Yes, I suppose it only matters if you want oriental adventures in the Oriental Adventures book
What is Expected from an Oriental Game Setting?
- Thread starter Ashanderai
- Start date
Yes, I suppose it only matters if you want oriental adventures in the Oriental Adventures book
Not if you ask a Frenchman or a Brit. Besides, it's not too hard to tell players that "This area is like a big Kung Fu movie", or "This country is like a Samurai film." The point is that the setting should allow the players to create the kind of characters they expect to be able to create. Whether or not those characters are historically accurate is irrelevant. Besides, as far I can tell, Asian pop culture is no more faithful to its own history than Western pop culture is. For example, the Japanese pop culture idea of the Ninja is really as grossly inaccurate as the Western popular image of the American cowboy or the European knight. Kung Fu films have always taken extreme liberties with Chinese history.
Samurai, ninja, kung-fu, peasant heroes, geisha, Eagle-Claw Style, Wu-dan Mountain, even kaiju and mecha all qualify as 'Oriental'...Yes, I suppose it only matters if you want oriental adventures in the Oriental Adventures book
... trust me on this. I qualify as (part) Oriental myself.
But nobody is saying that any of that should be OUT of the book (Well, except maybe the mecha
)We're saying HAVE all the cool stuff, but don't half-ass it and make it all one big nation/culture. Spread the stuff out. HAVE the cool Japanese stuff - and Clavis, I don't mean everything has to be gritty and realistic, it can be fantasized - but have it in the vaguely Japanese-esque area. Have the cool Indian stuff, but don't have it casually strolling around in that vaguely Japanese-esque area.
Again, I'm not saying "NO COOL STUFF, GRITTY AND REALISM ONLY." I'm saying, don't half-ass it. Spread the stuff out. Which sounds more fun - one place with every eastern trope in existance just hanging out, or having those tropes battle each other.
Granted, I would be lowering my eyebrows if things got TOO fantastic, like throwing in mechas and samurai who cut them in half with one blow
. But it's a fantasy game, so fantasy is...well, pretty much required. While I wasn't that big of a fan of much of the Oriental Adventures book, I still had a nice place in my heart for the quite unrealistic Iaijutsu Master.But nobody is saying that any of that should be OUT of the book (Well, except maybe the mecha
We're saying HAVE all the cool stuff, but don't half-ass it and make it all one big nation/culture. Spread the stuff out. HAVE the cool Japanese stuff - and Clavis, I don't mean everything has to be gritty and realistic, it can be fantasized - but have it in the vaguely Japanese-esque area. Have the cool Indian stuff, but don't have it casually strolling around in that vaguely Japanese-esque area.
Again, I'm not saying "NO COOL STUFF, GRITTY AND REALISM ONLY." I'm saying, don't half-ass it. Spread the stuff out. Which sounds more fun - one place with every eastern trope in existance just hanging out, or having those tropes battle each other.
Granted, I would be lowering my eyebrows if things got TOO fantastic, like throwing in mechas and samurai who cut them in half with one blow
I actually agree with you as far as having separate nations/areas for each set of tropes. My point was only that a game setting should allow players to create characters like the ones in popular entertainment, and that the setting doesn't need to be an accurate representation of real-world Asian cultures in every detail.
Ranger REG
Explorer
We already have mecha in D&D, the Apparatus of Kwalish.But nobody is saying that any of that should be OUT of the book (Well, except maybe the mecha
Hussar
Legend
But nobody is saying that any of that should be OUT of the book (Well, except maybe the mecha
We're saying HAVE all the cool stuff, but don't half-ass it and make it all one big nation/culture. Spread the stuff out. HAVE the cool Japanese stuff - and Clavis, I don't mean everything has to be gritty and realistic, it can be fantasized - but have it in the vaguely Japanese-esque area. Have the cool Indian stuff, but don't have it casually strolling around in that vaguely Japanese-esque area.
Again, I'm not saying "NO COOL STUFF, GRITTY AND REALISM ONLY." I'm saying, don't half-ass it. Spread the stuff out. Which sounds more fun - one place with every eastern trope in existance just hanging out, or having those tropes battle each other.
Granted, I would be lowering my eyebrows if things got TOO fantastic, like throwing in mechas and samurai who cut them in half with one blow
Why not? We already do it with regular D&D? Why not have Japanese inspired ninjas roaming around battling Naga? My Chinese wizardy type summons Apsaras to do battle with your Oni. Fantastic in my mind.
One of the strengths of D&D is that we have no problems with characters that, in any sort of realistic sense, could never have met, let alone adventure together.
I endorse Clavis and vote that he heads up the development of a new OA book.
I wasn't actually agreeing with it, don't worry.
I think even my gonzo game would draw the line at a dance number. ;-)I'm a bad person for this discussion, perhaps, being half-Scottish and half-Italian.
But yeah, European cultures do often get mangled together, and while there's a lot of common ground between them (partly because of historical stuff like the Roman Empire, as you say) there's still plenty of differences. Tell the English and the French how alike they are at your peril!
Kobold Avenger
Legend
I'm always aware with cultural differences among Asians, North Americans and Europeans at least. May have a bit of a problem distinguishing different other cultures from other continents. I'm someone who's annoyed everytime someone for example mistakenly says a Scandinavian symbol is a Celtic one.
What else could an "Oriental" game have? Driving highly modified cars for street racing? Expensive brand-name designer clothes? Parents who want you to be only a doctor or lawyer?
The thing with D&D is it takes a lot of things from different sources. For example with the Aasimar getting renamed Devas (and I guess by association female ones being called Devi) as well as the growing significance of the Rakshasa, the game has become a little more Indian.
And there's the fact that there's always been the Monk class since 1e. Though the even-number editions seem to be bad about including them right away. And even Al Quadim, took many really exclusively D&D fantasy elements and included them right in an Arabian setting, it clearly had Elves, Dwarves and Orcs who were part of a vaguely-Islamic (aka the Pantheist League) society. I wouldn't think it would be out of place if there were Goblins and Orcs and Mind Flayers and Githzerai in a campaign world loosely based on China.
What else could an "Oriental" game have? Driving highly modified cars for street racing? Expensive brand-name designer clothes? Parents who want you to be only a doctor or lawyer?
The thing with D&D is it takes a lot of things from different sources. For example with the Aasimar getting renamed Devas (and I guess by association female ones being called Devi) as well as the growing significance of the Rakshasa, the game has become a little more Indian.
And there's the fact that there's always been the Monk class since 1e. Though the even-number editions seem to be bad about including them right away. And even Al Quadim, took many really exclusively D&D fantasy elements and included them right in an Arabian setting, it clearly had Elves, Dwarves and Orcs who were part of a vaguely-Islamic (aka the Pantheist League) society. I wouldn't think it would be out of place if there were Goblins and Orcs and Mind Flayers and Githzerai in a campaign world loosely based on China.
I endorse Clavis and vote that he heads up the development of a new OA book.
Thanks! If only I had the time, and was independently wealthy....
