D&D VS Japan's Top TRPG (with Andy Kitkowski)

[@Hawwwlucha]

972 yen for a copy of Sword World 2.5?!? When Andy said it was inexpensive, I didn't imagine it to be _that_ low!

[@elfireii328]

For those who don't know, 1000 yen is about 10 dollars or around 5 Euro.

[@seb24789]

For comparison: ONE D&D book costs between 30-40. You need at least 3 to play.

[@Longlius]

@@elfireii328 Closer to 8 Euro

[@XSanctusMalumX]

The number 1 tabletop RPG in Japan is Call of Cthulhu? there's a hentai joke in there but it just feels too easy...

[@Wearywastrel]

XSanctusMalumX it really is the natural progression though if you think about it.

[@knicknac95]

in the modern japan Suppliment thees the option to play as an idol and already i have ideas about a CoC Love live game - except μ's are actually all cultists of Nyarlathotep. "nico nico F'taghn"

[@MajoReviews]

jokes aside, i was surprised too! Im currently studying in japan and I got into trpgs cos my friend who's japanese introduced me to call of cthulu (I was alrdy aware of trpgs but this is what got me rly into it). When i told her abt d&d (due to my recent obsession with Critical Role), she had no idea what it was abt. I thought that was super peculiar... And when I told her abt both d&d and vampire the masquerade, she seemed pretty intrigued abt those 2. I rly do hope we'll be able to play d&d in the future XD

[@boyanpenev9822]

I've heard it is the most popular Western RPG, at any rate. Supposedly, its episodic adventure nature works well for Japanese groups, and the premise - going against unspeakable cosmic beings - seems to be fairly popular.

[@t.b.m.5718]

Call of Cathulu's primary demographic are women between the ages of 17 to 35 ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[@GokudoBarzinho]

Here in Brasil we have a specific way to play rpg. Given the fact that we almost never got the dnd ready to play adventures (before dnd 4.0), an essential part of playing rpg for MANY players is creating the whole setting & adventures! So improvisation and worldbuilding are two things rooted in our community. (not so funny fact: we never got almost any dnd translated, not even 5.0, so the original aspect of many rpg groups were born out of linguistc barriers) Almost every table has it's own original world, not only a variation of forgotten realms or something, but its own world indeed. Some of them even becoming published systems! I will list some brasilian rpgs: - Defensores de Tóquio 3a Edição (Tokyo Defenders, 3rd Edition) an anime oriented RPG, D6 system (Brasil has the biggest japanese community after Japan :D ) - Desafio dos Bandeirantes, colonial adventures with magic and stuff. D20 system. Bandeirantes were the men that explored the brasilian jungle, fought agains natives, etc. You can play as a native, african, european, explorer(bandeirante), shaman, cristian priest, etc. - Tormenta RPG (Torment RPG), anime style D&D. It's a setting with multiple system adaptations (gurps, d6, d20, etc). Currently on D20 but simplified. - Old Dragon, old school rpg, high difficulty, very heavy strategy, d20 with focus on grid play - Terra Devastada (Devasted Land), zombie rpg with focus on creativity and survival. D6 - Daemon, covers every type of setting with a dark touch. D100 system.

[@1986Hikaru]

Daemon is d100 system

[@danielpayne1597]

That sounds really cool! Would love to try that Desafio dos Bandeirantes concept. It seems really rooted in South American history with all the flavors of rpg class systems built from your region's history.

[@rcautela7405]

@@danielpayne1597 if you like that 1 youll luv stuff like Aquelarre and Alatriste!

[@paulofrota3958]

You bullshitted a little bit there. Daemon is NOT a d6 system. Tormenta can be played as such but it is NOT an anime-style game.

[@GokudoBarzinho]

@@paulofrota3958 tormenta is a anime style rpg man. Look at the aesthetics, the mood and the story. It has 2 mangas, anime style art direction, goofy stuff. Cheers

[@Zanji1234]

Sword World 2.0 and 2.5 have been fan translations now :) 2.0 is completly finished with all their supplements and 2.5 has rulebook 1 and 2 with rulebook 3 is almost complete.

[@RichterBelmont2235]

Cthulhu being popular with japanese might be because psychological horror resonates well with their usual kind of horror more than anything to do with tentacle porn?

[@keltzar1]

That makes sense. If Mononoke is anything to go by it's definitely a similar style.

[@bigpurpledino1243]

Fuck You Kanye & tentacle porn 2020 bitch!

[@mslabo102s2]

Modern setting and mystery-oriented gameplay resonated strongly.

