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

[Guest 6801328]

Oh Jeez it's become a thread about racism. And to think I was here to answer the question.

I would release an adventure path in Kara-Tur, or whatever we call it, and make the place a mish-mash of different cultural elements so that it's not identifiable as China or Japan or Korea or Vietnam. (Or Bhutan. Can we have some Bhutanese elements, please?)

Then provide new subclasses...ideally one per class...designed to evoke the flavor.

(Here's my own entry for monk subclass.)

 

[epithet]

They shouldn't do it at all, they should learn from their experience with Tomb of Annihilation. If you look hard enough at something, you're bound to be able to find something to be offended at, and sure enough after ToA was released there were click-bait articles that popped up filled with quotes from people who had probably never been to Africa as anything but a tourist advancing "expert" opinions about how insensitive the book was to Africa and Africans.

No, with the pop-culture outrage machine going at full throttle, WotC needs to steer clear of anything outside of the safe box of "traditional," American-standard fantasy. It's a shame, really; I think it would be nice to get some cool stuff that would register as exotic to the typical D&D campaign world, but these are the times we live in. Nothing is more toxic than modern nerd-rage, which will end careers and product lines in a feeding frenzy of outrage before management can even approve the carefully worded apology. Best not to risk it.

What they can and should do, in my opinion, is to quietly plunder "oriental" folklore and myth for interesting additions to the monster lists. Every player in my group knows almost all the current monster line-up, and I've got a couple who could tell you how the current version compares to 1e, 2e, 3e, and Pathfinder version of the same beastie.

 

[Sacrosanct]

As someone who's traveled a fair bit both in the USA and Europe, I agree with you that there are more differences between certain states that some outsiders realize... but I also think there are a lot more differences between European countries that *you* realize.

I lived in Europe for several years, and I've lived all over the US. I really don't think so, outside of national language and things like food (which is just as, if not more varying, in the US). Going from Germany to France? Or Belgium? Wasn't a huge difference. Lifestyle, amenities, quality of health care, education, infrastructure (although Austria seemed a bit more rustic than Germany) and economy? All really close. Way closer than the difference between California and Alabama. Remember, we're talking about western European countries against the states in the US. That's why I said a better analogy would be between a country like Germany and Turkey. This isn't just a matter of opinion. We have plenty of metrics to look at (economy, healthcare, form of government and types of majority leaders, education, etc).

Going from a state like California or New York to a state like Alabama or Mississippi is a much bigger difference than going from Germany to France, or Britain to Ireland.

 

[Ancalagon]

For those wanting a setting that is inspired by an Asian region that is *not* china/japan ... I heartily recommend Yoon-Suin

You won't regret it!

 

[77IM]

Seriously, though, stop talking about the word "oriental" because Wizards would never title a book "Oriental Adventures." In addition to the totally unnecessary controversy, "Oriental Adventures" is difficult to trademark and bad for SEO.

No, it's going to be "Fanglong's Guide to Kara-Tur" or "Lathander's Guide to the Morninglands" or something like that. So please quit worrying about the title -- I'm curious what you people would actually want in a book like that!

 

[Mirtek]

This isn't just a matter of opinion. We have plenty of metrics to look at (economy, healthcare, form of government and types of majority leaders, education, etc).

Yes, it isn't. And if you believe France and Germany are alike beyond the superficial outlook, you have not looked at any of those metrics.

 

[Azzy]

Seriously, though, stop talking about the word "oriental" because Wizards would never title a book "Oriental Adventures." In addition to the totally unnecessary controversy, "Oriental Adventures" is difficult to trademark and bad for SEO.

No, it's going to be "Fanglong's Guide to Kara-Tur" or "Lathander's Guide to the Morninglands" or something like that. So please quit worrying about the title -- I'm curious what you people would actually want in a book like that!

This.

 

[Mecheon]

I'm also going to add Kara-Tur direly needs a makeover. Its far more "Fantasy Asia but with the serial numbers filed off" than anything else in FR, except maybe the "Fantasy Egypt but with the serial numbers filed off" that's also somewhere in there

How many hundreds of years has it been in game since it ever really did anything? I'm sure they can come up with something better

 

[Aldarc]

I lived in Europe for several years, and I've lived all over the US. I really don't think so, outside of national language and things like food (which is just as, if not more varying, in the US). Going from Germany to France? Or Belgium? Wasn't a huge difference. Lifestyle, amenities, quality of health care, education, infrastructure (although Austria seemed a bit more rustic than Germany) and economy? All really close. Way closer than the difference between California and Alabama. Remember, we're talking about western European countries against the states in the US. That's why I said a better analogy would be between a country like Germany and Turkey. This isn't just a matter of opinion. We have plenty of metrics to look at (economy, healthcare, form of government and types of majority leaders, education, etc).

Going from a state like California or New York to a state like Alabama or Mississippi is a much bigger difference than going from Germany to France, or Britain to Ireland.

I could not disagree more. Hello. I'm an American who also lived across the US and am now living and working in Europe and engaged to an Austrian. There are massive political and cultural differences between Western European nation-states. When I go between US States, I know that I am politically likely to expect very similar political institutions and bodies. We are dealing likely with Democrats and Republicans as the two major parties. I can expect that states will have a governor, lt. governor, and often a bicameral legislative body. I know that the political system used for deciding representation for these positions at the state and federal level will be exceedingly similar between states.

Now let's talk France, Belgium, and Germany. The politics is crazy. And governmental institutions, parties, and related issues are far more different between them than it is between Texas, New York, and Montana. And these countries often have their own states or state-like regions that demonstrate the sort of cultural differences as you would see between California and Alabama, if not more so, and not just because of language and food. There is no US state that has to deal with going without a government for 589 days because of tensions between parties associated with the Walloons, Flemish, and other cultural groups. These are issues specific to Belgium. France has its own idiom of political and cultural issues. And Germany has its own idiom political and cultural issues too. And the sorts of issues they deal with are so drastically different between each other than anything that US states generally face. There will also be completely separate holidays apart from the usual Easter and Christmas, whereas I could expect the usual July 4th and Thanksgiving across all 50 States. (You may have noticed but Germany does not celebrate Bastille Day.) But please, go ahead and tell Austrians that the only cultural difference between them and Germany is that it's a bit more rustic. Please, go ahead and tell the Irish that they are more culturally similar to England than California is to Alabama.

 

[CubicsRube]

Seriously, though, stop talking about the word "oriental" because Wizards would never title a book "Oriental Adventures." In addition to the totally unnecessary controversy, "Oriental Adventures" is difficult to trademark and bad for SEO.

No, it's going to be "Fanglong's Guide to Kara-Tur" or "Lathander's Guide to the Morninglands" or something like that. So please quit worrying about the title -- I'm curious what you people would actually want in a book like that!

Ok this is a much more interesting topic.

I'd love to see them flesh out kara-tur or a new area of faerun beyond the sword coast.

Theres a wealth of mythology to draw from such as thai buddhist kings, curses and ghosts , indian devas, japanese oni, taoist magicians, etc.

We could have a muay thai fighter subclass, or a filipino escrima fighter, yogic avatars, etc