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Jason Thompson
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King of RPGs 1 Paperback – January 19, 2010

by Jason Thompson (Author), Victor Hao (Illustrator)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 15 ratings
See all formats and editions
Jason Thompson, Level 14 Shaman/Oozemaster and author of Manga: The Complete Guide, joins forces with Victor Hao to deliver a wickedly funny send-up of manga and gamer culture. Roll up your character and get ready!
 
THE GREATEST GAMER ON EARTH
 
At the University of California, Escondido, no one would guess that freshman Shesh Maccabee is a hard-core gamer—and in recovery to boot, following a court order, a wireless ban, and months of therapy (all because of one little seven-day Internet café episode). His friend Mike—who personally prefers Japanese-console RPGs—is tasked with keeping Shesh far away from any computer with access to World of Warfare.  

    Everything's going according to plan—until a Ren Faire fangirl introduces them to the campus gaming club, where they meet Theodore, a fanatical tabletop game master whose single goal in life is to run the greatest Mages & Monsters game in the world. And there just happens to be room for two more players. Soon Shesh and Mike are dragged into the dungeon of hard-core gaming—and cops, baboon men, Sri Lankan cave roaches, and Gothémon card collectors converge in the zaniest adventure that ever involved twenty-sided dice!
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  1. Part of Series
    King of RPGs
  2. Print length
    240 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Del Rey
  5. Publication date
    January 19, 2010
  6. Reading age
    16 years and up
  7. Dimensions
    5 x 0.71 x 7.51 inches
  8. ISBN-10
    0345513592
  9. ISBN-13
    978-0345513595
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This comedy manga takes on the world of tabletop gaming by way of the shonen sports genre. Hardcore computer gamer Shesh Maccabee arrives for his freshman year of college banned by court order from the virtual universe he so loves. Despite his friend Mike's efforts to protect him from the Internet's siren song, Shesh finds the university gaming club, only to discover that Mages & Monsters is an analogue game, requiring dice, cards... and imagination. The two boys reluctantly join a game run by Theodore Dudek, a game master who goes to superhuman lengths to bring verisimilitude to the interactive stories he creates. As Shesh becomes more deeply immersed, Theodore realizes Shesh has the potential to become the greatest role player of all time. Thompson's enthusiasm for the subject matter is explosive and one can sometimes feel Hao's artwork rushing to keep up. With so much going on (sometimes on multiple, simultaneous, interrelated abstract levels of action), the narrative fights to stay coherent. None of this takes away from the best moments, always in the depths of a game, when the plot turns smartly on a hinge, and the intended audience for this manga is reminded why they first became gamers. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Del Rey; Illustrated edition (January 19, 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0345513592
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0345513595
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 16 years and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.71 x 7.51 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 15 ratings

About the author

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Jason Thompson

Jason Thompson
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Jason Thompson is the author of Manga: The Complete Guide and author of the graphic novel King of RPGs. As a manga editor, he has worked on the English editions of titles such as Naruto, Fullmetal Alchemist, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Dragon Ball Z, Hana-Kimi, One Piece, Shaman King, Uzumaki, The Drifting Classroom and Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei. His writings on manga have appeared in WIRED, The Comics Journal and Otaku USA, as well as online at Anime News Network, io9.com and comixology.com. He is the author/artist of several fantasy comics including Hyperborea, H.P. Lovecraft's The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, The Strange High House in the Mist, The White Ship, Bold Riley and the Serpent in the Belly and the webcomic The Stiff.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
15 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Matthew Lane
5.0 out of 5 stars Super Nerd Power Go!
Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2010
Verified Purchase
I found out about this book on Io9, and once I read the sample pages, I was instantly hooked. You can read their article here:

[...]

There is nothing I could say that properly does this work justice. Whether you're a casual or hardcore gamer, if you enjoy video games, tabletop games, or any other form of nerdery, then you really have no excuse NOT to buy this book.
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Marvelous Jefferson
5.0 out of 5 stars King of RPGs = King of Manga
Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2011
Jason Thompson has written a modern masterpiece with his first volume of "King of RPGs." Wait seriously? Don't I have to roll on bluff to say that?

