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.

 

[Mecheon]

There is huge reasons to update Kara Tur, it has a huge fan base, its an important part of FR lore, and a lot of people want it, so there is a market for it, it'll offer Asian communities more representation in D&D, and create D&D jobs for Asian Writers and Artists What else do you need?

I mean, I'd prefer a setting actually designed to make sense in FR and designed to actually incorporate setting ideas into it

A low magic "anything that isn't human is rare and unusual and anti-flying magic is a good defence for a building!" low-magic setting like KT just doesn't work in the same world as "Yeah the gods run around all the time, the goddess of magic is basically a harem anime protag, and high level magic is really common" that is Faerun

Maztica and Kara-Tur were never good fits for Faerun and weren't believable as part of the same world.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

The more I think about, the more they should just go with some multi-ethnic Singapore-like city except turn up some aspects of it.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Of course with the years of experience you realises how to do it, but we shouldn't be too hard with the first attempts.

Asian nations should wellcome the update or return of Kara-Tur because this could help them to promote their own "soft power".

Amateur writters could write their own fanfiction set in some new-brand D&D isekai or xuanhuan setting.

According I read some time some Japanases are creating a new official D&D setting, but this is visually a Western civilitation.

* Hasbro is too interested into otaku community.

* I had forgotten Asian horror, and even if there is an Asian-theme dark domain in Ravenlof 5e.

* This time I say it seriously, if Hasbro could, they would try to acquire the franchise "Legend of the Five Rings". Even I suspect "Adventures in Rokugan" was designed as a "bait".

* How should be the "Spirit Realm" as a new echo plane? Do you suggest any other name?

* How should be the redesign of the korokoburu to be enoughly interesting? And what about the racial traits of the spiritfolk?

Could we see in the future "lung dragonborns"?

* I have got an idea for "isekai" D&D. Let's forget the trope of hit by a truck and reincarnated into a fantasy world. Instead something like the "dark powers" of Ravenloft, but here the "powers" searchs people with a special "spark" in the soul as if they had "pieces" of the spirits of lord feys from ancient ages. Or they were victims of the Phyrexian invasion in Kamigawa(Neon Dinasty).

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I mean, I'd prefer a setting actually designed to make sense in FR and designed to actually incorporate setting ideas into it

A low magic "anything that isn't human is rare and unusual and anti-flying magic is a good defence for a building!" low-magic setting like KT just doesn't work in the same world as "Yeah the gods run around all the time, the goddess of magic is basically a harem anime protag, and high level magic is really common" that is Faerun

Maztica and Kara-Tur were never good fits for Faerun and weren't believable as part of the same world.

Kara Tur is not low magic, several of the bigger more stable empires, Wa and Shou Lung have freakening Spelljammers and Kara Tur has a major Spelljammer port. And Wa has a colony on Garden (a living Plant Planet in Realmspace).

 

[Mecheon]

Kara Tur is not low magic, several of the bigger more stable empires, Wa and Shou Lung have freakening Spelljammers and Kara Tur has a major Spelljammer port. And Wa has a colony on Garden (a living Plant Planet in Realmspace).

Have you read OA? Kara-Tur is low magic. The Spelljammer port was added in later and didn't have any lore building off it or its implications for the wider setting, just slapped in with no concern for the wider worldbuilding

Another part of the "Has not been written into the setting proper" where it'd be better to redo from scratch. Just salvage the names and what few good ideas there are, the setting doesn't fit in FR

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

The spelljammer port could be destroyed in the event of the Sundering, or rebuilt later, or it is top secret and then it can't be used by ordinary civilians.

After Ravenloft you can guess any retcon.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Have you read OA? Kara-Tur is low magic. The Spelljammer port was added in later and didn't have any lore building off it or its implications for the wider setting, just slapped in with no concern for the wider worldbuilding

Another part of the "Has not been written into the setting proper" where it'd be better to redo from scratch. Just salvage the names and what few good ideas there are, the setting doesn't fit in FR

Well with the Spellplague, Sundering, and some kind of war with the Feywild mentioned in 4e dragon article, I think there is plenty of room to amp up the magic of Kara Tur.

 

[Jolly Ruby]

EDIT: This comment was a response to another comment, but I'm dropping the conversation since it's clear it was not productive.

 

[Yenrak]

One historical difficulty is that a lot of people who wanted to play D&D in an Asian-themed setting were not looking to play in a historically or even mythologically accurate version of the continent. They wanted to play the tropes, adventure through a world that largely existed in the western imagination. They were inspired by what is known as Orientalism.

Now we have pretty much declared that a forbidden kind of fun. Or, at least, it is forbidden to sell products catering to the desire to play in Asia-as-imagined-by-Westerners.

But maybe that is also less of an obstacle because a lot of the fantasy-Asias of young people today are informed by Asian-created fantasy through stuff like manga.

I imagine for a lot of younger people, the Last Airbender is probably a big inspiration. Is that culturally sensitive enough? How about Mulan? Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? Juno and the Two Strings? Not a rhetorical question. I don’t know and I’d be curious what others think.

 

[Yenrak]

Sort of tangentially: what is the obsession with East Asian fantasy in the context of D&D anyway? Is it just a trickle down effect of pulp orientalism? If so, maybe we shouldn't be doing it at all? There is no doubt that American popular culture really loves its martial artists, but is that enough to explain it?

I guess I would ask: why is it wrong to sell people products that cater to fans of “pulp orientalism?”

Is that just the wrong kind of fun for people to have? Why?

A very fine answer to this, by the way, is that it is insensitive and hurtful to people or that a lot of the pulp orientalism is too racist.