[@FightingDuskstalker]

There's a Log Horizon RPG!?! You mean I, too, can be living in the database? Whoah-oah

[@DontStopThinking]

There are tons of RPG books in Japan. Unfortunately, not many make it to the west.

[@mr.gardevoir3204]

Look like a good tabletop game to me:D

[@MrMac1219]

i was thinking the same thing when i saw that. hell i was just working on homebrew spells for my upcoming 5e wizard a few days ago and wanted to make Thorn bind hostage and Electrical fuzz

[@genroynoisis6980]

Damn, the world of pure fiction's cracking in my head right now.

[@arrangill9512]

What as adventurer / worker? They do not do so well esp, with papa bones around

[@windsgrace688]

Call of Cthulu being so popular in Japan was something I never really considered. But it makes a lot of sense considering Haiyore! Nyaruko-san exists.

[@MrRourk]

Probably has something to do with the 1920's & 30's Glamor. That is a Romantic Era in Japan.

[@lorenabell4713]

Maby because the Japanese love giant monsters

[@234ne14]

Recently it became more mainstream, but it always had some niche holdings in the otaku-literature community. A lot of hentai/adult simulation games used Cthulhu Mythos as a plot device, from tentacle jokes to actual horror narrative. Most famous brand that used this was Nitro+ in their "Daemonbane-series", and the horror love story "Saya no Uta". Also, as Loren Abell states, the Kaiju-genre had influences from lovecraft, as scriptwriters and designers took some inspiration from it.

[@MrRourk]

Ahh but then there is Sakura Wars set in the same time period. It enjoyed a good run of popularity.

[@OmnipotentO]

They do seem to love tentacles... so I've heard

[@DisFunctor]

I'm so happy I was able to order a Spanish-translated version of Ryuutama! I'm excited to get started on TRPGs. I'd also get the Sword World 2.5 Starter Set in a heartbeat if I was able to find it in Spanish as well (my other player doesn't know English very well... but heck, I'd more than happily take an English translation as well).

[@danielpayne1597]

Interesting vid, loved learning about how tabletop RPGs run in Japan and the cultural differences in how TRPGs are played and popularized. Transcribing recorded game sessions into the equivalent of a play book is brilliant!

[@PigeonCrash]

I put this video on a second monitor and was only going to give it a try, but it's so interesting to listen to Andy speak! He's such a great speaker with so much in depth info that this video got my full attention on my main monitor.

[@HIRATSUKA_TRPG]

Thank you for runing my video as an example (-人-)

[@DontStopThinking]

It was a fun video, even though I understand only a little Japanese.

[@UwgAllDay]

I had no idea that Japanese tabletop was even a thing, but a Log horizon trpg has me so hype

[@cedrickulacz8468]

I ran Ryuutama actually, how I learned about Japanese tabletop.

[@knicknac95]

5:29 - Paizo does do digest versions of their pathfinder rpg that are close to that size and seem to be selling reasonably well.

[@JordanKennedy]

Great interview! Lots of good insight on both the publishing economics of ttrpgs and it was cool to know about the popularity of CoC

[@巨神が大地に立つそして星々]

Since I have play SW 2.0 ( Not 2.5 version) for at least 1 year..... I want to said ： If you like to play D&D, especially the player like to create spellcaster character you would ,probably, don't want to play SW2.0 1. Thouh a spellcaster class in SW 2.0 always prepare and be able to cast any spell in his / her level in cost of MP (except for Fairy Tamer, it takes time to prepare what kind of element they want to use), but the problem is spells options are much lesser than D&D have 2 SW2.0 's spellcaster are more vulnerable against weapon attack than D&D does they don't use AC to against Attack check, intstead they use Dodge check to prevent damage from Attack check the main issue is SW2.0 's mechanism about proficiency & check...maybe also multiclass ? If your class has proficiency in this check, you roll 2D6+ class Level + modifier If your class DOES NOT have proficiency in this check, you would roll ONLY 2D6. Spellcaster class in SW2.0 lack proficiency in both Attack check & Dodge check (Demon Ruler may be a exception if he use spell buffing himself. without any buff, still use only 2D6 for any Attack & Dodge check)

[@keltzar1]

So you're saying that spellcasters aren't just the best at everything like they are in D&D?

