what are your favorite JRPG (xenoseries, megaten, dq, etc) inspired tabletop games?
Probably, the best answer to this is going to be a game that came from Japan, itself, like Tenra Bansho Zero, or something with a setting that has been heavily inspired by various JRPG's, like Anima: Beyond Fantasy.
They're very different games from each other, though. Tenra Bansho Zero is designed around single session play rather than campaign play, and having the session move like a play from act to act during that session. Anima is a crunchy game, but if you like crunchy games, it's a ton of fun in play.
Quote from: MeganovaStella on September 22, 2022, 12:35:32 PM
what are your favorite JRPG (xenoseries, megaten, dq, etc) inspired tabletop games?
Mekton II and Mekton Zeta.
Although Cyberpunk 2020 with mecha from Mekton II or Zeta using the Roadstriker II conversion rules makes for some great game play. Does Patlabor and like a charm. It helps that R Talsorion Games published both systems.
This could be two separate questions.
JRPG style game mechanics. I thought I could not think of one, but then again I can honestly say D&D is already a lot like Final Fantasy. You get oodles more hit points as you level up. That actually is how most JRPGs work. You sit still and whack away until the gajillion hit points are gone, keeping in the fight by spamming cleric heals and wizard nukes.
As for Japanese settings, now we have more choices. Palladium RoboTech and Tiny D6 Mecha vs Monsters are two I would choose. I liked Palladium RoboTech Sentinels setting the best. Tiny D6 MvsM is what system I want to try now. I'm too busy for crunchy/complex games
Anima Beyond Fantasy.
It's a hard nut to crack, the barrier of entry is quite step, but for jrpg/anime shit is VERY useful, on top of being very customizable and homebrewable once you get how it works.
Mekton
Sword world https://swordworld.fandom.com/wiki/Book_1_Translation (https://swordworld.fandom.com/wiki/Book_1_Translation)
Most anime's that look based on dnd are actually based on this game. I can't vouch if it's good or not only that it exists and here is a translation of it. I'm sure there are other fan translations.
As mentioned above Mekton as well
The first one that comes to mind is Big Eyes, Small Mouth (also known as BESM). I think (but I'm more than willing to admit that I'm wrong) that some RPGs based on anime from the '90s (Sailor Moon rpg) used an older or pregenator version of the system.
The closest one I know of that is meant to be a JRPG tabletop game is Retro Phaze. Some stuff I don't like about it (mainly how it handles its classes and Hit Points), but it is more or less Final Fantasy 1 as a tabletop rpg. It's also free.
Personally, because JRPG's stem from D&D, I'd just use basic or Advanced D&D, or really anything from the OSR, and just strip out all the utility spells. All other classes work the same.
A lot of the FEEL of a JRPG comes from elements that aren't dependent on rules, but the style and tone of the campaign. Usually, the story is tailored for the PC's, and they are always out to save the world from a cataclysmic event. After the campaign is finished, you create a new world for a new set of characters for a new campaign.
Jovian Chronicles is a LOT like Gundam. This time the plot is spread across the entire solar system. Jupiter is the tech and cultural powerhouse, with everyone living inside giant rotating space colony cylinders. Earth is the primary antagonist, a nuclear devastated world that's trying to reconquer everyone under the premise that everybody started as earth colonies, so they all need to come back into the fold where they belong.
Giant piloted robots used as starfighters are the main combat unit, operating from space carriers with unnecessary launch rail runways. Rule of Cool beats logic.
Quote from: weirdguy564 on September 29, 2022, 10:07:49 AM
Jovian Chronicles is a LOT like Gundam. This time the plot is spread across the entire solar system. Jupiter is the tech and cultural powerhouse, with everyone living inside giant rotating space colony cylinders. Earth is the primary antagonist, a nuclear devastated world that's trying to reconquer everyone under the premise that everybody started as earth colonies, so they all need to come back into the fold where they belong.
Giant piloted robots used as starfighters are the main combat unit, operating from space carriers with unnecessary launch rail runways. Rule of Cool beats logic.
