Introducing Far Eastern players to D&D D20

[Derulbaskul]

Why not use Savage Worlds and the 50 Fathoms campaign setting?

Savage Worlds is relatively rules-light, is very cheap and everything is in one book with the campaign setting being the second book you need (and it has a premade campaign included).

50 Fathoms is a great introduction because of the Pirates of the Caribbean vibe that runs through it... and everyone in Asia has seen those movies!

 

[Flobby]

I agree. I would start out with True20 or some other simple d20 game. Or 4E - I actually used that to teach English here in Japan before and the kids seemed to like it, although I found I had to ignore some of the more tactical aspects. All the shifting and sliding, etc seemed confusing. Anyway something simple with a lot of combat to get them into it.

I would just make your own simple adventures - kill the monster, get the treasure - to start out. That's what I did. And then start introducing puzzles and mysteries, etc.

Using local myths are tricky... Unless your familiar enough with them to know which ones are really sacred and which ones aren't so religious. Japanese aren't very religious so its pretty safe here to use whatever. Using Western fantasy might be good to get them into it because it would be exotic to them.

Anyway, my 2 cents.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Nice to see the OP raising an old thread rather than someone practicing necromancy on it.

But to add to the thread instead of amusing myself, I also teach in Asia, but Japan has a thriving RPG/anime/etc scene a lot closer to the mainstream than in most countries. So here it is easy

Good luck in Thailand.