Arrows of Indra - D&D in Mythic India

[Mistwell]

So this new product just came out in PDF, soon to be in hardback, and the first review of it makes it seem pretty interesting and good.

Has anyone bought the PDF, or thought about it?

Seems like an interesting niche setting to explore. Anyone ever played in an India-based campaign?

Here some of the information on it. First, description from the product website:

Description:Arrows of Indra is an RPG based on the original and most popular fantasy roleplaying rules; for old-school heroic fantasy adventure in a world that is exotic and at the same time highly recognizable, Inspired by the Epic Myths of India during the Age of Heroes.

Players take on the roles of brave Kshatriya warriors, disciplined yogis, temple priests, rogues or scouts, assassins of the dark goddess, magic-using Siddhis seeking the mysteries of the universe, playing humans civilized or barbaric, immortal Gandharvas or Yakshas, Vanara monkey-men or half-demonic Rakshasa; and adventure in Naga-filled jungles, fight Asura demons, visit the ruins of ancient Rakshasa empires, seek out the shining treasures of the truly massive Patala Underworld, fight duels for money or honor in the Kalari Arenas, or get caught up in the political and military intrigues of the human Bharata Kingdoms.


It’s the same heroic adventuring you know and love, but with a new and exciting environment. No anthropology, history, theology or linguistics degree required; everything you need to play heroic characters and adventure in the Bharata kingdoms is found right here in this book

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Then, the review



http://greyhawkgrognard.blogspot.com/2013/03/review-arrows-of-indra.html


[h=2]Tuesday, March 12, 2013[/h] Review: Arrows of Indra

Arrows of Indra, written by the RPGPundit and published by Bedrock Games, takes the "standard" 0E rules and uses them as the basis for a game of heroic action set in Vedic India. I confess I've been looking forward to this game since I first heard about it as an adjunct for my own Greyhawk campaign, and (full disclosure) was happy to receive a reviewer copy of the pdf.

Shortest version: I like this game so much that I'll happily plunk down the money for the hard copy version when it becomes available in a few weeks.

There's much here in terms of mechanics that players used to 0E or its descendants will find familiar; there are character classes (priest, priest-shaman, fighter, virakshatriya (a sort of paladin), scout (a sort of ranger), siddhi (magic-user), thief, thugee (assassin), and yogi), character races (the normal fantasy Europe races are not to be found, but we have barbarians, monkey-men, serpent-men, bird-men, and mountain-spirits) with nice bits of Vedic Indian folklore as their bases, and alignment (holy, neutral, and unholy). Nothing feels like a retread of the older material so much as a re-imagining of it because of the new mythological basis, and all is written in a very clear style.

There are new pieces to characters as well, the most significant being caste. It should be unsurprising that caste plays a large role in a game set in a mythological Indian setting, and there are both mechanical (dalits get +1 to CON and -1 to CHA, for instance) and in-game social impacts for each caste; brahmins run the risk of imperiling their family's status if they pursue a career as a warrior, for instance. The importance of family in the setting is strong, and rules for generating one's family are provided to give more background.

Combat is somewhat different than the 0E system, much more in line with modern sensibilities; the basic system is roll+modifiers must beat armor class to hit. There is an extensive section of skills which are linked to each character class; the magical effects of priests and siddhis are treated like the skills of any other class, which certainly makes for a quick, consistent, and easy system for new players.

There are the expected sections of monsters and magic items (both either taken from Indian mythology or Indian-ized versions of familiar D&D examples), but what really sets this work apart is the setting of The Bharata Kingdoms, which is a very gameified and mythologized version of ancient India. For someone like me, whose knowledge of this culture is extremely limited, the presentation of the setting was terrific, familiar enough that I could hang my hat on some things, while at the same time being exotic enough to have a very different feel from most fantasy campaigns. The sections on the Patala Underworld, a sort of cross between the underdark and outer planes, was especially thought-provoking. Rob Conley did the maps, which serve their purpose well and should be easy enough to use during play. There's obviously a lot more in there than can even be mentioned in a brief review, all of it good.

