Japanese TRPG Replays : What are they? How are they different from Actual Plays?

[@BCasimirSlaski]

This explains so much. Two Octobers ago my wife and I were in Tokyo and I was absolutely floored by how much Cthulhu I was seeing on display in the gaming stores. Almost zero D&D at all, but Cthulhu literally everywhere.

[@JenniferFuss]

A nice/interesting video :) I would love to see more Replays for western tabletop rpgs, or if western publishers could approach the Japanese speaking audience better. Though White Wolf isn't an American publisher anymore, they are now Swedish :)

[@Longlius]

CCP is Icelandic, and they dissolved White Wolf entirely. The original White Wolf staff continued on as Onyx Path.

[@callumblair6269]

Matthew Longley White Wolf during this time was not owned by CCP, but Paradox.

[@rolistespod]

I am developing a game and the rule book should include the replay of a whole session. Google "Paris Gondo - The Life-Saving Magic of Inventorying" to find out more. :)

[@evvee345]

Found your video through REddit today. I didn't realize just how different the RPG market in other countries would be. Thanks for sharing this information. I was really engaged the entire time!

[@raffaelepassarelli6444]

This was incredibly informative. Thanks.

[@rolistespod]

Thanks so much for your video. I am always so curious about if/how tabletop RPG is practiced across the world + I love Japan so it's great to have someone like you to open a window on this world.

[@Kuwaiden]

Hey Andy, thanks for linking me to your video. With your explanation and living in a post-Critical Role world, I can now see why replays can be so popular. I remember when news of the anime Chaos Dragon first came out and finding myself puzzled at the discovery that the anime was based from a replay of the game Red Dragon. Reading more, I find out that the entire session/replay was meant to advertise the RPG, Red Dragon, that they made, but considering the format you described in the video of half-replay and half-rules, I can see how it works in hindsight. If only the anime itself was any good, haha. On that note, seeing as how you presented Dead Line Heroes, a TRPG with a replay, in the video, and that this TRPG was published by Kadokawa, would you have any insight as to why replays are no longer being made into anime? Other than the flop that was Chaos Dragon, I know Record of Lodoss War was a replay that was made into a well loved anime. It's a bit tangential to where your interest lie, but I was just wondering if you had any thoughts on the matter. Lastly, this and Don't Stop Thinking's video are the only videos I can find on the subject of "RPGs in Japan". I was wondering if you do any more videos, or talks, or blogs about the scene and the work you do. Again, great video. Thanks for all the RPG translation work you do!

[@MagnusUltracock]

I used to write articles about gaming in Japan for VIZ and Dark Horse (they would appear in the back of translated comics and anime fan magazines and stuff); I ostensibly keep a blog about gaming in Japan at www.j-rpg.com , but "What I intend for it to actually be" and "What it currently is now" is so out of skew it's like a rickety rope bridge connects those two realities by a thread. But, after finishing up some Kickstarter milestones, I plan to post to it regularly about gaming life in Japan, with Japanese RPG play reviews and the like. I'll accompany it with videos, so if you're subscribed to this channel you'll get an update when I make a new video (for that blog). Thanks!

[@MagnusUltracock]

Oh, and I forgot to mention about the other questions you asked: Interesting note about Red Dragon: The replay website went up, a small "Setting and Art book" came out... but the "actual RPG" never came out! In fact, I found later from insiders that not only was it not "cancelled", but the creator of this media blitz never actually planned on publishing the underlying RPG system(!!!). It was likely a super loopy freeform chat thing with few/no rules, though the creator insisted simply that he "didn't want to taint people's expectations by revealing the underlying system". So it was a Replay... for an RPG that doesn't even exist! (but the assumption here was that it was to be a "media imprint/blitz" like .hack//SIGN or the like (manga! light novel! anime! console game!); but the anime sucked so it failed I guess) As for why replays are no longer being made into anime... it's actually extremely rare for them to have made the jump from replay (or TRPG) to anime in the first place. A nice but unexpected fluke. Damn shame that apparently the Red Dragon based anime was so poorly received (ie written), because that liekly could have led to more interest. I imagine that we'll continue to see more CoC-themed stuff leak into horror/suspense anime, and perhaps even genuine straight CoC anime once the material fully hits public domain (likely spearheaded by Urobuchi Gen I'd imagine).

[@Kuwaiden]

Cool. I'll be looking forward to more talks about the Japanese RPG scene from you, Andy. That's a shame about Red Dragon. I can't say for sure I would have been interested in playing either the system or the setting, given my only exposure to it was the anime, but I am still very interested in a system developed by big light novel writers names attached to it. Though I do wonder if it was said star-power that caused the anime staff to completely misunderstand the replay as a whole. But hey with this much popularity of CoC, and the increasing interest fueled by the Force of Will anime having Lovecraftian mythos attached to it, we could probably see a CoC replay anime in the near future.

[@ryomaashikaga8798]

there is a Force of Will anime? 0-0, I guess it has better success in other countries then, in NZ its kinda quiet.

[@knicknac95]

damnit i keep getting virus alerts from your website

[@FarAwayTimesGames]

This was really interesting! I looked into this after reading the replay that came with the Konosuba rpg in english, it really is a great format for learning rules.

[@hp2xp425]

Very informative. I'd have never known this was a thing!

