Missteps in creating Asian and African Settings

There a few primary missteps which I believe many designers make in

creating settings based anywhere in the real world other than Western Europe

is the amount of text required to inform players about a completely new

culture, religious beliefs, economy, lore, etiquette, hell, the civilization in

general. In this sense, content creators are not world-building per se, but

rather re-stating or informing players of a place or region that already has a

real-world history. But describing a civilization unfamiliar to most beyond

pop culture perspective from the ground up takes words….a lot of em.

Designers, usually first include all the stuff that they know from pop culture

and either; 1. Stop there, or 2. They realize that what they have is  not nearly enough

context for a whole setting. So, then they deep dive on the locale`s history

and start including almost everything from agriculture to plumbing.

The end result is usually something they are proud of in terms of historical

accuracy, but then they usually must contend with three important

considerations:

-First they may face the real-life ire of folks from the location or its diaspora of

the setting, especially if the designer does not hail from the source of the

setting.

-Second, historical accuracy often isn’t game-able and even if it is, it often

just isn’t fun unless you are of a simulation-ist mindset.

-Third, and probably the most important hiccup is that PLAYERS JUST

DON`T READ!

If you hand a player a hefty tome of 400+ pages and tell them this is the

required reading for just the backdrop of a new setting, you might as well be

talking to a rock, they simply aint gonna read it! (If you are lucky enough to

play at a table of history nerds that will actually read it and get as geeked as

you are about it, then I congratulate you.) The brand-new player, or an

average player who plays a few times a month to drink a beer and hang with

friends simply aren’t going sit down and read the setting if you give it to them,

let alone go out and buy it on their own and read it. So therein lies the rub,

players maybe interested in the setting, but they aren’t going read enough to

embody the setting they claim to be interested in. So, what to do??

This is how I handle, and I would venture to say I run more Asian, African or

Island-themed settings than the average bear. First, I usually insist that most

players simply play their existing characters or roll-up a standard LotFP,

Swords and Wizardry, Dragonslayer or BX character that arrives into the new

setting however the Referee sees fit. (Within the Nebulith I allow new players

to play the Pirate Class as a pirate may hail from any foreign location.) In this

way, the player experiences the new world with something familiar, but this is how I handle, and I

 would venture to say I run more Asian, African or Island-themed settings than the average bear.

 First, I usually insist that most

players simply play their existing characters or roll-up a standard LotFP,

Swords and Wizardry, Dragonslayer or BX character that arrives into the new

setting however the Referee sees fit. (Within the Nebulith I allow new players

to play the Pirate Class as a pirate may hail from any foreign location.) In this

way, the player experiences the new world with something familiar, but that

familiar character is now a fish out of water as foreigner in a new setting. Use

that! Players can now adventure in a new setting with a natural sense of

wonder without it being assumed that they now the setting as a local.

If the referee provides a player a new setting and a new character class, and

new combat or magic mechanics and says “go!"   it is usually too mentally

overwhelming for newbies, and the player at best will try to run their new

character the only way they know how = the same as they did in previous

settings, and at worst, they just kinda sit there flipping pages trying to do or

say something that “fits” within a setting they haven’t read.

Players don`t read, but the Referees do! They are the ones that will read your

400-page setting lore, culture, etiquette, history etc. And often will read it 2

or 3 times. Lean into that. Develop the setting so the referees can unveil the

new setting to the players. In other words, don`t get angry at a player

because their character did not keep their head below the head-level of an

African King because they didn’t read or remember the royal court

procedures on page 272. Foreshadow, hint and/or directly show them the

resulting punishment of locals who committed the same offense as the

characters are entering the palace. Coming into a new setting as outsiders

usually grants the players some leeway against social and setting faux pas in

a new and different society, and allows the players to learn how this world

functions and how to play their characters in-game as opposed to reading 50

pages about the treatment of honor in Japanese society.

Allowing players to experience the setting as foreign newcomers also serves

to dampen the naysaying of those that would seek to denigrate or accuse the

setting of cultural appropriation. It’s easy to say “your setting has players

assuming the roles of characters of real-world races without the players

understanding the context, history or culture of what they are doing.” That is

a difficult argument to make if the players are coming into the setting

roleplaying as unknowing foreigners. At that point detractors can only attack

the setting, which if you have done your homework is as historically accurate

as it needs to be for what you want to achieve. Unfortunately, many Asian

and African settings are only designed around a player being able to

participate by building a brand-new character of a class within the aesthetics

of the new setting, and to compound the matter, there often aren’t places or

methods to introduce foreigners because that possibility wasn’t a part of the

creator`s original contemplation within their homogeneous vision of an

African, Chinese, Japanese setting as it needs to be for what you want to achieve. 

