Lion Wing announces 4 new Japanese TTRPG Translations on the Way

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EmperorNorton

EmperorNorton

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Shin Megami Tensei RPG is coming to English. Plus a D&D but with mecha game called Wares Blade that was first published in the late 80s that I hadn't heard of, and a game called Kedamono Opera which is like a dark fairy tale rpg

I hadn't heard of Kedamono Opera before, but I'm digging the cover art for the JP version

s-l1600 copy.jpg
 
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OH!
I"ve been hoping, wishing, hoping, and wishing that someone would someday do a translation of Wares Blade for... well, since I first saw it advertised in an issue of Hobby Japan... long long ago.
A lot of my main homebrew fantasy setting is based on what I thought it might be like.

I'm all set to be heavily disappointed!
 
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Cool stuff. Thanks for this thread.

Any chance we get the Shinobigami siblings, Kill Death Business and Magicalogia?
 
Very excited about Wares Blade, which has been on my radar for a very loooong time. I do have the fansub for it - which I never got around to reading because it's a series of .doc
 
Lessa said:
Cool stuff. Thanks for this thread.

Any chance we get the Shinobigami siblings, Kill Death Business and Magicalogia?
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The owner of Lion Wing has said he has no interest in working on anything of Bouken's. He mentioned this in relation to me asking how he felt about CMON getting into translating Japanese games. He basically said "It's cool, it's healthier for the Japanese TTRPG market for more people to be doing it, and they are working with Bouken, and I'm not interested in doing any of their games right now" (paraphrased a lot).
 
More info from the showcase: The Wares Blade book will be based on the 1994 release of the game specifically. Will be their first big Kickstarter for next year. (there will be another second RPG kickstarter next year that isn't announced yet)

Kedamono Opera will be on Kickstarter this year.
 
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This is all excellent news. Shin Megami Tensei will please some friends and Wares Blades will please me and some other friends.

What else has Lion Wing done? I'm not familiar.
 
Malckuss said:
What else has Lion Wing done? I'm not familiar.
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Their whole business is translating Japanese games (board games and TTRPGs).

So far they've done Picaresque Roman, Convictor Drive, Fledge Witch as far as TTRPGs.

I have all three and I'll say that 1. They do very high quality translations & 2. They are 100% on time with their estimates and are super communicative.
 
And still no official translations of the most popular rpg in Japan: Sword World

There has to be some underlying reason for that...
 
Jaeger said:
There has to be some underlying reason for that...
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My guess is honestly how hard it is to deal with the licensing. When asked what his dream project to work on to bring stateside during the showcase, the owner said "Record of Lodoss War" and since Sword World is the system for Lodoss, I'm guessing he has tried to reach out to them in the past.
 
EmperorNorton said:
Their whole business is translating Japanese games (board games and TTRPGs).

So far they've done Picaresque Roman, Convictor Drive, Fledge Witch as far as TTRPGs.

I have all three and I'll say that 1. They do very high quality translations & 2. They are 100% on time with their estimates and are super communicative.
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They have also KSed Eldritch Escape Tokyo, which is designed by a Japanese RPG designer, and the beta PDF is not far away.
 
EmperorNorton said:
I hadn't heard of Kedamono Opera before, but I'm digging the cover art for the JP version
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The cover of Kedamono Opera looks very familiar... Is it an original setting? Or is it based on a manga series?
 
EmperorNorton said:
It isn't to my knowledge, but the main art is done by Nagabe, who is a manga artist (they did the manga The Girl From the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún which was amazing btw).
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That's exactly what I was thinking of! Thanks for sharing that cover as I'd seen it ages ago and then completely forgotten about it. I think I might browse Amazon and see if it's available.
 
EmperorNorton said:
Their whole business is translating Japanese games (board games and TTRPGs).

So far they've done Picaresque Roman, Convictor Drive, Fledge Witch as far as TTRPGs.

I have all three and I'll say that 1. They do very high quality translations & 2. They are 100% on time with their estimates and are super communicative.
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The only one of those I know is Convictor Drive. It looks cool.
Jaeger said:
And still no official translations of the most popular rpg in Japan: Sword World

There has to be some underlying reason for that...
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I have heard from hardcore Japanese TTRPG fans, many times, that the company behind Sword World doesn't see any reason to license it for a translated work as it is so close to D&D; the company doesn't think it could compete.
 
