I first read the Mugen Gaming Quickstart for the English translation of the game, and later started reading the fan translations of the Japanese editions.

So, Sword World RPG made some choices; the language is clearly formal and polite Japanese. If you’re watching Frieren or Delicious in Dungeon and your ears grate at “you’re clearly qualified adventurers” the box text and rules text might be a challenge.

NPCs make requests, you go on the request, finish the request, and get paid. This seems like something the translators could change, or players at tables will change it for them.

Lining up front liners and rear guard in a two-tiered array looks like something from a CRPG.

There are choices, like class requirements, to get the advantage from monster lore. It’s a mechanic that is immersion-breaking for me. We’re hunting werewolves, the town guard says use silver, the stat block says silver weapons do extra damage. But if you do not have a sage in the party, you do not get the bonus damage when using silver against werewolves.

Basic Mechanics: You roll 2d6, add your standard bonus to hit against the target’s static defense. Ties go to the defender. Rolling high attack does nothing.

Roll for Damage, compare the number to your weapons chart, critical damage is rerolled and added until you stop rolling crits, then add the standard Damage mod for your character.

Monsters have a standard attack compared to your 2d6 plus standard defense modifier. Subtract damage for your armor value. (not Armor Value from the Damage? Why did I write it like that)

So far, it is a “players roll all the dice” system. I’ll have to go back and see if stealth, perception, and initiative are all player-only.

There is one death save, but a friendly NPC might save you. You could wake up in a tavern, having been saved by an NPC, and you can try the request again.

SwordWorld RPG, 10-second rounds, you roll 2d6 plus magic power on snakeyes the spell fails, but you still spend mana. Monsters have a static magic defense and may optionally roll their magic defense. The GM must declare at the start of the session if they are using this option.

It’s possible to overcome defense and still roll crappy damage. There are 9 spells in the quickstart; only one of them has exploding damage (critical).

Divine sunlight costs 3 mana, Arcane light costs 1.
Dull weapon 2 mana reduces attacks by a target by 4 damage.

The most controversial mechanic to me, if you can affect 3 targets and there are more than 3 enemies, you roll randomly who gets affected. Combat Targeting can allow you to choose specific targets for certain spells. I feel like I might want to guarantee the boss, for instance, is in or out of my spell and not leave it to random chance.

The aforementioned Dull Weapon has a range of 2 or 30m, which means the arcane caster in my backfield can cast it on the archer or other support caster in the enemy’s backfield.

I want to rewatch Frieren and Lodoss War with a fuller set of these rules handy. Dungeon Meshi might even have a little insight into how Sword World RPG has influenced Fantasy anime for 40 years.

Sword World RPG Book 1, 6 levels of magic spells for 4 types of caster. Divine has extra spells that are deity-specific.
Sword World RPG Book 2, spells for levels 7-10 and levels 1-10 for the new Fairy magic type. Again, there are extra deity-specific spells.
Sword World RPG Book 3, contains spell levels 11-15.

I feel like different anime would throw the spell lists out the window. In book 2, they introduce a 3rd level spiritualist spell to create a golem. Some classes get an individual protection spell, others get area protection. I think Frieren would have Arcane, Demon, and Goddess, maybe Folk magics, and be a lot more dynamic than the more static spells I’ve seen so far.

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Paul

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