A question I often hear is, “what TRPGs are popular in Japan?” I recently saw a flyer for a large TRPG convention, and thought it’d be interesting to look at the games being played.
Before we jump into the specifics, “convention” can mean anything from a small monthly event with a table or two to large events with dozens of tables. They also range from general TRPG conventions to single-system-only conventions, where only one game system is played (e.g. Sword World only).
Hama-con 2018
Hama-con (浜っコン, “Hama” coming from “Yokohama”, where it is based) takes place on May 5th. It has fifty tables spread across three floors and they’re expecting 250 attendees. One floor with nine tables is dedicated to Saikoro Fiction (サイコロフィクション, literally dice fiction), a TRPG series by Adventure Planning Service. The ninja TRPG Shinobigami is probably the most well-known example of this series. A second floor with sixteen tables is described as “Cthulhu and Sword and Magic Fantasy.” Finally, the third floor is twenty five tables of various systems.
Now onto the list of games!
| No. Tables | Japanese Name | English Name | Website |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | クトゥルフの呼び声 | Call of Cthulhu | |
| 4 | シノビガミ | Shinobigami | Japanese Publisher English Publisher |
| 4 | インセイン | Insane | Publisher |
| 2 | SW2.0 | Sword World 2.0 | Starter Set Rule Book 1 |
| 2 | サムライブレイド | Samurai Blade | |
| 1 | 迷宮キングダム | Meikyuu Kingdom | Publisher |
| 1 | 神我狩 | Kamigakari | Publisher |
| 1 | 石油王 | Oil Magnate | Publisher |
| 1 | 少女展覧会 | Shoujoten | Publisher |
| 1 | ログホライズン | Log Horizon | Publisher |
| 1 | モノトーンミュージアム | Monotone Museum | Publisher |
| 1 | マギカロギア | Magicalogia | Rulebook Hands On Publisher |
| 1 | ブレイドオブアルカナ | Blade of Arcana | Wikipedia |
| 1 | ブラインドミトス | Blind Mythos | Publisher |
| 1 | ビギニングアイドル | Beginning Idol | Publisher |
| 1 | ネクロニカ | Nechronica | Publisher |
| 1 | トーグ | Torg | Wikipedia |
| 1 | トーキョーナイトメア | Tokyo Nightmare | Publisher |
| 1 | テラザ・ガンスリンガー | Terra the Gun Slinger | Wikipedia |
| 1 | デッドラインヒーローズ | Deadline Heroes | Publisher |
| 1 | ダブルクロス3rd | Double Cross 3rd Edition | Japanese Publisher English Publisher |
| 1 | ダークデイズドライブ | Dark Days Drive | Publisher |
| 1 | グランクレスト | Grancrest | Publisher |
| 1 | ガンドッグ | Gundog | Japanese Wikipedia |
| 1 | カミゴロシ | Kamigoroshi | |
| 1 | アルスノヴァ | Ars Nova | Publisher |
| 1 | microscope | microscope | Publisher |
| 1 | サタスペ | SATASUPE | Wikipedia |
| 1 | ギアアンティーク | Gear Antique | Wikipedia |
| 1 | ガーデンオーダー | Garden Order | Publisher |
| 1 | ウタカゼ | Utakaze | Publisher |
| 1 | ヴァンパイアマスカレード | Vampire: the Masquerade | |
| 1 | Demon: the Fallen | Demon: the Fallen | |
| 1 | D&D5 | Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition | Publisher |
There’s relatively few Sword World tables in the list, but there is a Sword World only convention with eight tables the following month, so I think it’s safe to say it is still alive and kicking.