Oriental Adventures (abbreviated OA) is the title shared by two hardback rulebooks published for different versions of the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy roleplaying game. Each version of Oriental Adventures provides rules for adapting its respective version of D&D for use in campaign settings based on the Far East, rather than the medieval European setting assumed by most D&D books. Both versions of Oriental Adventures include example campaign settings.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

The original Oriental Adventures () was written by Gary Gygax, David "Zeb" Cook, and François Marcela-Froideval, and published in 1985 by TSR, Inc. as a 144-page hardcover for use with the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) 1st edition rules. The book was edited by Steve Winter, Mike Breault, Anne Gray, and Thad Russell. The book's cover art was by Jeff Easley,

Campaign features

Oriental Adventures contains rules for ten character classes and three races to be used in place of standard AD&D classes and races. Every character is expected to possess proficiencies in the noncombat arts with skills such as calligraphy, etiquette, animal handling, iaijutsu (fast draw), and bowyer. but left TSR shortly after announcing the project. Oriental Adventures was TSR's biggest seller in 1985. Little, if any, material from Oriental Adventures was incorporated into the AD&D 2nd Edition core books, and Oriental Adventures itself was never revised for a 2nd Edition.

Reception

In Issue 74 of White Dwarf, Ashley Shepherd felt that this game was "a completely new version of AD&D", adding "The old stand-bys of the AD&D system are still in the rules, but the elements have been intelligently modified to produce something that is far greater than the sum of its parts." Shepherd liked the new character classes, noting that the monk was in its proper Eastern context, and that the ninja was the best version Shepherd had seen. Shepherd also liked the new skill system of proficiency slots, and felt these should be extended to all of AD&D, not just this setting. Shepherd felt that the honor system was a good touch, and that the real strength of the new martial arts system was that the gamemaster was now able to construct any number of new styles of combat. Shepherd compared Oriental Adventures to rival role-playing game Bushido, and felt that Oriental Adventures was a better choice as a game system. Shepherd concluded by giving the game an excellent rating of 9 out of 10, saying, "By remaining compatible with the rest of AD&D, [designer] Dave Cook has written an excellent set of rules which should be very popular. Oriental Adventures has even persuaded me to start playing AD&D again."

In the November 1986 edition of Asimov's Science Fiction, Matthew J. Costello noted that although based on AD&D, this product "aspires to more than supplemental status. It contains a tremendous amount of information about bushi, samurai and ninja, not to mention the cultural and social background of the Orient." Costello concluded "Oriental Adventures can really stand on its own, with specialized game rules."

In Issue 30 of the French games magazine Casus Belli , André Foussat warned "Playing AD&D in this new environment will require a major effort from the JDM (Japanese Dungeon Master) to integrate the entire rulebook (140 rather dense pages). There are a significant number of references from one section of the book to another and everything is very linked." However, Foussat admitted that the book excited him and he had his Japanese weapons ready for play.

In his 1990 book The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games, game critic Rick Swan admitted that the game was heavily derivative of AD&D but noted that this publication has "a unique design approach that skillfully integrates game mechanics with background material. It's a vivid setting and a fascinating set of rules." Swan enjoyed the character generation process, commenting, "The resulting characters are richly textured, clearly motivated, and a lot of fun to play." However, Swan warned that "Oriental Adventures is not for beginners ... a familiarity with AD&D is presumed, and a general understanding of Oriental culture and traditions is helpful." Swan also noted that this product, published in 1985, was based on the first edition of AD&D whereas TSR had published the second edition of AD&D in 1989, "so the referee will have to make a few adjustments when switching between systems." Swan concluded by giving the game an excellent rating of 3.5 out of 4, saying, "For experienced players, Oriental Adventures is a delight. A sophisticated, challenging game, it's the best Eastern-flavored RPG ever published."

Scott Taylor of Black Gate listed the Oriental Adventures as #6 on the list of "Top 10 'Orange Spine' AD&D Hardcovers By Jeff Easley, saying "I'm guessing that if there is one book on this list a lot of folks don't own, it is this one, but that doesn’t mean this kind of epic 'in the clouds' duel between a samurai and a ninja isn't worth every penny!"

