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!

 

[imagineGod]

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

Yes, Terra Bansho Zero gets lots of play in my circles, though I am not the one running it.

 

[aramis erak]

I can see the right kind of engine being a treat for the Mononoke, Totoro or Porco Rosso settings. The more fanciful end of his work. I'm less sure about stuff like The Wind Rises or From Up on Poppy Hill. I suspect we'll see something from the fantasy end, the option for child characters, spirits of the land, that sort of thing. It will need to very different form D&D though, for sure.

It's a 5E D&D campaign setting. I don't see that as likely to be the right kind of engine.

 

[Fenris-77]

It's a 5E D&D campaign setting. I don't see that as likely to be the right kind of engine.

For the fantasy adventure stuff I can see it working fine, provided they get the right supports in place. Mononoke for example, seems doable. Naturally, it depends on the execution.

 

[aramis erak]

For the fantasy adventure stuff I can see it working fine, provided they get the right supports in place. Mononoke for example, seems doable. Naturally, it depends on the execution.

not having seen Mononoke... but having seen Kiki's Delivery Service, My Neighbor Totoro, and Ghibli's interpretation of Earthsea... none of those seem suitable to a C&L based design to me.

I find the same issue also for moderns - Class and Level doesn't cut it for me. 5E ain't bad, but it's Medieval Super Heroes Combat, and that's not a good fit for heartwarming dramas.

 

[Fenris-77]

I find the same issue also for moderns - Class and Level doesn't cut it for me. 5E ain't bad, but it's Medieval Super Heroes Combat, and that's not a good fit for heartwarming dramas.

Mononoke fits the 5E design space quite well. With the right attention paid to social interaction and some bespoke mechanics, the others could be made to work, but it would be a design task of a different magnitude.

 

[FEADIN]

Yes D&D rules can be used to in ne

 

[FEADIN]

Yes D&D is more about fighting monsters and saving the world from arrogant gods in a medfan world than about intrigue and romance.
Of course you can play that with a d20 but you 'll use only a small part of the rules and it will be more roleplaying, maybe too roleplaying.
Maybe I'm wrong, I never tested Modern to see the result, lack of time....

 

[imagineGod]

Yes D&D is more about fighting monsters and saving the world from arrogant gods in a medfan world than about intrigue and romance.
Of course you can play that with a d20 but you 'll use only a small part of the rules and it will be more roleplaying, maybe too roleplaying.
Maybe I'm wrong, I never tested Modern to see the result, lack of time....

d20 Modern is simply D&D with the serial numbers filed off, same play style. And if you bring along the "Urban Arcana" Campaign Setting, then that just becomes D&D in cosplay.

 

[Fenris-77]

d20 Modern is simply D&D with the serial numbers filed off, same play style. And if you bring along the "Urban Arcana" Campaign Setting, then that just becomes D&D in cosplay.

D&D out of cosplay maybe? Take off your cloak, your furs, your chainmail, and your huge metal sticks, and put on jeans and a t-shirt. Heavy leather duster and blasting rod optional.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I still want this setting!