Oriental Adventure in 4th? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Oriental Adventure in 4th? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Aleolus
10-29-07, 12:41 PM OK, for those of you who are as big fans of the Oriental Adventure stuff as I am, and you want to see them in fourth edition, raise your hand and call out 'HAI!' at the top of your lungs!
Derrylrandallin
10-30-07, 08:38 AM HAI!

I was thrilled when they revisited OA in 3rd edition. I hope they decide to continue it for 4th.
Count Arioch the 28th
10-31-07, 01:56 PM If they do it, they'll probably spread it all out between 4 or 5 player's handbooks.
Ranger REG
10-31-07, 10:15 PM If they do it, they'll probably spread it all out between 4 or 5 player's handbooks.
FWIW, at least they'll stop using "Complete" in the title. :rolleye2:
narukagami
10-31-07, 10:45 PM FWIW, at least they'll stop using "Complete" in the title. :rolleye2: If the "Complete" series oriental classes (especially, nay, specifically the "Samurai") are any indication of how future OA things will be handled. I'd rather have nothing.
madmonk
11-03-07, 10:11 AM What I would like is a book or an appendix o r even wenenhancement with variant classes of the existing ones, or some sort of traditions, maybe by feats, that let you be more oriental-flavoured. I think it would be cool for my wizard to go to the orient and learn the ways of the wu-jen's and onmyoji instead of having to start all over again (you know, by the rules you can be a wizard/wu-jen). For example the eldritch theurge class, the one that convines sorcerer and wizard, could be entered with wu jen levels and only then will you have acces to both wiz/sor and wu-jen spell lists.

Or a pally learning to use a katana, or a rogue entering a ninja clan, or a hassassin cult in an arabian styled campaign. Instead of giving more classes, add-ons to existing ones would be better IMHO.
narukagami
11-03-07, 01:08 PM What I would like is a book or an appendix o r even wenenhancement with variant classes of the existing ones, or some sort of traditions, maybe by feats, that let you be more oriental-flavoured. I think it would be cool for my wizard to go to the orient and learn the ways of the wu-jen's and onmyoji instead of having to start all over again (you know, by the rules you can be a wizard/wu-jen). For example the eldritch theurge class, the one that convines sorcerer and wizard, could be entered with wu jen levels and only then will you have acces to both wiz/sor and wu-jen spell lists.

Or a pally learning to use a katana, or a rogue entering a ninja clan, or a hassassin cult in an arabian styled campaign. Instead of giving more classes, add-ons to existing ones would be better IMHO.
So essentially, if classes are done the SAGA way, new Talent Trees.
madmonk
11-03-07, 07:16 PM My bad! Never respond to a thread while drunk. I tend to have good ortography but hell, that post was like my writting in the junior high!

Returning to Naru, yeah, I totally forgot about talent trees... Cool! :D
And with 30 levels to play with, imagine a wizard going to other lands only to learn their ways of magic? And that can be said about any class!

And you can be master of one tradition or two, while others can dabble in all while retaining their principal class feature: spellcasting. It's like multiclassing inside one class :pumpkin:
Hochiu
11-04-07, 01:07 AM Given Wizard's history of releasing Oriental Adventures material in conjunction with cultural trends for it, I'm going to say that unless there's a big interest on the part of popular culture in Asia, I'm going to say no.
jcintro2
11-04-07, 08:43 AM i am currently DM'ing Oriental Adventures at the present time, and i thoroughly enjoy playing in the setting as well. Though i am somewhat optimistic that there might be such a revision, my rational side (which is right when i never want it to be but not right when i do want it to be) tells me that Wizards will more than likely do nothing with it just because of lack of interest. I personally would love to see something done in the setting of Kara-Tur (Rokugan belongs to AEG). What does everybody else think?
Hochiu
11-04-07, 12:35 PM i am currently DM'ing Oriental Adventures at the present time, and i thoroughly enjoy playing in the setting as well. Though i am somewhat optimistic that there might be such a revision, my rational side (which is right when i never want it to be but not right when i do want it to be) tells me that Wizards will more than likely do nothing with it just because of lack of interest. I personally would love to see something done in the setting of Kara-Tur (Rokugan belongs to AEG). What does everybody else think?

