#Kara-Tur

[thatcerealkiller]

It was unlike him to be layered in such finery, but he wore it very well.

Amazing portrait of my Tav Angelus by mary_dimary on IG 💖 No one can deny that he cleans up very nicely ✨

[vintagerpg]

If I didn’t use the Forgotten Realms Appendix very much, Kara-Tur (1990) made it to the table never. Was never really my thing, generally. In the year of our lord 2024, I am not sure I would put a vampire with yellow skin, a yellow dragon and yellow text on the book of Asian-inspired monsters, but maybe that’s just me (it isn’t just me, this is pretty thoughtless). There is a lot of “this is an Eastern variety of X” in the text, too, which ain’t great either.

I’m not a fan of Kara-Tur, but looking through this now, there are still some good monsters here I might use. Kappa are always fun (and the entry mentions cucumbers, which is rad) but the tengu are underwhelming. I like the race of intelligent octopuses, but am legit not sure if I love or hate the fact that they’re called tako, the Japanese word for regular octopuses. I did the Krakentua, too, and the spirit centipedes are fucked up (I hate centipedes).

Baxa does all the interior art and does a pretty solid job with it, but is again undermined by the designs of the monsters.

[robotbeetle]

day XXX of wishing Dnd would release official 5e content of the questionable non-european continents they created like thirty years ago and have never acknowledged since. Zakhara, Kara-tur, Maztica, you could've been great and I think of you often.

[badragonplays]

tsr dnd karatur adventure Swords of the Daimyo is your classic first adventure for characters just starting out. However, It is important you can use normal classes but it is designed for the players to use region/era specific ones so use the source books!

[oathkeeper-of-tarth]

Ch'mar, zal'a Vlaakith, which several Githyanki phrase lists tell me means "Vlaakith's will above all," appears quite a few times in Baldur's Gate 3. Here's why I find it a uniquely amusing (and, in Vlaakith's case, appropriate) fantasy battle cry and proclamation.

First, let's hear our girl Lae'zel delivering it with great conviction:

Now, "čmar" - pronounced pretty much exactly how you just heard except you'd usually roll that r a tiny bit more - means "anus" in several South Slavic languages, including my own native language.

Meanwhile, "zlo" means "evil" and "zala" is the genitive plural of it, making it essentially "of evils".

Thus, delightfully, a bunch of hardline Githyanki soldiers in this game are shouting a completely grammatically accurate and very nicely pronounced "the asshole of many evils, Vlaakith". Sounds about right, I'd say.

Thank you for your attention... and happy almost-anniversary, BG3!

[y-rhywbeth2]

I feel like I posted this before, but did I ever show the size comparison of Faerûn as a continent from way back in the Cyclopaedia of the Realms?

I think we walked from somewhere like Las Vegas to LA on foot over the course of Act 1 and 2 or something, but it was a while ago that I was messing around with the map overlaying things working that out and I don't remember if that's accurate or not anymore, so don't quote me. (It was roughly from Nevada through California to the coastline, I remember that much)

[dndhistory]

515. Jeff Grubb - OA3 - Ochimo: The Spirit Warrior (1987)

The third in the Oriental Adventures modules, Ochimo brings us to new lands. While your party starts out as natives of Kozakura (the Kara Tur version of Japan) or as "gaijin" if you've brought them from other non OA adventures, you will learn here about the culture of Shou Lung. 

As you can tell by its name, if Kozakura is the analog of Japan, then Shou Lung is the analog for China in the Kara Tur world. Although you and your party don't get to travel to Shou Lung properly, you are sent to investigate disturbances at Akari island, located in the sea between Kozakura and Shou Lung. This makes for an island with a great cultural influence from Shou Lung, which means you get to meet that new culture here.

Shou Lung is, as was the case with China, the more civilized and powerful of the societies in this world and while you get an introduction to the culture of that land, the adventure is spent in Akari island where you eventually discover that the problem with the island is related to the titular Spirit Warrior which your party will have to somehow defeat.

[theleastprofessionalchef]

Kara-Tur Noodles, from the official D&D cookbook! Spicy and delicious, definitely gonna be on the menu again

[wyllzel]

"zoom and enhance!" me trying to salvage my screenshots

[methulusyllasluth]

[margieargie]

are there fox girls in faerun? i don't remember any but i'm still stuck in like... 2e when it comes to it in a lot of ways. maybe even 1e.

[thatcerealkiller]

We are fireworks, burning shapes into the night 🪷

Many thanks to @ssalballoon for another beautiful scene of Astarion and Angelus, this time enjoying a festival by the lotus flowers in the eastern isles of Kara-Tur ❤️

[deathbind]

Reading these books and seeing the overtime Mystran propaganda works has convinced me priests, Chosen, and maybe even Magisters of the goddess have gone to Zakhara to spread use of the Weave. I’m sure they won a few converts, but they could never really get a foothold. It’s just a distinctly different magical tradition. Dominant attitudes toward religion on the continent aren’t compatible with Faerûnian attitudes either. You can’t just. slot Mystra or Azuth in there.

[theshunbun]

Kani, my level 5 Ban Lung (Earth Dragon) Geisha/Pirate from my AD&D 2e Kara-Tur game 💕

[vintagerpg]

Forgotten Realms sourcebooks this week, starting with the first: FR1: Waterdeep and the North (1987). This is the third true FR book (after the campaign box and N5: Under Illefarn — all the other stuff at this point that had the Realms logo were retrofits). Waterdeep came first because that’s where Ed Greenwood’s initial campaign took place, so it was the most detailed region when TSR took the world on.

Despite the “and the North” in the title, this is really just a look at Waterdeep. Greenwood had too much stuff to tell people about the city! Like, for real, some of the type in this book is shockingly small. I wouldn’t call this a city book though, not in the same way as Lankhmar or even something later like Night City. This is more like a textbook for a class on Waterdeep, if that makes sense. There are attribute blocks for NPC and some maps and such, but there is not a lot here that moves, that you can play with. It’s a lecture.

Which is fine by me, I really like Ed Greenwood’s series of lectures on the Forgotten Realms, they tend to be my favorite parts of the massive body of Realms products. But this is sort of the first time TSR is trying to consciously put setting first in the design. If you look at other D&D “sourcebook” style material before this, you get…some wishy washy Greyhawk stuff, some Kara-Tur, Lankhmar and a brief dossier on Krynn in DL5. So any stiffness or dryness in the material is because this is such new ground for the company (though I believe Bruce Heard’s Gazeteers were coming out at the same time; go ahead and compare them to this and you’ll see what I mean about the lack of movability).

Excellent Keith Parkinson cover featuring everyone’s favorite beholder crimelord, Xanathar. It’s an off-beat depiction and I wish some of the weirdness of it continued to surface in the Realms, but I find that it doesn’t. This also has very nice interiors by Chris Miller, who I don’t really know. It’s…weird to have really nice interiors in an FR book.