D&D 5E World of Farland Now Embraces Asian, African, and Indian Cultures

The World of Farland has been online thoughout various iterations of D&D for as long as I've been running this website. So, about 20 years. It's a dark D&D setting, ruled by evil lords based on the Seven Deadly Sins, with an tmosphere a bit like if Lord of the Rings had gone the other way. The new Realms Under Shadow hardcover supplement introduces new locations which are not dependent on European mythology. I've been sent a few previews to share!

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The World of Farland, conquered by evil and ruled by the Lords of Sin, has been online for nearly 20 years. It's a best-seller here at DTRPG. But the setting has focused on European-style fantasy up to this point. That changes now...

The evil Wintervale has conquered the continent of Farland. But other lands lie south and east of the Wintervale. Some of these exotic realms are allied with the Shadow and some resist it, but either way, they have been affected by it. These are the Realms Under Shadow...

The Realms Under Shadow are fantastic places reminiscent of the medieval cultures of Asia, Africa (including egypt), and India. This campaign supplement allows you to play a game that is not in the vein of the traditional European style fantasy. Adventure in diverse and amazing places. Battle characters and monsters that are a far cry from your usual RPG experience. This book is compatible with the 5th edition of the World's most popular RPG and is a supplement to The World of Farland Campaign Setting, although it can certainly be used on its own.

This 235 page campaign supplement includes:

• Detailed write-ups on many unique and diverse cultures
• 14 new PC races
• New player options, including 15 new class archetypes and paths; feats; and equipment
• Calendars and gods
• New Languages
• Tons of adventure hooks
• Important NPCs and locations
• Seventeen new monsters
• A full length adventure set in the Realms Under Shadow
• Much more!
• All exclusive new content that will never appear on the website.

This book comes with two maps of the geography, and it is now available in standard color hardcover and gorgeous premium color hardcover!

 

[doctorbadwolf]

All criticism is welcome criticism. If you think we could do better somewhere, then let us know!

Just a PR thing, since the book isn’t out yet. “Our pseudo-Germans aren’t really Germans, likewise our pseudo-Koreans” isn’t actually a very good way of addressing concerns about representation.

The wording of your earlier post come across to me like you treated African inspiration as a grab bag of LEGO bricks to assemble something out of with little concern for context. Hopefully that is a false perception, but it’s what come across in what you said.

There are many creatives and critics of color in the TTRPG space. Did you consult any of them who are related to and/or expert on the salient regions and mythologies when working on this project?

Lastly, exotic as a term for non Euro-inspired cultures isn’t bad because the term is inherently bad, but because of the context of how it’s been used to fetishize other cultures within Western fiction. Pointing out that German stuff might be exotic to a medieval Samurai doesn’t change this.

 

[RichCMidas]

Ah, ok, I've got a better understanding now. Yeah, I can see why what I said is probably not the best way to answer that concern.

Well, I do not think it was not so much a grab bag as I made it sound, though there is certainly an element of that involved. I can only educate myself so much on all these things that I am ignorant of, and something will inevitably slip through the gaps. For that, I can only apologise. There was a lot of material that ended up being cut or pared down significantly even before the editors got hold of it, primarily due to quantity limitations - lion hunting traditions (not merely Maasai), folklore relating to spiders, the political mechanics of tribal affiliations, and so forth.

We averaged 7-10 pages available to devote to each area. Africa alone can provide 7-10 entire books, as I'm sure you know. I can only give you my word that it was not laziness which made us edit down what we had into what we got. As an author, I wanted everything I put together to make an appearance. I'm sure Farland can complain about the amount of data I plied him with over the course of the project.

When you say "creatives and critics of color", do you mean that these are people of color, ie. non-white; or do you mean that these are people who work with material relating to color in TTRPGs? Because if it is the latter, then I am pretty sure nobody I spoke with even knew what D&D was. If it is the former, you can rest assured I've had conversations with individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds, such as a Zimbabwean-Afrikaaner and a self-admitted Turkish Bitsof ("I was born in Turkey and I'm a bits-of this and a bits-of that"). Though the person I consulted on Indian literary traditions was white British, if that matters.

Regarding the use of the word 'exotic', good points, well made. I'll keep them in mind for the future.

 

[gyor]

Hi Celebrim! Believe me, we were sensitive to the issues you bring up. We struggled with the word choice you mention and definitely hope it’s not offensive to anyone. The “influenced by evil” phrase, though, is just a reference to the fact that the evil Wintervale tried to put its grimy hands on the realms described in this Campaign Supplement... and failed for the most part, as the majority of the cultures rejected the evil. But that rejection, of course, involved a struggle and thus “influenced” each place and culture. We hope that if you pick up the Supplement, you’ll find that we strived to represent a nuanced, respectful (albeit fantasy) version of these cultures. We tried hard to make these cultures/societies places you’d like your PC to come from, and places you’d like to adventure in! We’ve gotten positive reviews so far, so hopefully we were at least somewhat successful. Thanks for looking!

