 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, and features a cover by Jeff Easley and interior illustrations by Jim Holloway. It 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.