Entropic Dreams

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

Word Sniper

Today we’ll be taking a look at the card game Word Sniper. Designed by Masahiro Ogawa, the board game shop Rigolier picked it up and released a new version with art by hoccipocci. A word play game, players complete to say a word beginning with a character related to a theme. For example, if the “Food” theme came up and the “su” card was on the table, I could say “sushi” and get a point.

What’s Inside

Coming in a playing card sized box, it includes 50 double sided cards and one set of instructions. One side of the card has a theme Continue reading Word Sniper

The Fantasy Novel Resurgence Continues

The last month has kept me busy, so I haven’t been able to work on my blog as much as I’ve wanted. New posts are in the works, though.

Following on the rebirth of the Dragon Novels imprint, Kadokawa is doubling down on fantasy novels by releasing digital versions of their D&D novel translations. DragonLance, the Dark Elf Story, and some Greyhawk novels are receiving this special treatment, with the DragonLance novels available both individually, as well as collected in a 25 volume set.

Dialect Getting a Japanese Translation

The GM-less game Dialect is being translated to Japanese by Harrow Hill, who also localized Fiasco. Dialect is a game about language and its loss, which I’ve been curious to try. Check out Bored Ghost’s (English) episode, as well as their supplementary primer episode, if you’re interested in what a game of Dialect is like.

Infinit Region – Understanding D&D in English

I’ve recently been enjoying Infinit Region, a blog about learning English through D&D. Started in 2011, the first post was about the author’s purchase of the Madness at Gardmore Abbey for 4e. In subsequent posts, the author focuses primarily on their experience learning English through their love of D&D, providing examples and advice for how to do so.

Discussing the "Acolyte" background and one of the table entries from the PHB — Discussing the “Acolyte” background in D&D 5e.

It’s both interesting and inspiring to see their approach. As someone who enjoys learning Japanese through analog games, it’s very much relatable as well. The two points raised in Understanding D&D in English echoes my experience as well. To paraphrase what they wrote: Continue reading Infinit Region – Understanding D&D in English

Sakura Arms – 桜降る代に決闘を

Today we’ll be taking a look at Sakura Arms (桜降る代に決闘を), a two player card game I picked up at a previous Tokyo Game Market. There is now a new edition and apparently a digital edition as well, but we’ll be taking a look at the previous version, which is also the base for the English version of the game.

Coming in a sturdy box, the first thing that stands out is the beautiful artwork. The artist Tokiame has developed quite the following with signing events at Tokyo Game Market always having long lines.

Game play is estimated to take ten to twenty minutes, including deck building. When I played with a friend, our games took a bit longer as we were still learning the rules, but even so, finished quickly.

Included in the box are 80 cards, 7 goddess (“megami” 女神 cards), two interlocking boards, cherry blossom petal counters, a short rulebook and card list. The cards themselves have a high quality feel to them and are quite beautiful. Continue reading Sakura Arms – 桜降る代に決闘を

What’s Inside

Contents