Sword World is indeed a fantastical beast. It is surrounded by myths and stories. It is a game both beautiful and terrible. It is legend.
The story goes that a group of Sci-Fi/Fantasy writers, artists, gamers, and game designers had a Dungeons & Dragons campaign going that they were able to serialize in a magazine called Comptiq thanks to their collective talents. In September of 1986 the periodical began publishing monthly installments of 'Record of the Lodoss War' with a combination of short stories and comics.
These 'Replays' of the campaign's events gave birth to the massively popular 'Replay Manga' phenomenon, which serves as most Japanese gamers introduction to Tabletop RPGs. It is currently estimated that the widespread and lucrative Replays are more popular than Tabletop RPGs themselves.
A rumor persisted for years that this campaign wasn't actually D&D but Runequest. It has also been said that while the game started out in D&D, the group switched to Runequest before eventually creating their own game. There is likely some truth to this as the influence of Runequest on the system and setting can be seen quite clearly.
The game they created themselves became Sword World and the creators became Group SNE. Initially, Sword World was published in order for Japanese TRPG fans to run adventures in the setting of the increasingly popular Record of the Lodoss War Replays but the game itself soon took off and for many years Sword World was considered Japan's top selling dice and paper game.
I watched the first episodes of the Record of the Lodoss War Original Video Animation soon after they came out in Japan in 1990. Not long after that, a customer at my job whom I considered a friend was discussing the Anime with me when he mentioned having a copy of the game. I'm sure my eyes bugged out and my jaw dropped. He mentioned picking it up the last time he visited relatives in Japan. I'm sure I replied with something akin to, "So when are we giving it go?". The answer was a week or two later...
Character: Boon Brushborn
If I recall correctly, the character was simply named Boon during the game. I didn't give him a last name. That's rare for me but I just couldn't think of one.
In a one-shot I ran a couple years later Boon (as an NPC) introduces himself to the PCs of that game as 'Boon of Brushborn'.
AKA: Green Top, Little Man.
Player: Adam Dickstein
System: Sword World, 1st Edition by Group SNE, Published by Fujimi Shobo.
Nature: Short Campaign/Adventure Arc: Ruins of The Fool Lord's Folly
Gamemaster: Ben K.
Circa: 1990-1991
Origins: As noted in the introductory section above, a fellow I knew told me he had picked up the Sword World RPG during his last trip to Japan to visit family there. He not only had the main rulebook but a couple other supplements and gaming magazines with additional material. Excited to try a Japanese made TRPG for the very first time, the two of us each asked some friends to join in and we assembled a party of 5 or 6 players pretty quickly.
Curiously, this was during the period of my 'gaming career' where I had pretty much sworn off D&D and games like it (both mechanically and in terms of genre). I also rarely played around this time. This was a special occasion in my mind. An exception to my self imposed rules.
Sword World, 1st Edition
Full Disclosure: What follows is my best recollection of this character and the game but generously embelished to cover the gaps in my notes and memory. The map, place names, and other specifics about the setting come from the sourcebook 'Ten Children: World Guide to the Western Countries'.
Backstory: Like most Grassrunners, Boon was a wanderer who called no set location 'home', though he was birthed in Brushborn, a trading outpost not far from Lake Nomad (referred to as Lake Nomiol by the Human Kingdoms). Boon is a Ranger by skill and trade and was hired by the rest of the party to guide them through the region between the Kingdom of Remrier and the Cross No Mountains (also known as 'The Ladder to the Sky') in hopes of finding the cursed Ruins of The Fool Lord's Folly...
Overview: A party of adventurers consisting of a Half-Elven Fighter, a Female Elven Sorcerer, a Human Bard, and a Human Priest set off from the Kingdom of Remrier to locate the ruins of an old Fortress said to have been build on the Eastern edge of the Cross No Mountains long, long ago.
According to legend the Lord of this Keep, otherwise a man of wisdom and cunning, had a weakness; he loved to laugh. He would often invite Jesters to perform and entertain himself and his troops. One day he let in a man who claimed to be so humorous that indeed one might die laughing. True to his word all who listened that night perished, unable to breathe through their guffaws.
