I was involved in a forum thread on Japanese RPGs recently, and this naturally lead me to look up the Japanese wikipedia page for RPGs, or "TRPGs" as they are called over there. (This, oddly, is not an abbreviation of Table Top RPG, but of Table Talk RPG. As is often the case with loan words from English to Japanese, it turns out that it's not so much a loan word as word that has been borrowed in an inappropriate or unnatural fashion, at least to native English speakers' eyes.)
Anyway, the most interesting section on the page is "TRPG中における飲食", or "Food and drink in TRPGs". Here's a rough translation:
In TRPGs, food and drink, focusing around snacks, have a special significance. Having food and drink while playing the game with friends lets you enjoy the flavours while livening up the conversation, and is another element of the fun involved. In Mishio Fukuzawa's "New Fortune Quest Replay" [whatever that is], snacks and drinks are listed in the book as "necessary items". Other TRPG books don't go so far as to say they are necessary, but many recommend them.
In replay books [basically a sort of novelization of a game session - yes, really] there is not usually a commentary, so there is also no commentary on snacks, but in the Sword World replay "[Title Untranslatable Because I Can't Be Arsed, it's Something Like 'Rhapsody of the Marauders']", there is some out-of-character commentary by the players regarding snacks, such as "I'm going out to get some juice", or "I want some ramen".
TRPGs are played with a number of people, and take a few hours, so food and drink is also used to alleviate the hard work. It is desirable for all participants, including the GM, to prepare and manage the food. If this is not observed, the other participants will likely judge the offender unfavourably and be unsatisfied. It is usual for all the individual participants to to bring stuff, because expecting one person to bear the burden of providing food and drink is rather onerous.
It is important to watch out during play that food and drink do not become a hindrance, especially when using a board or maps and so on. For instance, drink might be spilled and ruin a character sheet. It can also get on ones hands and make them smell. When the game approaches a meal time, it is usual to have a break for a while and then start again afterwards.
During online sessions there is no chance the other players will take your snacks, so you can enjoy them in comfort. However, you also can't take other players' snacks either.
Those Japanese, eh?
I have to agree that food at table does help the group to be more comfortable, happy, and must be kept from being a hindrance. Usually we keep a sideboard sort of area for liquids or make sure everyone is sealed up, along with using laptops or easily-moved props to prevent the inevitable hazards of rolling dice near delicious comestibles.
ReplyDeleteSlainte,
-Loonook.
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ReplyDeleteAs a big fan and collector of TRPGs I will try to clarify a few things (I am by no means a noted authority of any kind though, so take my comments with a grain of salt...or pinch of wasabi if it helps).
ReplyDelete"New Fortune Quest Replay": Fortune Quest was a D&D like Fantasy RPG which, when updated a few years later, was then called New Fortune Quest.
"Replay": Is indeed a novelization of a gaming session but it can also be done in manga (Japanese comics) form. I have a number of Replay Manga and some of it is just sooo fun. I actually have a 4-5 page Traveller Replay which appeared in a Japanese RPG magazine.
Another reason why the food is such a big deal is that unlike in the US, having someone, even a close friend, come over to your home is a big deal. Preparing food or having ample snacks and drinks is a sign of a good host. A good guest brings some snacks, drinks or food as well to share with the group but especially as a thank you to the host/person whose house or apartment you are visiting. Japanese rules of etiquette are observed among gamers so that the person living at the game locale will want to invite the players back and the players will feel comfortable coming back to such a pleasant experience.
The rules of etiquette are more frequently observed in Japan, sure, but those are the rules of etiquette everywhere, aren't they? I can't imagine inviting somebody to my house and not giving them snacks and drinks, and likewise I can't imagine going to somebody's house and not being offered them. And most people bring stuff as a courtesy.
DeletePeople make too much of East-West cultural differences, in my experience. The real cultural difference in the wikipedia article, and the one that I was trying to get at, is that it, for example, warns people of the dangers of getting food and drink on one's hands. That wouldn't happen in an English-language one. That's what's interesting.
I went to a TRPG convention once and was surprised by 3 things:
ReplyDelete1) There was a table for food
2) 60% of players were girls
3) All tables were playing the same module, Gundam RPG's 'Shar's Revenge' and competing to see who could 'solve' it first.
Although it is tempting for westerners to (racistly and patronizingly) roll their eyes and say 'Oh those Japanese!', everyone was having fun and one culture's way of playing RPGs is just as valid as any others. In fact, with the preponderance of girl players and much better food than the junk eaten at western gaming sessions I know, I was quite envious of the TRPG style. Add the fact that each table was concentrating on their adventure and not trying to listen in on other tables showed their honest dedication to the game, and I think westerners could learn a few things from TRPGers, just as they have learned from us initially.
The "Oh those Japanese" comment wasn't to do with TRPGs or how they are played, it was to do with how there's a section in the wikipedia article explaining something so rudimentary as "You have to watch out not to spill a drink on your character sheet". It's a very Japanese thing to include.
DeleteI have heard that, about everybody playing the same module at once. That seems strange at first but is actually quite natural, knowing Japanese societal mores.
DeleteOn point #3, it sounds like it was a "____-only Convention" (日本語ではそのままだ：「なになに・オンリー・コンベンション」). Basically instead of a generalized convention with many tables with various different games (the norm), a usually smaller convention that focuses on only one single game (usually with some sort of theme). In this case, it sounds like all tables were focused on likely a series of adventures to give every player a similar over-arching experience. Sounds pretty cool.
