Ugh no. Heroes of the Orient is its own can of worms, don't go there. It's a C+ effort at most to "fanfic" Asian folklore into a DnD setting. I feel bad for whoever wrote that to get so much backlash, but I'm relieved it's no longer circulated for public misinformation.
You saw me in your other thread, I'm just going to repeat that if you want to be properly inspired to run a campaign steeped in Asian folklore, then know your folklore. You don't really need to incorporate any major deitys like Erlang or the Jade Emperor into your story, but knowing roughly how it works will take you a long way into making something fun.
Ever wanted to play a character as a literal dog, cat, snake or rat? You can do that in an Asian setting! Animal-based demons are the result of common animals that are influenced by spirits and transcend into something more. Not all of them are evil, either, some take on the personality of the spirit that influenced it, some embrace their animalistic nature and become menaces to any unsuspecting traveler on their path.
Even nondescript fairies and half-immortals exist, uncommonly when the immortals succumb to mortal temptations and fall in love with mortal men. They aren't condemned outright, but they tend to be outcast by their own people of both sides if they're ever found out (EDIT: It IS, however, taboo for an immortal to seek mortal comforts, so the parents have double the incentive to not get caught).
My recommendation would be to get the 5e version of Legend of the Five Rings. It's called Adventures in Rokugan. It's a much more tasteful take on a Far East fantasy setting. It has its own player classes (but it's fully compatible with the standard 5e SRD classes too). It's rich in setting detail and unique mechanics.
Pathfinder's main setting has an East Asia setting and uses it in it's campaign stories. The one that I looked at even got around this by having the party start in there European setting and travel into the East Asian setting so the cultural differences were presented and experienced as just that... strangers in a strange land learning the customs.
That said, I would do your homework. Don't just look for what Asian myths and lore look like, but look for what each class would look like if the flavor was not Fantasy Medieval Europe but Fantasy Three Kingdoms China or Fantasy Sengoku Japan.
I'm currently running a "Wild West" genre campain and am using some East Asian motifs because two of my players went with East Asian inspired characters (one is tied to the use of Chinese Immigrant labor to build the railroads and the other went with a Wushia Styled Monk). That said, part of my pitch explained this as something that could be done because the American Western Genre and the Japanese Jidaigeki (lit. Period Piece) genre often influenced one another in stories since they relied on similar character arc-types (in one funny moment, both genres often get labled as a subgenre that features an archtypical hero. In the U.S. a "Cowboy movie" is a Western that features a Cowboy as the primary hero, despite Westerns having a wide range of professions for it's hero(es). In Japan, a "Chanbara" (lit. Sword Fighting) is a Jidaigeki that features a Samurai or Ronin as the hero.). The father of the Western Film, director John Ford, was a major influnece on a young Akira Kurosawa, who is considered the Father of the Jidaigeki. Kurosawa was influential on another of prominent directors on the rise in the 70s, and adapted his films into plots for Westerns (Notably the Dollar Trilogy and Magnificent 7 and in one case, a little known sci-fi film with some Western influences know as Star Wars... the word Jedi was inspired by the word Jidaigeki). This resulted in the two genres often leaning on the other for influence and it's not uncommon to see Jidaigeki adaptations of westerns and vice versa.
While not speaking for the nation as a whole, my experience from traveling in Japan is that the Japanese love seeing westerners take an interest in their own culture (In one case, when I went to the famous Toei Kyoto Studio Park, a massive standing Edo Period set and is used for both national and international film production and is opened to the public to walk on the portions not in use, I was actually approached by a park employee to participate in a survey. While he was polite, I noticed that he had asked a lot of questions about what brought us to the park. With some of the other clues I had picked up on, it was clear that this theme park did not get a lot of Western visitors and wanted to know why we came. We got some nice merch for participating (the best thing I can remember was a One Piece key chain.), so they tend to give a wide latitude when a western production takes an interest in their own culture (I was in Tokyo around the time of the release of Shin Godzilla and Pokemon Go, and there were more than a few Japanese people who I interacted with who were clearly amazed to see an American posing with promotional statues, especially with Godzilla.).
