Tenra Bansho Development Journal

…didn’t happen. (^.^;
As for a “pre-release ashcan” for GenCon, I’m afraid those plans were stymied. In the eyeball, with a knife. About a week before the con, I came to the realization that it wasn’t going to happen unless:

* I charged too much for what amounted to a collection of unedited text and notes.
* To make it clean and understandable, with all the rules needed to play the various character archetypes, I’d have had to Not Sleep at all for almost a full week.

Instead, I decided to refocus in the time right before and right after GC finishing the rest of the game text. Another case of us (me) trying to bite off more than we can chew.

However, because I refocused on the game text, more sections have been completed. The only thing left to get together is some of the new notes for rules, and new play notes. I’ve also decided to draft up a few scenario hooks, which will take an evening or two. We are also collapsing the editing and layout into one passthrough, so instead of Writing, Stop, Editing, Stop, Rechecking, Stop, Layout, Print, Publish, we’re doing Writing-Editing-Layout, then Recheck, Print, Publish. While I don’t want to jinx myself, it looks like we’re still in line for a February/March release for the final version of the game.

Also in the news of the wide world of Japanese roleplaying, Maid RPG was released at GenCon 2008. I was involved in this project as a publisher/director (Ewen, who helped translate a few sections of Tenra, was “the man” in charge of translation), but otherwise the games are released by different companies, etc. It was a bittersweet experience, rushing a game through for a GenCon release: Lots of sleepless nights. Also, whereas I wanted Inoue Jun’ichi’s Tenra to be the “First Japanese RPG Ever Released in English”, that honor now goes to Ryo Kamiya’s Maid RPG. Here’s how all this relates to Tenra, though:

* I wanted the experience of publishing a game BEFORE Tenra, so I know what pitfalls to avoid, and what to do right. I wanted to get my feet wet on another project so that we wouldn’t, to use a vulgarity, fuck up the release of Tenra Bansho.
Luckily, it was a real eye-opening experience, and I gained a lot of solid knowledge which I’m applying to Tenra now: Everything from how to promote the game, to things like editing, layout expectations, printing problems, expectations of time and delays, creating and harnessing a Tenra community, and even some thoughts on how to promote Tenra at GAMA/GenCon next year.
* Also, all of the profit I’m making from MAID for my involvement in the project, I’m funneling into the first (expensive) print run of Tenra. The silly/cute Maid RPG is helping fund the release of the dramatic/hardcore game Tenra! This means that we can produce more copies on a lighter budget.

Soon, my major involvement in Tenra will simmer down for a bit (once editing is complete, it’s going to be much int he hands of our layout gurus). When that happens, that’s when I’m going to turn to creating quick-play guides and the like.

GenCon came and went, and was a blur of constant action.  I ran two events of Tenra Bansho, one scheduled ( http://picasaweb.google.com/ziggurat/GenCon2008/photo#5236825831857653394 ) and one unscheduled.

These sessions convinced me that I needed to add a little more information to the game, for the GMs who will be running it for their groups.

Over running the game over 20 times, I’ve realized that I’ve relied on a lot of knowledge and experience built up from running one session after another: The best way to introduce the setting. The best way to introduce the players to the rules. Good ways to set up Zero-Act scenes. How to run the first combat. How to help ease the players into the Fate/Kiai/Karma rules without inundating them all at once.

What I’ve really hated in RPGs is that thing where you play a game for the first time, maybe with a GM really familiar with the game, or even the author: They run the game in a certain way, and you have an awesome time. You buy the game, read it to run with your gaming group… only to discover that all those tips and tricks that the GM was using were things that they made up themselves: None of that advice is in the actual game book itself.

In TBZ, the first supplement has a full “replay”, a real game session codified and written up like a screenplay, so you can follow exactly what happened and when, how play happens and the like. These are great in Japanese RPGs, because through them you can see how the rules work in actual play.

Since we won’t have the space in the core book to post a complete beginning-to-end replay, I’ve decided to go ahead and codify a “first game session of Tenra” into its own section. Basically, it’s a small handbook for the GM to read, and prepare for, their first session. It will describe a good methodology for breaking new players into the game: Matter-of-fact advice for running scenes, for introducing rules (and in what order, and what rules to ignore at first, etc). I’ve already written about 70% of it, and the tone is conversational enough that blocks of it (explaining to people how the rules work, and why) can simply be read out loud, almost as if it were “boxed text” in a module. We’ll see if it’s helpful, or if it’s dead weight. In any case, if someone has a problem understanding a rule or its purpose, they could look at this section to see how it should be introduced. This might shed light on those rules.

