Goblin Slayer: Controversial anime to get a tabletop RPG

[Hakdov]

Goblin Slayer: Controversial anime to get a tabletop RPG

The game engine needs 2d6, which are called Fate dice, and recommends 4 to 5 players, including the GM.

www.geeknative.com

I really hope they give us a box set like the original has.

 

[Tantavalist]

This is one of those licensed games that has me wondering exactly what the point of the license is. I'm actually a fan of the anime itself, and still- why?

Goblin Slayer is a world that's pretty much explicitly a game of Old-School D&D. This being the case, is there anything that happens in the show that just playing your own favourite brand of Race/Class/Level-character generic pseudo-Tolkein fantasy game wouldn't simulate? And if you want to play those kind of adventures with different mechanics, there's also Dungeon World. (I'd say OSR retroclones of D&D because 5e and Pathfinder are too hard to get a level one TPK in.)

Maybe I'm wrong, and the authors of the game have come up with something completely ground-breaking and original that redefines the genre. But decades of fantasy heartbreakers suggest to me that this won't be the case and so I'll hold off unless reviews tell me there's something special about it.

There's only one thing in Goblin Slayer that existing D&D OSR Retroclones don't cover, and that doesn't need rules. Just the right (or more accurately the wrong) sort of DM.

 

[MGibster]

Goblin Slayer is a world that's pretty much explicitly a game of Old-School D&D. This being the case, is there anything that happens in the show that just playing your own favourite brand of Race/Class/Level-character generic pseudo-Tolkein fantasy game wouldn't simulate?

Brand recognition is pretty powerful. I've never seen an episode of Goblin Slayer but I know what it is at least. And I imagine their name alone will allow the game to standout among similar products.

Edit: Wow. And now that I've read a little about Goblin Slayer I wouldn't touch that game with my trust 10 foot wooden pole.

 

[Hakdov]

This is one of those licensed games that has me wondering exactly what the point of the license is. I'm actually a fan of the anime itself, and still- why?

This isn't your average licensed game. This is a translation of the already existing Japanese GS ttrpg. It's apparently based on a popular Japanese rpg called Sword World. Here's what the Japanese version looks like-

 

[Tantavalist]

Sword World is a game I've heard about quite a bit- pretty much any time the idea of TTRPGs in Japan comes up. The last I heard it had never had an English translation.

If the GS license is essentially a Sword World game with a different setting and illustrations then there'd be a reason to buy it beyond the anime itself. Quite a few people (myself included) have wondered about SW over the decades since that seems to have the dominance in Japan that D&D has in the English-speaking world. Pretty much every pseudo-D&D anime is apparently inspired by it.

 

[Alzrius]

An official release of the Sword World rules is definitely something to celebrate. Plus, the Goblin Slayer anime is pretty hardcore. I wonder how much XP you get for killing baby goblins?

 

[Malmuria]

I think a problem within the OSR is that when people talk about their "grimdark" settings, some people mean "the sun is dying and the sorcerer king rules the land" and other people mean...stuff like this.

Goblin Slayer Backlash Explained: Why It's The Most Controversial Anime This Season

Goblin Slayer divided anime fans with just one episode.

screenrant.com

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I think a problem within the OSR is that when people talk about their "grimdark" settings, some people mean "the sun is dying and the sorcerer king rules the land" and other people mean...stuff like this.

Goblin Slayer Backlash Explained: Why It's The Most Controversial Anime This Season

Goblin Slayer divided anime fans with just one episode.

screenrant.com

Ugh. I’m okay with saying that this just bad content, regardless of how well produced it is.

Childish attempts at “adult” themes to horrify the viewer into sympathizing with a brutally edgedark protagonist is the sort of thing that merit derision, and not much else.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

From what little I know I won't pass judgement on the show or its source materials, as I'm willing to accept that it may have all manner of redeeming qualities, etc.

But as a TTRPG? You'd better only play this one with your friends and after an exhaustive session zero, because when a game's core lore centers around a whole species of rapists and an unwavering genocide against them good luck finding a whole table of non-creepy strangers who know what they are getting into, actually want to play it, and will all consistently not make things weird or uncomfortable. It seems certain to generate an outsized number of RPG horror stories.

 

[Tantavalist]

As I've said, the main reason to buy this game for me would be a chance to finally see the Sword World rules. I've been curious about those since I first heard about them in a magazine article in the 90s.

The setting, questionable elements aside, is nothing special. Any novice GM could do the same with little effort. A large part of the Goblin Slayer setting is that it's supposed to be a generic D&D-fantasy setting, with everything that implies. The dark, shocking and controversial elements are meant to contrast with that light-hearted sense of escapism in a jarring way.

But again- there's nothing in there that any D&D-inspired system couldn't do just as easily. So the rules really would be the only reason to buy this IMO.