Since its inception in 1989, Sword World RPG has remained the most popular RPG in Japan, with an estimated 10 million copies of the game's various books sold. D&D domestically does not come even close and is even well behind localized editions of Call of Cthulhu as far as foreign RPGs go. The then publisher of the official Japanese translation of D&D would even go bankrupt trying and failing to compete with Sword World.
How did Sword World's publisher Group SNE dominate the market? By publishing the rules and supplements for their game as pocketbook size (bunkobon) paperbacks, which is to say the game was so affordable that even many cash-strapped high schoolers flocked to the hobby. (A standard bunkobon publication today costs less than five US dollars.)
Could Wizards of the Coast extend their market share by producing more affordable alternatives to the core books? Keep available the hardcovers, but make and sell paperback versions of these? If it means more players I see no bad side to their doing this.
Additionally, what were and are known as 'replays,' published novelizations of campaigns, were and remain widely read in Japan, and not just by players but regular fans of fantasy fiction.
Is there not a market for this in North America? It's fun to watch 'celebrity' games. So why not to read the stories woven by our very peers?
My suggestion is some game-live show style Critical Role with Japanese players and using Sigl as virtual tabletop. Of course with the option of subtitles for no-Japanese-speakers.
The Japanese market is different because they can't enjoy the same level of free time for hobbies with friends. Then they would rather PC fast to be created and one-shot adventures instead long campaigns. They are too busy with studies, families and jobs. That is the reason because Call of Chulthu is so popular.
The isekai subgenre is very popular.
Other idea is to create a web for self-publishing where Japanese fandom would tell their own homemade settings, PC species and monsters or light novels. Some anime franchises started like this.
Or a Capcom-D&D collab, where the Japanese company create its own setting with a mash-up version of its characters. It wouldn't be a beat-em like Capcom vs Marvel videogame but more a CRPG.
The Japanese players want to feel they are creating their own world "borrowing some ideas from out" instead acquired a total pack from a foreign seller.
Some 3PPs have created their own settings using Japanese culture and others from Asian East-Coast
And we would need playtesting and feedback for update of those PC species.
You're not going to get pocket sized books for the core rules. They won't fit without making the text too small.
You could get slightly cheaper paperbacks than hardbacks...but I daresay the profit margin would be smaller. They'll be a couple of bucks cheaper to make, but the customer would be willing to pay much less. Maybe they'd make it back on volume...but maybe not.
We already have something that is substantially cheaper than hardback (and probably the paperback) and smaller too - DDB.
In terms of "portable & cheap", I don't think D&D could even compete for that niche. Its setup is based on a large volume of content. For example, it has a steep progression, necessitating a massive library of monster Statblocks so characters at every level have a meaningful but not insurmountable challenge (compare to TOR or STA where progression is much flatter and so adversaries are a challenge throughout the character's lifetime, meaning that every new Statblock can be unique and will always be valid). Another example is it's approach to rules, where many situations have their own rules that need to be written out to explain them (compare to STA that has essentially one mechanic that resolves almost every situation).
D&D's approach has its own advantages, and switching to "compact" as a design philosophy would mean leaving its niche, in which it's dominant, to compete in other niches that already have strong players in them. I'd like D&D to be cheaper, but I think it would lose what makes it a valid choice among TTRPGs to make it that much cheaper.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
My suggestion is some game-live show style Critical Role with Japanese players and using Sigl as virtual tabletop. Of course with the option of subtitles for no-Japanese-speakers.
The Japanese market is different because they can't enjoy the same level of free time for hobbies with friends. Then they would rather PC fast to be created and one-shot adventures instead long campaigns. They are too busy with studies, families and jobs. That is the reason because Call of Chulthu is so popular.
The isekai subgenre is very popular.
Other idea is to create a web for self-publishing where Japanese fandom would tell their own homemade settings, PC species and monsters or light novels. Some anime franchises started like this.
Or a Capcom-D&D collab, where the Japanese company create its own setting with a mash-up version of its characters. It wouldn't be a beat-em like Capcom vs Marvel videogame but more a CRPG.
