Upcoming on the Development Blog…

Posted: 30th August 2010 by Diamond Sutra in General

Thanks for the manga recommendations. A lot of great stuff! Basically, I needed some reference material to help the layout folks come up with a feel, an inspiration, of how the English version of the book should look and feel.

So, it’s been about a week since my last update. Here’s some bits that are coming up on this blog:

* Some discussion on the tools (both physical and literary) that helped me do the translation/editing/computer work.

* Podcasts! I’m kind of a media whore, so I’ll be posting some quick 3-5 minute podcasts about the game later. Each one will talk about a specific part of the game: The various character archetypes, the rules, the flavor, the additional material, etc. I’ll also be interviewing a few of the people who assisted with the development of the English edition. I’ll also include various diatribes, digressions, side-blather, raving and randomness as well.

* Eventually, more sample characters, previews of the book as it is laid out, and so on.

Thanks for sticking around!

PS: If you’re living in Japan, the big JGC, or “Japan Game Convention”, the “GenCon of Japan” (a game convention highly focused on RPGs) is going down this coming weekend over in Yokohama. I think this is the first year it’s not going to be in the Kansai region. If you have the time, check it out:

http://www.arclight.co.jp/jgc/

Need English Language Manga Recommendations!

Posted: 20th August 2010 by Diamond Sutra in General, Setting

So, with what you know of Tenra, what you’ve seen or heard… What sorts of English Language MANGA would you recommend of the same feel? Drama, conflict, and action. I can think of a hundred anime/J-dramas/movies, but having a hard time on manga.
Recommendations please! Manga, Manwa (Korean), Chinese manga/comics, anything is fine.
Off the top of my head is Blade of the Immortal. Another is Shigurui, but I was shocked to find that it’s not available in English (even though the anime is), just Japanese or scanlation. Sumomomo Momomo is humerous, but at its serious moments it reflects the best of Tenra. I’d maybe even recommend the Chinese manga Weapons of the Gods.
It doesn’t have to focus solely on Japan, either: Can be manga that focuses on the West (Vinland Saga), or other asian countries, etc. Looking for the best combination of Some Action and Lots of Character Drama.
I’m also focusing on manga that aren’t throwaway excuses for cheap, titilating bullshit: So BASTARD!! is right out, same with TENJO TENGE.
I won’t judge any recommendations you make (on how it does or doesn’t “really fit the game”, because the game’s not out yet, is it?), just spam me in the comments. (note: some comments might be “flagged as potential spam” so if you don’t see your comment right away, check back in a few hours. I’ll approve all comments that aren’t Russian Porn Sites).
Again, looking for stuff available in English, preferably in book form (not scanlation: But heck, if you have an awesome scanlation rec, let me know).
-Andy

Back from GenCon, and boy are my brains tired…

Posted: 9th August 2010 by Diamond Sutra in Uncategorized

Must rest.  Here are the highlights:

Got a lot of awesome new games.

Ran 3 awesome sessions of TBZ: Seriously, the players were GREAT, kept the action and drama popping, it was phenomenal.

One of my sessions was quasi-cancelled because three of the players didn’t show: But instead, I ran a one-on-one with the last player, giving him a whirlwind tour of every piece of the game.

Good food at GenCon! What the hell happened in the past two years? Like, good restaurants (get that Steak and Shake s*** outta my face) were everywhere: Also cafes and the like.

Time to sleep. This is going to be a busy week. Layout will begin soon, so more on that in a bit.

The. Last. Page.

Posted: 29th July 2010 by Diamond Sutra in General, Translation

This is the last page of Tenra that is left untranslated.

After this evening, that will no longer be the case.

Editing is 50% done, the rest will be complete after this weekend.

And after GenCon? …Phase Four begins.

All GenCon Sessions Full…

Posted: 22nd July 2010 by Diamond Sutra in General

…I figured they’d be, but wanted to give folks a heads up.

Here’s the GenCon official Tenra RPG events going on at GenCon:
http://gencon.highprogrammer.com/gencon-indy-2010.cgi/type/RPG/Tenra_Bansho

If you are going to GC but didn’t get a chance to get in a game, hit me up in the comments thread with your email, and we’ll see if we can get an event going on the side. When I’m not running Tenra, I’ll likely be playing/running other games, but I figure I’ll be doing 1-2 large laid-back games in open areas at some point in the con.

