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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 6315375" data-attributes="member: 2067">I think  [MENTION=177]Umbran[/MENTION] 's onto at least a bit of it.The reason that TTRPGs are popular(ish) here in the Western world has a lot to do with the following<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"> Widespread literacy from a fairly effective educational system.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"> The existence of the paperback novel as a form of media.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"> A tradition of mythical heroes and legends, especially morality tales told about individuals, in very stark terms.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"> A re-invention of those myths via that media.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"> A tradition of "war games" that simulated historical battles. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"> A middle class that consumed novels and games regularly enough to support a market. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"> A cultural zeitgeist that embraced that re-invention in a big way via college campuses ("Frodo Lives!") and the counterculture movement, including some psychedelics (clearly influenced both the music and the media that referenced LotR back in the day). </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"> A "do-it-yourself" worldview that placed value on creatively adapting things that we're already familiar with (another example: Walt Disney). </li> </ol>Most countries in Asia probably have most of that list down pat. The X factor would be that cultural zeitgeist, but that might not be as important. The first steps, were I to try and sell TTRPGs to Asia would be this: What stories and legends are familiar to everyone that talk about big heroes and big monsters? What are the fantastic legends that kids grow up wanting to play as and that adults like to tell or mention? Are there feudal-era/imperial-era/pre-colonial-era tales that still resonate with folks?Then: what traditional games are out there that can be adapted or re-invented? What are the board games that everybody plays? What do old men do on park tables? Step 3 is to combine them. For instance, take the game of Go as your base, and adapt it to playing out some version of, I don't know, Musashi. I don't know what that would look like, but you'd be synthesizing the traits that made D&D popular over here. I don't know if those would even be the relevant mythos/game! The dash on top is the value of adding your own spin to it. This isn't THE game of Go, or THE tale of Musashi, its your particular unique take on both of them. It's a legend you created, a game you made. To take it out of the emphasis on the individual: it is something you did for your friends, for your fellow players, for your gaming group, a story you told with them for everyone's entertainment and enjoyment. No idea if that would work or not, might be a silly idea, but it gets at the elements that combined over here to get the game to take off, minus, well, the sixties, but if you know how to recreate that, you'd be better off as a leader than a game designer. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></blockquote>

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