Today I stumbled across this fascinating YouTube channel called Don’t Stop Thinking which has a series of videos talking to gamers from around the world about how they play D&D (and some other RPGs) around the world. The playlist includes discussions with gamers from South Africa, Italy, Malaysia, Germany, Taiwan, and of course Japan. Here is the Japanese Tabletop Role-Playing Games video from the playlist, and actually this the first of a two-part video, so make sure you watch both parts!
What’s amazing is that the top RPG in Japan is Call of Cthulhu! And it’s especially popular among women! What a difference between North American and Japanese gamers. I also found this interesting blog on Japanese Tabletop RPGs which goes through a lot of the older RPG materials, including the original replay sessions of the Record of Lodoss War campaign that helped start the Light Novel boom in 80’s Japan!
Rob
