I decided to splurge on Amazon Japan, getting some Japanese RPGs, catching up on certain comics, and a couple of other things. Alshard ff, Ra/Li/Lu/Ra, and Arianrhod all look pretty neat, but I haven't had a chance to do more than skim them.

I also got the newest issue of Role&Role, which seems to be the main TRPG magazine in Japan. When you open it you're hit over the head with pretty manga art and such for a couple pages of ads, then it has a Brand New Games section about new releases, including a release calendar. From there it's a mixture of replays (transcripts of game sessions), game material, columns, a short comic, a section on board games (which seems to be mostly German stuff), etc. Warhammer FRP, Paranoia XP, and Tunnels & Trolls 7th Edition all got released in Japanese recently. There's also a rather weird, sarcastic look at All Flesh Must Be Eaten (when he got to Zombie Smackdown, the writer was as confused about it as everyone else, but he did give them props for getting so much right about Japanese pro wrestling). It has some quirks to it (no letters column, no editorial?), but overall it's very, very slick.

Given that in Japan the RPG hobby is much smaller and more obscure than here, it seems weird that they have a publication that covers the whole hobby -- and has room to talk about board games -- with such high production values, and over here there's only a couple of house organs*. Whatever happened to Shadis and its ilk?


*There's also stuff like Push, but I'd put that in a whole other category, the same way that I'd put Mechademia in a separate category from Newtype and Anime Insider.

I looked at that Role and Roll website and a neat image on there
Could totally imagine an anime game with her and the Boar guy with the honking sword

I'd love to subscribe to an Indie RPGs Magazine, and have it come out 4 times a year.
I'd love it if it include AP reports, mini-games, playtest/ashcans, advertisements, product reviews, ads from IPR and such, editorials about gaming, and adventures/con demo packs.



I'm not making any claims to the viability of such an endeavor.

Oooooh. An Indie RPGS magazine. I'd LOVE that. Loveyloveylovey.

Whatever happened to Serendipity's Circle? and Imazine?

I'm partial to paper. I already get my 'net indie fix :)

Doing a magazine and/or e-zine is a crazy insane amount of work. I'd be doing one right now if it were just a crazy amount of work. And, I'm not speaking lightly, not just guessing. I'm saying I've done it (Daedalus) and also looked into it on a pretty serious level again.

Not sure I'll ever rule it out, but it's gonna take some serious effort.

Yeah, I figured it would be tough to do. I was about to ask about Daedalus too. The depressing thing is that even when RPG magazines were done as actual commercial endeavors, they seem to either die or turn into purely house organs (as happened to both Dragon and White Wolf Magazine). Of course, another difference between the U.S. and Japan is that neither D&D nor any other particular game dominates the (small) market.

Posted By: Joshua BishopRobyNeko, I speak from ignorance, but how are hobby stores doing in Japan? Cause that's where these mags sell, and the US hobby market is making a huge shift to online purchasing.

I'm not too terribly sure myself; Andy's probably the guy around here to answer that, and he's not around much right at the moment.

What I do know is that a lot of Japanese RPGs are published by larger publishers that put them out as a small side thing, and in some cases they're part of an attempt to create an overall franchise. For example, Ru/Li/Lu/Ra is also a manga, and (while not an RPG) the Queen's Blade Lost World books have also been turned into a line of plastic figures, which are being sold in the usual places where they sell plastic figures. (The third link from the right shows the spin-off merchandise, including some NSFW mousepads...).

Japan's doujinshi scene probably also affects it in that it's relatively easy and cheap to get decent artists (as long as you like manga-style art, which they do), and there's a whole sub-industry of providing small print runs for doujinshi comics, which the smaller publishers (and TRPG doujinshi circles) probably take advantage of. I'm not clear on how it works, but it seems like it's much easier to do a small print run and make a profit over there, even with doujinshi being sold for relatively cheap.

There are a lot of specialized Japanese magazines too, and they seem to be thicker and have better production values than American ones do on average (albeit with that cluttered Japanese style), but it's also not unusual for them to cost 1,000 yen or more.

