Quote from: JesterRaiin;902533Two koalas...! Oh, screw it. Damn you and your smooth words. I kurse yeeeeeeee with koala kurse!

But...but...I'm not older than two koalas! They can live up to 18 years each:)!

QuoteWe're still discussing RPGs, right?

We are, of course. Why, what were you thinking about:p?

QuoteDoable? Yes.

Well, your question was "how is it even possible", so there's your answer;).

QuoteWorth it? Come on, even simple RPGs along the lines of Everyone is John, Lasers & Feelings or Risus require a bit of time to develop an opinion regarding what they are, what are their strengths and weaknesses. I honestly can't comprehend the idea of playing a series of one-shots 1/day, one after another. The result, while perhaps fun (especially if good crew & an alcohol is involved) would be one big chaos and plenty of wrong assumptions...

Chaos can be fun, too:). And if it's fun, what's the worse thing that could happen? Apart from hangover, STDs or overdoses, I mean, those are extreme cases:D.
But getting wrong assumptions about some simple games isn't worth the worry, especially if after that, you continue your normal campaign;).

Quote from: daniel_ream;902589It wasn't so much that as that once you strip out the lists of equipment and spells and other fripperies, you're left with "make a roll to travel to the next town, then buy stuff in the town".  I mean, there's more content in your lightning storm-pack mule-road collapse line than in the entire book on how to make this interesting.  For a full colour book with that many pages, I expect more.

Quote from: Lynn;902583I think there's a lot you could do with the curious wandering band that isn't so locked into the life journey / dragon evolution, either without those or by transforming them into something else. Japanese anime (and for that matter, Japanese TV programming) uses the curious wandering band as a motif quite a bit.

Yes, it's true. It's a common element found in pretty much every cJRPG - heroes wander around, gain experience, then arrive at [CITY] and spend considerable time pursuing next part of the story arc, until they move to another [CITY]. From what I hear, Westerners (I count myself among them) like that part the least, often roll eyes and say "oh great, here we go again".

Here's where Ryuutama steps in - it's is exactly that "wandering" part. Who knows, perhaps it's not that we're missing some point, see it in wrong light, or something, but we simply didn't develop certain tastes in such a way that our fellow gamers from the Nippon did.

The lack of inspirational content is a good observation, though. Technically we have truckloads of "funny things that might happen on the way..." random tables and plot seed generators, but it would be nice to have such a thing written specifically with Ryuutama in mind.

Quote from: AsenRG;902616But...but...I'm not older than two koalas! They can live up to 18 years each:)!

Asen Invokes Aspect: Silvertongue bastard. It is EXTRA EFFICIENT! :cool:

A KURSE UPON YEEEEEE!

QuoteWe are, of course. Why, what were you thinking about:p?

Nothing, nothing...
nervous stare

QuoteWell, your question was "how is it even possible", so there's your answer;).

Just an expression, bro, check your Aspects. ;p

QuoteChaos can be fun, too:). And if it's fun, what's the worse thing that could happen? Apart from hangover, STDs or overdoses, I mean, those are extreme cases:D.
But getting wrong assumptions about some simple games isn't worth the worry, especially if after that, you continue your normal campaign;).

...STDs...

Ok, we were definitely talking about same thing.

Ahem.

Well, anyway, I suspect that truckloads of extremely negative opinions come from half-assed, rushed sessions featuring people who had no clue what they were doing in the first place and who, rather than give the game another chance simply assumed it's a hipster shit no gentleman should ever come in contact with,a nd all who do are no gentlemen.

Quote from: Motorskills;902491Or, you could maybe try:

"Fantastic, someone is bringing us new[ish] games to explore! More please! And maybe give us "Director's Cut" versions of the first ones so we can see the original intent!"

Positivity is EARNED.  It is never GIVEN.

Quote from: JesterRaiin;902623[...] we simply didn't develop certain tastes in such a way that our fellow gamers from the Nippon did.

Now that you mention it, I did sort of get the feeling the game was doing a sort of "well, you all know what goes here" in those parts.  Which, obviously, I don't.  It's one of the reasons I think it's so important for a game to talk about what its intended play style is, even - or perhaps especially - if it seems bloody obvious to the writers.  I find most "Examples of Play" worse than useless for this.