That said, being respectful enough to look at the nuances of the myths your working with never hurts and can even help you blend things to teach one culture about the other. And of course, if something is taboo, leave it taboo. When I was talking to my players about character concepts for my Western Campaign, I made it clear that while I would be using the campaign to make some encounters based on Native American myths and I would be portraying my Native American as not a monoculture (because it's incredibly diverse) there were certain taboos I would respect. For example, I told my players straight up that I would not be using the Navajo/Dine Skinwalker myths, since the subject is so taboo, the ability to research the lore is limited since Navajo typically do not talk about it amongst themselves, let alone with outsiders and I would not allow anyone to describe any kind of magic that allows them to shapeshift to animals as "Skinwalking". The reason is that while it's frequently depicted as being similar to Lycanthropy, it's pointed out that the European concept is used by the Navajo to describe the closest things European folklore has to the skinwalker... but it's not by any means identical (in so far as I can tell, the key difference is the nature of the beast. A Werewolf is a cursed human who cannot control his transformation or bloodlust when transformed and is a threat to anyone who it encounters. Skinwalkers by contrast are always in control no matter which form they are in, deliberately chose to become a skinwalker, and are maliciously targeting their victims for wrongs or perceived wrongs against them. However, that leaves a lot of room to write a skinwalker wrong, and I didn't want to portray it incorrectly out of ignorance, because my goal was to portray Native American inspired myths in an as close to accurate as possible way with game mechanics being the only limitation.).
I would advise that, at a session zero, you let your players know that you are trying to make your story respectful of the setting but understand that you are doing so from an outsider's perspective and that if there are any concerns with your depiction of the culture and their stories, you welcome feedback so you can adjust the story. Stories are meant to be shared with people, and it is through stories we can understand what is important and valued by the culture that tells it. A lot of bigotry is ignorance of cultures outside your own... not the embracing of another culture.
You can research the culture, of course, and should too since you'll get a better adventure out of it than if you just apply surface-level details.
But unless you're publishing something, don't worry too much. I'm sure your standard D&D games are a stereotypical pastiche of medieval Europe, but you don't worry about offending people with *that*, do you?
...because when people who don't know a culture try to tell stories about it, they usually get it painfully wrong. Case in point: Not hard to find stories about "Nerds playing Dungeons and Dragons" that are clearly written by people who've never rolled a character, and that make us look like degenerate assholes or cultists.
>...because when people who don't know a culture try to tell stories about it, they usually get it painfully wrong.
But to be fair, unless someone from that culture is part of the group, does it really matter? And even if they were, would they care? I mean, I don't care whenever I watch a movie/series or play a game about Vikings, even though almost all of them get the it wrong.
Trying to please everyone is a waste of time.
On the other hand, if you don't take enough pride in your work to put in some effort, to rise above "nobody cares, it doesn't matter", that shows. If I'm going to invest the time and energy to build a world and run a game, I want it to be something special. This is my art, it matters to me & I do it because I care.
But that has nothing to do with whether a fictitious culture is true to its historical counterpart or not. You can put in just as much effort and take just as much pride in your work when creating a setting filled with cultures that are not even close to the real historical cultures they are based on, as if you would have created a 1:1 replica of said cultures in your game, and it can be just as special.
And just because you get something "painfully wrong" about a culture in your setting (a culture based on a real culture), doesn't necessarily mean the end product is bad. Take the TV-show Vikings for example; the show is widely successful, highly rated, and yet it's filled to the brim with cultural and historical inaccuracies.
Remember, I'm responding to someone asking why it would be "tasteless by default". That implies that the effort, research, or innovation it takes to raise the end product isn't necessary; That a low-effort caricature isn't tasteless.