Also, in the process of writing this section, I was able to find a great spot to fold in a lot of the GM advice found in the Tenra Bansho supplement. I was hoping to do this anyway, but it was like finding a nice round hole to fit a peg into. So I’m hoping that no one will suffer through the text like some of us did, asking ourselves in the process:

“Why the heck do we roll to see what our characters think about other characters? Don’t we have full control over our own character’s feelings?”

“Why does the karma track go up to 108? Why not 100?”

“What is the point of raising my character’s fates or creating new fates? And why are we free to raise fates in between acts as much as we want, without having to pay any cost?”

“Fates can totally be min-maxed!  …is this a bad thing?”
etc. A lot of us suffered through trying to find out the purpose behind those rules: Some parts are explained in the designer’s notes in the game text. Other parts (the emotion matrix) are explained thoroughly in the supplement’s text. Yet others aren’t explained at all, hoping that the player will simply “get it” through play. We’re going to put enough information into the game so that there’s no confusion over how to use a rule, or why it exists.

Oh, and by Rule, I’m talking about the more RPG-esoteric stuff: Character’s beliefs and goals (”Fates”), ‘dark side’-points (”Karma”), influence over the game mechanics (”Kiai”), How PCs feel at first about other PCs and major NPCs (”Emotion Matrix”), etc.

We’re hoping that in doing so, we’re imporving upon the original text. Making it even easier to jump into play with fewer bumps!

-Andy

In order, here are the winners. Commentary to follow. You can review all of the sheets submitted at once at this link.

First Place: Mark Quire’s entry (sheet one sheet two)
Second Place: Jose Jimenez: Entry Two (sheet one sheet two)

Runner Up: Gregory Zitelli (sheet)

- Comments -

Holy cow, this was really hard to judge, much harder than I originally thought! The sheets contain mostly the same information, but because of the author’s touch or inspiration, the feel really changes with each one. I thank you all for participating, all the sheets are useful, and I’ll be archiving them in PDF eventually (before the game’s release) for use by all. I can see using one sheet or another depending on the feel of the game that I’d be running.

Click below to see the full commentary

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Thanks everyone for participating! We’ve had 6 entries in all, and holy hell they’re slick, each and every one.  I’ll comment on them and present awards within the next few days, but for now you can all take a gander here for now. They’re all currently downloadable as jpg pictures, but in time the PDF versions will be available.
Note: If you don’t see your entry here, please contact me at ziggurat atmark gmail dot com, so that we can work on posting it (I think I got everybody, though).

Click here to see the character sheet entries!

If you’ve been interested in hopping in, today’s the last day!  You’ve got about 12 hours to submit a character sheet.  Currently, I’ve got about 5-6 submissions.  I’ll be posting them tomorrow, and choosing a winner as well!

Thanks for participating!

-Andy

Only 10 days left (and two weekends) to get in on the action of the Character Sheet Design Contest! We’re already received a few submissions, so there’s a good chance of winning with a little creativity and effort!

Hi all! It’s been a while since I’ve updated the development blog. That’s because I’ve been too busy lately with development! Seriously, June’s going to be a rough month, filled with blood, sweat, and editing tears.

After looking over the rather plain character sheet that I’ve been using for demonstration games and the like, and faced with the idea of creating a new sheet with my limited graphical skills for an English release, I decided to turn my attention to those folks out there who have far more graphical skill than me, and hold a contest!

In short, it’s a contest, complete with prizes, for the person who submits the best Tenra Bansho Zero character sheets - a game which nobody owns, and which few have played! However, using my original English sheets as a frame of reference, and with a little explanation, I doubt that folks with some graphic/layout experience would have much trouble making something awesome.

The bleeding short: Deadline is June 29th (3+ weeks); Prizes are $50, $20, and copies of the final game book; you retain the rights to your work, and allow us to distribute the sheet; final submissions are emailed to ziggurat ATMARK gmail.com.
The “Contest Pack” can be downloaded at the following location, in RAR and ZIP flavors. It contains the rules and all the reference material you need to begin: http://www.tenra-rpg.com/contest/

The following is the full unabridged list of contest rules:

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Heya, this popped up on my radar, an actual play description from an event I ran at GenCon last year. It’s kinda weird that this popped up half a year later on some weird blog: “hayleybarholomew” at wordpress. Huh? Must be some link spammer in training.
Anyway, I was reading the description of the event, which now is a hazy memory (when I GM with no sleep and lots of coffee, it is usually an awesome experience for everyone involved… and one that I forget a few days later when the fog lifts), and I was like, “Yeah, this is really famili… OH, yeah this is John Harper!” So the original post is over here at his blog:

http://mightyatom.blogspot.com/2007/08/tenra-bansho-zero-gencon-ap.html

Anyway, check it out! It breaks down some of the mechanics of the game. It also makes comparisons to games you might not have played (”Primetime Adventures/PTA”, “Nine Worlds”, etc), but overall it’s a good snapshot of what went down at the table rulewise.