Malckuss said:
I have heard from hardcore Japanese TTRPG fans, many times, that the company behind Sword World doesn't see any reason to license it for a translated work as it is so close to D&D; the company doesn't think it could compete.
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Why don't they leave it to an external publisher, a.k.a. a licensee?
 
As I said: 1) D&D already exists and 2) they don't think it can compete with D&D. Also, apparently Japanese companies don't want to export Japanese culture or items outside of the country.
 
Malckuss said:
As I said: 1) D&D already exists and 2) they don't think it can compete with D&D. Also, apparently Japanese companies don't want to export Japanese culture or items outside of the country.
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I find that an interesting mentality…

Sword World is still the number one rpg in Japan. Where D&D exists.

Granted, outside Japan where 5e has a stranglehold, Sword World will not really be “competitive”. But it doesn’t have to be.

I think that with some clever marketing that they would be surprised how many sales an English language edition would make.

Not that they will ever topple Pathfinder or D&D, but money is money…
 
Malckuss said:
As I said: 1) D&D already exists and 2) they don't think it can compete with D&D. Also, apparently Japanese companies don't want to export Japanese culture or items outside of the country.
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Jaeger said:
I find that an interesting mentality…

Sword World is still the number one rpg in Japan. Where D&D exists.

Granted, outside Japan where 5e has a stranglehold, Sword World will not really be “competitive”. But it doesn’t have to be.

I think that with some clever marketing that they would be surprised how many sales an English language edition would make.

Not that they will ever topple Pathfinder or D&D, but money is money…
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Basically, what Jaeger Jaeger said:thumbsup:.

I mean, I know there used to be such a mentality, but I thought the lure of money had put it aside...:grin:
 
EmperorNorton said:
Shin Megami Tensei RPG is coming to English. Plus a D&D but with mecha game called Wares Blade that was first published in the late 80s that I hadn't heard of, and a game called Kedamono Opera which is like a dark fairy tale rpg

I hadn't heard of Kedamono Opera before, but I'm digging the cover art for the JP version

View attachment 79263
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But where's the announcement?
 
As a big fan of Shin Megami Tensei videogame series, I'm curious what the TTRPG looks like. Are there reviews or impressions of the Japanese edition around?
 
EmperorNorton said:
*INSERT YOUTUBE VIDEO HERE*
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2+ hours and you don't get to even see what the Japanese versions of the games look like, or descriptions of what the game systems themselves are like.

I do not find myself enthused to give these games a second look. I am downright uncompelled...

He is in the business of selling RPG's, right?
 
Jaeger said:
2+ hours and you don't get to even see what the Japanese versions of the games look like, or descriptions of what the game systems themselves are like.

I do not find myself enthused to give these games a second look. I am downright uncompelled...

He is in the business of selling RPG's, right?
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This is the first announce of a number of games that are coming out over the next two years. Hell, even the closest ones which are SMT and Steam Build Riders are like half a year away. And SMT had a live play that came out on the same day.

As someone who works in marketing: Shooting your whole load on an announcement of something that isn't even coming to Kickstarter for over a year (Wares Blade) or even one coming to kickstarter in 6 months (Kedamono Opera) is stupid. People will see it. Forget about it, and then may or may not remember by the time things happen.

You space out your information over time to keep people interested.

These were basically teaser trailers followed by a Q&A with the owner of the company for what they are planning over the next 2 years. They were never intended to give you a full overview of any of the games.

It was also why I just summarized things for people who might just want to hear that games were coming.
 
AsenRG said:
Basically, what Jaeger Jaeger said:thumbsup:.

I mean, I know there used to be such a mentality, but I thought the lure of money had put it aside...:grin:
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You’d think with the explosion in popularity of Anime and Manga, even Lite Novels & Replays that a Sword World/Record of the Lodos Wars translation would be an easy sell.

Thre is a fan conversion of the most recent versions of Sword World and the group has done allot of the sourcebooks. Pretty ‘professionally’ done imo to for a group of fans.



Personally I want the original version with all the original artwork but I’m a more 80s-90s anime/,a gay guy myself.


.
 
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Honestly another D&D-like fantasy rpg, even from Japan, isn't that interesting to me.

I'd rather seem more translations of different kinds of rpgs from Japan. Kedamono Opera looks cool though.
 
EmperorNorton said:
Oh also Kedamono Opera does have a page on Backerkit that shows when it is coming up (apparently 4 months) with a description and art shown.
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And still nothing about the actual game system.


