Oriental Adventures is Western Fantasy

-
This is a very short one but something that I feel isn't said enough.
 
Oriental Adventures (and all RPG products like it - made by Westerners to tell adventures set in the backdrop of fantasy Asia) is Western fantasy. These stories are Western fantasies of Asia and Asian peoples and cultures, and they are Western fantasies of themselves (in highlighting what they foolishly believe the West is not).
 
Real Asian Fantasy (TM) is written by Asian people. Define "Asian" as you will - I believe Westerners who've lived and grown in Asia to be capable of writing Real Asian Fantasy.

Western Fantasies (of Asia) transport the player to a world that is superficially different (ignoring the deeper differences of culture and perspective) and revels in exoticizing those superficial differences.
 
See The Mahasarpa Campaign. It does not explore South Asian perspectives on duty and community, but instead continues to play in the sandbox of temple looting and treasure-driven adventure. It does not perceive cultural separation by language and religion (as it is often divided in South Asia) but by physical race (as it is divided in the West). It ignores these deeper cultural differences, the ones that place a game in the mindset of Asia, and instead highlights serpents, jungles, monkeys, and bad translations.

Further, Western Fantasies are boring and shallow. They generalize Asia, not always because of deliberate choice, and not always because of a lack of research, but often because of a lack of perspective. All Western Fantasy can do, by definition, is retread its tropes while changing the scenery.

The Mahasarpa Campaign is no more Asian fantasy than Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. That is to say, it is not Asian fantasy at all.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Jangli Playtest is Out!

-
Image
Update! You can find the v04 playtest here . Happy adventuring! Update 2! You can find the v05 playtest here.   This blog began because I wanted to chronicle the building of Jangli , my Indian fantasy Cairn/ItO hack. In typical fashion, I completely derailed that plan and started writing random other things. However, I have now completed a major milestone in my original goal - the playtest is ready! I'm going to spend the rest of this post talking about what I wrote, why, and my thoughts throughout that whole process. In the meanwhile, you can find the PDF here . If you have thoughts, let me know in the comments! Or check out the post in #wip-feedback if you're in the NSR Cauldron.   Oh, and also treat this as my update for the ADVENTure jam. It's all I worked on this week, TTRPG-wise.   Slay cover page, I wonder who made it   Introduction "Jangli is a tabletop RPG inspired by Marathi and Konkani culture, folklore, and history. In it, players take the role of bhadotri
Read more

How I Prep Pointcrawls

-
Image
Hi! I hope y'all have had a happy Halloween (and a happy Diwali)!   In this post I wanted to detail how I prep my pointcrawls! This isn't about prepping for the purpose of publishing, but about campaign prep and weekly session prep, the kind of stuff that you do at the table. To start, let's get some guiding principles out of the way. 1) Easy to prep -- I have a busy life! Prep should take an hour tops. 2) Consistent -- I want a regular system for session prep. When designing the campaign, I tend to start creative and untethered, but once I get down to the weekly session prep, I want the process to be very consistent and logical. 3) World-First -- Prep situations, not plots. As in, prep a world with conflict that involves the characters, but don't prep outcomes. Let them occur naturally as a result of character-world interaction. Ok, principles done! For my actual prep notes, I'll break it into two parts. The first is campaign prep - it's about how I set up the
Read more

New Year's Resolution Mechanic

-
Prismatic Wasteland has issued a challenge ! Here it is: "In January 2024, come up with a new resolution mechanic for a TTRPG and give it a name." So far, my favorite's Davy Jones Bidding , by the Illusory Sensorium (insanely cool blog title by the way). Go check it out ! Now, for my mechanic: D6 Tokens Each character starts the game with X [1] tokens and Y [2] skills. When faced with a challenge, you may spend 2 tokens to overcome it. If you have a relevant skill, spend 1 less token. If you lack the necessary gear, spend 1 more token. Nearby friends can spend up to 1 token each in your place, but will join in the suffering of any mishaps involved. Roll a number of d6 equal to the tokens you spent. If any of the dice show a 6, there is a mishap ! Something goes wrong, but you still succeed. If all dice roll 1s or 2s, there is an opportunity . Your character succeeds with added effect, new information, or gains back a token.   [1] I haven't decided how many tokens a ch
Read more