The Japanese players want to feel they are creating their own world "borrowing some ideas from out" instead acquired a total pack from a foreign seller.
Some 3PPs have created their own settings using Japanese culture and others from Asian East-Coast
And we would need playtesting and feedback for update of those PC species.
It is just not true the Japanese have little to no time to pursue hobbies with friends. It's a gross exaggeration of how busy people are in this country. There are hobby stores with space dedicated to tables for in-store gaming for both tabletop role-playing and collectible card games. Team sports are immensely popular and are commonly played on weekends by kids of all ages. And there are probably more darts bars and pool halls and video game arcades frequented by groups of friends in the country's capital than you are likely to find in any city in the English speaking world.
How do you think Record of Lodoss War came about? It was a group of friends playing long form AD&D campaigns and publishing multivolume 'replays' of these before they were then novelized and adapted into one medium after another. I am not sure how you figure Japanese players are only after one-shots. They aren't. I know. I play with them.
Call of Cthulhu is popular in Japan for a number of reasons and the misunderstanding that Call of Cthulhu games are 'short' is not one of them: mystery and horror resonate more with the locals than does medieval fantasy; the default setting in localized versions is 'the modern world' and not 1920's Massachusetts, giving it a flavor more compatible with the domestic horror media that inspires many Japanese 'keepers'; it is published by the parent company that has always published Sword World and it knows the market better than could either TSR or Wizards of the Coast; and Lovecraft has served as a major inspiration among Japanese horror mangaka like Ito and Tanabe and his presence can also be felt in Japanese horror films.
You're not going to get pocket sized books for the core rules. They won't fit without making the text too small.
You could get slightly cheaper paperbacks than hardbacks...but I daresay the profit margin would be smaller. They'll be a couple of bucks cheaper to make, but the customer would be willing to pay much less. Maybe they'd make it back on volume...but maybe not.
We already have something that is substantially cheaper than hardback (and probably the paperback) and smaller too - DDB.
In Japanese? Japanese translations of English texts take up a fraction of the space their English equivalents do. If Wizards of the Coast want to make ground in the Japanese market they are going to have to pay close attention to what the local market wants.
How much do you figure it costs to print bunkobon or even mass market US paperbacksin large quantities? Just "a couple of bucks" less than it does hardcovers? You are so astronomically off one must wonder if you are taking the subject seriously or just being contrarian for the sake of it.
Japanese players want books. The Japanese buy more physical books than does any other population on the planet and telling them to just use this website when any Japanese users here would make up such a small percentage of the country's TRPG hobbyists is just silly.
If Wizards of the Coast want to continue losing players to Kadokawa and other publishers of games outperforming D&D in Japan that's their prerogative. Why you would want that and just defend something that is not working is anyone's guess.
Maybe I don't know enoughly the Japanese market and society but we should be free to offer suggestions.
Other possible option could be a new starter pack with a simple version of the rules. Easy to be learnt or to be carried to the school club. WotC could talk with some manga publisher or anime studio for a collab style Ricky&Morty or Stranger Things.
I wonder if Japanese players would rather a D&D setting style Kara-Tur or Rokugan (or Kaidan, by Rite Publishing, or Mist of Akuma by Bunny Storm Studios or Kamon by Fabio Atolli) or a new setting with a Western look but adding elements from Japanese folklore.
I feel curiosity about how Japanese players would redesign the PC species inspired in far east folklore (shen, korokoburu, hengeyokai, rati/nezumi..)
I would be down for small pocket book sized rules books. But they would be nearly completely devoid of art, and would have to be written quite small.
I guess it could be made if the book is split up. Like "Classes, Backgrounds, Species, items" is one book, "spells" is its own book. Which would actually be great to have the spells in a separate small book. Like a small spellbook, heck that could actually see some sales by its own.
But other books, like the DMG, MM, or adventures, these can't be really made into a small book.