All this is accomplished with what was, for me anyway, just the right amount of foreign terminology and jargon. Too many settings seem to operate under the impression that all it takes to make an exotic setting is to use hundreds of weird names, but that ends up being nothing more than an exercise in frustration for all but the half-dozen die-hard fans who are willing to memorize the glossary. Arrows of Indra avoids that pitfall; a mace is still a mace.

All in all, this is a fantastic game, and for $12.99 for the pdf and $29.99 for the soon-to-be-available softcover (both clocking in at slightly less than 200 pages, with art, maps, and a character sheet) it's a terrific introduction to a lively mythological setting that most people who are used to either Medieval Europe or China/Japan as their default fantasy setting would be well-served to explore.

 

[Mistwell]

OK, so I assume from the silence nobody has seen this product.

So, on a slightly broader subject, has anyone ever set a campaign in or around Ancient India before?

 

[Samloyal23]

There were some articles in Dragon about Indian campaigns and I like the Mahasarpa Campaign. Some others have been done. I am all for expanding beyond the common Eurocentric model for campaign settings...

 

[Schmoe]

This looks really interesting. While this is the first I've heard of it, ever since Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (I know, right?) I've been fascinated by historical India. I might have to check this out now, thanks!

 

[Obryn]

From what I understand it's more "Do you like OD&D? Here's a way to play it in India!" than "Do you like Hindu myths and legends? Here's an RPG for that!"

-O

 

[Mistwell]

From what I understand it's more "Do you like OD&D? Here's a way to play it in India!" than "Do you like Hindu myths and legends? Here's an RPG for that!"

-O

I asked about this, and this is the response I got so far:

Pundit is moving so probably won't be able to give feedback till at least next week. I am stuck on my ipad on the moment, which makes it hard to post more than one or two links. So I will post this page from Pundit's blog where he touches on the concerns raised in the second comment: http://rpgpundit.xanga.com/772311929/item/

I will leave it to Pundit to answer those two comments himself but here is my opinion. It is an OSR game, so the goal wasn't to construct something that was unfamiliar. It uses a recognizeable core structure but does a good job supporting epic India within that framework. I think the book does an excellent job providing important cultural information and bringing the myth into the mechanics. But people need to judge for themselves. 2 GMs 1 Mic talks about the game's strengths in their latest episode. It's worth checking out (I think they mention Indra at about the halfway marks: http://2gms1mic.com/2013/04/02/episode-3-layout/). There are also plenty of reviews up on the RPGNow sales page ad elsewhere.

 

[Obryn]

I asked about this, and this is the response I got so far:

So in other words, that pretty much confirms it. The goal was first to make an OSR game, and second to make a game about India. That's not inherently a criticism, but I think it's an important distinction.

-O

 

[Mistwell]

So in other words, that pretty much confirms it. The goal was first to make an OSR game, and second to make a game about India. That's not inherently a criticism, but I think it's an important distinction.

-O

Here is his reply:

Regarding Obryn's query: "From what I understand it's more "Do you like OD&D? Here's a way to play it in India!" than "Do you like Hindu myths and legends? Here's an RPG for that!""

A: Its kind of in between the two, actually. You have to want to play D&D. It is a D&D-based game. But its not just D&D with a vaguely indian-esque setting, or an Oriental-Adventures-style pastiche of bad asian stereotypes. I would say that if you like hindu myths and legends, and you like D&D, you'll LOVE Arrows of Indra. It is true, that the first priority is that it:
a) be a GAME, and not an academic treatise
b) be a game that is easily playable and recognizable to old-school D&D gamers; however it is not just 1e with indian drag; its had changes made in a big way to skills and magic and even some combat mechanics to reflect the setting; its also had a complete overhaul of the alignment system to fit the Vedic religious concepts; its also got a big social emphasis on things like caste and clan, taboo, and social and religious laws.

Let's put it this way: while the goal is to play an enjoyable D&D experience; it is light-years closer to an authentic emulation of Vedic Epic-India than most D&D settings are to emulating medieval europe, or than any D&D setting before it has been to emulating a non-european setting. This is NOT "oriental adventures: Indian Edition".

RPGPundit