Shunsuke Nakashige, the anime director behind mega-hit series Sword Art Online and Solo Leveling, has joined the team at Mugen Gaming as the art director for the first official English language edition of Sword World RPG. Nakashige has made his name directing high action battle anime with deep RPG systems, and it’s exciting to see him turn his hand to the tabletop game that inspired them – Sword World is the most influential tabletop roleplaying game in Japanese history.
“As we take this to a new stage, I hope we can create visuals that are fresh and exciting,” Nakashige says in a press release, adding “It is important to me that the visuals delight both newcomers and those familiar with the past”.
Ai Namima-Davison, co-founder of Mugen Gaming, says “We are incredibly honored to have Shunsuke onboard for the Sword World RPG localization”, adding “The art for Sword World RPG is central to what we are creating, and we can’t think of anyone better suited to help bring this world to life”. The header image of this article, a teaser sketch by Nakashige, is the first original artwork shown off for the upcoming localized edition.
In terms of sheer impact, Sword World RPG is a more important game in Japan than Dungeons and Dragons. Even though D&D got to Japan first, it was the homegrown Sword World RPG that popularized tabletop RPGs and Western fantasy for Japanese gamers. To learn how Sword World RPG surpassed D&D in Japan, check out this short article.
The Backerkit campaign for the English edition of Sword World RPG is currently in a preview state, and there are early-access goodies if you’re willing to pay $5 and reserve your pledge. The campaign will open in May this year. The schedule for delivering pledge rewards, and the price for a rulebook, remains to be announced.
Are you an anime enjoyer? There’s a small but friendly contingent of weebs in the Wargamer Discord community (myself included) who will be happy to swap recommendations with you. If you’ve ever played Sword World – either the Japanese original or a fan translation – we’d love to speak with you. For a round up of the best articles on Wargamer each week, make sure you’re signed up to our weekly newsletter.