manuel of the Planes, it seemed to me that just about every time a relatively new concept was introduced it was followed by the different roles the class/prestige class/race/whatever could play in different settings. The game really uses the core books well doing an excellent job of not repeating spells or special abilities. (In other words you still absolutely need the Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide to play OA.)</p><p></p><p>To say the same thing I did above from a negative side the book definitely tries to be everything to every one, without the page count to back it up. WotC avoided inflicting "supplement addiction" where you need to buy three or four books just to run on setting but as a result some things suffered in particular if you're not planning on playing in Rokugan the DM will have to do quite a bit of flesh out a game. To his credit Wyatt makes it clear up front.</p><p></p><p><strong>WotC does not support Plug and Play</strong></p><p></p><p>A key, though for most people minor, point: The Rokugan focus of the book is a big deal for D&D players, the Rokugan setting isn't really compatible with a "standard" D&D world. After getting over my irritation with the setting I had to admit that it was ultimately more good than bad but this isn't a book you just slide it onto your shelf with the other D&D books. DMs who want to play without having to make lots of important decisions about the world for themselves will probably not be too happy. (more on the bottom but if you don't like playing White Wolf-style games the drippy nihilistic angst oozing from the parts of the book on that topic kind of detract. BTW Rokugan isn't actually published by White Wolf, but it's isomorphic to one of their games. More below.)</p><p>Here's a more in depth rundown of by thoughts on individual parts of the book</p><p></p><p><strong>Some good points</strong></p><p></p><p>On a rules/meta level a number of unnecessary structures were broken down. A few examples: </p><p></p><p>Shaman's allow divine spell casters with a holistic nature who aren't druids. </p><p></p><p>Shugenja can cast both cure and arcane combat spells; though I want to see more testing the class -does- seem balanced to me. This is nice since Cleric combat spells got so jacked up so much in 3e anyway the limitation continues to look quiet artificial to me.</p><p>The eunuch warlock allows a way for magical prestige classes to advance in spell power without giving them the unbalancing +1 spell caster level special ability.</p><p></p><p>The Samurai class allows someone to carry upgrade a family weapon in a balanced way. In other words you can keep upgrade your weapon as you rise in level. This system would be particularly useful for those players who like having a fighter who uses something other than a longsword but also want access to magical weaponry at higher levels)</p><p></p><p>The good parts of the old Oriental Adventures have been carried over while Kara-tur itself has been ditched. I was an avid fan of the setting when it came out but it was never a good game world for most people and wasn't terribly popular. Basically because it was just a copy of the real map of East Asia with some creative embellishments and an extra chain of islands.</p><p></p><p>WotC discovered INDIA! Ok this is another fairly minor thing to your average gamer and its not really a full fledged setting but its nice to get away from the Asia = China and Japan dualism. Admittedly American academia also suffers from this malaise as well, so its hard to be too frustrated with prior treatments but it's nice that the culture which birthed Buddhism. Broadly speaking this tree of thought lead to fruit like the Shaolin Temple in China and the Zen/Samurai ethos in Japan; as well as being a major part of world religions and cultures.</p><p></p><p>Some stuff I wasn't thrilled with (do bear in mind the book got four stars):</p><p></p><p>Rokugan gets its own section below.</p><p></p><p>*A few prestige classes looked a bit imbalanced. In particular the Shintao Monk (available only to LG Monks level 5+ but with very low requirements) is just absurd. All saves are primary progression, bonus feat every other level, and ridiculous special powers on top of it. This is particularly weird given that other Prestige classes are clearly "strongly balanced" (i.e. look a bit weak) like the tattooed Monk (most of the tattoos aren't going to replace the benefits you get from the lost monk levels or are just like having a magical potion around) or the Bear Warrior. </p><p></p><p>*While the sections on magic are well done, the fighters/monks suffer a bit by comparison. Monks still a bit inflexible at the higher levels; which means that blurring unarmed combat characters with lots of news feats are still tricky. Monks can "turn in" powers at levels 1, 3 and 6 to get another bonus feat (so they have 3 bonus feats at level 6 vs. a fighters 4). After that, however, they are limited to the same acquisition