DeleteI talked about that "blank-only con" thing over on Yellow Menace not too long ago. My very first ever Japanese RPG experience was at an -Only Con (for Tokyo Nova):
http://yellow-menace.com/2012/04/yellow-menace-gamecast-episode-12-andy-kitkowski-on-japanese-rpgs/
Andy K, this might sound like a strange question, but were you interviewed for the Godzilla Gaming Podcast a few years back?
DeleteNot strange at all: That was me. Mike Montesa and Cam Eeles are friends from way back in the day, JIGG ca 1999 or so. It's almost a shame Mike left for CA to get back to the world, it was a great podcast and they're great guys to play and hang out with!
Delete-Andy
Yeah, I'd go so far as to say that it's the only gaming podcast I've been able to really focus on and listen to, and the only one I have managed to stick to beyond a few episodes. Shame it was so short-lived. Any idea what the two of them are up to these days? I know Mike was once a regular rpg.net poster; not sure if that's the case anymore?
DeleteI'm FB friends with Cam, though I haven't talked to him seriously in about a year. Mike is in San Francisco, he works at VIZ as a manga production... guy. Not so much translation as the business handlings involved with the localization of manga. He's a tantou for about a dozen titles. This is actually the job that Jason Thompson had before he left Viz. He doesn't post so much on RPGNet any more, a lot of us have drifted more over to skimming RPGNet and posting (if at all) on Story Games or Google Plus.
DeleteYeah, that migration to Google Plus has been happening a lot amongst the OSR crowd too.
DeleteIt's good to know Mike has put his years in Japan to good use. I knew he spoke pretty good Japanese.
Heck I'm envious of the diversity of their subject matter and their art. While many have very few illustrations, the ones they do have are almost always excellent.
ReplyDeleteThen there's the art in the Japanese edition of Traveller and some of their editions and supplements for Shadowrun, Battletech, Call of Chthulu and more. Sometimes I can't believe we let our books go out with the illustrations we do when theirs go out looking so awesome. And wrap around, high quality book jackets on softcovers! When have we seen that?
For me it's, "Those Japanese, eh? Why do they do our stuff cooler than we do?"
Interestingly, both of my game groups in Japan were made up of fellow gaijin, but we always ended up having snacks in the same manner as the Japanese gamers. Everyone would bring something, we'd share, and often the women (there were quite a few) would make something a bit better than a bag of chips or a few onigiri from the Lawson (or take out McDonalds, we did that a lot, too).
ReplyDeleteIsn't that pretty standard good manners in any culture, though?
DeleteNot with some gamers I've known. I agree, it's good manners in any culture. But I've been in a few gaming groups in the States where snacks were on a BYO basis. And not shared, for sure. These were groups not formed of people who were actual friends, they were people who just got together to game. I think that makes a difference for some Americans (not defending it, I don't think it's the right thing to do, just pointing out that I've seen it). For Japanese, it doesn't matter, you should provide some snacks/drinks to be polite no matter who you game with.
DeleteAh, the mysterious East ... wait, we follow exactly the same rules and observations about food in our group. I think the exotic culture here is "geeks" who need all this tacit knowledge spelled out for them.
ReplyDeleteAnd "Table Talk RPG" is one of those felicitous malapropisms like "old-timer's disease."
Yes, that was what amused me about it, and that's the real cultural difference: the fact that it's in a wikipedia article. I was reading it with a smile on my face thinking, "People need to be told this?"
DeleteFascinating to hear about Japanese RPGers and the experiences of people who have lived there! Thanks for the post noisms, and for others sharing your experiences :)
ReplyDelete(I travelled in Japan for 6 months, so have a love of the country, but I never approached being able to speak the language well enough to play a Japanese RPG.)
It's fun to see the protocols and etiquette so explicitly exposed. I think Replays are also another example of this. After all, they are just guides in how TRPGs should be played.
ReplyDeleteI love TRPGs, and I can't stop reminding myself how stupid I was for not continuing with my japanese lessons when I still had time. I can read japanese, but takes so much effort that I can't properly enjoy the process. I envy your japanese skills, noisms.
In all, a very interesting read, and look into the Japanese role-play culture.
ReplyDeleteOn the topic of snacks, I will definitely agree, that from my point of view, the bringing and sharing or snacks is (or should be) a universal object of etiquette. Our group always makes sure to have a good bunch of drink and snack on hand for every session, and if someone cannot contribute, there is no worry as they later make better on it.
One thing that strikes me amused however, is that last part about ensuring food or drink doesn't get on one's hands. There was always a common joke about chip/grease stains, sauce dots and what on character sheets, as being what actually "gave" the character sheet its "personality." Though amusing as it is, I assure the reader that I don't actively partake in this experience. After all, the last thing I want is a mess on my hex maps. Haha!
Also, bizarre coincidence. I'm translating this game, and this week doing the final editing pass where I'm doing a little rewriting for clarity, but mostly giving the (at this point huge) book the final runthrough.
ReplyDeleteLast night was indeed the very section of the rules (a lengthy section) that talks about the appropriate social rules about selecting a play space, bringing snacks and drinks, sitting at the table, cleaning up, and what to eat/drink afterwards! It indeed does seem strange to codify them as rules and all (and kind of tickles me to do so), but at the same time it's something I've never really seen in games before, so for the novelty (and who knows, maybe some random yabbo will be like, "Crap! I've been freeloading off my friends! I really need to start bringing my share!") I'm keeping it all in. (^.^)
-Andy
There is something "Japanese" about including rules of politeness in a game. It reminds me of going to the cinema in Japan, where you're not only reminded to turn off your mobile phone but also not to talk, to chew your popcorn quietly, to not make a mess, and so on, before the film starts.
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