Comments on: Fantasy role-playing in Japan http://faustusnotes.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/fantasy-role-playing-in-japan/ Infernal adventuring... Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:20:28 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Ewen http://faustusnotes.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/fantasy-role-playing-in-japan/#comment-114 Ewen Fri, 17 Oct 2008 22:08:22 +0000 http://faustusnotes.wordpress.com/?p=122#comment-114 In that case, a few other things: <a href="http://www.tenra-rpg.com/" rel="nofollow">Tenra Bansho Zero</a> <a href="//www.maidrpg.com/" rel="nofollow">Maid RPG</a> <a href="http://www.fear.co.jp/" rel="nofollow">F.E.A.R.</a> <a href="http://www.sunsetgames.co.jp/" rel="nofollow">Sunset Games</a> <a href="http://www.groupsne.co.jp/" rel="nofollow">Group SNE</a> <a href="http://www.bouken.jp/" rel="nofollow">Bouken/Adventure Planning Service</a> <a href="http://www.arclight.co.jp/r_r/" rel="nofollow">Role&Roll</a> And lastly, my blog, <a href="http://yarukizero.wordpress.com/" rel="nofollow">Yaruki Zero Games</a>. Hope that helps! ^_^ In that case, a few other things:

Tenra Bansho Zero
Maid RPG
F.E.A.R.
Sunset Games
Group SNE
Bouken/Adventure Planning Service
Role&Roll

And lastly, my blog, Yaruki Zero Games.

Hope that helps! ^_^

]]> By: faustusnotes http://faustusnotes.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/fantasy-role-playing-in-japan/#comment-113 faustusnotes Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:57:33 +0000 http://faustusnotes.wordpress.com/?p=122#comment-113 Hi Ewen, I have encountered a few (mostly young) Japanese people who know about RPGs, but they don't seemvery interested. I certainly agree regarding the language issue, and I'm glad to hear those names, since I had only heard of (or found) sword world over there. I shall investigate them. And thanks for the link to your blorum, I shall read it regularly! Hi Ewen,

I have encountered a few (mostly young) Japanese people who know about RPGs, but they don’t seemvery interested. I certainly agree regarding the language issue, and I’m glad to hear those names, since I had only heard of (or found) sword world over there. I shall investigate them. And thanks for the link to your blorum, I shall read it regularly!

]]> By: Ewen http://faustusnotes.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/fantasy-role-playing-in-japan/#comment-112 Ewen Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:28:29 +0000 http://faustusnotes.wordpress.com/?p=122#comment-112 The TRPG scene in Japan is tiny, and I've yet to actually meet a Japanese person who's heard of the hobby. (With Americans I can at least say "It's like Dungeons & Dragons" and there will be some flicker of comprehension). My understanding is that there is a tiny bit of a scene, though retail-wise it's mainly through small specialty stores like <a href="http://www.yellowsubmarine.co.jp/" rel="nofollow">Yellow Submarine</a> in Akihabara. Their biggest tabletop gaming con is JGC, which is held at a hotel that holds about 1600 people. There are certain Western games available in Japanese, notably D&D, GURPS, and World of Darkness, but not a whole lot of others. On the other hand, there are an awful lot of Japanese-made TRPGs, and a lot of really amazing, innovative stuff, actually. This seems to be in part precisely because of the language barrier; in Finland so many people speak English that Western games dominate the market, and there is very little local innovation, and very few games actually published in Finnish. In contrast, the Japanese scene, however tiny, consists first and foremost of local efforts. Some of the fascinating Japanese game's I know of include Yuuyake Koyake, Meikyuu Kingdom, Ryuutama, and Sukupani. Japanese TRPGs on the whole tend to be designed to catapult you into play very quickly, and to play in a small number of sessions, to better suit a busy Japanese lifestyle. They also tend to use small numbers of six-sided dice, since polyhedral dice are generally hard to come by over there. If you want to know more, please check out <a href="http://www.j-rpg.com/talk/" rel="nofollow">JRPG Talk</a>. The TRPG scene in Japan is tiny, and I’ve yet to actually meet a Japanese person who’s heard of the hobby. (With Americans I can at least say “It’s like Dungeons & Dragons” and there will be some flicker of comprehension). My understanding is that there is a tiny bit of a scene, though retail-wise it’s mainly through small specialty stores like Yellow Submarine in Akihabara. Their biggest tabletop gaming con is JGC, which is held at a hotel that holds about 1600 people.

There are certain Western games available in Japanese, notably D&D, GURPS, and World of Darkness, but not a whole lot of others. On the other hand, there are an awful lot of Japanese-made TRPGs, and a lot of really amazing, innovative stuff, actually. This seems to be in part precisely because of the language barrier; in Finland so many people speak English that Western games dominate the market, and there is very little local innovation, and very few games actually published in Finnish. In contrast, the Japanese scene, however tiny, consists first and foremost of local efforts. Some of the fascinating Japanese game’s I know of include Yuuyake Koyake, Meikyuu Kingdom, Ryuutama, and Sukupani. Japanese TRPGs on the whole tend to be designed to catapult you into play very quickly, and to play in a small number of sessions, to better suit a busy Japanese lifestyle. They also tend to use small numbers of six-sided dice, since polyhedral dice are generally hard to come by over there.

If you want to know more, please check out JRPG Talk.

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