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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GreyLord" data-source="post: 8031033" data-attributes="member: 4348">These are excellent questions.For those who look at Asians involved with the playing, or who knew about these players, yes, they basically were players.OA (despite what some people think) was focused primarily on the areas of China, Korea, Japan, Mongolia (as stated on page 3's preface, openly, though the focus was more like American Stereotypes from Hollywood about Japan, then Japan, Japan, Japan, Japan, Japan, China if we look at much of the actual content of the book).  The book itself has a troubled history in it's creation.  Originally the focus was probably going to be a tad more towards what some may have felt like it should be and was pushed by Gary Gygax.  Ensuing difficulties (which would have been better addressed by Mr. Gygax if he were still alive, with the other side of the story being addressed by Mr. Cook rather than I) caused a disruption of the original OA notes and manuscripts.These difficulties created a very different OA than originally envisioned.  It was tossed together in a much more quick manner than many would think.  These were people that were players (well, at least one or two, others may have learned at the table, I don't know) and could grasp how the rules worked, and were part of the culture or heritage being discussed.  Sort of how one would look at cultural consultants today.  I believe there was also someone (not one of the Asian gamers) who also had a degree in some sort of Asian studies.These players were not some Asian historical PHd's (like Mr. Kwan, though some would also say Mr. Kwan may represent Canadian Gamers well, he may not represent Asian gamers as a whole well, especially considering his focus in some of his income, though he probably also is a good individual to consult should WotC ever wish to go in the direction of OA again), but probably knew far more about their own lives and education than most Americans.At the time there were not a LOT of people in Asia that both knew (familiar with the rules and how it worked) RPGs and D&D and were also were Asian AND available for asking questions.  As it were, these individuals were around and asked to have their input.  Their influence is pretty noticeable and is also one reason why, if you look through OA (1e, other OA versions really ignore any and ALL input from Asian or even ask their contributions, which is why 1e OA stands out, the same holds for many other RPG products which supposedly are about these types of subjects and topics, they never actually ask people in those cultures or nations or heritage directly) why it is probably mostly and distinctly covering a Japanese type slant on the subject rather than Chinese or Mongolian.That said, D&D did have a small but dedicated following in Japan.  Eventually Sword World and the ensuing RPG fandom around it spread a little more TTRPG gaming around the nation (japan).  D&D, though with a small following had quite the impact culturally on Japan in the 80s, which one can see with the origins of things such as the original Final Fantasy (the irony being that while D&D(and of course other games such as Wizardry) had marked impact on CRPGs in Japan, eventually that has turned around to have an impact on CRPGs in the west as well as what I see as some common TTRPG ideas today.In essence, the importance of those names is NOT because they are big names in Japan today, or some major Politicians or Professors, but because they are those that actually are from an unnoticed minority who actually made an impact on an official D&D product and are some of the ONLY times such minorities have even been acknowledged to exist, much less their contributions (and I think there have been other contributions, but generally not attributed).  It's a small reminder of the D&D influence Asian gamers (or I suppose one could say Japanese for at least two of them) actually have had, though looking at the CRPG scene today it should be obvious that it's been far greater than normally acknowledged among the primarily white male populace of the TTRPG scene.In comparison, looking at the 3e OA, or other RPGS that supposedly are centered around Asia but written in the  West, you may occasionally get an Asian contributor acknowledged, but it is rare than some may realize for many games.This does not mean there are no problems with OA (which is not what this thread is really about) but rather that there are much bigger and prevalent difficulties in modern gaming that many would prefer to be addressed and pushed to the forefront to be addressed if issues ARE to be actually considered and addressed.</blockquote>

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