D&D 5E Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks Would Like To Explore Kara-Tur

According to Reddit poster bwrusso, who was in a small group investor meeting with Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks last week, Hasbro's CEO (who was previously President of Wizards of the Coast before being promoted to his current position) currently plays in a Kara-Tur campaign and would personally like to see that setting explored further.

Kara-Tur is part of the Forgotten Realms, and is inspired by real-world East and Southeast Asia cultures, including China, Japan, Mongolia, and other regions. It was originally published in the 1985 book Oriental Adventures, and has since appeared in other formats including a boxed set in 1988. Eight adventure modules for the setting were published in the late 80s. In 2015's Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, Kara-Tur is briefly described.

Cocks also touched on Spanish-language translations of D&D books in Latin America, and indicated that there were distribution issues with former licensing agreements in that region.

 

[tetrasodium]

All of those things are already present in most D&D settings.

The Taisho era as presented in Demon Slayer really isn't a million miles from Eberron, in terms of technology and culture, because they're both sort of turn of the 20th century vibes in a lot of ways.

Yes they often are, but what does going from the things☆ something like the edo period(1603-1868) brings if you are going to leap past stuff like the meji era(1868-1912) straight to something like the taisho era(1912-1926) bring to a d&d setting? Since I don't know what the taisho period would add as an improvement relevant to my d&d experience I asked.

☆see 151 for a few examples

 

[bedir than]

it has a huge fan base,

is there evidence of this?

 

[Henadic Theologian]

is there evidence of this?

Yes, the fact that dispite being out print for over 30 years and ignored for nearly as long 1e Kara Tur is a Platunium best seller. And OA is a Mithiril seller.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

New settings. New ideas. New designs. Innovation. Creativity. Wonder.

Updating Kara Tur can use new ideas, some new designs,plenty of innovation, creativity, and wonder.

 

[mach1.9pants]

OA was an inspiring book, I hope it is redone, and redone well. It will be hard for WotC to do, as they are scrutinized much more* as the 500lb gorilla, but I hope they rise to the challenge!

* Rightly so

 

[bedir than]

Yes, the fact that dispite being out print for over 30 years and ignored for nearly as long 1e Kara Tur is a Platunium best seller. And OA is a Mithiril seller.

and yet neither are in the top 100.

We're talking purchases in the tens of thousands with more than ten million active players

 

[Undrave]

You don't really have to damn the canon, its been a hundred+ years and multiple cosmos altering Realms Shaking Events later, outside of place names and very basic nation core ideas, you have a varietble blank slate. Seriously since the last Kara Tur box set I think you've had the Time of Troubles, what ever weird event caused 3e's cosmological changes, the Spellplague, and the Sundering, plus the weird naughty word Vecna is currently doing and the Obilesks.

And, let's be honest, how many people even know that much about the old lore? Settings are already niche to begin with and an old one that's a spin off of another is probably even more niche. As long as the big stuff people vaguely remember is still there and it's actually COOL, I bet only nerds will complain about changes to the lore.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

and yet neither are in the top 100.

We're talking purchases in the tens of thousands with more than ten million active players

No dmsguild product gets millions of purchases, only core books get that. Make your expectations realistic.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

And, let's be honest, how many people even know that much about the old lore? Settings are already niche to begin with and an old one that's a spin off of another is probably even more niche. As long as the big stuff people vaguely remember is still there and it's actually COOL, I bet only nerds will complain about changes to the lore.

I doubt even lore nerds won't complain unless WotC does something truely horrible, so no worries.

 

[Shades of Eternity]

I want to see a horror thailand/cambodia/laos/vietnam game because apparently in the 80's it was basically eastern transylvania and i'd love to see what they can do in this design space.