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]

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.

I prefer to use Charisma mechanics to quantify an honor system. An "honor/shame" culture (plus innocence/guilt and power/fear) applies to Europe to.

 

[Oofta]

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 would be happy with multiple different cultures. East Asian is just one that most people are at least a little familiar with because of the representations in pop culture.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

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

What is a Coachella?

 

[Reynard]

What is a Coachella?

 

[CleverNickName]

What is a Coachella?

It's an American music festival.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

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?

Look at all the knights/western dragons, and pseudo medieval imagery in fantasy anime. People find stuff from other cultures interesting because aspects of it are different from what they are familiar with. While it certainly can end up in racist caricature, there's nothing inherently sinister, and I feel second guessing if it's appropriate to play pretend as something based on another culture goes against the spirit of role playing.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

They need to at least come up with new names for Koryo (that's the actual name for one of the kingdoms that the name "Korea" is derived from) and Tabot (oh look it's Tibet with some letters changed around).

 

[Argyle King]

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.

How do you feel that is different than putting a sticker on it that claims that people consulted about the project were ethnic-enough to count?

 

[Henadic Theologian]

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?

That is a very complex question.

In Canada over 20% of the population is Asian descent, probably getting very close to a quarter or more of the population if you count mixed race Asians. So the influence of Asia on Canada right now is huge and growing fast, to the point where Canada is getting draged into Asian issues increasingly, including the assassination of a Kalistani activist on Canadian soil. Plus its been found that Chinese and Indian Governments massively interferred in the last Canadian federal election.

in the US a lot of folks are unhappy with the own national culture, so they turn to Asian cultural instutions to fill the gap, with great encouragement by Asian nations I'll add.

 

[Reynard]

Look at all the knights/western dragons, and pseudo medieval imagery in fantasy anime. People find stuff from other cultures interesting because aspects of it are different from what they are familiar with. While it certainly can end up in racist caricature, there's nothing inherently sinister, and I feel second guessing if it's appropriate to play pretend as something based on another culture goes against the spirit of role playing.

I don't think it is an "if" so much as a "how" for most people. But we can't deny that orientalism in pulp media still echoes in this stuff today.