Rokushima Taiyoo

[Coan]

I've been looking into this domain as of late and find it curiously absent from much of my other material. Was it a new addition to 3rd Edition or are there references to it that I am missing?

So far I've found references in the RPHB and RDMG.

[Joël of the FoS]

No, it was in Domains of Dread - it appeared during the GC.

Other canon things (from 2nd ed) I noted on this domain are:

MC III Akikage mi Rokushima Taiyoo undead, spirit de ninja
MC III Hebi-No-Onna
MC III Kizoku
MC III Vampire, Oriental
Forgotten Children 98 Night Blossom (Vampire, Oriental)

Joël

[Coan]

No, it was in Domains of Dread - it appeared during the GC.

Did DoD detail the domain like the others? If so could you give me a page number?

I was thinking of writing an article on this domain at a later date and thus need to make sure I don't write over (much) of what is canon.

[Ail]

No, it was in Domains of Dread - it appeared during the GC.

I think it did not appear in DoD. The one that did was I'Cath. I don't have the book here, but I remember flipping its pages many times and seeing a woman there Tsien Chiang, I guess, but not the RT darklord.
Still, I remember it from 2nd Ed. Perhaps in Islands of Terror?

Ail

[Joël of the FoS]

Sorry, wrong reference - it's in the Red Box!

I corrected my notes.

Joël

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Rokushima appeared in the Red Box, doesn't appear to be in DoD.

I'Cath was first in Islands of Terror. then got a writeup in DoD.

EDIT: Boy I miss the kargatane catalogue.

[HuManBing]

Rokushima Taiyoo was a good setting. It had clearly fantastic elements, but it felt like a true domain with economics and politics and a history.

I'Cath, which I still cannot fathom the naming for any vaguely Chinese setting, was much more stereotypical and superficial. It would have been better suited to a weekend in hell type adventure, but then you'd have to make it a weekend in hell...in China! bwahahahah adventure instead.

I'd love to see an updated Rokushima Taiyoo setting, and maybe I'll tickle the nipples of my Muse for a Chinese style Gothic domain and see what comes out.

[Samael Hands of Stone]

Rokushima always had a weird place in my mind in the context of the rest of Ravenloft. As its own entity it works fabulously, but in tandem with the mostly-European Gothic signature themes of Ravenloft, it never made much sense to me.

This feeling was reinforced with the publishing of the Rokugan setting by WotC which I think nailed the fantasy feudal Japan (and oriental culture in general) down to a tee.

but what do I know?

[Dion of the Fraternity]

maybe I'll tickle the nipples of my Muse for a Chinese style Gothic domain and see what comes out.

Check out "Sanzhou Grove" in Nebula Obscura: Worlds of Ravenloft, available for free at the Midway Haven Observatory.

[HuManBing]

I like the site - a long time ago, I once had a website too with a very similar sense of humor (partially about D&D but mostly about Star Wars and Beijing). The entry for Sanzhou grove in Nebula Obscura is very interesting and seems to be a much more realistic update to the I'Cath setting. (Treants and forest preying on the populace.)

The more I think about it, the more I believe I'm thinking of a Core-sized continent elsewhere in the Demiplane of Dread that would be devoted to a Chinese-style gothic setting. The empire itself could well be vast, but have separate domains carved out of it by feuding warlords, power-hungry foreign governors, and dying Imperial houses.

[Boccaccio Barbarossa]

Rokushima always had a weird place in my mind in the context of the rest of Ravenloft. As its own entity it works fabulously, but in tandem with the mostly-European Gothic signature themes of Ravenloft, it never made much sense to me.

This feeling was reinforced with the publishing of the Rokugan setting by WotC which I think nailed the fantasy feudal Japan (and oriental culture in general) down to a tee.

but what do I know?

You know it! Rokushima Taiyoo is very weird. I LOVE Japanese-inspired gaming (I own and run Rokugan/Oriental Adventures) but I think that these stories are about tragedy, duty and honour - which sounds rav, but is VERY different.

Gothic horror is essentially a WESTERN genre, a western idea. Eastern genres differed wildly. Which is not to say they have no ghost stroeis and horror, just that they seem different. Also, playing a character from there means you have to deal with this "stranger in a strange land" motif ALL THE TIME! (I have succesfully used characters from there before, but...)

Having said that, i think it occupies an okay place - way out of the way and no one goes there other than to trade. In that sense, it's been westernized - and I think that "westernization" of the setting is important for the feel of a unified world that shares similar aesthetics. (I'm not really explaining it very well, but then I would have to get into writing an essay on literature, setting, mood and aesthetics.,,,)

Also, if any have read/seen Shogun, then I suggest a similar kind of approach: have some westerners living there, playing their part in the skirmishes but vying for the ressources and wealth.