But honestly: We can have that, and have it, we call it the DNDBeyond App on our phones/tablets. The same small form factor (even smaller!), and you have access to everything. Not sure if a physical medium like a book can compete here.
My suggestion is some game-live show style Critical Role with Japanese players and using Sigl as virtual tabletop. Of course with the option of subtitles for no-Japanese-speakers.
The Japanese market is different because they can't enjoy the same level of free time for hobbies with friends. Then they would rather PC fast to be created and one-shot adventures instead long campaigns. They are too busy with studies, families and jobs. That is the reason because Call of Chulthu is so popular.
The isekai subgenre is very popular.
Other idea is to create a web for self-publishing where Japanese fandom would tell their own homemade settings, PC species and monsters or light novels. Some anime franchises started like this.
Or a Capcom-D&D collab, where the Japanese company create its own setting with a mash-up version of its characters. It wouldn't be a beat-em like Capcom vs Marvel videogame but more a CRPG.
The Japanese players want to feel they are creating their own world "borrowing some ideas from out" instead acquired a total pack from a foreign seller.
Some 3PPs have created their own settings using Japanese culture and others from Asian East-Coast
And we would need playtesting and feedback for update of those PC species.
It is just not true the Japanese have little to no time to pursue hobbies with friends. It's a gross exaggeration of how busy people are in this country. There are hobby stores with space dedicated to tables for in-store gaming for both tabletop role-playing and collectible card games. Team sports are immensely popular and are commonly played on weekends by kids of all ages. And there are probably more darts bars and pool halls and video game arcades frequented by groups of friends in the country's capital than you are likely to find in any city in the English speaking world.
How do you think Record of Lodoss War came about? It was a group of friends playing long form AD&D campaigns and publishing multivolume 'replays' of these before they were then novelized and adapted into one medium after another. I am not sure how you figure Japanese players are only after one-shots. They aren't. I know. I play with them.
Call of Cthulhu is popular in Japan for a number of reasons and the misunderstanding that Call of Cthulhu games are 'short' is not one of them: mystery and horror resonate more with the locals than does medieval fantasy; the default setting in localized versions is 'the modern world' and not 1920's Massachusetts, giving it a flavor more compatible with the domestic horror media that inspires many Japanese 'keepers'; it is published by the parent company that has always published Sword World and it knows the market better than could either TSR or Wizards of the Coast; and Lovecraft has served as a major inspiration among Japanese horror mangaka like Ito and Tanabe and his presence can also be felt in Japanese horror films.
To be honest from what you've said I don't think the problem is D&D not offering cheap throw away books to read on the way to work but more that what they offer just isn't what the Japanese market wants. If they're not really interested in medieval fantasy then straight away there's an incompatibility with a system almost entirely directed towards that, it's not a system well suited to modern set stories and it's also not a system inherently designed for horror so to appeal to Japan you're suddenly not just looking at a change of format but a fundamental change to the way the game works. You'd have to redesign it so much you'd essentially be left with a totally different product. Is that a change that's really worth making for a relatively small market when they could just focus those efforts into the US and Europe who already do like what D&D offers?
The isekai subgenre is very popular in the Japanese current fiction, not only manga and anime but lots of light novels.
What if a Japanese player wanted her character was an reincarnated from the "real world"? Here my suggestion is people from Kamigawa: Neon Dinasty who died during the Phyrexian invasion are reincarnated in this new amerimanga-style setting.
* How would be using Sigil software to create a otome "interactive-novel" set in Stryxhaven? Several manganimes is about reincarnation within a otome dating-sim videogame set in a wizardry academy.
* How would be lung dragonborn? Could spellcales from "Races of Dragon" to be update for players who wanted a monster waifu with draconic traits?
* If female hengeyokai are more popular with animal ears on the top (kemonomimi) would be diagonal the ear channels?
* What if the tsukumogami (yokai of domestic objects) were a new construct PC specie?
* I wonder if tablets with VTT or SRDs from internet will replace the cheap pocke books.
