How big is it in other countries, like Japan or Germany? I know Germany gets its sourcebooks out first; what about Japan? I mean, there was a Sega CD game for Shadowrun that was probably much more Shadowrunny than any other Shadowrun video game, but that was only released in Japan.

Does the Japanese version of the sourcebooks downplay the Japanese corporate evil, and is there a Japanese version of the sourcebooks at all?

Germany does not get its books out first, distribution is just more centralized than in the US and it takes less time between the book leaving the publisher's warehouse and reaching local stores. All but one book the FanPro D releases every year is a translation of the English original.

That being said, SR is very big in Germany, ranking third most played from what I've heard (following FanPro's Dark Eye and WW's Vampire). There is a relatively big fan community in France which has led to Black Box picking up the defunct license from the previous SR licensee (Jeux Descartes) and get on the bandwagon with SR4, and a smaller but rabid one in the UK. There are a lot of players in Western and Eastern Europe though distribution and availability were issues until the pdfs started coming out.

The new japanese license is exactly that, "new".

There was much-talked -about mangaized adaptation of Shadowrun (with some significant setting changes - like no xenophobic antimeta Japanese, no big bad Japanese Imperial State and definitely no Yomi) during the early 90s by the previous license holder. Only the core book and a couple of releases came out, all significantly "adapted" to suit the percieved Japanese audience. The line was canceled early on. However, a hardcore fanbase in Japan who set up the JIS project (iirc) online in an attempt to create an official setting that integrated SR canon. The new license will entail translation rather than adaptation, and possibly some Japanese specific releases (such as are also in the plans for France).

Germany gets the first SR4 sourcebook out (München Noir, about Munich, Bavaria) but that's hardly the norm . And we get a beefed up Hamburg section in Runner Havens.

The biggest RPG in germany is Fanpro's Dark Eye (which is quite fantastic ).
I don't know about Vampire, I actually don't know anyone (personally) who admits to ever have played that.
Shadowrun might very well be the 3rd played RPG. D&D and relatives never took that much ground, except as computer games.

We like to game. Richard Garfield said so (you know, the magic guy. He envied us ).

I have no idea how big or if it even exists it is in japan. Just not soemthing I can easily bring up with my grandfather.

Not only Germany, L'Oeuil Noir came in France too through Schmidt, in almost all the game stores ( and not the specialized RPG game ones..... in places like Toy'R'Us ).
It was somewere in mid 80, a little bit after D&D ( Basic Set ) had been translated, and IIRC it was quite a hit.

I know what you mean, nezumi, but please don't even joke about that.

I wonder if I should try and see if I can get ahold of some French sourcebooks; it could be useful when I graduate to GMing and want to send my players on a car chase through La Défense or smuggling goods across the Pyrénées or something.

Heh.

Yeah I'm still using 1e - didn't like the production quality on the 2e book and ran away screaming from 3e.

/derail

Anyways - Since Germany is getting an expanded section on Hamburg, are the US folks getting an expanded section on Seattle? Or would that more in line with a DS community project?

I thought Istanbul was in cluded in brief in runner havens.

Nah that was constantinople

But noone nows the difference but the Turks...

Not Constantinople?

Oh, God... They won?!

Yeah, but I don't think it's called Istanbul in RH and Constantinople in SoA without a reason.

Is the Dark Eye any good? And why does D&D suck, outside of the randomized stats, the set classes, and the linear stat advancement?

That place is Istanbul AND Constantinople

Dark Eye has no Combat Magic??? What about the famous 'Fulminictus Donnerkeil' and 'Ignifaxius Flammenstrahl' spells?

I'm not playing Dark Eye, because I don't like the background for the reasons told by Grinder. But obviously it appeals to a lot of people.

Constantinople is Istanbul! OK, some places in that city is more Constantinople than Istanbul and some places are more Istanbul than C. But what's a little difference between monotheistic religions?

Nothing a little inquisition and lots of fire won't be able to solve.

In germany, D&D is clearly (and by a wide margin) the most wide-spread RPG (just like everywhere else).

Even the FanPro-affiliated shop near the german FanPro headquarter has more D&D products than DSA products on the shelves. That should say enough.

I'd say, that DSA (Das Schwarze Auge/The Dark Eye) ranks in on 2nd place, followed by WoD and SR.

Bye
Thanee