Шығыс Туыстары: Қанқұмарлар Әлемі

1998 role playing game book

Kindred of the East is a tabletop role playing game book and game line released by White Wolf Publishing in February 1998 for use with their horror game Vampire: The Masquerade. It is part of the World of Darkness series, and is the first and main entry in the Year of the Lotus line of Asia themed books released throughout 1998. The book covers Asia as it is portrayed in the series' setting, with a focus on China, and introduces Asian vampires called kuei jin as player characters. These subsist on chi, and are created from humans who have done evil during their lives and return to their bodies after death. Following paths of enlightenment in the hopes of attaining a higher state of being, they participate in kuei jin courts and oppose the demonic Yama Kings who are anticipated to rule the world in the coming sixth age. The game was designed by Robert Hatch, with art direction by Lawrence Snelly, who took visual inspiration from manga. It was supported by a line of supplementary books which further describe kuei jin society and paths, and was adapted into other media including a short story, comics, and a live action role playing game; the kuei jin were also featured in the video game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines in 2004. Kindred of the East was generally well received by critics, who liked its gameplay, setting, mood, and artwork, but was criticized as portraying Asian people and cultures in a stereotypical way.

Kindred of the East is a major rulebook and game line for the tabletop role playing game Vampire: The Masquerade, where players take the roles of vampires. or "the hungry dead". but a new kuei jin does in any case begin as a zombie like chih mei, whose mind is clouded by a hunger for chi and who attacks mortals for it until taken in and taught to control themselves by an older kuei jin.|name=storyteller players create and take the roles of newly made kuei jin, and role play actions whose outcomes are in part determined through character attributes and rolling of dice. hengeyokai shapeshifters, hsien changelings, ghosts, and demon hunters.

Kindred of the East debuted as the fourth highest selling tabletop role playing game in France during the January–February 1998 period, and peaked at number 2 behind Deadlands in March–April 1998, before falling off the top 10 chart by July–August 1998. In Spain, it debuted as the fourth highest selling new tabletop role playing game in the December 1999–January 2000 period, and remained on the top 30 chart for an entire year. In 1998, video game publisher Activision acquired the rights to develop video games based on Kindred of the East, along with Vampire: The Masquerade and Vampire: The Dark Ages. The kuei jin were eventually featured in the 2004 video game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, where Ming Xiao, a kuei jin woman controlling Los Angeles's Chinatown, is one of the antagonists. Kuei jin are also featured in the Vampire: The Masquerade tabletop game book Nights of Prophecy (2000), and events involving them are hinted at in Beckett's Jyhad Diary (2018). Manga inspired comics based on the game were published as part of several of the books in the game line.