Frankly, I doubt the market segment is large enough to be worth WotC trying to create a custom product for, when they could instead devote those resources to making something they could offer to the entire player base. And genre alone is unlikely to carry as much weight as the perception of what the core game is compared to whatever presently fills the niche in Japan.
I would be down for small pocket book sized rules books. But they would be nearly completely devoid of art, and would have to be written quite small.
I guess it could be made if the book is split up. Like "Classes, Backgrounds, Species, items" is one book, "spells" is its own book. Which would actually be great to have the spells in a separate small book. Like a small spellbook, heck that could actually see some sales by its own.
But other books, like the DMG, MM, or adventures, these can't be really made into a small book.
But honestly: We can have that, and have it, we call it the DNDBeyond App on our phones/tablets. The same small form factor (even smaller!), and you have access to everything. Not sure if a physical medium like a book can compete here.
Japanese players want books. Not apps. Go into any hobby shop in this country and marvel at the number of TRPGs on the shelves. The whole point of my original post is that Wizards of the Coast do not understand the Japanese market and that is why D&D is just not doing well here and your 'answer' to this is they should just keep doing what they are doing?
Alternatively, they do understand the market but feel it’s more effort than it’s worth to attempt to break into it, particularly since hobby markets strongly favor established names.
To be honest from what you've said I don't think the problem is D&D not offering cheap throw away books to read on the way to work but more that what they offer just isn't what the Japanese market wants. If they're not really interested in medieval fantasy then straight away there's an incompatibility with a system almost entirely directed towards that, it's not a system well suited to modern set stories and it's also not a system inherently designed for horror so to appeal to Japan you're suddenly not just looking at a change of format but a fundamental change to the way the game works. You'd have to redesign it so much you'd essentially be left with a totally different product. Is that a change that's really worth making for a relatively small market when they could just focus those efforts into the US and Europe who already do like what D&D offers?
Sword World RPG is medieval fantasy. The game has sold over 10 million books in Japan. I did not say Japanese players were not interested in medieval fantasy. Many are. I said one of the reasons Call of Cthulhu outperforms D&D here is that horror tends to resonate more with the locals than does medieval fantasy.
There is potential in Japan for D&D to perform well. Articles have been written about this. And the most common conclusion is that the market is just not understood; that's not whether fantasy is popular or not but how players play here and how the success of D&D's competitors here is largely due to how affordable and portable are the physical books for domestic RPGs.
You can read articles in both English and Japanese about the success of Sword World. Or just make things up to provide yourself with excuses for Wizards' failure to gain much ground here if you would rather do that.
Frankly, I doubt the market segment is large enough to be worth WotC trying to create a custom product for, when they could instead devote those resources to making something they could offer to the entire player base. And genre alone is unlikely to carry as much weight as the perception of what the core game is compared to whatever presently fills the niche in Japan.
So D&D should be for everyone. But let's make no effort to get more people playing the game in parts of the world where players consume things differently than do those in the English speaking world? That seems awfully insular.
Alternatively, they do understand the market but feel it’s more effort than it’s worth to attempt to break into it, particularly since hobby markets strongly favor established names.
Possibly.
But article upon article (in Japanese and English) has highlighted how they do not understand the Japanese market. I would trust the authors of these articles who understand the industry in Japan before I would trust those who seem to just want to make excuse after excuse for Wizards of the Coast.
The Japanese translation of the 5E PHB has sold as few as 10,000 copies here. That is pretty abysmal compared to how well domestic games do or how well the Japanese translation of Call of Cthulhu does.
It's not as if the D&D brand is unknown here.
The game did quite well here back in the '80s with the arrival of the red box. Since 1989 however D&D has underperformed here. The local publisher of 2nd. Edition went bankrupt. Players did not want to pay so much money to transition. Not when they could buy the full ruleset for Sword World for 600 yen.
Frankly, I doubt the market segment is large enough to be worth WotC trying to create a custom product for, when they could instead devote those resources to making something they could offer to the entire player base. And genre alone is unlikely to carry as much weight as the perception of what the core game is compared to whatever presently fills the niche in Japan.
