Players in northern China ?

[MrSalt]

Hi,
Looking for players and/or MJ in northern China for forthcoming long winter nights. Tianjin / Beijing aera.

C'mon, give it a try...

MrSalt

[Jonathan Walton]

Damn, if you want to play indie games in China, surely we can work something out.  I'm in Nanjing on a Fulbright, but spent two years in Beijing previously and will be up there this coming Monday actually, for a high school reunion.  This one will be a short trip, but we should definitely work something out next time I come up.

Additionally, Rich Forest is in Hong Kong and Ben Lehman may be heading back our way come January or February (I'm promised to look around for a job for him).  Yea for Chinese-speaking indie gamers!  Now we just need to seduce Chris Lehrich to come back...

[Ben Lehman]

Hi,
Looking for players and/or MJ in northern China for forthcoming long winter nights. Tianjin / Beijing aera.

C'mon, give it a try...

MrSalt

BL>  My experience in Beijing was that it was very hard to find any gamers a'tall.  The closest contact I made was Rich in Hong Kong.  Of course, now Jon is in Nanjing, so he's a weekend trip away.

I have been told that there are Mandarin gaming groups in Beijing and Shanghai, but I haven't found them.  I know Rich knows Cantonese gamers in HK, who were the ones who told me about the gamers in the Mainland, so perhaps he can put you in touch with them, and they might know some people.

yrs--
--Ben

[MrSalt]

but we should definitely work something out next time I come up

I can't wait !
In fact, I'm french myself and was more inclined towards an English-speaking meeting. I have brought some french stuff along with me and am eager to try "life-size" indie games that you know.
For my part, I can provide 2 players or one DM and a player (my wife actually).

[Jonathan Walton]

Sweet!  We could even play French games!  Like Asmodee and 2dSansFaces and Multisim and SteamLogic stuff.  

I'm a former hardcore In Nomine fanboy, so if we could get some of the original In Nomine Satanis/Magna Veritas going, I would be in heaven (no pun intended).  And then there's always Agone and Mechanical Dream and whatever French stuff you have.  I'm also a big Engel fan from the German guys at Feder und Schwert.

[Andy Kitkowski]

Hey guys, sorry to butt in, but are there any Chinese-made Roleplaying Games made that you know of, mainstream (ha!) or indie?

-Andy

[MrSalt]

Errr... Nope.
It's not by lack of trying, I assure you.

[Ben Lehman]

Hey guys, sorry to butt in, but are there any Chinese-made Roleplaying Games made that you know of, mainstream (ha!) or indie?

BL>  There aren't, as far as I know.  I believe WotC translates their texts into Traditional Chinese for sale in Taiwan and Hong Kong, but gaming is not really done heavily on the mainland.  In general, the younger generation plays computer games, and the older generation plays Mah Jong, Chess, or Go.  On the whole, there isn't a lot of game playing a'tall.

yrs--
--Ben

[Rich Forest]

Andy,

I'm mostly just adding another, "Nope, no Chinese RPGs that I know of" to the list. Like Ben said, D&D 3.0 is available in Chinese (traditional) in Hong Kong. The translation and the books are produced in Taiwan but are also sold in the Hong Kong market, which consists of a single wargaming store in Mongkok that also carries a decent selection of mainstream RPGs. The most popular RPGs among Hong Kong trpgers seem to be D&D and Vampire. There's at least one hold-out expat game that is as often as not AD&D 2 Player's Option. Most of the universities have a boardgaming/trpg club. I haven't actually attended any of the (weekly) meetings at City U because of scheduling conflicts.

I've asked around and have been told that a few of the guys have homebrews of some sort. I don't know whether/how much they get played, and they're not printed/distributed beyond individual gaming groups or individual creators, to my knowledge.

There may be a Chinese RPG in Taiwan. If you're interested, you might want to contact Jiawen (Rachel), who keeps a page about Taiwan TRPGing. She's the person who linked me up to a web address for the Hong Kong TRPG boards, which is how I originally got into contact with some local gamers. If there are any Taiwanese RPGs, she would probably know about them.

Rich

[Tav_Behemoth]

I'm very interested in RPGs in Asia as well (following my trip to Korea) - nothing much more than that to contribute, since I live in New York, except that I'm eager to hear about & support whatever local communities exist and/or are created!

[Jonathan Walton]

If I die without writing at least one RPG in Chinese, I will be sorely disappointed with myself.

That's all.

[List]

It seems like the Chinese popular culture actually lends itself to RPGs a lot better than western cultures.  I have always been of the belief that the right RPG could easily become mainstream there-- the problem is that nobody could actually make money doing it, since copyright / writer respect doesn't happen.  However, a good samaritan could create an extremely popular game about the jiang hu culture.  (The guys who go around with with swords and robes and long hair fighting bandits and evil local governors and composing spontaneous poetry in ten steps.)

[MrSalt]

Not so sure.
Do you think there is an potential audience for such a game in China ?

[ren]

First of all ,I am a chinese ,so I think I can answer some questions
Actually,my friend told me that there are at least 200 roleplayers in beijing .Tianjing may be 50.Mostly they paly DND game.However,if you  want to play some games, you should speak chinese. If you want to find PCs, you colud go to http://www.cndkc.org/bbs_en/index.php?s=0051cbb4402a68a9f72abe7662b3c3e3&showforum=7but you should konw chinese...
WotC translates their texts into  simplified chinese  too about 2002.So  the history of TRPG in china is very short .Everything is just begin , not  like in west it has 30 years old.

[Ben Lehman]

First of all ,I am a chinese ,so I think I can answer some questions
Actually,my friend told me that there are at least 200 roleplayers in beijing .Tianjing may be 50.Mostly they paly DND game.However,if you  want to play some games, you should speak chinese. If you want to find PCs, you colud go to http://www.cndkc.org/bbs_en/index.php?s=0051cbb4402a68a9f72abe7662b3c3e3&showforum=7but you should konw chinese...
WotC translates their texts into  simplified chinese  too about 2002.So  the history of TRPG in china is very short .Everything is just begin , not  like in west it has 30 years old.

BL>  Hello, ren.  Welcome to the Forge!  I'm sure that people here would be fascinated to hear more about the Chinese TRPG scene, if you're willing to write about it.

I wish I had known about this last time I was in China.  Thanks very much for the link.

yrs--
--Ben

(Now I have to go get my dictionaries and spend the next few days reading that messageboard.)