RPG in Other Lands/Languages

[Yogah of Yag]

Greetings, All!

I'm curious to know if the rise of ("table-top", "pen-and-paper", &c.) RPG over the past 25 to 30 years is exclusively or predominantly an English-speaking (and/or "American"-speaking) phenomenon, or if it has a sizeable demographic in other nations which do not employ English/"American."

1) There *have* been D&D clones in other countries that I have heard of, such as Sweden's "Drakar och Demoner" (Dragons and Demons), but are there others out there...?

2) Is the Mongoose Pub. Conan RPG literature available in other languages?

 

[Trodax]

1) There *have* been D&D clones in other countries that I have heard of, such as Sweden's "Drakar och Demoner" (Dragons and Demons), but are there others out there...?

Well actually, "Drakar och Demoner" isn't a D&D clone; its a BRP (Basic Roleplaying) clone (at least rules wise).

RPG's do pretty well in Sweden I would say, both domestic Swedish games, and English (non-translated) games. They probably did a lot better in the 80's and 90's, though.

BTW, are you perhaps from Sweden Yogah? You seem to know about "Drakar och Demoner", and "At the Dark Edge of the Universe" sounds an awful lot like home to me. :wink:

 

[René]

In Germany Das Schwarze Auge (DSA, in English: The Dark Eye) hit the shelves in 1984 and is up to now THE dominant RPG in Germany. Almost everyone was introduced to our hobby by this game. It is in some part a D&D clone, but in other parts much more mature: more realistic magic, less PC races, less sentient monsters, only one campaign world (essentially), a detailed (and I mean DETAILED) history and even more detailed regions.

Some love it, some hate it because of its dominance. Most players say at some point of their career goodbye to DSA, but even it is years that I played it, I have to confess that rules and gaming world are among the best developed on the market.

 

[Yogah of Yag]

1) There *have* been D&D clones in other countries that I have heard of, such as Sweden's "Drakar och Demoner" (Dragons and Demons), but are there others out there...?

Well actually, "Drakar och Demoner" isn't a D&D clone; its a BRP (Basic Roleplaying) clone (at least rules wise).

RPG's do pretty well in Sweden I would say, both domestic Swedish games, and English (non-translated) games. They probably did a lot better in the 80's and 90's, though.

BTW, are you perhaps from Sweden Yogah? You seem to know about "Drakar och Demoner", and "At the Dark Edge of the Universe" sounds an awful lot like home to me. :wink:

Nej.

Many a sheltered scholar would have been astonished at the Cimmerian's linguistic abilities, for he had experienced many adventures where knowledge of a strange language had meant the difference between life and death.

---REH, "The Jewels of Gwahlur"

 

[Trodax]

Nej.

Many a sheltered scholar would have been astonished at the Cimmerian's linguistic abilities, for he had experienced many adventures where knowledge of a strange language had meant the difference between life and death.

---REH, "The Jewels of Gwahlur"

:lol: Sweet.

 

[The King]

In Germany Das Schwarze Auge (DSA, in English: The Dark Eye) hit the shelves in 1984 and is up to now THE dominant RPG in Germany. Almost everyone was introduced to our hobby by this game. It is in some part a D&D clone, but in other parts much more mature: more realistic magic, less PC races, less sentient monsters, only one campaign world (essentially), a detailed (and I mean DETAILED) history and even more detailed regions.

Some love it, some hate it because of its dominance. Most players say at some point of their career goodbye to DSA, but even it is years that I played it, I have to confess that rules and gaming world are among the best developed on the market.

Answer to the last paragraph: it is the fault of Borbarad and his armies of undead and demons which stripped the country of the fairy tales and adventures.

 

[Etepete]

France has a rich scene for rpgs: Nephilim being the big'un as far as I can tell. I'm sure a true frenchman can give a fuller account. I bought meself a most handsome little game on the Templars when I was down there, and I still mean to translate enought to be able to play it back home. The account for the swedish scene is quite correct, of course (Trodax should now, since his nick is the name of one of the more colourful npc:s of the game ) Kult is another swedish golden oldie, as is Mutant (really a postapoc version of Drakar och Demoner).

 

[The King]

France has a rich scene for rpgs: Nephilim being the big'un as far as I can tell. I'm sure a true frenchman can give a fuller account. I bought meself a most handsome little game on the Templars when I was down there, and I still mean to translate enought to be able to play it back home. The account for the swedish scene is quite correct, of course (Trodax should now, since his nick is the name of one of the more colourful npc:s of the game ) Kult is another swedish golden oldie, as is Mutant (really a postapoc version of Drakar och Demoner).

Aren't you talking of Miles Christi?
France is indeed a rich scene with many games and systems but the games never last for long. I suppose they produce more than they can play (French isn't widely spoken in the world compared to English).
What is funny is that they had a licence for Hawkmoon (Stormbringer) and developped it more that the original publisher (chaosium) with nearly 20 books.