Jovian Chronicles began as a licensed setting for Mekton II.
Quote from: Ocule on September 26, 2022, 01:02:43 PM
Sword world https://swordworld.fandom.com/wiki/Book_1_Translation (https://swordworld.fandom.com/wiki/Book_1_Translation)
Most anime's that look based on dnd are actually based on this game. I can't vouch if it's good or not only that it exists and here is a translation of it. I'm sure there are other fan translations.
As mentioned above Mekton as well
For people interested in Sword World there's an official translation too. The Goblin Slayer TTRPG uses Sword World and is the first officially translated version of it for the western market. It's a bit of a culture shock compared to DnD and other games. Especially in terms of layout but it is still very interesting from what I've read of the book.
If you want traditional Japanese set in a fantasy version of medieval Japan I can suggest two games.
Shinobi & Samurai. Its a very traditional D&D OSR set of rules. It is also quite rules lite with only 80'ish pages long. And its FREE.
http://taxidermicowlbear.weebly.com/uploads/2/3/7/4/23742956/shinobi__samurai_1.0b.pdf (http://taxidermicowlbear.weebly.com/uploads/2/3/7/4/23742956/shinobi__samurai_1.0b.pdf)
However, there is a paid game that has a much better book that teaches you Japanese Culture called Sengoku. Right now there is a bundle of the game PDF, and two expansion book PDF's that only costs $6. A good deal if you consider that the main book PDF alone usually sells for $16. However, it doesn't use D&D OSR rules. It uses the Fuzion system also used in Cyberpunk and other R. Talsorian Games.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/29421/Sengoku-Revised-Ed-BUNDLE?term=sengoku (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/29421/Sengoku-Revised-Ed-BUNDLE?term=sengoku)
Fabula Ultima (recently released from Need Games) is this exactly.
From their sales pitch:
"FABULA ULTIMA is a Tabletop Roleplaying Game inspired by Japanese-style console RPGs, or JRPGs. In Fabula Ultima, you and your friends will tell epic stories of would-be heroes and fearsome villains, set in fantasy worlds brimming with magic, wondrous locations, and uniquely bizarre monsters!"
The art is also heavily reminiscent of older Final Fantasy art (the stuff that showed up in the manuals and title screens moreso than the games themselves).
Quote from: AmbitiousGM on October 06, 2022, 10:24:08 PM
Fabula Ultima (recently released from Need Games) is this exactly.
From their sales pitch:
"FABULA ULTIMA is a Tabletop Roleplaying Game inspired by Japanese-style console RPGs, or JRPGs. In Fabula Ultima, you and your friends will tell epic stories of would-be heroes and fearsome villains, set in fantasy worlds brimming with magic, wondrous locations, and uniquely bizarre monsters!"
The art is also heavily reminiscent of older Final Fantasy art (the stuff that showed up in the manuals and title screens moreso than the games themselves).
They're cringe af I wouldn't give mr gelato any money. Shame it was a good pitch but screw that guy
Don't know much about the author, but I looked over the free material they've put out for Fabula Ultima the last time this topic came up. (Available here: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/411240/Fabula-Ultima-TTJRPG-Press-Start?manufacturers_id=17072). For me at least, there are a lot of red flags, there.
The quickstart materials do a shockingly poor job explaining how the game works, instead providing a scenario which must be played with the pre-generated characters. However, from what is here, it's abundantly clear that the game's DNA is firmly in the realm of story gaming, particularly Powered By the Apocalypse and Forged in the Dark games. Character's have "themes", the game is divided by "scenes", it uses PBTA-esque "bonds", XP gain is based on spending metacurrency, etc. Personal preferences will vary, but if like me, you think PBTA and its derivatives are cancer, you'll probably hate this game.
There are also some pretty clear signs of wokeness. The pre-generated characters all have their pronouns specified on their character sheets, and each character has an "Identity", described in the book as "what your character currently sees themselves as." Again, YMMV, but I would at least argue that wokeness runs counter to the spirit of a game seeking to emulate JRPGS, which at their peak were not woke at all, and even these days tend to be less woke than their western counterparts.
