D&D General D&D Releases New Japanese Campaign 'Oni’s Right Hand'

There's a new Dungeons & Dragons adventure in town--covertly announced on LinkedIn by Hasbro/WotC Japan's brand manager--designed for the Japanese market. It's designed to draw in new players in Japan, and is not currently available internationally.

The adventure is called Oni's Right Hand, and features 5 pre-generated characters from the land of Kara-Tur, the East Asian themed continent in the Forgotten Realms setting, lying to the east of Faerûn. The setting originally appeared in 1985's Oriental Adventures, before getting its own boxed set in 1988. Other than a brief description in 2015's Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, Kara-Tur has not featured in D&D 5E.

Oni's Right Hand is not actually set in Kara-Tur; it's set in Phandelin. A cursed glove from Kara-Tur, known as Oni's Claw, arrives in the town and sets the adventure in motion.

The character sheets are illustrated by Toshiaki Takayama, translated by Masaki Yanagida, and voice actors like Ayana Taketatsu and Tomori Kusunoki bring them to life in the video announcement which you can view on LinkedIn.

When D&D Meets Japan…!

We’re thrilled to introduce an original Japanese adventure campaign: “Oni’s Right Hand.”

Set in the bustling trading town of Phandalin, a cursed glove from the East arrives - and when the sealed “Oni’s Claw” is unleashed, eerie, monstrous shadows begin to creep into the town.

This campaign features five original Japanese-style characters from Kara-Tur, complete with pre-generated character sheets,designed by renowned illustrator Toshiaki Takayama and D&D translator Masaki Yanagida, and brought to life by popular voice talents including Ayana Taketatsu and Tomori Kusunoki.

The response from Japanese fans has been overwhelmingly positive.
D&D’s global appeal lies in its ability to embrace diverse cultural styles, and we’re proud to see Japan’s unique creative spirit seamlessly integrated into the world of D&D.
By weaving traditional Japanese themes into gameplay, we hope not only to delight existing fans, but also to grow the community and welcome new players in Japan.

To support this, Learn-to-Play (LTP) sessions for “Oni’s Right Hand” will begin in Japan this August.

WotC Japan Brand Manager Himmy T confirmed on LinkedIn that they were exploring options for global availability.

 

[Distracted DM]

Fun fact these books did in fact have cultural consultants.

When you say "these books" are you referring to these new ones? Cuz I'm sure they do! Good
When I said "past books" I was referring to stuff like Oriental Adventures plus older, TSR-era content.

 

[Remathilis]

The adventures I remember best featured an ninja attack on The Inn of the Globe Fish in the mountains in winter, trapped in by snow.

A Japanese style castle with ghosts and a talking carp down a well. People talked about that for decades (ran it in college), and my college friend who grew up in Japan liked it.

And exploring a tropical island with ruins and an undead King Kong.

Classes I remember were:
F: Samurai, Bushi, Kensai
C: Shukenja
T: Yakuza, Ninja
MU: Wu-Jen

I don’t know the origins of Wu-Jen, but the rest are Japan inspired.

Wu-Jen has no origin. It is a literal translation of "magic + user" using Chinese, and is vaguely based on different sorcerers in Asian myth.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

The art is really nice.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

This post, along with this earlier post... All I can say is... Kara-Tur Confirmed!

 

[Azzy]

The adventures I remember best featured an ninja attack on The Inn of the Globe Fish in the mountains in winter, trapped in by snow.

A Japanese style castle with ghosts and a talking carp down a well. People talked about that for decades (ran it in college), and my college friend who grew up in Japan liked it.

And exploring a tropical island with ruins and an undead King Kong.

Classes I remember were:
F: Samurai, Bushi, Kensai
C: Shukenja

I get a laugh looking back at OA, they spelled "kensei" and "shugenja" wrong.

T: Yakuza, Ninja
MU: Wu-Jen

There was also a retread of the monk and barbarian classes.

I don’t know the origins of Wu-Jen, but the rest are Japan inspired.

@Remathilis has it right about the wu-jen in their post.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Today in 2025 it is different, because Japan has got the stronger "soft power" thanks manga and anime but South-Korea is earning, and China is starting despite the burden of censorship. Now somebody who knows xuanhuan fiction can understand the term "cultivator".
And currently the isekai subgenre may be a too hard influence for modern players. I could bet somebody want to use some virtual HUD.
And even hiring cultural consultants may be not enough, because even members of the same family could have got different points of view about their own fatherland.

An official Kara-Tur is possible. The easiest option could be an update of the PC species (spiritfolk, hengeyokai, vanara..) a chapter about the different nations of the continent and a the chapter about monsters. But a sourcebook about player options would need more work, not only about subclasses but also WotC has to choose if the update Kara-Tur is going to allow space for "special" classes. It would be a too good opportunit to introduce those possible new classes, like the totemist shaman (incarnum), swordsage, warblade and crusader(martial adepts).

And the new wuxia videogames.

 

[Weiley31]

Maybe they're trying to make Phandalin like D&D's Tatooine. An insignificant backwater, yet somehow everything important passes through there at some point.

Well it's located in The Sword Coast, and if you decide to set your campaign during the time of Neverwinter's Restoration, then you can easily establish Phandalin as one of those "Highway Rest Stops" Making it get a surge of population in recent years from everybody making their way to help out Neverwinter.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Now we should remember a lot of time has passed and the continent could be affected by the spellplague and the Sundering. Not only there are different rulers in the throne but some frontiers could be altered because military conflicts.

I don't like the Spirit-Realm to be only the same Feywild with a different name, something like the "Reikai" (spirit world) from Kamigawa setting. In the spirit-realm you should find kami instead feys. Do you know the videogame "Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess"?

I imagine a hobgoblin subrace who is more integrated into Karaturian societies

Would be possible a goliath subrace with ogre-mage origins?

 

[Henadic Theologian]

When you say "these books" are you referring to these new ones? Cuz I'm sure they do! Good
When I said "past books" I was referring to stuff like Oriental Adventures plus older, TSR-era content.

It was either OA or Kara Tur Box Set. Maybe both.

 

[Weiley31]

Do you know the videogame "Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess"?

Great game. Gotta resume my second playthrough and max out the remaining masks.