2010-09-10T15:56:31-07:00 http://j-rpg.com/talk/ Lussumo Vanilla http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=3 2008-03-04T08:29:12-08:00 2008-03-04T08:42:54-08:00 Diamond Sutra http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=1

There will be a tab above which will link to a page to show you the ins and outs of what's going on here. This place is a BLORUM, a fucked up flipper-baby hybrid of a BLOG and a FORUM. For all ...

This place is a BLORUM, a fucked up flipper-baby hybrid of a BLOG and a FORUM. For all intents and purposes, this place is a SMALL GROUP BLOG. The only thing "FORUM" about it is the fact that, unlike a blog, a topic will never go dead: It can be revived, added to, and bumped to the top of the page again for further discussion.

Here are some facts about this site:

IT IS SPECIFIC

It's for folks interested in Tabletop Roleplaying Games, and Japanese. Specifically, Japanese Tabletop Roleplaying Games. Jesus, could we get any more specific? "...Who also play Rugby, Practice scrapbooking, and who live in Ghana". Anyway, as I trawl through the internetz, I come across a person here or there who, like me, can speak/read Japanese and is a gamer, or who is simply interested in J-RPGs they heard of somewhere and want to know more. This place is for that kind of person.

IT IS SLOW

This isn't really a discussion forum, although discussion in public may occur. Expect maybe one entry, or two comments, a week. This isn't a high-paced high-content forum where you need to check back twice a week. This is the kind of place where you click on the Feed link for the site, pop it in your feed reader, and simply wait for updates and goodness.

IT IS A WORKGROUP

In the shadows, some of us might be working on fan translations of some of these games.

IT IS RESTRICTED

What I mean by that is that ANYONE can feel free to read this site (and I suggest you click on those feed and push them into your favorite feed reader), but to participate (join) the forums you need to meet the following criteria:

1) You must be able to read/speak Japanese (even a little). Basically, you have to know enough to be able to contribute to helping out translating some basic info on blogs and the like. No, you won't actually be asked/forced to do work, but you have to have that level of skill/enthusiasm that you could give it your best shot. (hiragana, katakana, some kanji, etc)

2) You must own a Japanese RPG. Any one is ok. This can trump the language knowledge bit: There are a few folks out there who I think of as "philanthropists" in the Carnegie sense: They like anime/manga/games, buy them, and help organize translators.

So either 1 or 2 is a must to Join, because those are the folks who can contribute to discussions. But anyone else is welcome to read along, and post questions on threads!]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=51 2010-07-30T00:45:57-07:00 2010-07-30T07:12:40-07:00 ennui http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=43

After hearing all the buzz about Meikyu Kingdom, I picked up the 2 core books for it a couple of weeks ago. I noticed that the Kingdom Book was in the new arrivals section, and saw that it was an ...

Has there been any translation work on this game at all?]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=48 2010-07-16T00:09:35-07:00 2010-07-29T02:10:52-07:00 ennui http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=43

Hey everyone! I've been in Japan for 4 years now and I've been playing with a Japanese group and at cons for about a year now. Just as I'm leaving to go back home to LA, I was gifted with a copy of ...

The book is another digest size and is half-replay and half-rulebook. This is awesome because the replay is pretty interesting (it's the first one that I've actually read the whole way through) and shows how the game is meant to be played. It's actually referenced in the rule-section as such. The rule section is pretty small compared to many western games and is pretty narrative based.

I'm really looking forward to playing this with my friends back home. I've begun a rough translation for them, nothing fancy, just enough to be able to play. And actually after reading through, I wonder if I found a game that I can tweak to finally make a Jojo's Bizarre Adventure trpg....

Has anyone else picked this game up?]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=49 2010-07-19T17:00:37-07:00 2010-07-25T16:40:12-07:00 Diamond Sutra http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=1

Hey all: Not suggesting that people go totally out of their way to meet up at conventions or something. However, if it just so happened that someone else was at GenCon when I was, and I missed them, ...

So if anyone plans on going to any convention (JGC, GenCon, Pax, whatever), please feel free to post here. Not likely that this disparate group of language elites will ever get a chance to all meet for drinks, but hey even if there's a remote chance at a handshaking, that would be cool.

Anyway, I'm going to GenCon 2010 (in two weeks!). No other plans other than maybe Dreamation next year in January in northern New Jersey. Next year I also plan on travelling in Japan again, and will make an attempt to swing by various places on the way.

-Andy]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=42 2009-08-17T20:38:12-07:00 2010-07-13T17:32:41-07:00 Diamond Sutra http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=1

So, "DX3" is out, and I've had a chance to go through it. Here's the basics: Double Cross, as far as I can tell, is one of FEAR's biggest sellers. There's a lot of play-talk on it, ...

"DX3" is out, and I've had a chance to go through it. Here's the basics:



Double Cross, as far as I can tell, is one of FEAR's biggest sellers. There's a lot of play-talk on it, there's DX-only conventions, and overall it's got a theme that's been really popular in the manga/anime world: Mostly teenagers/highschoolers with secret/forbidden powers defeat evil in a world fraught with conspiracy.

Beyond that, the system was pretty simple and straightforward, focusing on quickly generating dark modern superheroes, with many of the rules focused on the fighty-elements. Having said that, though, it's not a dice slog-fest, and there's a huge amount of rules dedicated to things like personal connections, and maintaining a balance with protecting those you love (if you draw upon your connections too much, they start to hate you).

DX3 is a revolutionary step forward for FEAR. FEAR has been experimenting with "hand-sized" rulebooks for new games, like Polyphonica and Alshard Gaia: A way to get the game into the hands of potentially new players for a less-than-$10USD (1000 yen) price tag. But this is the first time they've taken the new edition of an existing product, and resized it from a standard A4-sized corebook, into a hand-sized (traditional "bunko" sides) game in a further edition. Bold move, and I hope it plays out. The first rulebook is out now, the second rulebook (which you don't need to play - but it says it has extra powerz for the existing Syndromes, setting info, etc) hits the streets in a few days. Also, an "Advanced Rulebook" in standard A4-format is on its way in September, but I have no information on what it is; perhaps these first two hand-sized rulebooks are the basics you need to get into play, and the Advanced Rulebook is "everything in one, for those used to previous editions"?

They also simplified the system a deal from the 2nd edition: The core book is far smaller in terms of content compared to the second edition (perhaps to be split across the two core books), but the text that is in the book is solid "get you into playing now" text. The original book's setting section was kinda long winded. The new edition's setting text gives you the rough outline of the world, the organizations, and kicks you into playing in it. The system is also simplified: The "Effects" (think "Powers") of the strains of the Syndromes has gone from something like 40 per Syndrome to 15 for every Syndrome (plus a few extra "General Effects"). They might have farmed others to the second corebook, but the 15 that are in each Syndrome section cover everything pretty well from basic powers ("shoot fire" for the fire-shooting guys) to high level and "ultimate powers".

Whatsmore, character generation is streamlined even more. To get a DX3 game going... say online... is far easier than in previous versions. I think that this method will work extremely well for this game. Even if the Advanced Rulebook makes DX3 into something resembling the mass amount of data as DX2, at least with the two basic corebooks you can still play solid games.

More on what DX is (for beginners) and basic rules in a bit.]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=10 2008-03-14T08:37:41-07:00 2010-06-14T17:37:28-07:00 Diamond Sutra http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=1

My main hobby since Junior High School has been playing/running RPGs. In college, I began to study Japanese (as a minor), and even managed to travel to Japan for a semester. After college I lived in ...

