2010-09-07T05:27:31-07:00 http://j-rpg.com/talk/ Lussumo Vanilla http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=36&Focus=230#Comment_230 2009-05-16T12:51:40-07:00 2009-05-16T22:27:09-07:00 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=36&Focus=231#Comment_231 2009-05-16T13:15:29-07:00 2010-09-07T05:27:31-07:00 Diamond Sutra http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=1

The actual making of a character is pretty cool, and again a little outside of the imadoki style of "pick some classes, and that determines everything" (not *bad* at all, just a little ...

You pick the race you want to play. Each race has a 2-12 chart you roll on to determine (for that race) your starting class, bascailly your "lifepath": What you did before you decided to become an adventurer. The rules say you can also simply choose what you want, which is good. This lifepath gives you one free level of a particular class, it gives you some starting XP to buy other classes, and finally it tells you your starting "core abilities" of Skill, Body and Heart/Mind (I'll just say Heart).

For example, if I pick a Dwarf and roll a 5 or 6 (or simply choose that column), I used to be a Knight. My pick class is Fighter at level 1. My abilities are Skill 4, Body 11, Heart 5, and I have 2000xp to spend on other classes. If I were to have picked (or rolled) Rifleman, I'd have a starting class of Shooter, Have S8/B8/H6, and 2500xp. It's kinda cool that these tables are focused for each race, and different between races: The human Soldier starts out with Fighter 1, slightly different attribute set of S6/B10/H4, and 2000xp.

Each race grants an additional special ability as well, specific to that race.

After that comes Random Attribute Roll time. This is cool, how it mixes a bit of choice and randomness together. You have these three... best way to describe them is "proto-attributes" labeled A-F, which you roll for based on race. Humans roll 2d6 for each. Others may have abilities ranging from 1d to 2d+6. From there, you find your abilities by combining the letter with one of the core attributes: Your combat rating is equal to Skill plus the "A" attribute. Muscle is equal to Body plus the "C" attribute. Hit points/Life is the total of Body plus the "D" attribute. Rather clever.
If you want to reroll your attributes, you can with the GM's permission, but you have to reroll *all* of them, not just the Low One.

After that comes a combination of:
Choosing additional classes/levels
Write down class abilities/spells (no need to "choose" starting spells, you simply have all of them at the level you are, there are only 2-3 spells per level)
Choosing starting languages
Picking starting gear
Picking one special combat power.

Re "combat power": kinda like a feat in D&D 3e, but there's only about 16 of them. Very focused. Everything from "lower critical hit number by one" to "never critically fumble and hit a friend with a missile weapon" to "get additional defense ability in combat". It's actually rather hard to choose one, since most of them are actually useful, and not "a laundry list of abilities where you'd be stupid to NOT take the 2-3 "good" ones". If you're stuck, they give a recommendation for each class. Some have two recs, like the Shooter: "Do you want to shoot two guns at once? Pick X; Do you want to always be able to fire into a combat area? Pick Y". The simple "question" nature of the recommendations are nice.

At that point, you're pretty much ready to go.

Simple, pure, streamlined, but not totally "fast". Looking at the above, it looks like you can crank out characters in 2 minutes. Well, you probably could given the recommendations and the like. However, there's enough choice involved, and solid choice, that you can get stuck trying to make some choices (in a good way), increasing character generation to 10 minutes or so.

More, and my Tabbit Gunner, later...]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=36&Focus=284#Comment_284 2009-08-18T09:48:53-07:00 2010-09-07T05:27:31-07:00 kirisame http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=36

Just got my SW2.0 rulebooks. I've only glanced over them so far, but I would like to point out that while most of the material in the second and third books are for progressively higher-level play, ...

My impression of the setting is that it is a fairly standard fantasy setting, with a history of advanced civilizations being destroyed to provide adventurers with convenient monster-infested ruins and long-lost treasures. To a certain extent I feel that the Runefolk and magitech are pushing the genre boundaries a bit too far in the science-fiction or steampunk direction, but this seems to be an increasingly common trend in modern gaming.

I do like how the system mechanics appear to work, and the giant table for producing a more interesting spread of numbers out of 2d6 rolls is an impressive workaround for a lack of polyhedral dice.]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=36&Focus=285#Comment_285 2009-08-24T22:05:04-07:00 2010-09-07T05:27:31-07:00 kirisame http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=36

After continued study of the rules, SW2.0 appears to function much more like a skill-based system than my initial impression, given the class naming. Rather than classes, they feel like skills or ...

The end result is a system where player character growth is a steady progression of small improvements, rather than drastic increases all-around at extended intervals. At the end of every game session the characters gain experience points, even if they have failed to achieve the primary goal, and one stat is improved (chosen from two randomly-selected stats). I rather like how this works. Sort of an "Even if you don't win, you learn from your mistakes" kind of thing.

On a completely different note, I like the way resurrection is made an option for player characters while discouraging its use by non-adventurers:
The act of breaking the natural cycle of life and death introduces impurities into the soul, which have disturbing physiological manifestations (Nightmare characters are born with impurities). Depending on the accumulated level of impurity, this can range from minor physical deformation to coming back as a ravening undead. An acceptable risk for a player character, but prohibitively undesirable for even rich and powerful NPCs.]]> http://j-rpg.com/talk/comments.php?DiscussionID=36&Focus=304#Comment_304 2010-02-02T03:23:22-08:00 2010-09-07T05:27:31-07:00 ScooterinAB http://j-rpg.com/talk/account.php?u=28

I picked up SW 2.0 a few weeks back. I'd actually picked up the original and 2 source books just after I got to Japan in September (for psudo nostalgia purposes), and jumped on 2.0 when I saw the ...

My Japanese still isn't up to part (I don't think at least), and I'm currently too distracted by school to try and read/translate anything. Hopefully next year. I'd love to learn more about the game though (and maybe even get in a game or two).

My initial feedback, based on a few flip throughs. The book looks easy to read. As opposed to the original, which is almost indistinguishable from a novel, 2.0 looks like a gaming book. The use of headers and diagrams (as well as images) makes the book very easy to follow. I really get the feeling that I could just grab it, start reading, and have a very easy time learning how to play.

I also LOVE the small format of these Japanese gaming books (also seen GURPS and several other games in this small size). Every gamer has probably gotten shorter hauling large format books around. This is not the case with SW and similar books. I could easily though the book (and others) into a small bag, toss in a few sets of dice and any other accessories I need, and pack the light load to my game. This is something I just couldn't do back in Canada, where most games come in Hard Cover, several hundred page volumes with at least a half dozen essential sourcebooks. The size of SW is very gamer and space friendly.]]>