alternate 'eastern' cultures.

[Storm Bringer]

I've been working on a 'far eastern' campgain setting for a game, and I'm trying to find a few ideas for cultures other than 'massive chinese like empire' and 'feudal japan with TEH SAMURAI!!!1'. their must be a few intresting real world cultures to draw ideas form. could you guys suggest any?

[jcsw]

India? Thailand? Mongolia?

I have a feeling all of those would feature quite a few rakashas.

[BlueWizard]

You can have very diverse Asian or African countries in D&D.

[elliott20]

add in Thai or Javanese. Both of those have mythic legends coming out of the wazoo. India also has a crap ton. For a good starter, look up the legend of Ramayana.

[KIDS]

Here's how I see the default feelings associated with where you look for sources:
- Chinese themed campaigns are about massive military battles and huge empires. Steel rules over magic, though wild pockets of land have mysterious creatures.
- Japan is about clans and honor with more supernatural elements (kenku, spirits etc.) thrown in.
- India is massive like China, but very mystical and magical, with focus on individuality rather than scale. Mysticism typically trumps weapons. For a more primal/ancient feel, see Epic of Gilgamesh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_of_Gilgamesh).
- Thailand, Indonesia and such are even moreso, less explored and probably considered "savage" by their more populated neighbors, but there are no strong dynasties to rule the land yet. Focus is on the small scale and mystical, most likely on native creatures that are being driven out as empires form (think fey, magical beasts, dragons).

etc. etc. I think there is a lot of room for variety there and your search for ideas is great. Too often have I been disappointed by someone considering "eastern" to be just ninja pulp novels.
I'll also second elliott's suggestion of Ramayana.

[UnChosenOne]

Could you use Indonesia or Mongols or India?

[Kami2awa]

How about Russia? Dark, mysterious and snowy, with a wealth of legends to draw on. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Yaga

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_mythology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firebird_(Slavic_folklore)

[Hawriel]

I second the Russian idea. Western coccasions are a minority in the very large country that is Russia. Also the suggestions of India, very large and wonderful stories. You can set it up as a counter to any chinies style countries you have. India and china have a rivalry. Especialy when hindu's and budists butt heads.

Here are afew more.

South East Asia: Lause, Cambodia, Vietnam.

Burma

Mongolia

Tebet

Philipines

Malaysia

Koria

All of these have distinct cultures and myths. They also have very divers minority groups with their own languages and myths.

[Neithan]

I second the Russian idea. Western coccasions are a minority in the very large country that is Russia.
You mean cuacasians? "Coccasions" appears in no dictionary.
And in that case, they are not. Easter Slavic people make up more than 80% of russian citizens. 75% of russians live in the smaller european part of the country.

[Revlid]

You mean cuacasians? "Coccasions" appears in no dictionary.

You mean Caucasians? "cuacasians" appears in no dictionary. :smalltongue:

That said, India or Indo-China sounds like a good place to start.

[Asgardian]

I've been working on a 'far eastern' campgain setting for a game, and I'm trying to find a few ideas for cultures other than 'massive chinese like empire' and 'feudal japan with TEH SAMURAI!!!1'. their must be a few intresting real world cultures to draw ideas form. could you guys suggest any?

There are some African based pantheons that are very interesting.

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

especially take a look at Babalu Aye : insanity, disease and death (inflicts and cures them)

and

Ogun: Think of a combination of Vulcan and Ares

and

Aganju: Three words - God.Of.Volcanoes

[bosssmiley]

- India is massive like China, but very mystical and magical, with focus on individuality rather than scale. Mysticism typically trumps weapons. For a more primal/ancient feel, see Epic of Gilgamesh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_of_Gilgamesh).

Gilgamesh was Babylonian.
The Ramayana and the Mahabarat were the Indian epics.

The Philippines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_mythical_creatures) have a particularly demented popular mythology.

[Dhavaer]

Aganju: Three words - God.Of.Volcanoes

From that description I was expecting a Thor-type party-hardy warrior god or a Surtur-like destroyer. Turns out he's more of a supportive god, relative to rivers and the sun as well as volcanoes. Gods are funny things like that.


Gilgamesh was Babylonian.

I thought he was Sumerian?

[Myou]

I thought he was Sumerian?

They're the same region, Sumer gave way to Babylon. :smallsmile:

[Baalthazaq]

African or Arabian count?

Sandstorm has a lot of Arabian themes in there. Djinni, Efreeti, as you'd expect, but also things like Ghouls, all come from Arabian folklore. I'd advise if you try something like this though, look up the Arabian versions for how they were originally (You'll end up giving the Ghouls levels in Druid).

