Japanese Fantasy RPGs, A Brief History of Disappointment

[zigguratbuilder]

Originally published at KIT KOW SKI. You can comment here or there.

So I’m aiming to at one point run a medium-length Dungeons and Dragons 3/3.5e game set in a fantasical asian-themed setting using the excellent E6 hack (max character level = 6) by Ryan S. To that end, I picked up the Rokugan sourcebook for about $2 at some sale or other, and

Comments

[demota]

Sounds cool. I hope this goes well. If you wanna look at monsters, try looking at the Shin Megami Tensei series and seeing how various deities and creatures got redesigned.

PHB3 isn't gonna have ki. They changed their minds on ki as a power source. They realized that ki isn't really a power source. A ki power source would end up being an "Asian" power source. As much as I'd love to have a character who gets their power from playing violin and having parents that bug them to prepare for the best colleges possible, that'd get a little silly.

Monk's gonna be around, but be psionic, though inwardly-focused, since for them, "ki" was an inner power forged through discipline and mental focus. Which happens to match psionics pretty closely.

Did you hear about Gamma World? I'm pretty curious about that.

[zigguratbuilder]

Ah, that's cool re not using Ki as a power source. I'm still wary of Samurai or Ninja as their own classes (if they're still going that route), simply because I think they're done fine already in the core rules (Fighter, Rogue and Ranger). Having said that, the OA Samurai class (which is literally exactly like Fighter but for like 2 extra little rules) is interesting in that you keep your ancestral weapon (your favorite/family sword) and it levels up with you, so you don't have to ditch the clan's blade when you find a +2 dagger

[demota]

Yeah. The monsters in Persona can get a little silly, though anything that isn't a boss is probably meant to be pretty abstract. Some of the twists in design and the details are pretty interesting. On the more obvious end, Omoikane, Japanese goddess of wisdom, is a large floating multi-tendriled brain with six eyes. Thanatos' depiction as wearing a cloak made of coffins is pretty striking too.

As a whole, a lot of them are pretty close to classical depictions, but for the ones that do have odd twists, they can give some cool ideas.

I don't think samurai or ninja are ever going to be their own classes in 4e. Not without a REALLY good reason. They're doing a pretty good job at avoiding class bloat by making sure every class requires a ton of design work and making sure each of them plays totally differently from the others.

Pity about some of the people who can't wrap their heads around things, though. "I want to play a fighter that uses a bow."? Just play Ranger.