PnP games have been, largely...

PnP games have been, largely, in line with what people in video games would call "western" design philosophy: Player choice, and character options are very important. You will get more freedom, and the experiences you have will therefore be more emergent.

Some examples of "eastern" game design already do exist in PnP: Premade characters, and story modules.

Would it be possible to play a "JRPG" style game in which you know you will have less "out of the box" options in favor of a more focused, developed story?

no

Yeah. Do you know what we call this
"A heavily focused and probably ralroading campaign."
Or, for people who play modules: "Playint he module to the fucking letter."

>something-"WHEAT SUPPLY"
WHAT

>HWHEAT
>Hot Water Heat

Yes, it's called railroading

If the players' choices don't matter, there's no reason for them to be there

There is obviously another letter behind the first H.

There are lots of small indie games that fit what you call a JRPG style, OP.

Next time my players visit a wizard tower the boiler room is going to have pipes full of wheat and fire and who knows what else.

You know that Eastern games exist, right? There's even a general for them from time to time.

Stuff like Elsword, Ryuutama, Double Cross, Meikyuu Kingdom, Tenra Bansho Zero, etc.

And yes, the mechanics of those games tends to make for more coherent, developed stories in a shorter period of time.

PbtA games are already like this.

Minimal customization for each playbook. Each character looks just a few steps away from being a premade for a con game.

GM abides by strict rules for a more standardized experience.

>Ryuutama
Always wanted to try this

> a "JRPG" style game
>literally railroad with RNG combat encounters
>literally "Final Fantasy: The Game" where all the agency a player has is how he develops the combat abilities of his character
for what purpose

Remember to give Skill Types and Attack Types scaling benefits, because they lack them while Magic Types DO get scaling benefits.

What makes you think this an east/west divide?

Dragonlance was offering a "more focused, developed story" in the 1980's... how do you get any more "western gaming" than TSR in the 80's?

And for that matter, even OD&D offered only four premade characters (classes with almost no options for customization), and random attributes.

>"Welcome to the Demiplane of Pipes!"
>"Dare you open my magical valves?"

duh, it's obviously for FRESH WHEAT, no good having stale old wheat coming out of your wheat tap.

The idea of playing premade characters with a premade backstory and such is fairly common in games and games modules that are designed more towards convention play than year long regular campaigns.

What would you suggest?

Jrpgs are like adventure modules.
They're not really role-playing games since you don't actually get to play a role, you're just clicking buttons and traveling along a predetermined path.

This means that you'll rely heavily on modules and need to restrict players ability to deviate from the chosen path, which is really just railroading turned into a game genre. Don't get me wrong, videogames all do this, but if you deliberately set out to do it with a pnp rpg you're basically removing the strength of the medium and turning it into a shittier version of playing videogames.

>PbtA games are already like this.
Kek.

>Minimal customization for each playbook.
How much more customization could you possibly fit on a single double-sided page?

>GM abides by strict rules for a more standardized experience.
If GM principles and rules are strict, then swingers are prudes.

>Op talking to Veeky Forums as if they've got a new insightful view of roleplaying.
They're called western because they follow the bases set out by games like D&D. The first rpg video games were in fact directly based around D&D variants. Even the first Final Fantasy game had elves, dwarfs and alike.

>more focused, developed story
You mean the story the players and GM create during all PnP RPG sessions?
Are you talking about a setting book?
I don't understand what you're saying here a "more developed" story? Like the game has more fluff and setting info?
Regardless check out games like Double Cross for a Japanese take on roleplaying games.

not that guy, and i don't think scaling is a problem, at least not much. Magic-type characters do have some uniqe utility, but they myst invest in MP and int/spi stats heavily for it to be trully effective - and high-level spells eat A LOT of mana.

personally, i'd give attack and magic types bonuses at levels 4 and 7 (the points where mages become able to cast high-tier spells). Remember that Ryuutama is ultimately a game about traveling, so bonuses should be done with utility in mind, like Attack types getting flat bonus to checks (and since game uses two-die roll, flat bonuses are VERY powerful from +2 on) or some neat flavor ability like having to eat only once in two days. Skill types could get further bonus to concentration (up to +3 that you normally get by spending half your mana and one FP), or just free concentration uses per day (due to how concentration works, this is a very good bonus).