EmperorNorton said:
As someone who works in marketing: Shooting your whole load on an announcement of something that isn't even coming to Kickstarter for over a year (Wares Blade) or even one coming to kickstarter in 6 months (Kedamono Opera) is stupid. People will see it. Forget about it, and then may or may not remember by the time things happen.

You space out your information over time to keep people interested.
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They will certainly forget about it if you fail to catch their interest.

These are RPG's. Games. Not books or comics/magna. Their long term success lives or dies by their system.

And I'm not talking about anything close to a full review/system, book flip through.

Just the basics could easily be covered in a few minutes each:

"Ohh, look at this game we are translating!"
"This is the theme..."
"Some art samples..."
"A brief system rundown..."

4-6 Minutes each, tops.

But the pitch currently as is?

"Be excited because from Japan!"

For Two Hours...

Dude.

In his defense; the lion wing dude is not the first guy to do RPG pitches like this. And I find it wildly annoying everytime I see it.
 
Lionwing IME are a class operation. They know what they’re doing with their translated Japanese RPGs and have communicated about each prior to release in a way that explains what is special and fun about them. I don’t see anything different here.

The recent announcement trailer is intended to set down their schedule for the next 2 years. They are taking care to coordinate the timing of these releases and communication about them, rather than just an info dump with the announcement trailer. Have patience, you will get what you are looking for.
 
Skywalker said:
what is special and fun about them. I don’t see anything different here.
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No system info.

So there is no way to know "what is special and fun about them."

Making it impossible for me to make an informed decision if I would even be interested in the game, or not.

I don't buy games based on concept.

7th Sea 2e cured me of that.


Skywalker said:
The recent announcement trailer is intended to set down their schedule for the next 2 years.
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Like I said, over the course of two hours; The basics shouldn't be mission impossible, or even considered that big of an ask...
 
Jaeger said:
And still nothing about the actual game system.




They will certainly forget about it if you fail to catch their interest.

These are RPG's. Games. Not books or comics/magna. Their long term success lives or dies by their system.

And I'm not talking about anything close to a full review/system, book flip through.

Just the basics could easily be covered in a few minutes each:

"Ohh, look at this game we are translating!"
"This is the theme..."
"Some art samples..."
"A brief system rundown..."

4-6 Minutes each, tops.

But the pitch currently as is?

"Be excited because from Japan!"

For Two Hours...

Dude.

In his defense; the lion wing dude is not the first guy to do RPG pitches like this. And I find it wildly annoying everytime I see it.
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I'll just say that 1. I work in marketing doing this exact thing (though in video games), and 2. Lion Wing is pretty much the most succesful company doing what it does (translating Japanese TTRPGs for an English audience) with a series of successful releases.

What are your bonefides that show you know what you are talking about with general marketing? Cause while it may be annoying to YOU as an individual, I can tell you that the style of marketing they are doing is effective.

You'll see more about the games before you have to toss down money on them. SMT had a live play the same day they opened preorders, Kedamono isn't even up on Kickstarter yet.

But keep raging against the machine I guess?
 
EmperorNorton said:
What are your bonefides that show you know what you are talking about with general marketing?

But keep raging against the machine I guess?
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Ahh, the "but what are your credentials Sir!" card. I like that one. A true classic.

Wanting to know basic information about the game engine of an upcoming RPG is now "raging against the machine"...

I had no idea that taking 4-6 Minutes to impart basic information for each game in a 2 hour announcement was such a tall order, and a completely unreasonable expectation.

I consider myself most thoroughly corrected.
 
Because you are making it out like this guy is an idiot when I can 100% tell you that this is proper marketing. You do a teaser, then as things get closer you start talking about details.

If you are going to treat a person who has, by all measurements, been running a succesful company like an idiot, I'm going to ask you what expertise you have to make that assessment. Especially when I have experience in the exact field being discussed.
 
Jaeger said:
No system info.

So there is no way to know "what is special and fun about them."

Making it impossible for me to make an informed decision if I would even be interested in the game, or not.
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Not yet. It will come closer to the build up to the KS based on their other KSs.
Jaeger said:
Like I said, over the course of two hours; The basics shouldn't be mission impossible, or even considered that big of an ask...
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The purpose of the announcement was to introduce the release schedule and not to detail the system. That will happen for each of the products in the build up to their release.
 
I would have done the same if I was running the company (as opposed to a fan:shade:).

I just wonder what the guy managed to talk about during those 2 hours...:grin:
 
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