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.

 

[Stormonu]

I was excited for Kara-Tur back when it came out, but the books were so dry I never ended up using them. Likewise, the map seemed too much of a cut & paste of actual Asia for my liking (which is weird, considering how much I like 7th Sea). I much preferred Rokugan of the L5R game - though not its 3E incarnation.

I'd like to see the likes of Maztica*, Al-Qadim* and Kara-Tur revisited (as well as an Africa setting - which was touched on in various articles in Dragon) , but with it being far less identifiable as not-real world counterparts. The more fantastic, the better for my purposes.

* I have some 3PP covering these, but I'm always open to WotC giving it a go themselves - after they do Dark Sun, of course.

 

[Yaarel]

Maybe we could get an Asian inspired setting that isn't actually trying to present fantasy China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, etc... Maybe we could create something new that doesn't have the inherent potential to land badly (to give the generous prediction).

Make. Something. New.

I would love a mythologically accurate Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam, etcetera.

D&D game rules introduce constraints, such as trying to fit concepts within a D&D planar worldview and dividing powers by tiers. But creative finesse should allow a reasonable approximation.

A Border Ether or a "Border Feywild" that overlaps the Material Plane, can be useful for certain animistic concepts.

 

[Oofta]

Which cultures require the hiring of grifters- sorry, cultural sensitivity consultants, because D&D has been misrepresenting European culture for 50 years.

But the misrepresentation of European cultures was misrepresenting culture as it existed hundreds if not thousands of year ago. Most people in western culture (especially in the US) have only vague ideas of the historical context and beliefs. In addition, for the most part it has always been done in a relatively positive light. Far different from using themes from cultures that still hold those beliefs or at least consider them very important to their cultural identity.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Hypothetically, if a project written by an "author of Asian descent" still includes the same material, is it considered less offensive?

Perhaps. Take for example the difference in perception between the Moonshaes and Maztica. Same author using the same methodology, one gets a pass and the other doesn't.

 

[bedir than]

Welcome to the world-spanning mono-culture culturally-insensitive Forgotten Realms deities.

One can even call the Forgotten Realms mono-culture deities, Zeus or Isis. Names dont matter. It all works exactly the same, regardless.

Except there are places where those gods have little to no worship, like al-Qadim and Kara-Tur

 

[Umbran]

Welcome to the world-spanning mono-culture culturally-insensitive Forgotten Realms deities.

The person who just unilaterally asserted that several Asian countries were "Western" maybe isn't in a great place to complain about cultural insensitivity.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Kara Tur and Forgotten Realms featured an entire invading Horde and a Crusade.

I was referring to European Colonialism, not Mongolian colonism. There are no Faerun colonies in Kara Tur, although Faerun is really more then just Europe, its a mix of Reinannance and classical Europe, North African, West Asian cultures, and Indian Subconinient cultures.

Actually there is some colonial between Faerun and Kara Tur, but its Kara Tur colonizing Faerun, aka Nathlan.

 

[Professor Murder]

Hypothetically, if a project written by an "author of Asian descent" still includes the same material, is it considered less offensive?

I would expect that how "the same" the material was would be the deciding factor. While the connection the creators have to cultural inspirations do matter a good deal, in an ideal world, they are also knowledgeable.

 

[Yaarel]

The person who just unilaterally asserted that several Asian countries were "Western" maybe isn't in a great place to complain about cultural insensitivity.

For example, from Wikipedia "Western World".

"Despite being located in the Far East, a country like Japan, in some contexts, is considered a part of the West as it aligns with the ideals of Western-style democracy."

 

[CleverNickName]

Which cultures require the hiring of grifters- sorry, cultural sensitivity consultants, because D&D has been misrepresenting European culture for 50 years.

All of them, in some way...but especially those that are intended to represent marginalized peoples and minorities.

Easy with that "grifter" pejorative. I don't think you're using it correctly.