Tokyo NOVA

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Tokyo NOVA
image:nov07.jpg
Tokyo NOVA The Detonation cover
Designer Tarou Suzufuki, F.E.A.R.
Publisher Enterbrain, Game Field
Publication date 1993 1st Edition
1995 2nd Edition
1998 The Revolution (3rd Edition)
2002 The Revolution REVISED (3.5)
2003 The Detonation (4th Edition)
Genre(s) cyberpunk
System custom

Tokyo NOVA (トーキョーN◎VA?) is a cyberpunk role-playing game with a long history in Japan. It is currently in its fourth edition: Tokyo NOVA The Detonation. It is possible to play stories in the cyberpunk, hardboiled crime fiction, and contemporary fantasy genres.

The setting is an alternate near-future Tokyo called "Tokyo NOVA", after a pole shift. Tokyo NOVA is a dangerous and attractive city.

Playing cards are used instead of dice in the Tokyo NOVA system. It is possible to perform a heroic action based on the player's selection instead of the capricious dice. The game is similar to Castle Falkenstein, which Tokyo NOVA predates by a year. The suits of cards correspond to four abilities: Spade (♠) is reason, club (♣) is passion, heart () is life, and diamond () is mundaneness.

The styles that correspond to character classes represent not only the abilities and occupations of the characters but also ways of life. For example, the Kugutsu (Japanese for puppet) style represents not only the job of a megacorp's employee but also the character's unshakable loyalty to the company.

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