Translator Note

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This section contains a collection of notes about the translation effort.
While we strive to create an accurate translation, it is not always easy.
Japanese and english are very different languages, both on a phonetic, grammatical and cultural level. A lot of terms and phrases are either hard or nigh impossible to translate, or become very unwieldy when translated directly. For this reason, we had to take the liberty to sometimes change some things around. The goal here was always first and foremost to keep the spirit of the game while making it easily readable and understandable for english speaking players.

Core Rulebooks[edit | edit source]

Basics[edit | edit source]

Japanese Literal Translation English
生命抵抗力 Life Resistance Fortitude
精神抵抗力 Mental Resistance Willpower
技能 Skill Class
行為 Action Skill
行為判定 Action Judgment Skill Check
穢れ Impurity, disgrace, corruption, unclean Soulscar
ショーター Shooter Marksman
マジテック Magitech Artificer

Starting things off with basic character sheet terms, the big ones are "Fortitude" and "Willpower". There are a lot of terms used to make it easier to transition from Dungeons & Dragons to Sword World for fantasy roleplaying, these being two of those. They also serve much the same purpose as they did back in 3.x D&D, where Fortitude allows the character to potentially shrug off debilitating physical attacks and injuries, while Willpower does much the same for mental attacks. Using similar terms not only sets an expectation similar in scope to allow what is already out there, but also means there's less work in trying to find appropriate synonyms for the same idea.

Continuing on, "Skill" becomes "Class" and "Action" becomes "Skill" for a few reasons. What Sword World refers to as "Skills" are packages of abilities and proficiencies with various stat-based rolls, and while they aren't quite as tightly defined as a Class from Dungeons & Dragons, are close enough that the moniker fits without too much confusion.

"Actions" turn into "Skills" in order to not only differentiate them from what can be done during combat, but also because they fit the description of what people think a skill would be. Things like knowing about Meteorology, Trap Finding, or the correct way to Tumble after a long fall are all things that are typically classified as "skills", such knowledge coming from being taught by more skilled professionals. Finally, they had been changed to be more friendly and intuitive to those familiar with Dungeons & Dragons, so that way it's much less mental work adjusting to a new system.

"Action Judgment" becomes "Skill Check" for much the same reasons as above, as well as lessening the severity of the language. "Judgment" carries an air of severity, sounding very final, very harsh, while "Check" doesn't have that connotation. Not only that, but "Skill Judgment" sounds odd to English speakers, while "Skill Check" doesn't.

"Soulscar" is actually a localization, as it is definitely not a direct translation of the Japanese used. The concept behind that particular phrase is that, as a character's soul is brought back into their body from the afterlife, it becomes stained and corrupted, as something about the act of resurrection irrevocably changes a person. To me, that sounds like the soul itself is getting scarred, much like severe wounds on a person's body eventually scar over and aren't quite the same thereafter, and so "soulscar" came about. It also sounds really cool, as a bonus.

"Shooter" became "Marksman" for a couple of reasons. While unlikely, I would eventually like to see this game (or even Sword World 2.5, were it to get translated eventually) being run in quite a few places, whether at a gaming lounge, at a school/college, etc. Unfortunately, there is a distinct lack of gun control in the United States, and news of mass shootings in public are far too common. With a direct translation, my fear is that a bystander would overhear one of the players or GM say the word "shooter" (talking about their character) and panic, believing there to be a mass shooter on the loose. A bit farfetched, probably, but I'd rather change the name of the class to avoid even simple things like this. Besides, the class also adds their class levels to thrown weapons, and you don't exactly shoot those, so "Marksman" makes a little more sense.

"Artificer"... The katakana for the class directly translates to "Magitech", which doesn't seem bad, though (for example) saying "you're playing a human Magitech" sounds off. Where things get complicated is the spells used by that class, 魔動機術, which is incredibly difficult to translate literally but very roughly means "magical movement machine techniques". That sounded like it ought to be translated as "magitech", as it was dealing with magical machines, and "using magitech" (the spells) sounds a lot better than being "a Magitech" (the class), and so I'd rather use the term to describe the spells instead of the class. Originally, the class was then called "Magitechnician", a mouthful above and beyond the rest of the classes, but still technically close to the Japanese. Eventually, though, between it being quite the long class name compared to the others, as well as honestly quite a lot to type out all at once, the class got renamed to "Gunmage". It was shorter, it sounded snazzy, and the class did deal a lot with guns and bullets and whatnot. As time went on and I thought about things more, I'd eventually settled on "Artificer" being the name for the class. Sure, it's not the direct translation, but the class does work with magitech equipment (which, at the current time in the setting, is 300+ years old), and does more with that equipment than just shoot people with fancy magical guns.

