July 2026 Roundup

Summer heat and festivals are in full swing in Japan. A few items that caught my eye in July:

How to become a TRPG Publisher

Frog Games posts a lot about the business of TRPG publishing, and extended this to an event at CCFolia Ikebukuro on July 26th.

I unfortunately wasn’t able to attend, but Frog Games’ Watanabe and Adventure Planning Service’s Kondo discussed the challenges of being a small publisher, such as distribution vs direct sales, in addition to TRPG specific topics. Really nice to see this type of industry support.

Ghost in the Shell TTRPG

The cyberpunk classic Ghost in the Shell is getting another TTRPG, this time from Mantic Games! I’m really digging what I’ve seen so far. Crowdfunding ends August 14th.

Sword World

The new date for the Sword World English edition crowdfunding is set for October 20th. It will apparently be divided into three books: Player, GM, and Bestiary.

HacKClaD TRPG

Cover of HackCLAD TRPG showing a group of witches facing down a dragon.A TRPG adaptation of the deck builder game HacKCLaD by Susabi Games came out from Kadokawa on July, 17th. I’m not familiar with game or setting, but the author caught my attention: Tōichirō Kawashima. I’m at a bit of loss how to keep it brief, but he created the Saikoro Fiction system, Insane, Meikyuu Kingdom, Magicalogia, among many, many, more. Very cool artwork based on the few sample pages available.

June 2026 Roundup

Releases are a bit calmer the month after Tokyo Game Market, but some particularly big releases in June!

Rulebook App Released

Screenshot of the Rulebook App Home Screen.

The CCfolia Rulebook App released with access to a fair number of books! It costs ¥550 a month, but there’s a coupon code “start_trpg” that makes the first month free. I’ll write more about it after I’ve had a chance to check it out.

Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne TRPG

Continue reading June 2026 Roundup

May 2026 Roundup

With Tokyo Game Market in May, this post would be exceptionally long if I somehow managed to cover everything. So with that being said, here are a few highlights from May!

A New Solo Game by NS Miniatures

Cover of 灰と剣の迷宮 (Hai to Tsurugi no Meikyuu; Labyrinth of Ash and Sword) showing an armored adventurer about to climb down a rope into a labyrinth.NS Miniatures, the makers of Dungeon Origami, among other miniature products, released 灰と剣の迷宮 (Hai to Tsurugi no Meikyuu; Labyrinth of Ash and Sword) that was been quite the hit. It sold out once, but preorders for the second run are open again. I’ll do a post about this once my copy arrives.

Continue reading May 2026 Roundup

April ’26 Roundup

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.

Vampire the Masquerade Japanese localized cover

Continue reading April ’26 Roundup