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Simon Lundström
Sweden
Örbyhus
Now who are these five?
Come, come, all children who love fairy tales.
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My experience of Japanese RPGs (TRPG) is that many of them are built on another way of seeing RPGs as a whole. Of those I have seen and played, the focus is more on that they are a game, and less the sense of simulation, that I feel is the case with many western RPGs.
With another fantasy style, another sci-fi style, and a rather unique comic entertainment style (manga), Japanese TRPGs have a different touch to them. They do have something intangible in common, and I believe that those interested in some Japanese RPGs are interested in more of them.
For us in the west, it's hard to get a clear view of the Japanese TRPG scene, and few get an opportunity to play them. This guild is mainly intended to be a place to discuss these Japanese RPGs, give tips for others, and share the information that we have.
Use this thread to introduce yourself.
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Simon Lundström
Sweden
Örbyhus
Now who are these five?
Come, come, all children who love fairy tales.
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My name is Simon and I got into the RPG scene when I was 10 or so, with the Swedish RPGs at the time (1984). I played a bit but was never vastly indulged - I didn't have a regular group but a few of my pals. Rather, I spent the days thinking of playing RPGs, and merely touched most of them.
An interest in Japan resulted in that I spent a year there 94-95, and another year 98-99. This latter period, I was member of a gaming society at the university there, and was introduced to a number of RPGs. We played Shadowrun, Japanese GURPS, Monster Maker RPG, Lodoss War, Blade of Arcana among others.
I was blown away with the simplicity of Monster Maker RPG ("Can they seriously have an RPG this simple!?" I thought) and translated it into Swedish. However, in the translation process I wanted to change a lot of things, and the result was an own creation, heavily based on Monster Maker, a product that, naturally, isn't finished yet.
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Donald White
United States
Hawaii
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My name is Don. Got into RPGs during college so I've only been in the scene for about 8 years now.
Been interested in Japan since high school after a friend introduced me to Ranma 1/2. My addiction ballooned from there. Began studying Japanese when I was 18. After graduating and going to Japan as an English teacher for 2 years. There I began to pick up the hobby again after a year break and started to listen to the now sadly gone Godzilla Gaming Podcast. It was a the interview they had with Andy K that made me realize that there were Japanese RPGs out there.
Collected a few while I was there then (Tokyo NOVA, Alshard ff, Alshard GAIA, and Sword World). Translated a bit of GAIA but it's hard work.
Currently a graduate student at U of Hawaii at Manoa. My thesis is looking at the TRPG games and the subculture. I'm currently in Tokyo for a month this summer doing fieldwork. I've hit the main sources to TRPG, being Yellow Submarine, Roll & Role Station and Daydream Cafe. Yellow submarine comes up often in conversation I've found and Roll & Role somewhat. Daydream is a place where people can rent tables to play games. Okuda is the owner and also designer of the game Ryuutama. It's a pretty good place and people are really open and friendly.
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Ewen Cluney
United States
California
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My name is Ewen (pronounced like "Aaron"). I did my B.A. and M.A. in the Japanese language with the aim of becoming a translator, and I've been mainly doing freelance translation of video games so far. Japanese stuff always seemed neat to me, but I got into anime and such in earnest in high school. Through mail order and getting Andy to pick stuff up for me in Japan I've managed to amass a small collection of Japanese RPGs, though with an emphasis on really weird stuff.
I wound up helping Andy K a bit with Tenra Bansho Zero, and then translating all of Maid RPG myself. It's been just about a year since we debuted Maid RPG at Gen Con 2008, and it's been quite a ride. I'm hoping to translate more TRPGs in the future, though the logistics of an actual commercial release are totally exhausting.
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Andy Kitkowski
United States
CARY
North Carolina
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Heya! I'm the aforementioned Andy K.
Basically, I'm a fiend for Japanese RPGs. I started a website dedicated to talking about them (over at www.j-rpg.com ; feel free to join if you haven't already) which also doubles as a secret workbench to - hopefully one day - crowdsource private translations of various games out there.
Every time I think that things are getting ho-hum in the RPG land, usually shit comes out of the blue from Japan and knocks my socks off with little innovations here and there that are simply ingenious.
I also organized the English-based RPG discussion group over on Mixi (like Japan's Facebook). If you're a member, you can find it here:
http://mixi.jp/view_community.pl?id=3023459
Anyway, I also run the game discussion site www.story-games.com , and also do other various game design and support activities on the net.
夜露死苦!
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