So D&D should be for everyone. But let's make no effort to get more people playing the game in parts of the world where players consume things differently than do those in the English speaking world? That seems awfully insular.
It’s not insular, just realistic. This is a business endeavor, not some great humanitarian or philosophical movement. If attempting to break into market B seems like it will produce fewer returns with the same resources you could use to publish a product in market A, then there’s no reason to attempt to enter the new market. Obviously that’s a gross oversimplification of the assessment process, but if at the end of the day attempting to tailor something for Japan doesn’t have strong signs the rate of return will be better than working in their existing paradigm, a company has little to no incentive to develop that product.
It’s not insular, just realistic. This is a business endeavor, not some great humanitarian or philosophical movement. If attempting to break into market B seems like it will produce fewer returns with the same resources you could use to publish a product in market A, then there’s no reason to attempt to enter the new market. Obviously that’s a gross oversimplification of the assessment process, but if at the end of the day attempting to tailor something for Japan doesn’t have strong signs the rate of return will be better than working in their existing paradigm, a company has little to no incentive to develop that product.
You previously brought up 'established names.'
D&D was quite popular here in the '80s. The author of Record of Lodoss War and his group played D&D.
Sword World was made because TSR weren't interested in collaborating with them. A foolish mistake on their part as D&D could have become the go-to system here.
D&D is well known in Japan. It's just not the game most players choose because the format and cost conflict with the wants and needs of most players.
You are saying anything you can—even when it is not even close to reality—just to be contrarian. So don't talk to me about what is and is not 'realistic.'
TRPGs are huge in Japan. There is potential for D&D to do well. And for Wizards of the Coast to do very well for themselves by capturing the market.
Over 10 million copies of just Sword World books sold. And you believe it's just not worth paying a pittance to print bunkudon editions of D&D for hobbyists in Japan?
I assume you know it will only cost a “pittance” to convert D&D books to this format because of your vast firsthand knowledge of the publishing industry?
I’m not saying I absolutely know what forces are in play, just that it’s entirely possible that with another system now in prominence- whatever the state of affairs was 40 years ago- that WotC has run the numbers and concluded the rate of return is insufficient to be a worthwhile investment.
To be honest from what you've said I don't think the problem is D&D not offering cheap throw away books to read on the way to work but more that what they offer just isn't what the Japanese market wants. If they're not really interested in medieval fantasy then straight away there's an incompatibility with a system almost entirely directed towards that, it's not a system well suited to modern set stories and it's also not a system inherently designed for horror so to appeal to Japan you're suddenly not just looking at a change of format but a fundamental change to the way the game works. You'd have to redesign it so much you'd essentially be left with a totally different product. Is that a change that's really worth making for a relatively small market when they could just focus those efforts into the US and Europe who already do like what D&D offers?
Sword World RPG is medieval fantasy. The game has sold over 10 million books in Japan. I did not say Japanese players were not interested in medieval fantasy. Many are. I said one of the reasons Call of Cthulhu outperforms D&D here is that horror tends to resonate more with the locals than does medieval fantasy.
There is potential in Japan for D&D to perform well. Articles have been written about this. And the most common conclusion is that the market is just not understood; that's not whether fantasy is popular or not but how players play here and how the success of D&D's competitors here is largely due to how affordable and portable are the physical books for domestic RPGs.
You can read articles in both English and Japanese about the success of Sword World. Or just make things up to provide yourself with excuses for Wizards' failure to gain much ground here if you would rather do that.
I’m not making up anything, I was responding directly to what you’d said about why you thought CoC was doing better than D&D so there’s really no need to be attacking me
Frankly, I doubt the market segment is large enough to be worth WotC trying to create a custom product for, when they could instead devote those resources to making something they could offer to the entire player base. And genre alone is unlikely to carry as much weight as the perception of what the core game is compared to whatever presently fills the niche in Japan.