Unfortunately, many Asian and African settings are only designed around a player being able to

participate by building a brand-new character of a class within the aesthetics

of the new setting, and to compound the matter, there often aren’t places or

methods to introduce foreigners because that possibility wasn’t a part of the

creator`s original contemplation within their homogeneous vision of an

African, Chinese, Japanese setting.

After the player`s foreign character dies (and they will die) then allow them to

roll-up a new, cool, character local to the new setting. (Or sometimes I find

that they enjoy continuing to play a foreigner in a faraway land, thats fine too.)

Either way, they should have a deeper understanding of how your world

works and their fit in it. There are always exceptions, you may get a player

that knows more about samurai armor construction than is even in the

setting….. fine, I will let this type player enter the game with a local character

from the beginning. I also run Japan-based settings in Japan for Japanese

people, so in that context I don`t have to explain a lot of cultural things to

them like the smell or significance of boiling getto leaves, they already know,

so I will let them play new character classes, day one. But most others need

to be spoon fed your world. (The inverse is also true, I have to constantly

explain to the Japanese players what holy water is and does and the different

types of weapons within western settings)

White Deer Dojo

Sneak Peak-  As the little, Okinawan, OSR setting by Zak S. and I prepares to hit stores later this summer, here is a sneak peek at one of the dojos....

With the clashing of various Asian cultures (not to mention wherever player-characters may hail, in-game) the need for language translation quickly arose (there is a trade-tongue, but no Common) within Nebulith.  So while pondering the subject of translation, I thought back to my youth on island in the late 70s/80s and was inspired by the beautiful, international young ladies of 宮森小学校, 山内小学校・中学校 , Kadena Elementary School and Kubasaki High School. These Half-Okinawan, Half-Japanese, Half-Filipino, Half-Thai, Half-Vietnamese or Half-Korean girls had a foot in two cultures, yet often, were accepted in neither. They were constantly summoned to be translators and guides for parents, teachers, and sometimes even the authorities as a go-between among parties in disputes, school functions and basically whenever new kids arrived on island.  But why make them just boring administrative, in-game translators?!?

Accordingly, members of the White Deer dojo are an international consortium of women; damn-near surgical in the ways of the bow; often hired as translators for meetings between different factions, and; useful in deciphering found scrolls and texts from almost any locale, including some of the Lost Humanoids, an ancient mysterious civilization that once inhabited the island.  

Player characters may roll-up a character to become  a member of the White Deer; hire a member of the White Deer to accompany the party, translate texts and speech, or; any fighting character class may train in the White Deer Archer Style at the dojo (by making a random D100 roll once per level) to increase proficiency and skill with bow and/or languages.

*Note, translation skills are collective amongst the dojo/no single member knows all languages.

Tentōki and Ryūtōki

 Tentōki and Ryūtōki

 

In Japan there are a pair of heavenly demons called Tentoki (天燈鬼) the Celestial Lantern Demon; and Ryutoki (龍燈鬼) the Dragon Lantern Demon, and the myth is that they started out as evil Amanojakus or evil servants of the wicked deity Amanosagume (天探女)

 

But these demons were caught and literally stomped into submission by the 4 Buddhist Kings over a period of thousands of years.  The demons ultimately recognized the error in their ways and repented.  And as penance, they now carry the huge lanterns that put forth the pure white light of stars, benevolent souls and dragon fire to light the path in front of the Buddha, so that he can travel and spread his word.

 

However, in a more sinister retelling, evil demons can never be truly rehabilitated and the two, pre-historic, amanojaku demons are secretly using the celestial laterns as a beacon for the evil over-demon, Amanosagume to directly find and counter Buddha.  Of course the all-knowing Buddha is keenly aware of this deception, but allows it to occur so that Amanosagume can be confronted and defeated once and for all.

 

Adventuring in Island Jungles at Night

One of the things that grounds me in the tropical archipelago setting of the Nebulith is the sound of the island jungle. Jungles are different, they look different, feel different and smell different than any place Ive ever been. This is especially true at night ….the nighttime jungle is eerie to the point of being scary at times. And most importantly it is loud, almost deafeningly so. Deep jungles aren't new-age relaxation listening material as Youtube would have you believe.   It is a cacophony of warnings, mating calls, carnivorous hunts and their subsequent kills.  It has strange crescendos and de-crescendos at random intervals all night, every night with the possible exception of typhoon periods.   Here is a small sample I recorded on my cell phone by just stepping outside at 2am.