Anyway, in this discussion I'd like to offer a roundup of things that have helped me progress in Japanese immensely, and chime in for others to do the same as well.

First off: If you're learning Japanese by yourself, without going to classes... good luck? Personally, I didn't have the drive to teach myself, and failed a few times until I took it in college. However, recently there's been apparently good language computer-based training materials and the like. Hopefully others can comment on those.

My resources are more for people who have had like at least a semester or year of directed Japanese classroom study. To those folks, I highly recommend the following:

TEXTBOOKS
Japanese for Busy People, Kana edition: http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Busy-People-I-Version/dp/4770030096/
If you're learning to speak the language only, the Romaji(roman) edition is ok. But the Kana version is essential to learning to read from early on. Also, JfBP is a class-A textbook. Back in my day, I used a shitty textbook that was not interesting, nor was it particularly useful. But it was the best we had at the time. The mid and late 90s were a Renaissance for Japanese textbooks: It's like three companies sat down and said, "Hey, I bet we could make money by making a generic, interesting, useful textbook that adults or teens could use". MINDBLOWING. But Japanese for Busy People (and other resources, below) were a direct result of this movement.

DICTIONARIES
Kodansha Wins. Game Over. (at least, in my book). I have some Shueisha dictionaries from Japan as real references for "hard" words, but in everyday use words I find the Kodansha dictionaries second to none:
E-J/J-E Furigana Dictionary http://www.amazon.com/Kodanshas-Furigana-Japanese-Dictionary-Japanese-English/dp/4770024800
J-E Furigana Dictionary http://www.amazon.com/Kodanshas-Furigana-English-Japanese-Dictionary-Japanese/dp/4770027516
E-J Furigana Dictionary http://www.amazon.com/Kodanshas-Furigana-Japanese-English-Dictionary-Kodansha/dp/4770019831/
And heck, the Romanized J-E dictionary is pretty good too, if you need (I still use mine):
http://www.amazon.com/Kodanshas-Romanized-Japanese-English-Dictionary-Japanese/dp/4770027532
Weirdness: I just realized that Kodansha rebranded their dictionaries as "part of the Japanese for Busy People" line. Huh. I didn't know those textbooks were made by Kodansha, or if they were acquired later. That's an interesting development.

KANJI DICTIONARY
Again, Kodansha for the Win. I've got the 10-pound baby-killer that lists a jillion kanji that aren't in use anymore, but for day to day Jouyou Kanji (the 2000 most used characters) and combinations, for the English learner there's only one:
The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary http://www.amazon.com/Kodansha-Learners-Dictionary-Japanese-People/dp/4770028555
The recommendation here is solid: Basically, if you are learning kanji, you don't know all the bizarre secret shit yet. Like in English, people know that an E at the end of a word is Silent. Stuff like that. In Japanese, frex, the kanji for Heart is 心, 4 strokes. The particle for heart is 忄, which appears on the left side of kanji like satori (悟) and has only 3 strokes. Thing is, if you look this up in a Japanese or traditional method Kanji dictionary and you don't know the pronunciation, you'll see that element as three strokes, and basically go out of your mind trying to find it in the wrong section. Meanwhile Japanese folks are all "Oh, yeah, that's the Heart-radical. Look it up under 4, not 3", and sure enough there it is.
The Kanji Learner's dictionary is all, "Fuck that!", and creates a new methodology for looking up kanji aimed at the learner. Splitting up kanji between left and right elements, up and down elements, encircled elements, etc. So if I look up a kanji in this dictionary, the time required (given a hard one) drops from 5-10 minutes down to under a minute. That's right, it reduced the time of lookups down to 1/5 or 1/10. Now, it doesn't have ALL the kanji in the world, but it's got most of the Jouyou kanji. And out of all my books I have, this one I have two copies of (one at work, one at home) for use

KANJI PRACTICE GUIDES
The Basic Kanji Book, Vols1-4 http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Kanji-Book-Vol-1/dp/4893580914
Don't get trigger happy and buy them all, you'll probably only need the first two for years (unless you really have nothing else to do other than learn kanji). 3 and 4 represent a significant jump in difficulty: From Beginner/Intermediate to "OK, so now you're reading Financial Business Newspapers".
But the fact that it has drills; it divides the kanji in a logical learning progression; it includes common combinations as part of the learning process; it has exercises and tests... It is hands-down the best Kanji practice guide for the serious self-studier.

ONLINE RESOURCES
Jim Breen's J-Dict site. http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/wwwjdic.html
This is a HOTLINK for anyone who regularly translates Japanese. Between the word lookup and kanji lookup features, it's second to none for electronic references. When Jim Breen dies, I'm flying to Australia to enshrine him, perhaps building a statue with my own hands.

Excite.co.jp's E->J/J->E auto-translator. http://www.excite.co.jp/world/english/
Google has one, Babelfish has one, other sites have one that looks the same as Google or Babelfish. But excite.co.jp's translator is *different*. It stands a head above all others. It will never give you a perfect translation, but their translation is better than any other you will find.

J-RPGs
I can't come out and flat-out recommend some games to buy to learn Japanese: Everyone has different tastes, so I can't aim at everyone like I can with the above stuff. I'll think about some good general games and game books and post about them later in this thread.

Hopefully this is helpful. I invite others to post their personal recommendations even despite my own hyperbole (*slams fist on table* "Kodansha is the Only True Way!!!!!" etc). (^.^)]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=29 2008-11-26T08:02:42-08:00 2010-02-11T16:03:03-08:00 neko ewen http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=4

I've been in the process of reading through my new RPG purchases, starting with the Tsugihagi Honbo doujins. Doko ni Demo Aru Fushigi is proving to be surprisingly interesting because it has a ...

I've been in the process of reading through my new RPG purchases, starting with the Tsugihagi Honbo doujins. Doko ni Demo Aru Fushigi is proving to be surprisingly interesting because it has a transcript of a lengthy dialogue between Kamiya-sensei and South of Majo no Kai, the circle that puts out a print version of a game called Witch Quest. In WQ you play either a 13-year-old witch girl, or a witch's 1-year-old cat familiar, and deal with everyday problems. From the sound of things, it's neat game, and the fact that it's available as a free text file (there's also an HTML version) is a plus too.

Anyway, I'm pretty much swamped right now myself, but I was wondering if anyone was interested in seeing a translation of this game, and if anyone wanted to help with an effort to make it happen?]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=36 2009-05-16T12:51:40-07:00 2010-02-02T03:23:22-08:00 Diamond Sutra http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=1

So I picked up SW2.0 last year, excited because not only was it a remake of the classic Japanese original RPG "Sword World", but because my friend Kitazawa Kei was the "man with the ...

So I picked up SW2.0 last year, excited because not only was it a remake of the classic Japanese original RPG "Sword World", but because my friend Kitazawa Kei was the "man with the plan" working on it as the primary author.

Unfortunately, I don't have my original copy of Sword World to compare the versions, I just have my memories of it from reading/playing it some 13 years ago (wow, it's been that long?).

Form: The game is in the "bunko" size of traditional Japanese books/novels, a size about 5 3/4 by 4 1/4 inches (14.7 x 10.5 cm) and 394 pages. The pages are thin and soft as per normal Japanese books, illustrations are sparse, and the book simply feels really compact and tight. You can (and I have) stuff this book in your pocket and barely feel its presence. If it were re-laid out in an 8.5x11 or A4 size, it would probably amount to about 70-80 pages. The font is small but not eye-straining. The few illustrations they have (mostly character races/classes and monsters) are rather excellent B&W pieces.