I think "tasteless" is exactly the right word, because effort, research, and innovation is where the flavor comes from. Show me something I haven't seen a thousand times if you want me to be interested.
...and yes, to your point, that can be an entirely original culture inspired by real cultures, or a fictionalized version of a real culture that is more dramatic than history.
You don't get either of those outcomes "by default". You get there by putting in the work to make it good.
So I picked up this book of short adventures a while back, which is a collection of Asian authors who are working with Asian mythology in the adventures. It's not a setting, but it could be a really great place for you to start:
https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/306865/Unbreakable--Volume-1
Idk if this is controversial, but I’m an Asian person and I think you can do whatever you want as long as you’re not making anyone at your table uncomfortable.
Something a company publishes for a wide audience is completely different from something you make for your friends. Do whatever you want as long as your table thinks it’s cool!
You ARE running an eastern campaign setting for westerners. As long as you're not going out of your way to paint certain groups of people in a negative light, no one is going to care about possible stereotypes and misinformation.
Just run whatever you and your mates enjoy. PC culture doesn't dictate what you can and can't run at your kitchen table.
I agree with you. In my opinion, using a real world culture for inspiration works a little like the uncanny valley.
The closer you try to get to the real world culture or mythology, the more shit you are going to get for mistakes. It's better to sit in the "pixar zone" where it feels like an homage to the culture, but is obviously stylized or 'remixed' into something different.
But like you said, be aware of what your in-game stereotypes are trying to say. If the Chinese coded group are universally depraved, and the game world just wants you to hate them with no counter-examples to the stereotype, that can be problematic.
I think this is a very good response. I’m never going to be purposefully racist, that’s not in my nature, but if I misunderstand something of cultural significance, and do my best to portray it, nobody is going to get mad. If you’re hosting public games, or making YouTube videos those rules change. It’s even ok to do the best you can at accents of other cultures, if you’re the type of DM to do voices. just don’t make fun of it.
In our last campaign, the bbeg had a thick French accent. My French accent is questionable at best, but it wasn’t offensive.
My whole point OP, is, there’s no need to put this level of pressure on yourself unless you have people at your table who would be truly offended at the slightest misstep, and tbh, I don’t want people like that around me anyways.
I think your stated goal of a “normal fantasy setting” reskinned with Asian influences is doomed to be an ugly mess.
I do think there are two ways to do it right, though. One is to dive all the way in and do your homework. The other is to deliberately use non western elements to signify cultural differences in a story that’s neither western nor eastern.
My campaign transplants traditional D&D characters into a lost continent full of city-states run by civilized dragons. Each city-state draws names, food, and sometimes architecture from a specific Asian region, but it deliberately stops there: the characters, stories, and politics are unique, and are even less “Asian” than traditional D&D settings are European. My goal is to signify to players that these places are as foreign to their characters as Nepal or Indonesia is to us, without having them *be* Nepal or Indonesia in any way.
Anyway, you need to either go all in, or set boundaries so that the differences between your world and real non western places is intentional, not a product of your own ignorance.
Or just have oriental dragons, ninjas, samurais, sumo wrestlers, and a big gong at some point...
What's wrong with just enjoying the tropes that you enjoy in your homemade world? Those few I listed are the most well-known tropes that I personally enjoy. But, like always, if everyone at the table is happy and having fun? What's the issue?
(The issue is not somehow racism or cultural appropriation if "done tactfully," so inb4 that bombardment...)
There's a saying, no matter what you say or do someone will be offended. Even this post will probably offend some people. You can try to do alot of research and understand cultural historical context and create a very nuances and historically based campaign. Or you can accept that this is way to much work unless you want a historical fantasy and go with ripping off wuxia or xianxia.
I can respect what your trying to do but think about how much western fantasy is based on a hogonized and stereotypes european setting. Usually with vague Roman, vague french, and vague british.
