More on the Enterprise JTRPG (1983)

Sorry about fewer updates than usual this week; Real Life and Day Job calling.

I have been working on some Groknard stuff, though. Coming up is that closer look at STAGFF, and this week I started translating Tsukuda's Enterprise, the Japanese TRPG introduced previously. As I dig into it deeper, Enterprise is turning out to be quite interesting. It takes its position as the first real Japanese-language RPG very seriously, and spends a great deal of time (and precision) imparting the the basics and history of roleplaying games to its reader to an even greater degree than seen in TSR's Basic D&D. It makes no assumptions and often draws distinctions between the RPG and the simulation wargame (already quite popular in Japan at the time), and references western games such as D&D, Tunnels & Trolls, DragonQuest and Traveller. The rulebook is deceptively small. With virtually no illustrations, it manages to squeeze a great deal of RPG concepts and rules for the game into its 20 kana/kanji typeset pages.

I was mostly correct with my initial perceptions of the game: the mechanic is 2d10 roll under attribute for many task resolutions with some percentile rolls; characters have five basic attributes, with rules provided for PSY (Psionic) and a few other special abilities; Alignment is an an important trait for use with encounters with NPC characters; and there are no rules for starships or starship combat, with adventures mostly limited to landing party type missions.

I was mistaken on a few things. There are rules for race, skills and custom character creation. The rules are structured in such a way as to support a "basic" game that consists of using the pre-generated characters and their cards in the adventure included with the game. But the rulebook also stresses that the real fun continues when players create their own characters, and game masters create their own scenarios, and provides plenty of guidelines for doing so.

Oh, and those Alignments? Very cool: Logical Good, Logical Bad, Neutral, Emotional Good, Emotional Bad. Very Star Trek!

In terms of both its familiar SF setting setting and its execution, Enterprise seems to have been the perfect introduction to Japanese audiences for tabletop RPGs. But as I said previously, I'm not altogether certain it made much of an impact at all especially in comparison to the soon-to-come translated imports of Tunnels & Trolls and Traveller, later domestic TRPGs such as Roads to Lord and Sword World, and the very Japanese concept of published replays (example role-playing sessions in book form).

With that, here's the Table of Contents for the Enterprise Rule Book, to give you a better idea of what all the game covered:

PART I - GUIDE TO ROLE PLAYING (pages 1-4)

1. Role Play Game Guide
2. Start of Role Playing Games
3. "Role"
4. Role playing as a Game
5. Characters
6. Scenario(s)
7. How to Progress through a Game
8. Victory or Defeat in Game
9. Experience and Growth
10. Character Background
11. The Job of Game Mastering
12. Power of Game Mastering
13. Good Game Mastering
14. Ad-libbing for the Game Master
15. To the End

PART II - RULEBOOK (pages 5-20)

1. To Start
2. Contents of Game
3. Progress of game
4. Characters
4.1 Strength(physical strength)
4.2 Dexterity (deftness)
4.3 IQ
4.4 Charisma
4.5 Luck (fate)
4-1 Personality/makeup of Character
-1 Race
-2 Alignment
4-2 Trait and bonus of each numerical value
4-3 Equipment
5. Specialities (specific abilities)
5-1 Types
5-2 Mechanic Repair (repair ability)
5-3 Medical Talent
5-4 Science Talent
5-5 PSY Talent (ESP)
5-6 Limitations of PSY
6. Character Creation
7. Adventure
7-1 Movement
7-2 Movement and Time
7-3 Instant Actions and Time
7-4 Normal Actions and Time
7-5 Combat and Time
7-6 Master's option (time)
7-7 How to Resolve Type and Results of Actions
7-8 Limitations of Actions
7-9 Master's Options (Actions)
8. Encounters (Encounters and Combat)
8-1 Master's Characters
8-1 Alignment Check
8-1 Combat
8-1 Firefights (shooting)
8-1 Hand-to-Hand Combat
8-1 Master's Options
9. Equipment List
10. Alien List
11. Creating Scenarios
11-1 Maps
11-2 Numbered Squares
11-3 Enemies
11-4 Master's Characters
11-5 Missions
11-6 Conditions
11-7 About the Creation of Scenarios
11-8 Before Beginning the Game
12. Master's Reference