There have been numerous discussions about what setting they'd probably use if they were to reactivate the OA product line. I'm one of those people that wants something new, becuase Kara-Tur is old and has been migrated to the Realms, making it less desirable for me, personally.

I've said this before, but I really think that the M:tG setting for Kamigawa would be cool if they converted it over to a D&D OA setting - it's already owned by Wizards, its well suited for a conversion, it ties in with another product of the company (more money for them, because that's what they want), and more people have heard about it because there are more people that play MtG than they do FR or when Kara-Tur was in its hayday.

But that's my opinion. I just want them to do something with OA, but right now, I've given up hope.
Count Arioch the 28th
11-04-07, 11:01 PM I would like them to use oriental themed stuff in D&D, but I would prefer they not use the Legend fo the Five Rings setting in 4E D&D. I think that even though I don't like Lot5R stuff, I believe the lot5R fans will agree with me that D20 isn['t the right place for the setting.
NorthernOkie
11-05-07, 11:38 PM I'd love to see an 4e OA, but NOT (like has been said before) NOT if it is like the "complete" series.

1e Kara-Tur has/had the best potential!!!!

I am currently running two 3.5 games based in the 1e OA World, and I am a player in another completely 1e OA game.
Ranger REG
11-07-07, 02:20 AM I would like them to use oriental themed stuff in D&D, but I would prefer they not use the Legend fo the Five Rings setting in 4E D&D.
Relax. WotC sold the IP to AEG, so they can't do anything without getting the new owner's permission and have to pay royalty, which they shouldn't. Why pay for someone else's setting when they already owned one (i.e., Kara-Tur)?

I think that even though I don't like Lot5R stuff, I believe the lot5R fans will agree with me that D20 isn['t the right place for the setting.
I've been telling Rokugan d20 fans that but they didn't listened. :devil:
Hochiu
11-07-07, 09:31 AM 1e Kara-Tur has/had the best potential!!!!

Had is the operative word here.

Also, Arioch, I was a fan of d20 Rokugan, but I agree with you that the implementation from AEG's system to d20 was flawed and didn't capture the flavor of the world properly. That happens a lot when you try to implement Wizard's d20 D&D system mechanic on worlds that may not be suitable for it.

Look at Seventh Sea, last I counted, the core book alone had well over one hundred prestige classes to represent the myriad aspects of the game that they couldn't otherwise reproduce in the new system (d20).
Ranger REG
11-07-07, 09:20 PM Had is the operative word here.
Not in my book. :noway:
Dreamstryder
11-12-07, 12:05 AM So essentially, if classes are done the SAGA way, new Talent Trees.
Hai! Atarashii talent trees!

A DM section on it could explain different society types for Asia as the DMG for 3e did for the mostly European setting. It might use campaign setting pieces as examples, but I personally don't want a CS attached (separately perhaps).
Ranger REG
11-12-07, 12:33 AM but I personally don't want a CS attached (separately perhaps).
It's better to have the right CS as an example for newbies to start playing or be inspired to make their own setting.
Dreamstryder
11-12-07, 03:33 AM For DMish material, Ray Winninger's "Dungeoncraft" articles (http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/dnd/dungeoncraft) are nice as thought-process walkthroughs of the development of an example setting, but the process is more important than the examples; in a DM section, I might expect an abbreviated form of that (lessening the number of examples per step, among other things).

Newbie or not, a logic blurb on 3 evocative setting premises w/ choice details on a few provinces/lands (2 per setting?) is better than so many pages of very specific timeline events and sample maps of specific places. To illustrate, I would have liked 3e's OA to expand the Campaign Design chapter with more setting examples (Rokugan could have been one) and a bit more detail on each while totally dropping the 2 Rokugan chapters, which had overly specific information without explanation of how it was decided.

