OBOJIMA D&D BY 1985 GAMES

Thanks again to the Arcane Eye blog, I was able to get my hands on the PDF for this Studio Ghibli -style D&D game. In the style of My Neighbor Totoro or Spirited Away, it mixes Japanese -fairy tale and fantasy with what I'd call soft twentieth-century aesthetic realism. 

The conceit of the campaign is that there was a First Age, where modern architecture and artifacts serve as a realistic  substratum that grounds the world. But in a kind of Ghibli-esque magical realism, you have flying sea creatures, spirit folk and creatures, 1980s artifacts such as vending machines that vend magic items and such, VHS tapes that can be magically red, bicycles that maybe fly, etc. Quaint class archetypes like -- Barbarian: Path of the Belly Brewer, Monk: Way of the Sheep Dragon Shepherd, Wizard: Origami Mage, etc.

Advice to prospective DMs is to focus on the feel and tone of the setting, to emphasize social interaction over combat, and so forth. To really develop the Studio Ghibli and Zelda aesthetics. And the art is evocative and simply gorgeous. 

Grade: solid A. To learn more about the game, visit the 1985 Games website for the game. Enjoy!

P.S. I plan on running a scenario from the book to start out our Try A New RPG program for adults and upper- teens. 👹