You read that right. Those looking for a way to bring the ATLUS JRPG series to their tabletop don’t have to wait anymore for an official game. Shin Megami Tensei – The Roleplaying Game: Tokyo Conception first released in Japan in 2004, but despite its positive initial reception, it has only reached English-speaking markets this year via LionWing Publishing.
LionWing is well-known for translating Japanese-published RPGs and bringing them to this side of the world, with notable entries to their catalog including Fledge Witch, Convictor Drive: Armored By Grief, and Eldritch Escape: Tokyo. Back in March, it was announced that they’d be collaborating with ATLUS to finally bring Tokyo Conception to new regions, and the wait is finally over.
Naturally, the main source of inspiration for the game is Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, released in 2003. Tokyo Conception is, by design, a TTRPG adaptation of Nocturne. It brings players back to the Vortex World Tokyo seen in Nocturne, navigating complex relationships with the Reasons, or perhaps creating one for themselves.
Central to the game’s loop is its negotiation system, inspired by the one from the franchise, which has players try to communicate with Demons to get them to join their side. Iit wouldn’t be an ATLUS game without a lot of little freaks to fight or tame, and Tokyo Conception boasts nearly 100 pages of Demons to deal with, including everyone’s favorite little creature, Jack Frost, and horrid abomination Mara.
A major part of the marketing for Tokyo Conception has been the myriad number of ways that the game perfectly simulates the video game that it descends from, now wrapped up and ready for your table to bring its own flair to it. It’s an incredible time to be an SMT fan, between this new RPG release and their new board game that just sailed passed its Kickstarter goal.
Shin Megami Tensei – The Roleplaying Game: Tokyo Conception released digitally on November 12th, with links rolling out through Drive-Thru RPG. Pre-orders for the physical book are still open, with a wide variety of variant covers, and they are supposed to ship out in early 2025. LionWing has promised that those who pre-order the physical edition will get immediate access to the digital PDF, so you don’t have to wait to start fighting your Demons.