The book is split into three books, only the first (at a price of a little less than 1000 yen, or $10, including all taxes) is commented on here. The second and third books are totally optional, and simply follow the characters and their ability chains into higher levels.

Setting: The setting of the game is a western-fantasy world called Rakshia. There are some minor details on the Gods and countries, but it takes up about 10 pages before it flows into more useful info like scenario hooks, GM prep and the like. It's obvious that you're simply supposed to read some light novels or manga, or watch some fantasy anime and wing the details. The setting mostly comes shining from behind the character classes and races that appear in the game: Races like Grassrunners (like hobbit-druids but cooler), Nightmares (human-demon half-breeds), Runefolk (robotic personalities in magically constructed humanoid bodies), Tabbit (the "furry" race, they look like giant sentient rabbits)and of course the typical humans, elves and dwarves.

Characters: The races are mentioned above. The classes include all the typical you'd find in D&D or other fantasy games with the addition of the Grappler (kung fu artist), Sage (learned individual) and Magitech (using ancient technology to power-up magical rifles for various effects).
So the interesting thing about SW2.0 is that it uses the imadoki/modern style of Japanese RPG development, in which you are presented with several classes and are expected to choose from multiple classes rather than simply choose and level up with one single class. For example, to compare with Alshard (another game that is meant for the same audience: new RPGers who come from a console RPG background, with a similar "choose '3 levels' worth of classes, and go!" methodology), most characters will consist of about 3-4 levels' worth of character at the beginning: Grappler 2/Conjurer 1; Magitech 2/Shooter 1/Sage 1; Fighter 2/Scout 1/Ranger 1, etc.

Unlike Alshard, though, all classes are not equal: In Alshard, you simply choose three levels' worth of classes ("Samurai 2, Vagrant 1") to make your character, and all your abilities are based on which classes you pick. In SW2.0, however, some classes are simply more powerful than others (basically the ones that strongly concentrate on fighting or magic). To that end, there are 2 "class groups": Class A (stronger) and Class B (weaker). When you create a character, you will be awarded one free level (usually of a random A class, which you can then decide to specialize in, or choose another focus), and given a small pool of XP with which to level up your character with your Class A and Class B choices. Because of the way character levels and XP work, no matter which way you work it, you won't be able to take one single A-Class and rank it up without taking a B-Class as well: You'll do the simple math and find yourself left with 500-1000XP unspent, which is a perfect amount with which to take 1-2 B-Classes at Level 1 each.

Class A character classes are: Fighter, Grappler, Sorcerer, Conjurer, Priest, Fairy-Tamer, Magitech.
Class B character classes are: Fencer, Shooter, Scout, Ranger, Sage.]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=39 2009-06-16T21:46:33-07:00 2009-10-14T05:50:40-07:00 Diamond Sutra http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiQoH47RYac Courtesy of Seizui, great find man! What is it? It's the new Sword World 2.0. On the Nintendo DS. The full rulebooks, character generator, die ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiQoH47RYac

Courtesy of Seizui, great find man!

What is it? It's the new Sword World 2.0.

On the Nintendo DS.

The full rulebooks, character generator, die roller, example pics, scenario builder, and a few tabletop sample scenarios.

That's right, it's NOT a console (handheld) RPG. It's the corebooks and supplemental material, turned into a Nintendo DS catridge, for use IN CONJUNCTION WITH (not separate from) the tabletop experience.

How cool is that?

Answer: Very.]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=41 2009-08-16T22:25:26-07:00 2009-08-17T08:06:56-07:00 ryuuchiba http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=11

Picked this up at Komiket 76 on Saturday. Not the only game I grabbed but still the one that stands out the most to me. Quality is very professional and even comparing it to a FEAR book its ...

Picked this up at Komiket 76 on Saturday. Not the only game I grabbed but still the one that stands out the most to me.

Quality is very professional and even comparing it to a FEAR book its good.

The setting is generic modern day with the addition of kaijin and riders. Players are able to chose from a variety of types. They can chose riders from the likes of three of the early Heisei kamen rider series; Kuuga, Agito, and Faiz. (Odds are they didn't use the 3rd series Ryuki cause of the mirror world). Players can also play as the monsters from these series as well.

The characters are split into 3 types. Battle, Drama, and Support. All types each serve a purpose and can be very useful as a rider might not be the best character type to explain to the cops what they just saw.

Power cards are included in the back and they're of size to cut out and affix to normal playing cards.

It includes generic characters to chose, normal creatures to fight.

In the battle rules it even includes rules for combat and chase scenes on bikes/vehicles.

I think I may try my hand at translating a bit of it if I have time.

-----

I asked about the later heisei series and the guy at the booth said that they would be released later.]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=40 2009-08-01T09:23:39-07:00 2009-08-04T17:15:31-07:00 neko ewen http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=4

After having the excellent Board Game Geek site for many, many years, they've finally gotten RPG Geek up and running. There's already a list of Japanese RPGs, and I'd like some help submitting and ...

RPG Geek up and running. There's already a list of Japanese RPGs, and I'd like some help submitting and expanding the database's selection of Japanese games.

I'm still feeling out how exactly to work the thing, but it apparently goes much more smoothly if you submit the relevant entries for the credits (designer, publisher, etc.), then submit the game, and then finally submit the book itself.]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=38 2009-06-11T12:43:51-07:00 2009-07-24T21:27:49-07:00 Diamond Sutra http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=1

So, when I'm not working on Tenra Bansho, I'm flipping through the light but solid classic fantasy reimagined game, Sword World 2.0. I want to eventually translate this enough to be able to play it, ...

That's a bit of work, though.

I was kind of going through some ways to help reduce the physical costs of translation: In other words, make some cold hard cash that I can apply like a *Shippu* to the sore muscles in my neck from all the PC-work.

One thought I had was this: In the game, you make characters by combining various classes (Grappler 2/Sage 1; Fey Tamer 1/Sorcerer 1/Fencer 1; etc). You can theoretically begin with a "level 3" in a class, but practically it's pretty impossible, level 2 is the highest for the "Major Classes" (Fighter, All magic-users, etc; "Minor Classes" are the sub-classes of Fencer, Shooter, Sage, Ranger and Scout).

Then it hit me. I could do something like this:

1) Buy a bunch of copies of the game. If you want to play Sword World, your gaming group must own at least one copy of the rulebook. That's the Laaaaaaaaw. No book, no copy of the rules. If I don't do that and charge money for my translation to people who don't have the book, I'm stealing from Group SNE. If I decide to do it all for free and give away translations, that's morally less gray, but I simply won't ever be motivated enough to do it, ever, thus it won't happen. Dilemma.

Anyway, continuing. You've bought a copy of the book for your group. You can't read moonspeak, so it's mostly a display item. Costing $10USD plus a few bucks for shipping.

2) My translation comes with all the races, classes, all the basic rules, setting, weapons tables, character sheet, etc, but in completely simple detail, focusing more on the "rules bits" than the bits on things like "How to GM", etc. Because honestly, if you've come this far, you know what RPGs are. No need for that.

3) The classes in the book have abilities (read: Magic) listed from levels 1-6. As explained above, you can create a character up to level 2 in a magic-using class (theoretically 3 for non-magic classes, but no one would do that). So what I do is, I translate all the magic abilities up to level 3 for all the magic classes: Sorcerer, Conjurer, Priest, Fey Tamer, Magitech, etc; but not 4-6. I translate all the combat abilities for the B-grade weapons, but not A-grade weapons (you can take an A-grade weapon buy buying it with kind of a D&D-like Feat) for the fighting classes. So this will let you play the game, and even gain one level before you hit a wall.

