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Interview with Derik Dunning, Author of D&D and Call of Cthulhu Products
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<blockquote data-quote="Dungeonosophy" data-source="post: 8236912" data-attributes="member: 6688049"><p>Thanks for this.</p><p></p><p>My <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/dndphilmont/culture-books" target="_blank">D&D Culture Books page</a> lists all the Asian Indian-inspired features and settings in D&D game worlds, that I know of. Anyone know of others off hand?</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">1e and 2e Indian pantheons, Ascetic class in 2e Legends & Lore</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">CD&D Thug class in <em>Champions of Mystara</em> boxed set</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">"Rhino's Armor, Tiger's Claws" Dragon #189</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">"Caste of Characters", "Monsoons & the Power of Om", and "Bazaar of the Bizarre" in Dragon #226, 227, 229</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">monsters: bhut, juggernaut</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Official D&D Asian Indian-inspired Campaign Models:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Sind and Jaibul in the Known World of Mystara; also, Glantri's principality of Krondahar, which borders Sind.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Shajapur in Hollow World of Mystara</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Rajahstan on Mystara's invisible moon of Patera</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Utter East of Forgotten Realms</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Zindia/Zahind of Oerth</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Kolhapur in stand-alone 2e adventure <em><a href="http://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/50175/the-star-of-kolhapur" target="_blank">Star of Kolhapur</a></em></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The domain of Sri Raji in Ravenloft</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">3e Mahasarpa campaign</li> </ul></li> </ul><p>Coincidentally, just last night, I read an ancient (1995) AOL post from TSR designer Bruce Heard (<a href="http://www.ajpinternet.com/specularum/mmb/MystaraMB1.pdf" target="_blank">link to PDF archive</a>) about the delicacy of using real world India as an inspiration for the land of Sind in the world of Mystara:</p><p></p><p><em>"Sind would also make a possible alternate to a gazetteer on the East Indian setting [Shajapur] described in the HW. [...] The problem with settings like Sind, however, is the tendency to stick very close to the historical model, thus pulling in material closely inspired from the Hindu religion (presently active). This is a no-no at TSR. It's as bad a using unchanged Judeo-Christian or Muslim religions as a basis to a game accessory.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>"Even using extinct religions as a basis for fantasy gaming occasionally causes problems. Just a word of caution here. I remember the difficulties we had when dealing with the Azcans, whose "philosophy" was inspired from the Aztec religion. At the end, we had all references to bloodletting and sacrifices removed from the original text. Sorry, can't do that, even if it's historically correct. After all we're dealing with fantasy worlds, so there should be ways of avoiding the more unsavory ways of the real world."</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dungeonosophy, post: 8236912, member: 6688049"] Thanks for this. My [URL='https://sites.google.com/site/dndphilmont/culture-books']D&D Culture Books page[/URL] lists all the Asian Indian-inspired features and settings in D&D game worlds, that I know of. Anyone know of others off hand? [LIST] [*]1e and 2e Indian pantheons, Ascetic class in 2e Legends & Lore [*]CD&D Thug class in [I]Champions of Mystara[/I] boxed set [*]"Rhino's Armor, Tiger's Claws" Dragon #189 [*]"Caste of Characters", "Monsoons & the Power of Om", and "Bazaar of the Bizarre" in Dragon #226, 227, 229 [*]monsters: bhut, juggernaut [*]Official D&D Asian Indian-inspired Campaign Models: [LIST] [*]Sind and Jaibul in the Known World of Mystara; also, Glantri's principality of Krondahar, which borders Sind. [*]Shajapur in Hollow World of Mystara [*]Rajahstan on Mystara's invisible moon of Patera [*]The Utter East of Forgotten Realms [*]Zindia/Zahind of Oerth [*]Kolhapur in stand-alone 2e adventure [I][URL='http://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/50175/the-star-of-kolhapur']Star of Kolhapur[/URL][/I] [*]The domain of Sri Raji in Ravenloft [*]3e Mahasarpa campaign [/LIST] [/LIST] Coincidentally, just last night, I read an ancient (1995) AOL post from TSR designer Bruce Heard ([URL='http://www.ajpinternet.com/specularum/mmb/MystaraMB1.pdf']link to PDF archive[/URL]) about the delicacy of using real world India as an inspiration for the land of Sind in the world of Mystara: [I]"Sind would also make a possible alternate to a gazetteer on the East Indian setting [Shajapur] described in the HW. [...] The problem with settings like Sind, however, is the tendency to stick very close to the historical model, thus pulling in material closely inspired from the Hindu religion (presently active). This is a no-no at TSR. It's as bad a using unchanged Judeo-Christian or Muslim religions as a basis to a game accessory. "Even using extinct religions as a basis for fantasy gaming occasionally causes problems. Just a word of caution here. I remember the difficulties we had when dealing with the Azcans, whose "philosophy" was inspired from the Aztec religion. At the end, we had all references to bloodletting and sacrifices removed from the original text. Sorry, can't do that, even if it's historically correct. After all we're dealing with fantasy worlds, so there should be ways of avoiding the more unsavory ways of the real world."[/I] [/QUOTE]
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