D&D officially turning Forgotten Realms sights away from Euro inspired campaigns

[horati0nosebl0wer 19645xp 1]

I just ran over an article that reported that D&D is going to be more inclusive in their campaign settings.

Comicbook.com

It looks like there might be revamped source books for Kara Tur and Zakhara (with some other area additionally). Perhaps there might be some usefulness to the present cultural climate looking into the past of gaming to get old places renewed.

I know Dark Sun got a reboot for 4th ed. but is it too spicy a take for the up and coming gamers? Eh, I digress… it could be interesting but I am cynical toward the way things might go in the upcoming releases.

[onlyonepinman 18060xp 3]

I would say I am all for a return of the Al Qadim setting but the truth is I have migrated to pastures new and probably won’t end up buying any new stuff for D&D.  I still play in a D&D game but it’s set in Baldur’s Gate and any expansion of the world won’t really impact that and I am planning on running my own game using Modiphius’ Conan.  I can kind of see why they retracted much of the world.  Arabian Nights and Tales of the Orient are less mainstream and more niche (I have a real love of Arabian Nights settings); they have a following but it’s nothing compared to the more mainstream medieval Europe themed fantasy.  As D&D’s popularity shrank (during the RPG crash of the 90’s) less popular material simply ceased being published.  RPGs and in particular D&D is experiencing something of a resurgence and so maybe it’s time to reintroduce them.

But here’s the kicker.  The overwhelming majority of D&D players are white and male.  Are they allowed to play arabs or samurai or African tribesmen or is that cultural appropriation?

[mecha82Participant 10037xp 0]

That does seem interesting. For some time now DnD has been dominated by typical medieval high fantasy settings so those settings that are not that should be able to spice things up. Of course one of most interesting DnD settings back in day was Planescape that was so different and offered so much options.

[koraskiParticipant 1981xp 0]

I’d definitely like to see Al-Qadim updated for 5th edition. I never got a chance to run or play in the setting back in 2nd edition so it would be a great opportunity.

 

I’m still a bit confused by the whole L5R/Kara Tur thing. I’m assuming that since L5R is being produced by a different company that Wizards probably can’t use it as their Asian themes Forgotten Realms setting anymore. I think there was a second setting that was swapped in (or out) so maybe they will use that instead.

[gobboParticipant 2570xp 2]

Kara Tur is owned by Wizards.  They did a collaboration with AEG for L5R, but it was set in Rokugan, the L5R setting.  Kara Tur has existed in Forgotten Realms almost since its first inception.

Personally, I want them to revamp Spelljammer.

 

[mageParticipant 20596xp 2]

A shift in focus is good. An Arabian nights setting would be fun

[horati0nosebl0wer 19645xp 2]

@onlyonepinman I think that the appropriation might be in the writing of the books for a game played by white males. I could rant but I’ll throttle back on it. Its a game and I’m glad for the campaign settings. I was first introduced to D&D by seeing a copy of Oriental Adventures and just looking at the pictures.

@mecha82 Planescape is something that might well be worth the revisit. I loved DiTerlizzi’s art and was glad to see him do the covers for the 2nd ed. Changeling kith books.

@koraski Just like Gobbo said Kara Tur was D&D and Rokugan was for L5R. A d20 engine for the former while the latter started as a roll and keep d10 system that changed with time when AEG went belly up. The current incarnation of L5R looks amazing but seems to have gone the same route as the latest version of Star Wars with proprietary dice. Its interesting to see the changes that good gaming systems worthy  of some time to look over go through.

@gobbo The last time I looked at the phlogiston filled expanse of space was when I owned volume 2  of the Encyclopedia Magica from TSR. Definitely an interesting thought on travel between worlds but I’d go to Planescape to randomly bandy about the planes.

@mage Agreed. Some Arabian Nights would be interesting to look into. I’ll have to read up on the setting.

[torros 23816xp 4]

Apart from our own world which we created over 20 years my groups favourite setting was Dark Sun

[onlyonepinman 18060xp 3]

@horati0nosebl0wer by all means rant away.  I don’t think adding Shaar (Africa), Zakhara (Arabia) or Kara-Tur (Far East) makes the game any more inclusive.  It doesn’t even necessarily make the world any more diverse – people can and do play arabian and far eastern characters in the game right now and they have featured in several of the video game adaptations.  It makes the environs in which you could play more diverse, which for an RPG is a good thing.  But of the intention of this is to make d&d players more diverse or inclusive (and honestly I don’t think it is) then it will probably fail.  The game is still only going to be as diverse and inclusive as the people who play it and honestly I don’t think lack of either of these two settings has been keeping people away from playing d&d.  If the intention is simply to open the game up to a wider audience by offer a wider range of game types then it will probably succeed.

[limburger 21704xp 6]

Wasn’t there some kind of backlash last year because one of the D&D books/settings was considered ‘racist’ due to its use of eastern stereotypes ?

As much as I would love to see more non western settings for RPG’s I’m afraid that the modern climate won’t give it a fair chance due to a vocal minority forcing identity politics onto us.

There will be complaints about practically anything in those settings being racist and any other -ism available.
And you can be damn sure those complainers won’t even buy the books if they were updated according to their impossible list of demands.

btw :

If you want a non-western setting for D&D might I suggest “Arrows of Indra” ?

It’s based on Indian mythology and while it uses OSR I’m pretty sure it can be converted to 5th edition rules if need be :

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/135106/Arrows-Of-Indra

[mecha82Participant 10037xp 0]

@limburger I am not aware that there has been some backlash. It seems to be part of internet outrage culture were everyone gets outraged about something no matter how small thing. Then again I am not type of who cares about those things because there always is vocal minority no matter what is they agenda (both extreme sides do that you know) trying to tell others what they should think. Then again because I use Youtube instead of Twitter or other social media like that I encounter more those that other side of that same coin to people that you refer to.

[onlyonepinman 18060xp 1]

I don’t think there will be any backlash over this other than Maybe some fringe elements hacking away on their blogs or some irrelevant “news” sites such as Kotaku.

[limburger 21704xp 3]

@mecha82 : I’ve seen more than a little outrage about these types of things.

And it’s always the same types telling other people how they ought to feel/think about certain issues.
The worst part is that they aren’t satisfied with telling people what they think about stuff.

They also actively advocate censorship and will use any means to hurt them just for the simple fact of not sharing the same opinion (and that’s putting it mildly).

Back on topic …

I hope WoTC doesn’t attempt to ‘fix’ problems with these settings by modernizing the crap out of them simply to please those easily-offended. We’ve already seen how turning Thor into a woman backfired for Marvel.

[mecha82Participant 10037xp 0]

@limburger I am sorry but I also find outrage over things like when Marvel made Jane Foster Thor for while (it wasn’t permanent thing) and She-ra’s new design before that cartoon was even out silly as well so with these things neither side really has moral high ground. So like I said just different sides of same coin and as sensible person I try not to care about these things and let others tell me what I should like and what I should not like. And yes, some thing that I like are things that you don’t like but I hope you don’t hold that against me.

[onlyonepinman 18060xp 1]

D&D has already been “modernised” in that way.  The current existing setting, which consists of pretty much just the Medieval Europe themed elements of the world, is by Wizards’ own words, ethnically diverse.  Forgotten Realms has, for a very long time, been a world with medieval tech and modern sensibilities and attitudes.  A bit like BBC 1’s “Merlin”.

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