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D&D 5E Ryoko's Guide to the Yokai Realms 5E

I think there is only one new class and the rest are subclasses. At least that's the way it seems to me from the kickstarter page.
Okay. There better be rules on how to tweak the classes in the 5e PHB for an Asian setting. A fighter in a medieval Asian setting isn't going to be the same as a fighter in a medieval European setting. Different weapons, different armors, etc.
 

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CleverNickName

Limit Break Dancing (He/They)
Okay. There better be rules on how to tweak the classes in the 5e PHB for an Asian setting. A fighter in a medieval Asian setting isn't going to be the same as a fighter in a medieval European setting. Different weapons, different armors, etc.
I'm not sure I agree.

Let's say that in the game, there is a one-handed bladed weapon that deals 1d8 slashing damage on a hit, and 1d10 slashing if you hold it with two hands. Does it really matter if your character calls it a katana? does it need to have different numbers for him to call it a bastard sword?
 

I'm not sure I agree.

Let's say that in the game, there is a one-handed bladed weapon that deals 1d8 slashing damage on a hit, and 1d10 slashing if you hold it with two hands. Does it really matter if your character calls it a katana? does it need to have different numbers for him to call it a bastard sword?
That's what I was trying to get at in with my other post.

On a surface level the fluff doesn't matter. Whatever you name your stuff it's all just fluff. If you want to make fantasy aimed at an Asian audience I believe it's more likely to be popular if you attempt to emulate Asian fantasy fiction in terms of mechanics rather than flavour.

  • Casters are simpler and more focused on doing one-thing very well.
  • Martials are more focused on high degrees of mobility and jumping.
  • Heavy armour is a lot less popular.
  • Character strengths are amplified.
 

I'm not sure I agree.

Let's say that in the game, there is a one-handed bladed weapon that deals 1d8 slashing damage on a hit, and 1d10 slashing if you hold it with two hands. Does it really matter if your character calls it a katana? does it need to have different numbers for him to call it a bastard sword?
Probably not. The weapons will be the same, but they'll be called by their Asian names.
 


Marandahir

Crown-Forester (he/him)
‘Anime-inspired’ and ‘real world Asia inspired’ are not necessarily synonymous.

Just ask Full Metal Alchemist, for instance. Or Hellsing. Ghibli’s Porco Rosso is set in a faux Mediterranean. And I came up with these examples very quickly despite really, really REALLY not being an expert on the genre.

You can have the tropes and the art style and the genre conventions without dredging up all the Oriental Adventures baggage.
Oh I agree.

But these books are trying to be both, but often are coming from people who aren't from the cultures they're inspired by.

And even though those works mentioned are inspired by Europe, there's still a bunch of Japanese tropes built in to each of them. Hellsing even has anime miko shrine maiden warrior priestesses, but makes them into Catholic nuns. That's a classic trope of taking the direct equivalent but saddling it with tropes and concepts you'd have from the author's culture.

It's not a bad thing, it's just a thing. Animesque can be fine. But if you're going to do samurai and ninjas or wuxia and triads and tongs, you better have creators on-board who actually have a connection with the culture you're inspired by, lest you just turn it into a gross caricature.

D&D lives on tropes sure, but it's very easy to go down into offensive stereotypes even when well-meaning, and cultural consultants are a must.
 

If WotC wants to create a wuxia D&D you can't avoid certain differences. For example in wuxia fiction like "Tiger and Dragon" the martial artists can jump over the roofs or fight on the top of threes, but low level characters can't do it. Of course I would love a halfling monk with super-jump facing against giants.

Japanese publishers should be interested into the Western market. For example the manga Trigun wasn't sold very well in Japan but it was not cancelled thanks American readers who like it. A jidaigeki or tokusatsu version of D&D should be wellcome by the Japaneses becaue this could help to promote their "soft power". South-Korea also should interested into to use D&D as an "icebreaker", a subtle way to make their culture known in the Western society.

If 3PPs can create new monsters, PC species and subclasses for their settings based in Asian cultures, then the card to be played by WotC should be the update of the martial adept classes (3.5 Tome of Battle: Book of nine Swords) but with a simpler and faster gameplay. Let's remember one of the goals for the 5e is to be easy to be understood by the new players. But if the psionic powers haven't returned yet, then the update of the martial maneuver game-mechanics will be late for a looooong time.

And the PC species can't be only "the same doll but with a new hat". Each PC specie has to be designed to be enoughly interesting even to can be the main characters of a new story. And I wouldn't be surprised if the ratfolk were renamed "tari" (the name of the ratfolk in Dark Sun) instead nezumi.

Spiritfolk and korobokuru aren't PC species would be confortable for adventures in urban zones, or the classic clashes between noble houses.

Cultural consultants can be necessary, but my fear these could have got their own prejudices against their neighbour countries, or even against compatriots from the same country but a different region, or the citizens from the capital cities against the people from the rural zones. Some Asians could dare to report certain things about their own societies, for example exaggerated classism or elitism in Korea, or the excessive submission ("the nail that sticks out gets hammered down") in Japanese culture, or the discrimination against the burakumin.

Or our own point of view can radically different, for example about the sense of honor. I am Spanish, and with a serious "taint" about the History of my ancestors. I have had to learn the hard way the true value of honor and the consequences of suffering dishonor. But I have also learnt the great difference between moral integrity and social prestige. Some saints have been executed as criminals (for example saint Thomas Moore, patron of politicians, saint Joan d'Arc or the martyrs of Nagasaki) and prestigious members of the social elites are true monsters who earned their place in the hell.

A "plane" of Magic: the Gathering is based in China, Shenmeng, and if I am not wrong it was created intentionally for the Chinese market, but it hasn't got cards of black mana. (Can you realise the reason?) I suspect Hasbro untrusts the arbitrary criteria of Chinese censorship. If you are working with a Chinese company, really you are working with the party what controlls the goverment.
 
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The Shinobi Wizard subclass, the Kickstarter's answer to the Shinobi in Naruto? The latter do cast spells (jutsu) that rely on a material component, a somatic component (their hand seals) and a verbal component (the Shinobi's elemental style + the name of the jutsu).
 

Weiley31

Legend
How many people who are currently backing Ryoko's Guide to the Yokai Realms backed it because it was advertised by the D&D Shorts guy?
I don't even know who the DND Shorts guy is. I'm backing it for the fact that I always had a thing for Yokai in Japanese Mythology and we get Sekiro style Prosthetic Arms in it.
 

Weiley31

Legend
The one negative thing I've heard about Loot Tavern is that a number of people complain that they just "bite off too much they can chew" because they seem to be popping out Kickstarters for 5E left and right. Which seems to bog down a bit fulfillment of physical stuff for their kickstarter projects.

Other than that, apparently, they put out good stuff.
 

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