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!

 

[Connorsrpg]

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.

My expanded Elsir Vale campaign is set in the lands of the first people there that are a bit of a mash of First Nation Americans and Celtic people. I try to blend influences too.

 

[Shardstone]

The word exotic is not a good word. It is a word of othering, and it is a word that turns things into spectacle without the weight behind them.

Don't get me wrong. I love seeing stuff inspired by other cultures. But your posts have proven to me that you're writing a lego-grabag of a book. You say Asia, but you're doing 30-40% of Asia, as per your own admission. Why not just name those countries? Or why not just say inspired by different cultures? Japan is very different from Iran which is very different from Mongolia which is very different from India, but all are Asian. All you're really telling us is that you're using a bunch of cultural stuff, mix-and-matching it, and saying "Hey, we included Asia in our game!"

There's no need to that. If you want to virtue signal, you can do it better. If you want to do actual representation, you can do it better. Here's some methods:

1. Don't reference entire, extremely diverse geopolitical areas as one single thing.
2. If you mix-and-match, do so intelligently, instead of grabbing what just looks cool.
3. If you're using influences and aesthetics, be clear on that, instead of referencing things as psuedo Korea, etc etc.
4. If you're going to have scorpion men from Babylon be in a Japan-aesthetic area, make sure to properly recontexualize what you're doing.

Simple stuff.

None of this applies to your homegames btw. Only to retail products claiming to be representative.

 

[Yaarel]

As a rule.

IF EVER using a real name, then make it as accurate as possible.

If creatively borrowing and reinventing, then dont use a real name.

For example, if the setting has something inspired by but disresembling an Oni or a Djinn, then dont use these names. Invent new names for them.

Gygax violated this rule all the time. But we dont have too. We can make an effort to respect the traditions of other cultures. (And our own cultures.)

 

[Mercurius]

I'd be leery to place distinct rules on creativity. I also question the idea that there is a clear formula with regards to respecting other cultures. I personally don't think mixing it up is inherently disrespectful - it can be, especially if it deals in pejorative stereotypes, but doesn't have to be. I mean, "vanilla fantasy" is a mixture of European Medieval, literary, and media influences, and most don't seem to take issue that it isn't properly differentiated into Germanic, Scandinavian, Angro-Saxon, etc.

There's always going to be a wide range of responses, both from people within and outside of a given culture. But as far as I can tell, a product like this one isn't intending to accurately characterize historical cultures, but is instead a syncretism intended for entertainment purposes. I would think that the "inspired by" part is assumed and implied.

A further point: some cultural forms have different variations, so there isn't necessarily an "official" version of the djinn, for instance, which developed over thousands of years. The genie of Arabian Nights and the jinn of Sufi philosophy are rather different--not to mention the pre-Islamic roots.

Part of the fun of D&D is that it is a "kitchen sink" of different ideas, which each of us gets to use how we want. As far as I can tell-from an admittedly cursory glance--this is Farland's version of Asian-inspired cultures, no more or less.

 

[Yaarel]

I'd be leery to place distinct rules on creativity. I also question the idea that there is a clear formula with regards to respecting other cultures. I personally don't think mixing it up is inherently disrespectful - it can be, especially if it deals in pejorative stereotypes, but doesn't have to be. I mean, "vanilla fantasy" is a mixture of European Medieval, literary, and media influences, and most don't seem to take issue that it isn't properly differentiated into Germanic, Scandinavian, Angro-Saxon, etc.

There's always going to be a wide range of responses, both from people within and outside of a given culture. But as far as I can tell, a product like this one isn't intending to accurately characterize historical cultures, but is instead a syncretism intended for entertainment purposes. I would think that the "inspired by" part is assumed and implied.

A further point: some cultural forms have different variations, so there isn't necessarily an "official" version of the djinn, for instance, which developed over thousands of years. The genie of Arabian Nights and the jinn of Sufi philosophy are rather different--not to mention the pre-Islamic roots.

Part of the fun of D&D is that it is a "kitchen sink" of different ideas, which each of us gets to use how we want. As far as I can tell-from an admittedly cursory glance--this is Farland's version of Asian-inspired cultures, no more or less.

Artists can mix-and-match as much as they want.

The problem happens when there is misrepresentation.

If something is NAMED something from a culture, but isnt it, that is when the problems begin.

Invent a new name, and there is no problem.



Heh. If there is a fur-clad, horned-helmeted, barbarian, then dont call it a ‘viking’ or a ‘Norse’. But perhaps it is some kind of ‘berserkr’ participating in some variant of a pre-viking shamanic initiation ritual.

 

[Mercurius]

Artists can mix-and-match as much as they want.

The problem happens when there is misrepresentation.

If something is NAMED something from a culture, but isnt it, that is when the problems begin.

Invent a new name, and there is no problem.



Heh. If there is a fur-clad, horned-helmeted, barbarian, then dont call it a ‘viking’ or a ‘Norse’. But perhaps it is some kind of ‘berserkr’ participating in some variant of a pre-viking shamanic initiation ritual.

Fair enough. I mean, there's actually a practical reason for doing what you say, which has nothing to do with representation or anything political: just to avoid confusion.

It is tricky, though, as a lot of these cultural ideas have a lot of variations, sometimes across thousands of years (see what I said about jinn/genie/djinn). Accurate representation may or not always be possible.

p.s. How about a furbarking?

 

[Yaarel]

Fair enough. I mean, there's actually a practical reason for doing what you say, which has nothing to do with representation or anything political: just to avoid confusion.

It is tricky, though, as a lot of these cultural ideas have a lot of variations, sometimes across thousands of years (see what I said about jinn/genie/djinn). Accurate representation may or not always be possible.

p.s. How about a furbarking?

If the designer picks a reallife specific time and place, then it is possible to have an accurate representation for that time and place. Or at least be consistent about what details are known about it.



When dealing with variant traditions.

Sometimes it helps to add a descriptor to invent a name. Like when D&D refers to a ‘high elf’, it is talking about a specific kind of elf. It is ok if this species of elf is extremely unlike a mythologically accurate Norse elf.

A descriptor requires a judgment call, but it sometimes works.

 

[Yaarel]

Plus, it is cool when D&D and other rpgs explore other cultures.

I would rather this be an opportunity to learn about other cultures, as opposed to getting hopelessly disinformed about those cultures.

 

[MGibster]

IF EVER using a real name, then make it as accurate as possible.

Is the world worse off because we have a race of minotaurs instead of a single Minotaur in Crete? Is it a problem that D&D has medusas instead of just the three Gorgon sisters in Greek myth?

Gygax violated this rule all the time. But we dont have too. We can make an effort to respect the traditions of other cultures. (And our own cultures.)

I'm not quite sure borrowing elements of another culture and changing it to suit your needs is automatically disrespectful. Are Japanese people offended when they hear about American media with oni, samurai, or ninja that don't match their own ideas of what these things are?

 

[Connorsrpg]

Holy crap... will people ever be able to release a product for roleplaying games that draw on some influence of some real world mythology or culture without this constant questioning? Man. Before people have even seen it. This could be the downward spiral of our game where people are going to be too scared to release bloody good ideas just b/c it is not based on Euro-medieval. Kinda funny given that was a constant complaint; other cultures not being represented. Damned if you do damned if you don't.

I just want to know if it is a good gaming product.