Care to help make a Gothic Asia netbook?

[mistshadow2k4]

I don't know about you folks, but this really sparked my interest and I'd hate to see it wind up as just ideas that never get worked out. If anyone is interested in doing a full write-up of Asian full-fledged domains, I'm willing to compile a .pdf of it. I don't have the templates to make it as nice-looking as the Souragne Gaz, but it'll look as good as the older QtRs and Kargatane netbooks.

Things I'll need:

1. Somewhere to host it so people can download it.

2. A name for the continent/cluster. I call my Asian-style cluster the "Black Pearls" IMC, but we could make up other names and vote on it.

3. A decent cover.


Other nice additions would be:

1. Monsters (of course)

2. Cultural add-ons (religions, superstitions, common ceremonies and festivals, most famous works of art, etc.)

3. Gothic Asian magic items (both good and bad)


One thing I can add to the stewpot is the Tormented Sea, a domain that my husband made up. It can serve as the full-sized ocean this continet is on (but naturally some woudl have different names for it -- we could have it that the Rokuma call it the Poison Sea).

A word of warning though; the Tormented Sea was originally designed to be very dangerous, so we had mistways leading to the islands on it. With the mistways sailors from the Core usually just went to the Black Pearls, sailed around it to trade and then went back. Gods help 'em if a storm blew them out into the Sea, as sometimes the dead rise up durng storms, even climbing onto ships. Some might think it's a bad idea to have the Sea itself being so perilous. OTOH, that gave it more of a sense of mystery, as it was widely acknowledged that there could be other islands or even continents on the Sea that no known mistway connected to.

[Shadow]

Hmmm...interesting. I did a minor in Japanese as an undergraduate, and have some interest in Asian culture and folklore. Asian themed horror is one area that Ravenloft is definately lacking in (the poorly written Rokushima-Taiyoo not withstanding).

[Spiteful Crow]

I was toying around with the idea of elaborating on Rokushima Taiyoo. If you get enough interest in this, I'll volunteer to write up a section on it.

[mistshadow2k4]

Hmmm...interesting. I did a minor in Japanese as an undergraduate, and have some interest in Asian culture and folklore. Asian themed horror is one area that Ravenloft is definately lacking in (the poorly written Rokushima-Taiyoo not withstanding).

Wonderful! I always thought Rokushima Taiyoo was a rather poor implementation of Japan and I'm in no way an expert.

I was hoping that a lot of the ideas in this thread could be fleshed out and we could make a continent out of it. I didn't want to get rif of any canon domains (no matter how bad) because many are undoubtedly using them anyway, but I love the ideas here about more genuinely Asian domains presented there. But any others are quite welcome!

The only specifics I wanted to set up is that it should be more truly Asian-style as opposed to the vaguely Asian fantasy domains like I'Cath and Rokushima Taiyoo. The former reads like a Western fairy tale that was supposed to take place in "Cathay", written by someone who knew nothing of China, and the latter seems like a Shogun variant by someone who doesn't know a thing about Japan.

As to the Tormented Sea, I meant that as something that *could* be included, not that has to be. Just because my old man made it up doesn't mean we have to use it.

[Spiteful Crow]

Ooooooooookay, nevermind, then.

[Shadow]

What needs to be done is create an entirely new domain (or rather a cluster of domains) based on Japanese and Chinese culture. While not "gothic" in the traditional European sense of the word, Japanese folklore has plenty of things that can be adapted to Ravenloft. From the mischievious shapeshifting tanuki to the malevolent gaki (ghosts punished with eternal hunger for their greed in life), Asian folklore containts a lot of inspiration for a horror game.

[mistshadow2k4]

Ooooooooookay, nevermind, then.

There's no reason you couldn't write that up and it couldn't be included asan alternate Rokushima Taiyoo. I just don't want to embed changes to either of thr two that would force someone to use that in order to use the rest, if you see what I mean.

[Shadow]

The problem with Rokushima Taiyoo is that it is seems a rather stereotypical copy of James Clavell's novel Shogun (or rather the miniseries inspired by the novel). For me, another problem is the rather silly names given to the islands and the characters. As far as I can tell, Haki Shinpi doesn't sound much like a real Japanese name. Also the four islands have really silly names for anyone who has studied Japanese (i.e. Beikoku = America, Eikoku = England, Roshiya = Russia, Chuugoku = China).

[mistshadow2k4]

What needs to be done is create an entirely new domain (or rather a cluster of domains) based on Japanese and Chinese culture. While not "gothic" in the traditional European sense of the word, Japanese folklore has plenty of things that can be adapted to Ravenloft. From the mischievious shapeshifting tanuki to the malevolent gaki (ghosts punished with eternal hunger for their greed in life), Asian folklore containts a lot of inspiration for a horror game.

I completely agree. I've read a few Asian ghost stories that would curl your toenails, as well as a great number of beautifully tragic tales involving the supernatural. Unfortunately, neither of the canon domains were conducive to any of that.

[Gemathustra]

You suppose we could use some of my ideas for this most auspicious project, too?

[mistshadow2k4]

You suppose we could use some of my ideas for this most auspicious project, too?

Sure!

[Dion of the Fraternity]

As an Asian myself, one thing I would do is to as much as possible not equate "Oriental" with either "China" or "Japan" or "the Mongols" when creating such domains. In the "Worlds of Ravenloft" netbooks I tired as much as possible to steer away from the stereotypes, focusing on lesser-known cultures such as Korea, Tibet, the Steppes cultures, and the Khmer.

My tip would be first to create a Chinese domain that steers away from any period that follows the Han period. A bronze-age Chinese domain offers a lot if you're into a non-imperial cluster. My idea for a domain would be to focus on the ancient city of Xi'an, where hundreds of pyramids containing terra-cotta warriors guard the tombs of royalty, inlaid with thousands of traps.

Additionally, never overlook the Far East: the Thai, the Khmer, the Vietnamese, the Malay, the Filipinos, and the stone-age cultures of Java and Sumatra. They are ultimately still Asian.

[mistshadow2k4]

I"m hoping to get write-ups of domains repreesenting many different parts of Asia, including those you mention. Little is known about, say, Malaysia in the West, but from what little I do I'd say it has a fascinating history. They even have their own vampire myth.

I guess the real question, Dion, is about your work on Asian domains, such as Kungthrom Sound, Xi'anlin and Chamhok Mun. Would you allow me to include these as well?

[NykylaiHellray]

Havent we got a thread on this allready?

[Waldi]

Another question, that still puzzles me: Why do "japanese" Domains and Fantasy-Empires always have to imitate the Sengoku-Aera ? Why not placing a "Japan" in a early-iron-age-background like the Yamato-Aera or, the opposite; a rennaisance-domain that imitates the Meji-Aera ? (I would like that one especially : the emperor re-claimed the gouvernement from the powerless shogun and restructures his kingdom radicaly. The samurais are replaced by "modern" soldiers, the class of the citizens becomes a lot more independend, new technologies are on the rise - and age-old traditions are slowly forgotten as relicts of the past. This domain could mirror the "typical japanese" theme of "losing traditions because of radical progress" perfectly... )