Cutthroat Planet

The Tabletop Roleplaying Game hobby has had more than a few tales of 'Games-That-Never-Were'. Games that were designed, developed, and sometimes even announced but for one reason or another didn't come to pass. Essentially, we're talking RPG vaporware. 

Japan's TRPG market isn't immune to this phenomena. Of particular note in this category is a game I've been obsessed with for many years; Cutthroat Planet. 

Cutthroat Planet is, or would have been, a Retro-Futurisc Space Opera TRPG focused on the PCs as heroic Space Pirates in a galaxy ruled by an evil empire . The idea is reminiscent of Space Pirate Captain Harlock, with the pirates as rebels against a tyrannical imperium.

The game, and its failure to materialize, has quite an interesting history.  

The game was the brainchild of Hayami Rasenjin, a prolific artist and writer who has worked in the fields of Manga, Anime, and Japanese TTRPGs for over three decades. Rasejin is a fan and advocate of Roleplaying Playing Games himself and has done a great many illustrations for the Japanese TRPG industry over the years. His works include being the main artist on SATASUPE, the 'Asian Punk' RPG that remains a favorite in Japan and of yours truly.

Honestly, I'm a big fan of Rasenjin and have been since before I really knew his name. I would see his artwork in various Japanese Roleplaying Games and Roleplaying Game related magazines and eventually started following him on Social Media. During my search to more project he'd worked on, I came across the the subject of this post, Cutthroat Planet.

Sometime around 2001, Hayami Rasejin came up with an idea for a Tabletop Roleplaying Game in which the players are freedom fighting Space Pirates flying between Earth and 'The Second Solar System' preying upon the unjust and overly bureacratic Terran Empire. Set in a Retro-Future Space Opera universe inspired by Flash Gordon and early Science Fiction Anime and Manga, the game had a wonderful setting but no rules.

He eventually tried using a few different systems, even testing them out at Sci-Fi and Gaming conventions but wasn't satisfied with any of them. One magazine article suggested the game was going to be released as using the rules of SATASUPE, which I personally think would have been awesome. In the end, Rasenjin just couldn't find or create a set of mechanics that he felt were right for the idea and so it went on the backburner.

An RPG Convention program from November of 2001

featuring a listing for a Cutthroat Planet playtest.

Special Guest Greg Stafford of Glorantha and Pendragon fame!

Fast forward to sometime in late 2025 or early 2026 and the game design studio known as Adventure Planning Bureau had come up with a new system they planned on using for an upcoming project but no setting had yet been developed. Designer Toichiro Kawashima had created Saikoro (Dice) Fiction and Rasejin, who was familiar with APB, met with him to discuss applying Dice Fiction to his Cutthroat Planet idea.

After writing began on the Cutthroat Planet game, a second Dice Fiction game went into development, Neighborhood Fairy Tale RPG Peek-a-Boo, sometimes referred to by the nickname Peek-a-Boo Horror (another game I really love). Peek-a-Boo was written and created by Toichiro Kawashima himself, with the help of illustrator (and later Kawashima's wife) Nagomi Ochiai, and the staff of APB  For unclear reasons, Cutthroat Planet was delayed, while Peek-a-Boo continued on at a solid pace.

When Peek-a-Boo was complete, Advanced Planning Bureau decided to release it first and it did very well. Eventually, the popularity of it lead other creators and designers to contact Kawashima and APD about using Dice Fiction for their ideas, creating a sort of 'universal system' and making APD the biggest of the smaller design studios.The company and its system now supports over a two dozen titles, including InSane, Kill Death Business, and Uncle Gap.

By late 2006, after announcements and magazine articles indicating Cutthroat Planet was scheduled for a June 30th release, the following statement was sent out by Adventure Planning Bureau to retailers:

(Translated from Japanese)

Thank you very much for your support.

We have announced that the release of 'Cutthroat Planet' which was scheduled for June 30th,
has been postponed.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

The official release date has not yet been decided, but we are aiming for an early next year release.

The game itself is currently being produced under the direction of designer Hayami Rasenjin
but we are currently in the final stages of adjustment to further enhance the game's quality and are therefore unable to release it.

Repeated announcements of release delays have led to rumors from various quarters that the
game may not be released after all but we are making every effort to ensure that as many users as possible can enjoy this wonderful title.

We apologize for any concern and inconvenience this may cause and we ask that you please wait a little longer.

We will contact you as soon as the release date is finalized.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.

We would like to once again apologize for any inconvenience caused.

We look forward to your continued support.

June 26, 2006
Kokusai Tsushinsha Co., Ltd.

An issue of the Japanese TRPG magazine R.P.G. Gamer had an article on the game in the Vol. 4, October 25th 2007 issue accompanied by Rasenjin's art. I am unable to find any further references to the game. Well...sort of...

A Japanese gamer blog that has what has to be the best name for a blog ever, 'Only The Dice Are Honest: Possibly the most pointless TRPG blog in Japan', posted a congratulations on the release of Cutthroat Planet finally coming out in 2010, only to reveal that it was an April Fools joke on the blogger's part. 

So what went wrong?

Sadly, I can find no official confirmation of what happened to this project, though some clues to its failure to launch can be found in the blog entries of various APB personnel and Rasejin himself over the years. 

It would seem that other projects drew Hayami Rasejin's attention away from his writing and overseeing Cutthroat Planet, including his work as a Design Assistant and Consultant in the Anime industry. Higher paying and more immediate turnaround meant these sorts of professional gigs took precedent over his personal passion project. 

In addition, his popularity as a Manga writer and artist blossomed and would later do quite well in the medium with a series called 'A Galactic Journey Worthy of a Baron', many elements of which seem to have been influenced by ideas he had originally created for Cutthroat Planet. 

A Galactic Journey Worthy of a Baron, By Hayami Rasenjin. Volume 1

Finally, while not said out right, I get the impression that Rasenjin wasn't entirely happy with the Dice Fiction system version of the game. Blog posts by those who followed the project through the early days and convention playtests mention his use of D20s in some versions, D10s in others, and I get the impression he never found the mechanics that quite matched his vision. I've been there so I get that. 

I lament that this TRPG never truly happened in a way that fans of Rasenjin, Science Fiction Space Opera, and Roleplaying Games had hoped it would. It is a path not taken and a missed opportunity that could have been an excellent addition to any collection of Japanese TRPGs.

 

Later Days,

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