The Art of Tabletalk

• a panel by yuu, ran at Otakon 2023 from 11a to 1p on 30 July 23

What are TTRPGs?

• So if you’re here you probably have an idea about what TTRPGs are, but for the friends who got roped into coming to this panel, I’ll be more than happy to explain!
• TTRPGs - or rather, tabletop roleplaying games - is a genre of games where players take on the roles of characters in a fictional setting. The tabletop comes in to differentiate it from, say, live action roleplaying (like renaissance fairs) or video game RPGs (like final fantasy), especially where you have fans of different types - or multiple types - of roleplaying in one venue. Generally, TTRPGs are a great form of collaborative storytelling (although there are games you can play alone!) and generally have a rule system to provide players guidance and a way to resolve conflict.
• Other terms often used are pen-and-paper games, although you can certainly play them anywhere people gather with all sorts of tools. There are games that use playing or tarot cards, Jenga(TM) blocks, coins, rock-paper-scissors, coin tosses; there are games meant to play alone, with just one other person or even a hundred people; games meant to be played in off or online… The possibilities are rather endless aren’t they?
• For the purposes of this panel we are going to be focusing on tabletalk games and not the amazing board game culture that Japan has. If you want more feel free to talk to me elsewhere or just check out “Hōkago Saikoro Club”/“After School Dice Club” haha.
• So what, exactly, is table talk?
• Well, let’s get into that shall we?

Gaming in Japan

Table Talk vs Table Top

• Table Talk is a term used in Japanese ttrpg circles - in part to differentiate it from video game RPGs which gained popularity in the 80s as well as miniature wargames a la Warhammer.
• While American and other western games run the gamut on themes, systems, and play styles, there’s a number of markers that differentiates Japan’s gaming culture, especially when you only have experience with, say, D&D, Pathfinder, or World of Darkness. (and if you only have played games in those systems, please, please, please try other games. This is coming from a person who started gaming with WoD - the world has so much more to give you.)
• The first big one is dice! The vast majority of Japanese games use d6’s as, even now, polyhedral dice requires importing the vast majority of the time. Like yes, you can get them, but they’re even harder to find specialty stores in Japan, unlike in the States where most bookstores have had a (small but growing) tabletop aisle for decades and now even Target carries them. Six sided dice is just easier to get one’s hands on, so most games made in Japan capitalizes on them.
• Another difference is length of games. While plenty of people play in longer campaigns, many Japanese game systems are optimized and easy to use for one shot games (often on the longer end) and include a very quick character generation process, in part because getting the same group of people to have free time at the same time can be hard. The internet and gaming cafes has definitely made such things easier though!
• To me, of all the things that set apart Japanese tabletalk games from western games, it’s the existence of Replays.

Replays

• So how many of you know “Record of Lodoss War”? (pause) Now how many of you know that the basis of one of Japan’s earliest modern high fantasy series was a D&D campaign ran by Ryo Mizuno? You can see the gaming influences easily in his work, huh?
• They have been a mainstay of Japanese TTRPGs since the ’80s as ways to show how the games are played. They started off as recorded live sessions that were transcribed, made into a book and often accompanied by art and have grown to be a mainstay in Japanese gaming culture, teaching potential players on how the game runs.
• Oftentimes, when new games are released, they come with or are released in parallel with a Replay, featuring well known names to entice people to check them out and see how the game is played and, often, ending up outside of specialty stores and leading to people finding out more about games in memetic fashion.
• After Lodoss War, one of the most famous Replays that comes to mind is Red Dragon, which became the anime Chaos Dragon. It’s a replay ran by Makoto Sanda of Rental Magica fame, with players Gen Urobuchi (PMMM/FZ), Kinoko Nasu (Type-Moon), Ryōgo Narita (DRRR), Izuki Kogyoku (author, probably best known as one of the writers of Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light) and Simadoriru (character designer, working in F/GO Absolute Demonic Front Babylonia and AI: The Somnium Files).
• Even outside these famous examples, there are just… tons and tons and tons of replays. Replays in bookstores with famous players, replay manga and novels, replay doujin, even replay videos have become popular with VTubers! Replays are an entertaining read and gives a great example of what play can look like!

