Anyone looked at this? I picked up Infinite Futures, and it was rough. I've got reservations about this because of it, but the source area intrigues me. I'll have to think on it a bit, unless there's someone out there who's read it.
thanks!
-Ben.
I'd be interested in hearing any comments as well -
"Arrows of Indra is an RPG based on the original and most popular fantasy roleplaying rules"
doesn't assure me as much as "Pathfinder compatible" would...
As I understand it, it is based on D&D (2.0).
I'll be picking up a copy soon, and can then comment further.
Haha! I was going to write "I wonder what Jeff thinks?"!
2nd ed huh? Easily my least favorite edition. I was hoping for some sweet PF creatures, archetypes, magic/psychic/karmic system, and even a new base class or three. ;p
Oh well, I'll await your Indian-inspired RPG treatment, Jeff. Let us know how you find this though. If it has great art and can be mined for ideas and receives the Jeff Erwin seal of approval, I might be tempted...
I'm largely interested in whether it's got a good bibliography-- that might be worth the price of admission alone.
-Ben.
It's also at DTRPG and there was a thread about it at RPG.net. I got the impression it was for 0e or a Swords and Wizardry clone.
It's written for OSR. By "RPGPundit," who is likely an internet personality on RPG.net, if I have to guess. There are four reviews there:
first (this one says more OSR than Indian myth)
second (notes some missteps, but likes it)
third (excited for it, loves it, wants it in print. Thought the setting was solid)
fourth. (felt knowledge of the source material shines through, an excellent introduction to the mythology)
Looks like I'll be picking it up.
-Ben.
Contributor
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OK, I bought it and read it.
This is sort of a review, but I'm disinclined to score the product. It's got major holes from my perspective, but to be honest, it would take a lot to satisfy me since I hold my own setting and research to a pretty high standard.
Summary: Fun, but by no means a reference or ground-breaking book. It fails to deliver a fully rounded product, disserves non-male non-Vedic people, though unintentionally - incorporating them fairly requires academic research into Hindu literature - and doesn't fully capture the vitality and mythic aspect of the epics. But it tries hard to at least represent modern India's image of its ancient past.
The absence of a bibliography is truly frustrating.
Arrows of Indra: Detailed Comments.
Arrows is indeed an old-school (OSR) clone, not a later iteration of d20. This rules-liteness does give it some advantages for dealing with the details of the setting, since not much as to be explained away, mechanically defined, or designed to mesh with various class abilities, spells, etc. – it’s pretty transparent as a game.
The designer has made some choices in character generation that are perhaps controversial, namely giving attribute modifiers by caste and culture – these are human groups, who exist today, so the effect is a little unsettling. Sudras, for instance, with a -1 INT, are going to make weak magic-users.
The non-human and barbarian races also include a Real World culture - the Bhils; while Vanaras, Gandharvas, Rakshasas, etc., are all treated more or less like demi-humans, and are not monsters.
There is no provision for playing an avatar, even though almost all major heroes in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata (and even some ambigious characters) are at least minor avatars of one god or another.
The examples of names are Hindi, rather than Sanskrit, for the most part, which is strange. Many of the family names are medieval or later in origin, including the identifications of the Rajput clans (who are clearly not yet around, since they claim descent from the heroes of the Mahabharata period, for the most part).
The classes include Priests, Priest-Shamans, Fighters, Thieves, Yogis, Thuggees, and Siddhis. The Siddhis are the magic-users and the Yogis are a sort of monk class. In our world, however, the magical powers of the Yogis are called… Siddhas. Hence what is one class in our world, more or less, is partitioned into two in Arrows, and the native spell-casting traditions such as Mantrika, Yantrika, and Tantra do not appear. Tantra of course is a medieval invention, though the game does mix eras pretty thoroughly, despite being set in the Mahabharata era. The martial arts schools, for instance, derive from medieval South India, not the Vedic north.
The power levels of these classes is as 0e – not epic, by any means. Even with the lesser power given to the monsters in this version, your character in this system will not be a semi-divine hero.
Characters are either Holy, Unholy, or Neutral. There is no discussion of South Asian notions such as ganas, fate, karma, or even, besides brief tangents, reincarnation!
The Equipment section is thorough and useful.
The Monsters should be inspiring to people looking to populate a quasi-Indian adventure.
The Setting mentions gender roles but does not spend more than a paragraph on women (In reality, women were historically freer in pre-medieval times, and the influence of medieval prudery and mysogyny on the epics as they were finally written down is very probable). There are two on third-gender characters (kliba).
This is a bit frustrating since female characters do have major roles in the epics and folklore of India, yet these are not addressed by the rules or by the background information. One cannot be an avatar of a goddess, a courtesan, a female noble, or a witch (who appear solely as villains).
Overall, the choice of a traditional Mahabharatan setting does mean that a great deal of South Asian tradition is ignored: i.e., the Jain epics and Buddhist tradition. Hence there are no Vidyadharas or ascetics of the Jain or Buddhist type. The Panchatranta, the stories of animals, that so profoundly influenced the fable tradition in the West and Islam, is not explored.
It also unintentionally incorporates a fair amount of residual racism (inherent in the poems and oral texts, unfortunately) in the depiction of tribal and out-caste cultures, by default. Actual religion is given only 5 pages of description, and focuses primarily on Shiva and Vishnu and their families or avatars. The concept of Shakti (the mother goddess) is given a few sentences of description. Non-Vedic religion is ignored.
The map is a nearly unaltered map of epic India, excluding the south. There is no or little information provided on the Dravidian regions or the tribal peoples that shared the periphery of the Ganges plain with the “Aryans.”
The section on Patala is clearly intended to take on the role of underground dungeons.
There is no Bibliography. :(
As a framework and setting for an “Epic India” Pathfinder or OSR game, Arrows is reasonably useful, but it needs to be taken with a grain of Ksara. The game that would result from it unaltered would resemble the anachronistic and popular vision of the epics you might find in South Asian film. It has a blind spot towards heterodox visions of this setting, non-elite culture, and actual occult traditions in India.
There is no Bibliography. :(
Awwww, man. :/
-Ben.