 

[Trodax]

Trodax should now, since his nick is the name of one of the more colourful npc:s of the game

Yup. Magister Trodax Draconicus; thats me.

 

[Etepete]

Aren't you talking of Miles Christi?

Talking of, and recomending warmly to anyone with enough french. If you can read a newspaper in the language, there's no reason not to scour ebay for a copy. It's quite like Conan in that the whole game is steeped in its setting: there's not nothing of simulation and everything of genre-study in it.

What is funny is that they had a licence for Hawkmoon (Stormbringer) and developped it more that the original publisher (chaosium) with nearly 20 books.

And Chaosium translated frances biggest game (I take it), Nephilim. Allegedly far better in it's original version, though I never even leafed through it (not being much for all these games where you play vampires or faeries or demons or anything like it). Anyhow: there's seems to be a link there: chaosium and france.

On a side note: is it true that spain still has a company that supports MERP?

 

[Vincent791]

In México we have a lot of RPG's, but most of them are the american versions, although I've seen the translations from Spain (but they suck). I've played Dungeons and Dragons for 12 years and now I'm starting a new era with Conan.

 

[toothill man]

good call vincent the conan game is just getting better and better 8)

 

[Raven Blackwell]

The only fault I see so far- besides not enough Sorcery- in Conan so far is that there is less ource material to pick from than a 'generic' RPG might be able to. Can be a bit confining plot wise.

 

[Mendoza]

Here in Spain the most famous "national" RPG is "Aquelarre" (a word that means a witch meeting). The setting is based on the medieval spanish history, miths and legends (witches, demons, the inquisition...), and the rules are quite similar to those of "The Call of Cthulhu" or the old "Runequest". It's a really good game.

There are more games from independent publishers (Quidam, Hosspital...) which are "survival horror" games, but I've not played them.

In México we have a lot of RPG's, but most of them are the american versions, although I've seen the translations from Spain (but they suck).

Um, yes, I've seen some mistakes in the Conan RPG translation. The distributor of Conan RPG here is "Edge Entertaintment".

 

[Vincent791]

True, prefiero utilizar la versión en inglés a la de español, además de que estoy acostumbrado a usar las características del juego en inglés (DC, skill check, etc)

Welcome to the boards Mendoza! :wink:

 

[Etepete]

True, prefiero utilizar la versión en inglés a la de español, además de que estoy acostumbrado a usar las características del juego en inglés (DC, skill check, etc)

Of course, in my opinion you should always do the game in version original if you know the language well enough. But gamestats and the like: that's the problem. I'm quite accustomed to using the english ones aswell, but I do feel it detracts some from the experience, people tend to think in gamestat terms, rather than more fluently in their own language. As a matter of fact, I try to enforce swedish translations as widely as I can (difficult enough for weapons and the like, which are crusial to translate in my mind), it just borders on being too much of a bother though.

I've got one spanish game: Piratas! It seems rahter awkward rulewise, has anyone played it?

 

[Mendoza]

Thanks, Vincent.

True, prefiero utilizar la versión en inglés a la de español, además de que estoy acostumbrado a usar las características del juego en inglés (DC, skill check, etc)

Of course, in my opinion you should always do the game in version original if you know the language well enough.But gamestats and the like: that's the problem. I'm quite accustomed to using the english ones aswell, but I do feel it detracts some from the experience, people tend to think in gamestat terms, rather than more fluently in their own language. As a matter of fact, I try to enforce swedish translations as widely as I can (difficult enough for weapons and the like, which are crusial to translate in my mind), it just borders on being too much of a bother though.

Well, I think it's better to have the translated book because you are going to play in your own language. As you wrote it's a matter of fluidity, and to be constantly translating will slow the game. The problem is that if you want new books to improve your game, you'll have to wait months (even a year) until it's translated... and that's a mess.

I've got one spanish game: Piratas! It seems rahter awkward rulewise, has anyone played it?

I've never played Piratas!, but It's a very well esteemed game.

Oh, I just forgot a new "cape and sword" game that is becoming very very popular here called "Capitán Alatriste", based on the novels of Arturo Pérez Reverte (and upcoming film with Viggo Mortensen). The game runs on the spanish "Siglo de oro" (Gold Century), when Spain was an empire.

And here you have a wide forum about RPG's in spanish: http://www.inforol.com/foros/

 

[Vincent791]

The original language works better for me, even in my notes I write the features in their original language (DC, THACO, skill checks, etc).

And I don't know many others RPG's. I've played Vampire, D&D in Dragonlance (very) and Ravenloft (VERY). I'm very excited with the Conan RPG, can't wait to start! I'm still reading the books.