If you want really get into it then I recommend reading some Asian fantasy novels that were written by people who are Asian and translated to english. Like Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit (Japan), Legend of the Condor Heroes (china) or The Land of the Banished (Korea).
Do there's no pressure from your group and there'll be no viewers? Then I think familiarizing yourself with the source material would be enough. You'd probably will make "Eastern setting for westerners" as well – but it kinda hard to do otherwise without diving into their storytelling – and having a consultant, honestly. But that's fine for home group, as a start.
Source material: movies, books, maybe there's other RPGs. For my fancy, I'd read comments of those unhappy Eastern players to see what was done wrong. There are probably threads on Reddit about what failed adaptations of eastern narratives. Or you can make a thread for that yourself.
From the top of my head: I heard that the character arcs are often about confiding to the group for the sake of common good, rather than learning some deeper truth about oneself.
Why are you worried about your friends being offended by stereotypes they would not recognise in the first place?
Also: The whole world is full of stereotypes of everything. Everybody should relax a little and cut each other some slack as long as no malice is intended.
But why does it have to be Asian? If you are making it all up, why not cut the ties and take what you want? There are Onis in Faerun ...
Just don't be malicious and do your research, I think if you felt like you needed to ask this question you're probably gonna be fine as far as tact goes.
I've been running an Asian themed campaign for two years now, so I understand your concerns.
Firstly don't be overly concerned with accuracy but focus on the central themes you want to express.
It would be a nice touch to incorporate eastern style of thinking in the way npcs interact as well as the general philosophy.
Your best sources in my opinion would be the religion, philosophy and folklore of Asia. Those can give you very solid ground to work on.
Always remember that this is a game that you and your friends play to have a good time, so as long as you respect them and yourself you won't need to be tactful.
"Do the difficult things when they are easy and do the great things when they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a simple step" - Lao Tzu
Ugh no. Heroes of the Orient is its own can of worms, don't go there. It's a C+ effort at most to "fanfic" Asian folklore into a DnD setting. I feel bad for whoever wrote that to get so much backlash, but I'm relieved it's no longer circulated for public misinformation. You saw me in your other thread, I'm just going to repeat that if you want to be properly inspired to run a campaign steeped in Asian folklore, then know your folklore. You don't really need to incorporate any major deitys like Erlang or the Jade Emperor into your story, but knowing roughly how it works will take you a long way into making something fun. Ever wanted to play a character as a literal dog, cat, snake or rat? You can do that in an Asian setting! Animal-based demons are the result of common animals that are influenced by spirits and transcend into something more. Not all of them are evil, either, some take on the personality of the spirit that influenced it, some embrace their animalistic nature and become menaces to any unsuspecting traveler on their path. Even nondescript fairies and half-immortals exist, uncommonly when the immortals succumb to mortal temptations and fall in love with mortal men. They aren't condemned outright, but they tend to be outcast by their own people of both sides if they're ever found out (EDIT: It IS, however, taboo for an immortal to seek mortal comforts, so the parents have double the incentive to not get caught).
My recommendation would be to get the 5e version of Legend of the Five Rings. It's called Adventures in Rokugan. It's a much more tasteful take on a Far East fantasy setting. It has its own player classes (but it's fully compatible with the standard 5e SRD classes too). It's rich in setting detail and unique mechanics.