4) Then, I translate the magic using abilities 4-6 for each class in a separate document (each), as well as the A-grade weapons.

5) Players, when they create their character, decide which Major Class they want. Then, they basically (either themselves, or preferably through their GM) pay $5 to get the "unlock" for your character. So, I basically see it like, this:
GM emails me, says "We're playing Sword World. I bought a copy of the game already. In my group we have a Magitech, Priest, and Sorcerer. Here's $15". And I'd basically email them the rules packets for the Magitech, Priest and Sorcerer abilities. I figure $5 per player is a totally fine minimum investment to play a game, either for one session or an extended campaign even.

6) And a caveat of something like, "If you buy 4 packets (or just flat-out spend $20) then you'll get ALL the data of ALL the classes, so you can pretty much play indefinitely.

7) Only thing is, at that point the investment is already about $33 total: $13 for the game plus shipping plus the free translation, plus $5 per person for four packets (which gives all the data). Still, when considering the per-player cost, it totally works out.

Thoughts? I think something like this would both be morally white (cause you have to buy a copy to play anyway), and rewards me for the time spent translating. The micropayment system I think would work, since there's only about 10 groups out there that would be maniac enough to play this cool J-RPG anyway.

Just a thought for something like Sword World. For a larger/more complicated game like Alshard ff, I'd want to try a GroupSource method (several translators tackle one section each), where everyone works absolutely for free, and the translation costs no money.]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=35 2009-04-29T05:32:05-07:00 2009-07-23T02:53:16-07:00 neko ewen http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=4

As some of you guys hopefully know already, I've started doing a podcast, and so far I've been keeping up a weekly schedule. I've been talking a lot about Japanese and anime-inspired RPGs, on account ...

podcast, and so far I've been keeping up a weekly schedule. I've been talking a lot about Japanese and anime-inspired RPGs, on account of that's one of the few RPG-related things I can talk about where there aren't a dozen people who've been doing better for longer.

Anyway, for the next episode Andy and I will be joining forces to talk about Japanese TRPGs, and we're planning to record on Thursday evening. So, the question I have for the J-RPG Talk folks is: What would you like to hear us talk about? For this episode I want to do kind of a general overview of major topics, and get into more fine details in future podcasts.]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=37 2009-05-24T22:09:54-07:00 2009-06-18T04:42:37-07:00 ScooterinAB http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=28

I'm a Canadian University Student (major in Japanese), and I just received my acceptance letter to attend Kansai Gaidai University in Hirakata starting in September. I was checking out the JGC ...

Here's the trick. I know that my language skills won't yet be up to playing in a game. I would love to attend though, and just watch what games are there and see what the convention is like.

Is anyone planning to go, and would someone be willing to help me out during the event? I've only learned basic sentences and very limited vocabulary, and I know the whole experience will be very stressful. I'd really appreciate if I could meet someone at the convention and maybe get a hand.

Thanks,
Scooter]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=2 2008-01-28T22:52:17-08:00 2009-03-07T10:21:01-08:00 Diamond Sutra http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=1

トーキョーN◎VA (from this point on "Tokyo Nova"), is published by FEAR. It's in it's fourth edition (or so). IIRC, it went TN, TN 2nd edition, TN The Revolution, and TN The ...

トーキョーN◎VA (from this point on "Tokyo Nova"), is published by FEAR. It's in it's fourth edition (or so). IIRC, it went TN, TN 2nd edition, TN The Revolution, and TN The Detonation.

Anyway, it's the first Japanese RPG I ever played, way back in 1995 when I lived in Japan going to school as an exchange student one semester in college. Through a completely coincidental and even cryptic series of events, I found myself one day at a Day Convention: This convention was in one smallish meeting room at one hotel, with about 12 tables; The Con was for one purpose only: The playing of Tokyo Nova, some 40 or so people playing across one large campaign, spread across several tables and GMs. That's a story for another time.

At that time, I wasn't nearly as good at speaking Japanese as I am now, so I spent most of that time with my head down, confused, and offering a burst of roleplaying here and there before I got that "translator fatigue" and had to rest. But I did end up making up a fascinating first character (A Half-Jamaican Legger-Mannikin-Mistress: A drug runner for the elite who ran simply the best parties).

Anyway, over time I forgot most of the rules, and I never played since 1995, though I did own two editions of the game. After not thinking about it for a while, I suddenly got into a real Cyberpunk fix, and Tokyo Nova is a real anime-inspired distinctly Japanese take on the cyberpunk genre. In this discussion I'm going to slowly (over weeks/months, as I'm in the middle of other projects) break down the game into its parts to show how it works. Eventually, I hope to once again play it, and this is a baby step towards that goal.

Japanese Wikipedia]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=34 2009-03-05T16:13:37-08:00 2009-03-06T09:32:57-08:00 neko ewen http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=4

(Cross-posted from my RPG blog.) Magician's Academy is a series of light novels by Ichiro Sakaki. It's about a school where people go to learn magic, but it has a wacky moe-infused sensibility. To ...

Cross-posted from my RPG blog.)

Magician's Academy is a series of light novels by Ichiro Sakaki. It's about a school where people go to learn magic, but it has a wacky moe-infused sensibility. To give you an idea, one of the teachers built a machine called "Mimigar Z", which caused most of the school to sprout animal ears. There's also an anime adaptation called "Macademi Wasshoi!", which is how I originally discovered it. It's kind of a gratuitous, guilty pleasure, doubly so since the character designs (and the art for the light novels) were by BLADE.



Magician's Academy RPG (or "MAR") is an RPG from F.E.A.R. that adapts the light novel series using a tweaked version of their SRS house system. It's the third game they've done that's a light novel adaptation (the others are Kaze no Stigma and Shinkyoki Soukai Polyphonica). It's one of those bunk (little paperback) format RPGs, a little over 400 pages, and I was able to order it through the local Kinokuniya for about $12 (where the Japanese price is 800 yen).

For this post I'm going to run through the stuff that makes it different from other SRS games I've read.

Character Creation
MAR uses SRS' typical character creation scheme, where you pick out a total of 3 levels from 1 to 3 different classes, which in turn determines your attributes and what special skills you can pick from. What makes it different from other SRS games is that characters are a combination of a "Macademi Class" and a "Style Class".

The three Macademi classes are Magician, Shinma (supernatural beings like angels, demons, etc.), and Irregular (people and other things with crazy powers). If you know the series, Takuto is a magician, Tanarot is a Shinma, and Suzuho is an Irregular. Under Magician and Shinma there are several Aspects. For Shinma these are the four elements, plus Chaos and Balance. For Magicians these are different kinds of magic (Enchant, Summon, Shield, Power, etc.)

Style classes relate to the character's role in the story, things like Servant, Joker, Misfortune, and Artificial. Where Macademi Classes give a character skills representing special powers, the skills you get from a style class tend to be more meta-game. For example, SRS features "Appearance Checks" (登場判定), where the GM can have a player roll to see if his or her character gets to show up in a given scene. A Servant character can take the Allegiance skill to get a bonus to Appearance Checks if their master is also in the scene. On the other hand the "Misfortune" Style Class gives you lots of skills that let you take damage and such in place of other characters.

Impulse System
This is one of the most distinctive aspects of the game, though one I have mixed feelings about owing to how it's implemented. It's like they stumbled on something kind of like the aspects from FATE, but IMHO the implementation relies a little too much on GM fiat.

