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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Arkhandus" data-source="post: 4648392" data-attributes="member: 13966">What you describe for the soulknife would actually be a Mage Blade. -_- Likewise, instead of a psion, you'd be describing a sorcerer with spell points from Unearthed Arcana, or something from a non-D&D book, because psions don't quite fit that well as a substitute for mythical wizards (no chanting, components, studying, or anything that would resemble common beliefs about magic traditions).  Like I said, I'm not dissing them, I like them, I just don't think they qualify as "vanilla" fantasy fare.And, I don't know about you, but I've NEVER heard of a fantasy RPG from the east that has come out here in the west, let alone become well-known and associated with fantasy gaming by the general geek-populace.  I suppose BESM, Bubblegum Crisis, or something like that (which I've only seen once in a store) might possibly have come from the east, but AFAIK they're just productions of western companies.  MIND YOU, I'm not counting video games for this purpose because they're not RPGs in the same sense as pen-and-paper RPGs, they just have some limited RPG elements in their design.  Obviously video game RPGs from Japan are big even out here, but they're not particularly relevant to this kind of discussion (given that it's about vanilla fantasy settings for a PnP game).D&D, Vampire, Palladium, GURPS, Earthdawn, MERP, Rolemaster, etc. are all, as far as I know, western creations.  Could be wrong about a few, but really, the majority, if not all, fantasy RPGs that are widely-known and recognized are NOT eastern in design.  Sure, there are a lot more folks out east (and yet, how many of them are roleplayers?  I think the percentage in China and India is rather lower than it is here in the west), but that doesn't mean all of their stuff has spread outside their borders, let alone gained mass recognition outside their own borders.  And of course, the majority of those people don't own or play RPGs, and probably aren't even particularly aware of them in the first place.The point is, western fantasy is what folks across much of the world are familiar with.  Joe Shmoe on the street has never even heard of the Ramayana or anything else pertaining to eastern myths and legends beyond the few common words thrown around, such as Buddhism, and their comprehension of those words' meaning is generally limited at best.  Joe Shmoe, though, has most likely heard of Dungeons & Dragons, the Lord of the Rings, Conan the Barbarian, or Merlin and Morgan LeFay and the tale of King Arthur's Court at least.  No eastern RPG or novel has that kind of broad recognition; even if half of China's population knew about a particular Chinese RPG (and there's no way most of them would; too many rural villagers in poverty), it would still be unknown across the rest of the world, beyond a few geeks here and there who have a particular interest in Chinese RPGs and some way to learn about them (probably by learning Chinese first...).That's all I'm saying.  To the common man, let alone the common geek, fantasy fare like D&D, Conan, Merlin, Lord of the Rings, etc. are what's recognized and what immediately springs to mind (and to geeks, that's generally what's vanilla to them, because anime and such often seems cooler and more exotic to them).  If it's too obscure, it certainly isn't vanilla fantasy, because it isn't common enough or bland enough for people to consider it plain and ordinary.  Sure, it might be in one single country, but that's irrelevant to those of us living in 99.99% of the world's countries.</blockquote>

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