[@巨神が大地に立つそして星々]

Lack of option, or less versatile likes D&D's spell caster can be max level is Level 15 ,(epic rule can reach Level 17) In SW2.0, a Level 7 priest has about 30~33 spells can use in total 27~30 basic spells are depend on the alignment of your God, most are 27. Lv2 Lv4 and Lv 7 unique spells provided by your God. D&D's cleric , 5e for example, can only prepare certain amount of spells, but the total options are about 71 spells for a level 7 cleric ? Some Divine Domains even provide you more . other mechanism design also make option less than D&D For example,most classes in SW2.0 don't has reaction or opportunity attack likes D&D has Level 7 Grappler can use counter attack ....maybe this is the only thing likes reaction in D&D ? Or maybe you were a epic level Fighter , you can learn a feat which allow you to cut through bullet and dragon's breathe those are the only thing that I remember can work like a reaction in D&D

[@shirakawamaseru]

@@巨神が大地に立つそして星々 To SW defence, as someone who migrated from DnD to SW. You have much more spells in DnD, that is true. But i rarely, if ever, seen more than 10% of them used. 90% of the spells are just there to fill up the Players Manual. Yes, you have 71 Spells (and each has a paragraph of description), but i consider that an downside. After every level, players take 30+ Minutes to readup the new spells they have access to + decide what they want to use + every time they use a spell, they have to lookup too. Battles in DnD take what feels like forever and everyone waits for spellcasters because they forgot small details about the spell because, of course! Nobody reads 20 A4 pages of information and just knows them. In SW, you get ~5 new spells every level and that is good. 1-2 of them deal damage, the others have a different effect and you're done. Most people just want to play the game and don't sacrifice their life to actually become the character they play in the game and learn every detail and trivia about them.

[@F4R207]

Thank you for this enlightening insight in the role-playing game hobby in Japan. - A Swede. PS. Basic Roleplaying (RuneQuest, Call of Cthulhu, Elric, Magic World) is at the core of the Swedish role-playing game hobby back in the early 80s and the more free form role-playing focused theme and tone of the Nordic RPG and LARPing community, and I completely agree on the more inclusive and diverse aspect of the titles rather than how the hobby in the US have been shaped by the miniature wargaming of D&D.

[@mslabo102s2]

Other popular channels don't cover these topics. I'm so glad you exist.

[@six2make4]

Kinda sad there don't seem to be a translation of Sword World, apparently Record of Lodoss War is based on a guys playthrough with that system. Could be fun to try and run a couple of one shots, but I don't speak Japanese and neither does my friends heh.

[@DontStopThinking]

It's actually the other way around. The group was playing D&D, but had to create Sword World after Record of Lodoss War replays were published.

[@six2make4]

Guess google was wrong on this one. Learn something new everyday. Still would like that translation at some point :P

[@Longlius]

Even better than that - Apparently the guys behind Lodoss approached TSR about doing an officially-licensed campaign book in the setting for AD&D, but TSR turned them down. So they came up with their own RPG. This was back in the 80s long before the OGL when producing 3rd party shit for D&D was incredibly difficult. TSR would often send their lawyers after third-party companies that even mentioned D&D in their books, hence the popular tagline "compatible with most fantasy RPGs" or "compatible with the world's most popular fantasy RPG". Sword World exists, like many other systems, because TSR was dogshit at actually running a brand.

[@notgeorgemiller]

swordworld.wikia.com/wiki/Book_1_Translation closest we have got

[@AnActualRealPotato]

Well, there is a complete translation of the core rules since 2021. The project is still ongoing, with about 40% of the supplements done. You can find it, i'm sure. There is a fan discord and subreddit with all the links. Me and my group have been playing it for the past 6 monsts and love it.

[@shallendor]

That was a fantastic interview, and very informative. Thank you!

[@bangzell6885]

If memory serves, the anime Chaos Dragon was created after a few big names in the anime industry got together for a tRPG session.

[@noukan42]

It is based on a campaign played by Nasu(fate series and the nasuverse), Urobochi(Madoka, psycho pass, Saya no Uta) and Narita(Baccano and Durarara). Too bad it turned out to be crap...

[@bangzell6885]

Yeah, it's crazy how so much potential can lead to so little payoff. Baccano! and Psycho-Pass are two of my favorite anime, and while Fate's complete disregard for the smallest shred of historical/cultural accuracy makes me cringe sometimes, the world-building of the Nasuverse is pretty fantastic. I'm personally more of a Tsukihime fan! And I think Fate/Zero, which our good friend Urobutcher penned, is phenomenal as well.