Each character has a set of twelve personality traits, arranged into pairs as follows:

Brave/Careful
Compassionate/Rational
Honest/Stubborn
Trustful/Skeptical
Tolerant/Serious
Passionate/Naive

Each class gives a list of personality trait ratings, and you pick one of your character's classes as the base. From there, stuff in the game's lifepaths and such and modify these numbers, usually by shifting a point from one side of a pairing to the other. For example, the "Everyday" table has a "Research" entry, which gives you -1 to Brave and +1 to Careful. There are also items that can affect personality traits, such as Bunny Ears (which are in the "Moe Item Table"), which give you +1 to Trustful.

In play, the GM can call for a player to make a Personality Check (2d6 plus a personality trait, against a difficulty of 12) to see if the character will in fact do something. So, if the characters are late for class and they come across a girl who needs help, the GM might call on a Compassionate check to see if the character actually lends a hand. Any time a personality check makes a character veer away from what the player wanted, the character gets an Impulse Point (衝動店), which the player can use for a host of fairly typical metagame effects. There's also a special rule that once per session you can substitute Passionate in place of whatever personality trait the GM is asking for.

Chaos Chart
The Chaos Chart is a sort of random event table, intended for the GM to be able to throw something out to compensate for things going out of whack in the game. It has three charts, for the Beginning, Middle, and Ending phases of the story. All of the entries push things much closer to the ending, if not outright resolve it, and not a few of them have characters from the novels show up as well. ("Tanarot suddenly shows up, and resolves the incident. Go to Ending.")

To be honest I'm not sure what to make of it. It's the kind of setting where throwing in random stuff certainly makes sense, and I suppose that having the option to just say, "Oh, Tanarot took care of that. Now, about your characters going on a date?" fits as well. I like the idea of bringing the canon characters into the game--the setting is neat, but Tanarot and company are a big part of what gives the story its distinct feel--but needless to say I have mixed feelings about chucking them in as deus ex machina to fix things.

Other Stuff
Whatever one thinks of the house system approach of SRS, MAR does actually take advantage of its strengths. In particular, at the end of the book there's a section on taking stuff from other SRS games (Alshard Gaia, Polyphonica, etc.), which would give GMs plenty of critters and characters to mess with.

There is a "World Section" that explains the setting, but it's barely 12 pages. Especially given that it's actually put out by the same publisher (Famitsu Bunko, though it at F.E.A.R. are both parts of Enterbrain), this suggests that they're assuming people who buy the RPG will also be into the light novels. I ordered the first novel in the series along with the RPG, and the two certainly look like they belong together. The book has brief bios of the major canon characters (and Hapciel).

On the whole, this looks like a neat little game, though you clearly have to be on board with the game having a very strong GM role to really enjoy it as written. If there was an English version of this, I'd most likely be willing to give it a spin, but on the whole I think I'd rather do a crazy Maid RPG variant. Not unlike Penguin Musume Heart, while watching Macademi Wasshoi I kept feeling like I was watching something that runs on Maid RPG's physics engine.]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=33 2009-02-20T08:51:53-08:00 2009-02-20T10:19:02-08:00 Diamond Sutra http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=1

So, I've not had the opportunity to use any OCR products really: There's several out there, and I was curious: 1) What do you use? (and what platform: PC, Mac, etc) 2) How much success have you ...

1) What do you use? (and what platform: PC, Mac, etc)

2) How much success have you had?

3) What kinds of projects have you used with it in the past?

I'm looking to see what might be worth my while on possible future fan projects.]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=6 2008-03-05T06:14:43-08:00 2009-01-13T09:55:54-08:00 Mark Causey http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=3

I discovered this new game on my daily haunt, Playspace Hiroshima. I found subsequent links via Google to Amazon.jp and Fukkan. Fukkan has a big description and some sample art, which I've inlined ...

Playspace Hiroshima. I found subsequent links via Google to Amazon.jp and Fukkan. Fukkan has a big description and some sample art, which I've inlined below (edit: note, I have hyperlinked to a super large version of the third image instead of inlining it). Fukkan states that it is a sequel to the 2005 game, 戦国霊異伝 , which I also know nothing about.

Can anyone help translate and give me an idea what the game is about (other than something about the Shogunate and some crazy looking samurai going to war)?

I'm betting it focuses on killer duels between samurai and ronin. I saw something about killer points and a wolf gauge? It kind of looks like a Rurouni Kenshin TRPG.

■ファンの眼を覚ます新タイトル登場。このゲームは『戦国霊異伝』の単なる続編ではなく、新ゲームと言っていいだろう。根強いファンが多く新作要望も高い『戦国霊異伝』。だが、残念ながら、本来の製作者である有限会社キラメキは現在活動してない。そこで、本来の製作者である有限会社キラメキの幕末編を作りたいというアイディアをもとに、ＴＥＡＳ事務所が新たなゲーム背景の構築とシステム改訂を考案・実行し、より遊びやすい、より面白い作品として完成！幕末の動乱に揺れる扶桑国（日本）においても、人間と妖異の戦いは続いていた――。



○『幕末霊異伝　ＭＩ・ＢＵ・ＲＯ』特徴紹介

* 進化した判定システム：剣術モノらしい、スパッと切れ味の良いダイスロールを実現。

* ヒーローポイント＆必殺技ポイント、「壬・生・狼ゲージ」の導入：使命感の表れである「壬ゲージ」、命のやりとりで死線をくぐり抜けた証の「生ゲージ」、殺気を表現する「狼ゲージ」が、戦闘とロールプレイを盛り上げます。

* パーティ共有の死亡回避ポイント「天命」を実装：ＧＭが管理し、基本的にプレイヤーには伏せられているため、ヒロイックさと命の重みを両立した、スリリングな戦闘を味わえます。

* 戦闘システム：一般的な命中→回避の流れではなく、構えの崩しあいで雌雄を決する、剣術らしい「斬り合い」を再現しています。いつも死と隣り合わせの剣劇の中に、活を見出す戦闘を再現できます。

* 流派の必殺技とも言うべき「剣術奥義」と、それを補助する術法」の数々が、史実を超えた幕末伝奇バトルを演出します。
※画像はイメージです

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]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=18 2008-05-13T23:45:53-07:00 2009-01-13T09:52:45-08:00 neko ewen http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=4

Now that I've finished the first draft translation of Maid RPG (232 pages!), I'm hopefully going to have more time to actually sit down and read the Japanese RPGs I've accumulated. Aitsu wa ...

Aitsu wa Classmate! is the most recent RPG from Sunset Games (which also publishes Maid RPG and Yuuyake Koyake). I'm planning to post about it a chapter at a time, though this first post will just be my overall impressions from flipping through the book.

Aikura bills itself as presenting a sort of idealized, anime/ren'ai game inspired high school life. All of the PCs are high school students who go around helping classmates who have problems of one sort or another. Like Yuuyake Koyake, it's basically what I like to call a "good Samaritan game."

Character creation involves picking a main class and a sub-class, so you wind up with things like "Otaku Heroine" and "Nekketsu Hero." Each class determines your base attributes, and gives you a selection of special abilities. Characters have "Yaruki" (motivation) points that gauge their mental state and can be spent for various things in the game. Many special abilities cost Yaruki points, and quite a few provide you with ways to give Yaruki to others. For example, Heroines can take an ability that lets them cook curry that grants Yaruki to others (+5, or +30 to guys who haven't eaten it more than two times before).

Compared to Ryo Kamiya's designs, Aikura is more complicated, though not excessively so. I need to read more, but I get the impression that a lot of the book's heft (180 pages) is more from having specific classes, skills, and special abilities, and the rules governing them are relatively simple and unified.