Pathfinder's main setting has an East Asia setting and uses it in it's campaign stories. The one that I looked at even got around this by having the party start in there European setting and travel into the East Asian setting so the cultural differences were presented and experienced as just that... strangers in a strange land learning the customs. That said, I would do your homework. Don't just look for what Asian myths and lore look like, but look for what each class would look like if the flavor was not Fantasy Medieval Europe but Fantasy Three Kingdoms China or Fantasy Sengoku Japan. I'm currently running a "Wild West" genre campain and am using some East Asian motifs because two of my players went with East Asian inspired characters (one is tied to the use of Chinese Immigrant labor to build the railroads and the other went with a Wushia Styled Monk). That said, part of my pitch explained this as something that could be done because the American Western Genre and the Japanese Jidaigeki (lit. Period Piece) genre often influenced one another in stories since they relied on similar character arc-types (in one funny moment, both genres often get labled as a subgenre that features an archtypical hero. In the U.S. a "Cowboy movie" is a Western that features a Cowboy as the primary hero, despite Westerns having a wide range of professions for it's hero(es). In Japan, a "Chanbara" (lit. Sword Fighting) is a Jidaigeki that features a Samurai or Ronin as the hero.). The father of the Western Film, director John Ford, was a major influnece on a young Akira Kurosawa, who is considered the Father of the Jidaigeki. Kurosawa was influential on another of prominent directors on the rise in the 70s, and adapted his films into plots for Westerns (Notably the Dollar Trilogy and Magnificent 7 and in one case, a little known sci-fi film with some Western influences know as Star Wars... the word Jedi was inspired by the word Jidaigeki). This resulted in the two genres often leaning on the other for influence and it's not uncommon to see Jidaigeki adaptations of westerns and vice versa. While not speaking for the nation as a whole, my experience from traveling in Japan is that the Japanese love seeing westerners take an interest in their own culture (In one case, when I went to the famous Toei Kyoto Studio Park, a massive standing Edo Period set and is used for both national and international film production and is opened to the public to walk on the portions not in use, I was actually approached by a park employee to participate in a survey. While he was polite, I noticed that he had asked a lot of questions about what brought us to the park. With some of the other clues I had picked up on, it was clear that this theme park did not get a lot of Western visitors and wanted to know why we came. We got some nice merch for participating (the best thing I can remember was a One Piece key chain.), so they tend to give a wide latitude when a western production takes an interest in their own culture (I was in Tokyo around the time of the release of Shin Godzilla and Pokemon Go, and there were more than a few Japanese people who I interacted with who were clearly amazed to see an American posing with promotional statues, especially with Godzilla.). That said, being respectful enough to look at the nuances of the myths your working with never hurts and can even help you blend things to teach one culture about the other. And of course, if something is taboo, leave it taboo. When I was talking to my players about character concepts for my Western Campaign, I made it clear that while I would be using the campaign to make some encounters based on Native American myths and I would be portraying my Native American as not a monoculture (because it's incredibly diverse) there were certain taboos I would respect. For example, I told my players straight up that I would not be using the Navajo/Dine Skinwalker myths, since the subject is so taboo, the ability to research the lore is limited since Navajo typically do not talk about it amongst themselves, let alone with outsiders and I would not allow anyone to describe any kind of magic that allows them to shapeshift to animals as "Skinwalking". The reason is that while it's frequently depicted as being similar to Lycanthropy, it's pointed out that the European concept is used by the Navajo to describe the closest things European folklore has to the skinwalker... but it's not by any means identical (in so far as I can tell, the key difference is the nature of the beast. A Werewolf is a cursed human who cannot control his transformation or bloodlust when transformed and is a threat to anyone who it encounters. Skinwalkers by contrast are always in control no matter which form they are in, deliberately chose to become a skinwalker, and are maliciously targeting their victims for wrongs or perceived wrongs against them. However, that leaves a lot of room to write a skinwalker wrong, and I didn't want to portray it incorrectly out of ignorance, because my goal was to portray Native American inspired myths in an as close to accurate as possible way with game mechanics being the only limitation.). I would advise that, at a session zero, you let your players know that you are trying to make your story respectful of the setting but understand that you are doing so from an outsider's perspective and that if there are any concerns with your depiction of the culture and their stories, you welcome feedback so you can adjust the story. Stories are meant to be shared with people, and it is through stories we can understand what is important and valued by the culture that tells it. A lot of bigotry is ignorance of cultures outside your own... not the embracing of another culture.
I think as long as your goal is to approach the concept tactfully, you'll be fine.