-Andy

Tenra and Japanese RPGs

Posted: 20th July 2010 by Diamond Sutra in Uncategorized

So over on a group blog I share with some friends, I discuss other Japanese RPGs. Mostly previews, fanboy ravings and the like punctuated by cultural elements. That site is http://www.j-rpg.com .

Recently, someone asked what was so revolutionary about Tenra Bansho in Japan over at RPGNet. I discuss the details there, as well as why that claim isn’t just mere hyperbole:

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=526626

Check it out!

“What is a “ZAKT-8″, Anyway?”

Posted: 14th July 2010 by Diamond Sutra in Uncategorized

So a few questions and comments folks had:

* What is that “ZAKT-8″ weapon on the character sheet from the last post? What does it look like?

A ZAKT-8 is a unique weapon to the setting of Tenra. It’s the only standard “typical big-ass anime sword” that appears, most weapons are… well, *normal sized*. In short, it is a heavily modified yoroi armour (mecha) shortsword. It is modified for a higher rate of fire (see below), and it was basically created for one purpose: For warriors (rare warriors, usually ex-riders who understand armours better) to be able to go toe-to-toe with armours, and kill them. It is the most dangerous hand to hand weapon on the planet.

ZAKT-8 or “ZAKT Ultimate Edge” is an abbreviation of the original Japanese full name for the weapon: The Hachi-Ren ZAn-Kou-Tou (8-repeating ultimate cutting sword). 8 refers to its 8-soulgem revolver barrel.

The pic from the character sheet was a scaled version that appears in a two-page art spread from the book. Here it is in larger form (sorry about the choppy edges):

“One Hit Kills All!! The Hachiren Zankoutou”

* I love that the sword has ammo.

So do the warriors that wield them.

Soulgem weapons don’t actually fire bullets or anything. Essentially, it is a ball of rare metal (also known as “crimson steel”, or in some foreign lands “orichalcum”), loaded into a katana via revolver (reliable) or automatic (faster, though not as traditional) chamber. When the trigger is pulled, a soulgem is crushed, and the sword will vibrate, heat and even increase in mass. If the warrior makes a critical strike, she can pull that ZAKT trigger 8 times (8 Rate of Fire, as there’s 8 soulgem “bullets” in the revolver chamber) and tear pretty much anything in half. Namely, the yoroi armours they go toe-to-toe with on the battlefield.

Compare that against Kirie’s backup weapon, a shortsword (likely a wakizashi or dagger): +2 damage (vs the base +6 damage of the ZAKT, which can increase up to +14 total when unloading all soulgems at once), and does not hold soulgems.

Also, interesting fact that won’t make sense now, but will later when you read the rules: Your characters won’t buy ammo (soulgems) with money; they buy ammo with /karma/.

* I’m liking the character and it’s too bad when I get the game I’m going to be GM’ing as I would like to play a character like Kirie.

- I’m hoping that once you run it 1-2 times for your friends, they’ll see how easy it is to play and run, and be able to eventually run their own sessions. All the real skills in Tenra for GMing are “soft skills”: Not really needing to crunch numbers or determine abilities for competent enemies (there are processes that will help in the rules), but understanding when to start and end scenes, how to create a framework for a cool adventure while still giving the players freedom to do what they want, etc.

In fact, one of the players of many of my demo and campaign Tenra games, Mark C, is going to be running a game for us (and I get to *play*, yay!) in… a little over 15 hours. Crap, gotta get to sleep!

* When will Tenra be released for sale?

- When it’s ready!
- OK, so that’s a kind of vague. But stay tuned, I hope to address this in a post this week.

Meet Kirie the Armour-Killer

Posted: 11th July 2010 by Diamond Sutra in Uncategorized

The sample character from the book is Kirie, an ex-yoroi armour (mecha) rider. It’s written on one of the alternate character sheets: The game will include several sheets depending on orientation preference and the like (pulled from the winner of the Character Sheet Creation contest, from two years back).

Kirie used to ride a 3-meter tall steel killing machine, until it rejected her: Expelling her from her piloting-meditation, casting her out of its frame, and no longer responding to her commands. She took the rejection poorly. Drive, anger and martial prowess are all that fuel her now. She wields a huge modified armour shortword called a ZAKT-8 Ultimate Edge (aka the Hachiren Zankoutou), a melee weapon so powerful that a skilled user can go toe-to-toe with the steel giants of the battlefield.

She’s trained well. She can murder mecha. She lives by the strength of her own arms, and rejects all weakness. But what will happen when her enemies threaten the one thing left that she loves? What will happen when acquaintances become comrades which in turn become close friends? Can she cut out her own feelings like she can cut the hearts from the steel guardians? Find out… in play.

