Tenra Bansho Development Journal

How The Sausage Is Made Translated

Wow, it’s been about 4 years since I started this project, the translation and release of Tenra Bansho Zero in English. At the time, I thought it would just take about 2 years tops to knock this thing out from Start to Publish. 4 years later, and I’m on the last run of text, finishing the last of the rules sections and prepping it for layout. One thing that this work has taught me, is a new-found respect for the amount of time and care that goes into a well-translated project.

I’ve translated tech documents, manga, business emails and websites, and by far the hardest project of them all has been Tenra Bansho Zero. I believe that this is because of two reasons:

1) At first I thought my job was to simply translate from Japanese to English. As time progressed, it became clear that my job expanded: I had to rewrite whole sections from scratch, preserving the intention of the original author. I had to collapse lots of sidebars and supplemental text into sections of the main text. I had to not just translate rules that were complicated, like the rules behind crafting a magical shiki spirit or yoroi armour, but I had to understand the rules back and forth: Sometimes that alone took hours or even days to fully grasp. I had to clarify play and rule examples. I had to add a lot of supplemental text for a Western audience, in order for the game to be understood by the same “New to RPGs” audience in the West as it was understood by that same target market in Japan.

It was a lot more work than I imagined. Normally I can crank through about “one page an hour” of dense text, depending on the source material. With Tenra, though, adding in the amount of re-writing, understanding, and research involved, it was more like “one paragraph an hour” in some places, “one column an hour” in others. I realized that “one section” of the book usually required 1-2 full weekends of reading, writing and translation to complete. The project forced me to reset my expectations for translation, more than any other project.

2) I care about the source material! This can be a real pain for translators. Sure, I have a small (read “very small”) financial stake in the success or failure of this project, but more than that, I’m very proud of this game. I got pulled into Tenra Bansho Zero because of the pretty art, and ended up becoming absolutely fascinated by the theater-like structure and rules. I feel like I’m putting in as much work into translation as the original authors put into writing the book. Those nigh-obsessive “The final work must be PERFECT!” reactions of my brain creep up in every page, every paragraph, every sentence. I’ve often gone back to reread and re-edit sections I’ve earlier translated once, twice, and evern five or more times. Too bad this wasn’t a simple business project that I could wrap up and fire off when I was done: I manufacture those translations. In the case of Tenra Bansho, I’m crafting the translation.

Official release dates became as if writ on water as one, then the next one, broken or bent. I realized that the game book required more written content to be easily playable. I folded in a lot of content from the original supplement book. I’ve also had to omit or cut out other text from the core book that I intended to include earlier (like the full Replay that appears in the supplement book) in order for this project to emerge, and not simply be “in progress” forever.

But in the end, I think it will be worth it. Tenra Bansho Zero will be complete soon, very soon. I’ve seen the rough layout sketches that Team Burning Wheel have put together, and they are incredible. I don’t know if the English release of this game in the US will create the kind of gaming revolution that it did in Japan (as White Wolf’s Vampire RPG in the early 90s brought all sorts of new players in RPGs, Tenra did the same for new players interested in anime and manga over in Japan in the late 90s and early 2000s), but it will be frighteningly fun to run and play. Folks in the RPG scene who already like anime or manga will surely find something of interest. And I hope it makes the rounds at local anime conventions, and perhaps generate interest in folks receptive to roleplaying in those communities. Getting the book in print is only the first step.

Pre-Orders

Eventually, the writing will be finally done (at a guess, 4-8 weeks). Layout will be finished from there. I’ll find some printers and get some print proofs. Then I’ll open the game up to pre-orders.

Pre-Ordering is an interesting mess, one that until recently I never got involved with. I would often see announcements, like “Game X is Coming Soon, We Are Now Taking Pre-Orders!”, and be confused by what exactly they were asking for. “The game is going to come out eventually anyway, so why don’t I just wait until it’s out and then buy it then, even if I’m positive that I want to buy it?” Some companies would even start taking pre-orders before the work is even finished, or before it’s ready to print, only to be delayed months/years.

Pre-Orders on the small-press level represent something else: It represents how much money the publisher will have to print their first print run. It’s no secret that the more copies you can have printed at once, the cheaper each copy will be. You could find a printer to print 100 copies of your book for $16/copy, where they would only charge $9/copy to print 1000 copies of the book. And I’ll be honest, I’m shooting for at least 1000 copies of the book for this first run.