[@MagnusUltracock]

Yeah, it was based on the published replays for "Red Dragon": A replay and concept art book for an RPG that was played... but had no published rules (??? really weird, even for Japan). Interestingly, the original replays can still all be read here. This site's use of HTML5 is really cool too, for the pop-out pictures as you scroll down the replay pages... sai-zen-sen.jp/special/reddragon/

[@robinb.2745]

That looks like a fun trpg. I would love to give my players a chance to try it. The idea of trying a foreign tabletop game is really exciting.

[@kdolo1887]

First Japan makes robots. Then, they adopt Call of Cthulhu as their primary TRPG. Clearly they are lightyears ahead

[@WatchfulVendor]

Call of Cthulhu?! Yeah Japan! Right on!! Favorite game hands down, those folks apparently know where it’s at!

[@occultishnoir]

Now I want to try to find a Log Horizon and Sword World 2.5 in English so I can add them to my collection of games and give them a try.

[@mrfreddorenton]

These vocaloid re-enactions are a fascinating idea. A couple of youtubers like Puffin Forest or Zee Bashew have gained a following by doing a similar thing with animations for the YT audience.

[@LeGareBear]

I’m really glad I stumbled across this channel, hella interesting!

[@chillinon3263]

Wow! I never would have guessed that about CoC, this makes me pretty happy as a horror fan, every time I've tried to run it though my games have become Scooby-Doo haha

[@FatedMusic]

Such a cool video! I would've never guessed that Call of Cthulhu was so popular over there! Such good information about how the culture around TTRPG's is over there too, i'm glad I stumbled across this. Thanks!

[@x64600]

I've always liked Call of Cthulhu's BRP (Runequest, Heroquest, Glorantha) system better than D&D D20 system. - The leveling mechanics, & Character Classes in D&D have always felt wonky. - The best thing about D&D is the worlds, Like the Forgotten realms. The Lore, & the Novels. - Playing in the Realms with BRP is the best. It's very easy to homebrew with BRP.

[@Jayce_Alexander]

I knew next to nothing about the Japanese TRPG scene before I watched this. This was highy educational. I subscribed. :)

[@colinflanigan9153]

Any chance of an update on this? Great interview!

[@Rinzark]

My friend backed a kickstarter or something for Tenra Bansho Zero years ago and got two copies of it, gave me one. It's super fun to pull out and have a go at for a little while every now and again

[@KogasaGaSagasa]

Informative video! I've studied and known most of the stuffs here on my own, and I can say that this is decently put together. There's another video on TRPG in my recommended section and I can't wait to watch it as well. Japan has a lot of replays for TRPG - first in novel forms (I own a few Crystalia novels, which are under Sword World system), and nowadays more often on nicovideo. Nicovideo even has a TRPG category for all those TRPG videos now. Between replays and a lot of system designs, you can tell that Japanese folks play TRPG differently. Japanese style falls heavier toward one-shots instead of campaigns, which is a point that wasn't very touched upon, whereas general Western style seems to prefer campaigns, especially grand ones similar to Critical Role. I am really happy that Andy touched upon replays, both the novel ones and the video ones. CoC replay on nicovideo largely started out with one meta-y CoC replay, one with Yukkuri Youmu (Of Touhou fandom) being the "main character" along with Goro from Gourmet Gorro, L from Death Note, etc as party members. That one was a shitstorm of its own right because of the copyright drama behind it when it was made into published novel form, from what I can recall, and the author took down the videos on nicovideo. The replay series can still be found around youtube, I think. While most of the early ones employed Yukkuri's and yukkuri voice, once the Voiceroids became popular (Yuzuki Yukari, etc) they became part of the community's "voice" as well. Nicovideo and its community are fairly supportive of content creators as well, with Nicovideo Commons where artists can upload materials such as background, character art, music, etc used to compose a replay video. ... Oh, I have Log Horizon TRPG Book 2.0, it's actually great. I've done a little bit of fan translations for various Japanese TRPGs - nothing like Andy's official translations, of course, with most of mine being for personal use. I agree with that Japanese players are a lot more adventurous with their systems. They have a lot more smaller systems that are actually great. Whereas a lot of Western players will live by and die by D&D (And of specific editions, sometimes), Japanese players are fairly open. Game designers in Japan play TRPG due to replay... Yeah. I know of a friend from my time playing Megaten IMAGINE, in a Japanese guild, who plays TRPG a lot. Last I checked up on him, he was applying for ATLAS. It's not just Japan - I know that there are some Korean companies that are willing to take TRPG campaigns that you've designed as part of your game design portfolio (At least, last I checked with Tree of Savior, a really dead and minor MMO from Korea). Rambled a little bit, but yeah. I am really passionate about the multicultural facets of TRPG, and this is the video that I've been waiting for perhaps over a decade.

