D&D 1E Non-Japanese Elements of 1e Oriental Adventures

[gamerprinter]

To look at one of the most famous examples, Dragon Ball refers to the actual dragon in the series as 神龍 ("Shenron," using the kanji for "kami" and "ryu"), as it's very clearly an Asian-style dragon, but the orbs that summon it (from which the series takes its name) are written with the katakana ドラゴンボール (phonetically spelling out "dragon ball").

That's fair. But fair or not, I have zero interest in any fictional derivation of Japanese lore, even done by the Japanese or anybody from the 20th/21st century. That is almost too "modern" for me to use as a souce, and maybe influenced by the west somehow, so be less "true". I only look at sources from 1899 or before. I wouldn't even look at Dragon Ball Z, nor consider a source of accuracy - even though it was Japanese that created it. It could be accurate, I don't know, I won't look. I wanted Kaidan to be created as a first interpretation, rather than a reflection of someone else's interpretation.

I didn't learn this in school, rather over a lifetime, and reading actual non-translated Japanese sources, on trips to Japan to visit family.

 

[gamerprinter]

While Lafcadio Hearn (Kiozumi Yagumo) is one such source, one story has the wrong folklore name for the being described in the story. And "The Boy who Drew Cats" was a complete invention by Lafcadio Hearn, more like Irish lore, and not Japanese - so he made mistakes. There are no "goblin rats" or what RPGs created as the humanoid nezumi, didn't exist in Japanese lore. There was a henge rat, but not the same thing.

 

[Fifth Element]

I see OA as something riddled with mistakes, rather than being "racist" - so I have no horse in that race.

I think you may be thinking about some other thread. This thread is not a discussion about what parts of OA are racist. It's about identifying the non-Japanese elements included in OA. The point I made was that although Chinese names are used for a particular type of creature (lung instead of ryu), the nature of the creature is so similar in Chinese and Japanese folklore that they are effectively the same creature, which you seem to agree with.

In folklore, a dragon means a large serpent-like creature, generally with magical powers. There are very few specifics involved. I'm familiar enough with Japanese and Chinese folklore to know that ryu and lung clearly fall under that definition. The fact that some people may not be familiar with this definition doesn't affect whether it encompasses such creatures.

The standard D&D dragon also falls under this definition, but is not an exclusive representative of it. "Dragon" covers much more ground in folklore than it does in D&D, which is why I specified which definition I was using.

 

[gamerprinter]

Whoops, you're right.

I don't want to redo D&D, just wanted a setting that felt a bit more accurate, at least to me. Something I told myself to try to do one day when I was shortly after high school, looking at the original OA. So I finally did.

Edit: honestly, I had to do Kaidan, but that's the only Earth analog I ever plan to do - analogs generally aren't my thing, I'd rather be totally original, if possible, so I develope and create for Starfinder now, and my only source is my imagination. I might sneak an updated Kaidan in one star system of my current setting, just because, but now I work with aliens and alien cultures unique to alien worlds, not Earth.

 

[GreyLord]

Oh, and the finger cutting, self mutilation punishments forced onto problem yakuza members was about cutting off your pinkie, because your pinkie controls the movement of your sword, while the other fingers/thumb hold the sword - losing your pinkie, takes away combat effectiveness. You don't lose a second finger in your second "incident", though, they just kill you.

Yakuza meant "good for nothing", a losing hand in a card game with the result of 8, 9, 3 (ya ku za - 8, 9, 3 in one of the counting systems)

In modern Japan, their world famous tattoo artists aren't allowed to have public shops, they operate from home studios and are not allowed signage, business cards, websites - it's word of mouth, as well as how to find them. It's that taboo in Japan, still - and the same in Korea. American fascination with tattoos give the Japanese heebie geebies. You're not allowed to use a public bath house if you wear a tattoo. Yakuza use private ones.

Small correction, at least in modern times. Yakuza actually CAN cut off more than the tip of their pinkie for continued offenses. It is not necessarily death after the first offense.

Many of the leaders, in fact, have multiple portions of fingers in relation to this.

I'm not sure about the past, but presently, they are not necessarily killed for more than one offense. It can continue down the line of their joints and then fingers, or if they are expelled they may also be required to lose joints/fingers.