Little Fears & Kleine Aengste: German and French edition

[Jason L Blair]

Just an update to let you all know that Little Fears will be available soon in both French and German.

The French edition by 7eme Cercle is at the printers now. You can check it out at www.7emecercle.com

The German edition by Feder und Schwert is scheduled for early 2003. You can check it out at www.feder-und-schwert.com

Samuel Araya (http://samael.epilogue.net) did two different covers for the games. Quite nice, I must say.

Both 7eme Cercle and F&S have been great to work with, and I can't wait to see what the final products look like.

[Adam]

Everything is scarier when it's in German. Kick ass, Jason!

[wyrdlyng]

Everything is scarier when it's in German.

I have to agree. The cover for the German edition looks freakin awesome.

[Mike Holmes]

We'll have to get the lowdown from the Mad German as to how well the translation to his language works.

Mike

[Ninchen]

I'll get myself a copy of the german edition ("Kleine Ängste") and will let you know.

[Ninchen]

'Kleine Ängste' had been released in Germany this weekend.
I just wanted to let you know. ;)

[Jason L Blair]

I can't wait for my copies! I'm very excited.

Ninchen, did you get a copy? Is it cool? I know they changed quite a few things (with permission) so how does it stand up to the original version?

[Comte]

Yes yes be sure to tell us as quick as possible what the diffrences are between the french/german editions.  I am omega curiouse.

[Minx]

I´ve read a bit into it but I was ... well, let´s say surprised (Ok, dissapointed describes it better) by the change in style that had happened. The story of the different kings was changed quite drastically. (Like "Sloth has suddenly a queen? The Defiler (?) is suddenly named PAN?!? What about the story of Glabrezu (?) and the Big bad guy? [It´s been a while since I´ve read LF.] )

I prefer the game as it is presented in the english edition.
M

[puck]

i think "feder und schwert" changed the descriptions of the kings because they were 'to american' for german players. childhood in germany is not the same as in the usa and the monsters of our children aren't the same like yours! (excuse my bad english - i never learned it at school)

"kleine ängste" isn't just a translation of "little fears" - it is the TRY to transfer a great game concept into a different culture. my own campaine takes place in an american suburb (it's not located exactly) and because of that i use the kings of the original book. my next oneshot adventure is a story about the dark corners of my hometown and then i'll take the german version...

in my opinion "feder und schwert" has done a good job with "kleine ängste"!

[Mike Holmes]

Interesting comments. Can you explain some of the differences for we American's? What are the differences in the fears of each culture that explain the changes? I'm fascinated by the concept.

My Alex turns three in a week. He's been complaining about dragons under his bed of late...

Mike

[Jason L Blair]

To add on to Puck's comments, what you said F&S did with Little Fears is exactly what I wanted them to do. LF should be bent and twisted to fit everyone's childhood and part of my communication with the Olivers (my contacts at F&S) was exactly that.

As Mike, I'd like to hear what some of the big differences are.

[Ninchen]

I received my copy today - so here I am again.

What should I say? Hell, it really rocks!

The artwork is really great!

The hardcover looks like one of the small books I hold in my hands when I had been at school.

You wanna know what F&S modified?
Not that much.

Closetland means nothing to us Europeans so named it the 'land under the bed', something adults recognize and children fear. Anyway, its a different label for the same thing.

The 'Olivers' changed the seven kings in parts:
The bogeyman wasn't changed - he just got another name 'The Black Man'. Baba Yaga kept her name and hadn't been modified as well.

The Pechmarie substituted as a queen of the putridness, because us Babyloni divinities were too far off.
The bad queen Malefiz is been added as a queen of the envy for the same reasons.
Titania remained and for anger is carrot number as a substitute in the field. Load but emergency leases it then still Pan for Wollust into the numbers of the kings created, since The Defiler appeared too designed to us.
The children from pain and wrong were completely replaced by the Teethfae and their brood.

[Mike Holmes]

Closets aren't scary to German children?

To be clear, the closet has no special meaning to American kids. It's just another place, like under the bed, where things might be lurking. I just can't see how this would be cultural (do you have fewer closets?).

It seems to me that they've simply replaced some of the kings with characters that are more Germanocentric. That is, outside of the boogeyman, which I do believe would be an American cultural thing, all the kings were not really specific to American culture or fears in any way. What I mean by this is that the German version sounds like it's more centered on the German culture, than the American version is on American.

I'd have thought that it would be important to keep the kings a bit more "international", as it were. That is, as sorta primal forces, one would expect them to plague children worldwide. I'm sure that the boogeyman does have other names in other countries. But the more ancient names seem to me to give a sense of universal-ness to those that have them.

OTOH, that's from a personal and biased perspective. Perhaps the German versions do seem global to the German reader.

BTW, had to smirk at the "Black Man" replacement. That would have gone over like a iron balloon here. I guess that's not "politically incorrect" in Germany?

BTW, is the French version also going to be different? Or will it match either the American or German versions?

Mike

[Ninchen]

BTW, had to smirk at the "Black Man" replacement. That would have gone over like a iron balloon here. I guess that's not "politically incorrect" in Germany?

Same over here!!!
I don't know for sure if the term "black man" comes from someone horrible standing in the dark or if its based on Europeans past where the white, longnosed people were the top of the evolution an... all the rest, were horrible freaks... I'm afraid its based on the second. And I wished F&S took another titel.
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