[@Neverfate]

Fascinating info presented in this info. Great work.

[@bronsonkim6652]

This is super interesting! I really wanna try Sword World now!

[@fugitiveunknown7806]

I really enjoyed Tentra Bansho Zero. It had so many great ideas that let it emulate an anime style. I particularly enjoyed the Kiai (if something really mattered to your character you could fight way above your level) and the reverse death spiral (the more damaged you are, the harder you fight) and the death box (which needs a bit longer to explain). -Note: Not "Tents" Tenra! Stupid autocorrect.

[@pogeman2345]

Hey so, can I request having a video that features a SEA country like the Philippines? It would be really interesting for you to feature someone in my home country or somewhere near it.

[@DontStopThinking]

You may just get your wish in the near future.

[@Tsuna_SoulSilver]

I'm kinda curious too on how big role playing is in the Philippines.

[@MrFleem]

For some reason, I read that as "SCA country". First I was like, SCA is big in Philippines? Then I was like, what's that have to do with D&D?

[@EvaaraGaezanlei]

@unknowncharacter14 quite big... just search on Facebook and there are a ton of events happening every month at least in NCR... heck, I know for a fact people meet regularly for sessions and some offices/companies even have their own tabletop groups... there are multiple LFG and fan groups too and there's even a relatively new original local tRPG inspired by the country's local mythology slowly gaining traction and holding events to introduce newbies to tRPGs...

[@Anonymous121212]

From my experience, d&d campaigns are mostly done at home with friends. If we want new players, we just post on FB or through Reddit or Discord and wait. After that you're playing weekly campaigns with then strangers and now friends :)) Hobby shops are still the easiest place to find players but they're mostly tight-knit already and aren't into accepting new players.

[@Balrogthebuff]

Funny, I was sitting there at my desk looking at my new copy of Ryuutama when i saw this on the KZbin recommendations. Good times!

[@fenris18901]

I unfortunately don't read Japanese. Are there published editions of Sword World 2.5 in English? If so where can it be found?

[@thecoolerrats7144]

I’m surprised there’s no mention of Record of Lodoss war, but really interesting!

[@eltonjohnson]

Good stuff. Lived in Japan in 2018, and played games with a small group of local expats. I saw natives playing more card games than tabletop stuff. Killer channel, though! I always refer to your 5E vids if I have any uncertainty about core or class-related stuff. Cheers.

[@carljr17]

Is there any way to find out if there is a gaijin gaming group here in Kagoshima? I would love to play call of Cthulhu or D&D.

[@DontStopThinking]

Meetup.com is a pretty good site for looking for expats. But since it's such a small place I don't think that you will find any luck. www.meetup.com/GAMES-AND-ENGLISH/ Maybe you can convert people in that group to be Tabletop gamers?

[@Focusphobia]

Call of Cthulhu has popularity in Japan? O_O

[@pt8161]

Also, apparently the biggest demographic is women ~18-26.

[@TalkingAboutGames]

Well, tentacles and stuff, duh! ;-)

[@DylanJo123]

@@pt8161 I cant even fathom why

[@gameipedia]

11:35, Wait wait wait, They arent cashing in the models/figurine market, that's honestly surprising from a japanese product, though i guess if the game doesnt require it, no real reason to include it

[@Longlius]

TRPGs aren't associated with tabletop wargames in Japan like they are in a lot of the west. The two hobbies just happen to intertwine for us because the early communities who ran both kinds of games overlapped. In Japan, TRPGs are their own thing entirely and don't really have much of an association with wargaming.

[@cyntogia]

Is there a Japanese rpg that is not set in a standard eurocentric setting? How do they feel about the oriental adventures or shogun style game?

[@DontStopThinking]

Yup. Check out Tenra Bansho Zero, the game was translated by Andy.

[@ameliafeyparsons4816]

I found this video/topic to be very fascinating.

[@lunatic0verlord10]

2:57 Where can I find the right book?

[@Slit518]

This is interesting, because I sent Chris Broad the D&D 5e starter set so he can introduce Natsuki and Ryotaro to the game. That, and I wondered if they played D&D in Japan, and if so, how well it was perceived.

[@Scragg-]

id like to find a way to buy sword world 2.5 seems like noone has it available for importing.　アマゾンＪＰ Did not like me trying to buy it from there for sure lol. so many error messages

[@RoboBoddicker]

Sign up for a forwarding service like Tenso. I ordered a couple games that way a while back, and it was pretty easy.