[HuManBing]

I agree that Gothic is a western literary category, but I think you can definitely portray the East in terms of the Gothic tradition. Gothic grew out of an age where the advances of science and knowledge were pushing back ignorance, but revealing yet further vistas of undiscovered scientific knowledge. The old societal orders were growing useless and ossified, and change of a hitherto unknown magnitude was coming soon.

Political power could either be the evil mover itself, as the late Qing dynasty eloquently portrayed, or it could be a powerless symbol of good, unable to fight against the foes of justice. Religion in Asian cultures also is no less immune to corruption, hypocrisy, and perversion than the Western Judeo-Christian religions.

Imagine a setting based in a decaying Chinese Imperial society, where dynamic new nations have carved colonies on the borders, while powerful warlords split the rest of the nation up in their own image. These are dangerous times, with missionary groups bringing education and food, but at the cost of your soul.

One Ravenloft adventure I played with my PCs was to have them defend the Dachine family homestead, while the mother lay paralyzed upstairs expecting her baby. Finally, after much struggle, the PCs succeed in driving off the dangers and the baby is born, and the parents name him Lowellyn. It's not until much later that they discover he grows up to be a very important person.

Likewise, a Masque of the Red Death idea I had for Gothic China might be to have the PCs search for a fabled source of the Red Death in central China, and stopping it from spreading. The past few decades have been wracked with revolution, with a madman declaring himself the brother of Jesus Christ instigating the Taiping Rebellion, and any number of calamitous revolutions and warlord uprisings could qualify for the Red Death's work. Tuberculosis takes a huge toll on all peasants.

As they stay with a peasant family in Hunan province eking out a living on the peripheries of the empire, the PCs hear of famine and sickness ravaging Zhejiang province to the east, and the PCs' good works are essential to the village's survival.

By the end of 1893, a peace of sorts is returned to the land as the local warlord is replaced and western missionary hospitals are established and on the day after Christmas, the host family has a healthy boy - their first child. Shortly before the PCs take their leave, they receive a premonition of the Red Death finding its roots in the village in the future despite their good work.

Sometime during the following year, the family writes them a letter at the foreign diplomat's concession in Beijing, letting them know they have named their son "Zedong." China would continue to suffer another 50 years of revolution, occupation, and Imperial downfall, but the Red Death moves in mysterious ways ... perhaps the man who ends this chaos will be a hero, or perhaps he'll usher in an even darker age.

I could go on, but suffice it to say while the Gothic tradition of literature certainly started in the west, I think you could definitely run an Asian campaign that has believable elements of horror, fear, and overwhelming odds - while still remaining fairly true to the historical and cultural background.

I would suggest you don't base it on Oriental Adventures, though, because dating back from 1st edition, that book doesn't do Asian cultures much justice.

[Jakob]

Rokushima always had a weird place in my mind in the context of the rest of Ravenloft. As its own entity it works fabulously, but in tandem with the mostly-European Gothic signature themes of Ravenloft, it never made much sense to me.

This feeling was reinforced with the publishing of the Rokugan setting by WotC which I think nailed the fantasy feudal Japan (and oriental culture in general) down to a tee.

but what do I know?

I must say I find Rokushima Tayioo and Sri Raji a nice addition to the gothic flavor of the setting.

When I think of Rokushima and its rare trading with the Core, I picture the 16th century Japan, as told in Akira Kurosawa's Kagemusha, for example. I really can't stop imaging a shujin toying with a musket in his hands, while, before him, a dementlieuse merchant smiles, sat in lotus position...
Let's take the aforementioned Kagemusha: one shujin (like Nobunaga Oda in the movie) might be fascinated with the new tanegashima (muskets) imported from the Core, and thus replacing the weapons its infantry with guns, while another one (like Takeda Shingen) is still fighting with "classical" tactics and weapons.
As things seem to go in Rokushima, neither will win: there will be only bloodshed.

I really enjoy the brief appearances Rokushima makes in the 3E products, from Shih Shuren (a REALLY original NPC) to the references in Gaz II&V (the suit of banded mail in the Darkonian inn and the rokumi master of ikebana made changeling and living in the Shadow Rift).

I'd REALLY loved to see Rokushima Tayoo detailed someday...
...
Yet, maybe we can do it ourselves?

[Coan]

Yet, maybe we can do it ourselves?

That's what I was thinking.

[Boccaccio Barbarossa]

HuManBing: I agree with you that it CAn be done. for sure. I have done some good things myself. But it DOES require more work... (I'm a busy man.. )

Anyways. As for what you dais abotu Oriental Adventures: 3rd edition has one which is VERY good, IMHO, and the Rokugan setting, while taking several liberties with Japanese culture, provides a great FEEL for their world, which holds together very well. I highly recomend it.!