[@DeeRenaissance]

Thanks for this! would love to see more vids from you about RPGS

[@YoshiroPoh]

28:15 Very interesting picture appearance... hmmm... :P

[@SpringboardThought]

Huh! Interesting. When I check out the one in Shinobigami I'll consider doing them in products in the future. I generally always think people will just check out an actual play if they'd be interested in that; I produce pocket-sized play podcast for that reason.

[@jinchoung]

holy crap dude. i was following you from when you were trying to get tenra translated and we were waiting and waiting and waiting and finally the MAID RPG came out and that was totally not what i wanted but i bought it anyway to just ease the ache of waiting... and then.... i just totally forgot about it. then... i see a video about D&D and japanese TRPGs and i start watching that and then i see a name... andy kitkowski... that sounds familiar... why does that sound familiar? it's very distinct... and so it kinda lodged in my head.... sounds familiar.... then i look through some of the other videos... and then i see a cover of a jrpg called tenra bansho zero... hey... that sounds familiar too... why does that sound familiar? could it be? naaaaah.... it couldn't be that rpg i was waiting for a loooooong time ago that had like commercial breaks built into it and was primarily a dramatic, narrative game over a crunchy one... that's not it... is it? IT IS!!!! hey dude! what's up?!?! you finally got it translated! man... what a bizarre trip from having completely forgotten about this to probably going to buy the print version this week! anyway, glad you got it going and done and glad to have found you again!

[@MagnusUltracock]

Hah! Awesome! Thanks so much for your support! Indeed, I did Tenra, and then two more (Ryuutama, and Shinobigami is about to release soon); check out the others as well!

[@kori228]

replays sound really interesting, especially for someone like whose only party is so combat-focused, and I don't have the social skills to join another's campaign

[@TobieAbad]

Thank you for this! I wonder if I can work on making A Single Moment (2e) have a Replay at the start? Hmm...

[@Longlius]

Very interesting video. I think the replay-rules combination is a neat concept, but to be honest, I'm the sort of curmudgeonly nerd who always rolls his eyes at the Examples of Play sections in RPG books and usually ends up skipping them to get to the rules. I wonder if Japanese players and designers make them slightly less contrived.

[@MagnusUltracock]

Well, the replays differ from examples of play, in that the "Examples of Play" I read in most western RPGs are: 1) Used to specifically demonstrate one single rule example, or an example of one part of a game (skill checks; combat; etc), not the whole thing. 2) And most clearly stink of "This is not a REAL/ACTUAL table conversation, this is one writer is authoring a 4-5 person conversation where it looks like it could have taken place, but it actually didn't really happen" (ie "fake"). In Japan, they're real, and only lightly edited (sometimes hilariously so; side-conversations and unrelated jokes sometimes make it in to the final products). But for Japan, since these often feature real RPG designers, artists, and so on in the industry, it would be like reading a transcript from a live table where David Arenson GMs, Tony DiTerlizzi and Larry Elmore are playing alongside Jonathan Tweet and Mike Mearls: You get to peek into their unique play and GM styles, and "get to know them" a little more than you would via a straight interview; it's almost like you're at the table there with them. That's what makes them REALLY pop for people who are already familiar with "What is an RPG" and the like.

[@darthnazgul9766]

Hey. Great stuff! Where can I find some Sword World stuff here in the USA?

[@Hades13]

I like to read scenario, and I like to read (or watch on youtube) other people play :D. I can relate to your friend anyway ;)

[@subotai358]

Has anyone attempted an English translation of the replays?

[@subotai358]

Oops l should listen to th end before I post

[@MagnusUltracock]

Good point, I should really add a TOC with some links. Will do when I have a little time to burn. Thanks for the comment!

[@rolistespod]

Very interesting. It reminds me a lot of the podcast shows (like my own), available in a variety of formats (more or less edited, heavily produced or not), created nowadays. It's funny that this was a precursor form of ttrpg as entertainment which is considered to be a new phenomenon in Western culture within the hobby.

[@YoshiroPoh]

Are you able to give a good replay to read based on Sword World in the market right now? Available in amazon kindle if possible... Oh, and I can read Japanese to some extent so the raws are fine. :D I am looking at more of light hearted and comedy based settings.

[@MagnusUltracock]

I don't know about "Good" replays, but I was surprised to see that most Sword World 2.5 replays for sale on Amazon.jp also have a Kindle version! That's very surprising, given general publisher apathy/fear of electronic versions. Search for Sword World 2.5 replays on Amazon.

[@YoshiroPoh]

@@MagnusUltracock Haha, actually that's what I did after deciding to just take the leap.. But I am currently thinking if I should get the 2.5 starter guide book. as there are really very little details on it. Do you happen to have some info on what's the book is a "starter" for? or what it consists of? It's called 冒険の国グランゼール by the way. ADDON: Actually, I got the sw2.5 水の都の夢みる勇者 replay. It's actually quite informative, but it's not like the ninja one you were talking about, but still good enough. Just that I find it kinda clean, I guess for a tabletop game. The random chatter were there, but overall it still sounded clean. But for an amateur like me, it's definitely informative enough.

[@Skullkan6]

Do you play more Call of Cthulhu or D&D over where you live?

[@harbowoputra2828]

What are those two strange RPGs you showed? I can read that the first one is The Veil, but what's the second one?

[@alucardhellsing2054]

Hello there is there anyone that have translation on japaneses dark souls trpg? Mesege me please

[@rolistespod]

Whoooo! Well done Call of Cthulhu 😁 Take that Dungeons & Dragons