I am surprised I am still excited for Daggerheart

[Ruin Explorer]

Typically, those two approaches to aesthetic and storytelling tend toward very different assumptions about power, how the world works, which tropes are "normal," etc.

I think you're confusing "shonen manga" (i.e. manga aimed at boys and young men) specifically with "manga" as a whole.

This is an equivalent error to confusing "thrillers aimed at aging men" (like Jack Reacher) with "novels" as a whole.

Manga isn't a genre. It's a medium. It literally means "comic or graphic novel". It's incredibly diverse. It's very far from just stories of teenage boys gaining super-powers or whatever.

 

[Faolyn]

I think you're confusing "shonen manga" (i.e. manga aimed at boys and young men) specifically with "manga" as a whole.

This is an equivalent error to confusing "thrillers aimed at aging men" (like Jack Reacher) with "novels" as a whole.

Manga isn't a genre. It's a medium. It literally means "comic or graphic novel". It's incredibly diverse. It's very far from just stories of teenage boys gaining super-powers or whatever.

Sometimes it's teenage girls getting superpowers!

I'm joking. You're 100% right. The manga most commonly (officially) translated into English is of the super-powered variety, but there's a tremendous variety out there.

 

[Argyle King]

I think you're confusing "shonen manga" (i.e. manga aimed at boys and young men) specifically with "manga" as a whole.

This is an equivalent error to confusing "thrillers aimed at aging men" (like Jack Reacher) with "novels" as a whole.

Manga isn't a genre. It's a medium. It literally means "comic or graphic novel". It's incredibly diverse. It's very far from just stories of teenage boys gaining super-powers or whatever.

I've heard that before. My own subjective perception is that it still tends toward certain things across the medium.

However, as you appear to be more familiar with said medium, do you feel that it would be a medium well suited to Daggerheart?

If a book were written based upon the mechanics and aesthetic of Daggerheart (similar to how Dragonlance was based upon AD&D,) what do you feel the book would be like?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

If a book were written based upon the mechanics and aesthetic of Daggerheart (similar to how Dragonlance was based upon AD&D,) what do you feel the book would be like?

I think I'd need to play Daggerheart with an actual group several times to give any kind of answer that wasn't kind of half-arsed, and that's unlikely to happen until it's out at the very least, and maybe not even this year (depending on when Draw Steel! comes out). I've looked through the playtest, and I can say this - it definitely doesn't superficially seem particularly similar to shonen manga by RPG standards. Please note that a lot of RPGs do resemble shonen or isekai manga/anime (or both - you can combine the two - Solo Levelling does for a popular modern example)! But I'm not seeing any particular similarities beyond those found in easily the majority of fantasy RPGs.

D&D, for example, actually resembles a lot of manga and anime (particularly shonen and isekai) in that D&D inspired the early computer RPG Wizardry which inspired most early JRPGs (and is still "big in Japan") which in turn lead to Japanese JRPGs which in turn helped lead to a particular kind of isekai manga/anime (i.e. either "trapped in a video game", or "the world works like a videogame, but only for me and perhaps a few rivals"), as well as to general fantasy anime/manga which tends to have far more D&D-ish tropes the Western fantasy does (c.f. Frieren for a recent example).

 

[Reynard]

I was looking over the license for 3rd party material for Candela Obscura (or rather its core system) and if the Daggerheart one is as generous I may do a planned project with DH instead of 5E or SWADE (the other two options I was considering).

 

[SnTamara]

I’m definitely still excited for Daggerheart too! I think it has a unique concept that could really deliver on the drama and surprises, especially with the potential for character-driven moments.

 

[nyvinter]

Manga isn't a genre. It's a medium. It literally means "comic or graphic novel". It's incredibly diverse. It's very far from just stories of teenage boys gaining super-powers or whatever.

And even if one stays within the shonen market, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and One Piece are very different from one another with very different ways of handling powers and they're also worlds apart from series like Haikyu or Bakuman. Trying to generalise is like going "I don't like how talking movies are set in space."

 

[Argyle King]

And even if one stays within the shonen market, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and One Piece are very different from one another with very different ways of handling powers and they're also worlds apart from series like Haikyu or Bakuman. Trying to generalise is like going "I don't like how talking movies are set in space."

Sure, but both would still likely be more similar to each other than a Spaghetti Western or a Broadway Play.

As the medium grew out of a particular culture with influences to that culture which differ from artforms and media born elsewhere.

Likewise, tapdance and pole dancing are two very different versions of the medium of dance, but I would still expect that they have more similarities to each other and tend toward more-similar tropes shared by performances done through both than either have in comparison to pottery.

 

[nyvinter]

Yeah but if the medium maps itself to Daggerheart? It's impossible to answer because the medium is comics and the genre variance within is vast — far bigger than in mainstream US comics. Could you do [specific comic] in Daggerheart can be answered with yes/no/perhaps.

Because as I said above: manga for boys has both One Piece which is a madcap pirate adventure with weird powers and Bakuman which is about two boys drawing manga and wanting to be published. You see the issue with your question?

 

[Argyle King]

Yeah but if the medium maps itself to Daggerheart? It's impossible to answer because the medium is comics and the genre variance within is vast — far bigger than in mainstream US comics. Could you do [specific comic] in Daggerheart can be answered with yes/no/perhaps.

Because as I said above: manga for boys has both One Piece which is a madcap pirate adventure with weird powers and Bakuman which is about two boys drawing manga and wanting to be published. You see the issue with your question?

I can see how someone could take issue with the question. I do not believe that there is an issue inherent in the question which prevents it from being answered.

@Ruin Explorer had a good answer by saying that it is too early to tell (and by earlier posts describing some of Daggerheart's approach and settings).