Roleplaying outside the U.S.

[ssampier]

We need a Canadian RPG. Beer & Bodychecks?

I like beer and hockey (spectator only). If you print it, I'll play it!


(although it does sound more like a board or table game)

 

[Thunderfoot]

We need a Canadian RPG. Beer & Bodychecks?

Only if I get to visit and play the LARP...

 

[Thunderfoot]

This is a really fascinating thread. I can't really contribute much, unfortunately, since I don't think RPGs have ever been marketed successfully, if at all, in India. Nowadays there's a fairly thriving market in computer RPGs, but I've never seen even a single tabletop or wargaming book in all the time I was there (born and lived there till I left in 1998 at 24) or during my annual visits.

Pity, since with the importance of mythology in the culture, the rapidly expanding economy, and the importance of English as a lingua franca in the nation, it could be a very good market if handled right. If 0.0001% of the population could be sold a gaming book, that's over 1 million sales

Of course with the depressed econimic state (compared to the larger Western society, mind you) the actual product sales probably would be low, or become another 'rich people's' game. Also, the licensing would never convert to anything the average person would be able to afford, even without the trouble of having to translate. (Have some very good friends that work in India and the comparable econ-transfer rate is quite shocking, no wonder all of our best doctors here are from India...)

But I agree, the Indo-mythology is so deep and so varied that it would be hard not to have a decent game. And of course the curry snackage at the table would be worth it too.

 

[haakon1]

We need a Canadian RPG. Beer & Bodychecks?

I played a Mountie once in Boot Hill . . . I even read the Osprey Miniatures book about the RCMP to discover things like it was the NWMP back then, and promptly ignored the real history for the "truthiness" history. After all, a big red coat, a rifle, and a .455 Webley FEELS right, even if it's not.

 

[haakon1]

Compare Australia to the Anglophone world, especially the U.S.; the whole of Australia would make up only the third most populous American state, behind California and Texas

I thought you were dissing the Empire State, so I had to look it up. You're right. Australia has had some population growth since I was in school (when I remember it being about 15 m) and now has slightly over 20 m people. New York State, by 2005 estimates, has 19.3 m. D'oh! We're more like a dominion than an empire now. :\

 

[Derren]

In germany D&D is only a very minor RPG. The biggest RPGs here are DSA (Das Schwarze Auge. The Computer Games are calles "Realms of Arcandia outside germany I think), Shadowrun and at least in my area Vampire (bothe PnP and LARP)
After that comes D&D and I think Midgard.
When it first appeard there was quite a lot of interest for Engel, but I don't know how that developed.

 

[shilsen]

Of course with the depressed econimic state (compared to the larger Western society, mind you) the actual product sales probably would be low, or become another 'rich people's' game. Also, the licensing would never convert to anything the average person would be able to afford, even without the trouble of having to translate. (Have some very good friends that work in India and the comparable econ-transfer rate is quite shocking, no wonder all of our best doctors here are from India...)

True. It would definitely be a niche thing, but if even a very tiny minority of the population could be sold on the prospect, it's potentially a very large market. As I mentioned earlier, computer RPGs are doing very well there, and they're pretty costly too when one starts translating to rupees.

But I agree, the Indo-mythology is so deep and so varied that it would be hard not to have a decent game. And of course the curry snackage at the table would be worth it too.

D&D and chicken tikka - now there's a combination to die for!

 

[Doug McCrae]

Based purely on my own experience, D&D, White Wolf, Star Wars, WFRP, Call of Cthulhu and L5R are the most popular systems in the UK.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

In the eyes of the general public, perhaps, due to the wealth of publicity which LARP has received during the last ten years or so and which still leads the average man on the street to think about teenagers dressed up as elves scampering in the woods whenever the topic comes up. Gamers themselves know better than that, though.

I got my information from a Finnish friend of mine, so I admit it's not first-hand - and she wasn't a gamer before she came to Australia.

All the gamers she knew, though, were LARPers.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

I thought you were dissing the Empire State, so I had to look it up. You're right. Australia has had some population growth since I was in school (when I remember it being about 15 m) and now has slightly over 20 m people. New York State, by 2005 estimates, has 19.3 m. D'oh! We're more like a dominion than an empire now. :\

Yeah, I was looking it up on Wikipedia's listed census figures. I assumed New York would have been more populous, but I guess Land Is King after all.

It's funny, though. New South Wales is our third-smallest state, and it's bigger than Texas (smaller than Alaska, though), but it only has 6.8 million people.