Quote from: languagegeek;752216Bushido is my #1 game of choice for the genre. In D&D specifically, I recall using the characters from Dragon articles when I wanted a ninja or something to make an appearance .

Mine as well, though I was tempted by the RQ based Land of the Samurai and Sengoku (though I have neither of those). I won't bother with "Oriental" jumblings of China and Japan.

Quote from: Benoist;752209What is your favorite D&D Japanese variant, AD&D and 3e Oriental Adventures, Ruins & Ronins, etc, and why?

Record of Lodoss War, the why is self-evident.

have to say I never found any to be truly suitable.  I'm looking forward to see the day when someone gives China or Japan (or Korea!) the same treatment that I gave Arrows of Indra for India.

Quote from: RPGPundit;753324have to say I never found any to be truly suitable.  I'm looking forward to see the day when someone gives China or Japan (or Korea!) the same treatment that I gave Arrows of Indra for India.

OA did a really good job of portraying Japan and China as depicted in the Martial arts and Samurai/Ninja movies from those countries at the time.

Quote from: Omega;753663OA did a really good job of portraying Japan and China as depicted in the Martial arts and Samurai/Ninja movies from those countries at the time.

Wait... you mean the original one? Dude, it really didn't.  It did a really good job of portraying how a white guy who'd watched "Kung Fu" and read "Shogun" thought "the orient" was like in the 80s.

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPundit;753928Wait... you mean the original one? Dude, it really didn't.  It did a really good job of portraying how a white guy who'd watched "Kung Fu" and read "Shogun" thought "the orient" was like in the 80s.

RPGPundit

Have you seen some of the Samurai and Martial arts movies from back then? Ninjas riding giant frogs battling a dragon, killer chess games, a wizard catching a demonic meteor with his eyebrows, the flying guillotine, 18 bronze men, etc.

OA totally needed a "Catch Meteor with Eyebrows" spell.

Quote from: Omega;753945Have you seen some of the Samurai and Martial arts movies from back then? Ninjas riding giant frogs battling a dragon, killer chess games, a wizard catching a demonic meteor with his eyebrows, the flying guillotine, 18 bronze men, etc.

OA totally needed a "Catch Meteor with Eyebrows" spell.

There are a lot of samurai / ninja type movies that aren't tokusatsu or yokai style. How about naming some of these weird movies - esp the eyebrows one?

If you want a good list of samurai movies, wikipedia comes in handy -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Jidaigeki_films

For a some camp + samurai + ronin + ninjas, this is a good one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shogun%27s_Samurai

Sonny Chiba in his prime, plus Hiroyuki Sanada when his was a young punk.

Plenty of good, serious ones on that list too.

I just came across this site too - lots of weird ones of the yokai sort, plus Japanese TV chambara type...

http://vintageninja.net

Quote from: Lynn;753956There are a lot of samurai / ninja type movies that aren't tokusatsu or yokai style. How about naming some of these weird movies - esp the eyebrows one?

Eyebrows = Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain. 1983
The giant frog one = Magic Serpent. 1966
18 Bronzemen and sequel = 1976
Flying Guillotine = 1974

And there are some very good Samurai movies out there too. 7 Samurai of course being well known. There is the whole Lone Wolf and Cub series starting in 72. Yojimbo in 61.

Lots of interesting influences on OA.

Great, but you can't say its in any way based on authentic history or myth.

Quote from: RPGPundit;754439Great, but you can't say its in any way based on authentic history or myth.

Uhhh...

Quote from: Omega;753663OA did a really good job of portraying Japan and China as depicted in the Martial arts and Samurai/Ninja movies from those countries at the time.

OA was, at best, like Tarantino's Kill Bill or the Memoirs of a Geisha movie.  It copied the tropes of those old movies, but at a remove, without real understanding of the history and references.*  So, if like Tarantino your primary experience with those movies are at a remove, then it's great.  It has the same "feel".  If you're more familiar with the historical and cinematic context of those tropes, then it kind of feels like a mess.

*This absolutely not meant as a criticism.  Well, not for OA/Tarantino/Kill Bill/and similar fans, at least.  The unfamiliarity with the cultural/historical context with those tropes is what gave Tarantino such an enjoyable experience watching those films, and it was that sense that he was trying to evoke.  The same may certainly be said for OA as well.  It may not be to my taste, but I cannot fault the sincere reactions of those seeing those films without the context.

Memoirs of a Geisha is still crap, though.

Quote from: RPGPundit;754439Great, but you can't say its in any way based on authentic history or myth.

A lot of the samurai ones that Sonny Chiba was in made reference to real people or places, or elements of folklore / mythology. They aren't as bad as trying to interpret Middle East history from Sinbad movies...but sometimes close. Many are campy fun.

Ive been on a Sonny Chiba kick recently and watched Legend of the Eight Samurai last night - over the top villains, witch creatures that turn into giant centipedes and snakes and more. If you can get past the first 20 minutes of camp its enjoyable.

Quote from: Lynn;754767A lot of the samurai ones that Sonny Chiba was in made reference to real people or places, or elements of folklore / mythology.

They were about as accurate as "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" would be an accurate portrayal of medieval english history, at best.

Quote from: RPGPundit;755246They were about as accurate as "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" would be an accurate portrayal of medieval english history, at best.

That's about right.

Japan has its share of crappy and campy cinema and dumb, salacious comedy shows, etc. and sometimes that gets exported along with the really good stuff.

Quote from: RPGPundit;753324have to say I never found any to be truly suitable.  I'm looking forward to see the day when someone gives China or Japan (or Korea!) the same treatment that I gave Arrows of Indra for India.

Pfft. You can do Japan accurately with RPGs out there right now. You don't need special rules. The problem with many... most... okay, maybe all Japanese themed RPGs is that fap way too much over the Tokugawa period and Bushido: The Soul of Japan. The first has to be the most depressing time to a samurai and the second is a romantic's revisionist ideas on what the samurai where like. Dial back to the 8th to 12th century time frame. For the more weird fantasy, earlier is better and for those that like political intrigue, later is better. If you want to be lesser nobles rather than samurai exploring the wild wilderness of Japan that is even more crazy than 8th century, then the 5th to 6th century is good.