Recently, hideous laughter had been heard on the street of Remrier in the evenings as the sun was setting. Several people reported nightmares, all featuring a man in garb of a Jester. The Sages advised the Lord of Remrier to hire adventurers to investigate the old Fortress and discover why the ghost of the Fool Lord's Folly was haunting the people of this fine City-State.
Enter Boon of Brushborn, Grassrunner Ranger, hired by the group to lead them through the areas between along the quickest and safest path. Not an easy task as Youma, a darkness that causes strange creatures to appear and act wickedly, had been particularly strong lately the nearly one was to the Cross No Mountains. Luckily, Boon knew a short cut (no pun intended - not on THIS quest for sure!). He got the party there with little difficulty...alright so they did have a run in with some Goblins but they made swift work of that lot.
As he was getting paid and preparing to part ways with the others, Boon saw a shadow in the dying light and shouted for the Priest to move. With the through of a long dagger he pierced a horrible flying creature, giving the rest of the party time to ready themselves. Once the beast was vanquished, the Half-Elf invited Boon to join the group for a cut of the findings and reward. The Grassrunner agreed.
The Highlights:
Boon was fun to play largely because of his attitude. He had a bit of a chip on his shoulder, with most of the party thinking he was younger than he was and treating him a bit like a kid (which funny enough happens to Chilchuck in Delicious in Dungeon, who is also of a Halfling/Hobbit like species). He proved himself a few times and they had a talk about. Boon said, "If I'm going to be a fellow member of the party in this quest, you have to treat me like one. Not like a sidekick." The others agreed. It was a nice role-play sequence.
Where was a battle against some bizarre monster I think the GM made up, a kind of 'Joker Manticore' (though come to think of it, a creature that could be described that way exists in the Five Star Stories Manga series. Hmmm). My character had light weapons and armor and I recall using a short sword or dagger in each hand. I jumped around a lot in that fight, reminiscent of the fighting style you often see short characters use in Anime. I didn't do a lot of damage but hit with almost every attack. One of the other players dubbed it 'death by a thousand paper cuts'.
Game Info:
Sword World is a game that spawned out of one groups' interest in the RPGs of the hobby's Golden Age - specifically Dungeons & Dragons, Runequest, and very likely Rolemaster. It shows. It's a little more complicated than it needs to be and consists of way too many charts.
Back then I was already losing patience for such things but as a fan of RPGs and Anime/Manga, how could I say no to playing one of Japan's earliest and most popular stabs at tabletop gaming? I remember having a great time but certainly wasn't about to drop my favorite games of the era (FASA Star Trek, Star Wars D6, Mekton, and Teenagers from Outer Space) for this cumbersome Fantasy game.
Still and all, there are definitely things I think Sword World does better than D&D and its ilk. I like the way you can mix and match Classes to create interesting combinations resulting in characters feeling more distinct and different from each other mechanically. I like the different types and styles of magic, another feature that makes character stand out from one another. It also adds flavor and texture to the Classes so that a Priest doesn't just feel like a Mage who can heal and wear armor. There are just a large number of little ideas and systems that make for a cool game even if it isn't my style of game.
Notes:
I wish I could recall more details. I remember playing this character in the game clearly but as I get down to finer and finer details my memory gets fuzzier and fuzzier. I don't seem to have many notes written down about either and my gaming buddies from that period [who I am still in touch with] only vaguely recall it as well. Frustrating.
Legacy:
Boon appeared as an NPC in a Sword World one-shot I ran two years or so after Ben's game ended. It basically used the previous adventure as canon history but I added elements based on additional information I had since learned about the Alecrast setting.
Sadly, one of my groups tried to create characters and run a game of Sword World 2.5, the latest version of the game and damn if it wasn't the complicated thing I've read in a while. It's not unplayable by any means, quite the opposite. It seems very well thought out mechanically. It's just very crunchy and rule heavy and that isn't my jam. Furthermore, while that is a factor of many Japanese Tabletop RPGs (system complexity is often high), it's not something favorable to me personally. It's also why many of my favorite Japanese games are that ones that aren't so mechanically dense.
The winds of justice are blowing and when they strike, it's like a tornado has landed! Villains beware! CRIMSON CYCLONE CYBERO is up next!
Barking Alien
No comments:
Post a Comment