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A History of TRPGs in Japan – Part 8 – Stranger Aeons (2013-Present)
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<blockquote data-quote="Iosue" data-source="post: 9153835" data-attributes="member: 6680772"><p>One day in January, 1983, <strong>Hitoshi Yasuda</strong>’s phone rang. It was, to his surprise, <strong>Koichi Sato</strong>, president of Hobby Japan. “Yasuda-san,” he said, “we’d like you to translate <em>Traveller</em>.” It was a dream come true for Yasuda, the perfect combination of his two loves, science fiction and RPGs, and his work.</p><p></p><p><em>Traveller</em> would become the first overseas RPG to be officially translated and published in Japan, but Hobby Japan was beaten to the punch by a rival. Tsukuda Hobby would be the first to publish a Japanese RPG. To design the game, they tapped <strong>Yutaka Tama</strong>. How Tama got this job is an intriguing mystery to me, because when the RPG was published, Tama was still a 4th year university student. Was he working part-time? Did he already have the game designed and they just bought it? I’ve searched around on the net and in the two books I’m using as sources for these articles, but I have not been able to find anything. Perhaps it was just a matter of him looking for work, as Japanese 4th year university students do, and instead of waiting until April of the following year when he had graduated, they put him to work immediately.</p><p></p><p>[SPOILER=A little more about Yutaka Tama]Tama is fascinating figure in Japanese TRPG history. He was a member of Keio Head Quarter Simulation Game Club, a gaming club at Keio University, along with <strong>Naoto Kadokura</strong>, who we’ll hear about later. He and Yasuda knew each other from science fiction conventions, and not surprising for a gaming club, the members of Keio HQ got into RPGs early on. Yasuda tells a story of going to the largest science fiction convention in 1982, and finding a copy of SPI’s <em>Universe</em> science fiction RPG. He holding his latest prize in his hands when he ran into Tama. “Oh, <em>Universe</em>!” Tama said. “Of course you’d get it, Yasuda-san. Are you going to be running it?” Yasuda could only shrug and say, “Yeah, I’ll run it for you.”</p><p></p><p>At age 20, Tama contracted a severe connective tissue disease that he would fight the rest of his life. In 1986, Yasuda would tap him to be editor-in-chief of the Japanese version of Warlock magazine. He did not have much hope that Tama would accept, since he had a very nice job at a major Japanese company. To his surprise, Tama accepted, saying, “I don’t know for how much longer I’ll live. So, I’ll do the things I love.” He would go on to write books and articles about game design and a novel based on Wizardry, and translated Gary Gygax’s <em>Role Playing Mastery</em> and <em>Master of the Game</em>. He died at age 35 in 1997.[/SPOILER]</p><p></p><p>The game he designed, the first Japanese RPG? That was <a href="https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/52499/enterprise-role-play-game-star-trek" target="_blank"><em>Enterprise Role Play Game</em></a>. Tsukuda Hobby had the license to make Japanese games based on Star Trek, and so the first Japanese RPG was a licensed Star Trek RPG. They then followed this up with another licensed property, the Japanese fantasy novel series <em>Crusher Joe</em>. It used the same essential system as <em>Enterprise</em>, reskinned for the different property. I’ll talk a little more about the system below, but the games themselves were one-offs. Whether because of the terms of the license, or merely because Tsukuda Hobby treated them like slightly different boardgames, they were released as boxed sets, and never supported after that. <em>Enterprise</em> at least had rules for creating your own character, but in <em>Crusher Joe</em> you could only play the novel’s characters.</p><p></p><p><em>Traveller</em> was released by Hobby Japan in 1984, notable in itself. But also coming that year was <a href="https://japanesetrpg.com/2021/06/05/roads-to-lord/" target="_blank"><em>Roads to Lord</em></a>, the first <em>original</em> Japanese RPG, and the first one to actually get continually supported. It was designed by Tama’s fellow Keio HQ member <strong>Naoto Kadokura</strong>. And let me tell you, looking at <em>Enterprise</em> and <em>Roads to Lord</em>, you can tell what fantasy RPG they liked to play at Keio HQ: <em>RuneQuest</em>. Both games are d100 systems, with PC characteristics providing percentage bonuses. In <em>Roads to Lord</em>, you even roll randomly to determine your race and social status, similar to <em>RuneQuest</em>. Interestingly, both games come with two d20s (numbered 0-9 twice) and two d6s. I’m not sure why d20s were used in lieu of d10s, but perhaps they were easier to get a hold of at the time.