rate as any other character. Adding fighter levels, while appealing, slows the unarmed attack progression bonuses. While OA does include a new, well done, mechanic to allow monks to continue to progress in unarmed combat none of the two non-broken (read: not Shintao Monk) monk prestige classes help much. There are a few more candidates for being turned into feats at later levels(i.e. Leap of the clouds, Diamond Body, Timeless body) without threatening the fighter's supremacy, but the game doesn't give that option…. The martial arts segment (where you get a bonus to something for free if you have all the feats designated for one "martial art") showed some promise but really high requirements, and somewhat insubstantial bonuses suggest that people won't be throwing themselves at this stuff any time soon.</p><p></p><p>*Prestige classes - after seeing an unending assortment of prestige classes in every single supplement, Dragon magazine article, internet site and message board I was surprised to find that many were still interesting and fun. Unfortunately they are all the same sort of prestige class, running from levels 1-10 often with several levels with redundant or meaningless powers. The redundant powers part is particularly odd because a majority of the classes are really only accessible to characters in one class. A number of prestige classes (Witch Hunter) just have abilities that overlap, if the character has the ability already they gain no benefit for that level. Some of the prestige classes could go from levels 1 to 5. The bear Warrior springs to mind, is a Barbarian or Sohei character really supposed to advance through levels 9 and 10 only to get a "scent" power? PC races like the new Nezumi introduced in the book (and in some game worlds Gnomes) can get it as a feat at 1st level…</p><p></p><p><strong>Monsters</strong></p><p></p><p>There are two types of monsters: faithfully done adaptations to the original OA monsters and Rokugan monsters. The OA monsters are based on things appearing in myth and legend which makes for creatures which are rooted in the various cultures involved. Unfortunately it doesn't really lead itself to dungeon building. There are lots of spurned lovers, vengeful spirits of all sorts (mostly from improperly buried corpses), spiritual protectors of lands and vengeful monsters that waylay travelers, steal children and so on. In other words the monsters are kind of inert, unhappy things that people run across and have to deal with. There are no creatures like Drow, Mind Flayers, or Beholders which can capture the imagination and be long term foes with their own belief systems and motivations. In fact there is one empire building races other than humans at all in the book, including the PC races (which are Shinomen Naga from Rokugan). Just about everything else lives off by itself in a small village in a remote local (a few spirits live in big palaces in the middle of nowhere too). Again space is a consideration here but I would have liked to see Wyatt go out on a limb and add something to the mythos. This isn't a fatal flaw, you can tweak hobgoblins (with their own warped honor system and samurai), illithids, and so on to fit nicely into an eastern game. The Rokugan monsters are pretty much super powerful (just about all CR 10+) with the ability to inflict massive nastiness on PCs. Mostly by giving them taint scores either directly or though at will spell-like abilities, scores which can't even be totally removed ever (even by wish spells) which cripple their bodies and minds and force PCs with lower scores pretty quickly into the inescapable grip of darkening madness (and NPC-dom). Sorry, that slipped out, more on my favorite setting below.</p><p></p><p><strong>Rokugan</strong></p><p></p><p>To be honest most people who read this review and buy the book will probably be pleasantly surprise to discover that all my carping overdone. To its credit the world is a well fleshed out world with a strong root in cinematic Japan. Lots of people love the setting and the card game and the novels and the collectable plush dolls and whatever else they make for it. Its been praised up and down for its originality and the original game won a bunch of awards (I think). The D&D interpretation is a faithful rendition of the game to the D&D system and I think Wyatt did a really good job of conveying the world in a small chunk of space. Most of the monsters are just gross and could have crawled out of the Book of the Wyrm (an infamous supplement by White Wolf which was so sickening in some parts that I had trouble reading it).