Korolan Islands, vol 1 / Cool martial arts with magical techniques!

[Kränted Powers]

New Korolan Islands campaign book looks pretty interesting and inspiring, especially the Martial Arts Traditions.
How do you guys handle "learning different Martial Arts Traditions"?
Do you allow players to choose whatever Tradition they want or only the traditions that are available on their home island?

[General Ork]

I do not see the book on Chaosium??

[Kränted Powers]

Aah, ok, I mean this: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/411738/Korolan-Islands-Hero-Wars-in-the-East-Isles--Volume-1?term=korolan+
The campaign seems to be inspired by South Pacific islands like Fiji, Samoa, Tahiti, Bora Bora and New Zealand – something else than "Tolkien Fantasy".
 

 

[soltakss]

10 hours ago, Kränted Powers said:

Do you allow players to choose whatever Tradition they want or only the traditions that are available on their home island?

I would allow them to have whatever traditions made sense.

If it is a tradition from another island, perhaps they learned it from a travelling master.

[Kränted Powers]

1 hour ago, soltakss said:

I would allow them to have whatever traditions made sense.

If it is a tradition from another island, perhaps they learned it from a travelling master.

Yes, that sounds reasonable. I think it might be more interesting for the players, if they start with a Martial Arts Tradition of their own home island, and later "collect" the other traditions from other islands.

 

[davecake]

On 11/12/2022 at 4:49 PM, Kränted Powers said:

Do you allow players to choose whatever Tradition they want or only the traditions that are available on their home island?

To learn at character creation, it needs to be a tradition that they could have studied for some years, though not necessarily on their home island. 
A martial artist does not need to stick to a single tradition after that. It is part of the genre that sometimes martial artists must learn new techniques from a new master to defeat an enemy etc. 

[davecake]

On 11/13/2022 at 2:49 AM, Kränted Powers said:

The campaign seems to be inspired by South Pacific islands like Fiji, Samoa, Tahiti, Bora Bora and New Zealand – something else than "Tolkien Fantasy".

Though it also draws on fantasy sources like Earthsea, some Jack Vance, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and all sorts of travelers tales. And mystic traditions from India and elsewhere. There is a lot in there. 

[Kränted Powers]

On 11/15/2022 at 2:19 PM, davecake said:

To learn at character creation, it needs to be a tradition that they could have studied for some years, though not necessarily on their home island. 

I think it would give some nice flavour to a campaign if each of the islands would be known for its own Martial Arts tradition. So, at character creation,

1 …they would get a bonus if the choose the local tradition. 
2 …each islands has 2–3 traditions to choose from
3 …the island has only one tradition – they will choose it

And then continue like you suggested; finding a new master would be a good objective for an adventurer.

[Goldennose]

In our version, not every island has it´s own martial arts tradition, but many do. The bigger islands likely have more than one. In the forthcoming books there will be of course more traditions. 

Scott Crowder´s Pirates of the East Isles has got a bit different aproach on mysticism and martial arts, than we do. But you might get great ideas also from his book. His book has many cool things in there as well.

[davecake]

On 11/20/2022 at 3:08 PM, Kränted Powers said:

I think it would give some nice flavour to a campaign if each of the islands would be known for its own Martial Arts tradition.

Each Island is already known for its patron deity. 
There are some martial arts associated with a specific island, but more often a martial arts tradition will be associated with a famous hero.

And islands known for god of hairdressing or special fruit, etc do not need an associated martial arts tradition. It would get quite silly quite quickly. 

[PhilHibbs]

29 minutes ago, davecake said:

And islands known for god of hairdressing or special fruit, etc do not need an associated martial arts tradition. It would get quite silly quite quickly. 

You say that like it's a bad thing...

[Agentorange]

1 hour ago, davecake said:

Each Island is already known for its patron deity. 
There are some martial arts associated with a specific island, but more often a martial arts tradition will be associated with a famous hero.

And islands known for god of hairdressing or special fruit, etc do not need an associated martial arts tradition. It would get quite silly quite quickly. 

Well, geisha girls apparently  used hair pins as assassination weapons. i see no reason why a poisoned comb shouldn't be employed. Doesn't even need to scratch the skin. The barber combs your hair, the subtle poison is absorbed by the hair and days,weeks,  months later you drop down dead with nobody being any the wiser.......

[soltakss]

7 hours ago, davecake said:

And islands known for god of hairdressing or special fruit, etc do not need an associated martial arts tradition.

Oh, they do, they really do.

7 hours ago, davecake said:

It would get quite silly quite quickly. 

As it should do.

6 hours ago, Agentorange said:

Well, geisha girls apparently  used hair pins as assassination weapons. i see no reason why a poisoned comb shouldn't be employed. Doesn't even need to scratch the skin. The barber combs your hair, the subtle poison is absorbed by the hair and days,weeks,  months later you drop down dead with nobody being any the wiser.......

Exactly, nothing silly about that.

[Nick Brooke]

7 hours ago, davecake said:

And islands known for god of hairdressing or special fruit, etc do not need an associated martial arts tradition. It would get quite silly quite quickly. 

 

[soltakss]

I didn't expect that!

[PhilHibbs]

I'm going to be adding the Hero Wars In The East Isles character creation details to my online spreadsheet soon.

[Akhôrahil]

On 11/27/2022 at 2:06 PM, davecake said:

And islands known for god of hairdressing

Fighting with combs and scissors sounds great to me!

On 11/27/2022 at 2:06 PM, davecake said:

or special fruit

To quote Edmund Blackadder, "It was a viciously sharp slice of mango, wasn’t it, sir…"

Edited December 1, 2022 by Akhôrahil