#log horizon trpg

[loghorizonfunfacts]

Log Horizon Fun Fact #279:

The Log Horizon TRPG website was coded by Yamamoto Yamane, a long-time Log Horizon fan and the author of the side story novel Kushiyatama, Do Your Best! (The novel started out as fan fiction before being picked up for official serialization)

May 3 was not only Catastrophe Day, but also the 10th anniversary of the TRPG website. Yamane tweeted about it, remarking that he's reminded about the rushed job he did (and the sloppy code that resulted) every time he looks at it.

[lerumdidum]

[rpggeeknation]

A really cool video. This is part 1.

[kannasora]

「セルデシア・ガゼット」イラストカット集

ログホラTRPGをもっと楽しむためのWEBマガジン「セルデシア・ガゼット（http://lhrpg.com/lhz/download）」に載せて頂いたモノクロイラストカットたちです。 

数が多いので大きめ画像はpixivに載せました。 https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=64482548

[zrgt-record]

[七面体工房]さんのログ・ホライズンTRPGシナリオブック表紙イラスト +キャラクター＆エネミーポーン各種

[canvaswolfdoll]

CanvasWatches: KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!

You know what was a surprisingly nice discovery? Crunchyroll has the english dub of the first… season? Cour? First ten episodes of KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World! (also known and henceforth referred to as KonoSuba) with the english dub. How magnanimous of the Dub-unfriendly service.

Konosuba was a pleasant follow-up to Kill la Kill (the review of which I’d been struggling with as I write this essay, so we’ll see if anything from that materializes). The network of Youtube Anime Reviewers had decided this was real good and funny and is worth the time. And, hey, I did have that free month courtesy of Twitch Prime, I might as well![1]

I thought it was fine! But the massive hype might’ve dragged it down. Comedy’s difficult. A lot relies on the unexpected, so if you prime viewers with “It’s really funny,” you raise critical expectations, which can undercut the weaker material.

Or maybe I’m too much of a comedic writer to get the full effect. Learned to read set-ups and such.

But I can recommend it if you have access and are interested. You won’t be disappointed.

Possibly another hurdle to my enjoyment is I went in intending to mine ideas for my own works. Spoofing RPGs and such is something I’ve long been wanting to set my skills towards, and it’s not always clear the best way to interpret mechanics.

Anyways, Konosuba has decided to parody the increasingly popular isekai[3] genre.

First ingredient: an average loser everyman for the viewer to project on. Filling the role is Kazuma Sato.[5] He goes out to buy a video game, decides to save a girl’s life from a perceived threat, and dies.

So, he needs to be reincarnated. As part of the typical Isekai set-up, he’s allowed to ask for whatever he needs to make himself massively overpowered.

So he takes Aqua, the sassy goddess offering him the choice.

This is the point where the typical formula breaks down. Kazuma has no notable advantages, and Aqua isn’t actually competent. Thus, we spend the 10 episodes stuck in the starting town of the pseudo-video game world.

So, when you throw someone into a video game or (less commonly) TRPG world, there’s the question of how to depict the actual GUI and game mechanics.

There’s the Sword Art Online and Log Horizon method, where the mechanics and their relationship with the world is unchanged, including the “players” being able to pull up a system menu to do… system menu things.

On the other end, we have Overlord, where the menu and other visuals vanish, and the tasks they accomplished must either be intuited by those translated into the world, or become part of their innate knowledge.

KonoSuba has everyone talk about the mechanics and such freely (in a tutorial NPC sort of way), but the menu has been replaced by an Adventurers ID, which shows stats and allows the adventurers to swipe and learn skills. Functional and easy for the viewer to accept.[6]

From this starting point, we have Aqua as the healer, and Kazuma as… an unclear role. He learns a Steal skill early, but he then starts learning magic, so he’s a bit of a Jack-of-all-Trades. The show’s not shy about the Master of None side of that, because the only decent stat our protagonist has is Luck, which counts just enough for him not to die and get the crucial things to fall in his lap.

Such crucial things include a Mage (who refuses to cast any spell except an excessive explosion spell) named Megumin, and a Tank-Fighter (who is… rather excited to take damage) named Darkness. Not the ideal companions, but functional.

But that also means we don’t have a straight Rouge, so I’m required to be salty about that.

Kazuma attempts to build a sustainable and fulfilling life, but the quests available are either above his capabilities or menial labor. Because life is more funny whenever things don’t go well for the hero.