</p><p></p><p><strong>The Good</strong></p><p></p><p>I'm going to stop and talk about what this part of the book adds to the setting before I finish up the rant. Basically the world of Rokugan doesn't really match the original OA world or the D&D world. As a result there are a lot of good things that come from putting them both together in the same book. The monsters and ethos would fit in well in a less-subtle Ravenloft game, they could probably replace demons or devils on the lower planes if you felt like it. The "clan" mechanic allows control of who takes certain feats (a la regions in the Forgotten realms), limits the Shugenja spells and Samurai feats as well as limiting access to the prestige classes. In other words everybody in your Samurai clan is taught your style of fighting (allowing them to have lots of special bonus feats without competing with fighters), your clan ancestors were a certain kind of people (the kind of people who invented your fighting style). It allows characters of the same classes to be different in a rational kind of way. The Rokugan settling also does a good job of showing the ridged social structures of medieval Japan. Finally the Rokugan world does have some neat stuff which has been translated into some interesting and well thought out prestige classes (both clan based and generally available).</p><p></p><p><strong>My Opinion</strong></p><p></p><p>Having said that it's basically the same game as White Wolf's Werewolf but set in feudal Japan, with all the attendant drippy horror, ever present angst and gigantic overwhelming inescapable MEGA-plot. In some ways the giant plot where all the monsters and evil in the world come from one source and its difficult to consider the PCs more than window dressing on the grand stage of the world its also a bit like the DragonLance setting. </p><p>You are a member of one of a handful of trib…, I mean clans, who are descended from great ancestors put in place to rule over all the world. Each (ahem) clan gets access to special powers (represented by feats and prestige classes in D&D). They are constantly warring with each other and are also fighting against the monolithic evil of the Shadowlands (WW called it the Wyrm). The Shadowlands is ruled or controlled by different beings at different times but basically its surrounded by a wall manned by one clan (the Crab clan) and a parade of evil things flood out and try to suck the world into darkness. In fact the wall is kind of a ruse because taint is everywhere and just about anyone (the good emperor, PCs, etc) is susceptible corruption and maddening death as a result. All monsters and evil come from this taint and unwary or unlucky PCs can easily wind up dying miserable horrible wasting deaths. As a game mechanic Taint is astoundingly easy it get, a pain in the ass to get rid off, reduces character stats and can -never- (you heard me right) be gotten rid of completely; though the non human races (rat-men and some optional creatures in the monster section) are all immune to getting taint they also have very limited roleplaying options and are all "barbaric".</p><p></p><p>There are a few low-CR Rokugan monsters floating around but about 70% of them are CR10+ , and the weaker ones are pretty limited use or else shock troops for the armies of darkness. Neither of them make particularly interesting foes. (CRs below 10: ½, 2,2, 3,3,4, a template which adds +2 and one CR6 creature)</p><p>However the people who made the game are coming out with a big Rokugan/D&D source book sometime soon; it will have mechanics for both games (though hopefully the D&D mechanics will be a bit better than current mediocre level of 3rd party D&D stuff), probably lots of monsters and more.</p><p></p><p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p><p></p><p>(See the top of the page)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="IronWolf, post: 2008476, member: 21076"] [b]Conclusion[/b] (This review is long and meanders into lots of minor places nitpicky places. So the Conclusion is at the beginning. This is what I think, why I think it follows.) The book is great. Pound for pound it probably has more rules and less filler than any other book around (probably more than the PH, even). You can look around the WotC website for a big list of everything included. The strongest sections are the new character classes and prestige classes, a clan system for feats, the magic section is just the right size and doesn't replicate from Players Handbook. Like it or not (and I don't) the Rokugan setting has some good stuff. Wyatt did a great job "rebuilding" D&D to get rid of a lot of the western elements and allow DMs to make their own eastern flavored worlds. In a sense it's a real shame the book is called Oriental Adventures because its really applicable beyond the "Orient". Want a bunch of Knights responsible for keeping out barbarian tribes to the north, or an order of honorable men-at-arms specializing a refined fighting style or a bunch of dastardly dukes from the south who are only as honorable as they have to be? Change a name or two and that's what you've got. Want elemental wizards who can cure as well as throw a fireball but won't unbalance your game? A (correctly organized) Shugenja is for you. Bear worshiping Barbarians? Eunuch wizards visiting your kingdom as representatives from the efreet