I’ve bought a few foreign language games in the past – a few French games (Humanydyne, Vermine, In Nomine Satanis, Te Deum Pour Un Massacre, Apocrypha) , a couple of German games (Das Schwarze Auge, Space Gothic) and my friend Paul gifted me with a copy of Ars Magica in Russian a few years ago.
Some of the games you get from other countries are very much foreign language versions of games we already have. They have their own direct translations as well as native versions of hackneyed fantasy and other tropes. But they have some gems, like some of the games listed above. Even before you start translating the games, they stand out (worthy of note is that someone is working on an English translation of HumanyDyne.)
I hear good things from Spain (but haven’t bought any because I don’t know any Spanish, while I can read French and German).
Anyone else ventured to other cultures for good RPGs?
Hi Matt,
Just back from a conference in Italy (Ravenna, to be specific) and stumbled across its gaming shop. There appear to be Italian translations of the usual run of OGL fantasy products. I didn’t have a chance to ask about domestic-produced games, unfortunately. I also ran across a wargaming shop called GOBLINS in Bologna, but they didn’t carry much beyond the GW line.
I found much the same in Jeux Descartes and Starplayer in Paris….
…but the number of Domestic games was incredible.