Posted By: tadkI looked at that Role and Roll website and a neat image on there
Could totally imagine an anime game with her and the Boar guy with the honking sword

Yup. I have no idea what game (if any) that art is supposed to be for, and the website doesn't really say, but it's generally cool all the same. The cover of the issue I got is of a generic fantasy adventuring party in a dungeon, but then the big feature that month is Tunnels & Trolls.

Doing more than one issue of Push a year would be a part-time job, not a hobby.

It would still be really cool though.

I actually wonder about the viability of an indie game mag, or any magazine, these days. There's not a lot that is offered by most magazines that isn't avalable for free online. It seems like an online (or PDF) magazine would be a better option, but even then I imagine you'd have trouble getting better content then what is alread available on the blogs, messag boards and other sites that we already visit anyway.

Alshard ff, Ra/Li/Lu/Ra, and Arianrhod all look pretty neat, but I haven't had a chance to do more than skim them.

I picked up 2 of these recently. They are neat.

Posted By: jake richmondThere's not a lot that is offered by most magazines that isn't avalable for free online.

And this is exactly why there aren't any gaming magazines here. We have a medium for this sort of content already, and the internet is faster and more voluminous than any organized magazine is going to be.

Ok,
In my madness I have decided to offer up to make / coordinate / collobarate a Indie Games / Story Games / Designer Owned / Chose your own definition paper zine

It is open to all people
Based on a few comments above it will be both pdf and print available
There will be more guidelines I will draft and post and link to them from in here. The guidelines being along the lines of timeframes, Publishing Rights, etc, for the use of the contributors.
Zines and Newsletters are my main contributors to my hobby of gaming (in the broader sense) and so I am inclinced to do this.
More details to follow pending comments to this posting as well.

In my madness I have decided to offer up to make / coordinate / collobarate a Indie Games / Story Games / Designer Owned / Chose your own definition paper zine

Despite what I said before I would like to see something like this exsist. I'd be happy to contribute and help out in any way possible.

jake

All magazines in the United States are dying. It's no wonder the hobby ones are dying fastest and hardest.

Thank you Johnathan for your advice,
Yeah I know they can take up too many hours of my life
Have before, will again
I like the size suggestion, my frequency will be less than monthly.
Again thank you

JD You got a point there, the publishers have killed themselves off like they did the midlist back in the late 70s.

Judd
You got a point there, maybe that is one reason I like to make the artifact known, to me, as a publication,since I tend to not be frequent in publication, more than a newsletter, less than a full blown something.

Tad

Yup, good point, Thor.

I'd love to see some magazines from our folks. I am enjoying the hell out of Push, that's for sure and Daedalus rocked.

Posted By: thorAnd it's hard to put a blog in front of someone who is not looking for it.

I actually think there's an open niche for something like those "Best American Essays of 200_" collections, only for online posts about RPGs. Do an online submission process, some voting, and some editorial selection, give it a thin, delicious glaze of layout and hit Lulu with it in time for Gen Con... I'd buy it.

Posted By: Neko EwenGiven that in Japan the RPG hobby is much smaller and more obscure than here, it seems weird that they have a publication that covers the whole hobby -- and has room to talk about board games -- with such high production values, and over here there's only a couple of house organs*. Whatever happened to Shadis and its ilk?

Hey man, was out all last week and am still just catching up.

The other thing about Japan is that they have a huge, HUGE magazine market. Even for hobbies and stuff. There's at least 4 "Train Hobbyist" magazines that I know of: And that's just about real trains mostly in Japan, that's not even talking about model trains, which have their own magazines. Full color, glossy things. It's a lot easier to break into magazines in Japan, because the overall cost of publishing is low, and it's easy to find sponsors (since most companies are still thinking that there's money to be made in submitting ads to magazines).

Also, the internet hasn't quite taken off in the same ways for middle and small publishers as it has for big media outlets. It just seems that even now it's hard to find really well-made or well-organized websites for mid-sized or small publishers. English-speaking folk are perhaps spoiled in this regard. Our magazines suck, but there's a lot more useful stuff to find on the internet.

Also, have you made your purchases yet? If so, I might have some recs. Whisper me.

-Andy