I know I've heard about this game from a few sources, supposedly it's refered to as japan's D&D.
So I just would like to know:
What /tg/'s opinion is on this game?
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Sword World 2.5
I know I've heard about this game from a few sources, supposedly it's refered to as japan's D&D.
So I just would like to know:
What /tg/'s opinion is on this game?
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UFOs Are A Psyop Shirt $21.68 |
It's a cute system built around Japanese market limitations of the time, back when every dice that wasn't your average d6 had to imported for a hefty price
The newest edition plays like tactical JRPG
>The newest edition plays like tactical JRPG
That's the entire appeal of Pathfinder 2E, anon. I'm working on a campaign set in Ivalice as we speak. Maybe I should just try this instead, tell us more.
I can guarantee that Sword World will be a lot less complicated than PF.
Also, I feel like Raxia is a final fantasy setting with crystals replaced with swords. Ivalice would fit right in with the setting, lol.
Whenever someone says
>x game is a tactical game
Its almost never true.
If you want FFT, play ICON or if you want something with more genee conventions, dnd 4e,
Haven't gotten a chance to play it but reading the books is a joy. For a fan translation they are very good and it's immensely interesting to read a ttrpg that was made outside the western design zeitgeist.
My group played a wide range of systems and SW2.5 remains one of the absolute favorites. It's easy to grasp and provides 3 ways to illustrate combat and even the most simple one - literally "4 homies in a row" but they can stand at either front or back, is engaging and makes sure that any "build" can find its thing.
That sad, combat is not very roleplay friendly but that's a strong point of the system. Your options are varied enough to make you consider your actions before doing them.
And you can do a lot - instead of being closed in an archetype, you level up classes are "mechanic enabler". What that means is that to make a paladin kind of dude, you put levels in either fighter or fencer (for attacking and evade options) and divine caster (spells). The rest is stacking in either or dabbing in literally anything else. The overall level of your chara is whatever highest level class you have at the time. That gives you general stats and enables feats. Very easy, very fun. Everything is useful.
Add to that a lot of special equipment and you can tackle a really neat collection or varied monsters.
The translation team did a STELLAR job
very good to know.
Might be my replacement for Pathfinder or D&D.
I wish I liked this game more, but I just don't. Too many of it's melee classes feel too similar. Casters are once again the only class worth playing, and there's not even a proper "rogue" type class...
It's still better than D&D 5e, don't get me wrong, but not good enough that I'm gonna drag my friends kicking and screaming to play it.
That's because "classes" the system uses are not classes in dnd sense. They enable you skills and act as modificators. To make a rogue type you need to put points into scout and/or ranger because they provide you with stealthy sneaky stuff and you top It off with fighter If you wanna use big damage weapons, fencer If you wanna deal big dick crit damage with light weapons or whatever else that lets deal damage. Hell, you can even go for feats that enable dual wielding If you wanna go classic.
There's a massive difference in utility and style of play between someone who goes Fighter3/Scout3/Sage2 and feats into cleave and block and someone that goes Fighter3/Scout3/Sage2 and feats into dual wield and better crit and It shows immediately during combat with varied mobs of enemies. Don't let the melee choice of Fighter/Fencer/Brawler fool you. These are merely foundation of your style, you spice up your character with other classes, equipment and feats, there's nothing forbidding you for mixing them up however you like because SW Classes are not set paths at all. Anyone can put a point or two into any magical class and they won't suffer for It. If you wanna make a highway bandit on magic motorcycle, you can. If you want to put your mace on fire, you can, easily. That's the whole point of the system. Saying that It feels too samey or even suggesting that the game suffers the martial/caster dichotomy problem means that you grossly misunderstood the system
It's alright. I've read over the source, it doesn't capture me much and my players would rather play a d&d, dungeon fantasy, or osr game/clone if they are playing fantasy.
I'd play in a game definitely. But like the time I ran ryuutama, I'm just not good at the JRPG energy. You need specific groups for that kind of thing, and I in particular, don't play with many weeby weebs.
I played tons of JRPGs, so I like the genre, but I found weird how most of the japanese TTRPGs are very "structured", like they have "scene flow" and stuff like that (in this story category you can do this, in this story category you can do that), interesting mechanics but doesn't seem very friendly to roleplay.
I guess because japanese people have little free time, so they need the system to be quick and direct to the point.