Cultures vary on religious beliefs, climates, material, politics, ...and examples should show that. The approach is the same for any culture D&D. Longer examples for any culture setting are found outside the rulebooks in movies, books, and life experience. Chances are the PHB didn't introduce you to European fantasy; why would OA be so for Asia by containing a chunk of CS? Maybe that's not what you meant, tho'...
Ranger REG
11-13-07, 06:26 PM Cultures vary on religious beliefs, climates, material, politics, ...and examples should show that. The approach is the same for any culture D&D. Longer examples for any culture setting are found outside the rulebooks in movies, books, and life experience. Chances are the PHB didn't introduce you to European fantasy; why would OA be so for Asia by containing a chunk of CS? Maybe that's not what you meant, tho'...
If they want to introduce European fantasy, they can always published Medieval Adventures book.

But right off the bat, the PHB already have a Eurocentric feel that is associated with typical medieval fantasy genre RPG. Oriental Adventures would introduce gamers so used to the common aspect of D&D what (for lack of a better word) East-centric feel.
Hochiu
11-14-07, 10:20 AM If they want to introduce European fantasy, they can always published Medieval Adventures book.

But right off the bat, the PHB already have a Eurocentric feel that is associated with typical medieval fantasy genre RPG. Oriental Adventures would introduce gamers so used to the common aspect of D&D what (for lack of a better word) East-centric feel.

However, given the fact that Wizards sells primarily to a European descended fanbase, modern fantasy fiction is heavily inspired by European history and fantastical accounts, the places that they sell the most can trace their history back to the medieval period in Europe, it's natural to assume they'll use it as the default setting type. More people know more about European-derived fantasy than they do Asian fantasy. Any game based off of Tolkien and various derivitive works are going to feel Eurocentric right off the bat.

However, the PHB doesn't have more than passing references to a Campaign Setting in it. It has a few Greyhawk Deities and spells named after Greyhawk NPCs. But that's it.

Why should the Oriental Adventures book have to be written with a specific setting associated with it? Its not Oriental Adventures, then. You'd have Kara-Tur, or Rokugan, or something like Kamigawa d20 as the titles. It would be Specific Setting that Incorporates Oriental Derivitive Material.

Personally, a book that's exactly like the PHB or XPH would be fine, in my opinion, for OA, only without the basic rules of the 3.5 d20 system in it. Maybe enhanced rules, more skills and feats, different combat options, but it would focus primarily around new races, classes, spells, prestige classes, and maybe a section about making an OA world. Make it as culturally-diverse as possible without making any apparent parallels. I mean, obviously, if they're selling to a NON-Asiaphile Western Market, there will be more Japan and China in it than anything.

And then, like the PHB is used as the foundation for the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting and Player's Guide, use this OA book in addition to the PHB as a foundation to your later-produced game setting, be it Kara-Tur or another.
Ranger REG
11-14-07, 06:39 PM Why should the Oriental Adventures book have to be written with a specific setting associated with it?
I'm not asking that the book should be written with a specific setting in mind. I'm asking that like the 3e Player's Handbook, it should use a setting in their examples, however error-ridden they may be.

(Please 4e editors, make the examples correct according to the rules.)

Its not Oriental Adventures, then.
By that same logic, Player's Handbook shouldn't be called Player's Handbook in the first place. It should be Player's Handbook to Greyhawk. :bored:
Pyrate_Jib
11-14-07, 11:31 PM I'd love to see it!
Hochiu
11-16-07, 11:03 PM By that same logic, Player's Handbook shouldn't be called Player's Handbook in the first place. It should be Player's Handbook to Greyhawk. :bored:

No. You're interpretation of what I was saying is flawed. You're advocating the inclusion of a Campaign Setting that a future Oriental Adventures suppliment is set in. The Players Handbook has a few spell names with prominent NPCs from Greyhawk and retains a few Greyhawk deities. However, it is setting neutral. There is no reference in the core rulebooks about specific locations/countries/npcs/etc. Like I said, the PHB has only a few minor references to a campaign setting within it. What else in the PHB makes mention that people are playing in a Greyhawk game?

