I’ve looked over the large manga section at B&N several times, but not seen anything I wanted to get involved with. A couple of weeks ago, I saw a video about Sword World. (Actually, this isn't the video I'd watched. I can't find it. There's stuff about Sword Word at the end of this.) It’s the Japanese version of D&D. It’s sort of an explanation why there’s so much D&D-inspired manga and anime, but D&D isn’t popular in Japan. Lodoss is one of those inspired series. I happened to see this book and that it was a new storyline, so I thought it was a purchasable coincidence. A very long time ago, I think I rented a Lodoss video, so I think I’ve seen it. That’s my only relation to it.
I guess I should speak a little about Sword World, though the current version doesn’t really have much to do with this manga. There a website featuring a huge amount of game materials translated into English. I downloaded and looked over a bunch of it. In short, this probably isn’t the RPG system you’re looking for. I found the latest version slightly incomprehensible. It only uses d6’s, but don’t mistake that for a lack of complexity. It’s like D&D, but you’re like, “What’s with all the rest of this stuff?” I might compare it to D&D 5e, but with charts and flowcharts. The Starter Rules Set is maybe a little more understandable.
What are its unique points? You can play as a Tabbit. That’s a humanoid rabbit. No, they’re like cute little rabbit halflings, not giant green rabbits, like Jaxxon from the Star Wars comic books, you freak. You can be a Lycant (not pronounced like it looks) and be a wolf person. You can also play as Runefolk, which are sort like Blade Runner Replicants and Eberron Constructs. There are guns and I think they’re considered magic weapons doing magical damage. And this is just the basic rules. There’s two huge supplements with it.
There is a default setting of Raxia. It’s pretty well detailed. I don’t think there’s any encouragement for doing your own setting. There are also whole campaigns and adventures available, though they’re not quite what you’re used to. These are a set of instructions on how to run the adventures with little regard for deviation, or even interaction, apart from rolling reactions on a table. It’s much more methodical than what most gamers would call a “railroad.” (There’s a literal magical railroad connecting areas of the continent, again like Eberron.) Some of these campaigns were structured to where they give rules on how to run them as solo adventures.
I also got a previous version of the rules, though probably not the original set of rules. This was much more 3e inspired with multiclassing. Halflings, called, “Grassrunners” (for some reason), were a core character class. (They’re in a supplement in the current version.) This version is tied to Lodoss. The island is on the setting’s world map as “Island of the Damned.” It isn’t the main adventuring area. There’s a much larger continent to the north. I skimmed a bunch of Sword World material; I’m not a scholar on it. The current version might also be part of the setting, but I can’t find a continental map of Raxia in the books. (I might just be missing it.)
Overall, I’d put Sword World on the level of interesting inspirational material, but not a replacement game system over whatever you’re using now. In the setting, all of the characters (for the most part) are members of an Adventurers Guild that accept missions for money and there’s plenty of opportunities on Raxia. If you like the setting, it could be used with your favorite game system fairly easily, since most of it is borrowed from D&D. (Just stat out Tabbits as halflings with fur and extra cuteness.)
Okay, back to the manga. The iconic Deedlit appears on the cover, which is an immediate attractor to anyone with even a passing familiarity of the Japanese take on European fantasy. And it brings up the question: How do you sleep with those ears?
This volume is mostly all setup for the series. Lodoss has been at peace, but now one of the kingdoms, Flaim, is getting ready to invade the other kingdoms. The small island of Marmo has lost their king. The eldest prince has refused the crown. His three younger brothers have a conference to decide what to do.
It’s complex and pretty well thought out. By the end, Zayd is in the Flaim military and is off to war. Lyle finds Deedlit and convinces her to join him on a quest to restore peace.
This was labelled as a special Barnes & Noble edition. I don’t know what was special about it over than a little color section at the beginning. There was also an afterward from the creator, who is a big fan of the original.
So, what do I think? The artwork is okay, but nothing spectacular. The characters are interesting and the cast isn’t overwhelming in size to this point. The story is interesting and detailed, though not terribly original. Like I said, this book just sets the table. There’s some minor action, but this is mostly exposition.
It’s enough to kind of make me want to read more, maybe not enthusiastically. If I knew how many volumes this was going to be I could make a more informed decision. This is one reason why I’ve been reluctant to get back into manga. Reading a long form serialized tale that likely has an ending point (granted, that might be after a hundred volumes) is attractive, but it makes you reluctant to just try a random book. I’ll mentally debate getting more. (Two more volumes are available now.) If you’re a Lodoss fan already, you might want in on this. If not, but you like Japanese fantasy, you might want to give it a try.
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