Sword World RPG

Sword World 2.0
	Sword World 2.0 cover
Designers	Kei Kitazawa, Group SNE
Publishers	Fujimi Shobo
Publication	April 2008 (2.0); July 2012 (2.0 revised); July 2018 (2.5);
Genres	Fantasy
Systems	2d6 System

Sword World RPG
	Sword World RPG first edition cover. Cover art by Yoshitaka Amano.
Designers	Ryo Mizuno, Miyuki Kiyomatsu, Group SNE
Publishers	Fujimi Shobo
Publication	1989 (1st edition); 1996 (Complete edition);
Genres	Fantasy
Systems	2d6 System

Sword World RPG (ソード・ワールドRPG, Sōdo Wārudo Āru Pī Jī) is a Japanese tabletop role-playing game^[1] created by Group SNE. 10 million copies of the related books including rulebooks, novels and replays have been sold.^[2] The game was first published in 1989; the updated edition, known as the "Sword World 2.0", was published in 2008; the current edition "Sword World 2.5" was published in 2018.

Sword World RPG's system was given the name 2d6 System in 2003. Scrapped Princess RPG and Dragon Half RPG's system are also 2d6 System, though the games are only partially compatible.

Sword World RPG (original edition)

System

Sword World RPG's classes are called ginou (技能, skill). Each ginou is a package of skills for that class. It is considered a hybrid system between a class-based system and a skill-based system, and is often called a class-skill system.

There are eight classes (Bard, Fighter, Priest, Ranger, Sage, Shaman, Sorcerer and Thief) for player characters and two classes (Dark Priest and Dragon Priest) exclusive to non-player characters. Five major races (Human, Dwarf, Elf, Half-Elf and GrassRunner) can become PCs. GrassRunners are a diminutive race similar to a hobbit or halfling.

The game uses two 6-sided dice. Each 2d6 dice roll is translated into a more wide range of random numbers by using a rating table. The rating table is used for damage rolls, damage reduction rolls and such. An excerpt of the rating table follows.

Rating table (excerpt)
2d6 / Key number	0	5	10	15	20	50
2	failure	failure	failure	failure	failure	failure
3	0	0	1	1	1	4
4	0	1	1	2	2	6
5	0	1	2	3	3	8
6	1	2	3	4	4	10
7	2	2	3	4	5	10
8	2	3	4	5	6	12
9	3	4	5	5	7	12
10	3	5	5	6	8	13
11	4	5	6	7	9	15
12	4	5	7	8	10	15

Key number is equal to weapon/armor's requirement strength, or power of spell. Heavier weapon/armor is stronger.

Setting

Sword World's setting, Forcelia, includes Lodoss Island (of Record of Lodoss War) and the continent of Crystania (of Legend of Crystania). However, the largest continent, Alecrast (where Rune Soldier takes place) is the main setting. Forcelia is a typical fantasy world heavily influenced by games such as Dungeons & Dragons and RuneQuest. For instance, the GrassRunner race is similar to D&D's Halfling and several magic systems (spirit magic, sorcery and divine magic) are similar to RuneQuest's.

Rune Soldier is Sword World RPG's novel and anime series. Over a hundred light novels or replays (session logs) have been published.

Magic systems

All magic systems in Forcelia are called mahougo (魔法語, lit. magic language, magic tongue) based upon belief in the power of words. Each magic system has a proper language system as follow, and the language has magic power in itself.

Forcelia's magic systems
Magic system	Class (ginou)	Language name	System's name
Sorcery	Sorcerer	Kodaigo (古代語, lit. "Ancient language")	High Ancient
Spirit magic	Shaman	Seireigo (精霊語, lit. "Spirit language")	Silent Spirit
Divine magic	Priest	Shinseigo (神聖語, lit. "Holy language")	Holy Pray
Dark magic	Dark priest	Ankokugo (暗黒語, lit. "Dark language")	Demon Scream
Dragon magic	Dragon priest	Ryūgo (竜語, lit. "Dragon language")	Dragon Lore
Common magic	^a	kyoutsūgo (共通語, lit. "Common language")	Common magic
Bard's songs	Bard	Juka (呪歌, lit. "Magic songs")^b	-

^a - Every character can use common magic (weaker cantrip of High Ancient sorcery) by the use of commercial magic devices and the chant of the keyword in common language.
^b - Songs with lyrics in the ancient language of High Ancient sorcery.