Some gems from Japan

• Now, this is of course a stupidly bias list of games made in Japan because of course I’m going to be on the lookout for ones I really like but*!!*
• Table talk games run the gamut of genres and styles, just like video games do, so it’s easy to find games that speak to you. There are official (and unofficial) games based on popular IPs
• Want to get your hands on some of these games? If you’re near a Kinokuniya, they’ll sometimes have games or replays in stores and they’re more than happy to help you order them. And there’s always proxy services. A lot of games and replays are only available in physical form but*!!* I’m happy to say there are ways to get games in pdf form on sites like Conos (although it’s mostly physical books, it has a good sized collection of ebooks) and DLSite, as well as Booth.pm, all doable without worrying about shipping costs.
• Just uh… Please use caution and make sure you’re on the All-Ages part of it because if you try and search on the site without filters you uh… will have a time. (The link to DLSite is to the TRPG tag on their All Ages store, but it includes a number of video games and assets. And also just tons and tons of replays)
• (By the way, Conos and DLSite both have English language books translated in Japanese! It’s sometimes worth looking into because sometimes the games have very different art!)

In Translation

• The last time I ran this panel - before the pandemic - the number of games that were out in English officially was rather small - MAID, Tenra Banso, Double Cross, Ryuutama and Golden Sky Stories were about it, with Shinobigami and Kamigakure coming out (which got delayed like woah but hey! I got it now!).
• Now, that number has grown substantially! Silver Vine has brought Summon Skate and Floria into English over the pandemic and in the last 6 months, Yen Press brought over the official games for both Konosuba and Goblin Slayer. You can sometimes even find Japanese language games with English translations on itch.io!
• So pretty much from summer of 2019 to now, the amount of games officially in translation has pretty much doubled!

The West’s Mark on Japanese Gaming

• Western fantasy’s mark is very obvious, not just on their tabletalk scene (Sword World is very sword and sorcery, leaning heavily on western mythos) but just… video games in general. The first Final Fantasy game came out in ‘87, right around when D&D was first being introduced to Japan. It’s… straight up sword and sorcery and the genre persists today.
• But the true winner from the West has got to be Call of Cthulhu - which has been, for around a decade now, considered the most popular game system in Japan, beating out both domestic systems and D&D. In 2017, it’s player base skews about 60% female aged 17 to 35, and it’s been posited that Replays on niconicodouga has lead to its popularity in recent years.
• I can’t say that Japan’s going to be a big market for tabletop gaming, but it is a growing one, making it profitable to translate not just the main games, but to see that players and make and share their Replays to garner more interest.
• That said, there’s plenty of western games in translation - see any you recognize?

Japan’s Influence in Western TTRPGs

• Japan’s mark is just as apparent on Western games, with anime and manga influencing both aesthetics and plots. This is just a selection of games I own that are also associated with big time names and companies. When you start getting into indie and zine culture, the numbers become even more ridiculous. (I own a lot of those too)
• Tabletop gaming came seem like a very small community if you only look into the big names owned by Wizards of the Coast or Paizo or Onyx Publishing, but when you start looking outside the Triple-A major publishers, you find so much amazing niche content; there’s a game for everyone! Which segues great into my absolute favorite game:

MAID the Roleplaying Game

• in the time that we have left, we ran Table 23, a MAID the RPG scenario custom made with Otakon in mind.
• Step 1: Attributes - roll 2d6, divide by 3 and round down for each of the six attributes (Athletics, Affection, Skill, Cunning, Luck and Will)
• Step 2: Maid Types - Roll 1D6 twice to get two Maid Types. (yes you can have the same type twice) Apply the bonuses and penalties.
• Step 3: Maid Colors - Roll d66 on the Maid Color Table, and combine the two colors to determine the color of your maid’s uniform. (and eye and hair color)
• Step 4: Special Qualities - roll d66 twice for two qualities in the main book and then a third quality is rolled via d6 int he mini zine
• Step 5: Etcetera - roll d66 for Maid Roots, Stress Explosion and Weapon.
• Step 6: Maid Power - Find your highest Attribute, and roll 1D6 on the corresponding Maid Power Table. If two or more attributes are tied for highest, you may choose which table to use. Also, if the total of all your attributes is 9 or less, you can choose two Maid Powers.
• Step 7: Favor is = Affection x 2; Sprit = Will x 10
• Step 8: Choose your Maid’s name and age!
• And with that we’re ready to go!

Credits

• And finally the credits! It’s pretty self explanatory but again, huge shout out to the boobies at BobaBoard who were an amazing sounding board for some of the ideas in (Scenario Name) and to Burns who did most the character art in both my presentation and the game and Tamalynn who did the chibis! (and also shout out to the original designers: shio, LookDem, Hack, and Cloud System)
• Lots of shout outs to Ewen Cluney, Andy Kitokowski, and Matatabi Mitsu for bringing amazing games into English and just being a fountain of information about Japanese gaming. Also thank you to Tabletop Tours who made it possible to meet Japanese designers in their own (virtual) spaces!
• And finally you, yes you! For coming to this panel and checking it out. Thank you so much! Feel free to hit me up wherever you can find me online