The first three episodes are dedicated to establishing the setting and the characters, and aren’t actually that funny. Yes, there are things I can identify as attempts at comedy, but they’re modest attempts that don’t really build to a satisfying laugh. Kazuma’s attempt at straight-manning the shenanigans of his allies is restricted to complaining and feeling put upon, which flattens the funny moment by drawing attention to how wacky it’s meant to be.

Episode four, however, finally introduces a desperately needed element: a victim. In the form of a Dullahan who is up to his nonexistent neck with annoyance at Megumin casting a daily explosion spell on his castle.

His attempts at intimidation fall flat due to the apathy of our main party, and then Darkness steps in with her masochism, which bewilders him. He casts a death curse on Darkness, to her delight, and rides off to await Megumin to fight him in his castle.

Aqua then casually removes the curse, and our party forgets about the encounter.

A character desperately trying to do his job in spite of the ideocentricies of the main cast is much funnier than a character that just complains.

Comedy works better when it builds off what is established in narrative than over-relying on meta-knowledge and lampshade hanging. Those things have their place, but they work better as augmenting jokes or to speed up delivery, not as whole jokes themselves.

The next episode does a better job in that respect by introducing another guy with the same deal as Kazuma, except he’s a more traditional Isekai protagonist, and thus kind of a loser NEET. He also chose a massively overpowered sword instead of Aqua, and is doing better because of it.

Kazuma easily outwits him, steals the sword, and fences it. This sets a stronger character base for Kazuma: a genre savvy jerk willing to exploit the world around him for a quick buck. It turns him from a put-upon everyman into a jerk able to cause the same sort of chaos as the rest of his party.

Unfortunately, such moments are few and far between, as the rest of the season has Kazuma back to being a useless whiner. We do get closure with the Dullahan, which showcases Kazuma is actually pretty good at analytical thinking and tactics, but lacks the personal capabilities to actually fight.

The show then introduces an important character (a lich named Wiz) in a manner that clearly cut segments from the source material that, if shown in full, probably would’ve strengthened the rest of the story.

Instead, that time is used for an episode where Kazuma patronizes a succubus business that offers customized dreams. We watch an extended Q&A segment that raises uneasy implications about Kazuma’s predilections, then an uncomfortable encounter between him and Darkness which I don’t know how to fairly judge, since Kazuma is forcing Darkness into foreplay and intends to go further, but he thinks it’s a dream while Darkness doesn’t know that and thinks he’s being forceful, but she also could very easily overpower him and the show’s established…

Look, episode 9 should’ve been cut and I don’t wish to dwell on it any further.[7]

Anyways, the fall-out of that adventure is suddenly ignored as Howl’s Moving Castle (Dark Edition) lurches towards the town. Deary dear.

It belongs to the Dark Lord, though the exact nature of it and it’s controller is rather ambiguous. But it’s scary, powerful, and has immense defense. What will the town do?

Fortunately, Kazuma’s surprisingly powerful party and his tactical scheming allows them to stop it. However, in true villain lair fashion, the moving fortress starts a self destruct sequence. So now that needs to be addressed.

While searching the place to figure out how to deactivate it, Kazuma finds the corpse of the builder/driver with his diary.

Turns out, the guy was hired to build it, but thought the requirements were excessive and he didn’t really want to do the job. So he told his employers he needed a rare relic to power it, thinking it’d never get supplied.

The relic gets supplied.

So he builds the fortress, turns it on, and immediately loses control. The fortress goes on an unstoppable rampage as the builder is stuck inside. Oops. So he just kind of kept bluffing his way along.

Which tells us something crucial about this world: it runs on a narrativium fueled by malicious luck. Kazuma’s form of luck is not unique, wherein he is only fortunate enough for the next inconvenience to come along. He gets a rent-free manor not because he particularly deserves it, but because fate demands he be able to survive the winter. His companions are just competent enough to excuse their quirks. Even a second isekai protagonist finds success for only long enough to become a punchline.

It is a universe with a cruel sense of humor, and the greatest success goes to those who stumble uphill while trying to avoid detection.

It’s a world that rewards not the Aragorns, but the Rincewinds. So that’s fun.

This is best exemplified when Kazuma’s rousing success in saving the town results in him being arrested for at least property damage if not regicide.[8] And that is where the first 10 episodes end.