If an OA book has a featured setting attached to it, like the 1985 Oriental Adventures book I have does, or the 3e OA book, then its NOT Oriental Adventures. You'll get a book where OA may include extra information about making Oriental games (like a rehash of 3e) with a heavy concentration on a specific setting type and derivative culture. Just like the 3e book. And not that many people were to thrilled about the 3e book material and their lack of emphasis on other cultures - and don't tell me it was just the fact it was Rokugan, either. I remember the posts of you wanting other cultures to have greater prominence.
Ranger REG
11-17-07, 02:38 AM No. You're interpretation of what I was saying is flawed. You're advocating the inclusion of a Campaign Setting that a future Oriental Adventures suppliment is set in. The Players Handbook has a few spell names with prominent NPCs from Greyhawk and retains a few Greyhawk deities. However, it is setting neutral.
Too setting neutral, if you ask me. From among the three core rulebooks, it didn't provide enough information to create any kind of setting (though you can provide endless dungeon crawls), as it is already assumed we are already influenced by Western literatures, tales, legends, and so forth. After all, D&D is Eurocentric.

You could introduce OA as setting neutral, but not the majority of the customers are influenced by Asian literature, except what little comes through the import pipes (many of them are over-the-top anime). You've got to give them primers (or a crash course) on running an Asian-flavored setting, and oftentimes the best way is to present a ready-made setting as examples.

I'm not asking to put a bunch of setting information, just enough -- like d20 Modern campaign models -- to start with. That and a few iconics (character stats optional).
Tuah
11-22-07, 04:54 PM I think 4.0 OA would be a great idea. It'll also give them a try to make the whole book better. ;P

The thing with Campaign Settings is that they're disorganized, which requires someone to buy a whole extra set of books just to change settings. They made Oriental Adventures, Rokugan Campaign Setting, and the Rokugan Monster Manual, when they could have easily condensed them into a single (though larger) book.

Perhaps the real problem in all D&D suppliments is that there are too many, and they're all disorganized.
narukagami
11-22-07, 05:03 PM I think 4.0 OA would be a great idea. It'll also give them a try to make the whole book better. ;P

The thing with Campaign Settings is that they're disorganized, which requires someone to buy a whole extra set of books just to change settings. They made Oriental Adventures, Rokugan Campaign Setting, and the Rokugan Monster Manual, when they could have easily condensed them into a single (though larger) book. FYI OA was the only book published by Wizards that had anything to do with Rokugan.

The Rokugan CS, Creatures of Rokugan, and the other multitude of Rokugan-related supplements are published by a completely different company, AEG, after they got the L5R rights back.
Tuah
11-22-07, 11:25 PM FYI OA was the only book published by Wizards that had anything to do with Rokugan.

The Rokugan CS, Creatures of Rokugan, and the other multitude of Rokugan-related supplements are published by a completely different company, AEG, after they got the L5R rights back.

Replace OA with Forgotten Realms and Eberron. :P

Still though, those books could still be considered part of a full set, even if they're not the same company.
Ranger REG
11-23-07, 02:27 AM The thing with Campaign Settings is that they're disorganized, which requires someone to buy a whole extra set of books just to change settings. They made Oriental Adventures, Rokugan Campaign Setting, and the Rokugan Monster Manual, when they could have easily condensed them into a single (though larger) book.
They CAN'T.

Why?

Because WotC only published the aforementioned OA. AEG published the other two aforementioned books. You can easily tell they have split interpretations about the setting, which is why Rokugan shouldn't be the baseline "example" setting for the new OA in the first place.

