D&D 5E Oriental Adventures 5e: How would you do it?

[Imaculata]

The Philippines especially are so full of myths and legends of strange creatures/monsters, I wish they would be added to D&D as official content (in fact, a forum member made a pretty good effort to create a 5th edition version of one of my favorite Filipino monsters, the Aswang, a while back).

By the way, this may be a dumb question, but why is the name Oriental Adventures offensive?

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

It would probably have to be Forgotten Realms - based, since what people are generally after is a fantasy version of real-world culture, and FR is the setting that tends to do that.

However that leads in to the point that people don't just want Kozakura (fantasy Japan). They probably also want Shou Lung (fantasy China) and possibly other area as well. (Does FR have an India analoque?)

Rules-wise, the existing classes cover most concepts, although some reprinting might be needed for the AL situation. "Martial Arts" in the current system is covered by attack and damage rolls but an optional system for those groups wanting to go "full Wuxia" like Monks do could be included, balanced against existing systems for those who want to bring it into more general play.

A run-down of the races unique to the area suitable for PCs would probably be necessary. Some might be reskinned current races, others would probably have to be new.

Probably most importantly, a run-down of the culture of the areas would probably also be the trickiest part of the book. Making an interesting and unique Kara-Turan culture probably won't satisfy those who want 'fantasy Japan', but making 'fantasy Japan' (and kludging together hundreds of years of history and change, probably with a dash of other cultures that they were actively opposed to) is likely to be rather offensive to some.

I wouldn't be entirely unsurprised if WotC left it to the DMsGuild to produce that sort of thing.

 

[Mecheon]

Really simple

1: Ditch Spirit Folk entirely. Give me a myth where they appear, and I might consider not throwing them to the wayside.
2: Split Hengeyokai into the various races
Kitsune: Powerful master illusionists
Tanuki: Irrelevant pranksters
Nekomata/Bakeneko: Just merge the various types of cat monsters together. Necromancer soul-stealing cats who can turn into anyone they kill. Also can turn into giant cats that can devour pretty much anything. There's yer cat people, have fun. There is no cat girl. There is entirely "Murdering a man and devouring his corpse, and then living his life"
Jurogama: Once again, merge the two types. Give them the more bandit thing of the other spider yokai
Moon Rabbits: Descendants of the rabbits who went to the moon with
Various Underwater Creatures: Honestly, if I was going to group a bunch together and just say "Grab this stat if you want", this is the one I would. You're a shark, a crab, a turtle or an oarfish who can turn into a person and comes from a magical
Namazu: You're a namazu. You're a catfish who can grow arms and legs. No human form for you. Just arms and legs. Let me have this hilarious race. Also click for the actual, canonical voice of all Namazu
Naga: They appear in both Chinese and Indian mythology, so a no-brainer

3: Add eastern dragons/ryu/long/whatever we're calling them today as a race. You get your full powers if you have your dragon pearl, which is being kept by Ryuujin or whatever equivalent FR has so you don't go off and cause chaos and also so it doesn't get stolen

 

[QuietBrowser]

1: Ditch Spirit Folk entirely. Give me a myth where they appear, and I might consider not throwing them to the wayside.

I believe they're supposed to represent actual playable kami, with the Bamboo Spirit Folk in particular probably descending from the Tale of Princess Kaguya, just... watered down for being PC-level, sort of like how D&D's elves are technically capable of tracing their lineage to the Sidhe, Seelie and Unseelie.

 

[delericho]

1) Don't call it Oriental Adventures

Agreed. Enough people consider the term offensive that they should choose something else.

2) Hire authors who are native to the cultures represented

Again, agreed. At the very least they need to consult very heavily with local experts.

3) Make it an adventure

I don't think I agree with this.

Rather, I'd present the new OA much like the old ones - a full-blown reskinning of the PHB, with region-appropriate races, classes (not subclasses), and spells, and an assumption that you will use these options by default (rather than just transplanting your Elf Fighter to Kara-Tur and calling it good).

I would certainly include an adventure in the book, but I wouldn't make it just an adventure - the topic is big enough to need more than that, IMO.

 

[schnee]

Considering it is an offensive term for Asian cultures I hope they call it something different.

"Offensive" to whom - the people(s) whose mythology is being portrayed, or somebody who has only outsiders' knowledge of the culture?
Let's not unload a heap of intellectual nonsense where it isn't needed. Or wanted.

Well, like it or not, language evolves. The term 'The Orient' and it's derivatives like 'oriental' have fallen out of favor to a significant number of people inside and outside of the culture. Regardless whether or not you personally respect the arguments against the term, at best it's tacky and dated, and using the title doesn't fit the way D&D is designed now.

1) Don't call it Oriental Adventures
2) Hire authors who are native to the cultures represented
3) Make it an adventure

Yeah, this. I've read the discussion around Tome of Annihilation, and there are some dumb choices in that book that are a regression from the sensitivity and diversity of core 5E. From the things the most involved critics were saying, they were perceived as mostly inadvertent, and easily addressed.

I'd like to see what skilled game writers/designers with direct cultural experience have to bring in - instead of just retreading the same ground as older editions, we could get some more flavorful and fresh takes that pulls from sources that have been overlooked until now.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Chronos96]

Honestly, I'd love a Kara-Tur Campaign guide. I love the stories in the realms but I'm so tired of Aber-Toril it would be exciting to explore Kara-Tur and flesh out the continent more.

What's the Underdark like in Kara-Tur? What secrets are there? I'm sure some of this has been addressed but it's called Forgotten Realms for God's sake so why find some of them again.

 

[TiwazTyrsfist]

How would I do 5e OA?

I wouldn't. The problem with OA and Kara-tur is they try to distill and cram ALL East Asian cultures into a single setting. There is, LITERALLY, no way to bring that up to current that is respectful of the cultures they seek to emulate.

If one wants to create a setting guide for East Asian themed D&D adventures, you would probably need to release a full line with separate books for regions based on each culture. The Fantasy East Asia must be as large and diverse as real East Asia. And frankly they should be written and edited by people from each respective culture.

Fantasy China and Fantasy India each should, honestly, be larger in size and setting material volume than the main Forgotten Realms setting which is, after all, Fantasy Western Europe.

I'm pretty sure that if you find the D&D groups in each region, you'll find that someone has already written most of a setting book for their region anyway.


TLDR: Scrap OA and Kara-Tur, put out a call in Asian countries for setting submissions, compile them into multiple books, don't try to blend all East Asian culture into a single setting.

 

[gyor]

Simple a Kara Tur regional source book.