The second Record of Lodoss War replay from Comptiq Magazine got translated. That means it’s time for a Lodoss War thread.
Replay 1: https://archive.org/details/record-of-lodoss-war-comptiq-magazine-english-translation
Replay 2: https://archive.org/details/comptiq-magazine-record-of-lodoss-war-2
I wonder how much was base off a real session
I dont remember anything that wasnt D&D implemented, I think, my guess it was all an actual campaign.
Spoilers ahead
Was one of the characters defeated and kidnapped or just straight out kidnapped? Would it be okay to straight out kidnap a character?
Could two characters get married?
The whole point of replays is that they’re a campaign played by entertaining people, which is then transcribed, and then edited to cut down on the awkward pauses and dead air, and further edited to remove jokes that are too racy (no one said nerds were politically correct). The light novels are their own thing, of course, and all the other media takes inspiration from the light novels.
1) Yes, it's explicitly called out as an alternative for outright killing characters within a year or so of the first LBBs being published, and it's in the Rules Cyclopedia. Which IIRC is the version Japan got. Also it's a decent way to deal with a player being gone for a few sessions, with their consent of course.
2) Why the frick not?
As someone who watched the OVA, I liked the first replay, but I can’t say I’m as big a fan of the second one. It was fine, mind, but the characters weren’t as strong as the main cast, the plot was a bit of a railroad towards the end, and it revolved around npcs too much (to the point where the final battle was a duel between two NPCs the players couldn’t interfere with).
I’m looking forward to seeing what the cast does with Sword World in the third replay (at least I assume it’s Sword World).
My friends showed me the animu in 2002. It dawned on me that that it was someone's DnD game when one character died and another got possessed and two new people instantly showed up.
Playing DnD in Japan in the 80's must have been such a good vibe. Wish I'd been there.
I'm also choosing to imagine Deedlit's player was a super qt woman even though she was probably played by a dude..
IIRC there was no actual chemistry between them in the game either
A lot of anime is weirdly sexless to be fair. Always figured it was because they wanted the audience to form parasocial obseessions with the heroines so it's important for them to be virgins.
Japanese men are turboincels and will violently attack fictional people and concepts that threaten that insecurity.
In the 80s and 90s this was a problem unique to otaku but now its totally mainstream.
frick off back to
The way you talk out of your ass fits right in there.
Lmfao touched a nerve with that one didn't I?
It doesnt even surprise me that you cannot fathom how people would be disgusted after seeing your obvious and transparent projection.
Like I said, go be with your fellow incels, everything about you is pathetic.
NTA. Why do you think Japanese idols(and Korean ones too) arent allowed relationships? Its because the fans expect idols to be "available" in their sexual fantasy.
Ok Gooner. Go to jerk off before Posting
>anime is weirdly sexless
but it's the anime what made her horny.
Chastity is a virtue you know. Get you coomer brain out of the gutter
Breeding elves is a virtue
She was in fact played by a dude. If I remember right he also got permission from the DM to fudge a few scores just so he could play an elf, though that may just be a legend.
>https://archive.org/details/record-of-lodoss-war-comptiq-magazine-english-translation
>DM: You want to proceed? Well, as you proceed, you see two doors one on the west side and one to the east.
>Parn: Ignore them! The treasure we’re aiming for is in the back!!
>DM: (I'm reading a pattern) Well, as you go on, you find an intersection where the tunnel splits to the left and right. Which way do you go?
>Parn: Right!
>Slayn: Based on what?
>Parn: Gut instinct. I don't need a reason!
>Slayn: ….
goddamnit Parn!
>Parn: Is it a big fortress? Perhaps the Small Fry are downstairs, and the witch and the princess upstairs. Well then, here’s the plan. The Small Fry will be tidied up by three people, I, Slayn, and Deedlit. Etoh and Wood Chuck will also help if things go bad. Our brother knight and Ghim will head for the second floor. Since Ghim is a dwarf, he has resistance to magic. Even if one of them collapses, the other can engage the witch in close quarters combat, keeping her from casting more spells.
>Ghim: It's not ideal... but it makes sense. Alright! I accept.
>Parn: Yes! Let’s attack!!
