Quote from: VisionStorm;1140520Just found my old copy of Oriental Adventures! It was stashed away in another room. All busted up from age, though, with the side binding coming off at the bottom and the edges all worn out.

Also found my copy of Al-Qadim Arabian Adventures, which I thought I never got. I left it stored inside my City of Delights boxed set, so it's in much better condition. Can't say the same about the boxed set. Still, precious gems that will never see print again in our dystopian era.

Please let us know when they come for your old rulebooks.

Quote from: HappyDaze;1140525Please let us know when they come for your old rulebooks.

From mah cold dead hands!

Quote from: VisionStorm;1140520Just found my old copy of Oriental Adventures! It was stashed away in another room. All busted up from age, though, with the side binding coming off at the bottom and the edges all worn out.

Funny how that's not entirely related to "old" books. People been complaining about cheap print alternatives where the books are literally falling apart. Maybe trying to emulate aging, who knows?

100% of the issue is the word "oriental" in the title.

Fighting the newspeak is something real and concrete that can be done to prevent this kind of thing.

Flying Buffalo has now updated the Tunnels & Trolls edition 1-5 PDFs to replace Yassa Massa to Obey Me. I don't think anyone would defend the name today but I think a note in the front or back would have been nice as opposed to pretending it was never there.

Politics aside, is OA any good?

Quote from: Dropkicker;1141694Politics aside, is OA any good?

The new classes are very cool - I especially like the spellcasters, you've got flavorful spells, monsters, and a decent toolkit to put a (mostly japanese)asian veneer on your OD&D game; the honor rules are a little clunky and odd when it comes to a group working together...

Overall, I found it good except for 'Zebs' trash-talk of european armies in the forward.  

Quote from: LiferGamer;1141696The new classes are very cool - I especially like the spellcasters, you've got flavorful spells, monsters, and a decent toolkit to put a (mostly japanese)asian veneer on your OD&D game; the honor rules are a little clunky and odd when it comes to a group working together...

Overall, I found it good except for 'Zebs' trash-talk of european armies in the forward.  

Thanks! I always heard good things about it. I will stick with Bushido however as that's an old favorite and I haven't done D&D in . . . 30 years?

GURPS Japan is a great option for anyone wanting to flesh out more of the details whether run it as GURPS or not.

Bushido's excellent; it would be my first choice see if I could talk the group into trying a new system, if they're locked into D&D go with OA.

Quote from: Dropkicker;1141694Politics aside, is OA any good?

Well... not so much, I'd say. For one, the "mostly Japan, with about 15% China and select sprinklings of other Asian countries" approach presents problems that neither a strictly Japan-focused work (like Bushido) nor an all-encompassing book or book series covering all of a Fantasy Asia (like the fevered dream of a megalomanical game designer) would have. For example, you have Samurai and Yakuza (that are called that, since these are classes) running around in the world's equivalents of China and Korea.

Secondly, some of the research is obsolete (although much of it actually doesn't hold up too badly.)

Thirdly, the "Oriental" content is, in fact, fairly insubstantial. For example, the loudly-maligned family and honor rules take up ~6 pages. All of the world and society descriptions combined also take up ~6 pages. The spell lists take up 41 pages. Most of the rest of the book is repetition of general rules which work within or without the "Oriental" setting (or, as for the proficiencies, new rules for which the same applies), plus lists of equipment, monsters and so on, which contain some implicit world description, but not too much overall. I reckon if you had published the thing as purely a supplement for players who owned the MM, PHB, DMG and UA, it could have been trimmed down to a 32-page booklet to go with the Kara-Tur boxed set.

To me it feels instead like mostly China with some Japan sprinkled in there.

Quote from: Omega;1141779To me it feels instead like mostly China with some Japan sprinkled in there.

It really, really is the other way 'round. The authors admit as much and it's obvious from the actual content. 7 out of 10 classes are Japanese in name and concept. Almost of the non-generic weapons and armor are Japanese. The non-weapon proficiencies feature things like Noh and Origami, the floor plans are for a Daimyô's reception hall and a Japanese peasant house, the equipment illustrations are 90% about Japanese items, as are the illustrations in general, including a cover featuring a Samurai, a Ninja and a Japanese castle.

Greetings!

Honestly, I became very bored with America's fetishizing and obsession with Japan--the Samurai, the Giesha, the Ninja--all of that, a long time ago. I think Mongolia, Ancient China, Ancient India, and South-East Asia are far more interesting.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Quote from: Dropkicker;1141694Politics aside, is OA any good?

It's all right. Some of the stuff in there is ridiculously overpowered for 1e, a step up from Unearthed Arcana. For example the Samurai has 3 arrows a round, 3/2 melee attacks, the best weapon in the game, and 18/00 strength on demand, all at 1st level. If your guy knows Karate you can do an Eagle Claw for 3d10, doing the equivalent of 3 two handed sword hits worth of damage. IMO, its a product of its time. As SHARK intimated the fetishization of asian cultures. At the time, martial artists and especially ninjas were thought to be superheroes. There was a martial arts school in every strip mall, and the VHS movie rental places and cable TV were jam packed with mostly terrible martial arts films like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCTabn23MhA&feature=youtu.be&t=235

Regarding Wizard's statement, I know people would have preferred a stronger stance, but I think it was a pretty smart move. It takes some wind out of the sails of the clout chaser and makes it harder for them to profit from criticizing the other non European themed TSR materia, and avoid a social media firestorm. The clout chaser could double down and go after Hasbro for their clear pattern of discriminatory behavior (stockpile those Monopoly sets!) or maybe go after Chaosium or the estate of Agatha Christie next. We'll see.

Anybody have video to share of these "they" coming for their rulebooks? I want to see what defenses I need to prepare.