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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Marandahir" data-source="post: 8817004" data-attributes="member: 6803643">To be fair to Lodoss: These are the Japanese editions of the Rules Cyclopedia, and Lodoss was ALREADY A THING in Japan by the time these were released.It's far more likely that these character designs were created to cash in on the designs from Lodoss, not the other way around.The first Lodoss campaign was played in 1987; it was released as a replay book and then as a light novel series starting in 1988 WITH THIS ART STYLE included for the art pages. The first anime OVA debuted in 1990. Rules Cyclopedia wouldn't be published in America until 1991. By that point, Mizuno Ryo-san and his players had already long-since switched from BECMI D&D to their own home-brew system released as Sword World RPG, published in 1989, which ALSO used this art-style. TSR was trying to cash in on the success of Lodoss by imitating it. They were actively competing with Lodoss and its sister series when these books were created. There's no wonder the Cleric on the cover looks identical to Etoh, and the Elf to Deedlit, etc.</blockquote>