HE'S EVOLVING!
>Deedlit: That or a manifestation of our DM.
>DM: You can’t read anything into the personality of the DM. Your character doesn't know about the DM.
>Deedlit: Well, it's the principle of this world. The DM= God.
Deedlit is too smart fo her own good.
>TSR fails to give the Japanese the green light to do their own Lodoss sourcebooks
>Ignores the success of the world's first Let's Play published in Japanese magazines
>Japanese get bored of waiting and just make their own Lodoss RPG
>DnD dies in Japan and barely anyone buys the 2nd/3rd/4th/5th books when they come out
These gays really did deserve to get devoured by WOTC, didn't they?
Imagine if TSR had given Square the rights to license DnD for Final Fantasy.
I vaguely remember that at the time TSR had this weird corporate policy of an automatic "no!" when someone wanted to publish their own setting in relation to the D&D-License.
Mindblowing if you consider what they missed out on.
Not so much "no" as "not unless we have 100% rights and can frick with the setting however we see fit and don't have to give you good rights to it like we did with Greenwood!"
Truly, TSR were idiot savants.
I want translated Sword World books.
There are fan translations out there that are apparently really good, anon, though I also want official books to have in-hand.
Well ye be in luck, as translations for the core Sword World RPG Complete Edition book will be done...
...Soon™
http://sw25.wikidot.com/
the link is on that page, everything from 2.5 and 2.0 in a VERY good translation
https://swordworld.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Main_Page
Here you go anon
I need to go mine Lodoss War for concepts and ideas for my JRPG-inspired setting. I was always peripherally aware of it but not to the degree of FF or DQ.
It's honestly a pretty generic fantasy setting, even moreso than modern ones, which is either an appeal or a detriment depending on what you like
I consider Final Fantasy I to be the best adaptation of gonzo kitchen sink fantasy, and I find generally that foreign cultures interpreting western fantasy ideas without being familiar enough with the context to have a need to subvert or inject irony refreshing.
>generic fantasy setting
compared to what?
everyone who regurgitates the nu-weird-fantasy-mievellian dogma of "if it has elves and dwarves its generic" should be hanged, drawn and quartered
No need to stroke your random hateboner.
Lodoss is a very simple straight laced setting with very few components. Most of its lore is completely linear associations. Not many moving parts. It operates on single factoids that are introduced one at a time to make a simple plot happen as direct as possible.
>there is big island with good kingdoms
>there is evil island with monsters and dark kingdom where evil goddess is banished
>dark kingdom wants conquest, so war it is
>elves and dwarves exist
>there are dragons
>there is powerful artifact that can do powerful control magic, bad guys want it for conquest
If there ever was a setting that could be called generic it is Lodoss, other anon was not blasé avant gard in the least.
It is generic in the sense that you'd be hard pressed to find a single subverted idea.
It is more generic than its mechanical D&D ancestor Mystara, which is already a real life culture turned fantasy theme park collage at its core. Lodoss sands that down a lot until you are left with kingdom that looks more desert because some guys have turbans, but they act the same as anybody else, for example.
By the way I'm not hating, it is just about as simple as you can go and still have a story/game.
Thanks for sharing anon!
>If there ever was a setting that could be called generic it is Lodoss, other anon was not blasé avant gard in the least.
Yes he was and so are you.
>It is generic in the sense that you'd be hard pressed to find a single subverted idea.
Yeah apart from the big bad tricking both the good and the evil kingdom and the big plot being her wanting balance on Lodoss.
But that of course doesn't count because reasons.
Nevermind how fricking midwitted your take of "if no subversion then generic" is.
You are so busy sniffing your own farts that it doesn't occur to you that something being played completely straight is not automatically the same as being generic.
>It is more generic than its mechanical D&D ancestor Mystara
Ah yes lets remember the city secretly ruled by ancient lichs that worship a sentient magic nuke.
Very generic.
>By the way I'm not hating, it is just about as simple as you can go and still have a story/game.
By the way I am hating on you and the other dipshit because every time someone uses the term "generic" to lazily describe something he doesn't like like you did it.
