Although a lot of gaming systems have Oriental adventure supplements, few adventures are based around them. It's not the lack of material, monsters, or myth, though. The problem is cultural. In your traditional eurocentric campaign world, it is possible to have an adventure where the characters just run around slaying things -- a good ol' fashioned hack and slash adventure! A Chinese or Japanese based world, however, is too structured for such things. Characters require papets, authorization, and a proper destination. You can't simply wander around Medieval China. (Actually, you can't simply wander around Medieval Europe, either, but Europeans have rowdier fairy tales. As I said, it's a culture thing). This is not to say that there are no unauthorized travelers -- there are. But these "travelers" are vagabonds, vagrants, beggars and bandits, not adventurers. What the Oriental setting needs is a mechanism to form. adventuring parties withm the confines of the govemment; parties allowed to go out and fight monsters, bandits, and invaders, yet also able to remain a part of the bureaucracy. Fomtnately, there is just such a mechanism -- an official known as the district magistrate. By becoming his lieutenants, the characters acquire official sanction for their adventures. Credit Where Credit is Due Much of the following information comes from the 17 novels and short story collections by Robert Van Gulik, who during the 40s and 50s translated and adapted many old Chinese detective stories for western readers. These stories are about the life and adventures of Magistrate Dee, and are set within the T'ang Dynasty, in the second half of the 7th century. (For those who care about such things, during the 7th century the Vikings were out burning monasteries. It was 100 years after King Arthur, 200 years before Charlemaene.) I urge anyone wanting to run an Oriental adventure based on these ideas to read these stories. (I also urge anyone not wanting to run an Oriental adventure to read these books. Not only do they give the referee a feel for the period, the culture, and the setting, but they're good mysteries too.). To understand the employee, you must understand the employer, so we'll start with a brief look at the magistrate. In China, any person who passes their second literary examination -- young or old, rich or poor, noble or common -- receives an appointment within the Administration. A successful candidate might become a court poet, or even a historian. But 90 percent of the time he hecomes a district magistrate. The district magistrate is the lowest ranking official in the bureaucracy. He is judge, tax collector, administrant registrar, and sheriff (sort of a Sherlock Holmes, Perry Mason, and Winston Churchill rolled into one.). His powers are awesome. From his headquarters in a city's Tribunal, he has virtually absolute power over a district consisting of the city and the 60 or so mile radius of countryside around it. He can arrest anybody, suhpoena any sort of evidence needed, and even resort to giving unresponsive witnesses and suspects the third degree. The people may rise up against him if he becomes too harsh, irreverent, or incompetent, in order to attract official attention from outside; his staff will turn against him if he is corrupt, inefficient, or breaks too many rules, to keep from heing executed with him; his district is always subject to review by higher authority, who employ spies, informants, and roving censors to keep an eye on him -- but so long as he keeps order, he can get away with a lot (and so can those who work for him)! His usual term of office is three years, after which he is either moved to a new district or promoted. This is to prevent him from conspiring with the locals and setting up his own little kingdom. During those three years, the magistrate is responsible for just about everything that happens. He and his staff must prosecute criminals, deal with bands of robbers, hunt down dangerous animals, and settle disputes. (Do any of these jobs sound familiar?) Mayor -- and Priest Too? The classic Chinese detective story is rife with supernatural elemenrs, such as ghosts pleading their cases in court, inanimate objects called as witnesses and made to speak, and visits to the Chinese Netherworld to consult with the Judge of the Dead. Since Oriental games are also rife with supernatural elements, it seems to me that a magistrate should have supernatural abilities. Since he may also be from any walk of life, it would be better if he had access to magical items, rather than making him a cleric. One or two items, to speak to the dead, get info from inanimate objects, and commune with higher powers should suffice. The magistrate does not need the ability to enter another plane -- in the stories, he receives an audiencence with the Black Judge. I judge this to mean that the magistrate communicates with the divine being, who then transports the magistrate into his divine presence. Consider it a special ability of the Black