Anyway, I'll post more as I'm able.]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=27 2008-11-19T15:01:09-08:00 2008-12-20T21:55:08-08:00 neko ewen http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=4

Per Andy's request, I've cross-posted this from my RPG blog. I now have the care package of Japanese RPGs and such that Andy picked up for me in Japan. It's been a while since I got more TRPG ...

RPG blog.

I now have the care package of Japanese RPGs and such that Andy picked up for me in Japan. It's been a while since I got more TRPG action, and now I have a huge stack of books to go through. (I put all of the pictures up on Flickr). I'll be posting extensively about this stuff as I read it, but here's a quick lowdown of my initial impressions.

First, here's a picture of the loot. Be impressed.


Demon Parasite: Oni Mitama
Demon Parasite is a "Dark Henshin Hero" RPG, for stuff in the vein of Garo and Hakaider. This is apparently a complete game, basically DP with stuff based on Japanese mythology rather than just animals and such.

Dokodemo Aru Fushigi

This is a doujin from Kamiya-sensei's circle. It's a sort of Yuuyake Koyake/Witch Quest crossover book, with one replay for each, and a dialogue between Kamiya and Sasuu.

Flowers

This is a doujinshi Touhou TRPG. I know next to nothing about Touhou, to be honest, but I've been meaning to rectify that. I've heard that it has an exceptionally good introduction to role-playing, and it does start off with a couple pages with cute little diagrams and such. Character creation apparently involves picking one of 8 flowers, and one of 5 races.

Hitotsuna Komichi

The second supplement for Yuuyake Koyake weighs in at 56 pages. The main attraction here is that you can now play as "Old Henge," types of animals that were previously only NPC local gods: spiders, snakes, and centipedes. There are also rules for creating new types of animals, with turtles as an example. It's also got two scenarios, some stories, and a new relationship chart.

Nekomusume Michikusa Nikki

This is the first volume of a manga by the Ike, the artist who did such wonderful artwork for Yuuyake Koyake. In some ways it's a lot like YK, but it also goes into territory that the game definitely doesn't. (Though if you've perused Ike's site, it won't exactly be unexpected...)

Satasupe Remix+

This is an earlier game from the publisher of Meikyuu Kingdom. The title is short for "Saturday Night Special," and it's a gonzo "Asian Punk RPG." The artwork is apparently by the same artist that did most of the interior art for Meikyuu Kingdom, and pages without some kind of artwork are the exception to the rule. It looks like all kinds of crazy fun.

Savage Science

This game is about human-animal hybrids trying to fight against evil mad scientists.

School Days Panic (Sukupani)
This game is about total weirdos attending a normal high school. You can play a soldier, a la Full Metal Panic, but the character types also include kendo practitioners, cyborgs, magicians, espers, and vampires. The game uses playing cards, and there's definitely something neat going on with using the cards to set up relationships with pre-made NPCs from the school.

Silver Rain Supplement: Werewolves vs. Vampires

The interior of this sourcebook is also full-color, and the art is all as high-quality as the cover. Now I have to look into getting the actual game.

Sword World 2.0 Book 1

Sword World was the first major original RPG from Japan. Record of the Lodoss War actually takes place in a corner of its setting. And this is the second edition. It's in bunko (Japanese paperback) format, but it's also nearly 400 pages, and this is just Rulebook I, basically the Player's Handbook of Sword World. Skimming through, it comes off as being kind of a generic fantasy RPG, but with a definite crazy manga/Final Fantasy/Disgaea sensibility to it.

Tsugihagi Tayori Vol. 1

Another doujin from Kamiya's circle. It has a game called "Kosodate Dragon" (literally "Raising a Dragon," though I'd call it "Dragon Nursery" or some such if I translated it). It also has an article about the countryside that I'm looking forward to reading, a Yuuyake Koyake store (a straight-up story written in prose), an article on the "secret story of the birth of Absolute Slaves," and the first part of what looks like an academic paper on RPGs.

Tsugihagi Tayori Vol. 2

This volume kicks off with Mugen Daiuchuu (Infinite Universe), a mini RPG about crazy rampages through the cosmos, accompanied by a replay that's around twice the length of the actual rules. After that, there's an article on NPC-driven game sessions, another Yuuyake Koyake story, and a couple of YK 4-panel comics, and finally the next part of that paper.

Tsugihagi Tayori Extra

A convention special thingy, this contains rules for making witch characters in Yuuyake Koyake, and stats for all of the signature characters from all three books.

White Chaos

This is a doujin RPG, apparently about high school monster hunters, kind of in the vein of the Persona PS2 games. Start Book A is a manga explaining the basics, about 20 pages or so. Start Book B is the actual rules. The text is very dense, but it has all of the stuff you'd expect from a TRPG, the full rules for playing, a replay, and 2 scenarios.

Yuuyake Koyake Calendar

Yeah, the year's pretty much over, but it has more color artwork, and a mini-game on the back.

Dice

I had Andy pick up a bunch of Japanese-style dice, plus a tube of Meikyuu Kingdom ogrekin dice. Just because.

And... going through all that took me more than 2 hours. Wow.]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=22 2008-08-25T10:13:57-07:00 2008-12-18T18:53:08-08:00 Diamond Sutra http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=1

One of the first truly Japanese RPGs, inspired (at least, I think so, after having looked through the original boxed set years ago) by the rules of Battletech mixed with some Basic Role Playing/Call ...

One of the first truly Japanese RPGs, inspired (at least, I think so, after having looked through the original boxed set years ago) by the rules of Battletech mixed with some Basic Role Playing/Call of Cthulhu (percentile), has been reborn in a new edition.

The idea behind the setting is simple: It's a basic western fantasy world. But instead of slinging swords against spear-weilding goblins, you suit up in a plate-mailed mecha about 12-18 feel tall, and fight against similarly armored demihumans. The backdrop is a theater of war, with nations warring against each other for domination or whatever.

Setting isn't all that inspiring, but that's OK, because you suit up in steel mecha and stab shit with 12-foot-long swords!

Also, I think that this is the first original Japanese implementation of the d20 system into an original game. That's interesting in itself, I wonder how they handled the mecha in d20? In the original system, it was really crunchy, with hit locations and armor points ala Battletech.

More info:
http://www.hobbyjapan.co.jp/dd/wares/]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=31 2008-12-11T07:27:27-08:00 2008-12-16T04:41:51-08:00 Mark Causey http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=3

So, I've been looking around at games on various sites (ja.wikipedia, PS Hiroshima, amazon.jp). Here's what I know and what I think they might be about: 迷宮デイズ - from the makers of ...

迷宮デイズ - from the makers of Meikyuu Kingdom, we have a school drama. I'm betting you do some design work like the dungeons in MK, but I'm not sure. The cover art is nice.

Embryo Machine - Apparently a medieval Europe mecha game with no magic or supernaturalness. Character sheet makes it look like you stat your mech and your character. Main Site

Trouble Aliens It looks like a Men In Black style game. The character sheet looks sleek, with four stats.

School Days Panic Based on the character sheet, it looks like it uses a lot of cards. Another school drama!]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=30 2008-12-05T06:27:43-08:00 2008-12-11T05:08:58-08:00 Mark Causey http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=3

I found a Night Wizard 2nd Edition replay available online, "Monochrome Boundary" or, my translation, "Black and White Line": ～モノクロームの境界～ What's neat ...

～モノクロームの境界～

What's neat are the linked character illustrations and descriptions (for a non-reader like me).]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=28 2008-11-24T21:22:49-08:00 2008-12-06T06:55:57-08:00 ryuuchiba http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=11

Hey guys I just came across this site. It's a list of all the TRPG circles who had booths at this past Comic Market from summer (74). It looks like everything is organized by what system they're ...