slavers in the Western Sands? I could go on and on but this game synthesizes a lot of the best parts of the old Oriental Adventures (1st edition) book with 3rd edition. It also provides the first resources to people who want to play games with Indian or South East Asian feels. Finally it has lots of stuff for Rokugan (I don't love it but its different and new and well if you like angst ridden horror then you will probably be doubly happy). The biggest flaw is that integrating the setting into your D&D world will take quite a bit more effort than your average supplement. Unlike the rest of the core books there is no "core setting" like Greyhawk (or the Forgotten Realms), and much of the stuff presented for Rokugan requires some tweaking to work in a D&D setting. But the book is designed for picking and choosing and, like the Manuel of the Planes, does a good job of explaining where and how bits and pieces can be taken and put into your world. I -would- have liked more background on Eastern (non-Rokugan) worlds. But I can't really complain that they left the big picture creative stuff to the DM and just gave him/her all the building blocks one could want. (So that's the synopsis of what I think, go buy the book already.) [b]The Details[/b] This is a good, though schizophrenic, product. All the usual things true about big releases by WotC handled by one author who was/is very enthused about the product (if you don't believe me see James Wyatt's web page) are true about this one: the ideas are good, the writing is pretty consistent with almost no inconsistencies, some stuff is positively inspired (shaman, eunuch wizard), the rule stuff looks balanced (excluding the Shin Tao Monk) and only modifies stuff in the PH when absolutely necessary and maintains the focus WotC set with 3e: allowing people make stuff for their own campaigns. In particular on the last point the whole book is written in a style similar to the Manuel of the Planes, it seemed to me that just about every time a relatively new concept was introduced it was followed by the different roles the class/prestige class/race/whatever could play in different settings. The game really uses the core books well doing an excellent job of not repeating spells or special abilities. (In other words you still absolutely need the Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide to play OA.) To say the same thing I did above from a negative side the book definitely tries to be everything to every one, without the page count to back it up. WotC avoided inflicting "supplement addiction" where you need to buy three or four books just to run on setting but as a result some things suffered in particular if you're not planning on playing in Rokugan the DM will have to do quite a bit of flesh out a game. To his credit Wyatt makes it clear up front. [b]WotC does not support Plug and Play[/b] A key, though for most people minor, point: The Rokugan focus of the book is a big deal for D&D players, the Rokugan setting isn't really compatible with a "standard" D&D world. After getting over my irritation with the setting I had to admit that it was ultimately more good than bad but this isn't a book you just slide it onto your shelf with the other D&D books. DMs who want to play without having to make lots of important decisions about the world for themselves will probably not be too happy. (more on the bottom but if you don't like playing White Wolf-style games the drippy nihilistic angst oozing from the parts of the book on that topic kind of detract. BTW Rokugan isn't actually published by White Wolf, but it's isomorphic to one of their games. More below.) Here's a more in depth rundown of by thoughts on individual parts of the book [b]Some good points[/b] On a rules/meta level a number of unnecessary structures were broken down. A few examples: Shaman's allow divine spell casters with a holistic nature who aren't druids. Shugenja can cast both cure and arcane combat spells; though I want to see more testing the class -does- seem balanced to me. This is nice since Cleric combat spells got so jacked up so much in 3e anyway the limitation continues to look quiet artificial to me. The eunuch warlock allows a way for magical prestige classes to advance in spell power without giving them the unbalancing +1 spell caster level special ability. The Samurai class allows someone to carry upgrade a family weapon in a balanced way. In other words you can keep upgrade your weapon as you rise in level. This system would be particularly useful for those players who like having a fighter who uses something other than a longsword but also want access to magical weaponry at higher levels) The good parts of the old Oriental Adventures have been carried over while Kara-tur itself has been ditched. I was an avid fan of the setting when it came out but it was never a good game world for most people and wasn't terribly popular. Basically because it was just a copy of the real map of East Asia with