I'm looking for a Far East (China & Japan) setting book, fan made or otherwise, for nWoD. I don't know of any official ones, but maybe I'm missing something.
Barring that, I'm also looking for good sources to help me build such a setting on my own: fundamental myths, basic history, philosophies and religions.
To sum up:
1. Does anyone have any kind of ready-made Far East setting for nWoD?
2. Does anyone know any solid and thematically-appropriate sources of information for such a nWoD setting?
Thanks!
I did a lot of research on the subject for my Black Tokyo campaign.
To start with, get a copy of Kindred of the East, it's for classic WOD, but you should be able to port over the content easily enough, and its a nice sourcebook. Great art, and one of the WOD books I enjoyed the most.
Second, Wikipedia is your friend. So is Wikivoyage, which provides travel info and a current perspective on just about every city you'd want to visit in Asia. Thing of it as the ultimate free setting guide.
After that, check out Japanese Mythology A-Z, by Jeremy Roberts, isbn 978-1-60413-435-2. Great book, and I reference it often. Most of the weirder critters in my setting are drawn directly from myth.
There was a great Hero System bestiary about Asian monsters, broken into two big volumes. I don't use the system, but I downloaded both books because they cover a lot of ground and introduce a lot of otherwise obscure monsters. They cover Japan, China and India most extensively, but also include critters from Vietnamese, Tibetan and Philippine folklore too.
Finally, http://yokai.com/ is a pretty sweet reference for Japanese monsters and spirits.
So, Kindred of the East. Was also thinking about taking a peek at the Tokyo book for Wraith, it looked nice enough. Well, if the cWoD books'll do the trick, then here I go.
Thanks, man.
Demon Hunter X also from White Wolf. I had a minor hand in that one with the Shih entry as WW had "borrowed" from one of my books.
Also have a look at the Naga book for Werewolf as it touches on some eastern subjects as does to a small degree the Ratkin book. And if you are looking for Dark Ages setting material then Blood and Silk might be worth a look at. Heard of. Never seen.
Isnt there also a Hong Kong book?
"Hong Kong By Night", I think. I never had that one. My brother was the big WOD fan in the household. I only picked up a handful of books by contrast.
Anyone else? More on the Chinese side?
Can you tell us what kind of game about which you are thinking? Realistic, modern Tokyo and Beijing? Ninjas and katanas?
All of the cWoD are good at tying the supernatural to modern day asian cities, but the accurate depiction of those cultures is exactly what you'd expect from a bunch of guys from the 90s (pretty much pre internet for these purposes) trying to do research on every culture they were making a setting book for under a deadline (nothing Mickey Rooney Breakfast at Tiffany's, just more of a really broad brush). The Wraith book will be more wraith-specific than the Vampire books would be vampire specific, but either is a great resource.
Modern Beijing rather than Tokyo, trying not to make it too cliched, as in: I'd rather go for Chinese ancestral spirits rather than Chinese fireball-shooting ninjas. :D Being WoD, it'd have to be grim&gritty, with the obvious supernatural races in the mix (Vampires, Werewolves, the like), which I'll give a personality to myself. That's not the issue. The issue is, the PCs will most likely be hunters, so I'd like to brush up a bit on my mythology, and especially on my non-religious setting material (such as history, local legendry & folklore, particular landmarks and cultural sites, the like). That's the thing. I need something to give me some ideas, which will give me story hooks, which will give me a story. :rotfl:
Thanks! Hmmm. Cliched is one thing game designers do well for non-western cultures. Well, if you are not constraining yourself to gaming books. I have a few suggestions.
Obviously, there are umpteen zillion mythology books that will give you a good foundation for the spirits and folklore creatures of china. I won't recommend one over the others.
Here (http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2012/07/new-summer-fiction) is a review of a fictional work that gives a good look (in English) at what actual chinese think their society looks like. It's basically Girl with the Dragon Tatoo, except China instead of Scandenavia. Not a bad mystery.
Here (http://chinachange.org/2012/04/13/some-of-the-best-chinese-short-fiction-in-english/), and here (https://books.google.com/books?id=L0VShFCUdPkC&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=modern+chinese+urban+fiction+in+english&source=bl&ots=IYx_faV6wO&sig=GDpT9bp8L0EUgG6qcVTGBqhOPuo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCgQ6AEwA2oVChMI4Lj958WAyAIV0o6SCh1v3gSe#v=onepage&q=modern%20chinese%20urban%20fiction%20in%20english&f=false) are some modern Chinese fiction, which might give some ideas on day-in-the-life reality (i.e. what to hang the supernatural hooks upon).
Thanks a bunch, will check those out!
For the nWoD, Beijing is actually written up in Vampire: The Requiem second edition. Each nWoD 2nd ed has a bunch of cities in it, which are different every time *except* for Tokyo, which is in all of them, gradually building it up as nWoD 2e's equivalent of old Chicago as the crossover city.
I keep telling myself I oughta update V:tR to 2e. :D thanks, man!