In this context,  it would be extremely difficult for a character to perceive someone or something creeping-up on them before it is very close, especially if that creeper is adept at moving through a jungle.  Items traditionally used to aid perception often have the polar opposite effect in the jungle.   A fire or torch has multiple unintended consequences: 

1. Illumination and the bright reflection of firelight off of nearby dense foliage (usually moist and damp) renders sight beyond a few feet virtually impossible.  
2. The jungle moves.  Winds, falling canopy water, rain, insects, amphibians, rodents, and larger animals set the leaves and hanging vines in motion causing constant, moving elongated shadows.  
3. Light is a beacon for life.  Light in the jungle attracts things..... like flying insects or far worse, and lot of them….  Things that buzz, bite, sting and swarm; as well as those things eat the things that buzz, bite, sting and swarm! ...like giant spiders, bats, frogs, mongoose and geckos. The amount of insects is only tempered by the amount of smoke (if applicable) from the light source suppressing them. 

Jungle Light and Sound, Effects on Characters

For characters, insects will lower their perception. One simply cannot see or hear effectively through hundreds of various types of insects constantly swarming a jungle light source. Insects are annoying, if not worse, trying to sleep or rest in the vicinity of a night time jungle light is an exercise in futility. And some insects will harass or attack en masse to the point of minor damage upon characters that remain in the same position in the presence of a light source. Lastly, a light source and any associated rising smoke against a canvas of relative darkness will stand out like a sore thumb in the jungle ecosystem attracting larger predators and possibly much worse, people, as it flickers and glows under the foliage viewed from a distance.

Historically in these islands, no one ventures through the jungle at night. Period.   But if unavoidable, it is best to let character eyes adjust and use no light if the path is known; or, use some type of overhead light (mechanical, magical or otherwise) at a distance away from the characters on an as needed basis then douse, proceed cautiously and repeat.  Sporadic use of paper lanterns on the end of a ten foot bamboo pole is one of the best and classic examples.   

If characters must camp, smoldering fires work the best as the smoke will keep the insects at bay and the smoke will dissipate among the foliage and canopy creating a layer as opposed to a distinct plume which will identify a party’s location. 

For the GM

All of the foregoing, I would let the characters discover or deduce for themselves unless they interact with a local NPC and specifically inquire.  Local NPCs traveling with the party will know these things instinctively.  Characters that move, or generate light, or smoke will cause a dead-spot in jungle noise unless practiced at moving in such terrain, but disruption of the natural audio of the jungle maybe preferable as the lesser of potential evils!   

However, the inverse is also true. Things not adept at moving through the jungle will face the same hurdles as the party.  GMs can use the absence of sound (sudden or otherwise) as a warning;  for tension;  or simply as an indicator that something is not quite right.

Mermaids in the Southern Reach

 Mermaids  

-A lone mermaid = dreamy, mythical, titillating, bewitching.

-An infestation of mermaids that stalk a ship, silently stare at those on deck and multiply exponentially in number every hour  =  Terrifying.

     

Photo courtesy of Peter Pan, 1924, (Silent), Paramount Pictures.

Mermaids in and around the waters of the islands of the Southern Reach, Awa Nikko, and Nebulith have an almost unnatural obsession with metal!  They can taste and detect it in the water and are drawn to large quantities of almost all metals from miles around.   

A mermaid will feverishly try to remove any metal from a person, beast or thing in the water through use of their hands or simply gnawing it free with razor sharp teeth without regard to the subject’s life, limb or condition.  Persons who find themselves in mermaid infested waters are advised to immediately remove any and all metal weapons, items, armor and ornaments to prevent injury.  Of course, the scent of rarer metals in the water serves as a concentrated attractant.  Mermaids will swarm in a frenzied-mass anyone in full metal chain, scale or plate armor that enters infested waters.

Mermaids have the ability of vocalization, but do not speak any known language of man, instead they speak in a series of ultra -high pitched screeches, whines and clicks  (think Darryl Hannah in Splash!) which may be heard up to half a mile underwater even through the pounding surf.  