:noway:
KLGChaos
11-23-07, 07:57 AM Personally, I'd prefer to see something more general to Asian culture instead of a Rokugan based book. Rokugan is too Japanese based, and though I really like Japanese history and culture, I'd also like to see them incorporate Chinese culture into it as well, so we have a choice of different things to put in. The only thing the current OA book has is some different names for things like weapons and classes listed on a small table near the end of the book. I'd prefer to have entire character classes and monsters based off of both cultures, so we can decide for ourselves how much of each culture we'd like to put in our games.
Tuah
11-24-07, 03:08 AM Hey, why don't we write our own Oriental Adventures book? That could be pretty fun! :D
TheMadMonk
11-24-07, 01:25 PM HAI! i incorperate oriental into my epic in fact as a DM and a player i am currently using it to build the perfect maho. all for oa in the first!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Aleolus 10-29-07, 12:41 PM	OK, for those of you who are as big fans of the Oriental Adventure stuff as I am, and you want to see them in fourth edition, raise your hand and call out 'HAI!' at the top of your lungs!
Derrylrandallin 10-30-07, 08:38 AM	HAI! I was thrilled when they revisited OA in 3rd edition. I hope they decide to continue it for 4th.
Count Arioch the 28th 10-31-07, 01:56 PM	If they do it, they'll probably spread it all out between 4 or 5 player's handbooks.
Ranger REG 10-31-07, 10:15 PM	If they do it, they'll probably spread it all out between 4 or 5 player's handbooks. FWIW, at least they'll stop using "Complete" in the title. :rolleye2:
narukagami 10-31-07, 10:45 PM	FWIW, at least they'll stop using "Complete" in the title. :rolleye2: If the "Complete" series oriental classes (especially, nay, specifically the "Samurai") are any indication of how future OA things will be handled. I'd rather have nothing.
madmonk 11-03-07, 10:11 AM	What I would like is a book or an appendix o r even wenenhancement with variant classes of the existing ones, or some sort of traditions, maybe by feats, that let you be more oriental-flavoured. I think it would be cool for my wizard to go to the orient and learn the ways of the wu-jen's and onmyoji instead of having to start all over again (you know, by the rules you can be a wizard/wu-jen). For example the eldritch theurge class, the one that convines sorcerer and wizard, could be entered with wu jen levels and only then will you have acces to both wiz/sor and wu-jen spell lists. Or a pally learning to use a katana, or a rogue entering a ninja clan, or a hassassin cult in an arabian styled campaign. Instead of giving more classes, add-ons to existing ones would be better IMHO.
narukagami 11-03-07, 01:08 PM	What I would like is a book or an appendix o r even wenenhancement with variant classes of the existing ones, or some sort of traditions, maybe by feats, that let you be more oriental-flavoured. I think it would be cool for my wizard to go to the orient and learn the ways of the wu-jen's and onmyoji instead of having to start all over again (you know, by the rules you can be a wizard/wu-jen). For example the eldritch theurge class, the one that convines sorcerer and wizard, could be entered with wu jen levels and only then will you have acces to both wiz/sor and wu-jen spell lists. Or a pally learning to use a katana, or a rogue entering a ninja clan, or a hassassin cult in an arabian styled campaign. Instead of giving more classes, add-ons to existing ones would be better IMHO. So essentially, if classes are done the SAGA way, new Talent Trees.
madmonk 11-03-07, 07:16 PM	My bad! Never respond to a thread while drunk. I tend to have good ortography but hell, that post was like my writting in the junior high! Returning to Naru, yeah, I totally forgot about talent trees... Cool! :D And with 30 levels to play with, imagine a wizard going to other lands only to learn their ways of magic? And that can be said about any class! And you can be master of one tradition or two, while others can dabble in all while retaining their principal class feature: spellcasting. It's like multiclassing inside one class :pumpkin:
Hochiu 11-04-07, 01:07 AM	Given Wizard's history of releasing Oriental Adventures material in conjunction with cultural trends for it, I'm going to say that unless there's a big interest on the part of popular culture in Asia, I'm going to say no.
jcintro2 11-04-07, 08:43 AM	i am currently DM'ing Oriental Adventures at the present time, and i thoroughly enjoy playing in the setting as well. Though i am somewhat optimistic that there might be such a revision, my rational side (which is right when i never want it to be but not right when i do want it to be) tells me that Wizards will more than likely do nothing with it just because of lack of interest. I personally would love to see something done in the setting of Kara-Tur (Rokugan belongs to AEG). What does everybody else think?