Still, I love the art and ideas, but when I play TTRPGs I like to value that freedom.
The whole structure thing is really a cultural aspect you quickly get used to... The TLDR really is their work culture makes open ended play very difficult, they favor one shots and rotating games with rotating GMs over campaign play, and outside of that, JTRPGs have a very different origin to western trpgs, as in DnD and war games weren't the origin, video games were.
But to be honest, sword world has very little of that. It is as close to a western rpg as you will get from a jtrpg I feel.
It never breaks a session into "phases" or something, it has plenty of things for campaign play and seems to encourage it even.
I don't see how any of this gets in the way of role playing anyways.
The pre-made scenarios are very linear, yes, but you can make your own, more open-ended scenarios. You can still speak in character, you can still go off the rails. That was always allowed.
If what you want is more sandbox style play, I don't see how Sword World would get in the way of that either.
>as in DnD and war games weren't the origin, video games were.
Where do you think FF1 was based on if not dnd?
Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and many of the other early JRPGs were inspired originally by Wizardry. The majority of JTRPGs were therefore inspired by video games inspired by a computer game inspired by D&D.
I recently started reading about this, but I have a worrying doubt: How do you dedice social interactions? I noticed that there¿s no real social skills, or am I wrong?
Yes, and no.
You don't have social skills in Sword World in the vein of "persuasion" and "seduction" or whatever. Instead, social interactions are handled through roleplay.
However, there are two skills that can facilitate social interactions: investigation (introduced in Core 2) and impression (introduced in 2.0's Age of Grimoire).
This isn't the same as you are used to, mind. Investigation yields answers, while impression gives you a leg up by making a good impression on the character.
If these skills don't do it for you and you cannot live in a world where you can't roll to seduce the barmaid instead of letting roleplay decide in your roleplaying game, then you are in luck. Sword Worlds skill system is insanely flexible. It is very easy to make skill checks that aren't described in the book, as they are simply class/adv. Level + ability score mod.
For example you could use artificer + intelligence to analyze a particular magitech device, or marksman + intelligence to determine from where an arrow has been fired.
Likewise, you could use Adventurer Level + Spirit for your "social skill" needs.
Honestly, I see this as a feature and not a bug.
It gives you as the GM the fiat to stomp player nonsense like "i rolled a crit on seducing the dragon" or shit like that you keep hearing in horror stories. Instead, if the player wants an npc to do something, they will need to make sound arguments.
But yeah, you can still roll if that floats your boat.
Sword World has quickly become a favorite of me and my group, we have been playing it since 2021, almost nonstop, on a weekly basis.
whenever we try a new game, we always end up coming back to Sword World eventually.
The class system was a hook for me, personally, as it is entirely build around multiclassing and with its now 21 classes, you have so many options and possibilities for playstyles you can make, it's kind of insane. And even if you have to characters with the same classes, they can still play entirely different based on what combat feats they pick.
It circumvents a lot of the shit I don't like about 5e and it's classes this way. Basically it feels like all the decisions you make for your character creation, where as in Sword World you get to make meaningful decisions all along the way. There is no cap on many class levels you can take either, as your adventure level (character level) is simply determined by your highest class level. So you can always splash in a few levels of a class for more utility.
The game is so balanced, you really need to try and make your character bad, because most things are entirely viable. Minmaxing is also harder in Sword World, which is also nice.
Combat is lethal, but not punishing. It's tactical and customizable, but not overly complicated. I recommend using advancedccombat, if tactical gameplay is something you desire in your rpgs.
The translation effort is nigh on flawless and new books get translated all the time.
The setting is rich and diverse, while giving GMs plenty of room to make their own thing.
SW2.5 is hands down one of the best RPGs I have ever played.
If you are going to play in person, its a decent game. It's kinda rules light with a strong jrpg flavor. Best used in its native setting of Raxia.
The downside is that its only supported on roll20, and Tabletop Sim.
The rulebook comes with a short but sweet adventure that you can run to see if your players enjoy the game.
There is a forgery module being worked on. I don't use forgery, so...
Other people have used other VTTs, I personally used Owlbear before.
Honestly, you can easily play it over discord without much need for a VTT, with the google docs character sheets and stuff the community have made.
Discord only works, but mostly for when using simplified combat.
Have you read any of the replays? If so, which one's your favourite?