DISCLAIMER: I am a former employee of Wizards of the Coast, having worked there for the last year and a half before being released at the end of August 2001. While I am no longer in any way affiliated with WotC, I still am admittedly a huge fan of Dungeons & Dragons, having played for 18 years and counting. Allow this information to color your opinion of the review below as necessary.
I'll start off by saying that I wasn't a huge fan of OA in its first incarnation. It never seemed balanced (*cough* Kensai *cough*) with the rest of the system and I just never quite got the feeling that it worked. Yes, you could bring ninja into your game, but it felt as cheesy as watching Stormshadow hang out with the rest of COBRA. The fit was just not right and you kept wondering when the far-superior master of the martial arts was going to open a can of whoop-ass on his lesser compatriots.
That said, this new OA seems to do the trick nicely. It's been a good year for D&D if you think about it. Some RPGs release a great core system and then kill it with inferior support books. But look at what D&D served up: PSIONICS HANDBOOK, FORGOTTEN REALMS CAMPAIGN SETTING, MAGIC OF FAERUN, MANUAL OF THE PLANES, and, to a lesser extent, the class books. All of the named books above were successes in the fields they covered, but ORIENTAL ADVENTURES rises above the rest by learning from what each of them did well and then incorporating those lessons in an extremely involving and user-friendly interface.
I'll begin with a chapter-by-chapter review before closing with an overall summary.
CHAPTER ONE: RACES. Pretty intriguing. Five new races to go along with Human, with the understanding that the standard D&D "demihumans" don't show up often in this part of the world. Humans are much the same as in the PH, with the interesting exceptions being that the Rokugani, for the most part, pick a Clan (which you're already familiar with if you're an L5R goob) which dictates their starting bonus feat (picked from a pool of Ancestral Feats) and their Favored Class. Hengeyokai return, being the shapeshifters we came to know and love from OA 1st. They're the only race to get a level adjustment (ala the FR CS) which takes them up a level from normal adventurers, mostly due to the flexibility of their alternate form powers. Korobokuru are also back, being those wooly little dwarves with the bad tempers. Nezumi show up as a race of ratfolk whose story bucks the usual "rat=bad" tropes that you normally see. They get the ability to learn the Scent ability if you purchase it with a feat. The fact that it costs that price is the only thing, imo, that keeps these otherwise cool little beasties from being a ECL 1, as they get base move and thieving bonuses that rock besides. Spirit Folk are the offspring of nature spirits and humans, with three distinct breeds being outlined and statted (bamboo, sea, river). They're kind of cool, but strike me as the least fleshed out. The Vanara are monkeymen (DAMN YOU APES!) with a predilection towards spiritual magic. The back of this chapter contains tips on what roles the European demihumans might play in an Oriental campaign. Very helpful for those DMs who just can't live without their gnomes being a part of the action.
CHAPTER TWO: CLASSES: The book goes straight into the 11 classes of OA, bringing back 6 from the PH (Barbarian, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, Rogue, and Sorcerer) and explaining how these classes work both in the Rokugan setting and in a generic OA campaign. The 5 new additions ring familiar bells, including Samurai, Shaman, Shugenja, Sohei and Wujen. In this case, Shugenja have been reworked to fit L5R paradigm and the class known as Shaman fills the role of Shugenja players from OA 1st would be familiar with. All seem balanced, with a couple neat features that catch the eye. Samurai get a very cool option to power up (via "awakening latent powers") their ancestral swords with level advancement instead of tossing away centuries-old heirlooms for a brand new katana with a plus in the title. They also get different bonus feats with level-ups determined by clan affiliation. Groovy. Shugenja strike me as elemental-specialist sorcerers, but what I really dig about them is that their power progression and overall ability makes them comparable to Wujen (the wizard substitute) in strength. This is the template Sorcerers should have been built around. NPC classes are discussed, as is the role of nobility and caste in determining class availability in the Rokugan setting. The chapter also goes into why the bard, cleric, druid, paladin, and wizard don't show up in OA.
CHAPTER THREE: PRESTIGE CLASSES. There's 17 new Prestige Classes in this chapter, with more to come in later chapters. Needless to say, that's a lot. And they're all pretty flavorful for the most part, with the only notable exceptions being the Yakuza (who were pretty dull in 1st edition and pretty dull again when they pop up here, being mostly possessed of rogue abilities with a little information boost and leadership capacity tossed in) There's a slew of proprietary classes from Rokugan to keep L5R fans happy, including Battle Maidens, Iaijutsu Masters, Tattooed Monks, and Void Disciples among others.
CHAPTER FOUR: SKILLS AND FEATS. A brief overview of how old skills work in Rokugan and the introduction of a new skill, Iaijutsu Focus, kick off the chapter. More on the new skill later. The Feats section is huge with a number of new general feats as well as a large group of Ancestor Feats of which only one may be taken, based upon background and clan affiliation, at character creation. The Ancestor Feats are very similar in flavor and power to the Regional Feats from the FR CS. Some of the new feats in the General Pool seem a bit too good as incapacitating feats like Freezing the Lifeblood and Falling Star Strike seem a bit more powerful than, say, Great Cleave. Still, the Feats do a great job of creating the flavor for the setting, with names like Oni's Bane, Kami's Intuition, and Strength of the Crab.