Hochiu 11-04-07, 12:35 PM	i am currently DM'ing Oriental Adventures at the present time, and i thoroughly enjoy playing in the setting as well. Though i am somewhat optimistic that there might be such a revision, my rational side (which is right when i never want it to be but not right when i do want it to be) tells me that Wizards will more than likely do nothing with it just because of lack of interest. I personally would love to see something done in the setting of Kara-Tur (Rokugan belongs to AEG). What does everybody else think? There have been numerous discussions about what setting they'd probably use if they were to reactivate the OA product line. I'm one of those people that wants something new, becuase Kara-Tur is old and has been migrated to the Realms, making it less desirable for me, personally. I've said this before, but I really think that the M:tG setting for Kamigawa would be cool if they converted it over to a D&D OA setting - it's already owned by Wizards, its well suited for a conversion, it ties in with another product of the company (more money for them, because that's what they want), and more people have heard about it because there are more people that play MtG than they do FR or when Kara-Tur was in its hayday. But that's my opinion. I just want them to do something with OA, but right now, I've given up hope.
Count Arioch the 28th 11-04-07, 11:01 PM	I would like them to use oriental themed stuff in D&D, but I would prefer they not use the Legend fo the Five Rings setting in 4E D&D. I think that even though I don't like Lot5R stuff, I believe the lot5R fans will agree with me that D20 isn['t the right place for the setting.
NorthernOkie 11-05-07, 11:38 PM	I'd love to see an 4e OA, but NOT (like has been said before) NOT if it is like the "complete" series. 1e Kara-Tur has/had the best potential!!!! I am currently running two 3.5 games based in the 1e OA World, and I am a player in another completely 1e OA game.
Ranger REG 11-07-07, 02:20 AM	I would like them to use oriental themed stuff in D&D, but I would prefer they not use the Legend fo the Five Rings setting in 4E D&D. Relax. WotC sold the IP to AEG, so they can't do anything without getting the new owner's permission and have to pay royalty, which they shouldn't. Why pay for someone else's setting when they already owned one (i.e., Kara-Tur)? I think that even though I don't like Lot5R stuff, I believe the lot5R fans will agree with me that D20 isn['t the right place for the setting. I've been telling Rokugan d20 fans that but they didn't listened. :devil:
Hochiu 11-07-07, 09:31 AM	1e Kara-Tur has/had the best potential!!!! Had is the operative word here. Also, Arioch, I was a fan of d20 Rokugan, but I agree with you that the implementation from AEG's system to d20 was flawed and didn't capture the flavor of the world properly. That happens a lot when you try to implement Wizard's d20 D&D system mechanic on worlds that may not be suitable for it. Look at Seventh Sea, last I counted, the core book alone had well over one hundred prestige classes to represent the myriad aspects of the game that they couldn't otherwise reproduce in the new system (d20).
Ranger REG 11-07-07, 09:20 PM	Had is the operative word here. Not in my book. :noway:
Dreamstryder 11-12-07, 12:05 AM	So essentially, if classes are done the SAGA way, new Talent Trees. Hai! Atarashii talent trees! A DM section on it could explain different society types for Asia as the DMG for 3e did for the mostly European setting. It might use campaign setting pieces as examples, but I personally don't want a CS attached (separately perhaps).
Ranger REG 11-12-07, 12:33 AM	but I personally don't want a CS attached (separately perhaps). It's better to have the right CS as an example for newbies to start playing or be inspired to make their own setting.
Dreamstryder 11-12-07, 03:33 AM	For DMish material, Ray Winninger's "Dungeoncraft" articles (http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/dnd/dungeoncraft) are nice as thought-process walkthroughs of the development of an example setting, but the process is more important than the examples; in a DM section, I might expect an abbreviated form of that (lessening the number of examples per step, among other things). Newbie or not, a logic blurb on 3 evocative setting premises w/ choice details on a few provinces/lands (2 per setting?) is better than so many pages of very specific timeline events and sample maps of specific places. To illustrate, I would have liked 3e's OA to expand the Campaign Design chapter with more setting examples (Rokugan could have been one) and a bit more detail on each while totally dropping the 2 Rokugan chapters, which had overly specific information without explanation of how it was decided. Cultures vary on religious beliefs, climates, material, politics, ...and examples should show that. The approach is the same for any culture D&D. Longer examples for any culture setting are found outside the rulebooks in movies, books, and life experience. Chances are the PHB didn't introduce you to European fantasy; why would OA be so for Asia by containing a chunk of CS? Maybe that's not what you meant, tho'...