宝石 (Gem or Jewel) is mentioned a lot in the original text, though in particular it's used as the items needed to cast fairy magic. To make it more obvious what the 宝石 item you can buy is for, it was named "Fairy Gem".
Well, we later noticed a little problem.
Since 宝石 is used for a multitude of different items (for example monster loot and different accessories), it could be assumed that those items could potentially be used as a fairy gem. So we decided to rename "Fairy Gems" to "Gems". And now you can use found for example "Gems (150G/Gold A)" loot to cast Fairy Magic.

Wizards Tome[edit | edit source]

Chants[edit | edit source]

Chants were originally presented as two texts in the original, as gibberish words and a second translation of the chants. The gibberish part had a some work behind it in which the Japanese words corresponded to the fictional gibberish language. Instead of doing a dictionary for the consistant translation of the chants, I decided to translate the Japanese translation of the chants and use the Latin translation of the former for the gibberish part.
For comparison for Blunt Weapon: Original WT "Ves Vast Li Dom. Dowl Lakmana—Dontodo" vs english WT "Verum, Primum Ordo Decay. Debilitas, Bluntness. Malleus Blade" ("True, First Rank Decay. Weakness, Bluntness. Hammer Blade")

Cardia Grace[edit | edit source]

Warlord Class[edit | edit source]

Japanese Literal Translation English
ウォーリーダー War Leader Warlord
鼓咆 Drum Roar Stratagem
流麗なる俊陣 Fluent Genius Formation Flowing Fortunes
怒濤の攻陣 Chaotic Attack Formation Surging Offense
鉄堅の防陣 Iron Strong Defense Formation Ironclad Defense
強靭なる丈陣 Strong Magnificence Formation Defiant Stand

The Warlord is a class with a lot of terms that exemplify the problems with direct translations the best. Most of the reoccurring terms are written in kanji and are compound words that don't really work in english. While most of the words are relatively short in japanese, they become overly long and unwieldy when translated directly (like Iron Strong Defense Formation) or don't make any sense at all (like drum roar).

Warlord vs War Leader[edit | edit source]

The name of the class, originally 'War Leader', was changed because it sounded weird in English, and because 'Warlord' gets the idea across well enough, that term was used instead. It was a happy little coincidence that the function of this class was very similar to the Warlord class of DnD4e.

Stratagems[edit | edit source]

Originally, I was intending on translating 'drum roar' as 'battlecry'. However, because warlords are also referred to as 'tacticians' and because their feats are all referred to as some sort of 'Formation', it made sense to use 'stratagem' instead.

Mystic Class[edit | edit source]

Japanese Literal Translation English
占瞳 Divination Pupil Divination
ミスティックロッド Mystic Rod Astral Rod
ミスティック力ード Mystic Card Celestial Tarot
ミスティックオーブ Mystic Orb Star Globe
主動作型占瞳 Major Action Type Divination Pupil Diurnal Type Divination
幻視型占瞳 Visionary Divination Pupil Nocturnal Type Divination
自己占瞳 Self Divination Synastry
占臃操作 Divination manipulation Fated Crossing
代償軽減 Compensation Reduction Accidental Dignity
代償半減 Compensation Halved Essential Dignity
賢星に語らるべかりし言葉を問う asking the wise star what words should be spoken Akashic Records

