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A History of TRPGs in Japan – Part 8 – Stranger Aeons (2013-Present)
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<blockquote data-quote="Iosue" data-source="post: 9161294" data-attributes="member: 6680772"><p>The title of this part is not poetic liberty on my part; it is indeed what Japanese role-players call it. It even has its own Japanese <a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%86%E3%83%BC%E3%83%96%E3%83%AB%E3%83%88%E3%83%BC%E3%82%AFRPG%E5%86%AC%E3%81%AE%E6%99%82%E4%BB%A3" target="_blank">Wikipedia page</a>!</p><p></p><p>Although the 1996 release of <em>Magic: The Gathering</em> and <em>Pokemon Trading Card Game</em> had a tremendous impact on the industry, signs that winter was coming were apparent in the years before that. <strong>Tsukuda Hobby</strong>, once one of the industry leaders, published its last RPG in 1993. (Ironically, this was <strong>F.E.A.R.</strong>’s debut RPG, <em>Tokyo Nova</em>.) Undoubtedly hit hard by the popping of the economic bubble, both Tsukuda Hobby and its parent company, toy manufacturer <strong>Tsukuda</strong>, fell into financial straits, and went bankrupt in 2003. The publisher of Japan’s first RPG, and its first original RPG, was no more.</p><p></p><p>Even in 1994, when 17 new RPGs were released, one could see consolidation in the RPG publishers. The many publishers that had dabbled in RPGs had quickly withdrawn, leaving only the heavy weights. Those 17 RPGs were made by only 8 companies: <strong>Kadokawa</strong> and its imprints, <strong>MediaWorks</strong>, <strong>Aspect</strong> (a subsidiary of <strong>ASCII</strong>), <strong>Hobby Japan</strong>, <strong>Shinkigensha</strong>, <strong>Yuentai</strong>, <strong>Hobby Data</strong>, and <strong>Cosmo Engineering</strong>.</p><p></p><p>The 11 RPGS released in 1995 were made by only 7 companies. Only Kadokawa, Aspect, Hobby Japan, MediaWorks and Shinkigensha remained from the previous year, joined by <strong>KIRAMEKI</strong> and <strong>KOEI</strong>. At the end of 1996, only 10 RPGs were released. KIRAMEKI and KOEI were gone, leaving only Kadokawa, Hobby Japan, and MediaWorks from the previous years, joined by <strong>Game Field</strong>, and <strong>Suzaku Games</strong>. Both Suzaku Games and Game Field were the results of designers, frustrated by the lack of work from publishers, attempting to self-publish their work. Suzaku Games was established by <strong>Yusuke Tokita</strong>, while Game Field was a division of F.E.A.R.</p><p></p><p>1997 is notable from a <em>D&D</em> perspective. As is well-known, this is when TSR was bought by Wizards of the Coast. Well, this was a blow to MediaWorks, because when Hobby Japan negotiated the <em>Magic</em> license with WotC, they got the translation rights to ALL of WotC’s analog games. And now that included D&D. After a short four years of a fully localized D&D, MediaWorks announced it was longer producing D&D content.</p><p></p><p>The RPG industry was at its lowest tide in 1998 and 1999, with only 6 RPGs released in each of those years, the lowest number of releases since 1987. And that doesn’t tell the whole story, because five of those games were released by Game Field, which had much more limited distribution than the major publishers.</p><p></p><p>One by one, the RPG dedicated magazines went away, too. Warlock closed shop in 1992, LOGOUT in 1995, CompRPG in 1996, RPG Dragon in 1997, and Dengeki Adventures in 1998. As if by sheer force of will, F.E.A.R. tried to keep the RPG industry (or at least its own RPGs) alive by publishing their own magazine, Gamers Field, through their Game Field divison in 1996. It’s still going today, making it both oldest and longest running RPG magazine in Japan.</p><p></p><p>Through all this, <strong>Group SNE</strong> survived through its having the most popular RPG and a strong relationship with Kadokawa, which was still nominally interested in being in the RPG industry. This relationship was further helped when Group SNE developed a successful trading card game for Kadokawa called <em>Monster Collection</em>.