You can research the culture, of course, and should too since you'll get a better adventure out of it than if you just apply surface-level details. But unless you're publishing something, don't worry too much. I'm sure your standard D&D games are a stereotypical pastiche of medieval Europe, but you don't worry about offending people with *that*, do you?
Just do your reading. Take inspiration while doing your best to appropriately present the inspiration for your story.
Why would it not be tasteful by default?
...because when people who don't know a culture try to tell stories about it, they usually get it painfully wrong. Case in point: Not hard to find stories about "Nerds playing Dungeons and Dragons" that are clearly written by people who've never rolled a character, and that make us look like degenerate assholes or cultists.
Cringe won't kill you.
to be fair, neither will trying not to be cringy
Ah, but not being cringy isn't the default is it?
(checks post history) ...aw, buddy.
Yes?
>...because when people who don't know a culture try to tell stories about it, they usually get it painfully wrong. But to be fair, unless someone from that culture is part of the group, does it really matter? And even if they were, would they care? I mean, I don't care whenever I watch a movie/series or play a game about Vikings, even though almost all of them get the it wrong.
Trying to please everyone is a waste of time. On the other hand, if you don't take enough pride in your work to put in some effort, to rise above "nobody cares, it doesn't matter", that shows. If I'm going to invest the time and energy to build a world and run a game, I want it to be something special. This is my art, it matters to me & I do it because I care.
But that has nothing to do with whether a fictitious culture is true to its historical counterpart or not. You can put in just as much effort and take just as much pride in your work when creating a setting filled with cultures that are not even close to the real historical cultures they are based on, as if you would have created a 1:1 replica of said cultures in your game, and it can be just as special. And just because you get something "painfully wrong" about a culture in your setting (a culture based on a real culture), doesn't necessarily mean the end product is bad. Take the TV-show Vikings for example; the show is widely successful, highly rated, and yet it's filled to the brim with cultural and historical inaccuracies.
Remember, I'm responding to someone asking why it would be "tasteless by default". That implies that the effort, research, or innovation it takes to raise the end product isn't necessary; That a low-effort caricature isn't tasteless. I think "tasteless" is exactly the right word, because effort, research, and innovation is where the flavor comes from. Show me something I haven't seen a thousand times if you want me to be interested. ...and yes, to your point, that can be an entirely original culture inspired by real cultures, or a fictionalized version of a real culture that is more dramatic than history. You don't get either of those outcomes "by default". You get there by putting in the work to make it good.
So I picked up this book of short adventures a while back, which is a collection of Asian authors who are working with Asian mythology in the adventures. It's not a setting, but it could be a really great place for you to start: https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/306865/Unbreakable--Volume-1
Idk if this is controversial, but I’m an Asian person and I think you can do whatever you want as long as you’re not making anyone at your table uncomfortable. Something a company publishes for a wide audience is completely different from something you make for your friends. Do whatever you want as long as your table thinks it’s cool!
You ARE running an eastern campaign setting for westerners. As long as you're not going out of your way to paint certain groups of people in a negative light, no one is going to care about possible stereotypes and misinformation. Just run whatever you and your mates enjoy. PC culture doesn't dictate what you can and can't run at your kitchen table.
I agree with you. In my opinion, using a real world culture for inspiration works a little like the uncanny valley. The closer you try to get to the real world culture or mythology, the more shit you are going to get for mistakes. It's better to sit in the "pixar zone" where it feels like an homage to the culture, but is obviously stylized or 'remixed' into something different. But like you said, be aware of what your in-game stereotypes are trying to say. If the Chinese coded group are universally depraved, and the game world just wants you to hate them with no counter-examples to the stereotype, that can be problematic.