Now to wait for the season 2 and OVA dubs…

It’s a fine anime, but I think it’s been oversold. The premise is strong, the characters are fun, but the storytelling felt more like an attempt to hit the Greatest Hits beats. It might be worth the effort to read the Light Novel, as I suspect that might be the superior version in this case.[9]

Still, there are strong ideas, and a few things I’d aim to emulate. Especially the distinct leads. I do struggle with making a cast of diverse personalities.

If you enjoyed reading this review, please consider paying me. I have a patreon, a Ko-fi, and a burning desire to branch out into other projects but require investment to make it worth it.

We can’t all reincarnate into a fantasy world. Some of us need support to create them for ourselves.

Kataal kataal.

---

[1] My brother, meanwhile, has been binging Deltora Quest for… some reason… I know the books were pretty good for elementary school Canvas, while the succeeding series made less of an impression.[2] [2] Which is to say, bother Vulpin if you think it deserves a review. [3] Isekai (Japanese: 異世界, transl. "different world") is a subgenre of Japanese fantasy light novels, manga, anime, and video games revolving around a normal person from Earth being transported to, reborn, or trapped in a parallel universe. (Wikipedia)[4] [4] Yes, I actually used a footnote to cite a source and provide further information. Don’t get used to it. [5] I desperately want to make a Yakuza joke, but I got nothing. [6] The solution I devised for Penn & Pauper puts the Stats read-out on smartphones, with everything else being as it is in the normal world. IE, you have to manually equip weapons and armor and such. [7] Not just because my Mom is my only patreon patron. [8] They don’t specify if anyone was in the manor that got exploded. [9] Not that the Light Novels I’ve read thus far have been particularly strong. The writing of Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Spice & Wolf felt very stiff on the other end of the translation process. Log Horizon, meanwhile, has meandering Light Novels with a poor sense of rhythm for page breaks.[10] [10] Also, the Mighty Santa Clara Library System refused to accept my Spice & Wolf books, so now I don’t know what to do with them.

[azebraslife]

To be a bit snarky about my last reblog, considering Log Horizon bounced back after Mamare’s tax evasion scandal of three years ago, he’s living proof that “The world isn’t so cruel as to give up on you after one mistake” is true. (Granted, it did take three years of near-silence, and the series managed to stay afloat on two manga series and the TRPG.)

And while I’m glad Mamare and the series have made a grand return, this definitely reminds me of some of the talk that went on when the scandal first made news. People brought up the fact that there have been other authors who have had scandals of their own, like pedophilia charges, but then went right back into the business with what amounted to a slap on the wrist. That it’s so easy for popular creators to bounce back in spite of their actions is a tad concerning.

At the same time, I guess I’m one of those people who continue supporting their favorite authors through thick and thin. Mamare’s writing resonates with me too well for me to give up hope in him.

[akaluan]

everyones-beau replied to your post: Whoops. Now i have a different issue. YT decided I...

oh god yesssss i love this premise

Yes this seems to be the general agreement XD

Apparently when I decide on doing a crossover, I go full crack with my choices.

Nier: Automata, Log Horizon, Legend of Dragoon, Fireborn tRPG, and Breath of Fire? How is ANY of this something that crossed my brain as viable?

(Also, apparently I like crossing MCU with dragon-related things, and Bleach with random craziness)

[cllya]

Ohohohohohoho

I found my Log Horizon OC from back in the day and decided to redraw it. Never got to the TRPG but aye. She is on a little OP side since all of the would-be-players were so busy and stressed that we decided to skip along and make it more social than combat and plot. Since TRPG never happened, it just became an OCfest and whatifs and few RPs.

It was heavily based on my Aion character during the time:

Klowyn (Clown was taken) | Assassin / Wanderer | male -> alt potion -> female | 2X yrs old | 182 cm -> 140 cm -> 176 cm Pure PvP build which then becomes more balanced after apocalypse for a good reason. Still prefers PvP over PvE and sometimes will PK in lv. 80+ areas. (As lv.90 areas are either empty or a huge guild)

Have been playing solo for around 6 years.

Have attempted solo raid before pattern became smarter with update. Succeeded once at cost of countless potions and items spent. (Why I even attempted this is still unknown to me it took over 8 hours and nevermore) I managed to roll a phantasmal class weapon. I spent all my luck here me thinks. It’s a sword breaker with percent change of breaking weapon and bleeding. The other weapon is a player made bastard sword. Then there is a store bought long bow and short bow and cross bow cause you never know.