It looks like everything is organized by what system they're related to.

コミックマーケット74参加TRPGサークル一覧]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=26 2008-11-11T19:45:58-08:00 2008-11-18T02:00:10-08:00 ryuuchiba http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=11

Yea ok, I need help. My advisor is railing me for data concerning role-playing in Japan and I'm grasping at straws if feels like. So I come to you on my knees for help. Does anyone know of any ...

My advisor is railing me for data concerning role-playing in Japan and I'm grasping at straws if feels like. So I come to you on my knees for help. Does anyone know of any data or statistics for TRPG? Like something done by FEAR or Group SNE for example. I tried looking up their own data online but I couldn't find anything other than what they say on their sites.

So anything would be appreciated.]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=14 2008-04-18T00:24:54-07:00 2008-11-11T21:33:42-08:00 ryuuchiba http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=11

I've been wondering about this for a while in terms of how the TRPGs in Japan interact with anime and manga. As far as I know the only major connecting is the Record of Lodoss Wars that was the ...

As far as I know the only major connecting is the Record of Lodoss Wars that was the replay based on the creators D&D campaign and then how it was reintegrated into the TRPG canon (so to speak) through Sword World as the Island of Lodoss is an actual place within the campaign world.

It would be interesting to learn more, especially more recent ones as Lodoss was years ago.]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=25 2008-10-02T04:51:32-07:00 2008-10-05T18:23:46-07:00 burnout02 http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=17

A while ago, there was this fairly generic anime series- NIGHT WIZARD THE ANIMATION, a deriative of one of FEAR's most popular works. While I found that the series itself was, well, bland, the unique ...

Just some questions...

1.) I've read the translated SRS document; Does the game run on the same system? Several of the classes seem highly distinct from the other, to the point where the multiclass system seems a bit, well, odd- The idea of a Vampire-Werewolf makes me shudder in reflexive fear of muchikinism, and kung-fu Ninja angels are kinda a stretch, at best.

2.) Exactly how is 'School-Life' and 'Night-Life' separated? Is it the kind of distinction in say, Bliss Stage, where School-Life is an essential part of gameplay, or is it like, say an eroge, where it's only distantly related to the RPG aspect? How do bizarre characters, like motorcycle-riding Knights and time-displaced soldiers fit into the modern world?

3.) How do the heroes get supplies, equipment, missions? Is there some kind of universal 'currency' you get from beating the bad guys? Or is it more like a roguelike, where you have to scrounge up components, weapons and armor as you go along?

4.) Exactly what are the game's Big Bads, the Demon Lords? From the anime, they seem to be largely amiable enemies, more focused on skirmishing than the whole 'invading the earth' thing. Are they meant to be final bosses? Cosmic Horrors like Exalted's deathlords? Possible love interests? (I mean, they're all bishoujo. The question *has* to be asked.) How do they stack up against your average party?

5.) What kind of bad guys ('Emulators') can the heroes expect to fight? Wraith-the-oblivion Spectres? The D&D bestiary? Or World Of Darkness-style horrors, like Banes and Umbral creatures?

6.) I'm privately fascinated by the esoteric Dream-Hunter, Otoshigo, and Emulator Summoner classes. How do they work, exactly? The Dream-Hunter, in particularly, is an awesome concept...But I have no idea how it would work on paper. The whole idea of the Otoshigo is that they're the 'spawn of demon lords'. Does that mean they're literally the children of them? (*grin*) How do dudes like the more-straightforward classes like Hero, Killing Machine and Magical Swordsman differ from the 'generic' fighter?

7.) Is there a limited campaign arc, like Tenra Bansho Zero? Y'know, 108 points and...Boom. Or Bliss Stage, where 108 points and...Well, boom. In fact, what're the adventures like? Monster-of-the-week? (Seems to be, considering the bad guys attack mostly when the red moon is out). Do all these weird adventures affect the real world? Do the heroes even have powers in the 'real world'?

Whew. That's really a lot of questions. But I'm dying to know as much as possible about this strangely compelling setting...]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=23 2008-08-29T11:17:47-07:00 2008-08-30T02:31:00-07:00 Diamond Sutra http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=1

Too bad that JGC falls so close to GenCon, because I'd like to go to it one of these years (maybe in two years?). In any case, I'm trying to gather photo reports of Japan's biggest yearly gaming ...

JGC falls so close to GenCon, because I'd like to go to it one of these years (maybe in two years?).

In any case, I'm trying to gather photo reports of Japan's biggest yearly gaming con. Unfortunately, there's not too many out there. Mr. Kokado from Sunset Games attended, and took a bunch of pictures.

Here's some highlights:



MAID RPG Cosplay



Yuuyake Koyake Session

So, one of the things that I dig about JGC is that it takes place at one giant hotel, so pretty much everyone who travels to go there stays at that one hotel.
Japanese hotel undoubtedly means sento or onsen. I'm not sure about the new location, but a previous hotel it used to happen at looked like a paradise of public baths, yukata and gaming. Imagine: Wake up, take a soak in a huge hot bath, put on a comfortable hotel yukata ("kimono"), and lazily do gaming with friends and strangers for hours. Retire to your room, eat delicious regional foods prepared in a group dining environment, go for another soak, then retire to your room for some late night snacks and more games.

Pretty much my Dream Con (and I couldn't make it happen when I lived in Japan, because it was impossible to schedule more than 3 foreigners for any given weekend, and onsen vacations tend to be expensive) would be to gather a bunch of friends, like 12-20, for a convention in a hot springs resort. Maybe split up over 3-4 rooms in a resort at a place like Minakami, Ikaho, or maybe south towards Beppu, and basically waffle back and forth between gaming, sleeping, bathing, and eating delicious regional foods for a few days.... ahhhh.....

...but I digress. I'll use this threads to post links to pics of JGC 2008.]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=21 2008-08-25T10:05:17-07:00 2008-08-26T17:52:46-07:00 Diamond Sutra http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=1

The latest from FEAR, another SRS game with the Japanese novella form factor (read: fits in the palm of your hand) for about $7.00 US. I love these games: Easy to pick up and chew on without spending ...

The latest from FEAR, another SRS game with the Japanese novella form factor (read: fits in the palm of your hand) for about $7.00 US. I love these games: Easy to pick up and chew on without spending an arm and a leg.
Official site here: http://www.fear.co.jp/poly/index.htm

Interestingly enough, it appears to be based off a licensed property, a series of recently popular novels of the same name (EDIT: Also, it's an anime as well). I'm not positive, but I think that's a first for FEAR!

Looking at the character sheets, it looks like they take a direction of combining what we would call "aspects" or attributes as character classes, with things that reflect on the setting ("Divine Comedy Performer") and things that reflect on the personality or background of the character, like "Genius", "Noble", "Innocent", "Elder", "Chaser"(?).

Unfortunately, I know little more than that. There's a wikipedia entry on the anime/manga, though:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphonica

"Eufinley gets a phone call from another Divine Music Player Office asking Renbart to transfer to their office. Meanwhile, Phoron falls into a river and catches a cold while helping Aria to find her runaway cat as a volunteer work, so Eufinley tells Renbart to help Aria find her cat instead. While Prinesca and Phoron are worried if Renbart will transfer or not, Perserte and Corticarte fight with each other trying to take care of the sick Phoron. "

Hmmm... not sure how that translates into a game with hit points and a defined combat system. I'll have to see for myself.]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=17 2008-04-23T19:20:49-07:00 2008-08-18T11:57:47-07:00 neko ewen http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=4

I was wondering who from this forum might be attending GenCon this year, and what they might be interested in doing related to Japanese RPGs. I will be releasing Maid RPG in English. I'm running ...