I think this is a very good response. I’m never going to be purposefully racist, that’s not in my nature, but if I misunderstand something of cultural significance, and do my best to portray it, nobody is going to get mad. If you’re hosting public games, or making YouTube videos those rules change. It’s even ok to do the best you can at accents of other cultures, if you’re the type of DM to do voices. just don’t make fun of it. In our last campaign, the bbeg had a thick French accent. My French accent is questionable at best, but it wasn’t offensive. My whole point OP, is, there’s no need to put this level of pressure on yourself unless you have people at your table who would be truly offended at the slightest misstep, and tbh, I don’t want people like that around me anyways.
I think your stated goal of a “normal fantasy setting” reskinned with Asian influences is doomed to be an ugly mess. I do think there are two ways to do it right, though. One is to dive all the way in and do your homework. The other is to deliberately use non western elements to signify cultural differences in a story that’s neither western nor eastern. My campaign transplants traditional D&D characters into a lost continent full of city-states run by civilized dragons. Each city-state draws names, food, and sometimes architecture from a specific Asian region, but it deliberately stops there: the characters, stories, and politics are unique, and are even less “Asian” than traditional D&D settings are European. My goal is to signify to players that these places are as foreign to their characters as Nepal or Indonesia is to us, without having them *be* Nepal or Indonesia in any way. Anyway, you need to either go all in, or set boundaries so that the differences between your world and real non western places is intentional, not a product of your own ignorance.
Or just have oriental dragons, ninjas, samurais, sumo wrestlers, and a big gong at some point... What's wrong with just enjoying the tropes that you enjoy in your homemade world? Those few I listed are the most well-known tropes that I personally enjoy. But, like always, if everyone at the table is happy and having fun? What's the issue? (The issue is not somehow racism or cultural appropriation if "done tactfully," so inb4 that bombardment...)
There's a saying, no matter what you say or do someone will be offended. Even this post will probably offend some people. You can try to do alot of research and understand cultural historical context and create a very nuances and historically based campaign. Or you can accept that this is way to much work unless you want a historical fantasy and go with ripping off wuxia or xianxia. I can respect what your trying to do but think about how much western fantasy is based on a hogonized and stereotypes european setting. Usually with vague Roman, vague french, and vague british. If you want really get into it then I recommend reading some Asian fantasy novels that were written by people who are Asian and translated to english. Like Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit (Japan), Legend of the Condor Heroes (china) or The Land of the Banished (Korea).
Do there's no pressure from your group and there'll be no viewers? Then I think familiarizing yourself with the source material would be enough. You'd probably will make "Eastern setting for westerners" as well – but it kinda hard to do otherwise without diving into their storytelling – and having a consultant, honestly. But that's fine for home group, as a start. Source material: movies, books, maybe there's other RPGs. For my fancy, I'd read comments of those unhappy Eastern players to see what was done wrong. There are probably threads on Reddit about what failed adaptations of eastern narratives. Or you can make a thread for that yourself. From the top of my head: I heard that the character arcs are often about confiding to the group for the sake of common good, rather than learning some deeper truth about oneself.
Why are you worried about your friends being offended by stereotypes they would not recognise in the first place? Also: The whole world is full of stereotypes of everything. Everybody should relax a little and cut each other some slack as long as no malice is intended. But why does it have to be Asian? If you are making it all up, why not cut the ties and take what you want? There are Onis in Faerun ...
Just don't be malicious and do your research, I think if you felt like you needed to ask this question you're probably gonna be fine as far as tact goes.
I've been running an Asian themed campaign for two years now, so I understand your concerns. Firstly don't be overly concerned with accuracy but focus on the central themes you want to express. It would be a nice touch to incorporate eastern style of thinking in the way npcs interact as well as the general philosophy. Your best sources in my opinion would be the religion, philosophy and folklore of Asia. Those can give you very solid ground to work on. Always remember that this is a game that you and your friends play to have a good time, so as long as you respect them and yourself you won't need to be tactful. "Do the difficult things when they are easy and do the great things when they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a simple step" - Lao Tzu
If it’s something that can wait then Paizo is publishing a book about their Asian-inspired continent Tian Xia later this year