some creative embellishments and an extra chain of islands. WotC discovered INDIA! Ok this is another fairly minor thing to your average gamer and its not really a full fledged setting but its nice to get away from the Asia = China and Japan dualism. Admittedly American academia also suffers from this malaise as well, so its hard to be too frustrated with prior treatments but it's nice that the culture which birthed Buddhism. Broadly speaking this tree of thought lead to fruit like the Shaolin Temple in China and the Zen/Samurai ethos in Japan; as well as being a major part of world religions and cultures. Some stuff I wasn't thrilled with (do bear in mind the book got four stars): Rokugan gets its own section below. *A few prestige classes looked a bit imbalanced. In particular the Shintao Monk (available only to LG Monks level 5+ but with very low requirements) is just absurd. All saves are primary progression, bonus feat every other level, and ridiculous special powers on top of it. This is particularly weird given that other Prestige classes are clearly "strongly balanced" (i.e. look a bit weak) like the tattooed Monk (most of the tattoos aren't going to replace the benefits you get from the lost monk levels or are just like having a magical potion around) or the Bear Warrior. *While the sections on magic are well done, the fighters/monks suffer a bit by comparison. Monks still a bit inflexible at the higher levels; which means that blurring unarmed combat characters with lots of news feats are still tricky. Monks can "turn in" powers at levels 1, 3 and 6 to get another bonus feat (so they have 3 bonus feats at level 6 vs. a fighters 4). After that, however, they are limited to the same acquisition rate as any other character. Adding fighter levels, while appealing, slows the unarmed attack progression bonuses. While OA does include a new, well done, mechanic to allow monks to continue to progress in unarmed combat none of the two non-broken (read: not Shintao Monk) monk prestige classes help much. There are a few more candidates for being turned into feats at later levels(i.e. Leap of the clouds, Diamond Body, Timeless body) without threatening the fighter's supremacy, but the game doesn't give that option…. The martial arts segment (where you get a bonus to something for free if you have all the feats designated for one "martial art") showed some promise but really high requirements, and somewhat insubstantial bonuses suggest that people won't be throwing themselves at this stuff any time soon. *Prestige classes - after seeing an unending assortment of prestige classes in every single supplement, Dragon magazine article, internet site and message board I was surprised to find that many were still interesting and fun. Unfortunately they are all the same sort of prestige class, running from levels 1-10 often with several levels with redundant or meaningless powers. The redundant powers part is particularly odd because a majority of the classes are really only accessible to characters in one class. A number of prestige classes (Witch Hunter) just have abilities that overlap, if the character has the ability already they gain no benefit for that level. Some of the prestige classes could go from levels 1 to 5. The bear Warrior springs to mind, is a Barbarian or Sohei character really supposed to advance through levels 9 and 10 only to get a "scent" power? PC races like the new Nezumi introduced in the book (and in some game worlds Gnomes) can get it as a feat at 1st level… [b]Monsters[/b] There are two types of monsters: faithfully done adaptations to the original OA monsters and Rokugan monsters. The OA monsters are based on things appearing in myth and legend which makes for creatures which are rooted in the various cultures involved. Unfortunately it doesn't really lead itself to dungeon building. There are lots of spurned lovers, vengeful spirits of all sorts (mostly from improperly buried corpses), spiritual protectors of lands and vengeful monsters that waylay travelers, steal children and so on. In other words the monsters are kind of inert, unhappy things that people run across and have to deal with. There are no creatures like Drow, Mind Flayers, or Beholders which can capture the imagination and be long term foes with their own belief systems and motivations. In fact there is one empire building races other than humans at all in the book, including the PC races (which are Shinomen Naga from Rokugan). Just about everything else lives off by itself in a small village in a remote local (a few spirits live in big palaces in the middle of nowhere too). Again space is a consideration here but I would have liked to see Wyatt go out on a limb and add something to the mythos. This isn't a fatal flaw, you can tweak hobgoblins (with their own warped honor system and samurai), illithids, and so on to fit nicely into an eastern game. The Rokugan monsters are pretty much super powerful (just about all CR 10+) with the