How Do the Japanese Play TRPG? (with Andy Kitkowski)

[@tedankhamenbonnah4848]

I went to an RPG convention 20 years ago. What struck me was 1) 90% were women players and 2) 4 different tables were running the same Gundam RPG scenario (Shar's Counterattack) simultaneously as a competition with prizes for the MVP. Very unique. Also at a kominkan (community centre) as people don't have house space for games.

[@creepycharisma8861]

I lowkey want an anime centered around a game of D&D, not just the events of the campaign but also around the party in their real life. Maybe a slice of life with the content of the game bringing it into the fantasy genre.

[@realhuman4879]

I too want that dnd anime

[@SwitchbackCh]

Late reply, but there is a slice of life manga called Quick Start!! about a high school tabletop club. Definitely worth a look.

[@shophet125]

@@SwitchbackCh I think heavensfeel has an ongoing translation of Quick Start. That might be worth checking out.

[@akiradkcn]

@@SwitchbackCh thanks

[@kallebroxvall5641]

This was pretty interesting. Good interview!

[@stevetheduck1425]

The Japanese take on GURPS was interesting when I found it, the world of Yuell is a traditional fantasy game, and even has the mechanic of character classes / lenses driven by which god or path they are living in, but otherwise, the flavour is definitely the group against the environment, usually with few 'loner' characters. The older 'Record of Lodoss Wars' manga / anime covers how traditional elves and dwarves fantasy campaigns similar to DnD goes with Japanese players.

[@dmcdraws]

I think one reason we grognards favor old rules systems is simply that it's stored in long-term memory. As I've been learning (and DMing) 5e, it's been a struggle to learn/remember the rules, whereas if I were to run 2e, I could do it without even cracking a book most of the time. I will say CJ that your videos have helped tons, though!

[@Longlius]

I think the other aspect is that old rules systems have tons of splat published and the rules are much more flexible. With 5e, there's a lot of concessions made in the name of balance, and it's really easy to screw that up when you try to go it alone on content.

[@myrhev]

I still prefer 2nd edition and sometimes a blend of 1st and 2nd. Unfortunately I don't run it any more because I have no players. I do have a good chunk of long term memory taken up with the rules. I also just liked it more. Some of the quirks that others hated I loved. The problem is that 1st and 2nd started to break down once you got higher levels. The power levels of some characters were just off the charts. I"m not even talking special character classes. There are times a warrior is just crazy.

[@Kuwaiden]

Since you have knowledge on old editions, would it be too much to ask for a quick explanation of THAC0 with my only context being 5e AC?

[@Longlius]

THAC0 isn't strictly related to Armor Class. Instead, it's a To-Hit statistic (To Hit Armor Class 0). So in 5e terms, it's roughly equivalent to you adding your proficiency modifier and relevant stat modifier to your attack roll. THAC0 is the number you must roll in order to hit an enemy that has an armor class of 0. It's uniform in distribution as well, so the number you must roll to hit an enemy with an armor class of 1 is (THAC0 - 1). In general, if an enemy has an armor class of x, then the roll you must make to hit that enemy is (THAC0 - x). You should note that games with THAC0 use descending AC, so lower is better. Usually, the best AC you can have in these games is -10. It works pretty much the same as modern AC, just with the arithmetic reversed (subtracting instead of adding). If you want to convert THAC0 style stats to a modern ascending AC system, it's pretty simple - your attack bonus is (20 - THAC0) and your ascending AC is (10 - descending AC). This all probably seems pretty ass-backwards for someone who's played modern D&D, but it was actually a really important evolution. Prior to 2nd edition AD&D, all combat rolls were resolved with complex matrices that only the DM had access to and which tended to have probability curves that were more realistic (D&D combat rules started out as a wargame, after all). THAC0 was a compromise that made combat simpler while still allowing you to use monsters and characters with descending AC statistics (which was everything in OD&D, AD&D 1st edition, and D&D basic). Unlike nowadays, you wouldn't get all the core books at once when a new edition dropped, so it was actually important to maintain some backwards compatibility between editions so players who bought in could still use their old stuff while waiting.

[@Longlius]

THAC0 was ultimately dropped in 3rd edition D&D because WotC wanted to clear out some of the cruft and synthesize a ton of optional rules into one coherent system. As a result, D&D versions since 3rd use ascending AC and flat bonuses to attack rolls. It was a pretty controversial change at the time (I have memories of some hardcore grogs who were outraged by the discontinuation of THAC0), but in the 18 years or so since 3e came out, I think the consensus has been that the change was a good one.