Always and with no exceptions it turns out that the person in question is an actual fricking moron who doesnt know what the frick he is talking about but feels the need to vomit out an opinion that isnt even his.
Now slither back to your crawlspaces before I have to embarrass you further by pointing out further how uninformed on the topic you are.
This one is hot, is she from Wakfu?
Also, am I the only one who had the headcanon of that desert king being Parns Lost Father?
Yes, General Frida Mofette from the second season of Wakfu.
Seeing as in the manga as well as the Light Novel its explained who Tessius was, yeah its only you.
Ah, sad.
Take your meds and read some og Mystara modules
I accept your concession.
You don't understand the Japanese mindset. They are all about doing the expected and plain very, very well. Excellence is what they aim for over creativity.
You are the stupidest homosexual in this thread, congrats.
See
and continue seething homosexual
You know, with older systems
making a comeback (what with WotC shitting themselves), if I had any talent whatsoever, and if I end up watching the anime (this is my one real interaction with the series), I would write up a setting guide for Lodoss.
Without jumping on you like the resident thread schizo, you probably mean “classic” or “tried and true”. Generic just has me thinking of a setting with no real love put into it aside from a love of money. Much like the not!Hogwarts and multicultural not!Planescape settings WotC released, or the modern Forgotten Realms.
Well... ...the world does have some mythology to it, if it interests ye.
Thank you for posting these.
Just finished reading the first Replay. It really puts things into perspective for someone who read the manga or watched the anime before.
After reading this I am absolutely not surprised why it became an instant classic like it did. The plot is fairly simple yet interesting, the combat sums up the most dramatic bits and even the roleplay is kinda down to a bare minimum yet you still feel the characteristics of the cast shine through.
Add to it the great pieces of advice the Dm gives on DM/Player-Etiquette that should be common sense but really arent after close to 40 years when this was written.
No wonder it was popular.
PS: It made me really like Woodchuck. He is the thiefest of thieves in fiction. Its also funny how many of Etoh's cool moments where stolen and attributed to Parn in the manga/anime.
This thread needs more Pirotess
It is incredibly based that everyone has come around and said Pirotess is the hotter girl.
She needs a new man after gigachad Ashram dies in that Crystaria story and I'm happy to oblige.
Deedlit is very cute but Pirotess undoubtedly has more sex appeal
Deedlit is cute! CUTE!
the looks dumb as frick with that dress and attitude, dunno why japs like it so much.
Berserk also did the "pimped out dress" b***h who isn't comfortable with it, but Casca is an even shittier character than Deedlit.
At least Pirotess is super hot.
Because the creators are based tomboy appreciators and you are low test. Sad!
Does Deedlit even count as a tomboy? I figured her complaints were because she’s used to elven clothes.
She's fishing for compliments from the guy you dense moron.
Are there translations of the first edition of Sword World and the associated world guides?
I know 2.0 has fan translations.
Reminder that 1d6chan has Record of Lodoss War and Sword World RPG article pages that desperately need fleshing out, /tg/.
Now if only the Japanese BattleTech replay books would get translated.
I've been sober for eighteen years, which means I am exactly negative drunk enough to try it myself
I really do wish we got replays in the west instead of uncharismatic theater kids playing a scripted D&D campaign, or actual plays with unedited dead air and stanmering. I feel like the latter would do better as an replay and the former would finally die out.
Just finished the OAV. Didn't really like what I saw of Chronicles of the Heroic Knight and I've heard Crystania is bad.
Where should I go next if I want more 80's/90's fantasy anime?
Chronicles of the Heroic Knight can be really uneven, and the animation is just a net downgrade overall, but the stuff with Ashram makes it worthwhile since he is just doing his own shit and beats on Parn every time they meet up.
The scan quality of the uploads you find online definitely affects it. You can find BDs of the OVA and they are of course gorgeous. Chronicles of the Heroic Knight has no such luck.
I heard good things about Rune Slayer Louie, Slayers, and Konosuba.
Well, Louie is set in the the same world of Forcelia, just somewhere on the Alecrast continent.
Slayers is it's own thing, can be more fun as it chronicles the "Dragon Spooker" and her personal meat shield. and Konosuba... ...it's Isekai shenanigens..
