Well I am about to begin running book 6 of Jade Regent and I am wanting to make a 2.5-3d replica of the jade throne room in the Imperial Palace. The walls look like stone. Are the floors wood? I am about to buy some more molds from hirst arts and any insight into what the floors are made of would be useful : )
Looking at the map of the palace, I agree it looks like stone - all floors.
I designed the city map of Kasai, but the adventure and the maps for it were designed by Neil Spicer (and finished by Paizo's cartographer). A Japanese castle/palace should be made of wood, but it doesn't appear so.
Historical Japanese palaces probably suffered fewer dragon attacks.
Perhaps, but they were built of wood so they wouldn't collapse with every major earthquake (every 20 - 50 years). In fact the fitted stone bases beneath every Japanese castle had packed earth/clay as a hill that the stones are built around - for the same earthquake resilience reasons. Arson was treated as among the worst possible crimes one could commit - even in war. If you're caught doing arson, you will be burned to death.
Well I suppose if the floors are wood we can reasonable assume darkwood at the least. I did a slight amount of research into Japanese castles and it does look like wooden floors, thought there were stone walls.
One of the best websites on Japanese castles is Jcastle.com
One of the best websites on Samurai culture is Samurai Archives.
A cool site containing postcards of Japan (1860s - 1930s) showing imagery of lost scenes of old Japan - oldphotosjapan.com/en
I'm the concept creator and primary developer for Rite Publishing's Kaidan setting of Japanese horror (PFRPG). Above are some of the sites I use for research, if it helps the authenticity of play in Minkai.
I've been to Japan and visited several Japanese castles while there including Himeji castle (one of the largest in Kyoto). One of my favorites is a smaller one in Matsue, Japan, called Matsue castle - both feature wooden floors, and wood walls with clay surfaces, not stone. Stone is only used on the base and to line the moats.
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Thank you so much for the info gamer! I ordered some wood molds from hirst arts so hopefully I will get this thing done before the showdown with the Jade Regent.
Oh, incidentally, not only did I design the City of Kasai map, I also helped write the City of Kasai gazetteer, and am credited as one of the authors, along with Frank Carr. I am Michael Tumey - look on the index of The Empty Throne (module 6), you'll see me there!
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Oh, incidentally, not only did I design the City of Kasai map, I also helped write the City of Kasai gazetteer, and am credited as one of the authors, along with Frank Carr. I am Michael Tumey - look on the index of The Empty Throne (module 6), you'll see me there!
we (my daughter and i) love your gazetteer! i'll have to look around for the thread about what regrettably got cut:)
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In Area 4: Red Lantern Row, I mention the Hitsugi Gumi as guardians of this entertainment district, which are in fact a gang of yakuza. At the same time as I was writing this part of Kasai, I was also developing mechanics and fluff for including the yakuza in your PF game with a Kaidan release called: Way of the Yakuza. There is content here that can greatly enrich this part of Kasai, if there's a need.
I wrote a publication called Haiku of Horror: Autumn Moon Bath House, which though designed for the Kaidan setting of Japanese horror (PFRPG), would work well in The Empty Throne.
In Japan, bath houses served as not only a bathing facility (with religious connotations as well as cleanliness), but as a tavern, inn, and/or gambling establishment.
Rather than a full adventure, this is more of an adventure site or an extended encounter. In addition to fully hand-drawn maps of 5 floors of the bath house (and print-ready at full scale), but a series of associated haunts, a powerful curse, and a unique ghost of a drowned woman that come in varying CR from 2 to 22, so it should fit as a serious threat to appropriate band of adventures. Its also kind of a mystery play.
If you need an extra interesting encounter for your party in Kasai, I think this bath house could serve well.