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Post by Scott on Aug 4, 2014 16:41:42 GMT -5
Have you ever played it, straight out of the book? I have not. It's always rubbed me the wrong way. I don't have any 'in play' experience with it.
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Post by Scott on Aug 4, 2014 16:46:33 GMT -5
Actually, I kind of have some experience, but not with the book directly. I've played in 2E games with a ninja combo, and a kensai, but the game was very different in style than what I run in most ways.
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Post by geneweigel on Aug 4, 2014 18:13:04 GMT -5
Have you ever played it, straight out of the book? I have not. It's always rubbed me the wrong way. I don't have any 'in play' experience with it. Yes, I did not DM the OA1 SWORD OF THE DAIMYO (1986) but I went through as a player with this character: Apparently, I made it to third level. As bizarre as this seems, mine was the most serious character. There were a lot of crappy named characters "Phuk Yoo", "Won Long Dik" and "Miso Hon Yee" but what do you expect from teenagers from Conecticut? I have a samurai character that I made with the OA friendly character sheets a few months after but I never played it. He was going to be a "ronin" lost in Greyhawk as some people I know did years before with the Dragon magazine samurai from DRAGON #3 (OCT 1976) that was reprinted in the BEST OF DRAGON #2 (1981). (NOTE: there was another samurai class but it was hard to find in DRAGON#49 (MAY 1981)every I know had the BEST OF DRAGONs because they were always on the shelf at the bookstore in the early 80's).
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Post by geneweigel on Aug 4, 2014 18:20:22 GMT -5
I think the ORIENTAL ADVENTURES KARA-TUR boxed set was even more depressing than the modules which I had threw them all away. I had DMed the following two OA2 NIGHT OF THE SEVEN SWORDS (1986) and OA3 OCHIMO: SPIRIT WARRIOR (1986) and gave up on OA4 BLOOD OF THE YAKUZA (1987) as unplayable because everyone was sick of playing them. Its weird because the same people enjoyed an oriental style dungeon level pre-OA.
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Post by Scott on Aug 4, 2014 21:54:34 GMT -5
I thought about an oriental section of the dungeon, or a demi-plane. When my cousin's PC made it to the bottom of my Greyhawk dungeon he took the slide to China, but wished himself home right away. The adventure I wrote to run for EGG included a Japanese encounter in the wilderness section.
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GT
Wizard
Duke of Indiana, Knight Commander
Posts: 2,032
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Post by GT on Aug 4, 2014 22:57:19 GMT -5
I had a kensai that I NPC'ed to try out the system. He had hopped a ship to western Oerik and made his way to the Dry Steppes where Woodstock, Kato and a couple of other characters encountered him. He was complicated to run, but I had some fun with him as I grew accustomed to his abilities.
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GT
Wizard
Duke of Indiana, Knight Commander
Posts: 2,032
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Post by GT on Aug 4, 2014 23:03:31 GMT -5
I knew that GW would have embraced such a character... Jodan desu yo!!! ^__^ I think I named him Marek Jus, which was odd because Marek is actually a Polish name. If I recall, he may have been an Oerikian (one who is from Oerik)originally who was shipwrecked in Kozakura when very young, grew up training in kendo and various martial arts and the culture of Kozakura (although always with the stigma of being "gaijin"), and then deciding to travel home. He never talked very much, either...
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Post by geneweigel on Aug 4, 2014 23:10:42 GMT -5
Yeah, thats probably THE way to go about it.
When people played D&D they didn't know there was going to be any gradations of monsters or a classification that was relevant. They just thought, "OH SHIT THOSE GUYS HAD DOG HEADS!" and that must be the Oriental game session approach not being attacked by some traditionally named mythical thing that has no relevance in English. Like simply calling a "bajang" a "jungle troll" or "bakemono" an "eastern goblin". Another element to avoid and thats why you shouldn't use the classes is the concept of spirit is totally lost here. You can tell that the original manuscript had a turn undead feature and then they pissed all over it with this "it is not their way" kind of mentality.
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Post by geneweigel on Aug 4, 2014 23:20:05 GMT -5
I created another world in the 80's that I was going to switch over to that had an oriental colony but I never did it. That world remained a pet project then just fell into obscurity when I detached elements to use in the Greyhawk campaign. The original map was in pencil then I did another one in colored pencil. Its like a pristine unused world. The reason I don't mention or show it because the name (emblazoned on the sea) is so dumb it'll make you cringe.
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Post by geneweigel on Aug 4, 2014 23:22:36 GMT -5
If you think "Skulldon" is bad. Even Gary thought this one was bad.
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GT
Wizard
Duke of Indiana, Knight Commander
Posts: 2,032
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Post by GT on Aug 4, 2014 23:29:33 GMT -5
Heh!! I will say that the Jahindi classes that I'm working on are more simple and geared towards Player's Hanbook/UA type of presentation. I only devised two deities for Jahind so far: Kaaldevi (the parallel Kali) and Trimurdesha (a three-faced deity incorporating aspects of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva into one entity). I have three Kozakuran/Wa deities and three Shou Lung deities (Zhu-ti being the head of the latter pantheon).
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GT
Wizard
Duke of Indiana, Knight Commander
Posts: 2,032
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Post by GT on Aug 4, 2014 23:36:20 GMT -5
Quote: "The reason I don't mention or show it because the name (emblazoned on the sea) is so dumb it'll make you cringe."
Worse than "Agitoric Ocean"; a blatant antonym to "Pacific" even though it's the parallel thereof? ^__^ That always sounded like a washer cycle to me... which is why I used it on my world map! HAR!!!
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Post by geneweigel on Aug 4, 2014 23:42:09 GMT -5
Yeah, I'll PM the name of it
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GT
Wizard
Duke of Indiana, Knight Commander
Posts: 2,032
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Post by GT on Aug 5, 2014 1:42:16 GMT -5
That wasn't quite as bad as GW would have us believe... ^__^
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Post by geneweigel on Aug 5, 2014 9:09:48 GMT -5
I don't know... its been a curse to have something so cleverly unclever.
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Post by Scott on Aug 7, 2014 11:20:30 GMT -5
Back to the Oriental Adventures. This could qualify as an Inside Joke as well, but I forgot to mention the Big Trouble in Little China themed adventure I have outlined. Lo Pan, the Storms, Wing Kong, Chang Sing, etc. They're all in there. I was planning on running it for a player/party (that would get it) that made it to the bottom of the dungeon and took the slide to China.
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Post by geneweigel on Aug 7, 2014 12:39:37 GMT -5
Thats a good point about getting it. There is nothing more painful than a good "joke" that is wasted. Especially in the example cited where you have to play out the storyline if they got it or not. I recall in the 80's doing a dimensional door to monster island (Toho; Godzilla, etc.)but it was a fast abort when no one showed any interest. I had Godzilla scaled for about 100 feet so I had a Kraken doll out on the table.(I no longer have the Kraken. Its a sore subject but I still have all the figure somewhere. Pegasus is all smashed up.)
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