Judge, greanted by the Celestial Bureaucracy, and usable only by magistrates.) Of course, psionic powers would also do the job, and the referee could rule that the magistrate has psionics (him being an NPC). However, we have just discussed the difficulty of making magistrates into priests. You could hardly turn around and make the entire Imperial bureaucracy psionic! Far, far easier to hand him a few magic rings, or (better yet) magical seals of office (see notes). The Tribunal As the HQ and home base of the magistrate, and therefore of the characters, this complex of buildings will play a major role in the character's lives, SO here is a short description. Surrounded by solid walls, the tribunal is a miniature fortress. A large sign at the main gate identifies it to all the people. Inside the walls are a number of single story buildings, separated by courtyards. The guard's quarters flank the main gate. In the first courtyard can be found the jail cells for men and women and, at the rear, the court hall. A gong stands beside the front doors, and any citizen can ring this gong, thus summoning the court, to report a crime or make a complaint. The sound of this gong will be the starting point of many adventures. The second courtyard contains offices for the scribes and other bureaucrats. The third courtyard is ornamental, used for entertaining important visitors and for a few public functions. The fourth courtyard is for rhe magistrate's family, and would not be entered by anyone else. The magistrate's office is in the rear of the court hall itself. The court hall is a large, imposing room. Seating along the walls is ample, because any and all citizens are permitted to attend the daily sessions. At the far end is the bench. Set on a dais one foot off the ground, the bench is a table covered with a scarlet cloth. On it is set a gavel -- two blocks of wood, used much the same way as today's familier hammer and anvil design; a writing kit consisting of a set of brushes, an inkstone with blocks of red and black ink, and the seals of office; a vase filled with bamboo strips, and usually a couple of scrolls. There is an armchair for the judge, and behind him is a curtain which covers the door leading hack into the private offices. This curtain has a unicorn, the symbol of perception, embroidered in it. Additional buildings should be added to a fantasy world tribunal, such as special cells or magical creatures, storerooms for scrolls and magical items, and rooms to store clead monsters whose corpses have magical (and therefore monetary) value. The tribunal is mostly self-contained. There are no lawyers or private eyes involved, nor does the army interfere (unless requested or sent!). The magistrate handles most of the investigating himself, making him that most precious of things -- an overworked bureaucrat. Fortunately for him, he has a lot of help. In performing all these tasks, the magistrate has two (very different) groups of assistants. The first group consisted of the permanent personnel of the district tribunal: the block and village wardens, the constables, scribes, clerks, and junior bureaucrats of the town. These people are all residents of the district, attached to the Tribunal, and work with whatever magistrate is posted there. There are also a few specialists brought in when required - the coroner, for one. Our FRP court will add a few specialists: shukenja and wu-jen (assistants who handle all routine work -- patrolling streets, recording births and deaths, collecting tax money, and so forth. In the game, these people are important non-player characters: people that the characters will interact with a lot more than innkeepers and blacksmiths. The constables in particular will fill the ranks of henchmen when the time comes. The second group consists of the magistrates lieutenants, a team of toughs, and experts which the magistrate recruits early in his career. Since they travel with the magistrate, they have no local liases or connections to influence them, and he can trust them with important tasks -- a thing he can never do with members of the tribunal. These lieutenants are jobs made for for characters. A Session in the Tribunal There are three regularly scheduled sessions of the tribunal per day, set at dawn, noon, and in the afternoon. The gong is sounded, the doors opened, and the audience enters. The sessions are always open to the public. Most of these sessions have to do with mundane matters, such as taxes to be collected, new laws, additional tariffs, and license renewals. Additional court sessions are called whenever a crime is reported or discovered. When court is in session, the lieutenants stand to the magistrate's left. The senior scribe stands to the right, and the constables line up before the bench on either side, armed with bamboo poles and various instruments of torture designed to "impress" the defendants. Anyone who comes to court is made to kneel before the bench, unless the magistrate specifically allows otherwise. The