Ryuutama is a Japanese tabletop RPG that is being translated into english. It looks somewhat like what you might get if the Miyazaki of My Neighbor Totoro or Spirited Away created a fantasy RPG.
The full-color Japanese PDF can already be downloaded for free (this is legit; the author made it available). Check out that PDF for a sense of the scope and aesthetic. I have also included some art that I extracted via screen shots from this PDF at the bottom of this post that I think showcases the style.
This is being Kickstarted by Andy Kitkowski, who ran the Tenra Bansho Zero translation project and Kickstater. He has a good record delivering on his promises and creating quality products. I also have personal experience with his integrity. Though I was not aware of the TBZ Kickstarter when it was active, I later bought a copy of the hardcover TBZ set. It arrived damaged, but Andy sent me another copy without any hassles and free of charge, despite the fact that this is not a cheap set of books and sending a replacement required sending another package to Canada.
Just wanted to mention for the benefit of readers that the characters pictured above are a special kind of NPC, and aren’t representative of the characters the players will use. “[Ryuutama] is set in a world where the “NPCs” of the village–the bakers, minstrels, farmers, shopkeepers and healers–set off on a wonderful adventure exploring a fantasy world together.”
@Jesse
From the description on the Kickstarter, it sounds like characters have access to some adventurer-type abilities also:
The character classes are Minstrel, Merchant, Healer, Hunter, Artisan, Farmer and Noble. Each class has a few simple abilities that reflect their backgrounds. Each character can be a fighting, technical, or magic-using character depending on the player’s choice.
I think one valuable reference for understanding what typical characters will look like is the sample character from the website, Haruka:
http://www.kotohi.com/ryuutama/rt_data/HARUKA_PC_ENG.pdf
Hopefully we will see more soon.
That looks seriously cool, and it has everything to do with a personal project I have. I should get it.
@Felipe
What is your personal project?
Is this the game where the DM is actually a dragon and levels up along with the players? And the DM has abilities to help the party?
@Arnold
I don’t know much about the mechanics of the game, actually, but that sounds about right. The Kickstarter page has this to say:
The GM also has a special character with its own sheet called the “Ryuujin”, which is a character that remains offscreen most of the time, but watches over the characters: The Ryuujin can cast some limited spells or abilities to help out or guide the characters. The GM creates the adversity that the players have to overcome, but the Ryuujin is out to protect and nurture the characters to some degree.
Also check out this abstract battle map:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/001/246/628/5699ef0bb278f12d8d4374b93c7c627c_large.jpg