CHAPTER FIVE: DESCRIPTION AND EQUIPMENT: Kicks off with a great section on Honor which offers a few suggested mechanical effects for good role-playing without making it a quanitifiable commodity. Maybe we'll get more specific rules for Honor from AEG's ROKUGAN follow-up next month. But what's here is functional and I think it's nice that the author offered a few mechanics cookies to offer players who stay true to character. New weapons are listed and seem balanced and fun (return of the ninja-to and three-section-staff!) One low point is that we learn what weapons cross over from the PH but we don't learn their new names in this section (where that information definitely belongs). I had to go hunting for tetsubo stats all over the book after seeing it mentioned about five times in earlier chapters, finding out only in Chapter 8 (Magic Items) that the stats were equivalent to the greatclub. Doh. Armor is laid out, being far less heavy than Western wear (which it should be) but also more prone to layering. And I finally found out what a tessen does after seeing them depicted in games and movies for years and wondering what purpose they actually serve. Special and Superior Items is a nifty little toss-in at the end, providing ninja wanna-bes everywhere with their favorite tres chic accessory, the eggshell grenade, among other goodies. Aw yeah.
CHAPTER SIX: COMBAT: Martial arts styles are back, but now they're powered down to five types of "mastery" that you acquire certain bonuses from after working your way up a feat and skill progression list. Given the high amount of prerequisites, it's going to take a long time (9 levels on average) for most fighters, monks, and samurai to master styles and, unless you're willing to focus solely on martial arts, other classes need not apply. Iaijutsu duels and the mechanics (and role-play!) behind them are elaborated upon lovingly, offering a great vision of the "fast-draw" duel that's so popular in samurai mythology and Kurosawa movies. The system is balanced, but deadly enough to make the matter of first-blood pretty intriguing. Also elaborated upon are Psychic Duels, basically staring contests between two opponents. Again, a really nice touch with a game mechanic that adds flavor without being too overpowering one way or another.
CHAPTER SEVEN: SPELLS: What can I say? There's a lot here. Shamans get a cleric-based spell list, with new domains to fit the atmosphere of the setting. Shugenjas get a mixed bag of Cleric and Wizard spells divided into four elemental schools, one which they specialize in and one which they are banned from. In general, I like this form of categorization much more than the schools of Wizardry from the PH as all four elements are equally desirable, whereas you can pick and choose the rich from the poor in the latter. Shugenja also each get a sort of Domain based upon the Clan School which they attend and whose philosophies they espouse through their practices. Sohei also get their own list, taking a hodgepodge of Paladin and Ranger spells, while Wu Jen get a huge bevy of new spells, most of which fit the Chinese wuxia feel more than they do a traditionally Japanese setting. There's about 100 new spells in here, making the section fairly beefy.
CHAPTER EIGHT: MAGIC ITEMS: A fairly standard magic items section which does its job well, without offering too much in the way of new material. Probably the least exciting of the chapters, in my opinion, but still good for working in the feel of the new setting and offering alternative forms for traditional D&D magic items. Two new special materials are introduced, jade and obsidian, which are pivotal to defeating supernaturals from the Shadowlands. Speaking of which...
CHAPTER NINE: MONSTERS. We start with a quick rundown of MM monster that can be transferred, or in some cases adapted with a few modifications, into the setting. Old favorites return, including the oriental dragons, the pennaggolan, and the tako, everyone's favorite octopus people! Perhaps most of note is the huge section on Shadowlands Oni, fiendish outsiders born of some twisted nightmares, of which we get 12. Yes!
CHAPTER TEN: CAMPAIGN DESIGN: Kicks off with an oveview of class names in Chinese, Japanese, and Indian culture, offers the elusive weapons table (10-2) that I missed the first time through with alternative cultural names for PH weapons. A treatment on how to use the classbooks, both released and forthcoming (good call) as well as a table that shows Monster as PC adjustments (for L5R fans who gotta have their naga!) Some discussion on OA's planar cosmology is very helpful, but perhaps my favorite section in the whole book is covered in a sidebar called "Rewards" where the author offers alternatives to 'corpse-looting' for treasure gathering in the stern, honorbound society of OA. Just check out the last sentence: "Used in conjunction with story-based experience awards, this system allows the game to wander far from the 'kick in the door' style of play while remaining Dungeons & Dragons" Well done.
CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE EMPIRE OF ROKUGAN: Basically background setting for Rokugan and its clans. The history is concise, while still remaining interesting to a first-time reader (which I, having played all of 1 game of the card game and, much to my shame, having never read the AEG source material previously, happened to be.) Each clan gets a specific Prestige Class for its patrons which coincides with their flavor and goals. Adventure hooks are provided for each of the clans and, thankfully, a sidebar at the chapter's end offers some suggestions on how to make a party comprised of 5 clans . Again, another case of the author really thinking about and offering suggestions on basic problems of campaign coherence that often go ignored.
CHAPTER TWELVE: THE SHADOWLANDS: Herein OA provides its backdrop for the antagonists of the Rokugan setting, including a Prestige Class of blood-sorcerers and two templates for tainted humans who serve the Shadowlands.
We close with a few Appendices, including the very useful Appendix 3: Pronunciation Guide.
IN SUMMARY:
What I love about this book is the fact that it provides two distinct offers, the Rokugan game setting and the features which work within it (all marked, throughout each chapter, with a 5 Rings symbol), as well as a more generic, inclusive OA world with the addition of the classes, races, and other elements which, while interesting, don't fit the Rokugan setting. Both are so compelling that you want to try each one separately. I want to run a Rokugan-specific game, complete with clan politics, but I'm also down with the possibility of trying out the high fantasy of a world with blade-dancing sohei, shapeshifting hengeyokai, and sinister eunuch warlocks.
Why are they both so compelling? Because this book succeeds in its primary purpose. Beneath all the stats and cool new features, the author knows how to convey the feel of these settings and goes about making them alternately fantastic and yet strangely authentic-seeming. This is a very player and DM-friendly work, written in a way that draws even beginners not familiar with the backdrops of these legends into the enthusiasm contained within.
Bottom line: It's good stuff. Pick it up alongside a Kurosawa or Tsui Hark triple feature to get properly in the mood.
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