So D&D should be for everyone. But let's make no effort to get more people playing the game in parts of the world where players consume things differently than do those in the English speaking world? That seems awfully insular.
Seems awfully capitalist to me.
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Since its inception in 1989, Sword World RPG has remained the most popular RPG in Japan, with an estimated 10 million copies of the game's various books sold. D&D domestically does not come even close and is even well behind localized editions of Call of Cthulhu as far as foreign RPGs go. The then publisher of the official Japanese translation of D&D would even go bankrupt trying and failing to compete with Sword World.
How did Sword World's publisher Group SNE dominate the market? By publishing the rules and supplements for their game as pocketbook size (bunkobon) paperbacks, which is to say the game was so affordable that even many cash-strapped high schoolers flocked to the hobby. (A standard bunkobon publication today costs less than five US dollars.)
Could Wizards of the Coast extend their market share by producing more affordable alternatives to the core books? Keep available the hardcovers, but make and sell paperback versions of these? If it means more players I see no bad side to their doing this.
Additionally, what were and are known as 'replays,' published novelizations of campaigns, were and remain widely read in Japan, and not just by players but regular fans of fantasy fiction.
Is there not a market for this in North America? It's fun to watch 'celebrity' games. So why not to read the stories woven by our very peers?
My suggestion is some game-live show style Critical Role with Japanese players and using Sigl as virtual tabletop. Of course with the option of subtitles for no-Japanese-speakers.
The Japanese market is different because they can't enjoy the same level of free time for hobbies with friends. Then they would rather PC fast to be created and one-shot adventures instead long campaigns. They are too busy with studies, families and jobs. That is the reason because Call of Chulthu is so popular.
The isekai subgenre is very popular.
Other idea is to create a web for self-publishing where Japanese fandom would tell their own homemade settings, PC species and monsters or light novels. Some anime franchises started like this.
Or a Capcom-D&D collab, where the Japanese company create its own setting with a mash-up version of its characters. It wouldn't be a beat-em like Capcom vs Marvel videogame but more a CRPG.
The Japanese players want to feel they are creating their own world "borrowing some ideas from out" instead acquired a total pack from a foreign seller.
Some 3PPs have created their own settings using Japanese culture and others from Asian East-Coast
And we would need playtesting and feedback for update of those PC species.
In terms of "portable & cheap", I don't think D&D could even compete for that niche. Its setup is based on a large volume of content. For example, it has a steep progression, necessitating a massive library of monster Statblocks so characters at every level have a meaningful but not insurmountable challenge (compare to TOR or STA where progression is much flatter and so adversaries are a challenge throughout the character's lifetime, meaning that every new Statblock can be unique and will always be valid). Another example is it's approach to rules, where many situations have their own rules that need to be written out to explain them (compare to STA that has essentially one mechanic that resolves almost every situation).
D&D's approach has its own advantages, and switching to "compact" as a design philosophy would mean leaving its niche, in which it's dominant, to compete in other niches that already have strong players in them. I'd like D&D to be cheaper, but I think it would lose what makes it a valid choice among TTRPGs to make it that much cheaper.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
It is just not true the Japanese have little to no time to pursue hobbies with friends. It's a gross exaggeration of how busy people are in this country. There are hobby stores with space dedicated to tables for in-store gaming for both tabletop role-playing and collectible card games. Team sports are immensely popular and are commonly played on weekends by kids of all ages. And there are probably more darts bars and pool halls and video game arcades frequented by groups of friends in the country's capital than you are likely to find in any city in the English speaking world.
How do you think Record of Lodoss War came about? It was a group of friends playing long form AD&D campaigns and publishing multivolume 'replays' of these before they were then novelized and adapted into one medium after another. I am not sure how you figure Japanese players are only after one-shots. They aren't. I know. I play with them.
