Entropic Dreams

Game Market Fall 2019

I was originally going to skip the Fall Tokyo Game Market because I haven’t played all the games I picked up last time, but in the end I found myself at Tokyo Big Sight again surrounded by analog games.

This time I went on Sunday, which is the more TRPG heavy day of the two day event. In terms of indie TRPGs, Cthulhu scenarios and supplements were again the most prevalent, but it seemed there were more indie supplements for other systems than before. Classics like Shinobigami and Kamigakari were still represented, but there were several scenarios for Stellar Knights of the Silver Sword and more recent games. One scenario book I looked at actually contained scenarios for multiple systems. There were also a number of original systems present.

Booth listings in the Tokyo Game Market catalog

The catalog was a hefty 317 Continue reading Game Market Fall 2019

Core Connection Sacred Machine Resonance

Giant robots piloted by teenage girls? Check.
Fighting to save the world from a secret society? Check.
Deck building game? Check.

The indie card game Core Connection Sacred Machine Resonance: (神機共鳴コア・コネクション) embodies the giant mecha genre and comes in a sleek package. Players begin as unknown pilots in mass produced robots, and later choose a famous pilot and ancient humanoid weapon known as “Resonant”. Together with their robot, they’ll battle the secret organization “Nebula’s Heart”. From the back of the box: choose from six pilots that grow in power as the game plays and six robots for a total of 36 variations. And when things get rough, unleash the pilot and robot’s true power.

Continue reading Core Connection Sacred Machine Resonance

Playing at the Game of Life

Things are starting to settle down a bit and I’m finally able to game again. A friend organized a board game day and the first game we played was quite interesting– Life (人生ゲーム). I’ve played the American version when I was a kid, so it was interesting to revisit as an adult. Adding on to that, there are a number of changes unique to the Japanese version. I got a kick out of it, so wanted to share a few pictures of it.

Back of the box. The game has expanded from what I remember. There are now four add on expansion boards included with the game. — The game has expanded from what I remember. There are now four add on expansion boards included with the game.

Continue reading Playing at the Game of Life

Yokohama game shops list update

The Yokohama game shops list has been updated:

I recently heard about Yellow Submarine in Yokohama moving to a new location and went to check it out. It’s much larger than the previous space, which was quite cramped. Cards, board games, and TRPGs are now all on the same floor rather than split across several floors. They’re currently running an Autumn sale on a few items, mostly Magic cards with some board games and a couple of TRPGs.

Also, removed the details of Board Game Realm DDT, which was in Kikuna, but is now closed.

Speaking of shops, Warhammer Yokohama is having their first anniversary tomorrow (9/14)!

It’s been a busy month, so far, but planning to have another game write up soon!

Novi Novi TRPG: The Horror

I had my eye on the “NoviNovi” TRPG games for a while before finally picking up “The Horror” edition at Tokyo Game Market. Created and illustrated by Takashi Konno, the original version that was self-published by the creator was a fantasy setting. It was picked up by Arclight Games and both horror and steampunk versions have been released. The subtitle explains the meaning behind the name: NOVIce NOVIce Table talk Role-Playing Game the HORROR. It’s a self-contained and easy to play TRPG that only takes thirty to sixty minutes, with everything you need to play in the box. No paper or pencils required. Continue reading Novi Novi TRPG: The Horror

For the Love of Uplifted Dogs

I recently found out about the RPG Pugmire and that it’s being localized to Japanese by Group SNE, the makers of Sword World. Not being familiar with Pugmire, I started looking for more info and stumbled upon tweets by its translator Yuli Bethe. There’s a number of interesting tweets, but one I found particularly interesting was a discussion about how to translate the word “lover” into Japanese. This probably seems like a straightforward thing to translate, but it’s deceptively complicated and really illustrates the problems translators face.

For those of you, like me, who hadn’t heard of Pugmire, it’s an RPG that adapts 5e’s SRD to a world of uplifted dogs. Humans have long since vanished, but dogs and other animals have inherited the world.

Now why would translating “lover” be potentially problematic in that setting? In Japanese, the most common ways of writing “lover” (such as 恋人) include the character for “human” (人). That’s all well and good except the fact that in Pugmire humans are extinct and it’s a world of animals.

The following is a rough translation Continue reading For the Love of Uplifted Dogs

Hands on Magicalogia

I wanted to try Magicalogia (マギカロギア) for quite a while and finally had the chance to play thanks to a friend’s daughter who ran a game for my wife and I. It was a game of many firsts– while it was the first time for me playing Magicalogia, it as my wife’s first time playing a TRPG at all. We were originally going to do a two person game, but the scenario in question worked better for two players plus the game master, so my wife volunteered to join in.

After briefly scanning the scenario book “Tasogare”, the GM decided on the “Call” scenario. Tasogare is a collection of scenarios, some of which have been published in other sources and some that are new. One thing that impressed me with the book was being able to run the scenario, including character generation, without having preparing beforehand. Also, the guide to the scenarios breaks down the number of players, their level, Continue reading Hands on Magicalogia

Magicalogia – The Great Book War

Magicalogia: The Grimoire Wars RPG (マギカロギア：魔道書対戦RPG) is a TRPG written by Toichiro Kawashima, illustrated by Torizo, and published by Adventure Planning Service. It is the fourth entry in the Dice Fiction series, which includes Shinobigami. Following the formula this series is known for, the first half of the book consists of a replay while the second half is the rules. To give a feel of what it’s like to read, I’ll follow the same general order and summarize the interesting bits. Continue reading Magicalogia – The Great Book War

Tokyo Game Market – Spring 2019

Used books in creates and games on shelves — Used books and games

I haven’t even played all the games I got at the last Tokyo Game Market, and I already have some new additions from the Spring 2019 market. I usually go on Sundays, which is the TRPG day, but this time I went on Saturday. The main booths don’t change between days, but some of the events and a number of the indie exhibitors do. There were some TRPG related booths, but the focus was definitely board and card games. Even the large Arclight booth was only selling their TRPG products on Sunday. While I was hoping for more TRPGs, I did enjoy myself and spent most of the day there. Continue reading Tokyo Game Market – Spring 2019

A Potpourri of TRPGs

A friend’s daughter is an avid TRPG player and offered to run a session of Magicalogia for my wife and I. I’m working on a detailed post about that game, but in the meanwhile, I thought it’d be interesting to look at some of the games she’s been playing:

Call of Cthulhu, Shinobigami, Magikarogia (hers, the new collected edition), Monotone Museum, Magikarogia (mine, the older edition), Kill Death Business, and Insane.

Clockwise from top left:

Call of Cthulhu – the classic and ever popular
Shinobigami – modern day ninjas
Magicalogia – (hers, the new collected edition) – mages fighting to save the world
Monotone Museum – fairy tale fantasy
Magicalogia (mine, the older edition)
Kill Death Business – hellish assassins on a TV show in Hell
Insane – multi-genre horror

Not making it in the above Continue reading A Potpourri of TRPGs