This is something I’ve been thinking about doing for a month or so now, and I decided it was time to finally get around to starting. “Role-Play This!” is meant to be a regular column where I discuss things in other media that I think could inspired interesting role-playing experiences, campaigns, or entire games. This is necessarily going to be about stuff that I like, which means an awful lot of it will be anime-related or otherwise Japanese, but by no means all.
Each installment of “Role-Play This!” will have three parts.
- What Is it?: This is a quick rundown of the thing in question, including the specific medium (or media), genre, and style it’s in, where one might find it, and most importantly, what it’s about.
- Why’s It Awesome?: This is where I let my fanboy drool show through, and explain why it is I think the thing in question is so awesome that I want to do something RPG-related with it.
- Gaming It: Finally, I’ll throw out some ideas for how exactly one might go about running a game based on it. I intend to concentrate on using or modifying existing systems, but I definitely won’t shy away from pontificating on what an original game might entail. Here more than anywhere else I’d appreciate any and all feedback.
I definitely can’t promise I’ll actually get around to trying out all of the ideas that result from this — getting my gaming group together once a week is a herculean task as-is — but I’m definitely going to try to follow through where I can, and post the results up here.
Below is a tentative list of things I want to cover here, though of course I’m open to suggestions. I will of course be concentrating on things that interest me, though I’ll specifically avoid things about which I’m already working on games (like sentai).
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (anime, etc.)
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (anime/light novels)
Metal Wolf Chaos (video game)
Futurama (animated sitcom)
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (anime)
Scott Pilgrim (comic)
The Dare Detectives! (comic)
jPod (novel/TV drama)
Empowered (comic)
Akihabara@DEEP (Japanese TV drama)
Shounen Fighting Manga (as a genre)
Oh! Edo Rocket (anime)
Bamboo Blade (anime)
Keroro Gunsou (anime)
.hack (anime/games)
Galaxy Fraulein Yuna (anime/games)
Super Mario Bros./Paper Mario (video games)
Dennou Coil (anime)
Q-ko-chan (manga)
Yaruki Zero Games 
I really look forward to this. It sounds like a great idea. Of course I think you should focus more on genres and such more than just one specific series, unless that series does something that’s different from anything else.
I look forward to ripping off your ideas….. I mean being inspired by your ideas. No I mean ripping you off.
Well, a lot of the series I’m interested in covering don’t lend themselves to coverage in terms of a genre. I’ll go that route occasionally, but for most of the genres I like and think are being neglected in RPGs, I’m already working on something (Tokyo Heroes, Raspberry Heaven, etc.).
As long as you (1) give credit where it’s due, and (2) tell us about how it goes, I’m all for it. :3
Shigofumi and Boogiepop would be my suggestions.
Great start with Higurashi!
Thanks! I’ll have to look into watching Shigofumi and Boogiepop. :3