OA Setting Question

[Turanil]

Any other products you care to point me at?

Jade and Steel by Avalanche Press. Out of print and of mediocre value. However maybe the only one product about Ancient china d20, instead of Japan.

 

[Baragos]

But strictly speaking, if it is samurai and such you are interested in, China is not worth that much. Yes China helped shape early Japanese culture, but by the time of the Samurai, they'd branched off in varied directions.

 

[Infernal Teddy]

I'm looking for something more "generally asian" in approach.

 

[Storyteller01]

'Arms and Armors' by Bastion Press. While some of the weapons are hokey (razor disk launcher ??), there is a multitude of weapons with a distinctly asian/kung fu feel. Good examples in the book are the Jung, Meteor Hammer, Mother & Son Hammer, Horse Halberd (actually a kind of tonfa), Dragon Head Stick (more of a spiked chain), etc. Then again, compared to kung fu movies, the razor disk launcher may not be so hokey!!

Of all things, I'd start looking to the recent M:tG sets for flavor. There are the typical samurai and ninja, but the focus is on the spirits and the thinning barrier between their world and ours. The new abilities may give some ideas for creating asian spirits. you can use this link to look and read w/o having to pay for the cards.

http://www.ccgzone.com/products.asp?product=M

Champions Of Konigawa' and 'Betrayers of Konigawa' sets are lists. 'Saviors of Konigawa' should be up sometime soon.

If you want to go WAY out into left field, check out 'Mystic China' by Paladium (the guys who make RIFTS). The hp structure is the same (one HD per level, and its SDC: no mega monsters ) and it does operate on a level system, so it may not be too hard to transfer over. The flavor text might take you in new directions (a demon wrestler who knows that a demon is ticklish?). My personal favorite is the Redeeming Demon (don't remember that actual name). You actually lose powers as you level, attempting to become human!!!

 

[Infernal Teddy]

I'm consiering ditching the Sorcerer, but adding the warlock, the psion and the soulknife. Good Idea?

 

[Li Shenron]

I'm looking for something more "generally asian" in approach.

Why not just using the OA then? IMO the point of the book is to provide the same kind of "generic setting" that comes from the 3 corebooks, but with eastern folklore instead of western. Some material in OA is from Japanese myths, some Chinese, some Indian and some from elsewhere, much like some monsters in the MM are nordic, some celtic, some greek/roman, some egyptian, some modern, some tolkienesque...

You just need to forget about the Rokugan history line and the clans after all, and then pick your favourite monsters and ignore the rest, at least for the moment.

If you start from there you have a "vanilla" eastern setting, in a way similar to where most DMs start from when playing their first western campaign.

 

[Nuclear Platypus]

There's also Cathay for Swashbuckling Adventures (7th Sea). It's dual statted tho it seems mostly Chinese culture after a quick skim. There's also magic n other mumbo jumbo involving the 8 Trigrams.

There's a Japanese setting book for Fuzion (the name escapes me at the moment) that could probably be used for background info at least. It's got a small collection of monsters and a few lists of names or how to make a Japanese sounding name at the least.

Usagi Yojimbo also uses the Fuzion system (with conversion notes to other systems I think) and is anthropomorphic Japan.

Jade Claw is another anthropomorphic RPG from Sanguinus Press (I think I mangled their name) set during the Warring States period of China so more Chinese culture.

Dragonfist never truly saw print (pdf only) and had a short life on WotC before its creator picked it up and hopefully will re-release it REALLY REALLY soon. No pressure. That too is mostly Chinese culture.

 

[Turanil]

I'm consiering ditching the Sorcerer, but adding the warlock, the psion and the soulknife. Good Idea?

It can work right well.

My suggestion is, that much more than a peculiar set of rules, you must watch appropriate movies with your players, prior the campaign begins: Crouching Tigers & Hidden Dragons, Chinese Ghost Stories, Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain (uber munchkin that one! ), A Bride With White Hair, Swordsman II, Hero, etc. Then, you could use basic D&D classes as well as OA classes. Myself wanted to use the Cleric class plus a custom domain (Jump, Levitate, Fly, etc.) to simulate a Taoist exorcist (much better than use shaman or sohei OA classes!)

Alas, no opportunity of such a game in my vicinity...

 

[Samothdm]

From Stone to Steel by Monkey God Enterprises has several sections on different arms, armor, and equipment from many different Asian cultures throughout a few different points in history. It covers ancient China, feudal Japan, India during the middle ages, and all the way up through the Renaissance time periods. It also has info on some smaller places like Burma, Nepal, and such. In addition to arms and equipment, there are sidebars talking about history and culture (not a lot, but some good stuff) and also some prestige classes (there's a "Chinese adventurer" type - can't remember the name - and a samurai, to name at least two). Good stuff.

On the WotC website, there's a web-enhancement for the "Mahasarpa Campaign" that's based more on Southeast Asia. You can also go to James Wyatt's website which has a bit of information and a story/journal about that campaign although the last time I was there it hadn't been updated.

You should also check out Green Ronin's Mindshadows, a campaign setting based on Southeast Asia with psionic-based martial arts action. Since you're planning on including some psionics classes, this might have some good ideas for you.