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, Yuentai became a stock company in 1992. It busied itself with play-by-mail games, continuing support for Roads to Lord, and a few other RPGs between 1992 and 1998. In 1998, there was a mass exodus of talent from the company. The Kanda branch formed a new game production company called <strong>Arclight</strong>, and became much more prolific and successful. Another group formed a gaming company called <strong>Elseware</strong>. They initially released a couple of RPGs in the early 2000s, but went to become a console game company. Finally, a third group split off in 1999 to form <strong>liar-soft</strong>, an adult computer game company.</p><p></p><p><strong>Adventure Planning Service</strong> was out of the RPG scene for most of the 1990s. They had one successful game, <em>Witchquest</em>, released in 1991, but put their focus on computer games through the rest of the ‘90s. However, in the 2000s, as the Winter Age thawed they would return with <em>SataSupe</em> (short for <em>Sataadei Naito Supesharu</em>) and <em>Labyrinth Kingdom</em>.</p><p></p><p><strong>ORG</strong> weathered the mid 90s with a couple RPGs, most notably a <em>Slayers</em> RPG using the <em>MAGIUS</em> system, but mostly they went the TCG route. The company still exists, but is focused exclusively on TCGs.</p><p></p><p>In 2000, a fearless newcomer came on the stage, suddenly releasing two RPGs when no one other than Game Field was releasing more than one. That company was <strong>Enterbrain</strong> (short for Entertainment Brain). Enterbrain started life in 1987 as a Japanese subsidiary of <strong>Vestron Pictures</strong>. In 1990, a stake in the company was sold to ASCII, and when Vestron went under, it was rebranded <strong>ASCII Pictures</strong> in 1992, then <strong>ASCII Visual Entertainment</strong> in 1997. ASCII went into financial trouble by 2000, and transferred their entertainment publishing division wholly to ASCII Visual Entertainment, which changed its name to Enterbrain.</p><p></p><p>One of the major things Enterbrain now owned was the <em>Famitsu</em> Nintendo magazine, among others, so Enterbrain decided to go whole hog on gaming of every kind. Thus, right off the bat in 2000, it picked up and released two RPG licenses looking for a home: <strong>Junichi Inoue</strong>’s <em>Tenra Basho Zero</em> and Suzaku Games’ <em>New Goddess Reincarnation</em>.</p><p></p><p>In 2001, 10 new RPGs were released, but <strong>five</strong> of these were by Enterbrain. (Among the others was <em>Double Cross</em>, by <strong>Shusaku Yano</strong>. This won an award from Game Field, and Yano would go on to join F.E.A.R. <em>Double Cross</em> remains an extremely popular game, and always a perennial No. 3 or No. 4 when the most popular RPGs are ranked.)</p><p></p><p>In 2002, a new RPG magazine (technically a periodical book) finally appeared, Role&Roll. Published by Shinkigensha, and managed by Arclight, it covers new games, provides replays, and is a venue through which Shinkigensha can publish its own RPGs. At 184 pages or so an issue, it's pretty hefty.</p><p></p><p>The Winter Age was thawing. Partly it was because the TCG boom was coming to close (although they remain extremely popular, moreso than RPGs), but mostly it was because the industry had adjusted to fit the market. Box sets had all but disappeared. Print volume was decreased to manageable levels. Fair-weather publishers were no longer flooding the market. In 2003, 20 RPGs were released, back to boom levels, though the market looked quite different. Early in January, Hobby Japan’s translation (not localized) of D&D 3e was released. And in addition to working closely with F.E.A.R. to release new games, Enterbrain continued to pick up licenses that no one else wanted. <em>Roads to Lord</em> in 2002. And in 2003...<em>Call of Cthulhu</em>. However, Hobby Japan still held the Japanese trademark to “Call of Cthulhu.” As a result, when Enterbrain released 6th Edition in 2004, it had to be titled <em>Cthulhu Mythos TRPG</em>. But still, it was not yet the time for the Great Old Ones to awake.