The Koryo Hall of Adventures is a new campaign setting for D&D 5th Edition.

It is inspired by Asian, and more specifically Korean, history and culture. A Kickstarter for the setting is going to launch soon.

The world of this setting is called Jeosung. It contains four lands which are called Haguiliesta, Daewanguk, Noonnara, and Haenamguk. Each one has a unique element to it, making all of them intriguing and explore worthy. For example, Haguiliesta is a land of mystical forests, where spirits roam free. Also, it is the land of the shamans.

I just mentioned shamans and spirits. What’s up with that? Lore has it that the gods abandoned the land of Jeosung and left spirits behind them. This means Clerics aren’t a thing in the setting. They are replaced, however, by Shamans.

Spirits are everywhere. There are in living things and in natural phenomena. They can also be spirits of the dead. People respect and honor them and often ask for their help. The Shamans connect with the spirits of the land and allow those spirits to cast their magic through them.

Mechanics wise, this means there will be a new Shaman class, called the Mudang, along with a unique spellcasting system. There are going to be over 40 Spirits and time magic is going to be a thing. I’m really interested in seeing how all that is implemented, and especially the Shaman. For those who don’t know, my first ever character was a Spirit Shaman so I’m really interested to see how this turns out.

Moreover, there are going to be new backgrounds, class variants, monsters, and equipment. The only information I have on class variants is that some of them are going to bring Korean martial arts into play.

But let me get to something important now. Why is it called Koryo Hall of Adventures? That’s because the setting is going to be centered around the homonymous mercenary guild.

In the Hall you will find all sorts of people and jobs. There are opportunities to do good and save lives, but there are also shadier jobs, including robberies and assassinations. This is why people in the world have varying opinions on the members of the Hall, which also translates mechanics wise in the Reputation system.

Because showing is better than telling, you can get a taste of the setting from the free Book of Adventures that you can get here. It includes five adventures and rules the reputation and team leader systems.

The adventures are tailored in a way that will give you a taste of all three pillars of adventure in the setting. You will enjoy combat, exploring, and social interaction. They also are meant to show you how the reputation and team leader systems work so you’ll find those in there as well. Specifically, in the adventure “The Burning Jewel” the characters will have NPCs under their leadership and will also lose reputation if they fail to keep them alive through poor decisions. While both systems are simple to use, they have potential and depend on how the Game Master uses them.

I’d also like to note something I found interesting. For each adventure there are also DM Rewards, which come in the form of experience points, money, and reputation. The way I see it, this means you could use the Hall of Adventures as a way to have everyone take turns DMing, without completely breaking continuity. So either I’m reading too much into it or there’s something here and I want to see more of that.

The Kickstarter hasn’t launched yet so that’s the information I have for you. I’ll keep you updated when I get more info. Using cultures of our world, other than the default “medieval Europe” one, for our games is something I find really interesting. I suggest giving the adventure book a look because some of the adventures can be fun and definitely have some cool ideas in them.

And until then, have fun!