Also, Louie's class spread is...
Fighter 5, Sorcerer 4, Sage 2.
Also Ozanari Dungeon, Ruin Explorers, Bastard! (seriously watch Bastard!, it's amazing), and Luna Varga.
There's also Escaflowne, which has some.. issues but is otherwise cool as frick. For starters the characters look like a fantasy version of Doonesbury for some reason. The main character is a spineless b***h of a romance novel isekai protagonist fricking up a fairly awesome world by trying to run a self-harm conga by proxy on herself. One of the side characters is forcibly sex-changed as a major plot point and they burn a couple eps on that. There are furrier-than-usual catgirls, but they're also played as alien and unsettling.
It also has mecha. Sword-wielding, dragon-fighting mecha that the Atlanteans trade to medieval planets so as not to upset their techbases TOO far, kind of like Ferengi with a Prime Directive. This is deeply kickass. Coupled with a Yoko Kanno score, glimpses of a really cool world that I've shamelessly lifted from as a GM, and some excellent animation it pretty much makes up for the other bits.
Another vote for Bastard! here. Darker, hornier, and sillier than Lodoss but very awesome, even as someone who watches little anime.
The Wizardry OVA, Legend of Lemnear, and Amon Saga.
Wizardry OVA
Not 80s or 90s, but I’ll always shill for Dungeon Meshi (the manga, havent watched the anime).
https://recordoflodosswar.fandom.com/wiki/Legend_of_Crystania:_The_Motion_Picture
>After Mizuno finished the seven Record of Lodoss War novels he went on to write a number of spin-off novels and side-stories, one of them being Crystania. Plans were made to adapt the first novels (chronologically) into a movie and a subsequent OVA series to wrap up the story of Ashram, Pirotess and the Marmo people.
>Production of the project was halted when one of the producers was arrested on some charges, leading to the team eventually rushing the production on a limited budget.
>The result is somewhat inconsistent animation quality and a shorter series than planned; arguably too short to adequately tell the story of multiple novels.
heed the list, disregard the newbies
I feel the list might be adjusted a smidge...
add a little Goblin Slayer, some Dungeon Meshi, also the series of Bastard!! could be added.
also dunno why Familiar of Zero and Dungeon Fighter are on that list.
Bastard!! the OVA is already in the list. It's not hard to imagine that someone searching for it would also find the TV series nowadays.
Because Familiar of Zero was was good before hating Isekai became cool.
The OG post of that pic was 2015, so yeah some stuff holds up but it feels outdated.
Secondarly, the TV version of Lodoss looks completely different from the OVAs?
Completely different studio, but the characters are still easily recognizable.
Is there anything particularly interesting about the worldbuilding / setting of Lodoss War? Also anyone have a list of fantasy anime that's actually good? My favorite one is probably Grimgar.
>Is there anything particularly interesting about the worldbuilding / setting of Lodoss War?
Quite a lot, really. The main characters are a new party adventuring in a world where the old PCs "saved the world", and are now Domain-level characters running most of the continent. The setting goes for a more Moorewienerian understanding of alignment, rather than the late TSR "You vill only play zee heroes unt you vill suck it". Law and Good =/= decent human beings. Also, being mostly right is no excuse for being a dickbag. Both the earlier party and the current PCs are a mix of alignments and motivations in a fairly strained alliance, not a Power Rangers team. Between Heroic Knight, both Lodoss series (the TV show is sort-of-kind-of a reboot/sequel to the OVA with a bunch of additional material) and Louie you get more perspectives on the world than most shows or game worlds give you. Also both elves and dragons are rare and scary as frick.
>Also anyone have a list of fantasy anime that's actually good?
I forgot Sorceror Hunters for the '90s fantasy list. It's trash, but it's funny trash. Berzerk is what happens when you hand Japanese people Frazetta paintings, Elric books, and The Tale from Saragossa. Very dark, very weird, horny and violent.
My favorites out of what's been posted so far are Bastard (heavy metal fantasy with a lot of random slapstick and godawful puns, mixed with huge belts of badassery), Berzerk, Slayers, and Ruin Explorers (also a comedy series about a shitty cursed mage and her idiot fighter bodyguard). If you can handle the issues with Escaflowne it's a great watch. If you can't, bail out early, or it'll be a fricking SLOG.