Call of Cthulhu is popular in Japan for a number of reasons and the misunderstanding that Call of Cthulhu games are 'short' is not one of them: mystery and horror resonate more with the locals than does medieval fantasy; the default setting in localized versions is 'the modern world' and not 1920's Massachusetts, giving it a flavor more compatible with the domestic horror media that inspires many Japanese 'keepers'; it is published by the parent company that has always published Sword World and it knows the market better than could either TSR or Wizards of the Coast; and Lovecraft has served as a major inspiration among Japanese horror mangaka like Ito and Tanabe and his presence can also be felt in Japanese horror films.
In Japanese? Japanese translations of English texts take up a fraction of the space their English equivalents do. If Wizards of the Coast want to make ground in the Japanese market they are going to have to pay close attention to what the local market wants.
How much do you figure it costs to print bunkobon or even mass market US paperbacks in large quantities? Just "a couple of bucks" less than it does hardcovers? You are so astronomically off one must wonder if you are taking the subject seriously or just being contrarian for the sake of it.
Japanese players want books. The Japanese buy more physical books than does any other population on the planet and telling them to just use this website when any Japanese users here would make up such a small percentage of the country's TRPG hobbyists is just silly.
If Wizards of the Coast want to continue losing players to Kadokawa and other publishers of games outperforming D&D in Japan that's their prerogative. Why you would want that and just defend something that is not working is anyone's guess.
Maybe I don't know enoughly the Japanese market and society but we should be free to offer suggestions.
Other possible option could be a new starter pack with a simple version of the rules. Easy to be learnt or to be carried to the school club. WotC could talk with some manga publisher or anime studio for a collab style Ricky&Morty or Stranger Things.
I wonder if Japanese players would rather a D&D setting style Kara-Tur or Rokugan (or Kaidan, by Rite Publishing, or Mist of Akuma by Bunny Storm Studios or Kamon by Fabio Atolli) or a new setting with a Western look but adding elements from Japanese folklore.
I feel curiosity about how Japanese players would redesign the PC species inspired in far east folklore (shen, korokoburu, hengeyokai, rati/nezumi..)
I would be down for small pocket book sized rules books. But they would be nearly completely devoid of art, and would have to be written quite small.
I guess it could be made if the book is split up. Like "Classes, Backgrounds, Species, items" is one book, "spells" is its own book. Which would actually be great to have the spells in a separate small book. Like a small spellbook, heck that could actually see some sales by its own.
But other books, like the DMG, MM, or adventures, these can't be really made into a small book.
But honestly: We can have that, and have it, we call it the DNDBeyond App on our phones/tablets. The same small form factor (even smaller!), and you have access to everything. Not sure if a physical medium like a book can compete here.
To be honest from what you've said I don't think the problem is D&D not offering cheap throw away books to read on the way to work but more that what they offer just isn't what the Japanese market wants. If they're not really interested in medieval fantasy then straight away there's an incompatibility with a system almost entirely directed towards that, it's not a system well suited to modern set stories and it's also not a system inherently designed for horror so to appeal to Japan you're suddenly not just looking at a change of format but a fundamental change to the way the game works. You'd have to redesign it so much you'd essentially be left with a totally different product. Is that a change that's really worth making for a relatively small market when they could just focus those efforts into the US and Europe who already do like what D&D offers?
The isekai subgenre is very popular in the Japanese current fiction, not only manga and anime but lots of light novels.
What if a Japanese player wanted her character was an reincarnated from the "real world"? Here my suggestion is people from Kamigawa: Neon Dinasty who died during the Phyrexian invasion are reincarnated in this new amerimanga-style setting.
* How would be using Sigil software to create a otome "interactive-novel" set in Stryxhaven? Several manganimes is about reincarnation within a otome dating-sim videogame set in a wizardry academy.
* How would be lung dragonborn? Could spellcales from "Races of Dragon" to be update for players who wanted a monster waifu with draconic traits?
* If female hengeyokai are more popular with animal ears on the top (kemonomimi) would be diagonal the ear channels?
* What if the tsukumogami (yokai of domestic objects) were a new construct PC specie?
* I wonder if tablets with VTT or SRDs from internet will replace the cheap pocke books.
