Studio Cerca Is An Anime-Themed RPG Company From Carbon 2185 Creator

Robert Marriner-Dodds and his sister, Cassandra Dodds, have formed a company called Studio Cerca to focus on a kid-friendly RPG D&D-powered campaign setting.

Robert Marriner-Dodds runs Dragon Turtle Games, the publisher of the cyberpunk Carbon 2185 RPG. This new company, says Cassandra, is:

...inspired directly by the work of Hayao Miyazaki. We used to watch his films together as teenagers and we’ve always incorporated their themes and settings into the D&D campaigns we played together. We are working on a D&D 5e campaign setting that has been in development for four years.

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, and co-founded the studio which made the films Castle in the Sky, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away. His films tend to feature strong female protagonists, and themes of nature, technology, art, and pacifism.

The campaign setting, whose name has not yet been announced, will be "beautifully illustrated that it looks like it came straight out of a Studio Ghibli artbook". Their website announces a Kickstarter update mailing list for a Kickstarter "coming soon'.

More info as and when it arrives!

 

[Jaeger]

Indeed. In case it's interest, the first KS they did was for a game called Tenra Bansho Zero.

I’m still a bit baffled that no one is doing a Sword World English translation.

I would really like to be able to dig into one of the only RPG’s that is able to beat out D&D at its own game (Even if only in Japan), and see how it does things.

Instead, we get stuff like Maid...

 

[Fanaelialae]

I’m still a bit baffled that no one is doing a Sword World English translation.

I would really like to be able to dig into one of the only RPG’s that is able to beat out D&D at its own game (Even if only in Japan), and see how it does things.

Instead, we get stuff like Maid...

First I've heard of that one I think, but who knows? Might be that there's interest, but the license holder doesn't want to, or simply wants too much money to make it feasible.

In the case of the team that did Tenra (and currently Shinobigami), they do great work but tend to overshoot deadlines. It's well worth the wait IMO, but I think over roughly the past 10 years they've translated 3 RPGs, so they aren't exactly cranking them out.

Personally, I'd love to see one of the Shin Megami Tensei TTRPGs translated, but I'd be surprised if there's enough interest over here to make it significantly profitable (although it might work through an alternate funding source like Kickstarter).

 

[Jaeger]

First I've heard of that one I think, but who knows? Might be that there's interest, but the license holder doesn't want to, or simply wants too much money to make it feasible.

In the case of the team that did Tenra (and currently Shinobigami), they do great work but tend to overshoot deadlines. It's well worth the wait IMO, but I think over roughly the past 10 years they've translated 3 RPGs, so they aren't exactly cranking them out.

Given the nature of the product that is being put out by Mr. Kitkowski: Maid, Tenra, Shinobigami.

I think it is highly likely he has Zero interest in a Fantasy RPG like Sword World no matter what language it is in.

Although looking into it...

We do get to see The Dark Eye from Germany, which still beats out D&D there, And Trudvang Chronicles which is Drakar och Demoner in Sweden

There are only 2 other countries that have Fantasy RPG's that beat out D&D in their native markets that I know of:

Sword World - Japan

Tormenta - Brazil (Evidently a d20 based system Tormenta20 — Livro Básico)

Evidently Warhammer Fantasy is also really big in Poland and beats D&D there, 2e translation I think. Who Knew...

 

[Fanaelialae]

Given the nature of the product that is being put out by Mr. Kitkowski: Maid, Tenra, Shinobigami.

I think it is highly likely he has Zero interest in a Fantasy RPG like Sword World no matter what language it is in.

Although looking into it...

We do get to see The Dark Eye from Germany, which still beats out D&D there, And Trudvang Chronicles which is Drakar och Demoner in Sweden

There are only 2 other countries that have Fantasy RPG's that beat out D&D in their native markets that I know of:

Sword World - Japan

Tormenta - Brazil (Evidently a d20 based system Tormenta20 — Livro Básico)

Evidently Warhammer Fantasy is also really big in Poland and beats D&D there, 2e translation I think. Who Knew...

I'm not aware of any involvement with Maid by Kitkowski. Could you be thinking of Ryuutama? That one was translated by him.

In fairness though, he's not the only one who's translating RPGs from Japan, so there's always a chance that someone will translate Sword World, assuming that the license holder is agreeable.