[endoperez]

A fantasy strategy game named Dominions 3 has some interesting nations more-or-less matching some Eastern nations.

Kailasa/Bandar Log/Patala:
India, with castes replaced by different monkeys. Untouchables are small, chattering markatas, barely sentient. Warrior caste, called bandar, are gorillas, big and strong. Working class (vanara) and people outside of cities (atavi) look the same, and are most human. They have short legs, long arms and prehensile tails, but they're human-sized and comparable to humans in most ways. Their sacred warriors, priests and mages form their own caste of "White Ones". They look like vanara but their fur is white, and they are more intelligent than the other apes.
Yakshas, semi-divine humanoids with magical powers, nagas of the underground city of Patala and enlightened White Ones all try to get the monkey people under their control. The game goes into more detail, and you can play Kailasa in the demo. The units' descriptions would give you lots of great background info, probably worth it even if you aren't interested in playing it.

Chinese nation of the game is pretty basic, but there are some ideas worth mentioning. Chinese had five base elements instead of four (metal, water, wood, fire, earth), believed their emperor was divine, thought dragons were good and noble creatures that bring luck, and got organized very early. Bureaucratic mages, sacred hermits, internal alchemy that provides great longevity or even immortality, and notable figures of their history achieving divine status.

You could put various underwater Chinese creatures into the seas. Shrimp Soldiers, Crab Generals, dragon kings to lead their underwater courts...

The Yomi of Dominions does eventually evolve into a samurai-esque Japan, but starts off as a land dominated by demons. Smallest demons, bakemono, and human bandits act as punching bags for the various Oni, monstrous ogres with magical creatures. The higher up you go, the more magically and physically powerful creatures you get. Only the most powerful Oni wear armor and wield proper weapons, weaker ones are too confident or stupid to bother with proper equipment, throwing fire and frost and wielding crude clubs. The oni also have many human and monstrous servants, from sorceresses transformed so that they won't forget their servitude, to humans raised from death as Ghost Generals to lead the most stupid of the Oni, to vampiric creatures whose flute causes creatures to fall asleep, to turtle-like Kappa who can break bones or set them.

Only hint of Koreans are Kenku, bird-men who are great smiths and warriors and allies to the people of Yomi. You could make them allies of the humans who oppose to Oni rule, to give some reason for the independent humans' existence. It would also be a nice way to make remote mountain monasteries surrounded by ruins and monsters. ;)

Mongols in that game are a later age of the chinese nation. Their mages get their powers from their ancestors. Ancestor Guides help the deceased pass on and can control the dead, Ancestor Smiths must be great warriors before the ancestors will accept them and teach them the secrets of making magical weapons, etc. The mages suffer from old age, but even so their physical stats are above human norm, so young, adventuring Ancestor-Smith-to-be would be a warrior or a gish rather than wizard. The barbarians also have Ancestor Vessels, people chosen and trained by the ancestors to be superb warriors. Ancestor Vessels use magical Howling Bows that scream as they are used, scaring their enemies.

You should also remember to put in few hints about far-away, mysterious cultures in the west. Persian empire with mystics in every cave starting to crumble, stories about the founding of the city (and/or empire) of Rome, greeks who are all spartans from the 300 (for comic relief, have an old martial arts master describe how he traveled far to the west to train with them), vicious ice giants coming down from the north to raid and destroy, etc.

[Storm Bringer]

some very intresting ideas form all, I thank you very much. I hadn't even thought of putting in african/arabic stuff, but it sounds like a great way to add a extra flair to the setting. plently of ideas to chew on thier. gonna need to spend a good long trawl on wiki for history and myths to nab (like i need an excuse to spend hours on wiki................:smallbiggrin:)

[Garian]

Chinese had five base elements instead of four (metal, water, wood, fire, earth),
It's actually Metal, Fire, Water, Earth and Air. Wood is part of earth.

[The Rose Dragon]

It's actually Metal, Fire, Water, Earth and Air. Wood is part of earth.

Most Chinese people would disagree with you.

[Kneenibble]

It's actually Metal, Fire, Water, Earth and Air. Wood is part of earth.

You are incorrect, sir. Wood is its own element and air is not.

Vedic India would be an awesome place to tell a story. Vedic scriptures are as psychadelic as they are spiritual. Pre-Muslim Persia would be a neat setting too. There was a great National Geographic article on Persia last fall that got my brain all juicy.

[Baalthazaq]

Well I *am* Arab so if you want anything from Arabic culture feel free to PM me. I'll even do some translations for you if you like. You can also intermix with Hebrew legends.

