Exclusive: D&D's Japanese Rival Creators Talk About Imminent English Launch

Sword World finally has a release date for its crowdfunding campaign

You might be surprised to know that, in Japan, Dungeons & Dragons' claim of being "the world's most famous RPG" has never even come close to being true. The game's history in the country is fascinating, and its lack of popularity is due to several factors, not least some less-than-optimal sales strategies from D&D's original publisher, TSR. However, perhaps the biggest reason is that D&D has a massive rival in the fantasy TTRPG space in Japan: Sword World RPG.

Created by Group SNE in 1989, Sword World RPG has been a mainstay in Japan for decades, but it has never received an official English translation, until now. Mugen Gaming, a company that specializes in translating and distributing Japanese games, has been hard at work on the first official English translation of Sword World RPG 2.5, the latest edition of the game. After a long wait, it was finally announced this week that a Backerkit campaign will launch on Oct. 20.

Fans will be very excited to learn that the project's art director is Shunsuke Nakashige, a prolific anime director whose credits include Solo Leveling: ReAwakening. Hitoshi Yoneda, one of the lead artists for the Record of Lodoss War series, will draw cover art for the collector's edition of the book.

Polygon had the opportunity to interview Hitoshi Yasuda, Group SNE's president, about the legacy of Sword World RPG and the imminent, historic first launch of the game in English.

RPG replays were a precursor to modern actual play shows

Sword World RPG began with a group of friends playing D&D in the 1980s. They had the idea of recording their sessions and sharing them among other fans. As they grew in popularity, these "RPG replays" appeared in Comptiq, a computer games magazine owned by media juggernaut Kadokawa, under the name D&D Magazine Live: Record of Lodoss War Replay. Soon after, TSR forbade the practice, citing violations of their intellectual property, so Group SNE decided to create their own game instead — and with it, the Lodoss War franchise, which spans light novels, manga, anime, and video games, and is based on the RPG campaign the group was playing.

Many years later, a phenomenon similar to RPG replays arrived in the West in a different form: actual play shows. These live shows (like Critical Role) made D&D more popular than ever, but the members of Group SNE were among the first to understand that RPG adventures and campaigns are meant to be shared beyond the table. It's a big legacy to carry.

"Before we started creating RPG replays, there was already a strong tradition of shared imaginative RPG worlds in science fiction and fantasy—grand adventures in richly realized settings, such as Dune and The Lord of the Rings," Yasuda said. "Many of Group SNE’s creators were very familiar with that tradition. What attracted us was the combination of game and story, along with the uniquely RPG-like experience of sharing a world together."

But despite that big RPG and fantasy tradition, D&D is surprisingly unpopular in Japan. The success of Sword World RPG is often mentioned as a reason for that.

"I think there were two main factors," Yasuda said. "One was the failure of TSR’s overly rigid sales strategy, which attempted to impose the established rules and business practices of the American tabletop industry directly onto the Japanese market. The other was Sword World’s strong appeal, particularly among younger players: it was affordable and easy to pick up, it was story-driven, its artwork felt more natural to Japanese audiences, and it helped create a new style of fantasy that blended Western and Japanese elements."

Sword World's first English edition could make it a rival for D&D worldwide

Despite Sword World RPG's popularity in Japan, Western fans had to be content for decades with fan translations. Now, things are about to change. For fantasy RPG players who are only familiar with the likes of D&D and Pathfinder, however, grasping what makes Sword World RPG different could be difficult. But Yasuda has a clear idea of what his game has that the others lack.

"At first glance, it feels approachable because it blends Western fantasy with a Japanese manga-and-anime-inspired visual style," Yasuda said. "Mechanically, its multi-class system gives players a lot of flexibility, while still supporting strong party cooperation and a wide variety of character options. It also lends itself to diversity not just in combat, but in the kinds of stories and plot developments you can create."

The blend of Japanese and Western fantasy is one of the game's most fascinating aspects. Moreover, the work of Group SNE throughout the decades can be seen as an interesting bridge between West and East. Right from the start, they took many Western fantasy influences and adapted them into Lodoss War and Sword World RPG. In turn, these products influenced many Japanese RPGs that became popular in the West, like Chrono Trigger. Moving to the present day, RPGs and fantasy fiction made in the West are taking inspiration from Japanese popular culture, keeping alive a process of cultural osmosis in which Group SNE played a major part.

"I think our work was part of a larger historical movement," Yasuda said. "As science and technology advanced, the world became increasingly globalized, and local cultural identities also became more refined in how they were expressed. In Japan’s case, the country was once often associated with familiar images like Mt. Fuji, geisha, samurai, or ninja. But over time, those images have evolved into something more sophisticated — figures who feel mysterious, exceptional, and almost superhuman, like Shohei Ohtani in baseball. I believe our work, and the kind of influence it had, belonged to that same broader cultural development.

Now, Japan's most popular fantasy RPG faces a new challenge. Having carefully built this franchise over almost 40 years of passion and work, Yasuda and the rest of Group SNE must have high expectations for this global expansion.

"There are many things that originally came from the United States but were later uniquely reinterpreted and refined in the East — cars, home electronics, anime, and even baseball are good examples," Yasuda said. "I hope people will come to know Sword World in the same way: as something that took an idea with Western roots and developed it into a new and distinctive form of its own."

The Sword World RPG Backerkit campaign will begin on Oct. 20. All followers who back the campaign will receive a quickstart PDF and a deluxe hard enamel pin.