The first of what I hope becomes a regular thing: a monthly look at Japanese TRPG news. Far from comprehensive, it’s just what caught my eye. Now, onto April!
Vampire the Masquerade
Vampire the Masquerade fifth edition was just localized to Japanese by Frog Games, who also localized RuneQuest and Last Sabbath. I absolutely love the new cover artwork.
Octopath Traveller
The Octopath Traveller TRPG is getting an English translation by Dark Horse. I haven’t played it, but it is a system. Release is scheduled for October 6th, 2026.
New Sword World Box Set
Group SNE released a new Sword World 2.5 Box Set 盗掘都市. Focusing on exploring tombs, it contains six dungeons and also uses the same character creation rules as the Building Box set.
TRPG Rulebook App
CCFolia has started a closed beta of a TRPG rulebook app. I wasn’t able to get into the beta, but it currently has three books: Shinobigami, Kill Death Business, and Dark Days Drive. It will have a monthly fee with unlimited access. While I generally prefer PDFs, I’m very interested in using it to sample new TRPG books. They’re currently targeting web and iOS.
Fifth Edition
Speaking of CCFolia, Hobby Japan has released a free pack supporting Fifth Edition (フィフス・エディション), their Japanese translation of the D&D 5e SRD. There’s been a lot of activity around this, so it probably deserves a post unto itself.
Hobby Japan is also making a push towards releasing content on DriveThruRPG, such as Queen’s Blade and Warhammer RPG.
5eZine
The unofficial D&D 5e Zine now has several issues (one, three, and four) for free on booth! I had been hunting for the two issues I was missing (issues one and four) and am glad to finally get by hands on them. There are also ¥100 tip versions as well.
Tokyo Game Market
Tokyo Game Market is fast approaching. I won’t be able to attend, but looking forward to see what is released. It’s held May 23rd and May 24th.