</p><p></p><p>Both games used reaction tables to hardwire social interaction in their design. <em>Enterprise</em> used an alignment-based table. Alignments went Logical Good, Logical Bad, Neutral, Emotional Good, and Emotional Bad. When encountering an NPC, you could enter into Negotiation and make them an ally by correctly choosing which of three attitudes of Negotiation to take: Act superior, Act equal, or Dissemble. Depending on your alignment and that of the NPC, only one of those actions gave a relatively high chance of success. For example, for a Logical Good character Negotiating with an Emotional Bad NPC, choosing to Dissemble gave you the best chance of success.</p><p></p><p><em>Roads to Lord</em> likewise had an important Communication table. This was essentially a reaction table, and could be affected by your Charisma. As a result, Charisma was the very opposite of a dump stat! Throughout all its various editions since then, characters’ looks and charm, and communication with NPCs have been a touchstone for the game.</p><p></p><p>As befitting a company that sold boardgames, the box sets were quite high quality. <em>Enterprise</em> came with character cards featuring glossy photos of the Star Trek original series cast. <em>Roads to Lord</em> came with 100 spell cards, hex battle maps, plenty of enemy counters, and four lead minis.</p><p></p><p>In the latter half of 1984, some of the university students Yasuda had introduced to RPGs approached him with a request. They were going to start a new gaming group, and they wanted him to be an “adviser.” (In other words, they wanted him to join, but the age disparity simply could not be ignored in Japan.) Among those who approached him was <strong>Ryo Mizuno</strong>. Mizuno had tremendous organizational skills, and soon the group was packed with members, including many women. This group was called <strong>Syntax Error</strong>, after the BASIC error message.</p><p></p><p>Yasuda continued to ponder how he could get more people into RPGs. Two things gave him inspiration. One was the “Fighting Fantasy” series of interactive novels by (Games Workshop) Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, and for which Yasuda was asked to translate the 10th book, <em>House of Hell</em>. You had your game rulebooks, and you had fantasy novels, but here, Yasuda thought, you had a link between those. Something that combined game rules with an entertaining narrative. The other source of inspiration was a member of Syntax Error who so enjoyed the game sessions, she started tape recording them and writing out what happened in the sessions.</p><p></p><p>What Yasuda keyed into with those recorded sessions was that by including the Game Master’s thoughts as the game progressed, you could create an interesting narrative that would also be the perfect example of what the game is like and how to run/play it. He first tried this in the November 1984 issue of Tactics magazine, in order to promote the newly released translation of <em>Traveller</em>. <strong>Yohei Sawaki</strong>, the Referee for the session, wrote the recap based off the recording, and Yasuda revised his manuscript. Thus was born the <strong>replay</strong>.</p><p></p><p>Following <em>Traveller</em> and <em>Roads to Lord</em> in 1984, 1985 saw a publishing company called Shinwa land the D&D license, and promptly begin distribution of Japanese versions of BECMI. In the debut issue of gaming magazine Simulator in June, game designer and writer <strong>Tomoyuki Fujinami</strong> built on Yasuda’s idea by writing a <em>Roads to Lord</em> replay that was meant to be read entirely for the entertainment, eschewing rules commentary or explanation, and including illustrations, as well as distinct text for different characters. This would have a profound influence on the replays that followed.</p><p></p><p>At the tale end of 1985, Yasuda was swamped with work, translating game books and writing articles to promote them. And then he was contacted by <strong>Kadokawa Shoten</strong>, a major publishing house, to discuss some possible jobs. Yasuda was not in the mood to take on any new work at the moment, but he agreed to meet. When he went out to greet the delegation from Kadokawa, he was surprised to see the Managing Director (and son of the founder) <strong>Tsuguhiko Kadokawa</strong>. Whatever it was, Yasuda thought, Kadokawa is serious!</p><p></p><p>Their opening salvo broke all of Yasuda’s will to resist.</p><p></p><p>“We have obtained the translation rights to Dragonlance.”</p><p></p><p>Yasuda did not realize at the time, but this was a definitive moment in the history of Japanese TRPGs. Currently, Kadokawa <em>dominates</em> the RPG market. Are you a Japanese fan of Call of Cthulhu? The Japanese translation is published by Kadokawa. Or perhaps you like Sword World, Japan’s most popular domestic RPG? Published by Fujimi Shobo, an imprint of Kadokawa. Maybe your game is Double Cross, a perennial favorite. Also published by Fujimi Shobo, and thus, Kadokawa. The new Elden Ring RPG? Kadokawa. And this is where it all started.</p><p></p><p>In addition to the translation work, two of the men were from Kadokawa’s computer game magazine, Comptiq. They wanted something to help them compete against their rival magazine, Login. They wanted Yasuda to write an ongoing series of articles. Yasuda thought for a moment.