What exactly would qualify as JRPG style game?
(Let me preface this semi-rambling string of questions with the fact that as far jrpgs go, I've only played a handful of older ones, I.e., Dragonquest 1-3, the Breathe of Fire series, Fantasy Star, and some of the older Final Fantasy entries).
Would it just be a standard ttrpg where the PCs have goofy hair and impractical weapons (and they're probably orphans)?
Or
Would it be a game that emulates the actual gameplay; attacks always hit, healing is damn near instant, a lot of wilderness exploration with constant random encounters, the entire session is one big fetch quest, when a PC dies you just go to local church and they resurrect him/her but it is never explained or addressed how they do this,etc?
Quote from: Tasty_Wind on November 23, 2022, 10:22:09 AM
What exactly would qualify as JRPG style game?
(Let me preface this semi-rambling string of questions with the fact that as far jrpgs go, I've only played a handful of older ones, I.e., Dragonquest 1-3, the Breathe of Fire series, Fantasy Star, and some of the older Final Fantasy entries).
Would it just be a standard ttrpg where the PCs have goofy hair and impractical weapons (and they're probably orphans)?
Or
Would it be a game that emulates the actual gameplay; attacks always hit, healing is damn near instant, a lot of wilderness exploration with constant random encounters, the entire session is one big fetch quest, when a PC dies you just go to local church and they resurrect him/her but it is never explained or addressed how they do this,etc?
You forgot singing. At some point a girl has to sing and discover this is as effective of more effective than military action to defeat the enemy.
Does the GM have to sing some Power-metal inspired J-rock intros for his group before each session where the lyrics are a recap of the last session?
Quote from: tenbones on November 24, 2022, 12:04:02 AM
Does the GM have to sing some Power-metal inspired J-rock intros for his group before each session where the lyrics are a recap of the last session?
no but the gm has to make a villain who looks and sounds like sephiroth
Quote from: Tasty_Wind on November 23, 2022, 10:22:09 AM
What exactly would qualify as JRPG style game?
(Let me preface this semi-rambling string of questions with the fact that as far jrpgs go, I've only played a handful of older ones, I.e., Dragonquest 1-3, the Breathe of Fire series, Fantasy Star, and some of the older Final Fantasy entries).
Would it just be a standard ttrpg where the PCs have goofy hair and impractical weapons (and they're probably orphans)?
Or
Would it be a game that emulates the actual gameplay; attacks always hit, healing is damn near instant, a lot of wilderness exploration with constant random encounters, the entire session is one big fetch quest, when a PC dies you just go to local church and they resurrect him/her but it is never explained or addressed how they do this,etc?
From a mechanical standpoint, it would more or less be D&D. In fact, 5e is very much what a Jrpg would be. From sub-systems of gameplay unique to specific classes (Ki points for Monks, the Battle Master dice, etc) to campaigns that revolve around saving the world and that your characters are the heroes.
There would be no utility magic. No knock spells or create food and water. You have attack spells and healing spells. Summoning monsters would also be a thing.
Most games don't have multiclassing.
Anachronistic technology.
There's piles of tropes for a jrpg. There's also outliers in the genre of games. Many of the games don't do mature themes... then games like Xenogears and Parasite Eve come along.
The biggest issue with doing a Jrpg type game, is that D&D has evolved so much from what it was in the 70's and 80's, that if you strip down the magic to emulate many of the spells found in jrpg games, and then dump a bunch of tropes from the games into 5e, then play through a campaign where you are the heroes that save the world, then you are pretty much playing a modern jrpg game.
If you want more of a Final Fantasy 1-3 feel, play Basic D&D or AD&D, since those games were inspired by D&D itself.
Quote from: AmbitiousGM on October 06, 2022, 10:24:08 PM
Fabula Ultima (recently released from Need Games) is this exactly.
