Hey all,
Wondering if anyone has any good resources for running a chinese-historical campaign; specifically one set in the Three Kingdoms period, but I'm looking for anything at all that could be juicy/useful for the chinese campaign.
RPGPundit
Sources of Chinese Tradition (http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/catalog/data/023110/0231109385.HTM), by Columbia University Press.
Ok, I should have specified: ONLINE sources.
:p
RPGPundit
Three Kingdoms (http://www.threekingdoms.com/), e-book, online, searchable, with notes.
Yes, i was familiar with that one already, and its pretty absolutely essential, especially given that I don't actually have a hard copy of the novel with me and last read it years ago.
Of course, my campaign will be based on the real history, not history as recounted in the novel. Plus it'll have lots of wuxia stuff. :D
RPGPundit
What system?
Scrupulous history and wire-fu. I'll drink to that.
Qin. I've fallen in love with that game.
RPGPundit
Seriously, I hope they get to kick Dong Zhuo square in the nuts.
I bet your players who aren't familiar with the setting would shit a brick to come up against Lu Bu.
:axe:
I'd love to see a sourcebook about Chinese history, legend, and culture written with the gamer in mind. I have the one for GURPS, but it was one of the few GURPS sourcebooks that left me cold. Oddly, as much as I like most GURPS sourcebooks, I've never liked the ones that focus on real world history and places. Then again, it's been a while, since I last went through them, so it may be time to give them a second look.
Quote from: Zachary The FirstSeriously, I hope they get to kick Dong Zhuo square in the nuts.
I bet your players who aren't familiar with the setting would shit a brick to come up against Lu Bu.
:axe:
Damn right. Lu Bu will be one scary motherfucker; I'm still figuring out exactly how I plan to stat him.
Anyways, Cao Cao is the main reason I want to play in the Three Kingdoms; though Dong Zhuo is another one of these fascinating figures of the time.
RPGPundit
Cao Cao is an interesting figure. He's portrayed as such a total jerk-ass in RoTK, but historically, he's considered quite differently. There's a lot there to play with.
Yes, the historical Cao Cao is, to me, far more interesting than the Cao Cao of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
RPGPundit
Quote from: RPGPunditYes, the historical Cao Cao is, to me, far more interesting than the Cao Cao of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
RPGPundit
I hear that. That will be one AP thread I hope to read soon.
Quote from: RPGPunditYes, i was familiar with that one already, and its pretty absolutely essential, especially given that I don't actually have a hard copy of the novel with me and last read it years ago.
Of course, my campaign will be based on the real history, not history as recounted in the novel. Plus it'll have lots of wuxia stuff. :D
RPGPundit
Hey, Pundit -
Here's a good history overview site:
http://www.fact-index.com/h/hi/history_of_china.html
For Wuxia Sources, check out these sites:
http://www.spcnet.tv/jinyong/jyreadingroom.shtml
http://www.spcnet.tv/gulong/glreadingroom.shtml
While WotG may not be to your taste, I'm all about sharing the wuxia love, so enjoy! :D
And I own Qin myself - anything that helps wuxia in the market is good by me!
[Deleted] I wasn't adding anything to the discussion.
Nothing to see here.
Move along. Move along.
Quote from: RPGPunditHey all,
Wondering if anyone has any good resources for running a chinese-historical campaign; specifically one set in the Three Kingdoms period, but I'm looking for anything at all that could be juicy/useful for the chinese campaign.
RPGPundit
i'm something of a sinologist. what sort of books are you looking for? anthropological? historical? fantastical? literary? archaeological? any ideas you want to bounce, i'd love to talk about han dynasty china :)
edit: oh, and there were some roman embassies with china at the time. this was at the very beginning of the silk road. it might be interesting to play as westerners coming in, instead of chinese.
Quote from: tleilaxuedit: oh, and there were some roman embassies with china at the time. this was at the very beginning of the silk road. it might be interesting to play as westerners coming in, instead of chinese.
There weren't any actual "roman embassies" at that time, save possibly one. It appears that sometime in 170s or 80s a roman delegation did manage to arrive in Luoyang sent by either Antoninus Pius or Marcus Aurelius; only we don't have any surviving roman records of this expedition, only chinese.
But they disappeared into history, and before and after that the two empires had no significant political contact.
But, as you say, the silk road was opening up and there was a lot of contact at the level of merchants!
RPGPundit
Zhongwen.com (http://www.zhongwen.com) is a good online Chinese-English/English-Chinese dictionary.
While it's not online, and it's later than Three Kingdoms, China's Golden Age (http://www.amazon.com/Chinas-Golden-Age-Everyday-Dynasty/dp/0195176650/sr=8-1/qid=1158899416/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-7631534-2344800?ie=UTF8&s=books) is a great book full of details about everyday life in historical (Tang Dynasty: 618-907 A.D.) China.
Thanks, Nick. Now we're on the right track...
RPGPundit