[@diehard2705]

You look basically exactly how I imagined, and it makes me so happy

[@ginzomelo]

No way! I know this voice! It's the Cool History Bro dude! OMG! ❤

[@danielramsey6141]

3:08. That is a very ANIME COC there...really feels par for the course, do ancient horrors warp reality?

[@DontStopThinking]

Meet Nyarlathotep: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyaruko:_Crawling_with_Love

[@codynoles4222]

I believe that's a CoC replay. A "replay" being an abridged transcription of a game session or a series of game sessions released in novel form. That particular one I think is from the Rl'yeh series, beginning with "Rl'yeh Antique". I've always been interested in replays, but sadly very few have been translated. It's an interesting idea. EDIT: I saw this comment less than halfway through the video. You guys actually touch on replays. Thorough!

[@GarethXL]

you need a main character or you cant sell its bunch of comic spin off

[@Dracopol]

7:11 This Japanese book of LOG Horizon reads with left-to-right pages like an English book. Why is that?

[@DontStopThinking]

It's written horizontally, so they are read left to right. I wonder if they choose the horizontal format because of the title name.

[@lexmats8527]

You people are so lucky! I want to play TRPG but I dont know anyone who plays in the Philippines!

[@DontStopThinking]

Try this group. facebook.com/groups/somethingyellow/?fb_dtsg_ag=AdyKO-rU_I-9XpnwBCCQsYVKVNQx5I79HF02SavhWKbSqw%3AAdwHEX8EBcATSHsEv4ERxwkKh9w8ZXruJ1Tfy2sl9_IA-g

[@Smeagolthevile]

Holy shit this video was really good. Are those japanese games, Sword World, available in English at all?

[@MagnusUltracock]

Sword World is not, but Ryuutama, Tenra Bansho Zero, Golden Sky Stories, and (soon) Shinobigami are!

[@solomonkane408]

Is there a English version of sword world 2.5?

[@calamity916]

I wish. I'd totally buy it.

[@yastamon]

Tunnels and Trolls predated D&D being published in Japan :P

[@shirakawamaseru]

The reason Sword World was developed in the first place was TSR, the company that owned D&D back then. The company suddenly got greedy and demanded licensing fees from everyone who made anything related to D&D (this happened again, a second time, when Hasbro bought Wizards of the Cost which lead to the development of Pathfinder by the way) And there was one famous replay (Replay are novelized TRPG sessions, for young readers, the book form of Critical Role as he explained in the video) that used D&D called Record of Lodoss War. This Replay made TRPG very famous in Japan by selling more than 10 Million books but, TSR wanted licensing fees from them because they were using the D&D while playing (unimaginable these days). And that was one of the biggest mistakes of TSR at all that not just lead to the bankruptcy of the company but also to the lack of interest in Japan because: While trying to replace D&D in a haste with an self developed RPG Lodoss War RPG (and also testing with T&T and other systems), Group SNE developed Sword World in parallel to replace D&D completely. Record of Lodoss War was basically the biggest marketing TRPG ever had in Japan, but no longer for D&D but for Sword World with SWRPG receiving an Lodoss War World Guide, the PC Game of Sword World contained Lodoss War characters and so on. This could have been the big boom putting D&D into the position it is now in other countries and TSR ruined it. After Hasbro tried to clean up cleaning the mess of TSR while causing their own with D&D 4th Edition and cleaning that up either, i have the feeling that D&D slowly starts to gain popularity, but if you're coming from Sword World, D&D feels much more and heavily luck based. Side Note: While the three Core Rulebooks of SW25 get released in B5 size, all supplements (World Guides, Rule Extensions, Advantures) get release in B4 size (double) with much more art inside. Almost half of the pages contain art, similar ot the D&D Players guide. The Core Rulebooks are really just that, the rules, nothing more. If you want anything related to the World, the Setting and so on, you have to at least get the Starter Guide which already comes in B4 with lots of art. The starter guide directly continues the very small ~4 hour intro adventure printed in the first core rulebook and kicks you into the world with tons of places, NPCs, tips on how to make your own dungeon and so on.

[@darthnazgul9766]

Great info! Where can an American gamer get some Sword World materials?? Thanks!

[@Fr0stbite1801]

Wow, I'm surprised that CoC is the biggest in Japan, but then again Junji Ito is pretty much the Japanese Lovecraft. Also, I know Sword World through Lodoss, but there's a Log Horizon RPG?! Damn I want that.

