 The cover to the Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms boxed set | |
| Genre | Role-playing game |
|---|---|
| Publisher | TSR, Inc. |
Publication date | 1988 |
| Media type | Boxed set |
Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms is an accessory and campaign setting for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.
Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms is a supplement which details a portion of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting using Oriental Adventures , and describes Kara-Tur in light detail to leave opportunity for further development by the Dungeon Master. [1]
Kara-Tur's cultures and peoples are fantasy analogues of medieval regions of East and Southeast Asia: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
The fantasy setting known as Kara-Tur was described in the original 1985 Oriental Adventures book. [8] A reviewer for White Dwarf called the long background section of Kara-Tur in the book, a "bonus". [8] Kara-Tur is described in the "Province Book" from the 1986 Swords of the Daimyo module. [1] The 1987 Forgotten Realms Campaign Set left the eastern half of its continent reserved for the future publication of Kara-Tur. [9] According to Jim Bambra, "While primarily drawing on Japan for inspiration, [Kara-Tur] also contains elements of medieval China and Korea." [10]
Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms was written by Mike Pondsmith, Jay Batista, Rick Swan, John Nephew and Deborah Christian, with a cover by Jeff Easley and interior illustrations by Jim Holloway, and was published by TSR in 1988 as a boxed set with two 96-page books, four large color maps, and two plastic overlays. [1]
Shannon Appelcline noted that John Nephew had been contributing to Dragon and Dungeon , and that "As he continued to write for the magazines, he was also invited to contribute to larger projects such as Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms (1988) and WG7: Castle Greyhawk (1988)." [11] Appelcline also highlighted that "Kara-Tur was the first big[ sic ] expansion" of the Forgotten Realms that "used real-world cultures as a touchstone". [4]
Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms is a Gamers' Choice award-winner. [1]
Appelcline highlighted a note from Ed Greenwood, creator of the Forgotten Realms, that the major additions to the setting with real-world correlations "also include 'recastings of my largely-offstage kingdoms like Unther and Mulhorand to more closely resemble real-world historical (or 'Hollywood historical') settings.' Greenwood disagrees with the results, saying that 'the too-close-to-our-real-world additions like Maztica, the Hordelands, and Kara-Tur were a mistake in style'. He thought that they '[pulled] gamers out of roleplaying into disputes about historical details, for one thing'." [4]
The holder of rights Wizards of the Coast considers Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms among such "legacy content" that "may reflect ethnic, racial, and gender prejudice that were commonplace in American society at that time", and distances itself from such prejudices. [12]
Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms was reviewed in issue 16 of the German RPG-magazine ZauberZeit. [13] [14]
In 1989, a printing of Trail Maps for Kara-Tur appeared. In 1990, the maps were again included in The Forgotten Realms Atlas . [15] Later that year, TSR converted the monsters of Kara-Tur to second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules as part of the Monstrous Compendium series. [16]
After 1990, TSR ceased publishing new material related to Kara-Tur. The setting was, however, occasionally referred to by other TSR products such as Spelljammer and Ravenloft .
The setting of Kara-Tur still exists on Abeir-Toril and is often mentioned in Forgotten Realms supplements. Characters and artifacts from Kara-Tur sometimes show up in Faerûn, but beyond that there is little interaction between the continents.[ citation needed ]
The 2015 release of Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide , a supplement, introduced Kara-Tur to the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons . [17] There is a brief description of the land along with references throughout the book to its culture and how certain classes or backgrounds might fit in there. [18]
The Kara-Tur campaign setting inspired the following eight adventure modules (in chronological order):
Three choose your own adventure style books (one was actually released before the original Oriental Adventures book) were published:
One of novels in The Empires Trilogy is set in Shou Lung of Kara-Tur.
Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setting for his childhood stories. Several years later, it was published for the D&D game as a series of magazine articles, and the first Realms game products were released in 1987. Role-playing game products have been produced for the setting ever since, in addition to novels, role-playing video game adaptations, comic books, and the film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.
Spelljammer is a campaign setting originally published for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, which features a fantastic outer space environment. Subsequent editions have included Spelljammer content; a Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition setting update was released on August 16, 2022.
Ed Greenwood is a Canadian fantasy writer and the original creator of the Forgotten Realms game world. He began writing articles about the Forgotten Realms for Dragon magazine beginning in 1979, and subsequently sold the rights to the setting to TSR, the creators of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, in 1986. He has written many Forgotten Realms novels, as well as numerous articles and D&D game supplement books.
Faerûn is a fictional continent and the primary setting of the Dungeons & Dragons world of Forgotten Realms. It is described in detail in several editions of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting with the most recent being the 5th edition from Wizards of the Coast, and various locales and aspects are described in more depth in separate campaign setting books. Around a hundred novels, several computer and video games and a film use Faerûn as the setting.
Jeff Grubb is an author of novels, short stories, and comics, as well as a computer and role-playing game designer in the fantasy genre. Grubb worked on the Dragonlance campaign setting under Tracy Hickman, and the Forgotten Realms setting with Ed Greenwood. His written works include The Finder's Stone Trilogy, the Spelljammer and Jakandor campaign settings, and contributions to Dragonlance and the computer game Guild Wars Nightfall (2006).
Waterdeep and the North is an accessory for the Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting Forgotten Realms. It was written by Ed Greenwood and published by TSR in 1987.
Abeir-Toril is the fictional planet that makes up the Forgotten RealmsDungeons & Dragons campaign setting, as well as the Al-Qadim and Maztica campaign settings, and the 1st edition version of the Oriental Adventures campaign setting.
Oriental Adventures 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 Europe-setting assumed by most D&D books. Both versions of Oriental Adventures include example campaign settings.
The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting is a role-playing game sourcebook first published by TSR in 1987 for the first edition of the fantasy role-playing game Advanced Dungeons & Dragons that describes the campaign setting of the Forgotten Realms. It contains information on characters, locations and history. Various revised and updated editions have been produced over the years.
The flexibility of the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) game rules means that Dungeon Masters (DM) are free to create their own fantasy campaign settings. For those who wanted a pre-packaged setting in which to play, TSR, Wizards of the Coast (WotC), and other publishers have created many settings in which D&D games can be based; of these, the Forgotten Realms, an epic fantasy world, has been one of the most successful and critically acclaimed settings. Many campaign settings include standard sword and sorcery environments, while others borrow Asian, Central American, swashbuckling, horror and even space-travel themes.
Moonshae is an accessory for the Dungeons & DragonsForgotten Realms campaign setting. It describes the Moonshae Isles of Faerûn.
Blood of the Yakuza is a module in the Oriental Adventures subset of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms product line.
Castle Greyhawk is a comedic adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game set in the World of Greyhawk campaign setting. The module bears the code WG7 and was published by TSR, Inc. in 1988 for the first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules.
The Savage Frontier is an accessory for the Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting Forgotten Realms. It describes the Savage Frontier of Faerûn. The book was written by Jennell Jaquays and published by TSR in 1988. Cover art is by Larry Elmore, with interior illustrations by Esteban Maroto, and cartography by Dave Sutherland, Dennis Kauth, and Jaquays.
Lords of Darkness is the name of two accessories for the fictional Forgotten Realms campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.
Swords of the Daimyo is a 1986 adventure module for the Oriental Adventures rules of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.
Ravenloft: Realm of Terror is a boxed set accessory published in 1990 for the Ravenloft campaign setting for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.
Maztica Campaign Set is an accessory for the 2nd edition of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. The campaign set was co-authored by Douglas Niles and Tim Beach and published by TSR, Inc. in 1991.