Sword World 2.0/2.5

The new edition Sword World 2.0 (SW2.0 for short) was released in April 2008 and revised in 2012. In 2018 Sword World 2.5 (SW2.5) was launched.

System

Currently (after the release of Battle Master supplement), there are 21 classes:

Warrior type: Battle Dancer, Fighter, Fencer, Grappler, Marksman
Wizard type: Conjurer, Demon Tamer, Druid, Fairy Tamer, Magitechnician, Priest, Sorceror
Other type: Alchemist, Bard, Enhancer, Geomancer, Ranger, Rider, Sage, Scout, Tactician

Sword World RPG uses only two 6-sided dice as with the previous editions.

Setting

It has a new campaign setting named Raxia. Several old and new races can be found in the rulebooks #1-3.

Original races in Raxia

Abyssborn - Born in the Shallow Abyss, these mutants have dark purple skin and are tall and slender
Alv - A humanoid race born with one soulscar. They are slender, have white skin and golden or red irises. They need to suck mana out of other beings once per week or they will die.
Dark Dwarves - These pale dwarves are used to living underground and serve the Barbarous as excellent blacksmiths.
Fluorite - Mineralbodied beings with glowing heads and good mental capabilities as well as a good amount of MP.
Leprechauns - A seclusive race of humanoids with furry ears, specializing in magitech and items.
Lildraken - A race of bipedal dragon-folk who like commerce and peddlery.
Lykant - Humanoid looking race with tails and ears covered with fur which can change its heads into the form of a carnivouros beast.
Meria - Humanoids with flowers on them which don't need to sleep.
Newman - A very intelligent race with snowwhite skin created by the Ancient Magic Civilization via magic.
Nightmare - They are mutants of other races and are born with the gift of both fighting and magic. However, because it is believed that their souls are distorted and polluted, Nightmares are looked at askance.
Runefolk - An artificial humanoid race who have a desire to serve the other races by instinct.
Shadow - This humanoid race has grey skin, three eyes and flexible limbs making them quite dexterious and agile. Therefore, they often work as spies and assassins.
Soleil - A race of big, strong, optimistic humanoids. They can make their bodies glow and can regenerate HP by basking in the sun. Unforunately, they are quite dumb.
Spriggans - Small humanoids that can transform in over 2.5m high giants for a short amount of time.
Tabbit - A bipedal rabbit race who are travelling around the world.
Tiens - An artificially created humanoid race with metallic-coloured hair and jewels on their forehead, chest and the back of their hands.
Weaklings - Weaklings are Barbarous born with fewer soulscars and are therefore often being abused in Barbarous society. While being quite sturdy, they are not the most intelligent. There are currently four types of Weaklings: Garuda, Tannoz, Basilisk and Minotaur.

The supplement "Arcane Relics" has also added several subraces to core classes like Snow Elves, Small-Winged Lildraken, Pico Tabbits and Alisha Grassrunners. These optional subraces slightly alter class bonuses or attributes.

Replays

Group SNE pioneered a new book genre called replay. Replays are RPG session logs arranged for reading, similar in style to light novels. The first replay, Record of Lodoss War, is a replay of Dungeons & Dragons. From that time, replays became popular in Japan, and not only with RPG gamers. Several characters and parties in replays are as popular as characters of anime (for example, the beautiful female elf Deedlit in Record of Lodoss War, who was played by the male science fiction novelist Hiroshi Yamamoto).

Sword World replays are popular, too: about 10 series and over 40 books of original Sword World replays were published until 2008. Since 2008, more than 30 series and over 80 books of Sword World 2.0 replays were published, as of 2016 September.

Video games

There have been three role-playing video games released by T&E Soft officially based on Sword World. These were Sword World PC for the NEC PC-9801 in 1992, Sword World SFC for the Super Famicom in 1993, and Sword World SFC 2: Inishie no Kyojin Densetsu for the Super Famicom in 1994.^[3]

In 2009, Sword World 2.0 was released for the Nintendo DS handheld game console as a role-playing visual novel adventure game that attempts to simulate the full experience of playing a tabletop RPG. The game features branching plot paths and multiple endings, as well as virtual dice rolls that partially determine the events, character parameters, and enemy encounters.^[4]