Mazaki No Fantaji - Tabletop RPG

Mazaki No Fantaji is a new kickstarter looking to get funded. In case your curious it's described as,"A cinematic Tabletop RPG inspired by stunning anime and immersive JRPGs, using qualitative stats and a unique, tile-based system."

Mazaki No Fantaji started with a single question: How can we develop a role-playing game grounded on dramatic, cinematic stories, if the "story" is exactly what we, the creators, have no control over? As gamers know, it is the players who come up with the plots, the twists, the intrigue, the developments. We creators just build a world and an engine to interface with that world. What role can we play in the stories?

Well, the first step was figuring out that a good story has NOTHING to do with the plot. Only a superficial understanding of stories reduces a good one to its plot. A good story has GOOD characters, GOOD conflicts, and GOOD themes. In other words, interesting characters, meaningful conflicts, and relevant themes. The plot is an emergent unfurling/entangling of those things.

"So," we said to ourselves, "If we created a game that demanded interesting characters, meaningful conflicts, and relevant themes; we'd have a GOOD (i.e. dramatic, character-driven, fun, intense, deep) role-playing game."

So we created that game. Enter Mazaki No Fantaji.

More information.

"Mazaki No Fantaji" - what does this mean in English language ?

so every game is a drama? many have that in their homes already

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
"Mazaki No Fantaji" - what does this mean in English language ?

Mazaki's fantasy? Shrug.

Well, the first step was figuring out that a good story has NOTHING to do with the plot. Only a superficial understanding of stories reduces a good one to its plot. A good story has GOOD characters, GOOD conflicts, and GOOD themes. In other words, interesting characters, meaningful conflicts, and relevant themes. The plot is an emergent unfurling/entangling of those things.

there is such a thing as a character driven story, but a story without a plot, even a thin one, is not a story. You can't even call it a soap opera.

I had always thought that story = plot ?

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
I had always thought that story = plot ?

Not really… if you're interested in the differences from an academical point of view, have a look at To Plot or Not to Plot, an interesting essay about the difference between narrative, story, plot and structure.