[@peinoftheakatsukiXx]

Ahhhhhhh not a 2D CJ!? I love it!

[@horpaskron6645]

are there any japanese RPG's translated into english?

[@cowboy_dogg2124]

This is very interesting! A criticism I have is that you ask some very open ended questions and the replies in the past few videos have ended up quite long winded. Maybe some more focused questions would give you more concise answers?

[@alexzilla5459]

Please tell him to translate Dracorouge! It’s another TRGP from Japan that lets you play as a Vampire!

[@jordanlogelin372]

Honestly if you love both D&D as well as Sword World and you are looking to find something that is inspired by both of them, you should check out the light novel „Overlord“. It‘s written by someone who played many D&D campaigns as well as loving Sworld World. In it he creates a fusion of Sword World and D&D and converted it into an MMORPG where Players of that game suddenly get teleported in their Monster Avatars into a Fantasy World with an originally „soft“ Magic system which has assimilated the „hard“ Magic system of the Videogame. The novels may seem like just another trashy Wish Fulfillment Power Fantasy but it is actually a Power Fantasy done „right“ and thrives on dark humor😎

[@vladimirtepis]

I want so much a translation to english for Sword World.

[@darkmyth30]

Yes same

[@cellgraph]

wheres the location of gaming cafe in japan mentioned?

[@DontStopThinking]

This is the address on Google map: goo.gl/maps/pPKGaWkzTy22 And this is the official Japanese website, it it helps you. trpgtime.sakura.ne.jp/first/

[@OmnipotentO]

Fascinating. It never occurred to me that in the 80s some Japanese nerds would play DND then move on to make video games like dragon quest. Zoom on to 2018 and here I am playing DQ11.

[@kainhighwind2]

Dragon Quest was actually created as an attempt to bring over games like Ultima and Wizardry.

[@grumplebeeabee7812]

There hasn't been a "Chainmail Bikini" in a D&D since first (maybe second) edition. Art has gotten progressively less sexy in each D&D edition and in Pathfinder as well. Frankly, we could use more sexy. The most consistent and die hard lady TRPG player I've ever played with always, always wanted to play the sexiest female character she could find, and would generally start a new TRPG by looking in the rule book art for inspiration. She wouldn't find any of that now.

[@gameipedia]

chainmail bikini is stupid and impractical though, though pf does have god that grant bonuses for being unarmored/showing skin/for having sex with boons and the like, also people can always flavor shit however they want

[@grumplebeeabee7812]

You're certainly not wrong, however they very misguided "thermian argument" cuts both ways. It could easily be said "It's fictive and sexiness wins over practicality." Though male and female armor may look different there's never been a shortage of Fabio and Schwarzenegger (for both men to fantasize about being, and women to droll over. Yes, sexy art can do both things at the same time.) There's this notion that any depiction of women in any sort of evocative outfit is going to immediately put all women off (part of the endless push to reach the mythical "wider audience" and finally ditch these gross nerds) but that's just wrongheaded and frankly really sexist. I can't think of a single TRPG book I've ever read (a lot, but not all) where I would consider the depiction of women to be excessive or problematic in any way, and that's going all they way back to first edition when stuff occasionally was explicit. As an example, in that realm my wife (not the same as the girl mentioned in my first post) wasn't put off by the first edition monster manual depiction of the succubus at all. Quite the opposite, she wanted to BE the succubus. (that was an hilarious conversation, for another time)

[@Whitby_Abbeys_Ghost]

I think my tiefling barbarian is pretty Damn sexy.

[@MsRu08]

Nice video!

[@McGruder25]

Drako rouge? as in set in Draken Neir?

[@xenoblad]

Wow! You look a lot different then I thought. Interesting.

[@summbuddie9120]

Call of Cthulhu!!!!!!!!!!!! Fuck yes! It's my favourite system!

[@chr1s_376]

tell me they interview maruyama

[@junainoakuma]

Some how fujimi shobo or other publishers don't want to publisb in western sphere. I hope they at least publish it in digital format.

[@MRDLT00]

2:58 Okay wait whats with the anime girls in the Call of Cthulhu game??? I want! XD

[@shadowkras]

What a surprise. CoC surely is in a good spot in japan.

[@robinb.2745]

I wonder if Delta Green ever caught on over there. That was my favorite off-shoot game from CoC

[@MrRourk]

Old 3d6 Star Wars must be very popular in Japan then.