[@SmileyTrilobite]

As linguistically goofy as it is, "Delicious in Dungeon" abbreviates to DinD...DnD...D&D. I thought it was cute, at least.

[@GrammarPaladin]

Love that fucking manga

[@PepperPersonal]

The suffering feels so good.

[@7eh8irdman]

I really like the smaller form factor of the Japanese TRPGs. Wonder if we could ever get an English release of Sword World 2.5? If anyone knows where I could find it, even just a fan translation, hit me up.

[@Longlius]

There's a wiki with an in-progress translation of 2.0. Most of the rules are translated, but the fluff isn't. You'll have to search Google though. Gameplay-wise, it's not really anything special. The reason to play Sword World is for the campaign books like Forcelia.

[@LordSathar]

Savage Worlds does, but i think most western RPG companies use the huge form factor and overuse of Art as an excuse to jack up the prices, they know that most people who buy the book will probably never play it, so in essence they are marketing the idea of the game, rather than the game itself.

[@Longlius]

@@LordSathar The large form factor is also tradtional, allowing room in the layout for massive charts and maps, which are a big part of western TRPGs.

[@zionthedragon8866]

@@LordSathar Late, but got a link to this? Can't find it with my search engines. Would LOVE to try Sword world 2.5

[@zakuguriin4521]

I wish someone would bring Sword World over here to the United States. After finding out that Ryou Mizuno created The Record of Lodoss War based off campaigns he ran in Sword World with his friends, I just want to play this even more. I would pay good money to buy these books to be able to play this here with my friends.

[@netomoreira3525]

Actually he ran Record of Lodoss War in D&D and with the growth of the work it turned into Sword World. Or we both are just getting different sources.

[@zakuguriin4521]

@@netomoreira3525 We might just have different sources. Its a known fact that Sword World was the Japanese equivilent to D&D. I don't think that Mizuno is the co-founder of Sword World though. I am fully down to be wrong about that though. If you can slap me with some references to cement that he indeed made Sword World the medium for table top rpgs in Japan based on D&D and Lodoss War. I actually would appreciate it if do have more solid info on this.

[@ford13kun]

@@zakuguriin4521 It's a mix of both, as Neto said the original Lodoss campaign was made on D&D, but the *world* where Lodoss War happens is the setting that later on became Sword World (up to 2.0).

[@DoctorEviloply]

Goblin Slayer RPG uses Sword World rules and has released in English. I've got it. It's really interested.

[@Evendur6748]

I know this is one year late, but there is a fan translation online for Sword World 2.5! Its honestly looks cool that I may swap to that from DND 5e lol

[@Maehedrose]

"We don't just role dice and walk through the door, they roleplay" - I could never enjoy these games; I've been invited to a few over the years, but it's never a great experience even if the other players are cool people. I play rpgs to roleplay. I am from that older generation, but I was introduced to Indi games when I found I hated 3E Dungeons and Dragons, and it opened my eyes to a much larger and more rewarding rpg world. If I were to give advice to GMs, it's "read many game systems and settings", a well designed game system or setting can open your eyes to entirely new ways to play.

[@Longlius]

I think 'rollplaying' has fallen out of fashion a lot lately in the west. In 3E, it was a big thing because the rules were so out of wack that you couldn't really progress unless you optimized the shit out of your build and constantly fished for gold so you could afford the magic items you needed. The 'bounded accuracy' that 5e tries to enforce seems to have eliminated a lot of the more annoying powergamer cliches from modern games.

[@KogasaGaSagasa]

To loosely quote a Japanese TRPG player, "Your goal is to not roll the dice". They can be fairly rollplay-y as well, with characters that are literal monsters such as a CoC character with 90 or even 99 in Martial Arts + Kicks that'll attempt to "pick the lock" with "Martial Arts + Kick". Some others will attempt to IRL bluff the GM, using expert IRL Speechcraft to convince their GM that something works. Either to get a small advantage or to circumvent the need to roll dice. In one online replay, a CoC player pointed out how Jump worked, how his character's height is over 6ft, and by the text he can 99% (due to Jump 99) of the time jump to the second floor of the building due to the jump rule dependent on character height. So yeah - Japanese players can be fairly rollplay-y as well, though most of the time it's done for great memes.

[@FyreMagyk67]

The Tabletop cafes that Andy talked of remind me of Fantasy Flight. Really interesting stuff here!

