Roleplaying in S.E Asia

[lior_shapira]

Two things on my mind...

Just returned from a 4 month trip in south east Asia (Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand) and first of all I wanted to thank ENWorld and the excellent forums for supplying me with lots of interesting stuff to read during that time when I was far away from my regular group and my beloved RPG collection You know sometimes you got to escape the heat, sit in front of a screen and just geek out

The other thing is that during my travels I really kept my eye open for roleplaying in the countries I've been in. I did searches on the net, browsed the shopping malls and modern bookstores wherever I could find them. And yet I didn't see a single D20 book the whole time. I can understand that about Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam which are pretty poor countries, but Thailand is rather well off. I did see some Warhammer activity in Bangkok, even a tournament but that was it.

Anyone had a different experience or knows something I missed?

 

[shilsen]

I haven't been in the countries you mention, but have lived in India from 1974 to 1998 and have never seen anything D&D-related, or for that matter tabletop roleplaying-related, there. AFAIK, S.E.Asia is an essentially untapped market where tabletop roleplaying is concerned.

 

[NewJeffCTHome]

I haven't been in the countries you mention, but have lived in India from 1974 to 1998 and have never seen anything D&D-related, or for that matter tabletop roleplaying-related, there. AFAIK, S.E.Asia is an essentially untapped market where tabletop roleplaying is concerned.

I would suspect that in big markets like India, China, etc, you'd probably have to develop something that is culturally appealing to them first - something that takes Chinese, Indian or Vietnamese, Laotian, etc fables and tales from the Middle Ages and adapt them for D&D/d20. While I'm sure a Western mythos might have appeal to some there due to the influence of Hollywood, I would think it would involve extensive research into what would appeal to the geeks & nerds of those countries! (and, I mean geeks & nerds in the good sense, like me)


Is D&D/RPGs big in Japan?

 

[questing gm]

What is role-playing ??

Greetings,
well i'm a Malaysian (which is a south east asian country) and i humbly admit that the role-playing market is almost as good as dead or completely unheard of. I got my D&D influence from an aussie that came over and D&D material has been EXTREMELY hard to find.
fortunately, i had good contacts with my FLGS that closed down due to the poor response they got from the market and have been getting my supplies from them through mail orders. The only conception of RPG i believe that people over here are familiar with is the ones from consoles like the PS2...
However, i was relieved to find my local bookstore had ONE copy of the Lord of the Rings RPG core-rulebook...
on the other hand, MtG has a great response since it arrived here but many of the players aren't exposed to D&D at all...it can be mainly be due to the fact that retailers of MtG aren't from WoTC and they don't carry anything else from WoTC
table-top gaming also isn't very common around here, i guess its mostly the expensive miniatures like warhammer, which is the only table top game that ever arrived here...
if someone is reading this and is thinkin of tapping the S.E asian market for roleplaying and other hobbies....please save us~!~!~!~!~!~!

 

[FireLance]

There is a small population of gamers who support a small but still thriving RPG market in Singapore. There are a handful of stores that keep us supplied with books and minis. But yes, you won't find much RPG activity in the rest of South East Asia.