D&D General Kara-Tur vs Rokugan

[jayoungr]

[nerd pedantry]GAAAH! People keep using that mispelling of kensei from 1e![/nerd pedantry]

Ahem... Sorry about that.

In this particular case, it might be intended as an in-joke, since they're using it with "Unearthed."

 

[GreyLord]

AS far as Kara-Tur goes, this has been around for several years now. It's a conversion of OA in the Forgotten Realms to 5e play.

It's mostly rules so not much fluff, but it's been there. Yes, it's a PDF, so yes...you'd have to print it out yourself in order to have a hardcopy. It is the second half of it, and it is actually rather cheap to print out and bind on one's own if they so desire to do so.

5e Old School and Oriental Adventures

 

[gyor]

I think we will get a Kara Tur book next year.

 

[MGibster]

Not that there's a lot of votes yet, but I'm a little surprised that there aren't ANY votes for Rokugan. Really? Is Kara-Tur really THAT much better? Why? In what way?

I like Rokugan a lot more than I've ever liked Kara-Tur. But Rokugan was designed for Legend of the Five Rings which is radically different from D&D. If I'm playing D&D I'm going with Kara-Tur because they were designed to be paired together.

 

[Azzy]

I think we will get a Kara Tur book next year.

Any basis for this speculation, or is this just wishful thinking? Don't get me wrong, I would love such a thing to come out but I just don't see it as a reality anytime soon.

 

[jayoungr]

Those last three I purchased. They really evoke the flavor of Kara-Tur into 5e mechanics.

Okay, you pushed me over the edge--I'd been eyeing those books for ages, and I just picked up the bestiary during the May D&D sale.

 

[gyor]

"Shou Lung: Imperial China
T'u Lung: Historical dissident states based in South China during eras of political disunity (i.e. Nanzhao and Kingdom of Dali, formerly centred in present-day Yunnan province)
Wa: Feudal Japan (Edo period)
Kozakura: Japan[5]/Ryukyu Islands (Ashikaga period)
Northern Wastes: Historical non-Sinic tribal societies of Manchuria or Northeast China
Tabot: Tibet
Koryo: Korea
The Island Kingdoms: Pre-colonial Hindu-influenced civilizations of Indonesia and the Philippines.
The Plain of Horses: Historical Mongolia. This region is the Kara-Tur portion of the Hordelands, also known as the Endless Wastes.
The Jungle Lands of Malatra: Pre-colonial civilizations of Indochina (historical versions of the Khmer Empire and Vietnam) as well as the hill tribes inspired by their real-life Southeast Asian counterparts."

From Wikipedia.

Also Wa and Shou Lung have Spelljammers.

The main religions of Kara Tur are The Way, The Path of Enlightenment, 8 Million Gods, Lords of Creation (old Vedic Hinduism, but with a female Indra), Elemental Tribes (worship Elemental Deities and some Hindu Gods), am I forgetting any?

There are some worship of Faerun deities, but it's rare and in some places prosectuted.

Also Tu Lung and Mulhorand have diplomatic ties that go back at least a century, so make of that what you will.

There was supposed to be a fantasy version of Thighland and/or Sri Lanka, but they never got to it.

Oh and there is one secret Spelljammer port.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I think we will get a Kara Tur book next year.

Considering how WotC is carefully handling culture/racial/gender/etc issues right now, I do not think we will ever see a full-blown book on the region unless and until they feel they can walk the line just right in the writing. And I am fine with that. I do not want to see a book full of negative stereotypes and biases.

 

[DammitVictor]

I use all of the "oriental" material I can get in pretty much any setting I run. Especially Spellammer and the Mushroom Kingdom.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Considering how WotC is carefully handling culture/racial/gender/etc issues right now, I do not think we will ever see a full-blown book on the region unless and until they feel they can walk the line just right in the writing. And I am fine with that. I do not want to see a book full of negative stereotypes and biases.

They already realised they made mistakes with Tomb of Annihilation, and there is plenty of completely fantastical material they can cover without going anywhere near any political minefields.