Working on an expansion pack for Ultima Online (UO) featuring a feudal Japan was a unique opportunity for me. To prepare for the game, we put ourselves through a kind of crash course study of traditional Japanese art, architecture, and folklore.

One of the biggest challenges we had was deciding which monsters (or pieces of?) from Japanese mythos could be worked into the already developed world of UO. You wouldn't think it would be that difficult. But the problem is that the concept of what a "traditional mythical creature" is varies widely from continent to continent and it's important to get the details right.