witnesses and defendants are summoned by the magistrate, who writes the person's name on a slip of paper and gives it to the head constable. Questioning is always done in the hall, and always in public. Although open to the public, rowdiness is not tolerated. The magistrate will gavel for silence. If he cannot be heard, runners with signs reading "Silence!" will run up and down the hall. If that doesn't work, the constables throw everybody out. In a fantasy world, a spell of silence is another option -- as is a fireball, I suppose. The Magistrate's Role in the Game The magistrate character should be used by referees as a focus to the character's activities. He will assign them their tasks, provide them with information, resources, and authority, and punish their improprieties. The magistrate is the referee's tool. He can be used to start adventures, and to provide necessary tools and magic; to see the clues that the players missed and to make sure the adventure proceeds correctly; to reward the characters akerwards and to wrap up any loose ends and even to tum up with a rescue party when all seems lost. The Lieutenant A magistrate may have from 1 to 6 lieutenants, taken from any class. In the Magistrate Dee novels, Dee has four lieutenants. There is Hoong, his old retainer, a sage now growing old. He knew Dee as a boy, and now serves as councilor. Many magistrates have at least one councilor, and in a fantasy campaign a magical aide would be indispensable. His second lieutenant, Ma Joong, is an ex-soldier turned highwayman, who left the army because he beat up with a corrupt officer. His friend and fellow lieutenant Chiao Tai was an officer, who nearly died because of an incompetent general. When the government would not punish the general, he resigned and became a highwayman in order to track the general down. Both he and Ma Joong are expert martial artists, bowmen, and sword fighters. The final lieutenant, Tao Gan, was a former con artist and master of disguise whom Dee reformed. He knows all the tricks of finding traps, secret doors, and hidden safes. I would think that a mage, two fighters and a thief would make a fairly balanced party, wouldn't you? As a magistrate's enforcers, it would be the character's job to deal with threats to the district, whether it be from a rogue magician, supernatural monster, or band of ruffians, so their group should include both fighters and mages. On the other hand, they would also have to be the magbtrate's eyes and ears on criminal cases, so the party would also have to have thieving skills. A character with the post of lieutenant will have certain powers due to his job. He can command block wardens and constables, getting them to do things like kick down doors, hold onto captured felons whik the character searches their house, cart, or belongings) he can ask the scribes and archivists to write up letters of introduction and look up information from the tribunal records; he can make arrests, confiscate goods, and even enter private homes (though he'd better have a pretty good reason)! Adventure Galore The lieutenant's job is so broad that any kind of adventure, or adventurer, can be altered to fit with just a little coaxing. Here are a few examples from the Magistrate Dee novels The lieutenants are assigned to hunt down a weretiger, believed to be killing prominent citizens. They must track it down, discover who it is, and either slay or capture it. In order to locate a suspect in a brutal slaying, one or more of the lieutenants must infiltrate the thieves or beggar's guilds, gain their trust, and find out where their man is hiding. The magistrate orders them out on a routine check to uncover any corrupt wardens and constables. The method is up to them. but no one must be hurt, no one must suspect, and guilty parties must not escape. Outlaws have moved into the area. The lieutenants have been ordered to track them down. Chinese detective stories often feature supernatural elements as well, as mentioned above. Further adventures could have the lieutenants searching a private home, abandoned ruin, or public building to find an inanimate witness, or having one lieutenant sitting in a graveyard taking down a dead witness' statement which the other lieutenants try to prevent the graveyard's other inhabitants from eating them. Plus there's the usual adventures. The Tribunal is required to have a map of every building, tunnel, and ruin in the district. The discovery of a hidden dungeon or tunnel complex would require the magistrate to send a mapping expedition, required to note any major treasures and resources, and to deal with any public menaces found there. Guess who he'll send? Courting the Orient: An Adventure Section 2 Back to Shadis #25 Table of Contents Back to Shadis List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master List of Magazines © Copyright 1996 by Alderac Entertainment Group This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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