Frankly, I doubt the market segment is large enough to be worth WotC trying to create a custom product for, when they could instead devote those resources to making something they could offer to the entire player base. And genre alone is unlikely to carry as much weight as the perception of what the core game is compared to whatever presently fills the niche in Japan.
Japanese players want books. Not apps. Go into any hobby shop in this country and marvel at the number of TRPGs on the shelves. The whole point of my original post is that Wizards of the Coast do not understand the Japanese market and that is why D&D is just not doing well here and your 'answer' to this is they should just keep doing what they are doing?
Alternatively, they do understand the market but feel it’s more effort than it’s worth to attempt to break into it, particularly since hobby markets strongly favor established names.
Sword World RPG is medieval fantasy. The game has sold over 10 million books in Japan. I did not say Japanese players were not interested in medieval fantasy. Many are. I said one of the reasons Call of Cthulhu outperforms D&D here is that horror tends to resonate more with the locals than does medieval fantasy.
There is potential in Japan for D&D to perform well. Articles have been written about this. And the most common conclusion is that the market is just not understood; that's not whether fantasy is popular or not but how players play here and how the success of D&D's competitors here is largely due to how affordable and portable are the physical books for domestic RPGs.
You can read articles in both English and Japanese about the success of Sword World. Or just make things up to provide yourself with excuses for Wizards' failure to gain much ground here if you would rather do that.
So D&D should be for everyone. But let's make no effort to get more people playing the game in parts of the world where players consume things differently than do those in the English speaking world? That seems awfully insular.
Possibly.
But article upon article (in Japanese and English) has highlighted how they do not understand the Japanese market. I would trust the authors of these articles who understand the industry in Japan before I would trust those who seem to just want to make excuse after excuse for Wizards of the Coast.
The Japanese translation of the 5E PHB has sold as few as 10,000 copies here. That is pretty abysmal compared to how well domestic games do or how well the Japanese translation of Call of Cthulhu does.
It's not as if the D&D brand is unknown here.
The game did quite well here back in the '80s with the arrival of the red box. Since 1989 however D&D has underperformed here. The local publisher of 2nd. Edition went bankrupt. Players did not want to pay so much money to transition. Not when they could buy the full ruleset for Sword World for 600 yen.
It’s not insular, just realistic. This is a business endeavor, not some great humanitarian or philosophical movement. If attempting to break into market B seems like it will produce fewer returns with the same resources you could use to publish a product in market A, then there’s no reason to attempt to enter the new market. Obviously that’s a gross oversimplification of the assessment process, but if at the end of the day attempting to tailor something for Japan doesn’t have strong signs the rate of return will be better than working in their existing paradigm, a company has little to no incentive to develop that product.
You previously brought up 'established names.'
D&D was quite popular here in the '80s. The author of Record of Lodoss War and his group played D&D.
Sword World was made because TSR weren't interested in collaborating with them. A foolish mistake on their part as D&D could have become the go-to system here.
D&D is well known in Japan. It's just not the game most players choose because the format and cost conflict with the wants and needs of most players.
You are saying anything you can—even when it is not even close to reality—just to be contrarian. So don't talk to me about what is and is not 'realistic.'
TRPGs are huge in Japan. There is potential for D&D to do well. And for Wizards of the Coast to do very well for themselves by capturing the market.
Over 10 million copies of just Sword World books sold. And you believe it's just not worth paying a pittance to print bunkudon editions of D&D for hobbyists in Japan?
I assume you know it will only cost a “pittance” to convert D&D books to this format because of your vast firsthand knowledge of the publishing industry?
I’m not saying I absolutely know what forces are in play, just that it’s entirely possible that with another system now in prominence- whatever the state of affairs was 40 years ago- that WotC has run the numbers and concluded the rate of return is insufficient to be a worthwhile investment.
I’m not making up anything, I was responding directly to what you’d said about why you thought CoC was doing better than D&D so there’s really no need to be attacking me
Seems awfully capitalist to me.