Expanded Oriental Adventures

[JoeGKushner]

Would you happen to know which issue?

I think it's 319 for the regional feats no?

But those regional feats, despite some of 'em being updated, didn't do a whole lot. +1 to two skills as opposed to say, +3, as it's a regional one.

I'd also like to see the mosnter section expanded and updated, especially with advanced and templated examples.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

The monsters in that book were exceptionally cool.

I would be for it. Buy one for me and for my friends.

 

[Treebore]

Since I played a character to epic level in OA/Rokugan and then came to like L5R I would just stay with Rokugan as my "base" for an OA campaign. Now other books that stress the cultural differences of other cultures would be of interest to me. I would probably even use Kara-tur material, since it should be distinctly different from Rokugan. Maybe make Kara-tur the unknown lands to the north. A similar, but different land that split off centuries ago, for whatever reasons. Probably political/religious.

So even though I wouldn't use anything put out by WOTC "as is", I would definitely look at using it and adapting it to Rokugan's history, to flesh out the rest of the unexplored world of Rokugan.

Maybe AEG would then do rules to adopt the cultural based classes in the new WOTC settings to the L5R system, so I can have the best of both gaming systems.

 

[Klaus]

I don't have Eberron, is there a place it would fit in there? Since Kara Tur is established as part of FR I would think notes for there would be more natural.

The most you can have are notes on how to include a class or a feat. The entire planet has been mapped (meaning, all the continents are there) and Eberron makes a point of not mimicking any real-world culture (unlike FR).

 

[Mokona]

As I understood it 3rd edition Oriental Adventures tried to cover India, China, Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia. There is a lot more material that could be covered there so more material about OA games would be great.

Revised and improved 3.5 game mechanics for shapeshifters (OA had a shifter-type prestige class), ninjas (similar to Complete Adventurer or a new version), martial arts, alternate monks, etc would be welcome.

Kara-Tur would work (but it better be Greyhawk's Kara-Tur) but a better idea would be campaign modules for each world (Faerun, Eberron, Oerth, Krynn) similar to the method used in D20 Modern with Shadow Chasers.

 

[Staffan]

I think it would be a darn shame to release a revised OA before visiting some other exotic cultures, notably fantasy Arabia. If choosing between Kara-Tur and Al-Qadim, I'd take Al-Qadim any day of the week, and twice on Sundays.

 

[Tonguez]

I liked Kara-Tur but hated Rokugan so I think updating the OA to be more generic Eastern (Kara-Tur) would be cool. Japan is too specific as a culture, China makes better sense as a generic background because of its huge historical influence on the rest of Asia and because to most Westerners Asia and China are pretty much synonomous on a generic level (no offense meant to all the wonderful cultures of Asia). I'd love to see that with short entries on cultural adaptions - Japan, Vietnam, Korea, Mongolia, Thailand etc etc

Mahasarpa might fit but I think India is a big enough place that it deserves its own setting and book

Al-Qadim would be way cool

Now where to put the Pacific Islands is a bit problematic since the cultures are different enough that the OA rules don't fit (without major adaption). I wonder if the Nyambe rules fit better?

 

[Kobold Avenger]

What makes Kara-Tar better than Rokugan is the range of nations and cultures. There's:
Imperial China = Shou Lung
An unstable China = Tu Lung
A Warring Japan = Kozakura
Strictly Regimented Japan = Island of Wa
Tibet & Nepal = Tabot
Korea = Koryo
Siberia = The Northern Wastes
Mongolia = The Plain of Horses/ Hordelands
Thailand/ Vietnam/ Indonesia/ Cambodia = Jungle Lands
Philipines/ Indonesia = Island Kingdoms

Plus there were some nations in the Hordelands setting which resembled India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and related areas of central asia, with possibly a bit of the ancient kingdom of Samarkand thrown in...

 

[JoeGKushner]

In looking at Kara-Tur, I just thought that since AEG was doing their own L5R with it's own system again, it's time to bring OA back to it's roots.

 

[Li Shenron]

What makes Kara-Tar better than Rokugan is the range of nations and cultures. There's:
Imperial China = Shou Lung
An unstable China = Tu Lung
A Warring Japan = Kozakura
Strictly Regimented Japan = Island of Wa
Tibet & Nepal = Tabot
Korea = Koryo
Siberia = The Northern Wastes
Mongolia = The Plain of Horses/ Hordelands
Thailand/ Vietnam/ Indonesia/ Cambodia = Jungle Lands
Philipines/ Indonesia = Island Kingdoms

Plus there were some nations in the Hordelands setting which resembled India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and related areas of central asia, with possibly a bit of the ancient kingdom of Samarkand thrown in...

I knew nothing about Kara-Tur before I read your post (except that it was somewhere east of Faerun ).

I really like the Rokugan setting, it has become one of my favourite nowdays.

Nevertheless from your post it really looks like Kara-Tur would have made much more sense than Rokugan as the 3.0 OA's example settings.

Even Rokugan would have benefitted from that choice, since instead you need to buy both OA and RCS to play it... but more than half OA isn't part of Rokugan, and even part of what is supposed to be part of it is later completely replaced by the "real" Rokugan setting. :\