Alexemplar
First Post
Hiya!
Huh...different perceptions growing up between us methinks...
I can see what you are saying, definitely. I guess this is simply a matter of what you saw/see "oriental flavour" as being vs what I do. To me (and my group), we generally see our OA campaigns (some of the most memorable RPG campaigns I've ever run, btw; more plots, sub-plots, sub-sub-plots, and sub-sub-sub-plots than you can shake a dead oni at!)....having a very strong humanocentric bent to them. I think it comes from the whole Samurai, Ninja, Yakuza underpinning of the setting as a whole. Each of those 'classes' are intertwined deeply within the societal structure of the campaign and rules; I/we have a very hard time seeing anything other than humans really 'being' any of those classes and caring about how the world sees them. I mean, if you are a spirit folk samurai (not sure if that was even a choice, but for sake of argument...), why would this spirit folk even be a samurai of some ruler in some land that has virtually nothing to do with his "race"? Sure, the spirit folk probably has his/her river/forest/mountain/whatever in the daimyo's province...but that would be it. Why would the daimyo accept such a creature into his confidence? Why should the daimyo even trust such a creature, who obviously would have significantly different ideas on what is "right", "just", or even "legal"...compared to humans?
Anyway...that's how I think of OA and the whole human/not-human schism of things.
^_^
Paul L. Ming
You have to D&D-ify it.
Just as in D&D, they do away with most of the intricacies of European fuedal/social systems and transform what were immortal and capricious fairfolk into much more relatable dwarves/elves/goblin races we're now familiar with, so too would a Japanese setting have to play a bit looser with the limitations and use spirits as inspiration for more playable races as opposed to making them actual immortal otherworldly overtly supernatural entities.
I'd cite Inuyasha as a pretty good example although that's set in the pre-Samurai era. Still, you've got demons tagging along with monks and stealthy ninja-like warriors and other badass humans. Ninja Scroll, another classic, has lots of monstrous characters with overtly supernatural powers along with a ronin main character and ninja love interest. Kubo and the Two strings has the titular character traveling with what are essentially 2 supernatural entities. And we can't forget the most famous example: Journey to the West.
And given how most samurai works are set in the warring states/Meji restoration, where social norms were changing radically (hence all the wandering samurai), the idea that a daimyo might trust a spirit enough to ally with it it so long as it continues to slaughter/protect villages to the benefit of the daimyo is perfectly reasonable. If my understanding of Japanese history/media is correct, a daimyo violating what is "right" and even "legal" is pretty much par for the course. Their loyalties tended to shift with the winds.
