Record of Lodoss War original game using D&D Basic

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Sylogician

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Back in 1986 a Japanese gaming group ran a D&D campaign that was serialized in a computer gaming magazine called Comptiq. The replay was titled "Record of Lodoss War." It was so popular it became a novel and then an animated series. I remember watching the series back in the nineties and was always curious about the original game. Last month, I managed to track down copies of the original articles. It wasn't easy. Rabid fans have stolen the copies in the National Diet and a lot of other libraries and because of legal complications (with TSR) it was never reprinted.
The game was played using the Basic D&D rules for levels 1-3 and the Expert rules for levels 4-7. It was fun and nostalgic to translate and I wanted to share it with anyone else who had ever been curious about the series, or just longs for a walk down gaming memory lane.

Cheers!

 
Wow! Thanks for taking the time to do this. Interesting look at the hobby in Japan at the time.
 
I've said it before, I'll probably end up saying it many times over...
Record of Lodoss War is the D&D campaign you WANT to be in
Slayers is what you are LUCKY to be in
Knights of the Dinner Table is what you end up being in
 
Wow, this takes me back. Makes me want to rewatch the anime after a couple of decades. I remember hearing it was based on a D&D game; looks like the BE of BECMI. Poor Woodchuck, having to use that nerfed thief skill table.
 
Wow, this takes me back. Makes me want to rewatch the anime after a couple of decades. I remember hearing it was based on a D&D game; looks like the BE of BECMI. Poor Woodchuck, having to use that nerfed thief skill table.
Totally BE. Woodchuck definitely gets my sympathy too. 1D4 hit points and a -1 adjustment for a low Constitution. The least they could have done is given him a decent shot at hiding in shadows.
 
Great work. I never got this particular cultural style of transcribed play sessions, it is as odd as the current popularity of streaming to me, but I do find it fascinating to dip into. Also enjoyed the anime although I never finished it and feel like I should return to it and do so.
 
"Replays" (as these recorded gaming sessions are called in Japan) go to the heart of Japanese culture. There is a desire to do everything properly, including playing games, so there is an educational and social component that is incredibly important to them. Then there is the "vicarious participation" aspect. Young Japanese males of this era (the 80's and 90's) were incredibly "shy" (for lack of a better way to put it). Replays allowed them to experience RPGs without actually having to interact with other human beings or learn the rules of the games being played, or risk being judged by others by actually playing them. It is alien to us in the West (although I think understandable).
Ironically, I enjoy reading replays quite a bit because it reminds me of my gaming friendships that work and family and "responsible adulthood" have gotten in the way of.
Some of my favorite replays have been for the game Call of Cthulhu which is extremely popular over there. I may have to translate one eventually. They tend toward a bit of comedy in the face of elder god madness.
 
It is alien to us in the West (although I think understandable).
Seeing as how I can go on YouTube or Twitch and find hundreds of recorded rpg sessions, with some people doing them professionally like proper shows, I don’t think it’s all that alien. It just didn’t come into its own here until the streaming video format was a thing. I expect even now for lots of folks it’s their primary form of interaction with RPGs.

Honestly, I could have used something like this in written form when I was young. We had to figuren it out mostly through oral tradition and inference from poorly written rulebooks.
 
I was a huge fan of Lodoss back in the day, both the original OVA and the Series. (Also the Dreamcast game was actually pretty good)

Orson and Shiris were my two favorite characters from the series. I feel like the only weeb who thinks of Orson and not Guts when I think of "berserker" in the context of anime fantasy.
 
I was a huge fan of Lodoss back in the day, both the original OVA and the Series. (Also the Dreamcast game was actually pretty good)

Orson and Shiris were my two favorite characters from the series. I feel like the only weeb who thinks of Orson and not Guts when I think of "berserker" in the context of anime fantasy.
I was an Ashram guy. But I got love for Orson and Shiris. Lodoss is seminal watching for anime imo. And if you play D&D - it really is the perfect campaign.
 
I honestly think the replay format is a very effective method of teaching the role-playing concept of a game.
 
I honestly think the replay format is a very effective method of teaching the role-playing concept of a game.
It's also pretty useful when a game has mechanics that aren't as straightforward. Shinobigami's base book the first half of the book is a replay, and it gives a much better idea of how the author intended the game to be played structurally. (Granted, you can of course always deviate, but it is pretty useful info for understanding the context of the rules).
 
I haven't looked - how much setting material is available for Lodoss?
 
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