They are mesmerized by floating metal (ship and boats) and have been known to silently stalk ships while carefully observing and noting the metal visible on board both above and below the waterline while relaying information back to their underwater colony.  When enough mermaids are present, they will set upon the boat.  Prying, gnawing and taking every metal nail, fastener, casting, joint etc in sight.  The removal of a boat’s structural metals combined with collective weight of hundreds, if not thousands, of mermaids clamoring up the sides and on to the decks has caused more than one boat to lose its integrity, and quite simply and completely be pulled under the waves.

Mermaids in a stalking pattern will cause all other wildlife (above and below water) to scatter, rendering the situation as unnaturally quiet.

Mermaids in heavily trafficked human waters have been observed mimicking limited basic human speech and/or use their human attributes to attract, persuade, and unburden those that are visibly laden with metal.  Mermaids are ambivalent to those without any visible metal. 

GM Notes.

-Metal in reasonable volume may be used as an attractant or decoy by players when encountering mermaids.  Ie Dropping a metal ship anchor or throwing a suit of plate mail overboard will sufficiently divert mermaid attention for 1D4 hours. (Possibly allowing passage or escape of person boat.) 

- A new, large infestation of mermaids at a locale may indicate something of note (getting through the infestation is another story!)

Nebulith Mermaids

-Mermaids fear and will flee the approach of Izumi, the Seasnake Medusai……..   However, also out of fear, all mermaids in audible range will heed the call of Izumi…… if so commanded.  Izumi…… speaks their language, or probably more accurate, they speak Izumi’s…….. language.

New Setting by Zak S and Boonie Dog!!

To do my part to decancel Zak, I will be publishing a major LotFP-compatible product with him…..and here it is……

The setting is a love letter to Okinawa, the island where I grew-up beginning in 1978 as a pre-schooler and continuing to graduation from high school, summer breaks during my university and law school days, and every year since to visit my wife’s Okinawan family.  I retired from the legal profession about 10 years ago to the island as a restauranteur to help preserve the indigenous cuisine and a dying local culture.    

For this setting, I pulled from almost every source available to me: Histories and folklores of various groups on the main and outer islands of the Ryukyu chain, mainland Japan, China's Fujian Province, Taiwan, Hong Kong, my gaming groups which are, depending upon the group, local Okinawan, Japanese, American and European expats gamers, my experience as a TTRPG player, GM, my  experience as an attorney, my experience in researching and preserving ancient local foods, my 89 year old Okinawan mother in law, Japanese college professors, linguists, calligraphers, local karate and kung fu masters, dietician, folklorists, traditional hajichi tattoo artists, and lastly, my dear, wife. I originally conceived a “Japan Only” release, but Zak has encouraged me otherwise, so there will definitely be an English version.

The impetus of the setting and theme came to me after reading a 2016 article.  The article discusses how archeologists working deep within an Okinawan cave unearthed a Roman coin dating to approximately the 4th century A.D.    What in God’s ( Yaweh, Buddah, Allah; or your deity of choice) name was a Roman coin doing buried on the far side of the world on a tiny pacific island, deep inside a cave!?!  There are countless theories, but I romanticized (pun intended) that some Roman envoy had circumnavigated their way all the way out here as explorers, traders, conquerors, seekers of treasure or enlightenment; or all of the above. But what must foreign eyes have glimpsed of this subtropical island in those times? I pulled a few books and websites concerning the island’s history and found that in those days, the island suffered quite a bit from volcanic activity. In fact, the whole island chain was believed formed from extinct underwater volcanos in prehistory.  But those fault lines and resultant volcanoes are not really extinct, we still suffer through a number of significant earthquakes and active eruptions on the outer islands, as well as from the effects of new underwater volcano formation every year.  

Fantastically and rhetorically speaking, what if the someone or “someones” could magically or druidically stop a volcanic eruption? What form of magic in the current gaming-world canon could do that?? …..and who would be powerful enough to wield it? And, what if that magic wasn’t quite perfect?  E.g. a ritual’s timing was off by only a few seconds or minutes??……the idea of the “Nebulith” was thus conceived…… a plume of volcanic ash turned to stone, mid-eruption..,,containing creatures from above; the living (and dead!) on the surface that were thrust skyward; and foul creatures from the deep that need now only climb the walls of the cavity created.  A billowing, vertical mega-dungeon that touches the sky, if you will.