</p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/a-history-of-trpgs-in-japan-%E2%80%93-part-6-%E2%80%93-the-winter-age-1996-2006.700267/post-9166352" target="_blank"><strong>Next Part – F.E.A.R. and APS Go Generic and Kadokawa Conquers All</strong></a></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Iosue, post: 9161294, member: 6680772"] The title of this part is not poetic liberty on my part; it is indeed what Japanese role-players call it. It even has its own Japanese [URL='https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%86%E3%83%BC%E3%83%96%E3%83%AB%E3%83%88%E3%83%BC%E3%82%AFRPG%E5%86%AC%E3%81%AE%E6%99%82%E4%BB%A3']Wikipedia page[/URL]! Although the 1996 release of [I]Magic: The Gathering[/I] and [I]Pokemon Trading Card Game[/I] had a tremendous impact on the industry, signs that winter was coming were apparent in the years before that. [B]Tsukuda Hobby[/B], once one of the industry leaders, published its last RPG in 1993. (Ironically, this was [B]F.E.A.R.[/B]’s debut RPG, [I]Tokyo Nova[/I].) Undoubtedly hit hard by the popping of the economic bubble, both Tsukuda Hobby and its parent company, toy manufacturer [B]Tsukuda[/B], fell into financial straits, and went bankrupt in 2003. The publisher of Japan’s first RPG, and its first original RPG, was no more. Even in 1994, when 17 new RPGs were released, one could see consolidation in the RPG publishers. The many publishers that had dabbled in RPGs had quickly withdrawn, leaving only the heavy weights. Those 17 RPGs were made by only 8 companies: [B]Kadokawa[/B] and its imprints, [B]MediaWorks[/B], [B]Aspect[/B] (a subsidiary of [B]ASCII[/B]), [B]Hobby Japan[/B], [B]Shinkigensha[/B], [B]Yuentai[/B], [B]Hobby Data[/B], and [B]Cosmo Engineering[/B]. The 11 RPGS released in 1995 were made by only 7 companies. Only Kadokawa, Aspect, Hobby Japan, MediaWorks and Shinkigensha remained from the previous year, joined by [B]KIRAMEKI[/B] and [B]KOEI[/B]. At the end of 1996, only 10 RPGs were released. KIRAMEKI and KOEI were gone, leaving only Kadokawa, Hobby Japan, and MediaWorks from the previous years, joined by [B]Game Field[/B], and [B]Suzaku Games[/B]. Both Suzaku Games and Game Field were the results of designers, frustrated by the lack of work from publishers, attempting to self-publish their work. Suzaku Games was established by [B]Yusuke Tokita[/B], while Game Field was a division of F.E.A.R. 1997 is notable from a [I]D&D[/I] perspective. As is well-known, this is when TSR was bought by Wizards of the Coast. Well, this was a blow to MediaWorks, because when Hobby Japan negotiated the [I]Magic[/I] license with WotC, they got the translation rights to ALL of WotC’s analog games. And now that included D&D. After a short four years of a fully localized D&D, MediaWorks announced it was longer producing D&D content. The RPG industry was at its lowest tide in 1998 and 1999, with only 6 RPGs released in each of those years, the lowest number of releases since 1987. And that doesn’t tell the whole story, because five of those games were released by Game Field, which had much more limited distribution than the major publishers. One by one, the RPG dedicated magazines went away, too. Warlock closed shop in 1992, LOGOUT in 1995, CompRPG in 1996, RPG Dragon in 1997, and Dengeki Adventures in 1998. As if by sheer force of will, F.E.A.R. tried to keep the RPG industry (or at least its own RPGs) alive by publishing their own magazine, Gamers Field, through their Game Field divison in 1996. It’s still going today, making it both oldest and longest running RPG magazine in Japan. Through all this, [B]Group SNE[/B] survived through its having the most popular RPG and a strong relationship with Kadokawa, which was still nominally interested in being in the RPG industry. This relationship was further helped when Group SNE developed a successful trading card game for Kadokawa called [I]Monster Collection[/I]. Meanwhile, Yuentai became a stock company in 1992. It