Sometimes things can be seemingly obvious yet elude us for years. That is by far one of my biggest regrets when it comes to a link between two things I love very much, JRPGs and Fantasy novels.
Yes they both often feature a cast of great characters and the theme of adventure. All of which is enveloped in an amazing setting rich with lore and the hint that there is more than meets the eye. I’ve noticed over the years that many Jrpg fans are also fans of great fantasy series like The Lord Of The Rings, A Song Of Ice And Fire and Wheel Of Time. But are these just coincidental similarities? Or is there a deeper connection?
Dragons Everwhere
When we go to the root of the similarities we have to spend a little time on the origins of JRPGs. The first JRPGs actually were inspired by Dungeons and Dragons or D&D as its commonly called, Which is a tabletop Role-playing game.
Im a big fan of D&D although ive never played a real game of it. I didnt have a group to RP with in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn of the 90s. So the closest I came was the hours i poured into the Red Dragon Inn on AOL “//roll”ing dice trying to get a critical hit.
While playing D&D players can create there own characters, use them to fight and adventure through fantasy worlds guided by the Dungeon master or DM. These battles include all your favorite JRPG terms and artifacts such as turn based combat, HP and MP, spells and casting times along with all the familiar goblins and ogres we have come to know and love during our world saving campaigns.
We can immediately see the similarities there. all of this combined with the spirit of questing and adventuring only needs a kitten to save and god-like boss to battle and we have ourselves a full fledged JRPG.
What may or may not come as a surprise to many people is that D&D itself was inspired by fantasy adventure. D&D started out as a turn based medieval battle simulator known as Chainmail. It had good mechanics , solid gameplay and a dedicated fanbase that enjoyed the game.
It was played at many hobby shops in the home town of creator Ernest Gary Gygax at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and the war gaming club the Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association (LGTSA).
When David Arneson eventually read the added fantasy rules for Chainmail which included things like magic spells and magical enemies. He adapted them to his own game. A fantasy genre inspired world called Blackmor. Eventually the two collaborated to make what we now know as D&D.
Ulimate Wizardry
Given the Success of D&D, it should come as no surprise that electronic worlds with similar rule sets and Narration were made. We call these wonders of the modern world RPGs.
Even in its infancy the RPG was a compelling genre. Two games that became very popular early on were Wizardry, a game for the Apple II developed by Sir-tech and Ultima, Created by Richard Garret and developed by origin systems.
These Games were simply genius. They took the complex job of the DM and handed it off to the computer. This allowed a single player to experience the game world at their own pace and see representative visuals of the game world to help bring their imagination to new heights. Transporting them from a pen and paper stat recording experience to a leisurely journey in the world of fantasy. This new found ease of play and accessibility brought a lot of people into the RPGs sphere who might have been intimidated by Table top RPGs.
A Quest For Dragons
The popularity of D&D and Rpgs were not limited to the United States. The games found their way on to the shores of Japan and the wonderful genre of JRPG was born.
It was not the stroke of magic that you might think. It was a a genre built by many companies doing their best to bring the enjoyment of western RPGs to their home country but with their own personal touch.
One game that is credited with the birth and growth of the JRPG genre is dragon quest. The legendary creator of Dragon Quest Yuji Horii was a big fan of Wizardry at the time when he and another game designer of legend Kochi Nakamura began work on Dragon Quest.
Nakamura was also a big fan of the game Ultima so the pair had a clear vision of what the end product should be and its purpose. All of that combined with the artwork of Another legend Akira Toriyama, helped that vision come to life in a fun and relatable way.
Awakening A Sense Of Wonder
It’s safe to say that the origins of everything mentioned so far is the fantasy genre. It was a chain reaction of events but it all goes back to one source. But how does that affect us as fans of one or both?
My story of fantasy genre began with Conan the Barbarian, not the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie but the book series by Robert E. Howard. I was headed to Scotland to fight for a world championship and a friend of mine had been almost bugging me to read Conan.
My story of fantasy genre began with Conan the Barbarian, not the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie but the book series by Robert E. Howard. I was headed to Scotland to fight for a world championship and a friend of mine had been almost bugging me to read Conan.
He was certain I would love the series of books and lent one to me. I reluctantly brought it with me and started reading it on the plane ride there. Well he was absolutely right, by the 3rd or 4th page of ” The Tower of The Elephant” I was hooked and by the time I landed I loved the Genre. I had to get more of these. I won my first couple fights and had a few days until the third. I spent that time looking for a great collection of Conan books and found just that.
I read “Queen of black coast”on the plane ride home and wondered why I let myself miss out on a great story like this for so long. Also I won that world championship. It was a great trip.
As I began to expand my library of fantasy novels, I would see many familiar plot points from RPGs. Looking at these stories without also thinking about game mechanics and being able to focus just on the story telling, I began a to see the connections that should have sent me running into the magical realm of fantasy novels years ago.
All in the family
Beyond enjoying similar themes and settings there are some basic things that connect Jrpgs fans to Fantasy fans. First and foremost is a love of reading. Some fans may say that they are not big readers but will play a game for 40 hours who’s primary form of storytelling is writing and music. The scripts of many of these games will go over a hundred pages not including the time spent re-reading whole conversations to search for clues to complete quests.
The convenience of reading a 1000 page novel electronically is hard to deny. Even though I love the sound, texture and smell of turning real pages, I have to admit that by the third time I brought an extra bag on a flight just for books I quickly reached for an E-book reader to lighten my load.
When I started reading E-books, I got this oddly familiar sense. There was something about the scrolling electronic letters that made me feel at home. Then it hit me. This feels like a long dialogue box in JRPG. It seems that gamers have actually had this technology for decades.
Awakening a sense of adventure is at core of all this. Relating to characters who are seemingly insignificant that dream of being more than they are and everything they could be if given the opportunity is something that we as fans can understand.
I hope whether you’re a fan of Fantasy novels or Jrpgs that you can find your way into being a fan of both. There is so much out there to experience.
Are you a JRPG fan? a Fantasy fan or both? Did you see this c.connection before or is it something you’ll start to explore? let me know in the comments down below.
Thanks For Reading!!
Great article! I am also fascinated by the connection between fantasy novels and JRPGs. I used to think about how SNES games had so much reading too! And Gary Gygax was really into Conan the Barbarian and other fantasy novels leading up to D&D. Your trip to Scotland sounds amazing!
Really? Conan Specifically? I Feel like I’m in good company. Thanks so much for taking the time to read the it. Scotland was great, we even had a ceremony in Edinburgh Castle. Looking back, I really missed an opportunity for some great Link cosplay pictures.