Other releases

TSR released several products with the Oriental Adventures logo. This includes a series of modules numbered OA1 to OA7, the first five of which (Swords of the Daimyo, Night of the Seven Swords, Ochimo: The Spirit Warrior, Blood of the Yakuza, and Mad Monkey vs. the Dragon Claw) were released for first edition AD&D. The sixth module (Ronin Challenge) was released for the second edition, as was the seventh module (Test of the Samurai) which did not have the Oriental Adventures logo. The last three of these modules also had the Forgotten Realms logo. The Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms boxed set, also for Forgotten Realms, was billed as an expansion for Oriental Adventures. Also released for second edition was a volume for the Monstrous Compendium series.

Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition

In order to make Oriental Adventures compatible with the 3rd edition of D&D published in 2000, a second version of Oriental Adventures () was written by James Wyatt and published by Wizards of the Coast in October 2001. The cover art is by Raven Mimura, with interior art by: Matt Cavotta, Larry Dixon, Cris Dornaus, David Martin, Raven Mimura, Wayne Reynolds, Darrell Riche, Richard Sardinha, Brian Snoddy, and Arnie Swekel.

When WotC published a revision of the 3rd edition D&D rules known as v3.5 in 2004, an official (but not 100% comprehensive) update of Oriental Adventures was published in Dragon #318 (April 2004), pp. 32–48.

Campaign features

The book includes: seven playable new races, including nezumi, vanara, and three different types of spirit folk; five new base classes, including the samurai, sohei, and shugenja; 17 new prestige classes; over one hundred new spells; and seventy-five new monsters, over a dozen of which (including five types of Naga) were given level adjustments for adapting them into playable races. The featured campaign setting of this edition is Rokugan, a campaign setting originally created for the game Legend of the Five Rings.

Reception

The reviewer from Pyramid noted that while the first edition book was a 144-page black and white text, the third edition book was 256 pages and full color.

Reviews

  • Backstab #35
  • Backstab #39
  • Coleção Dragão Brasil

Awards

The second version of Oriental Adventures won the 2002 Ennie Award for "Best Campaign Setting".

Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition

Wizards of the Coast did not release a new edition of Oriental Adventures for the 4th edition of D&D, but several Oriental Adventures items appeared in 4th edition rules:

  • A number of the monsters such as the oni, were included in the 4th edition Monster Manual.
  • The shaman was featured in the Player's Handbook 2 as a leader based on the primal power source.
  • The monk appeared in Player's Handbook 3.
  • Samurai and sohei were added as character themes in Dragon Issue 404 (October 2011).

Controversy

In 2016, blogger Aaron Trammel accused TSR of cultural appropriation, noting, "Although Gary Gygax envisioned a campaign setting that brought a multicultural dimension to Dungeons & Dragons, the reality is that by lumping together Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Philippine, and 'Southeast Asian' lore he and co-authors David 'Zeb' Cook and Francois Marcela-Froideval actually developed a campaign setting that reinforced western culture's already racist understanding of the 'Orient.'" Two weeks later, WotC added a disclaimer to the top the product pages of several older products, including Oriental Adventures that read in part, "Some older content may reflect ethnic, racial, and gender prejudice that were commonplace in American society at that time. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today."

References

Further reading

  • "...And a Step Beyond That", Dragon #122
  • "A Menagerie of Martial Arts", Dragon #127
  • "A Step Beyond Shogun...", Dragon #122
  • "Flying Feet and Lightning Hands", Dragon #164
  • "Hand-to-Hand Against the Rules", Dragon #139
  • "New Kicks in Martial Arts", Dragon #136
  • "Sage Advice", Dragon #121
  • "Sage Advice", Dragon #122
  • "Sage Advice", Dragon #151
  • "Taking the Mystery Out of the Orient: Updates and Errata for Oriental Adventures", Footprints #9
  • "Things Your Sensei Never Taught You", Dragon #164
  • Kohler, Alan D. Oriental Adventures capsule review, retrieved June 1, 2006
  • http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_7441.html