From their sales pitch:
"FABULA ULTIMA is a Tabletop Roleplaying Game inspired by Japanese-style console RPGs, or JRPGs. In Fabula Ultima, you and your friends will tell epic stories of would-be heroes and fearsome villains, set in fantasy worlds brimming with magic, wondrous locations, and uniquely bizarre monsters!"
The art is also heavily reminiscent of older Final Fantasy art (the stuff that showed up in the manuals and title screens moreso than the games themselves).
This game sounds pretty cool. It's inspired from Ryuutama, which is another neat jrpg TRPG.
Quote from: jeff37923 on September 23, 2022, 06:15:14 PM
Quote from: MeganovaStella on September 22, 2022, 12:35:32 PM
what are your favorite JRPG (xenoseries, megaten, dq, etc) inspired tabletop games?
Mekton II and Mekton Zeta.
Although Cyberpunk 2020 with mecha from Mekton II or Zeta using the Roadstriker II conversion rules makes for some great game play. Does Patlabor and like a charm. It helps that R Talsorion Games published both systems.
Totally.
As for some JRPG themed RPGs? As in bog standard console RPGs from Japan and the US? They are usually so bog standard you dont need anything special to run them as some were inspired by D&D.
But if just mean "RPGs with an anime feel" then theres tons of those.
Tri-Stat I believe was the publisher that did Tank Police, Bubblegum Crisis and Votoms. Did they do the Sailor Moon one too?
Well before that Palladium was doing the whole Macross line.
Mekton and Battletech are both inspired by mecha anime.
BESM covers it all.
TSR did that Giant Monster Battle wargame Gammarauders way back.
Post 90s theres even more now.
Pretty sure saw a Vampire Hunter D RPG even.
Palladium RoboTech was my first ever RPG. It's a good game that had some cool features. Ultimately, it led to Rifts.
The Anime Hack. A variant of the Black Hack game. We liked it for the diversity of character types, but also found constantly rolling to see if your power or supplies levels go down a step after each use tedious. Machine gun rules are broken as a goon with a submachine gun one shot my power armor hero. It wasn't for us in the end.
Tiny D6 Mecha vs Monsters. It looks like Pacific Rim the RPG, but it's perfectly fine to also run as Mecha vs Mecha, as it has no defined size of the machines/monsters which you can design yourself. It's main feature is how simple it is. It's main drawback is how simple it is. Another side benefit you will be able to pick up and play the other games in the Tiny D6 line almost immediately.
Mekton Zeta is an old and well loved game, but seems to have very complex Mecha design rules. That level of complexity isn't for me.
My choice is rules lite stuff right now, so Tiny D6 is for me. The cross compatibility of the various kinds of Tiny D6 games like Frontiers (Star Trek), and Tiny Supers (spandex comic book heroes) is fun.
BESM is supposedly (this is debatable of course) is THE anime RPG.
It's a bit crunchy/complex as you build your hero with points. Even your gear is bought this way, so it might feel odd that you use creation points to buy a laser pistol. To me that should be part of the story that you get tech gear as part of your job, but that isn't how BESM is play balanced.
I have never tried it myself. I have a couple of their lower page count starter games and the d20 version (which the author says wasn't their best effort on last weeks Sunday Legion of Myth podcast). So I can't say if the game is good or not.
Me, I'm just waiting for Tiny D6 Mecha vs Monster Evolved (2.0) to go on sale soon.
Quote from: MeganovaStella on November 24, 2022, 12:14:13 AM
Quote from: tenbones on November 24, 2022, 12:04:02 AM
Does the GM have to sing some Power-metal inspired J-rock intros for his group before each session where the lyrics are a recap of the last session?
no but the gm has to make a villain who looks and sounds like sephiroth
Hmmm I only did a frienemy villain that was essentially Seifer. But he kinda looked like Sefiroth, but only because I wanted him to look like Elric. I swear!
Teenagers from Outer Space is lite and pretty fun.
We played Double Cross for a while. Pretty good it was 4e inspired.
Tri-Stat pr Fuzion did that series of RPGs based off manga and anime. Dominion. Votoms, think they did Sailor Moon?