Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Marandahir" data-source="post: 8042899" data-attributes="member: 6803643">In my setting, Eladrin and Elven traditions draw upon different east-asian cultures for cultural inspiration of their various nations, playing off the Katana-like swords and Legolas stunts from the film versions of Lord of the Rings. To that end, when I've wanted to do Eladrin crime syndicates, I've looked to Triads, Tongs, Yakuza, etc for inspiration. That's not to say any of this is 1-1 and I would never try to mimic another real-world culture's affect or create a caricature in this, just that when I'm thinking Elves, I'm also thinking Wuxia and Jidai Geki fiction tropes. Maybe it's the Crouching-Tiger like stunts that Legolas does, most of all, which gave me this connection. Oh, and my Elves aren't as a rule Pale = Good, Dark = Bad, just wanted to caveat this point of reference with that. I realise drawing on any real world culture for reference is fraught ground, so I think the best rule to play by is a 40/60 rule. For every 2 things you do similarly to popular understanding of that culture, do 3 things of similar weight differently. D&D cultures should feel familiar and not alien, but they shouldn't be direct analogs, and the players shouldn't feel like they can just consider "oh, Eladrin are Chinese, High Elves are Yamato, Wood Elves are Ainu, and Dark Elves are Mongolians". That's a REALLY bad way of doing things. But if they all feel vaguely like you can place it, but never feel just like a kitchen soup of Orientalist tropes thrown into a blender, then you're probably doing well. Really, for your answer, take a few hours and watch some really good organized crime films from the cultures you might be taking inspiration from. Don't just mimic the films you watch. Think carefully about what you want to include and what you want to dis-include. You'll find your Eladrin crime syndicate tropes soon enough.</blockquote>

Verification