Quote from: Snowman0147;902636Positivity is EARNED.  It is never GIVEN.

Wow, that's really a dark way of looking at things - and that's said by someone who's wife almost died six weeks ago.  I find positivity as a starting move often lubricates social interaction.

Quote from: daniel_ream;902564This.  I really wanted to like Ryutaama, but after reading it through repeatedly I keep coming back to "there's no game here."  Maybe it just needed more comprehensive examples of play or something.

I found it had as much game as B/X D&D. It had lots of mini-games for travel, food, trading, gathering herbs, combat, and all other things that you would do when adventuring. But you do still need to include a GM written adventure for which there are only worksheets to help come up with the basics. You could use Secret of Bonehill, Keep on the Borderlands, Nights Dark Terror, or Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh at a pinch TBH.

Some of these recent Japanese games getting translations seem like board/card/RPG hybrids... perhaps meant to be played by schoolgirls during lunch at the boba tea shop.

I'm assuming there are also more 'traditional' RPGs getting played there, like D&D, BRP, maybe newer editions of older stuff like Ware's Blade (started as BRP then moved to D20).

Quote from: Simlasa;902657I'm assuming there are also more 'traditional' RPGs getting played there, like D&D, BRP, maybe newer editions of older stuff like Ware's Blade (started as BRP then moved to D20).

Somewhere at home I've got a play-through of GURPS fantasy that's all in Japanese, so I think that's being played too.  Then again, if it's Japanese GURPS, there's not a lot of need to translate that to English.

Quote from: jcfiala;902661Then again, if it's Japanese GURPS, there's not a lot of need to translate that to English.

No, but if there's some interesting Japanese-only sourcebooks for it, that could be of interest.

Quote from: Simlasa;902664No, but if there's some interesting Japanese-only sourcebooks for it, that could be of interest.

Heh.  "GURPS America"

I'd buy it.

Quote from: daniel_ream;902640Now that you mention it, I did sort of get the feeling the game was doing a sort of "well, you all know what goes here" in those parts.  Which, obviously, I don't.  It's one of the reasons I think it's so important for a game to talk about what its intended play style is, even - or perhaps especially - if it seems bloody obvious to the writers.  I find most "Examples of Play" worse than useless for this.

When I want to learn what the game is supposed to be about, I look at PCs' classes/roles first (providing it's that kind of a game), and then I read official adventures. If that fails I'm looking for answers in setting's description. This usually gives me enough info to form an opinion.

What's your approach?

Quote from: jcfiala;902667Heh.  "GURPS America"

I'd buy it.

Spoiler

Quote from: Simlasa;902657Some of these recent Japanese games getting translations seem like board/card/RPG hybrids... perhaps meant to be played by schoolgirls during lunch at the boba tea shop.

.

I dunno about that. Double Cross (FEAR, as noted above... need to edit OP...), has example adventures with some 18 scenes in them. Even if those scenes are really short it still suggests a 'typical adventure session' of several hours, minimum.  

Now, Tenra Bansho Zero suffered for a lack of decent play examples. It came with loads of adventure ideas, in abstract, and a number of excessively brief examples of play to demonstrate principles like the relationship grid (which, by the way, I think is brilliant, despite the taint of storygame all over it.). So: While I know that I can't let my Karma get above 108 (after burning my relationships), I have no idea how much karma is getting tossed around in game on average, nor what a kabuki style game session would really look like.

THough I do have to thank the game for introducing me to the oddly formulaic world of Kabuki plays. Fascinating topic, really.    Sort of like soap operas, as discovered by an archeologist and put on in new productions long after the fact... if that makes sense.

Quote from: Spike;902675I dunno about that. Double Cross (FEAR, as noted above... need to edit OP...), has example adventures with some 18 scenes in them. Even if those scenes are really short it still suggests a 'typical adventure session' of several hours, minimum.  

My understanding is that in Japan, RPGs are generally played in longer sessions in the weekend as shorter sessions on week nights are less common due to less personal space at home and work commitments. This also means that multiple session campaigns tend to be less common than in the US. The structure to scenarios in both TBZ and DX reflect that reality i.e. episodic 4 to 6 hour sessions.