[@MagnusUltracock]

Unfortunately it never came over; likely licensing reasons (same with the original Ghostbusters and other WEG games. In fact, no WEG RPG aside from TORG - which has a HUGE fanbase here - ever came out in Japan).

[@bud389]

Shout out to COC.

[@ShiroNekoDen]

I want arianrhod rpg and sword world translated in English

[@enfuegobeat7953]

So that's what he looks like

[@liliththesolarexalted2206]

CoC is the mainstay of roleplaying in Japan? Wow i honestly would have never predicted that, I wonder why? So if Call of Cthulhu is the most popular in Japan (for the moment at least) what about other lovecraft inspired Rpgs? Like Cthulhutech, Delta Green or Achtung Cthulhu?

[@MrRourk]

Just like Shadowrun in Germany.

[@Harutjun]

interesting video about these bord games

[@GarredHATES]

I wonder if Junji Ito plays CoC.

[@arphaxadbasilona1871]

I can almost hear it now... "Get that weebo shit out of my D&D!!" Lol...

[@summbuddie9120]

Well, CoC is the best tabletop game full stop.

[@Dracopol]

Awww, shoot! Please put down in the title that it is Part 1 of 2!

[@stevenandre7969]

isn't ryuutama literally means dragon ball? coincidence?

[@DontStopThinking]

You're right. But tama also means sphere, bead, gem or egg. The image of the dragon holding an egg in the title should indicates that it means egg in this context.

[@williamturner6192]

Who learns improv comedy principles for these? I know there are those who use different voices, are there other skills anyone here learns for them?

[@ironysteeth]

I play dnd to be victorious over the monster. Roleplaying for some elder god to drag me kicking and screaming to my doom seems too close to my real life.

[@MrRourk]

To bad they never saw Barony by Better Games. www.story-games.com/forums/discussion/14915/games-years-ahead-of-their-time

[@Lichking]

I don't like the 5th ed and will stick with the 1st and 2nd

[@trodat07]

But... does Sandy Petersen see any penny out of it?

[@Ineedgames]

17:50 strange how he considers the game female freindly when the source material's creator was defintely not.

[@purikov]

just because dnd is popular, because it is favored by the people that know nothing about rpgs, except what pop-culture has told them, doesnt mean its top western trpg. you are comparing mainstream to works of arts, stop

[@jamesmaclennan4525]

Call of Cthulhu hentai edition..cos..tentacles

[@GeneraluStelaru]

Now it makes total sense. Thank you.

[@leavy]

also the artistic irony of having two anime girls on the cover a thing titled “call of Cthulhu”

[@PURPLE_SHADE_SMOOTHIE]

Like # 996

[@Lucitaur]

The reason why women prefer CoC over D&D is because once a month they do become a great old one themselves, allowing them to RP more easily. :p

[@Narkos6033]

First

[@asatruteacher]

These ARE NOT TRPGs!!!! Get it right! THEY ARE RPGs. The computer games are CRPGs. These games came first, and were known as RPGs long before anybody got the idea to start a computerized dungeon!

[@TakManSan]

Cobalt Blue Wow! Your trigger threshold is really low. How do function out in the real world? Or are you a shut-in?

[@asatruteacher]

No. I'm just sick of referring to RPGs (a term used for Dungeons and Dragons, and hundreds of other games like it) and people think I'm talking about gods-damned computer games which are about as much roleplaying as solitaire. Computer games are no RPGs. At best they're CRPGs and it's time to remind people of that! And now that you've made a disparaging assumption about me, I'll assume, you're simply some young simp who never cut his teeth on real roleplaying.

[@nephatrine]

They're all RPGs. (Also CRPG itself is really only a term for a specific type of computer RPG - not all RPGs on computers). When you talk to a normal person about "games" in general they're more likely to first think of pc/console/phone games rather than board/tabletop games since they're much more popular and widespread nowadays. So it makes sense that when talking about "role-playing games" they're going to think of things like Final Fantasy, Pillars of Eternity, Skyrim, Mass Effect, etc. which to varying degrees are all RPGs. Saying tabletop RPG is more precise and avoids confusion.

[@asatruteacher]

There is nothing remotely role-playing involved in playing console/computer games. There is no interactive storytelling. No world building, no real character development beyond the sliding scale on the screen and how many lives you have left. The term RPG should NOT be applied to them.

[@mtgang2016]

cobalt blue I feel you. Unfortunately the meaning of words conforms to the masses. If more people recognize RPG as the video games, RPG will be used to signify the video games. Like how awful originally could mean "awe-inspiring". Dictionaries mold definitions out of how the masses define the word.