D&D General Kara Tur 5e

[Tonguez]

5) NEW: Obviously, OA is no longer an acceptable name, due to a shift in the language. Kara-Tur is not great either though - tied to a legacy of too many underdeveloped takes on real world places (was “Koryo” ever in a module? Why do we need it anymore than we need a specific Portugal analog in Faerun?) and basically a failure within FR. Come up with a new name. “Swords of the Shogun” (a play on OA1 “Swords of the Daimyo”), “Ninjas & Samurai”, something new that says what it is?

Theres a dynamic and growing RPG community in Korea with interest in DnD. Elves and Espresso is a game store cafe in Seoul. So not catering to that growing market would be a misstep. There are a couple of 3rd party products with Koryo material and lots of Fantasy K-Drama movies to draw inspiration from (plus the costuming is fabulous)

Theres already a lot of Japanese inspired material out so no need to cover the same ground and of Kara-Tur Mad Monkey vs. the Dragon Claw set in Tu'n-Lung faux-China was a great module. It would be nice to see that rest of Asia get some love

Personally I'd also look to MTGs Takir for ideas too

 

[Azzy]

My wishlist: Return to the spirit of the 1985 book.

1) Focus on Japan, not all of Asia. Most of the original OA was on Japanese themes. All the original play testers were Japanese. Double down on this. And other countries later if the demand is there.

You already lost me here. To me that would be very boring.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Just make it awesome, is all I ask.

 

[jian]

I also think there is some interesting stuff established in the original material which could do with some expansion and development. For instance:

- In the original material, not-China is split into two kingdoms - functional and harmonious (Shou Lung) and corrupt and divided (Tu Lung). This reflects some periods of Chinese history, but also means you can have your cake and eat it too about having a good Emperor who holds the Mandate of Heaven who is served by a functional bureaucracy, and having a corrupt Emperor who is constantly at civil war against rival warlords and evil sorcerers. You can have a warlord era and a Tang dynasty at the same time. Develop both kingdoms and make them reflections of each other - the Shaolin Temple in Shou Lung are mostly moral and righteous defenders of the common people, while the Sorim Monastery in Tu Lung are corrupt venal monks who pretend to be righteous but will serve any warlord for money or power, that sort of thing.

- Who are the ancestries? Hengeyokai are based mostly on Japanese shapeshifters, so play that up. What benefits do you get from being a nine-tailed fox? Do some of them prey on people and eat their livers and others have gained human form through enlightenment and contemplation? Who are the spirit folk? Where do they come from, which myths are you actually drawing on (heavenly fairies? Orang bunian?) and which aspects do you want to play up?

- You want ninja? Let’s talk ninja. We’re well past the tedious 1980s black-clad action film cliche at this point. Modern ninja do include skilled assassins and infiltrators but also those with a wide range of overt magical powers such as controlling the weather, shapeshifting, mind control, and teleportation, all with a few nifty kuji-kiri hand gestures. Culturally they’re commonly used as representing all the many misfits who don’t fit into highly conformist Japanese culture and so can include all sorts of marginalised themes, especially LGBTQI+ people. Go to town on that!

 

[Shades of Eternity]

The thing I was told is to try to stay away from stereotypes, but honestly, some of them are awesome.

One of the more fun things I read recently is that one of the larger ninja clans is located in Calgary, Alberta (where in my head canon, they feud with the Harts )

If I ever do Hodgepocalypse China, it will have a pro-robotic component, as some of their innovations are truly amazing.

It's always fun to mix modern changes and then push them through the filter of Dungeons and Dragons.

It's similar to how we've seen changes in the Forgotten Realms as cultural values and time go on.

 

[jian]

One of the more fun things I read recently is that one of the larger ninja clans is located in Calgary, Alberta (where in my head canon, they feud with the Harts )

I’m guessing this is fictional? There are a lot of Ninja Warrior (as in, the TV show) training gyms in Calgary but I don’t think any of the owners claim to be descended from the Koga or Iga clans. It’d be a hell of a cover, though.

 

[Shades of Eternity]

well apparently they have as much common with ninjas as the samurai pizza cats, but what the hey.

when you can do the truth or the legend, do the legend.

 

[jian]

More practically, we’re talking about 5e so any rules would have to be built on that skeleton. Here are some starters for ten:

Wuxia

• You probably want subclasses for the fighter, ranger, and rogue based on wuxia archetypes. This basically means they all have abilities that allow them to do lightness (qinggong; leap incredible distances, run up walls, stand on willow branches, run on water) and pressure points (dianxue; block/unblock qi points, causing/removing paralysis, expel poison) as a starting point.
• You definitely should NOT make everyone monks.
• Obviously you want a Shaolin monk subclass, though. Much as above.
• A brief summary of the wulin (world of martial arts) and jianghu (the wuxia underworld) with some basic factions (versions of Shaolin, Wudang, Heavenly Demon Cult, etc).

Xianxia

• Subclasses of sorcerer and wizard ought to cover it. But what abilities? They need to be qi cultivators who gain levels through meditating and purifying their qi, which comes with risks but can lead to immortality.
• Honestly, you could do worse than look at this: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/454701/the-ruthless-heavens-a-cultivation-fantasy-supplement

Other

• The masulsa magicians of Koryo from Alchemy of Souls are well covered by the xianxia rules above. There are notable cultural points (magicians are the aristocracy, society is very hierarchical and competitive) and at least one unique trick - hwanhon or the eponymous Alchemy of Souls, which allows a magician who knows it to bind ghosts back into their own corpses to bring them back to life (sort of…) or exchange their own soul with another’s (useful for surviving a lethal stabbing or two).
• You do need a better rules underpinning for hengeyokai or spirit folk rather than “you can turn into a fox sometimes” or “you’re basically genasi”. Cultivation rules for hengeyokai, probably as ancestry feats, would be great.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

• You do need a better rules underpinning for hengeyokai or spirit folk rather than “you can turn into a fox sometimes” or “you’re basically genasi”. Cultivation rules for hengeyokai, probably as ancestry feats, would be great.

I don't see there being a good reason for Spirit Folk being a separate species in 5e, either they're a Planetouched species like Genasi, or they're Elves. With there being East Asian Elves featured in the PHB art (such as on the back cover), there's absolutely no reason for certain PC species not existing on this side of the world like they had in the old books.

 

[Piperken]

What I might like to see:

• An honor system organized broadly around concepts like 面 (~one's image in public ), 臉, (~one's inward/personal reputation and 顏 (~sensitivity). Serious consequences when one messes up for a variety of social situations.
• Pulling from the respective Magic: The Gathering planes (as some mentioned).
• "Bloodless" duels i.e. Kambei declaring, "This is preposterous. There's no contest," after observing a moment or two in Seven Samurai (1954). Or the "with eyes closed" fight between Nameless and Long Sky in Hero (2002).
• Making tea ceremonies, tea drinking culture prominent -- use them thematically as they were used: welcoming a friend, in serious negotiations, asking for forgiveness, before an impending duel or death, attempting to end bloodshed peacefully, etc.
• Medicinal/herbal cooking i.e. hot and cold foods this spans a lot of different cultures in Asia, even if the particulars may differ.
• Some variant of qi; if possible with traditional divisions between hard/soft and external/internal styles.