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.

 

[Yaarel]

As if we accepted Wikipedia as an Arbiter of Cultural Truth?

"In some contexts" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, without being clear about what those contexts are. I am not sure RPG setting materials is one of those contexts.

And, we could even note that "part of the West" is easily read as a political distinction rather than a cultural one.

But all that is neither here nor there. More basically - Japan and Korea and India (and we here on the boards) don't really need you to do the job of categorizing their cultures for us. Stepping in to do that job unbidden is not itself the height of cultural sensitivity.

The West comprises diverse cultures. They arent culturally the same. But what these cultures share in common is human rights and personal freedoms, along with democracy. Plus, they tend to be "modern" in the sense of technology, urban economy, and so on.

It is the academics of the human sciences that categorize these cultures for us, including the academics from these cultures. It comes up in discussions about human rights, for example.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

It will be challenging to square the circle of engaging in the cultural sources respectfully while still trying to call back to the old material. If you have to make only one side truly happy, better to err on respecting cultural sources. It is future proofing if you think about it.

No, I suspect it will be fairly easy. Some cultural consultants to polish each of the nations, a lot of it will be minor stuff that most folks won't notice, little details.

Their is even space to add some new nations or set a couple of Radiant Citadel nations on Kara Tur. Th9e OG Kara Tur was actually supposed to have a Fantasy Sri Lanka, but they ran out of time.

The bare bones are the nations Shou Lung (Fantasy China A), Tu Lung (Fantasy China B), Wa (Fantasy Japan A) , Kozakura (Fantasy Japan B), Koung Kingdom (Fantasy Hindu Cambodia), (
), Koyro (Fantasy Korea), Tabot (Fantasy Tibet), Ama Basin (Fantasy Siberia), Purang, Laothan, Bawa, Bertan, Hoardlands (fantasy Mongolia), its been 100 years since and not all the land has been detailed so you can add to it, so you can add what you want to these nations. Want add Tieflings, Dragonborn, Dwarves, Halflings, Gnomes, Orcs, Elves, Aasimar, and Goliaths to Kara Tur there is is a over a 100 years a multiple cosmic catacysms to play with. They have a lot of freedom.

 

[CleverNickName]

The real question is: Why make this?
What attracts you to the setting? Is it the cultures that inspired the tropes or is it the tropes?

For me? I have nothing against the current assumptions in the hobby (vaguely European, vaguely Medieval or Renaissance, vaguely Tolkien), but I like to see it expanded, maybe mix it up a bit. I think it would be fun to explore the mythology and history of feudal Japan. And who knows? If this does well, maybe we can also see Mesoamerican, Arabian, African, and more.

Representation is important, too. I'd like to see more non-European cultures represented in D&D, and represented more fully. It would benefit the whole hobby (more stories for everyone!) if it's done respectfully. Nobody wants D&D to end up looking like Coachella.*


*I'm sure somebody does, ugh

 

[EthanSental]

We tried a Kara-Tur adventure back with 1e/2e and struggled making it feel different with the honor system but being that young I think we were really trying to emulate those old school king-fu movies in feel. Had fun with it none the less.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Genuine question. Maybe I'm just not as well-read with Faerun as I thought. Where is there a North African analog in the setting? I'm sincerely interested as my wife is Moroccan.

Mulhorand is an Egyptian Colony of sorts. The Shaar is Fantasy African Savannah, there are various black majority nations like Turmish, Samarach, Thindol, etc..., not sure what RL nation s they are most like.

 

[Argyle King]

While a company might ask that question, it probably isn't the question we ought to concern ourselves with.

For us, a better question might be what level of effort was made to connect the game materials to the actual culture that inspired them?

For example: Three middle-aged white guys with wikipedia, several katanas on their walls, and a big anime library is probably not what we want to see behind such a product.

Could just use AI

That cuts out the problem of someone feeling as though the wrong people wrote the material.

 

[CleverNickName]

We tried a Kara-Tur adventure back with 1e/2e and struggled making it feel different with the honor system but being that young I think we were really trying to emulate those old school king-fu movies in feel. Had fun with it none the less.

The optional Honor system in the 5E DMG is pretty fun, but yeah...it's mostly just a veneer. If they go with Kara-Tur, I hope they give us a more robust mechanic.

 

[CleverNickName]

Could just use AI

That cuts out the problem of someone feeling as though the wrong people wrote the material.

That's not the problem, though. The problem is that they could end up produce something unappealing to their consumer base (at best), or blatantly racist (at worst), and they lose money and customers because of it. Being able to later point at an algorithm and say "don't blame us, blame AI!" won't fix it.

 

[Reynard]

While a company might ask that question, it probably isn't the question we ought to concern ourselves with.

I was asking from the perspective of the company.

For us, a better question might be what level of effort was made to connect the game materials to the actual culture that inspired them?

Or not. Avoid gamifying the culture at all.

For example: Three middle-aged white guys with wikipedia, several katanas on their walls, and a big anime library is probably not what we want to see behind such a product.

I don't think "we" have a unified desire for such a product, and as I said previously, this is going to be a product aimed at a Western, largely American* audience, and so it is needs to be accurate and sensitive as, say, Avatar.

*I assume. I realize now that I don't actually know what the distribution of WotC products looks like internationally.

 

[Reynard]

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?