OA1 Swords of the Daimyo: A Province Book Beside an Adventure Book
Editorial date: ยท TSR Archive
Swords of the Daimyo combines regional background, adventures and a fold-out map. Separate the province reference from the rules it was designed to use.
Swords of the Daimyo, OA1, combines a regional reference with adventures. Its two-book structure is worth understanding before you start reading encounters: the setting book gives the referee a place in which the adventures can continue, rather than just a corridor between scenes.
A province reference and an adventure book
The archive identifies TSR 9164, dated 1986 and attributed to David "Zeb" Cook. Its format is two 32-page books, a tri-fold cover and a fold-out map. Tome of Treasures' copy record names the two booklets as the Province Book and Adventure Book. That distinction helps identify what is missing when a used listing shows only one booklet.
| Piece | Preparation job |
|---|---|
| Province Book | Read the regional background before treating an adventure location as isolated. |
| Adventure Book | Follow its own encounter and character guidance. Keep it separate from the general gazetteer. |
| Fold-out map and cover | Check their presence and compare them with the references in both booklets. |
Kozakura is the island; Miyama is the province
The publisher description moves from Kozakura to a more detailed province within it, with descriptions and maps at both scales. The preserved archive text spells the province "Miyami." The photographed-copy catalog uses Miyama, the spelling used here. This is a catalog-text distinction, not evidence for two different provinces or two revised editions.
A practical reading order follows that change of scale. Establish the island context, then read the province material around the locations the party will first encounter. Keep names of people and places in a small reference sheet. Add an adventure's events to that sheet only when they become established in your campaign. The regional book can then remain useful after an individual scenario ends.
Use the original Oriental Adventures context
OA1 was advertised as the first module designed for the AD&D Oriental Adventures rulebook. It supplies a campaign location and adventures, not a replacement for that rules volume. The brief welcomes old and new characters, but that wording does not establish one universal starting level for every scenario in the package.
The Oriental Adventures, Kara-Tur and Rokugan guide separates the later products that can otherwise be mistaken for the same rules and setting. Use that distinction when identifying the book required for OA1. Sharing the title Oriental Adventures does not establish compatibility with a later rules edition or with Rokugan.
Kozakura and Miyama are fictional game locations. This article makes no claim that the package is an accurate account of historical Japan. The cover above is the archived OA1 cover. It does not show the contents spread out and cannot certify the condition of either booklet or the map.
Sources and scope
Product identification and reproduced publisher descriptions: oa/oa-oa1.htm. Cover images are preserved local archive files, linked to their source records above. No claim of historical accuracy, comprehensive Kara-Tur coverage or compatibility with Rokugan. Preparation methods in this article are editorial recommendations, not a report of a new playtest.