busied itself with play-by-mail games, continuing support for Roads to Lord, and a few other RPGs between 1992 and 1998. In 1998, there was a mass exodus of talent from the company. The Kanda branch formed a new game production company called [B]Arclight[/B], and became much more prolific and successful. Another group formed a gaming company called [B]Elseware[/B]. They initially released a couple of RPGs in the early 2000s, but went to become a console game company. Finally, a third group split off in 1999 to form [B]liar-soft[/B], an adult computer game company. [B]Adventure Planning Service[/B] was out of the RPG scene for most of the 1990s. They had one successful game, [I]Witchquest[/I], released in 1991, but put their focus on computer games through the rest of the ‘90s. However, in the 2000s, as the Winter Age thawed they would return with [I]SataSupe[/I] (short for [I]Sataadei Naito Supesharu[/I]) and [I]Labyrinth Kingdom[/I]. [B]ORG[/B] weathered the mid 90s with a couple RPGs, most notably a [I]Slayers[/I] RPG using the [I]MAGIUS[/I] system, but mostly they went the TCG route. The company still exists, but is focused exclusively on TCGs. In 2000, a fearless newcomer came on the stage, suddenly releasing two RPGs when no one other than Game Field was releasing more than one. That company was [B]Enterbrain[/B] (short for Entertainment Brain). Enterbrain started life in 1987 as a Japanese subsidiary of [B]Vestron Pictures[/B]. In 1990, a stake in the company was sold to ASCII, and when Vestron went under, it was rebranded [B]ASCII Pictures[/B] in 1992, then [B]ASCII Visual Entertainment[/B] in 1997. ASCII went into financial trouble by 2000, and transferred their entertainment publishing division wholly to ASCII Visual Entertainment, which changed its name to Enterbrain. One of the major things Enterbrain now owned was the [I]Famitsu[/I] Nintendo magazine, among others, so Enterbrain decided to go whole hog on gaming of every kind. Thus, right off the bat in 2000, it picked up and released two RPG licenses looking for a home: [B]Junichi Inoue[/B]’s [I]Tenra Basho Zero[/I] and Suzaku Games’ [I]New Goddess Reincarnation[/I]. In 2001, 10 new RPGs were released, but [B]five[/B] of these were by Enterbrain. (Among the others was [I]Double Cross[/I], by [B]Shusaku Yano[/B]. This won an award from Game Field, and Yano would go on to join F.E.A.R. [I]Double Cross[/I] remains an extremely popular game, and always a perennial No. 3 or No. 4 when the most popular RPGs are ranked.) In 2002, a new RPG magazine (technically a periodical book) finally appeared, Role&Roll. Published by Shinkigensha, and managed by Arclight, it covers new games, provides replays, and is a venue through which Shinkigensha can publish its own RPGs. At 184 pages or so an issue, it's pretty hefty. The Winter Age was thawing. Partly it was because the TCG boom was coming to close (although they remain extremely popular, moreso than RPGs), but mostly it was because the industry had adjusted to fit the market. Box sets had all but disappeared. Print volume was decreased to manageable levels. Fair-weather publishers were no longer flooding the market. In 2003, 20 RPGs were released, back to boom levels, though the market looked quite different. Early in January, Hobby Japan’s translation (not localized) of D&D 3e was released. And in addition to working closely with F.E.A.R. to release new games, Enterbrain continued to pick up licenses that no one else wanted. [I]Roads to Lord[/I] in 2002. And in 2003...[I]Call of Cthulhu[/I]. However, Hobby Japan still held the Japanese trademark to “Call of Cthulhu.” As a result, when Enterbrain released 6th Edition in 2004, it had to be titled [I]Cthulhu Mythos TRPG[/I]. But still, it was not yet the time for the Great Old Ones to awake. [URL='https://www.enworld.org/threads/a-history-of-trpgs-in-japan-%E2%80%93-part-6-%E2%80%93-the-winter-age-1996-2006.700267/post-9166352'][B]Next Part – F.E.A.R. and APS Go Generic and Kadokawa Conquers All[/B][/URL] [/QUOTE]
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