Eastern Fantasy Noir Steampunk for D&D 5E?

Are you a fan of Eastern Fantasy Noir Steampunk? I'm not 100% sure what that is, but I do know that Storm Bunny Studios is prepping for a D&D 5E supplement called Mists of Akumal which will be Kickstarted throughout May. Designer Mike Myler has sent me along some exclusive peeks at what they have in store - a 200 page book with new races, land and prefectures, backgrounds, and class options. This preview takes a look at some Martial Arts Feats!

Are you a fan of Eastern Fantasy Noir Steampunk? I'm not 100% sure what that is, but I do know that Storm Bunny Studios is prepping for a D&D 5E supplement called Mists of Akumal which will be Kickstarted throughout May. Designer Mike Myler has sent me along some exclusive peeks at what they have in store - a 200 page book with new races, land and prefectures, backgrounds, and class options. This preview takes a look at some Martial Arts Feats!

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They've also sent me previews of some Imperial Dragons, Tsukumogatami (an animated item), and some new backgrounds, race, and class options, which I'll share soon. Lots of images for one little article!

"The year is 3466; monsoons have become more and more common since the roiling, demon-spewing Mists of Akuma fi rst appeared, and the sun’s light grows duller with every day that passes after the end of the War of Kaiyo more than a century ago. A pall of darkness has fallen on Soburin and even its greatest heroes are mired in the petty intrigues and never-ending slights of aggressive clans. Spellswords and mercenaries cross the countryside in search of fortune, leaving the poor and meek to fend for themselves or die in the harsh reality of a broken world where technology has been either abandoned as heresy or perilously embraced."

Here's what the setting contains, according to the quick primer they sent me.

  • Scores of beautiful, brand new illustrations from several talented artists to truly depict the unique world of Soburin in all of its dark, gritty glory
  • Detailed workings of Sanbaoshi, the capital of Soburin and home to the Imperial Palace of the Masuto Dynasty
  • Information on the Star of the North, Chikan, one of the unique scientifi c prefectures of Soburin
  • A section on Nagabuki, Gem of the South and one of Soburin’s most traditional states
  • The 22 great clans of Soburin, each with statistics for a unique Bengoshi (government agent) and henchman
  • Five different imperial dragons and over a dozen oni, fi lling your game with exciting new monsters
  • A treasure trove of new class options!
  • Bushibot Martial Archetype, Circle of Blight, Circle of Shifting, Clockwork Adept Arcane
  • Tradition, College of the Gun, Detective Rogue
  • Archetype, Herbalist Rogue Archetype, Mage
  • Arcane Tradition, Martial Artist Monastic Tradition,
  • Ninja Rogue Archetype, Priest Monastic Tradition, Samurai Sacred Oath, , Shinobibot Archetype,
  • Tsukumogami Hunter Ranger Archetype, Wu-Jen Warlock Pacts (with four patrons for every season of Soburin)
  • New races for players in Soburin!
  • Humans (Soburi, Ceramian, and Ropaeo),
  • Bakemono, Enjin, Hengeyokai (of the
  • Cat, Dog, Monkey, Rat, Crane, Fox, and
  • Spider varieties), Kappa, Mutants, Necroji,
  • Oni-Touched, Psonorous, Pyon, Shikome,
  • Steametic, Tanuki, Tengu, Umibozu
  • Dozens of new feats for spellcasters, warriors, and dedicated martial artists
  • Eastern armor and weapons, as well as a retinue of steampunk equipment
  • Two new attributes to instill flavor into your game: Dignity and Haitoku

As I mentioned above, I have more stuff to share, but it's a lot for one article. Keep an eye on the news page for more!
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Mike Myler

Have you been to LevelUp5E.com yet?
Some anime/manga influence perhaps?

Hrm. This is definitely a project influenced by Afro Samurai and Samurai Champloo! If you're hoping for Avatar the Airbender though, we aren't getting that intense (at least not initially - an "elementalist" base class could be a great stretch goal).

Did you have other titles in mind?
 

TwoSix

Dirty, realism-hating munchkin powergamer
While I'm enamored with the concept, I have to say that the multiple stat requirements for each feat (and feats which are acquirable multiple times) make a lot of the mechanics feel like Pathfinder mechanics only partially ported to 5e.