</p><p></p><p>“Could I do an RPG replay?”</p><p></p><p>“Absolutely.”</p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/a-history-of-trpgs-in-japan-%E2%80%93-part-2-%E2%80%93-bloom-to-boom-1983-1985.700267/post-9156109" target="_blank"><strong>Next: Part 3 – GroupSNE Rides the Bubble</strong></a></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Iosue, post: 9153835, member: 6680772"] One day in January, 1983, [B]Hitoshi Yasuda[/B]’s phone rang. It was, to his surprise, [B]Koichi Sato[/B], president of Hobby Japan. “Yasuda-san,” he said, “we’d like you to translate [I]Traveller[/I].” It was a dream come true for Yasuda, the perfect combination of his two loves, science fiction and RPGs, and his work. [I]Traveller[/I] would become the first overseas RPG to be officially translated and published in Japan, but Hobby Japan was beaten to the punch by a rival. Tsukuda Hobby would be the first to publish a Japanese RPG. To design the game, they tapped [B]Yutaka Tama[/B]. How Tama got this job is an intriguing mystery to me, because when the RPG was published, Tama was still a 4th year university student. Was he working part-time? Did he already have the game designed and they just bought it? I’ve searched around on the net and in the two books I’m using as sources for these articles, but I have not been able to find anything. Perhaps it was just a matter of him looking for work, as Japanese 4th year university students do, and instead of waiting until April of the following year when he had graduated, they put him to work immediately. [SPOILER=A little more about Yutaka Tama]Tama is fascinating figure in Japanese TRPG history. He was a member of Keio Head Quarter Simulation Game Club, a gaming club at Keio University, along with [B]Naoto Kadokura[/B], who we’ll hear about later. He and Yasuda knew each other from science fiction conventions, and not surprising for a gaming club, the members of Keio HQ got into RPGs early on. Yasuda tells a story of going to the largest science fiction convention in 1982, and finding a copy of SPI’s [I]Universe[/I] science fiction RPG. He holding his latest prize in his hands when he ran into Tama. “Oh, [I]Universe[/I]!” Tama said. “Of course you’d get it, Yasuda-san. Are you going to be running it?” Yasuda could only shrug and say, “Yeah, I’ll run it for you.” At age 20, Tama contracted a severe connective tissue disease that he would fight the rest of his life. In 1986, Yasuda would tap him to be editor-in-chief of the Japanese version of Warlock magazine. He did not have much hope that Tama would accept, since he had a very nice job at a major Japanese company. To his surprise, Tama accepted, saying, “I don’t know for how much longer I’ll live. So, I’ll do the things I love.” He would go on to write books and articles about game design and a novel based on Wizardry, and translated Gary Gygax’s [I]Role Playing Mastery[/I] and [I]Master of the Game[/I]. He died at age 35 in 1997.[/SPOILER] The game he designed, the first Japanese RPG? That was [URL='https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/52499/enterprise-role-play-game-star-trek'][I]Enterprise Role Play Game[/I][/URL]. Tsukuda Hobby had the license to make Japanese games based on Star Trek, and so the first Japanese RPG was a licensed Star Trek RPG. They then followed this up with another licensed property, the Japanese fantasy novel series [I]Crusher Joe[/I]. It used the same essential system as [I]Enterprise[/I], reskinned for the different property. I’ll talk a little more about the system below, but the games themselves were one-offs. Whether because of the terms of the license, or merely because Tsukuda Hobby treated them like slightly different boardgames, they were released as boxed sets, and never supported after that. [I]Enterprise[/I] at least had rules for creating your own character, but in [I]Crusher Joe[/I] you could only play the novel’s characters. [I]Traveller[/I] was released by Hobby Japan in 1984, notable in itself. But also coming that year was [URL='https://japanesetrpg.com/2021/06/05/roads-to-lord/'][I]Roads to Lord[/I][/URL], the first [I]original[/I] Japanese RPG, and the first one to actually get continually supported. It was designed by Tama’s fellow Keio HQ member [B]Naoto Kadokura[/B]. And let me tell you, looking at [I]Enterprise[/I] and [I]Roads to Lord[/I], you can tell what fantasy RPG they liked to play at Keio HQ: [I]RuneQuest[/I]. Both games are d100 systems, with PC characteristics providing percentage bonuses. In [I]Roads to Lord[/I], you even roll randomly to determine your race and social status, similar to [I]RuneQuest[/I]. Interestingly, both games come with two d20s (numbered 0-9 twice) and two d6s. I’m not sure why d20s were used in lieu of d10s, but perhaps they were easier to get a hold of at the time. Both games used reaction tables to hardwire social interaction in their design. [I]Enterprise[/I] used an alignment-based table. Alignments went Logical Good, Logical Bad, Neutral, Emotional Good, and Emotional Bad. When encountering an NPC, you could enter into Negotiation and make them an ally by