I will be releasing Maid RPG in English. I'm running two registered sessions (there's still 3 slots left on the Thursday evening one BTW), and I and a couple of my friends may be running some more at Games On Demand. For selling the book, we'll be sharing a booth with Jerry Grayson, who'll be premiering Hellas: Worlds of Sun and Stone.

Some folks from Adventure Planning Service are running two sessions of Meikyu Kingdom, and apparently they're going to make replays of both for a Japanese game magazine. As I write this the Saturday session has one slot left. I don't know if that means they've got an English version ready or they're just doing some early promotion.

Andy's going to have a demo pack for Tenra Bansho Zero. I'll let the man himself comment on what he might be running.

As I mentioned before, I'm translating an excerpt of Yuuyake Koyake for my graduate thesis project. That excerpt isn't quite enough to actually play it, but if I have time before the con I'd like to get that much done (it'll mainly be the Powers and Weaknesses) and run a session or two at Games On Demand.

Anything else neat? Might we have a little J-RPG meetup or some such?]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=8 2008-03-05T07:25:44-08:00 2008-07-22T11:56:46-07:00 neko ewen http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=4

I'm currently working on translating Yuuyake Koyake for my graduate thesis project ("Culminating Experience"), so I wanted to talk about the game and why it's so neat. Since graduate ...

Yuuyake Koyake for my graduate thesis project ("Culminating Experience"), so I wanted to talk about the game and why it's so neat. Since graduate translation projects have to be relatively short (50 double-spaced pages) I'll only be translating roughly the first half of it for the project, but I'll definitely do the rest when I have the time, and I'll hopefully look into publishing it at some point.

Yuuyake Koyake ("Sunset") is a game about henge, animals that have just a little bit of magical power, including the ability to take on human form. The creator specifically wanted to make a game that eschews violence and accumulation of power, and in YK these henge mostly help out ordinary people with everyday problems. The henge come from Japanese animal myths, though needless to say they've been toned down for the game's more heartwarming portrayal.



More when I have time for more :3]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=19 2008-07-11T07:49:12-07:00 2008-07-17T10:17:14-07:00 Diamond Sutra http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=1

Quick update: An article I wrote on tabletop gaming in Japan made it into this latest issue of PiQ ( http://piqmag.com/ ), the July/WALL*E issue. Unfortunately, the 4th issue will be the last. Too ...

http://piqmag.com/ ), the July/WALL*E issue.

Unfortunately, the 4th issue will be the last. Too bad, the mag seemed pretty interesting: General geek culture, with directed interviews and the like (Mike Mignola interviews, inside info, etc). So while better than "just reading this stuff on the internet", it seems that it didn't have time to find its niche. Plus, it was created as a replacement to Newtype USA rather than its own thing, and apparently that crowd was disappointed about the lack of anime content. Too bad.

But hey, I got promptly paid for my article, and they were a really great staff to work for. So I wish them the best if they move on to another venture.

-+-+-+-+-+-

Also, that's the kind of article that got me ramped up about writing about gaming in Japan. I started years ago for the comic release of "BASTARD!!" in the US, Jason Thompson(?)(then with Viz), a talented comic author and all-around cool guy, signed me up for a series of articles about RPGs and roleplaying in Japan, and that fired me up back in 2002-2003 or so.

The only unfortunate thing about the situation was that, honestly, BASTARD!! is a worthless piece of shit. The first say 1-2 years of content (and the Anime!) are hardcore heavy metal fantasy awesome, starring a Fire Mage instead of a Hulky Barbarian type. But shortly thereafter, it hits the serialized manga mediocrity level pretty fast.

The art is pretty, his concepts and art of angels, floating citadels, bloody battles and the like are fucking awesome and metal, even years into the book (on a lark, back in like 1996 I picked up the latest of the series, then "Graphic Novel #17 or #27 or something). But the manga became a platform for the author's Giant Tits Fetish, and that was that. The young maiden's (maidens', actually) boobs get ridiculously bigger (and more exposure time too!) over the months and years, until even 8-10 years ago the hardcore of the hardcore fans of the series from the beginning simply gave up, washing their hands of the mess, as the story simply made no more sense anymore, and wasn't even entertaining anymore.

BUT, at least the first run of the comics were pretty decent for the first year or two of the material, and it went hand-in-hand with RPG stuff (because it was spawned out of classic D&D. And heavy metal music).

I'm going to be writing more articles here as free time becomes available. And I've also lined up a podcast interview over at Yellow Menace (an awesome site BTW, check it out!). I'll drop the details when that goes live.]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=16 2008-04-23T18:45:56-07:00 2008-06-14T09:46:57-07:00 ryuuchiba http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=11

I just learned that Sword World, the most famous JRPG in Japan, has released a second edition. The new edition is called Sword World 2.0 (clever with the naming huh). It was just released this ...

It was just released this month on the 19th, so it really is hot off the press.

Links:
Sword World RPG Wiki Page w/ 2.0 info
Sword World 2.0 Specific page on Japanese Wiki
SW2.0 Amazon.jp

I hope to get this as the new classes and races but sadly I am a poor student at the moment and must wait. :(]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=12 2008-04-01T14:08:35-07:00 2008-05-14T00:43:51-07:00 Mark Causey http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=3

You know, it's really hard to keep up with J-TRPGs these days. Despite the advent of the web, it's really hard to suss out good, up-to-date information (especially if you're a katakana reader like ...

Here are my resources!

PlaySpace Hiroshima - Great for looking up old titles and seeing their covers. Also, it keeps you up to date on what's in their store (which is a pretty good indicator, I've found). Also, click on the link at the top: 『ＲＰＧ予定表』へ . This takes you to the bottom of the main page with soon (and not so soon) to be released titles, and sometimes dates!

Kimagure (Twisted) TRPG News - Seems to have up-to-date news on titles and releases. Always with pictures, it seems! Can't beat that.

Anybody else know some other good sites?]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=4 2008-03-04T10:01:23-08:00 2008-04-07T09:03:09-07:00 Mark Causey http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=3

This is a comic from the artist for Ryuutama. I don't think it is for Ryuutama, but I think it either helped inspire the game or got the artist the job working on the game. Others feel free to ...

Page 1
Frame 1

ああ
そうだったのか
全ての道は この扉に (すべてのどうはこのとびらに)
通じていたんだ (つうじていたんだ)

と私は思ったのです あの時 (とわたしはおもったのです あのとき)

"Ahh, that's it! All roads lead to this door."

"Or at least that's what I thought at the time ..."

Divider Text

『お前たち三人にプレゼンットがあるんだ』 (『おまえたちさんにんにプレゼントがあるんだ』)

"I've got a present for the three of you."

---

Comments and help are welcome.]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=7 2008-03-05T06:43:17-08:00 2008-03-09T19:55:43-07:00 Mark Causey http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=3

Found on the tenra-rpg blog: The Bad First: Later than I thought. February 2009. The Realistic: This is a Hard Date, and Attainable. And worth the wait, because… The Good: I have ...

The Bad First:

Later than I thought. February 2009.

The Realistic:

This is a Hard Date, and Attainable. And worth the wait, because…

The Good:

I have a Motherfucking Superhero pegged to do layout and put the book together. The book will be so hot, it will make your eyes burn.

The Other:

There will be pre-play packages this Summer.
There will be a demo kit available at GenCon 2008.]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=1 2008-01-28T22:36:22-08:00 2008-03-04T08:50:36-08:00 Diamond Sutra http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=1

This is a test discussion