Being offended by the term Exotic makes no sense to me, it's not insulting, all it implies is an exciting uniqueness to something. I'd love to be called exotic, but I'm Canadian and no one finds Canadians exotic . I want to be exotic for once!!!

 

[RichCMidas]

Being offended by the term Exotic makes no sense to me, it's not insulting, all it implies is an exciting uniqueness to something. I'd love to be called exotic, but I'm Canadian and no one finds Canadians exotic . I want to be exotic for once!!!

Well then, speaking as a Greco-Brazilian whose experience with North America was limited to subtitled* Friends reruns for the first twenty years of my life, you, gyor, are exotic!

Hey, someone wants to be considered exotic, who am I to deny them?

*Poorly subtitled, I was to find out later...

 

[gyor]

Well then, speaking as a Greco-Brazilian whose experience with North America was limited to subtitled* Friends reruns for the first twenty years of my life, you, gyor, are exotic!

Hey, someone wants to be considered exotic, who am I to deny them?

*Poorly subtitled, I was to find out later...

Yeah! I get to be the exotic one, thank you!!!

 

[Celebrim]

Being offended by the term Exotic makes no sense to me, it's not insulting, all it implies is an exciting uniqueness to something. I'd love to be called exotic, but I'm Canadian and no one finds Canadians exotic . I want to be exotic for once!!!

No one finds Canadians exotic only because everyone just assumes you are American.

 

[gyor]

I think instead of Fantasy Counter part cultures like fantasy Japan, Fantasy Celtic, Fantasy Egypt, it'd be cool to have fabtasy fusion cultures, like Fantasy Hawaiian-Greek cultural, Fantasy Roman-Japanese Cultures, fantasy Cree-Norse cultures, fantasy Zule-Mongolian, fantasy Ghanian-Celtic Cultures, fantasy Punjabi-Inuit cultures.

 

[RichCMidas]

No one finds Canadians exotic only because everyone just assumes you are American.

Ouch. Funny, but ouch.

I think instead of Fantasy Counter part cultures like fantasy Japan, Fantasy Celtic, Fantasy Egypt, it'd be cool to have fabtasy fusion cultures, like Fantasy Hawaiian-Greek cultural, Fantasy Roman-Japanese Cultures, fantasy Cree-Norse cultures, fantasy Zule-Mongolian, fantasy Ghanian-Celtic Cultures, fantasy Punjabi-Inuit cultures.

I'll bear that in mind for whatever next big project I do.

 

[Celebrim]

Ouch. Funny, but ouch.

There is a fine line between the truth hurts and it makes you laugh.

If you are ever travelling overseas, and you tell people you are from Canada, when they give you funny look, just say it's near Texas and they'll be put at ease.

Because they watched reruns of Dallas, and now they assume that they are in the know.

Weirdly, this used to work within the United States as well. When I first moved to the North, everyone assumed that where I moved from was like the Dukes of Hazard. I'd get a lot of, "Are youse yokel or are youse from da coyege? Youse from da South? Wey, youse don't sound like youse from da South. Youse don't even have an accent!"

"I'm from near Texas."

I also got a lot of, "Youse gonna love da faw up here! These leaves on da trees turn coyors! Bet ya ain't got nothing like that down dere!"

"No, kidding? That's amazing."

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Ah, ok, I've got a better understanding now. Yeah, I can see why what I said is probably not the best way to answer that concern.

Well, I do not think it was not so much a grab bag as I made it sound, though there is certainly an element of that involved. I can only educate myself so much on all these things that I am ignorant of, and something will inevitably slip through the gaps. For that, I can only apologise. There was a lot of material that ended up being cut or pared down significantly even before the editors got hold of it, primarily due to quantity limitations - lion hunting traditions (not merely Maasai), folklore relating to spiders, the political mechanics of tribal affiliations, and so forth.

We averaged 7-10 pages available to devote to each area. Africa alone can provide 7-10 entire books, as I'm sure you know. I can only give you my word that it was not laziness which made us edit down what we had into what we got. As an author, I wanted everything I put together to make an appearance. I'm sure Farland can complain about the amount of data I plied him with over the course of the project.

When you say "creatives and critics of color", do you mean that these are people of color, ie. non-white; or do you mean that these are people who work with material relating to color in TTRPGs? Because if it is the latter, then I am pretty sure nobody I spoke with even knew what D&D was. If it is the former, you can rest assured I've had conversations with individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds, such as a Zimbabwean-Afrikaaner and a self-admitted Turkish Bitsof ("I was born in Turkey and I'm a bits-of this and a bits-of that"). Though the person I consulted on Indian literary traditions was white British, if that matters.

Regarding the use of the word 'exotic', good points, well made. I'll keep them in mind for the future.

What I was primarily referring to was actually going out of your way to hire editors and artists, invite play-testers, and otherwise involve various professionals in the actual production of the thing, who are people of color.

But consulting people of color with ties to the actual cultures you’re drawing from is also important.

Thanks for listening, as well.