Is there a rationale for why the feat design is somewhat different than the normal standards for 5e? Are there certain classes that get multiple "stance feats" as a class feature, for example? I'm OK with material that pushes the 5e design envelope, but I like to know that the reasons have been thought through.
 

Mike Myler

Have you been to LevelUp5E.com yet?
While I'm enamored with the concept, I have to say that the multiple stat requirements for each feat (and feats which are acquirable multiple times) make a lot of the mechanics feel like Pathfinder mechanics only partially ported to 5e.

Is there a rationale for why the feat design is somewhat different than the normal standards for 5e? Are there certain classes that get multiple "stance feats" as a class feature, for example? I'm OK with material that pushes the 5e design envelope, but I like to know that the reasons have been thought through.

Thank you! As soon as I started to write things down for Mists of Akuma a veritable host of cogs in my head slammed into place and drove me to keep on penning -- it's easy to get sucked in. :D

There are feats in Mists of Akuma more like regular feats (the first five in the preview up there and more that aren't in the promotional PDF) and while I could have made the stance feats in the same vein, there were a few reasons I took the tack I did.
1) I'm a (very amateur) student of the martial arts -- I've practiced northern style shaolin, judo, tae kwan do, aikido, brazilian jujitsu, and even a bit of capeoira. Even my (comparably insignificant) years of study have made it extremely clear to me that no matter what form and style you're learning, it's not something you just "get", it's something that builds on itself. So there definitely needed to be an element of progression to the design for a martial arts stance (a progression based on enforcing a system not just on you getting better at everything, which is why I didn't tier things to proficiency bonus).
2) The plethora of race designs in Mists of Akuma frequently have damage vulnerabilities because some of them are pretty kickass, which I know would freak some people out (nobody likes being vulnerable). That can be mitigated via a martial arts stance feat, which also offers a little something in addition to covering your character's inherent weakness.
3) There is indeed a class that exploits the martial arts stances! It's a monk tradition. :D (and there may be more by the time the book is done, but as of right now that is the only planned one)
4) I'm a multi-system game designer: N.O.W. for Morrus' W.O.I.N. RPG, the last book for the Black Crusade RPG from Fantasy Flight Games, a ton of Pathfinder work for both Paizo and a host of smaller companies (including EN Publishing's To Stake A Vampire! and a bit on Trailseeker), and D&D 5E material (Legendary Games' imminent Hypercorps 2099 as well as EN5ider). It's not that easy juggling game systems when you're shoulder deep in the design phases for another game, so I rely on my colleagues and groups dedicated to one or another RPG to make sure I'm not crazy-old-man-in-the-woods-ing things up. Everything you see here has been vetted by my weekly 5E group (who have been playing since D&D Next) and is definitely sound enough for widescale playtesting that is already getting underway (right now there's....four groups, I think, playtesting Mists of Akuma). Moreover, all of the Kickstarter backers will receive a comprehensive Mists of Akuma playtest document when the project funding deadline comes around and I anticipate some excellent feedback to refine what we've put together.

So I feel you man! That's why I made a section just for martial arts stances outside of the regular feats -- they are not regular feats and need to be treated that way. We are definitely giving them a thorough shakedown and I expect some changes to occur before everything is all said and done, but I can promise you that a good deal of thought went into their creation.

Thank you for sharing your concerns! Mists of Akuma is totally an envelope-pusher and they are valid thoughts to have. :)
 





Morrus

Well, that was fun
Staff member
So I think that I would love this, if it's still on the news page come the 2nd of april...

I promise you, when I tell jokes, they're hilarious. If this was my attempt at an April Fool's Joke I'd be pretty disappointed in myself. Hardly the stuff of comedy gold!

Plus, it is April 2nd.
 

tuxgeo

Adventurer
< snip > . . . Plus, it is April 2nd.

"Don't worry about the world ending today, because it's already tomorrow in Australia." -- Charles M. Schultz

On another note, would the humanoid monsters from the Mists of Akuma be known as "Akumen" on account of their superlative abilities at the things they do?
 

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