Mystic was a tough one. I made a lot of changes, and while part was because of unwieldy terms, a lot came down to flavor.
I feel like an important part of playing an RPG with a class system is class fantasy. To explain what I mean in the simplest terms, in an RPG where you can pick classes, you most likely gravitate towards a class because the idea of the class intrigues you. You might want to play a Sorcerer because the fantasy of that class is to be a person that throws big fireballs and has deep arcane knowledge. You might want to play a paladin because you like the idea of a noble knight, fighting for good. You might want to play a Grappler because the idea of wrestling a giant magitek warmachine is fucking cool to you. That's the Class Fantasy. While a large part of how class fantasy is sold is mechanical, of course, a large part is sold by the classes flavor. That means it's description, it's name, the name of abilities. When the flavor of the class can't sell that fantasy, it makes the class less appealing to play.
You might scoff at this idea because only the mechanics matter to you, but I think it's pretty important.
So, since I have a bit of an interest in Astrology and the class fantasy they were trying to sell with the mystic is a sort of fortune teller, I decided to use astrology terms that fit the mechanics. What gave me the idea is the fact that a lot of the class feats use terms and names like "'運の星の導きを知る', which could roughly be translated to something like 'Find the guidance of the lucky stars'. Astrology was a good fit. In addition, Astrological terms sound very mystical in my opinion. They all have meaning, they all have origins, but to the common people that probably only come in contact with Astrology through maybe star signs and horoscopes, these terms are foreign and exotic. In other words, mystical.

Diurnal Type Divination and Nocturnal Type Divination[edit | edit source]

I wanted terms for the two types of divinations that are opposite of each other.
I used Diurnal and Nocturnal this reason. Diurnal was used because these types of divinations give you a clear answer. You consciously use these to gain insight or to give guidance to teammate. Diurnal, in astrological terms, refers to the sun. The sun can represent the day, which has a relation to the waking world, where you consciously perceive reality. As such, I thought it fit well for the first type of divinations, as they use major actions and your character has to consciously use them. Nocturnal was used because those type of divinations give you visions of the future. While you, as the player, use them consciously, your character doesn't. These visions are thrust upon the character, much like a dream. Nocturnal, kind of obviously, represent the moon and the night. People (usually) sleep at night, so an ability that gives you dream like visions of the future seemed to be a good fit.

Divination Tools[edit | edit source]

I changed the names for the divination tools the pretty generic terms used in japanese (Mystic Rod, Mystic Cards, Mystic Orb) to something that had more of an astrological ring to it.

Accidental Dignity and Essential Dignity[edit | edit source]

Accidental Dignity and Essential Dignity is a bit of a stretch, I'll admit. Dignity refers to the position of celestial bodies in relation to each other, which you can read as 'the stars aligning'. I used these terms for the cost reducing combat feats as I though that the stars aligning could be viewed as you having an easier time to read the future, thus spending less energy. Accidental Dignity is actually more significant than Essential Dignity, but it sounds less important. So instead of accuracy, I shot for style here.

Synastry[edit | edit source]

Synastry is the Art of chart comparison, for analysis of relationships. I used it there because I thought that you learning to relate the fates of others to yourself would allow you to use divinations on yourself for lowered costs.

Fated Crossing[edit | edit source]

Fated Crossing is another example of 'the stars aligning'. To be completely honest, I'm writing this section after the fact, so I might not remember everything I did and the reasons why I did it. This is one of the times the reason alludes me. There was a good reason though, you just have to take my word for it.

Akashic Records[edit | edit source]

Akashic Records was a bit of killing two birds with one stone. The original name (賢星に語らるべかりし言葉を問う) is insanely long. The direct translation also doesn't quite fit the effect, I think. What this ability does is allow you to gain information the GM had prepared, but you and your group didn't figure out how. The Akashic Records are the 'Book of Life', an interactive cosmic storehouse of karmic impressions made by every thought, word and deed in the Akasha (cosmic mind), which is basically the collective unconscious. In other words, the stars have all the knowledge in the universe and if you can tap into that, you can gain deeper insight. Being that, the Critical Failure Effect of the Ability suddenly makes a lot of sense, where your mind is lost wandering the endless expanse of Akasha. Akashic Records is also way shorter and easier to say than anything you could make from the original name.