correctly choosing which of three attitudes of Negotiation to take: Act superior, Act equal, or Dissemble. Depending on your alignment and that of the NPC, only one of those actions gave a relatively high chance of success. For example, for a Logical Good character Negotiating with an Emotional Bad NPC, choosing to Dissemble gave you the best chance of success. [I]Roads to Lord[/I] likewise had an important Communication table. This was essentially a reaction table, and could be affected by your Charisma. As a result, Charisma was the very opposite of a dump stat! Throughout all its various editions since then, characters’ looks and charm, and communication with NPCs have been a touchstone for the game. As befitting a company that sold boardgames, the box sets were quite high quality. [I]Enterprise[/I] came with character cards featuring glossy photos of the Star Trek original series cast. [I]Roads to Lord[/I] came with 100 spell cards, hex battle maps, plenty of enemy counters, and four lead minis. In the latter half of 1984, some of the university students Yasuda had introduced to RPGs approached him with a request. They were going to start a new gaming group, and they wanted him to be an “adviser.” (In other words, they wanted him to join, but the age disparity simply could not be ignored in Japan.) Among those who approached him was [B]Ryo Mizuno[/B]. Mizuno had tremendous organizational skills, and soon the group was packed with members, including many women. This group was called [B]Syntax Error[/B], after the BASIC error message. Yasuda continued to ponder how he could get more people into RPGs. Two things gave him inspiration. One was the “Fighting Fantasy” series of interactive novels by (Games Workshop) Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, and for which Yasuda was asked to translate the 10th book, [I]House of Hell[/I]. You had your game rulebooks, and you had fantasy novels, but here, Yasuda thought, you had a link between those. Something that combined game rules with an entertaining narrative. The other source of inspiration was a member of Syntax Error who so enjoyed the game sessions, she started tape recording them and writing out what happened in the sessions. What Yasuda keyed into with those recorded sessions was that by including the Game Master’s thoughts as the game progressed, you could create an interesting narrative that would also be the perfect example of what the game is like and how to run/play it. He first tried this in the November 1984 issue of Tactics magazine, in order to promote the newly released translation of [I]Traveller[/I]. [B]Yohei Sawaki[/B], the Referee for the session, wrote the recap based off the recording, and Yasuda revised his manuscript. Thus was born the [B]replay[/B]. Following [I]Traveller[/I] and [I]Roads to Lord[/I] in 1984, 1985 saw a publishing company called Shinwa land the D&D license, and promptly begin distribution of Japanese versions of BECMI. In the debut issue of gaming magazine Simulator in June, game designer and writer [B]Tomoyuki Fujinami[/B] built on Yasuda’s idea by writing a [I]Roads to Lord[/I] replay that was meant to be read entirely for the entertainment, eschewing rules commentary or explanation, and including illustrations, as well as distinct text for different characters. This would have a profound influence on the replays that followed. At the tale end of 1985, Yasuda was swamped with work, translating game books and writing articles to promote them. And then he was contacted by [B]Kadokawa Shoten[/B], a major publishing house, to discuss some possible jobs. Yasuda was not in the mood to take on any new work at the moment, but he agreed to meet. When he went out to greet the delegation from Kadokawa, he was surprised to see the Managing Director (and son of the founder) [B]Tsuguhiko Kadokawa[/B]. Whatever it was, Yasuda thought, Kadokawa is serious! Their opening salvo broke all of Yasuda’s will to resist. “We have obtained the translation rights to Dragonlance.” Yasuda did not realize at the time, but this was a definitive moment in the history of Japanese TRPGs. Currently, Kadokawa [I]dominates[/I] the RPG market. Are you a Japanese fan of Call of Cthulhu? The Japanese translation is published by Kadokawa. Or perhaps you like Sword World, Japan’s most popular domestic RPG? Published by Fujimi Shobo, an imprint of Kadokawa. Maybe your game is Double Cross, a perennial favorite. Also published by Fujimi Shobo, and thus, Kadokawa. The new Elden Ring RPG? Kadokawa. And this is where it all started. In addition to the translation work, two of the men were from Kadokawa’s computer game magazine, Comptiq. They wanted something to help them compete against their rival magazine, Login. They wanted Yasuda to write an ongoing series of articles. Yasuda thought for a moment. “Could I do an RPG replay?” “Absolutely.” [URL='https://www.enworld.org/threads/a-history-of-trpgs-in-japan-%E2%80%93-part-2-%E2%80%93-bloom-to-boom-1983-1985.700267/post-9156109'][B]Next: Part 3 – GroupSNE Rides the Bubble[/B][/URL] [/QUOTE]
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