The Nebulith is for me, a mistake borne of magic and good intentions that has created a physical, philosophical and metaphorical tendril between the heavens and hells of this world and all that lies in between.  A tangible, bi-directional ladder that may be traversed by humanoids, beasts, demons, gods and goddesses.  It has the billowy texture, color swirls, and dream-state magical qualities of a solidified cloud and the inhabitants to match.  

The Nebulith is set against the backdrop of the island that I love and which: 

-is the birthplace karate; 

-is an intersecting port of ancient Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Korean (and possibly Roman!:-) trade, settlements, culture, art, cuisine, folklore and ideas that have functioned to produce a wholly new and unique culture that is intermingled, yet simultaneously, wholly individual and original; 

-mysteriously houses the longest lifespans of any human population in the world;  

-and, has one of the worlds few primordial religions still in existence.

In the game besides the fantastical Nebulith itself, there is a whole island to explore with mysterious characters, philosophical conundrums, bizarre encounters, 1000 year old temples built atop 1000 year old temples, political drama, pirate-infested coastlines and new bad-ass, martial arts fighting mechanics with weapons and leveling. 

Compiled with LotFP* in mind, it can easily be converted to any OSR setting. Campaign or one-shot, bring your existing characters and weapons by boat to the Nebulith or roll -up new ones local to the island chain.

*For the LotFP crowd and those that like it, a lot dark and a little twisted,  take the trails down to the lower Nebulith, we’ll have few surprises waiting ;-)

Im really geeked for this new setting…. New player classes, monsters, items, magic, karate dojos, female samurai, ninja, pterodactyls, royal houses and that’s tip of the iceberg…..plus brand, new art, design and crunch by the one and only Zak S!    Zak games are back! 

More details as they become available…..

 

~Boonie Dog

Always Cross the Streams! Zak S' God Creator complementing MCDs Flee Mortals Creature Pack 2!

 MCD's latest Flee Mortals, Creature Pack fleshes out humans and Lizardfolk pretty damn well. Love it!!     ...... but I was left wanting a pantheon of gods for each group.   But fear not, Zak S has just dropped the sickest God Generator that Ive come across!   A little mix and match and boom!! Instant Gods with grit!   

I did a test run for both a human god and lizardfolk god and was pleasantly surprised at the outcome and depth after a few rolls on roughly half a dozen well-planned tables.  In short summary, you make a combination of d100, d20 and d10 rolls (occasionally d4 times for each) to establish your God's base form, gender, age, body type, physical traits, unnatural physical traits, if any, and anything that your god carries /accompanies it and your God's Domain (which includes spells for clerics)

There is also a table for your God's/followers taboos which adds some real color for your players and world building.   That being said.......

My first creation was a god intended to be worshipped by humans and came out as a Stag Demon in humanoid form but with the head of a stag. It was an adult female with unusually dense, curly, coarse, rust colored hair; no eyes, a tail, wings, a full left leg (I imagined it with hoof) and a right leg sheared off at about knee level.  (I improvised the amputation as I rolled a "no right leg") and a chain/manacle secured to the left leg but dragging and bloody on the right side where a leg once existed.  

She carries a javelin in her right hand which she uses as a counterbalance / cane to her shorn leg. (I'll add the stats to a javelin befitting a God later!) 

Her domains are Wisdom (pairs well with her having no eyes (blind sage trope and all)) which grants the spells: bookspeak, detect magic and remove fear; and the domain of Wrath/Suffering (which fits well with the whole severed leg/empty manacle thing!) which grants the spell: cause/inflict light wounds

As for the flavor.... she was/is entangled with another god romantically, is a parent to another god, sits atop a throne of scorched wood, is always fighting a (all?) chimeras. Taboo-wise, followers must only use pointed weapons (again nice tie-in to the javelin) cannot eat any form of wild berries and must bow to all foes before attacking or face her wrath... or at least her disdain.

As a first run, I thought the god came out awesome!  I will probably use her for clerics, hunters and rangers of a small enclave of MCD-spec'd humans isolated by time and distance in a backwoods corner of almost any adventure setting; or, if a player is looking for a unique type of cleric with unique god.... but I could just as easily user her for a big-city paladin!  The God Creator also lays the groundwork for other gods in a pantheon already creating links and relationships. I've coined this goddess The Scorched Antler of the Grove (mainly on account of her throne) but I'll easily come up with a backstory now that the basic Goddess tent stakes are in the ground.   

I only wish I had an inkling of artistic ability to sketch her out in visual form!

God Creator available at Zak Smith is creating Game stuff | Patreon

Flee Mortals!  was available by Kickstarter only by MCD.