Belongs to a guild, however it is a solo guild. Meaning one person guild just for the sake of using guild advantages.

Will smile and laugh at just about everything. Has a habit of using “Darling” “Sweetie-boo” and baby talk. Relies heavily on game character personality to get through apocalypse and therefore has difficulty having normal conversations. Would rather pretend that s/he is still dreaming rather than it having it be real.

The OC talk was that later she becomes a villain with few others as villains were always defeated by heroes. The ultimate defeat would then lead them back to Earth and their daily life. It wasn’t supposed to be so dark but it got so dark because everyone is working and stress is just asdfkjnfjkngjdafg

[sriracha-popcorn]

원고하다 잠깐 쉴 겸 낙서... 숲속에서 막 마법을 남발하는 법사를 보고 숲에 불이라도 나면 어쩌나 걱정이 깊은 호미족 아저씨 드루이드(...)

[zrgt-note]

セルデシア・ガゼットvol.14

ログ・ホライズンTRPG冒険窓口　[http://lhrpg.com/lhz/top]　から月に一度配信されている「セルデシア・ガゼット」[http://lhrpg.com/lhz/download]、 …毎号イラストカットを描かせていただいているこちらで、遂に表紙を描かせていただきました～！わーい！

[表紙イラストはgalleryで公開します]

さらに、今回特集としてたくさんイラストを描いております！ ログホラTRPGを遊ぶときにつかえるコマ。 サイトでも以前公開し、配布していましたが→http://zrgt.net/offline/lhz_trpg/ このたびさらにモンスターのコマも追加して、収録していただきました！

コボルドやトリフィドも居るので、印刷して使えるエンカウントシートと合わせれば、ルールブックに収録されている「コボルドの潜む森」シナリオの戦闘がまるっと遊べちゃいます！やった！

今回アイコン形式もあるので、どどんとふさんなど、オンラインでのセッションにも使えますよ～。

みなさんの冒険気分をさらに盛り上げられるといいなあ。そうなるとうれしいです。

[loghorizonfunfacts]

Some (rare) messages in my Log Horizon server sent me on a Log Horizon retrospective.

As I was looking through my Hara Kazuhiro tag, I realized that he posted a draft of what later became Volume 12's cover art in December 2016 (eventually shown in final form in Hara's artbook, published early 2021). By comparison, the web novel was (publicly) completed in 2017 and the LN was supposed to be published in 2018.

This means they were working on Vol. 12 around the same time they were preparing Volume 11 for publication (which happened around May 2016, around the same time Mamare started posting Vol. 12's web novel). That said, Vol. 11 didn't get published until 2018; Vol. 12 was also supposed to release in 2018 but got pushed back 3 times before finally getting removed from listings altogether.

Around the end of December, Hara posted some Log Horizon-related tweets, which got me excited... Only to find out he'd been posting because of the LHTRPG site going under maintenance, which was announced on the Coppelia twitter account (which reps the TRPG website). After a while, his last tweet on the subject was on the lines of "For inquiries about the Log Horizon novels, please contact Kadokawa." Not exactly the most promising phrase to read.

[lerumdidum]

유명한투리구슬

[loggedonhorizon]

Right now the thing I really just wanna figure out is how scores in LHTRPG work. Like Physical Defense, is that pretty much Armor Class, minus the fortitude, will, reflex, etc? Is that also the same for Magical Defense? I’m not really familiar with DnD so I don’t really know those rules either, something like roll your attack vs their ac and if its equal or greater you do dmg, something like that.  TL;DR - Does Physical/Magical Defense work the same as Armor Class in D&D? Also if anyone is familiar with the LHTRPG character sheet, what the hell is Damage compared to Attack Power? Cause I thought those were the same thing. 

[kannasora]

魔法の街の白蛇伝説

[七面体工房]さんのログ・ホライズンTRPGシナリオブックのための表紙イラスト。今回のシナリオはヒロインなNPCがにょろにょろ言うので、ヒロインっぽく！「ライズライト！」でも遊ぶことができるので、雰囲気を変え過ぎず守護戦士をメインに。この守護戦士くん、いかにも主人公ぽいよなあ。

[zrgt-record]

[七面体工房]さん　「ラズライト！」

表紙、ブックレット内イラストカット