Age of Grimoire[edit | edit source]

Arcanist Class[edit | edit source]

The Arcanist Class is another example on how sometimes you have to change things to not confuse people. The most major change here is, quite obviously, the name. In japanese, the class was originally called "Grimoire". The word was written in katakana (グリモワール), so it's pretty obvious what it's called. This class uses a signiture weapon, which is called "Grimoire", written in kanji (魔導書). It is quite obvious that the class was literally named after the weapon they are using.
This, of course, raises a few issues.
First of all, it's weird to call a class "Grimoire". For japanese people it's probably just a cool sounding word, but an english speaker will probably raise an eyebrown when they see that word used in that context. You don't see a hairdresser be called "scissors" and not have a few choice questions about that.
The other thing is, that it's obviously confusing. It's like that whole thing with fate where there is saber the character, saber the servant class and saber the weapon.
So, since the magic type can be translated as "arcane magic" (秘奥魔法, lit. Secret Magic but Arcane Magic works here), I decided on calling them Arcanist, which makes it way less confusing. That is pretty much the most major change.

Aristocrat Class[edit | edit source]

General[edit | edit source]

Japanese Literal Translation English
貴格 Noble Rank Noblesse
儀礼系 Etiquette Type Courtly Type

Legion Noblesse[edit | edit source]

Japanese Literal Translation English
攻撃陣形 Attack Formation Crescent Moon Formation
遠距離攻撃陣形 Long Range Attack Formation Hollow Square Formation
対レギオン攻撃 Anti Legion Attack Flying Wedge Formation
防御陣形 Defensive Formation Tortoise Formation
一気呵成の陣 Finishing off Formation Hammer and Anvil
横一列攻擊陣形 Broad Line Attack Formation Human Wave Formation
波状攻撃陣形 Attack Wave Formation Inverted Wedge Formation
一騎駆けの陣 One-Horse Dash Formation Pincer Maneuver
魔力増大の陣 Magic Increasing Formation Ley Line Formation
射程延長 Range Extension Heavy Artillery
魚鱗の陣 Fish Scale Formation Phalanx Formation
野生のカン Wild Kan Wild Hunt
硬い身体 Hard Body Heavy Infantry
対属性結界印 Anti Attribute Barrier Mark Elemental Ward
熟練たる魚鱗の陣 Skilled Fish Scale Formation Superior Phalanx Formation
魔擊の陣 Magic (Demon) Strike Formation Counter-Fire Formation
一騎当千の陣 One with the strength of thousand warriors (Ikki Tousen no Jin) Strength of a thousand Men
魔力暴走の陣 Magic Power Rush Formation Chorus of a thousand Voices
獣の生命力 Beast's Vitality Beast’s Resilience
鉄壁のファランクス Impregnable Phalanx or Cast-Iron Phalanx Mythril Phalanx
部隊分制 Force Split Organization Unit Tactics

The names for the formations are taken or at least inspired by historic battle formations and tactics. This was mostly done to add flavor, but also because the direct translations were a bit unwieldy.Insert non-formatted text here Prime example for the "unwieldy" category is 一騎当千の陣 (Ikki Tousen no Jin). The first part, 一騎当千 is a yojijukugo (四字熟語), a four kanji idom. As the name implies, it is a form of saying consisting of four characters that has a deeper meaning behind it's very short structure. To give an extremely brief history lession, these were basically chinese in origin and later adapted by the japanese.

These are insanely hard to translate, because while they are just four characters long, these character don't really make a lot of sense in isolation. You have to understand the intended meaning behind the combination, the story so to say, to get what it actually tries to say. In Ikki Tousen's case, it means as much as One with the strength of thousand warriors. This, of course, is way too long. To keep the meaning as close as possible, the phrase was shortened to Strength of a thousand Men.

魔力暴走の陣 then became Chorus of a thousand Voices, because both it and 一騎当千の陣 are very much related effects (one resoring MP while the other restores HP). Because of magics relation to sound (as seen in Truthspeech Magic), I used a similar yojijukugo to relate it to Ikki Tousen (the idiom in question being 異口同音, Ikudouon, Being of one Mind or in chorus). It just felt wrong having these effects that were more or less two sides of one coin being this disconnected from each other.

鉄壁のファランクス was named Mythril Phalanx to relate it to the Constructs the ability is related to. Mythril, or Mithril, is a fictional material first appearing in the works of Tolkin which has since become a fantasy staple material for any sort of magical and/or mythical weaponary. I used it for this reason, using the spelling Mythril to tie it closer into this "magical" theme.