[@Kuwaiden]

This was a great interview. Exploring how different cultures conduct games has always been a fascination of mine, and hearing the insight from a someone like Andy was definitely a good glimpse into it. I do wonder why the culture of replays took off so strongly in the Japanese market while the US tends to only have official published novels? Is it a licensing issue with using the official names of the games they play or is it a publishing cost reason?

[@MagnusUltracock]

Andy here. The answer to this question is like a super long essay. :-) However, I did answer this in another video self-interview/lecture (warning: way boring and academic, and not nearly as cool as CJ's visual effects!) as a reply to a reddit thread here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oZDLl4ZpfrKMpaM

[@MonStarGuy]

10:00 This reminds me of Kaiji Tang's playstyle on D&D's Dark & Dicey. They even joke that Dark & Dicey is their favorite anime.

[@Dracopol]

Again, you should entitle this one Part 2 of 2, and the previous one Part 1 of 2.

[@harbringerf9416]

Just came across you in my recommended. Your a really great presenter subbed!.

[@MrsDeprimente]

you should interview brazilians too. around here we play a lot rpg and there are some famous figures on the rpg scene

[@nashwinston1395]

Man coming back to this video five years later to see Delicious in Dungeon sweep the internet.

[@colinflanigan9153]

Below is an article on Japanese RPG and Andy Kitkowski is referenced!

[@chlorolupus]

Call of Cthulhu is generally more popular in East Asia due to it being more related to their background, and a relatively lack of language barrier.( I live in Hong Kong and DnD 5e does not have an official Chinese translation, people I know use unofficial translations to play most trpgs here)

[@DontStopThinking]

Interesting. Can you tell me more about the RPG scene in Hong Kong? facebook.com/cj.leung.39

[@lostinlymbo13]

I DM a game and run it at a player's apartment. However, to be fair, this is the only friend whose house I go to. In Japan, no one really goes to anyone's house. Often this even extends to dating people. People mostly don't have room mates either.

[@lostinlymbo13]

Also, glad you asked about the language factor. 5 people at my table, 3 are Japanese ladies. The other foreigner has no Japanese, one lady has no English. I work it into the story, and narrate bilingually. It's an interesting challenge.

[@Kuwaiden]

Do you have any noteworthy stories one how you incorporate the language barrier into your games?

[@YoshiroPoh]

I must be so brave, that I joined a japanese-hosted Arma 3 server.... not a trpg... but a military rpg... to some extent :P But it's definitely an interesting experience...

[@WaluigiTimer]

I am really interested in this Sword World 2.5 does anyone know where I can find a translation on the web or if someone's petitioning to get it localized?

[@MonStarGuy]

I've really been loving this Docuseries! Hope you don't mind but I'm going to promote it on my socials.

[@DontStopThinking]

Please do, David.

[@bakomusha]

I've been interested in this topic for a while, after I found out the Record of Lodoss War, is basically a Replay.

[@andrewlucas5226]

What was that magical girl combat clip from?

[@DontStopThinking]

Futari wa Precure Movie.

[@lagmonster7789]

On where Japanese play.. I can just imagine how 'Karaokee of Cthulhu' would be a truly terrifying experience. LOL

[@tisisonlytemporary]

No comment on dungeon meshi? FOr shame!

[@Hades13]

Where I live there is no many "gaijin" playing TRPG. So I play only with Japanese people, in Japanese

[@MrFleem]

Nothing fantasy since Lodoss? Did I hear that right? How about Slayers? Or every isekai ever?

[@DontStopThinking]

"High Fantasy" Slayers, Rune soldier Louie and many other new properties are really just comedies in fantasy packages. The mass of the stuff we have nowadays are really just derivative fiction designed to sell waifu merchandises.

[@dylanehooverlibrarian7026]

The comments on the types of characters sounds hilarious. I'm trying to imagine a bubbly Bloodborne hunter going absolutely gaga over the Celestial emissaries. "Look, they have arcane tendrils! Aren't they cute!?"

[@yurisc4633]

How to become a TRPG translator?

[@DontStopThinking]

I think the obvious path is to first get a degree in language translation. Master the source & target language, and then approach the property holder once you have enough experience & backing for the project. Most translated games are backed by kickstarter. I think it's because companies don't want to take too much risk.

[@andrewlucas5226]

I've always wanted some of my RPG work to be translated into Japanese to show my in laws.

[@MagnusUltracock]

Translate Japanese TRPGs! Then approach the company that published it, and offer to translate/publish it in your country. That's how we got started!

[@lukelundblad824]

Third

[@TheYugiboy13]

First