Sword World to Get Official English Translation

Sword World, an incredibly popular TTRPG in Japan, is getting its first official English translation courtesy of Mugen Gaming. The publisher announced a partnership with Group SNE to produce an official English translation, with a Kickstarter coming in 2026 to produce the Sword World 2.5 Deluxe Rulebook, with additional product to follow.

Mugen Gaming also has a free 60-page one-shot RPG, complete with basic rules, for those who sign up on their English language website.

Sword World is a fantasy RPG with origins tied to D&D. Group SNE started as a gaming group that played Dungeons & Dragons and recorded the events of their game as Record of Lodoss War. After TSR rejected Group SNE's overtures to make an official Record of Lodoss World campaign setting, the group created their own rules system which eventually became Sword World.

The system uses a 2D6 system, where a 12 is an auto-success and a 2 is an automatic failure (but also automatically earns XP). The game is on the crunchier side, with skill checks adding multiple modifiers to determine success and damage rolls coming from a table based on power level and the roll of a 2D6 instead of rolling damage dice.

 

[UnplayedRanger]

I got it, it’s very nice. Uses a lot of the same language as the fan translation, but layout is cleaner imo. The color coding really helps.

As a Solo adventure rules tutorial, then a full adventure for up to 4 characters using included pre-gens.

Doesn’t have character creation or anything too deep into the system.

 

[dbolack]

Apparently it's going out in waves.

There's also a discord set up by the publisher, Mugen Gaming.

FWIW, it's caught up enough that I got mine about instantly.

 

[overgeeked]

FWIW, it's caught up enough that I got mine about instantly.

People on the other Sword World discord were saying simply signing up again was enough to get the email instantly.

 

[DarkCrisis]

Been slowly going over the released starter. I like it so far. Seems pretty easy to run in what very little I've seen.

I wonder how the full system compares to 5E (and other D&D editions?) in complexity. Anyone know?

 

[overgeeked]

Been slowly going over the released starter. I like it so far. Seems pretty easy to run in what very little I've seen.

I wonder how the full system compares to 5E (and other D&D editions?) in complexity. Anyone know?

It's more complex in places, less complex in others. The starter gives a good overview.

There are Let's Read threads here and over on RPG.net that really digs into the system.

It's a skill-based system. It uses mana points for magic instead of slots. It provides three different types of combat, from the old JRPG stand and thwack on up to standard maps and minis. There's more math and numbers than in 5E but there's far more customization with "multi-classing" in SW than 5E.