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Aspect of role-playing gaming From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Japanese-made tabletop role-playing games first emerged during the 1980s. Instead of "tabletop," they are referred to in Japanese as tabletalk RPGs (テーブルトークRPG, tēburutōku āru pī jī) (often shortened as TRPG), a wasei-eigo term meant to distinguish them from role-playing video games, which are popular in Japan. Today, there are hundreds of Japanese-designed tabletop role-playing games as well as games translated into Japanese.
In the 1970s, role-playing games received little to no attention in Japan because they only had English titles. However, several gaming magazines and computer magazines started introducing role-playing games in the early 1980s.[1][2]
Some of the earliest Japanese RPGs were science fiction titles, including Donkey Commando in 1982 and Enterprise: Role Play Game in Star Trek in 1983.[3][4] Traveller was the first translated RPG in 1984, with Dungeons & Dragons (Mentzer basic red box edition) following in 1985. One of the earliest Japanese-designed traditional fantasy RPGs was titled Roads to Lord, published in 1984.[5]
In the late 1980s, role-playing video games such as Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy helped popularize tabletop role-playing games in Japan.[6][7]
Around the same time, the Japanese game publisher Group SNE pioneered a new book genre called replays. Replays are logs of TRPG play sessions, arranged for publication in a similar style to light novels. The first replay, Record of Lodoss War, was a replay of Dungeons & Dragons that was published in Comptiq magazine beginning in 1986. It became a popular series, which led to increased interest in the fantasy genre.[8]
Sword World RPG was published in 1989 and became popular very quickly. The Forcelia setting includes Lodoss island from the replay Record of Lodoss War. Sword World RPG had a flexible multi-class system. It only uses 6-sided dice, since other polyhedral dice were uncommon in 1989, especially in rural Japan. The paperback (bunkobon) rulebooks were inexpensive and portable.[9]
Notable role-playing games in the mid-late 1980s and early 1990s included:
| year | Title | Author/publisher | Format | Note/description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Wizardry RPG [citation needed] | Group SNE | Boxed set | RPG version of Wizardry fantasy CRPG |
| 1989 | Sword World RPG | Group SNE | Bunkobon paperback | Fantasy RPG, in the Forcelia setting |
| 1989 | Record of Lodoss War Companion | Group SNE | Softcover | Fantasy RPG, in the Forcelia setting |
| 1990 | Blue Forest Story (ja)[citation needed] | 1st ed. Tsukuda Hobby(ja) 2nd ed. F.E.A.R. (1996) | Boxed set | Fantasy world similar to Southeast Asia |
| 1991 | Gear Antique[citation needed] | 1st ed. Tsukuda Hobby 2nd ed. F.E.A.R (1999) | Boxed set | One of the earliest Steampunk RPG |
| 1992 | Crystania Companion | Group SNE | Softcover | Fantasy RPG, in the Forcelia setting |
| 1992 | GURPS Runal | Group SNE | Bunkobon paperback | Fantasy RPG |
| 1993 | Tokyo NOVA | F.E.A.R. | Boxed set | Cyberpunk RPG |
| 1994 | GURPS Youmayakou[citation needed] | Group SNE | Bunkobon paperback | English title: “GURPS Damned Stalkers” |
| 1996 | Seven Fortress (ja)[citation needed] | F.E.A.R. | Boxed set | Fantasy RPG |
 |
In the mid to late 1990s, trading card games (TCGs) surpassed tabletop role-playing games in popularity, and most Japanese TRPG magazines were either transformed into TCG magazines or discontinued.
Notable role-playing games of the early 2000s include Blade of Arcana (1999), Night Wizard! (2002) and Alshard (2002). Role&Roll magazine was established in 2003. In 2007, Night Wizard! was adapted into an anime television series. Alshard's game system was expanded into a generic role-playing game system named Standard RPG System in 2006.
Since the late 2000s, RPG fan replay videos have grown in popularity on Niconico, a Japanese video hosting service.[10]
In addition, the rise of web novels has been a major influence on the Japanese fantasy and RPG scene. Log Horizon TRPG was released in 2014.[11] "Role-playing fiction" Red Dragon was animated under the moniker Chaos Dragon in 2015.[12] Goblin Slayer TRPG was published in 2019.[13]
In Japan, domestically-made role-playing games are competitive in the market. Despite the market's small size, many original products are published. For example, 95 domestically-made RPG rulebooks, excluding supplements, were published from 2000 to 2007. In the same period of time, 25 translated RPG rulebooks were published.[14]
According to the publisher's press releases in 2019, translated copies of first (2004) to fifth edition core rulebooks of Call of Cthulhu cumulatively sold 200,000 copies domestically.[15][16]
In 2008, the Maid RPG was completely translated from Japanese into English.[17]
In 2013, the 3rd Edition of "Double Cross" by F.E.A.R was released in English by Ver. Blue Amusement.[18]
In 2013, Ryuutama was translated into French by editor Lapin Marteau.[19][20]
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