Samuria

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It might just be me, but I've noticed that no one seems to talk about japanesse type games like legend of the five rings [rpg, books, ond other things] or japanesse roleplaying gamesor anything like that. Just a little curious why.

Edit:
sorry, that would be samuria

[ April 24, 2003, 04:45: Message edited by: Compulsive Dementia ]

 

Samurai, actually.

LO5R and oriental adventures just aren't that popular here.

Kara Tur was barely mentioned in the FRCS. Perhaps the marketable target for such products is too small for any further investment by WOTC.

I guess people at SP generally prefer paladins to samurai, rogues to ninja and wizards to shugenja. Not me though. A good katana beats a holy avenger any day, IMO.

 

I believe that this is happening because people prefer to play games that are closer to their history and their cultural background. It doesn't happen just in the case of rpgs but in the other genres as well. For examble in WW2 games Europeans rarely will play a game which is taking place in the pacific front or in games like Age of Empires or Civilization Europeans will choose a European nation while people from Asia an Asian nation.

 

The example for this would be Battle Realms in Germany.The game appeared here in Germany at the same tome as Rise of Nations and although it got a higher score in all Pc-Magazines than Rise of Nations,it totally losed compared to Rise.

 

Concerning CPRGS. I think there a two whole genres that exist parallel. The eastern ones and the western ones. Both aren't mixed ever and I wonder actually, if someone's going to crack the cultural barrier and make a CPRG that's an equal success in East-Asia and Europe.

Most astonishing is, that East-Asians play Warcraft like hell. So, in the realtime-strategie genre, concepts which appeal to those different groups already exist.

 

Dont forget Final Fantasy which is popular everywhere.

Its true its more spread out in the east but its in the west too.

 

A bit off topic: The legend of five rings is probably based on "A book of five rings" written by Miyamoto Musashi. He is the samurai known as the kensei or "sword saint" and also the first person to really develop a japanese two weapon fighting style. Over thirty duels, no losses.

A bit of an exploitive title me thinks.

 

I think that alot of people have a hard time grasping the philosophy and mindset of a samurai... I mean it is a strange concept to some of us plus. Many people don't like L5R because it more about role-playing and not roll- playing and the combat system is so deadly RPG noobs tend to go back to their old long swords... the book of five rings is great, it was written in 1654 believe… exploiting the title? Hmmm I have to disagree who says D&D isn't exploiting Lord of the Rings?

 

I don't think d&d is exploiting lord of the rings- at least not in the tittle. The concepts are similiar, I'll grant, but not the tittles. I heard of that swordmaster, too. Great stuff right there.

 

The title D&D is not exploitive, but the internal concepts sure as heck are drawn directly from Tolkien. In fact, some of the earliest first edition stuff actually had hobbits and ents. There was a legal kerfuffle and they had to change their words to halflings and treants. A good number of the spells for 1st through 3rd level wizards were drawn directly from what Gandalf does in either the Hobbit or LOTR.

I see no problem, though. I mean, every idea has to come from somewhere, right?

 

Actually I find all things Japanese extremely interesting. I've been drawing manga as a hobby for around 7-8 years, collecting manga and anime as well, and I have a Japanese studying friend for a superfreak as a friend.

Unfortunately, even if my knowledge of Japan is greater than that of a normal person, it's still nothing compared to someone who actually actively spends time finding out about things there. I've been thinking for a couple of years now that I should start doing some sort of research on Japan before Meiji era. I think very highly indeed of their honour and principles, even for the many bad things involved in that culture.