>Quite a lot, really. The main characters are a new party adventuring in a world where the old PCs "saved the world", and are now Domain-level characters running most of the continent
I wonder if that was intentional, I never really noticed that before but it does parallel classic D&D doesn't it? (I say classic because I don't remember the exact one its drawing from BECMI?)
IIRC it was Rules Cyclopedia that got sent to Japan, which makes sense given the time period. And it seems pretty darned intentional, although I'm only partway through the first of the replays right now. Never actually managed to hunt them up before, it's been an interesting read.
>Moorwienerian alignment
Not to be That Guy, but even the BECMI rules say that, with rare exceptions (such as the fairies or Diaboli), law = good and chaos = evil.
I was drawing a contrast between the BECMI rules and implied cosmology on the one hand, and the way Lodoss treats alignment rather more like Moorewiener did on the other. id est, either Law or Chaos actually winning would be a disaster. You've also got clearly Lawful Evil characters, a Chaotic Good (or at least she seems to be trying to be CG) one, and quite a bit more spoilery stuff later on backing that up.
making Lodoss-themed miniature armies would be nice if there were suitable minis for the main characters and generic troops for the two elf factions. Everything else should be pretty easy to source
This is a good thread and must not be allowed to die.
Elf females are made for human men to love and cherish
Still going to ravage elven holes by night though
I have several of the official World Guides and adventure modules, but no scanner unfortunately.
These two are fun
SIIIINDRIIIII and General Bale, the prototypes.
Thanks for this Anon. RoLW and the Capcom D&D games will always be peak D&D to me. I wish the old Japanese D&D books had an English release with the anime art.
Should I read the Replays or the novelization?
I guess the replays have more historical weight?
The Replay is short and sweet.
Read it.
If it doesnt scratch the itch you an read the LN afterwards.
I'd do anything to be a college guy in 2001 again, bros.
2001 was a really good year for me as well. I miss anime conventions from the 90's and early 00's.
Conventions used to be amazing. I've got so many memories of making friends, adding people on MySpace/Livejournal afterwards, wandering around the hotel late at night, going to interesting panels, marathoning whole series in the viewing room, etc.
And then suddenly in 2009 they all got bad. Overcrowded and corporatized. Saw some footage of last year's Anime Expo online and it looked like a big cattle pen.
Not only anime cons.
I saw the same thing happening to LARP-Fests and Fantasy-Cons at least in Europe.
I knew the LARPing community was dead the moment they started inviting Social Media Influencers and giving them special roles.
The only good Larps are small private invite-only left where you get lucky if they allow you to be anything else than a random NPC during the first 3 Meet-Ups.
How many volumes its the whole thing long? I'd like to translate them to spanish but maybe i will wait until all of them are in english (i know no japanesu)
Sexy elf girls are all just knockoffs of Deedlit. Change my mind.
brown ones a Piro rippoffs
Sauce?
Filename dumbass
Damned shame the guy who played Deedlit is gone now...
You've killed him with that comment.
my sauce:
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2024-04-04/sci-fi-novelist-hiroshi-yamamoto-dies-at-68/.209547
o7
neither Pirotess or Ashram seem particularly evil really. Cold-blooded pragmatists at worst. Bit of a strange choice for the main antagonist and his gf
>Bit of a strange choice for the main antagonist and his gf
Because they were played up as a former PC and his Elf henchman who'd turned to villainry. In no small part because of the actions of the "good" fighter in the same party once he got his Domain, when Ashram didn't want one. Although Ash's magic sword and friendship with other characters had more than a little to do with it..
Sad that Ashram never said anything moronic like Parn would.
Why do the male dark elves look like your average shitposter?
to explain why dark elf women are so weak to human men
jk Piro's brother looks good, they just have some ugly bastards as well
Used to play the Fuzion version. Was great fun! Saw that a new version came out in 2001 or so.
no more elf wars
This guy is cute.
Does he appear in any adaptation worth watching? I only watched the first Lodoss anime.