This Week Conspires Against Me!

Posted: 8th July 2010 by Diamond Sutra in Uncategorized

Little life issues interrupt the translation process, post X-Thousand.

So I took a few days off in order to get some home stuff together, rejuvenate, and finish the last bits of Tenra Bansho translation.

I use many tools for the translation (might be a good post for later). I do a lot of my translation effort with the assist of online tools in order to help the workflow go faster (Jim Breen’s J-DICT for kanji lookup of unfamiliar/new kanji; or lookup of Buddhist/Ancient terms), or for excruciating accuracy (internet lookups of concepts, 4-kanji/character-proverbs, etc  to make sure I understand the nuances, etc).

So today I put aside some of the new content I’ve been working on (most recently Player/GM advice) to focus on the last bits of trnaslation work. Unfortunately, I woke up to find that my home internet is down. Oops. I headed to the local neighborhood coffee house to plug in and work a little more, but the place is packed: Turns out the internet is down in pretty much the entire subdivision.

Checked on stocks/finances, reader articles, emails, but unfortunately there’s not enough space here to scatter all my Japanese paper documents around me and continue on unfettered.

Time to head home and fall back on manual materials to get the job done, including the Kodansha Advanced Grammar Dictionary (have the thing about memorized, but there’s some times I need a consult), Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Guide (THE best resource for Kanji lookups, bar none, often faster than online lookups), and a few Japanese-focused dictionaries. I’ll have to “asterisk” items that look like they have deeper meaning for now and look them up online later (Buddhist terms, etc). But since the last section is rules-focused, I doubt I’ll hit as many as in the world/setting sections.

One more coffee, then hitting the road.

Quick aside: Folks have been asking “Tenra: When will it be ready? Is it even coming out anymore?” The answers are “soon”, and “absolutely, barring death.” My next post I’ll be addressing that.

Also: Thanks to Guy Shalev, for finding me a kick-ass theme!

For now, just a quick behind-the-scenes.

I have a career! My day job is in computer storage: Performance analysis, architecture, and support. Among other things, this makes games of Shadowrun where I play a hacker pretty interesting. Instead of “I hack the mainframe (rolls dice)”, it’s “I’ll sneak in using the admin password lifted from the backup specialist. Then I’ll revert the firmware of three routers and storage devices to versions with known security holes. I’ll go in, switch to the java shell, find the data I want, then NDMP-dump it to a remote wireless device on the network. (rolls dice)”

This info also helps me as an RPG translator/editor (remember, I didn’t design Tenra: I’m simply re-writing it into English). Knowing the various problems that can occur on storage media, I back up everything, all the time. Digital camera pictures to email, it’s all sitting on 2-3 hard drives scattered around the house. My weapon of choice these days of ease of use vs mobility is the high-capacity Western Digital USB HDs (the ones WITHOUT the “backup firmware”; read Amazon/newegg reviews to stay away from those models).

Altogether, all the picture data and text data, organization and pre-layout files for this game takes up about 14GB of data. This amounts to about 85-90% of the finished product. Since I’m almost neurotic about not wanting to redo my work in a loss-of-power/corruption issue, I’ve got this data backed up about 7 times, on 4 different mediums, in 7 different places.

Safe, right? Yes. But here’s a problem I didn’t consider at the times the issues of architecture, version control. I would save my latest works/edits/saves/supplemental English data to folders called “new”, “newer”, “really_really_new”, “fuck_that_old_shit_this_is_the_newest_shit”, and so on. Duplicating it everywhere, of course. So, I recently realized that I was being stymied by the fact that I couldn’t remember exactly where some of the completed files were, or which version of “onmyoji_character_rules_finished.rtf” was /written/, and which was /written and completely edited/.

I had to back up from the ‘real work’ of writing and editing this last weekend, to put two hours into what the Franklin-Covey guys call “Sharpening the Saw” time: Re-architecting all the data from scratch, sorting my modified date, putting into logical oder, re-architecting my file trees, and generally sorting files not by where they appear in the book, but by how complete they were (still being written; done; done and edited; done and edits verified; finalized and ready for layout).

This basically caused it to be harder to find “the ninja school ability file” (which level of completeness what it again? ah, yes, ‘finalized and ready’, there it is…), but basically helped make the unfinished pieces stick out like sore thumbs, and made it easier to attack them.

That’s what I’m currently doing. Attacking.

Next update: The projected work timeline, and some guesses as to possible pre-order dates.