Actually no. "King of RPGs" is a must have for anyone that loves gaming. A humorous story involving some of the best developed characters seen in graphic novels. Everyone is believable to an extent, without being bland in the slightest. TThe DM goes above and beyond, to the point of setting up a tent for realism, the player's minds become one with their characters unlocking latent passive bonuses to their awesome rating, and the whole book is filled with gaming references much better than I can muster here.

As a DM, this book made me think about the games I write. As a player, it made me see things a little differently. As an otaku/gamer multiclassed human, it made me laugh and think from initiative until the final turn.

If you understood more than half of the references in this review, this book is meant for you.

[...]
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mason giles
5.0 out of 5 stars Nerds of RPG and TCG will love this!
Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2011
As an avid TCG collector, DnD player, manga reading and rpg playing geek, i love this book! It may be hard to get alot of the jokes or meenings to somethings if you have not played DnD or Magic. so For some one who just picks this up and dosent know what a "initiative roll" is or what "tapping for Mana" is they might be complitly lost and miss out on the books best jokes and gags! BUT if you do know how,when and why to make a "initiative roll" and you "Tap your Black lotus" for 3 to combo out then this is a reealy good read. It is very much aimed at Table top Rpg players and TCG players, if you are one of them (like i am) then this book is worth the cash and time to read! [...] for some Sample Pages! give them a read then GO BUY THIS BOOK!
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Felipepepe
2.0 out of 5 stars "Yu-Gi-Oh meets RPG" bland fanfic.
Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2011
Verified Purchase
I was really hyped by the ideia of the comic, after all PnP RPG have some really fun moments, and to summ all of that on a book, in a Scott Pilgrim style would be great. Unfortunaly, this comic is no more than a "Yu-Gi-Oh meets RPG" fanfic.

The characters start interesting, but manage to get more bland and shallow as the story goes on. The drawings don't help, as this americanized-manga style make everyone look the same, so much that the autor has to resort to clothing and (stupid) hats to make you differ them apart. But it dosen't matter, as anyone but the main character feel like is there only to complete the PnP RPG table.

The story is filled with anime/rpg/games references, but they feel out of place (even though is a RPG comic), as they where placed just so the audience could find them and be happy about it, as a non-erotic fanservice. It's amazing that the book focus so much on the "real world" instead of the "RPG world", since the bland characters just make you want to skip some pages. The best part is the cardgame showdown at the end, but is EXACTLY as in a Yu-Gi-Oh manga/anime, so why waste tour time on this?

Overall, a bland, artificial, "made by a fan, not for the fans" comic that I regret buying.
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Jake T. Forbes
5.0 out of 5 stars A Gaming Comedy that Burns with Fiery Passion!
Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2010
A disclaimer, I'm friends with the writer, but even if I wasn't, I'd give high marks to this debut graphic novel from Jason Thompson and Victor Hao. The tabletop Mages and Monsters game early on set a high bar for loving RPG parody, but I was blown away by how Jason so deftly summed up the history of Collectible Card games with humor and heart in a later flashback. While there have been dozens of "manga inspired" graphic novels created for western audiences, King of RPGs is the first one I've read that so perfectly captures the blend of manic energy and heart found in the best shonen manga. Fans of either shonen manga or RPG culture will find much to love. Fans of both will be in heaven.
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Marie Del Rio
1.0 out of 5 stars This book almost made me give up manga and roleplaying...and reading
Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2010
I was looking forward to this title. As a tabletop Rper, I was intrigued to read it. My biggest regret is that I didn't sit down to peruse this mess before buying it. It was terrible. It is a bad rip off of Yu-gi-oh and I think the author has little idea of what tabletop roleplaying is like. If you want a second opinion, my husband read it too and was not only disappointed but was considering giving up manga, roleplaying and reading all together.

This manga could have been a lot of fun. It could have been great. But it was pure, concentrated trash. I think it is stinking up the rest of my collection. I understand that it is just supposed to be fun, but it isn't even that. I highly suggest reading it in a store before buying this lemon of a book.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Lennart
5.0 out of 5 stars Abgedrehter Comic für Rollenspiel-Fans
Reviewed in Germany on September 20, 2011
Verified Purchase
Der Comic ist abgedreht. Ziemlich abgedreht. Macht aber Spaß zum lesen. Erfahrung mit Pen&Paper und Computerrollenspielen ist notwendig um die ganzen Anspielungen, von denen die Story lebt zu verstehen.
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