Potentially stuff from Arabian Traditions:
1) Night of Power. There is one night per year, nobody knows exactly when it is, that for every good deed you do, and every prayer you offer, God counts it as 40. Possible plot hook for any Clerics, Miracles cost no XP on that day maybe.
2) Ghouls. (Original Arabian Folklore has them as desert dwelling monsters that shapeshift into different animals, especially hyenas).
3) Djinn, Ifrit. Much more prevelant, many of the Jinn live amongst people invisibly. Some good some bad. (Much closer to ethereal realm stuff than in DnD).
4) Ekimmu: Think Ghost-Minotaur-Vampire.
5) Golems: (Technically Jewish, but there's overlap).
6) Behemoth, Leviathan. Biblical beasts.
7) Lillith, and lillits (Succubus that are effectively daughters of lillith).
8) Rocs (Giant birds. If you want the authentic Arabian version, they threw boulders of flaming stones down on anyone they deemed a threat to the Arab nations). If you have an Arabian city in your world, tamed Rocs would be a fitting "air force".

[Collin152]

Most Chinese people would disagree with you.

As would the Japanese. In fact, these elements make up the days of the week for them, once you add in Moon and Sun.

[The Rose Dragon]

As would the Japanese. In fact, these elements make up the days of the week for them, once you add in Moon and Sun.

Japanese are funny in that they cannot seem to make up their minds. The most prevalent element system they use is modeled after the Indian system, but they have also used the Chinese system at times.

...or so I recall.

[Innis Cabal]

It's actually Metal, Fire, Water, Earth and Air. Wood is part of earth.

Check your facts :smallwink:

Also, Laos is a great place to use. Very awsome history and mythos.

[Kneenibble]

On the other hand, English day names are a smorgasborg of everything... Sun, Moon, Roman, Christian, Norse, with no neat systematic correspondance at all, elemental or otherwise, even after you chip the surface away.

[Neithan]

Japanese are funny in that they cannot seem to make up their minds. The most prevalent element system they use is modeled after the Indian system, but they have also used the Chinese system at times.
Yeah, that nation severely suffers from the "greatest country in the world" syndrom (as do several other countries, not to be too harsh on the japanese), but their culture is essentially made from some backwater villages adopting whatever cultural developments where brought to them by visiting foreigerns. And they really made an amazing thing from it, but Japan is hardly the great and ancient stronghold of a unique culture of the japanese myth.

[Flickerdart]

Thirding Russian. A lot of great stuff both in the old Slavic myths and the later ones. On top of the Baba Yaga, firebird and the old gods, you've got, off the top of my head, Koschei the Deathless (the most awesome lich ever, his phylactery was a needle hidden in an egg hidden in a duck hidden in a rabbit hidden in a chest hidden on an island, maybe a few more steps that I missed) and Zmei Gorynich (dragon + hydra = awesomesauce).

[Asgardian]

From that description I was expecting a Thor-type party-hardy warrior god or a Surtur-like destroyer. Turns out he's more of a supportive god, relative to rivers and the sun as well as volcanoes. Gods are funny things like that.

He's also known for his strength and be able to bring drastic change. All together.. i think that could make him a pretty potent patron in a campaign. Its all in what aspect you want to concentrate on

ITs like that with a lot of the gods.. for instance, Thor is also the god of farming and fair weather but people usually ignore that part

[puppyavenger]

Well, I'm sure that a campaign based of the life of Genghis Khan shouldn't be too hard.

[Salt_Crow]

I second Korea :smallwink: We're ('vastly') different from Chinese or Japanese culture you know.

[Shades of Gray]

I did a project on Alchemy, and I seemed to find that it was "metal, earth, wood, fire, and water"

Wood encompasses air due to the ancient thought that wind was created by trees swaying.

[Flickerdart]

Well, I'm sure that a campaign based of the life of Genghis Khan shouldn't be too hard.
I would love a campaign based on The Private Life of Genghis Khan.

[JonestheSpy]

To add in a couple that haven't been - check out the Ainu, the natives of the islands that became colonized by the Chinese and known as Japan. THeir culture was utterly different than that of the folks who later gave us samurai, ninjas, and Godzilla.

Also, the natives of Siberia would make an excellent barbarian culture. The word "shaman" itself comes from them

[elliott20]

if you can show off some cultural cross pollination too, that would be awesome, I think. i.e. Indonesia is a largely Muslim nation and would borrow from the Muslim myths for material. but at the same time, there are portions of the population who are say, Hinduists. As such, Ramayana, while originally an Indian epic, is actually very popular in places like Bali and in Bali they even have performances that pretty much follow the story of the Ramayana. (it's called a Cecak dance, by the way)