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.

 

[Gradine]

Other point is we are in 2024 and it is totally from 80's. We are in the age of internet, and now the soft power by Asian nations work in other way. You can read webcomics and webnovels, or play videogames.

What in the world did they do to my boy Ma Chao?

Going to be honest - I think every D&D setting is pretty much improved by adding trains. I genuinely think D&D works a bit better in a semi-industrialized society - it's just D&D doesn't work well with guns.

Reason #3515 that Eberron is the best setting.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

My suggestion for a new setting created by Asians could be a Hasbro/WotC self-publishing web style Shōsetsuka ni Narō. Of course lots of stories will be about people who died in our world and they were reincarnated within a novel, an otome videogame or a MMO.

How should be the racial traits of the spiritfolk?

What is the difference between the Feywild and the Spirit Realm?

I don't say "Adventures in Rokugan" in D&D Beyond wasn't totally impossible, we can't know it, but the new classes have got special game mechanics and they were designed to be played with the rest of classes.

I guess the safest bet, with lowest level of risk, will be a sourcebook style Moderkainen Monsters of Multiverse, focuses maing in some new PC species and monsters mainly.

Other option could be spelljammers from Kara-Tur don't travel through the Astral Sea but within the Spirit Realm, because this could allow new zones to be discovered and explored by the PCs. This also could explain the reason because there are "chop-suey" towns where different cultures are togethers, they are trade cosmopolis when the people from Kara-Tur are only visitors or inmigrants.

Organizations in Kara-Tur

forgottenrealms.fandom.com

* If you add the firearms, then somebody will want to add the ones from d20 Past.

 

[Nymrod]

My perception of 5E campaign material is that it is far more light on lore than older editions so I don't think we'd ever get the history connections between Faerun and the other continents anyway. Interestingly Kara-Tur actually does have at least some canon connections in the distant past given that the Shou civilization is essentially one of the successors of Imaskar and the Shou have a lot of Imaskari magic. And then there is the question of whether they'd even keep the Living Jungle material (which I assume would not be liked by cultural consultants).

 

[Ancalagon]

All they have to do is hire a culture consultant or 3. It isn't that hard.

I hear Hiroyuki Sanada is pretty good

 

[Yaarel]

How should be the racial traits of the spiritfolk?

What is the difference between the Feywild and the Spirit Realm?

The Ethereal Plane and its stuff made out of ether (ethereal force) is the "spirit realm".


5e implies and my games make explicit:

Feywild is the part of the Ethereal Plane that attunes the Positive Energy Plane: Positive Ether infused by vibrant energy.

Shadowfell is the part of the Ethereal Plane that attunes the Negative Void Plane: Negative Ether unraveling into nothingness.

Shadow creatures often siphon off energy from living creatures, vampirically, in an attempt to avoid dissipating into oblivion. Fey creatures are an energetic embarrassment of riches. Cosmically, the Shadowfell functions as a place of rest where the part of the soul that is anxious about the world can rest in peace, and the other parts of the soul can move on to reincarnation or enlightenment, or both.


The energy vibrations of ether are at different frequencies, sotospeak, high energy and low energy. They pass thru each other while unaware of each other. Even when both Fey and Shadow overlap the Material world, they perceive its energies very differently. Fey sees the world overflowing with life and vividness and hopeful possibilities. Shadow sees the world with death and disintegration and gloom of wasted opportunities while alive. Both Fey and Shadow can enter the Ethereal Plane (the neutral Elemental-oriented aspect) and interact with each other there.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Not that the idea of non-eurpean settings is a bad one. If anything, they would be a breath of freash air.

Make. Something. New.

The Radiant Citadel's civilizations are right there and they're very good. Umizu, Yongjing, Siabsungkoh, Yeonido, Shankhabhumi, Dayawlongon. All just BEGGING to be fleshed out with more adventures, more monsters, some character options. Each of which itself is SO MUCH BETTER than remaking what some folks in the 80's thought was a compelling "asian" setting.

One of the huge advantages is that they are specific and narrow things, not meant to be representative of any real earth culture. Yongjing is pretty Imperial Chinese, for instance, but it's not trying to be all of China in every era and represent that as an archetype (which can veer very close to stereotype). Yongjing has its own things going on. Quests for immortality, courtly politics, old ruins, deep bureaucracy...

When I ran my Spelljammer game, I was updating some old material, and the Shou from Kara-Tur have a minor but kind of interesting role in the setting. I just replaced them whole hog with Yongjing, since it made sense to me that a culture that was pursuing immortality would really be compelled to explore the timeless Astral Sea, and Yongjing has a lot more going for it than 80's orientalism.

 

[CleverNickName]

Considering that some of the advantages of early gunpowder weapons over bows/crossbows aren't even considered in D&D, I don't really see any reason to invent an entirely fictional disadvantage to make them even less desirable.

Well, it's either that or invent an entirely fictional advantage over crossbows to make them even more desirable. Because honestly, who wants to use a weapon that doesn't work in the rain and has a 10-round reload time? So I just reskin the crossbows and call it "close enough for D&D."

 

[Shades of Eternity]

I think ultramodern 5 had the right idea.

Guns are okayish, but you get most of your abilities that make them terrifying can from your class, so the level gauge stays intact

 

[Bluenose]

Well, it's either that or invent an entirely fictional advantage over crossbows to make them even more desirable. Because honestly, who wants to use a weapon that doesn't work in the rain and has a 10-round reload time? So I just reskin the crossbows and call it "close enough for D&D."

It's not as if rain is great for conventional bows (crossbows, since they sometimes had a steel "string", are a different matter). And it's also an exaggeration to say black powder weapons "don't work in the rain", even matchlocks are usable although you'll get more misfires.

From a military point of view, there's plenty of advantages to firearms over bows/crossbows. But they're mostly things that don't matter (or at least aren't considered) in D&D. Logistics, effectiveness late in a campaign when half the archers are too sick or starved to pull their bows properly, simpler training - none of that matters to an individual adventurer, but does when an army is being outfitted.

 

[Shardstone]

The Radiant Citadel's civilizations are right there and they're very good. Umizu, Yongjing, Siabsungkoh, Yeonido, Shankhabhumi, Dayawlongon. All just BEGGING to be fleshed out with more adventures, more monsters, some character options. Each of which itself is SO MUCH BETTER than remaking what some folks in the 80's thought was a compelling "asian" setting.

One of the huge advantages is that they are specific and narrow things, not meant to be representative of any real earth culture. Yongjing is pretty Imperial Chinese, for instance, but it's not trying to be all of China in every era and represent that as an archetype (which can veer very close to stereotype). Yongjing has its own things going on. Quests for immortality, courtly politics, old ruins, deep bureaucracy...

When I ran my Spelljammer game, I was updating some old material, and the Shou from Kara-Tur have a minor but kind of interesting role in the setting. I just replaced them whole hog with Yongjing, since it made sense to me that a culture that was pursuing immortality would really be compelled to explore the timeless Astral Sea, and Yongjing has a lot more going for it than 80's orientalism.

Great points. Not expounding on Radiant Citadel's settings in favor of Kara-Tur would really suck. I don't care about Kara-Tur. I don't like it, the name, the old books I've read about it, the old mechanics it had, or its adventures. Nothing about Kara-Tur feels authentic or quality to me. Just my taste on the work itself.

Radiant Citadel had about a dozen non-European settings, many of which were coded to different parts of Asia, and all of which are in connection via the Citadel itself. It would be great to have an expanded Radiant Citadel book; give players a way to build the city and GMs a way to run the politics and drama in it + expanding each of the smaller settings with another 2-3 adventures.