At a guess of about $10/book (full color), not including shipping fees and tarriffs, 1,000 copies will cost $10,000 USD. The traditional model for small press publishers is, of course, to take out a loan against their house or car in order to fund that print run. Tenra will be no exception. The more pre-orders I can secure directly (when the time comes), the less money I’ll have to pay from my own pocket up-front for that first print run. If pre-orders go well, then perhaps a few hundred more copies of the book could be ordered at the reduced price. It’s a delicate balance.

The only problem I’ve found with pre-orders is that, even knowing the above and “wanting to support the small press publisher”, you’re paying the full price of the book up front, only to wait a few weeks/months for those orders to be fulfilled and sent.

To that end, I think Luke Crane (of Burning Wheel) does pre-orders right. When he takes pre-orders of his games, the pre-order copies usually are limited, and come with something “extra”. When they sold Burning Empires, they upped the price a little, but each copy came with a limited signed art print from the author of the original comic. The recent pre-orders of the Mouse Guard RPG each came with a free full-color comic.

To that end, I’m currently deciding what extras I could add to a pre-order of Tenra Bansho Zero. Optimally, the extras will be something special, that will help the buyer get a little more out of the game: A free supplement. Some limited-run items. Play aids. I have a few ideas which I’m currently looking into, we’ll see how they work out. With 100-200 pre-orders, I could fund much of the initial print run without worrying about losing my car, so that’s a plus. We’ll see how this works out in the coming months.

Playing the Game

I’ve been running an extended game of Tenra Bansho with my weeknight gaming group. I’ll post more about our adventures and surprises in the upcoming weeks.

For now, I gotta get back to the books: There’s translatin’ to be done!

Are you coming to ORIGINS this year? If so, event registration has started, and the events are set. Here are the TBZ-related events coming up at ORIGINS Game Fair 2009:

6056 Tenra Bansho Zero - Shinobi Ultimatum Lord Buren has made use of your ninja clan for generations. This time, everything falls apart as one betrayer threatens to turn against the lord and destroy the clan. One soulgem-studded samurai hulk, a ninja, an worm-using annelidist and a fearsome cyborg must ferret out the traitor before it’s too late. Experience the first ever English translation of this Hyper-Asian Japanese Role-Playing Game! New players, anime and manga fans welcome. Playtest an upcoming RPG release from Japan. New players welcome.
WED 2:00 PM 3:45
1.45 hours: This session will be “a taste” of the game.

6308 Tenra Bansho Zero - Shinobi Sacrifice Lord Buren has made use of your ninja clan for generations. This time, everything falls apart as one betrayer threatens to turn against the lord and destroy the clan. One soulgem-studded samurai hulk, a ninja, an worm-using annelidist and a fearsome cyborg must ferret out the traitor before it’s too late. Experience the first ever English translation of this Hyper-Asian Japanese Role-Playing Game! New players, anime and manga fans welcome. Playtest an upcoming RPG release from Japan. New players welcome. THU 12:00 PM 3:45

6727 Tenra Bansho Zero - The Ten-Blade Samurai Lord Kagetora has gone too far. His machinations for control of the Dragonscale Territories have consumed too many innocents, and his war plans must be put to an end. One Buddhist monk, a conniving geisha, a sleek mankiller robot, and a female warrior with a sword as long as her body stand against the tide of war. Experience the first ever English translation of this Hyper-Asian Japanese Role-Playing Game! New players, anime and manga fans welcome. This session is a special session of the game, comprising approx 5 hours of play. You will experience a complete full-length campaign of Tenra Bansho Zero from start to finish. The role-play in this event is gonna be turned up to 11. Play a full campaign of an RPG release from Japan. A 5 hour session, run as a complete campaign in one sitting. New players welcome!
FRI 12:00 PM 4:45

While the book won’t be complete by ORIGINS (it’s still in final editing/layout), we will be attending the fair, sharing a booth with Khepera Publishing (makers of the excellent game HELLAS, which I often equate to “Greek Tenra” because of the rules and setting). We’ll have Tenra-related material, and likely a mock copy of most of the completed sections of the book.

Still on road for a 2009 release, gotta update the FAQ from 2007 to 2009. I will do so with much shame. (^.^;

…the preliminary layout is being worked on now. I’ve seen some drafts, and it’s fucking gorgeous. The things that can be done with B&W line art… incredible.
That is all for now.

Hey all: Just in case you see the site go offline for a big, or the blog become unresponsive: I’m moving back-end web storage to a new server. Something always breaks when I do so, so I’m just giving everyone a heads up!

EDIT: And moved! Holy crap that was painless. That’s a first.

…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

Read the rest of this entry »

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!