The Bad First:

Later than I thought. February 2009.

The Realistic:

This is a Hard Date, and Attainable. And worth the wait, because…
The Good:

I have a Motherfucking Superhero pegged to do layout and put the book together. The book will be so hot, it will make your eyes burn.
The Other:

There will be pre-play packages this Summer.
There will be a demo kit available at GenCon 2008.

Hi all, this is the first in a series of interviews with people working on the English Tenra Bansho project. Today we’ll be asking questions of one of the core people who helped translate parts of the game (of which is currently now being put together, localized, edited and the like), Ewen Cluney. Without further ado, let’s find out more about the life of a Japanese translator:

GM: Where do you live, and what do you do for a living?

Ewen: I live in San Jose, CA, a place where nothing ever happens. I translate Japanese video games (freelance) and work part-time as a security guard when lack of freelance work forces me to. Hopefully I’ll be doing something more impressive after I finish grad school.

GM: Which video games have you had a part in translating?

Ewen: I’ve translated a total of seven different Dragon Ball Z games (not counting ports), plus Fullmetal Alchemist: Dual Sympathy and One Piece Unlimited Adventure.

GM: In translating, do you have any areas of specialty or focus?

Ewen: Between my background in creative writing and translating so many video games with lengthy Story Modes, my main thing is dialogue. The thing I’ve been most interested in is literature (and I’ve become a fan of Ryunosuke Akutagawa), though I’ve also found the various linguistics courses I’ve been forced to take absolutely fascinating, especially sociolinguistics and language acquisition.

GM: How long have you been learning Japanese, and what level of skill do you have?

Ewen: I’ve studied Japanese for a total of about 7 years, over the past decade. I’ve passed the JLPT 2 and I’m nearly done with an M.A. in Japanese, so I like to think I’m decently skilled. (note: The JLPT stands for “Japanese Language Proficiency Test, the basic test for determining relative skill at reading and comprehending written Japanese. Level 1 is approximately “Native Level”, and Level 2 is the next step right behind that, requiring you to know hundreds of kanji and thousands of words)

GM: What Japanese stuff do you normally like to read/watch/play/do?

Ewen: I’ll give most any kind of anime and manga a chance, but I especially like quirky slice of life stuff and over-the-top sci-fi/fantasy (e.g., Azumanga Daioh, Evangelion, Lucky Star, Bleach, etc.). I read some light novels (Haruhi Suzumiya is my favorite so far) too, and I like some tokusatsu, especially Godzilla and Dekaranger. And of course I buy Japanese RPGs when I can, though that requires both having lots of money to throw around and actually being able to get them.

GM: Godzilla FINAL WARS: Simply awesome, or Really Really Awesome?

Ewen: Let me put it this way: The first time I watched it, I was watching by myself. I still wound up literally standing up and cheering multiple times during the movie.

GM: You play RPGs: What are some of your favorite RPGs, and why?

Ewen: Mekton Z, OVA, Toon, Maid RPG, Truth & Justice. I like games with light rules and either epic action or over the top comedy.

GM: You translated some sections of Tenra. Did anything from those sections catch you as cool or interesting? What, and why?

Ewen: I translated the Kijin and Kongohki sections, and both were fascinating. They take cliche concepts (Kijin are “cyborgs” and Kongohki are “robots”) and mix them with Sengoku era stuff and esoteric Buddhism, and the result is something that’s uniquely Tenra. With soldiers put into a meat grinder of war and forcibly turned into cyborgs when they’re injured, and damned souls being turned into the power and control units of combat robots, this setting has some scary and evocative technology that raises all kinds of issues.

Thanks for your time with us, Ewen. Good luck on your Master’s Degree!

Any additional questions for Ewen? Feel free to ask in the comments field!

We’ll have interviews with the other four translators eventually as well. Stay tuned!