Ranger REG 11-13-07, 06:26 PM	Cultures vary on religious beliefs, climates, material, politics, ...and examples should show that. The approach is the same for any culture D&D. Longer examples for any culture setting are found outside the rulebooks in movies, books, and life experience. Chances are the PHB didn't introduce you to European fantasy; why would OA be so for Asia by containing a chunk of CS? Maybe that's not what you meant, tho'... If they want to introduce European fantasy, they can always published Medieval Adventures book. But right off the bat, the PHB already have a Eurocentric feel that is associated with typical medieval fantasy genre RPG. Oriental Adventures would introduce gamers so used to the common aspect of D&D what (for lack of a better word) East-centric feel.
Hochiu 11-14-07, 10:20 AM	If they want to introduce European fantasy, they can always published Medieval Adventures book. But right off the bat, the PHB already have a Eurocentric feel that is associated with typical medieval fantasy genre RPG. Oriental Adventures would introduce gamers so used to the common aspect of D&D what (for lack of a better word) East-centric feel. However, given the fact that Wizards sells primarily to a European descended fanbase, modern fantasy fiction is heavily inspired by European history and fantastical accounts, the places that they sell the most can trace their history back to the medieval period in Europe, it's natural to assume they'll use it as the default setting type. More people know more about European-derived fantasy than they do Asian fantasy. Any game based off of Tolkien and various derivitive works are going to feel Eurocentric right off the bat. However, the PHB doesn't have more than passing references to a Campaign Setting in it. It has a few Greyhawk Deities and spells named after Greyhawk NPCs. But that's it. Why should the Oriental Adventures book have to be written with a specific setting associated with it? Its not Oriental Adventures, then. You'd have Kara-Tur, or Rokugan, or something like Kamigawa d20 as the titles. It would be Specific Setting that Incorporates Oriental Derivitive Material. Personally, a book that's exactly like the PHB or XPH would be fine, in my opinion, for OA, only without the basic rules of the 3.5 d20 system in it. Maybe enhanced rules, more skills and feats, different combat options, but it would focus primarily around new races, classes, spells, prestige classes, and maybe a section about making an OA world. Make it as culturally-diverse as possible without making any apparent parallels. I mean, obviously, if they're selling to a NON-Asiaphile Western Market, there will be more Japan and China in it than anything. And then, like the PHB is used as the foundation for the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting and Player's Guide, use this OA book in addition to the PHB as a foundation to your later-produced game setting, be it Kara-Tur or another.
Ranger REG 11-14-07, 06:39 PM	Why should the Oriental Adventures book have to be written with a specific setting associated with it? I'm not asking that the book should be written with a specific setting in mind. I'm asking that like the 3e Player's Handbook, it should use a setting in their examples, however error-ridden they may be. (Please 4e editors, make the examples correct according to the rules.) Its not Oriental Adventures, then. By that same logic, Player's Handbook shouldn't be called Player's Handbook in the first place. It should be Player's Handbook to Greyhawk. :bored:
Pyrate_Jib 11-14-07, 11:31 PM	I'd love to see it!
Hochiu 11-16-07, 11:03 PM	By that same logic, Player's Handbook shouldn't be called Player's Handbook in the first place. It should be Player's Handbook to Greyhawk. :bored: No. You're interpretation of what I was saying is flawed. You're advocating the inclusion of a Campaign Setting that a future Oriental Adventures suppliment is set in. The Players Handbook has a few spell names with prominent NPCs from Greyhawk and retains a few Greyhawk deities. However, it is setting neutral. There is no reference in the core rulebooks about specific locations/countries/npcs/etc. Like I said, the PHB has only a few minor references to a campaign setting within it. What else in the PHB makes mention that people are playing in a Greyhawk game? If an OA book has a featured setting attached to it, like the 1985 Oriental Adventures book I have does, or the 3e OA book, then its NOT Oriental Adventures. You'll get a book where OA may include extra information about making Oriental games (like a rehash of 3e) with a heavy concentration on a specific setting type and derivative culture. Just like the 3e book. And not that many people were to thrilled about the 3e book material and their lack of emphasis on other cultures - and don't tell me it was just the fact it was Rokugan, either. I remember the posts of you wanting other cultures to have greater prominence.
