Eliminating Eastern Flavor From D&D?

[pawsplay]

But its a fantasy game, it can be anything the group wants. Plus it is a world completely seperate from our own, where history isn't rooted in the same past. It would be possible to conceive of a Europe that developed gunpowder, for example, on its own. A fantasy campaign setting does not have to be a perfect reflection of real world history.

Yes, but the OP does not say, "Help me do anything I want." It says, "I want to remove all Eastern influences because there is no Far East in my campaign." The problem is that is that if you remove China and Japan and India, what is left cannot possibly be Germany or Turkey or Ethiopia.

 

[ProfessorPain]

Yes, but the OP does not say, "Help me do anything I want." It says, "I want to remove all Eastern influences because there is no Far East in my campaign." The problem is that is that if you remove China and Japan and India, what is left cannot possibly be Germany or Turkey or Ethiopia.

But it is an imaginary fantasy world where the evolution of real cultures need not matter. I have a degree in history, so it is important to me; but you have to recognize this isn't real world history. We are dealing with analogs that can develop every aspect of their culture independently. You do not need a Chinese analog so that your German Analog can develope the printing press or gun powder. The same logic applies to personalities as well. There is no Aristotle in most game worlds; but you can still have a system of ethics based on his notion of man finding his "specific function". There is Jesus in most fantasy settings, but you can still have knights fighting holy wars in the name of a man who was crucified by a state that wasn't the Roman empire.

I think you are reading too much into the way the OP phrased his question. There is no far east; fine, he doesn't want samurai and ninjas; but I don't think he is concerned about things that came about as a result of interactions between the east and the west. He said no eastern flavor "in the classes or mechanics" to me that means he wants to chuck the katana and keep the silk.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

I like how the OP hasn't shown up once since the actual original post was made.

And I LOVE their avatar in comparison to this thread.

 

[Darrell]

Yes, but the OP does not say, "Help me do anything I want." It says, "I want to remove all Eastern influences because there is no Far East in my campaign." The problem is that is that if you remove China and Japan and India, what is left cannot possibly be Germany or Turkey or Ethiopia.

I will agree with other posters in that it sounds to me, as if you're being deliberately obtuse, either to show off your "asian Jeopardy" skills or simply for the sake of arguing.

It's evident from even a cursory reading of the original post that the poster simply wished to eliminate obviously "oriental" asian bits from his/her game, and wanted help in determining specific areas to consider for elimination. Pointing out every single instance of eastern influence on western culture or on D&D is not only unhelpful, but actually obstructive.

It is unnecessary to assume the nonexistence of pepper, or paper, or coinage, or elephants, or gold dragons (prior to 3.X, incidentally, most D&D depictions of gold dragons weren't asian-esque serpentine dragons - they were just regular 'winged lizard-y' dragons that happened to have gold scales). Just assume that those things were developed in the 'normal' areas of the game world. You live in the Kingdom of Qwertyuiop (analgous to medieval England)? Ages ago, someone in that kingdom decided to coin precious metals as a convenient means to carry disposable wealth. Pepper and paper come from the Empire of Zxcvbnm to the immediate south, an analogy of medieval France. There! You have your material items available without having traditional 'asian stuff' all over the place.

I also eliminated 'oriental' asian stuff from my game - primarily because I don't find it at all interesting; but I didn't necessarily lose all asian-influenced material - just that which was jarringly 'asian/wuxia.' No ninja/samurai/monk. No katana/nunchaku/kung fu/karate/'wire fu'.

It's not brain surgery. The original poster simply wants to play D&D without dealing with 'traditionally-asian' material...as do I, for that matter.

 

[Rechan]

I like how the OP hasn't shown up once since the actual original post was made.

The original poster has shown up

Once
Twice
Thrice

since the first post was made.

But hey, who's counting?

 

[ProfessorCirno]

The original poster has shown up

Once
Twice
Thrice

since the first post was made.

But hey, who's counting?

Not me, apparently

 

[Gentlegamer]

or gold dragons (prior to 3.X, incidentally, most D&D depictions of gold dragons weren't asian-esque serpentine dragons - they were just regular 'winged lizard-y' dragons that happened to have gold scales).

In the original Monster Manual, the Gold Dragon has the genus Draco Orientalus Sino Dux, and the illustration is of an oriental serpentine dragon.

 

[pawsplay]

If gold dragons are in, I can't imagine what's out.

 

[Orius]

Let's take the exercise in the absurd to its conclusion:

You also should remove all the Core books because they are written in the English language,.

Better yet, they're written in the Roman alphabet, which had its ultimate origins in the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, which itself was derived from Babylonian cuneiform. So they clearly have to go.

Ahem. Indo-European.

There's that too. Proto-Indo-European culture may have originated in Asia, so to be on the safe side, only European cultures predating Indo-European cultures may be used, i.e., the Picts.

- umber hulk, rust monster, and bulette (all of Chinese origin)

That's funny.

I think when he said Eastern, he didn't mean the Middle East.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was the point. Removing everything we take for granted in western society that originated somewhere in Asia is an absurd extreme. Likely, the OP wants something that resembles medieval Europe, so yes there will be stuff like clerics and the like, never mind that Christianity originated in Asia, since there's a certain flavor to maintain.

Probably the OP is looking for a traditional sort of D&D game, though really there've always been the Far Eastern influences, with the monk originaing in Blackmoor, a number of very Far Eastern or Indian monsters present in the game since the early days, etc.

Although am I the only one who thinks this topic is kinda funny coming from a user with an anime avatar?

That thought had crossed my mind as well.

And I think we scared the OP away.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

What about the reincarnate spell? Has that been mentioned?

Whole things does seem silly though since D&D doesn't assume a far east. There just...are monks. And ninjas. And samurai. The samurai could be the upper echelon of the dwarven warrior culture. The ninjas (and arabian assassins, for that matter) a specialized unit in any large theives' guild. Monks...ok, monks are weird.

I applaud pawsplay for listing out the vast array of items that would need to be removed from a game to have a historically accurate "no eastern influences" setting. Until the OP describes what exactly that means, we can only assume what he meant.

To add to the list: the concept of zero a a regular number. 0 (number) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The compass.
The repeating crossbow (the ancient Greeks may have had a repeating ballista, though) Repeating crossbow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Composite bows.

I wanted to say pasta, but apparently the Marco Polo story is only a legend.