tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5384121608336516305.post4702889108034338259..comments2023-05-30T07:24:39.451-04:00Comments on Ramblings of a Great Khan: Oriental Adventures: What's Missing & What Could GoThe Great Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18342783210750664992noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5384121608336516305.post-61311107014839050552011-10-15T17:05:42.508-04:002011-10-15T17:05:42.508-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.scottszhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10327316054801308727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5384121608336516305.post-43071750237705873552011-10-15T11:52:08.527-04:002011-10-15T11:52:08.527-04:00I pretty much agree with the previous comments - m...I pretty much agree with the previous comments - martial arts are kin of crazy in a way that only can be inspired by cinematic presentations. And yes, the wu Jen does come across as a lone weirdo. The classes seem split between "honour is meaningless to you and you have no obligations" and "NPCs will tell you what to do and if you don't do it then bye bye honour". I'm trying to lessen the impact of this in my labyrinth lord conversions.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10678503778316350427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5384121608336516305.post-61493003689344854892011-10-15T11:23:07.064-04:002011-10-15T11:23:07.064-04:00Jag, I never thought about birth/honor as an attri...Jag, I never thought about birth/honor as an attribute... that is genius!<br /><br />As for the martial arts, the best I can think of quickly would be to consider the base unarmed stats (single attack and damage) for regular combat and consider modifiers to that. For special moves, flips, etc. perhaps make each point of damage represent a '-' to the opponents saving throw to dodge the effect:<br /><br />I roll a strike and declare that I'm trying to flip or throw the opponent. I roll 6 points of damage, which gives the opponent no actual damage but a -6 on his saving throw to get thrown. He misses his save and is moved 5 feet in a direction declared by the attacker and is prone. If I, as the martial artist attacking, had initiative, I've essentially not done damage but forestalled his attack and relocated him.scottszhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10327316054801308727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5384121608336516305.post-77794873731008447912011-10-15T10:26:29.643-04:002011-10-15T10:26:29.643-04:00Martial Arts are another one of the things that sh...Martial Arts are another one of the things that should have gotten smoothed out in play testing, until Lee Ann started killing Ronin with Tae Kwon Do last Sunday, I had forgotten just what a mess they actually were. I think that your "sacrifice ki power for multi-classing" makes good sense and is a good compromise. I am tempted to ditch the standard OA birth table and have it be a stat, replacing comeliness, Social Class- and it would affect your ancestry rolls and birth rights, and whether or not you could be a Samurai. Sadly, then I'd be forced to design my own character sheets.The Great Khanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18342783210750664992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5384121608336516305.post-68847092669193503572011-10-15T09:56:15.977-04:002011-10-15T09:56:15.977-04:00I love your OA posts. I'm in a minority in tha...I love your OA posts. I'm in a minority in that I love Oriental Adventures, but it does present some compatibility problems which you've nailed spot on.<br /><br />I hate Later Edition 'skill check' culture, so OA's NWP are an issue. Would it be better to have characters 'buy' certain abilities with experience points and only allow 'always on' abilities? Should XP be tied to Ki power?<br /><br />Partial armor almost seems to require breaking each AC rank into subranks where each armor piece has a value that is 1/4 of an AC 'point'.<br /><br />I loved that OA was contained in one book, but much more DM info should have been in there. It seemed way too geared towards impressing players and not DMs.<br /><br />Multiclassing: I always assumed that the focus/Ki power made it tough for a character to divide his attentions. If Ki powers were extracted out of the classes, a character might choose (or have to) forego Ki power for the ability to multiclass.<br /><br />There definitely should have been more placed in there about hirelings and henchmen, especially in a world where refusing to serve a samurai would be an affront to a daimyo.<br /><br />Spells: OA was a great opportunity for TSR to have a greater range in magical casting and spells and rituals, and they skipped it.<br /><br />It is definitely too light on setting info, and the few modules I bought for it didn't help all that much.<br /><br />Eastern mythology has such a massive array of spirits, the monster portion definitely deserved its own book - or at least a section on generating monsters.<br /><br />The biggest play problem for us back in the day was the frigging martial arts rules and things like Feint: give up a successful attack roll so that your next attack would have +2... bewildering. A martial arts style with 3 attacks per round and d6 damage!<br /><br />Looking back on the character classes, it occurs to me just how dependent OA characters are on NPC interactions: Samurai are given missions by their lord as are Ninja, Yakuza, Sohei, and even the Shukenja. The WuJen seems kind of a lone madman. Regular AD&D classes offer much more player freedom overall. All the OA classes would probably be better if they were much more subtle.<br /><br />James is correct, Legends and Lore is simply a redistribution of Deities and Demigods. The copy I have lists James Ward and Robert Kuntz as authors... I'd love to hear that story...<br /><br />I do like the birth and honor tables, even if some of the entries are strange.<br /><br />I had high hopes for the published modules for OA, but none of them were all that memorable.scottszhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10327316054801308727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5384121608336516305.post-43192904803459351482011-10-15T08:55:28.225-04:002011-10-15T08:55:28.225-04:00As I recall, there's no difference between the...As I recall, there's no difference between the 1e Deities and Demigods and Legends and Lore.Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192212467523179768noreply@blogger.com