Ranger REG 11-17-07, 02:38 AM	No. You're interpretation of what I was saying is flawed. You're advocating the inclusion of a Campaign Setting that a future Oriental Adventures suppliment is set in. The Players Handbook has a few spell names with prominent NPCs from Greyhawk and retains a few Greyhawk deities. However, it is setting neutral. Too setting neutral, if you ask me. From among the three core rulebooks, it didn't provide enough information to create any kind of setting (though you can provide endless dungeon crawls), as it is already assumed we are already influenced by Western literatures, tales, legends, and so forth. After all, D&D is Eurocentric. You could introduce OA as setting neutral, but not the majority of the customers are influenced by Asian literature, except what little comes through the import pipes (many of them are over-the-top anime). You've got to give them primers (or a crash course) on running an Asian-flavored setting, and oftentimes the best way is to present a ready-made setting as examples. I'm not asking to put a bunch of setting information, just enough -- like d20 Modern campaign models -- to start with. That and a few iconics (character stats optional).
Tuah 11-22-07, 04:54 PM	I think 4.0 OA would be a great idea. It'll also give them a try to make the whole book better. ;P The thing with Campaign Settings is that they're disorganized, which requires someone to buy a whole extra set of books just to change settings. They made Oriental Adventures, Rokugan Campaign Setting, and the Rokugan Monster Manual, when they could have easily condensed them into a single (though larger) book. Perhaps the real problem in all D&D suppliments is that there are too many, and they're all disorganized.
narukagami 11-22-07, 05:03 PM	I think 4.0 OA would be a great idea. It'll also give them a try to make the whole book better. ;P The thing with Campaign Settings is that they're disorganized, which requires someone to buy a whole extra set of books just to change settings. They made Oriental Adventures, Rokugan Campaign Setting, and the Rokugan Monster Manual, when they could have easily condensed them into a single (though larger) book. FYI OA was the only book published by Wizards that had anything to do with Rokugan. The Rokugan CS, Creatures of Rokugan, and the other multitude of Rokugan-related supplements are published by a completely different company, AEG, after they got the L5R rights back.
Tuah 11-22-07, 11:25 PM	FYI OA was the only book published by Wizards that had anything to do with Rokugan. The Rokugan CS, Creatures of Rokugan, and the other multitude of Rokugan-related supplements are published by a completely different company, AEG, after they got the L5R rights back. Replace OA with Forgotten Realms and Eberron. :P Still though, those books could still be considered part of a full set, even if they're not the same company.
Ranger REG 11-23-07, 02:27 AM	The thing with Campaign Settings is that they're disorganized, which requires someone to buy a whole extra set of books just to change settings. They made Oriental Adventures, Rokugan Campaign Setting, and the Rokugan Monster Manual, when they could have easily condensed them into a single (though larger) book. They CAN'T. Why? Because WotC only published the aforementioned OA. AEG published the other two aforementioned books. You can easily tell they have split interpretations about the setting, which is why Rokugan shouldn't be the baseline "example" setting for the new OA in the first place. :noway:
KLGChaos 11-23-07, 07:57 AM	Personally, I'd prefer to see something more general to Asian culture instead of a Rokugan based book. Rokugan is too Japanese based, and though I really like Japanese history and culture, I'd also like to see them incorporate Chinese culture into it as well, so we have a choice of different things to put in. The only thing the current OA book has is some different names for things like weapons and classes listed on a small table near the end of the book. I'd prefer to have entire character classes and monsters based off of both cultures, so we can decide for ourselves how much of each culture we'd like to put in our games.
Tuah 11-24-07, 03:08 AM	Hey, why don't we write our own Oriental Adventures book? That could be pretty fun! :D
TheMadMonk 11-24-07, 01:25 PM	HAI! i incorperate oriental into my epic in fact as a DM and a player i am currently using it to build the perfect maho. all for oa in the first!