ability to inflict massive nastiness on PCs. Mostly by giving them taint scores either directly or though at will spell-like abilities, scores which can't even be totally removed ever (even by wish spells) which cripple their bodies and minds and force PCs with lower scores pretty quickly into the inescapable grip of darkening madness (and NPC-dom). Sorry, that slipped out, more on my favorite setting below. [b]Rokugan[/b] To be honest most people who read this review and buy the book will probably be pleasantly surprise to discover that all my carping overdone. To its credit the world is a well fleshed out world with a strong root in cinematic Japan. Lots of people love the setting and the card game and the novels and the collectable plush dolls and whatever else they make for it. Its been praised up and down for its originality and the original game won a bunch of awards (I think). The D&D interpretation is a faithful rendition of the game to the D&D system and I think Wyatt did a really good job of conveying the world in a small chunk of space. Most of the monsters are just gross and could have crawled out of the Book of the Wyrm (an infamous supplement by White Wolf which was so sickening in some parts that I had trouble reading it). [b]The Good[/b] I'm going to stop and talk about what this part of the book adds to the setting before I finish up the rant. Basically the world of Rokugan doesn't really match the original OA world or the D&D world. As a result there are a lot of good things that come from putting them both together in the same book. The monsters and ethos would fit in well in a less-subtle Ravenloft game, they could probably replace demons or devils on the lower planes if you felt like it. The "clan" mechanic allows control of who takes certain feats (a la regions in the Forgotten realms), limits the Shugenja spells and Samurai feats as well as limiting access to the prestige classes. In other words everybody in your Samurai clan is taught your style of fighting (allowing them to have lots of special bonus feats without competing with fighters), your clan ancestors were a certain kind of people (the kind of people who invented your fighting style). It allows characters of the same classes to be different in a rational kind of way. The Rokugan settling also does a good job of showing the ridged social structures of medieval Japan. Finally the Rokugan world does have some neat stuff which has been translated into some interesting and well thought out prestige classes (both clan based and generally available). [b]My Opinion[/b] Having said that it's basically the same game as White Wolf's Werewolf but set in feudal Japan, with all the attendant drippy horror, ever present angst and gigantic overwhelming inescapable MEGA-plot. In some ways the giant plot where all the monsters and evil in the world come from one source and its difficult to consider the PCs more than window dressing on the grand stage of the world its also a bit like the DragonLance setting. You are a member of one of a handful of trib…, I mean clans, who are descended from great ancestors put in place to rule over all the world. Each (ahem) clan gets access to special powers (represented by feats and prestige classes in D&D). They are constantly warring with each other and are also fighting against the monolithic evil of the Shadowlands (WW called it the Wyrm). The Shadowlands is ruled or controlled by different beings at different times but basically its surrounded by a wall manned by one clan (the Crab clan) and a parade of evil things flood out and try to suck the world into darkness. In fact the wall is kind of a ruse because taint is everywhere and just about anyone (the good emperor, PCs, etc) is susceptible corruption and maddening death as a result. All monsters and evil come from this taint and unwary or unlucky PCs can easily wind up dying miserable horrible wasting deaths. As a game mechanic Taint is astoundingly easy it get, a pain in the ass to get rid off, reduces character stats and can -never- (you heard me right) be gotten rid of completely; though the non human races (rat-men and some optional creatures in the monster section) are all immune to getting taint they also have very limited roleplaying options and are all "barbaric". There are a few low-CR Rokugan monsters floating around but about 70% of them are CR10+ , and the weaker ones are pretty limited use or else shock troops for the armies of darkness. Neither of them make particularly interesting foes. (CRs below 10: ½, 2,2, 3,3,4, a template which adds +2 and one CR6 creature) However the people who made the game are coming out with a big Rokugan/D&D source book sometime soon; it will have mechanics for both games (though hopefully the D&D mechanics will be a bit better than current mediocre level of 3rd party D&D stuff), probably lots of monsters and more. [b]Conclusion[/b] (See the top of the page) [/QUOTE]
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