Total cheat really. These games are less 'Mix and Match' as they are 'ideas to be shared'. They are basically two slightly different expressions of the same world.
Now V&V 2.1 has better, or at least, more explicit rules for magic and psionics. Plus converting between MP and V&V 2.1 is easy; there is a section in the MP book on converting V&V 2.1 over.
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Using this V&V 2.1 becomes a Rosetta Stone of sorts for d20 based games. This conversion key is really helpful for me for the next two games. Mighty Protectors & d20 Silver Age Sentinels / BESM d20. Alas, Guardians of Order. You were a not a well-run company, in the end, but you did have some fun games. Two of GoO's games are of particular interest to me.
Big Eyes Small Mouth d20 (BESM d20) and Silver Age Sentinels d20 (SAS d20). Both had great breakdowns of the d20 system (circa 2002) into Level-Based Point buy systems. Using our V&V translation you can now have a translation of BESM/SAS d20 to V&V and MP. In particular, the book Advanced d20 Magic for BESM d20 is a great resource for point-buy spells. I have not worked out the mathematical translations or crunched the numbers just yet, but there are there.
My initial guess is that 1 CP (MP) = 2 Points for SAS/BESM. This would give me a great point-buy spell system with some well-defined familiar spells. Another great thing about SAS (Tri-Stat or d20 versions) is the excellent history of comics and the superhero in modern culture.
The Silver Age sensibility of the 'how to play' sections fit Mighty Protectors to a tee. Mighty Protectors and Mutants & Masterminds 2.0.
One can't talk super-hero games and not mention Muntants and Masterminds. While now in the third edition, it is the second edition that concerns us here and now. M&M2 shares a lot in common with MP.
I could detail it here, but this link, does a far better job. I have gone over the list of Powers and Abilities for both games to see what one has that the other doesn't, But I can say that between these two nearly every power likely is covered. Plus Green Ronin has an absolute ton of material for M&M. Personally, I like to put the supers of each game into their own cities and if you go to that city that's where you will find them.
For my next round of characters, I am going to take some notes from these other games to get the characters I am really looking for. It should be a blast. Both are designed to allow the GM to create his/her own game with the tools provided. Both also use the same basic roll system; 3d6 + Attribute + Skill.
(or even 1d20 + Attribute + skill). The system is modular, so you can take or leave what you like. Open Core is based on the OGL but differs quite a bit from it. Like a number of game, OC uses a point buy system for attributes and skills.
The number of points granted is based on the game's power level. You have six attributes, three physical and three mental, that map nicely to d20 or even Unisystem. These abilities then can be used for derived abilities, like initiative or health or even variant ones like SAN. Skills are covered and use the same point buy system. And there are a lot of skills, though given the modular nature of the game and maybe the your own games focus, you might need to use all of them. There are also a number of effects-based abilities which look very similar to BESM d20/SAS d20 or other open Super's games.
Though the 'hows' of these effects may not be defined. For example a 'Fire' effect could be magic (fireball), tech (flame thrower), advanced science (heat ray) or anything really. The aim is to describe what is happening and then GM/Players decide how it happened. Also included are a list of Disabilities, things that can affect your character.
This is very similar to other games, in particular GURPS. These grant a certain level of Character Points back to you. Finally we also get Action Points, which work like Drama Points in Unisystem. The next part of the book are the rules of play, which is heavy on the combat and things like chases and mental battles. The rules are simple really, using the same basic rolls, just applied in different situations.
There is a section on adventures and a quick overview of character creation. The Appendices cover different play modes. So for example Sorcery which adds 'D&D/d20 Arcana' like spells to your game. Another is an expanded wealth system. Open Anime is a little different. It is very, very similar to Open Core, but with more of an anime overlook.
What does that mean? Well, for starters we start with the various Anime sub-genres and how these change how you view and how you play your character. If Open Core is the then Open Anime is the.
Open Anime is actually a game I have wanted to write. When BESM disappeared there was a vacuum for a good Anime RPG. With all the Open systems out there and the BESM-d20 system open, all the elements needed are out there. Open Anime combines all of these using Open Core as their guide. While I don't think it quite reaches the heights that BESM does/did, it is a rather good effort. Good enough that I don't have any desire to write my own Anime game anymore, I'll just tweak this one.
There is a heavier emphasis on Magic and Magical Girls than say other types of Anime Genres. Which I think is a little disappointing. What gets me the most about this one is there seems to be a lack of what makes an Anime RPG an Anime RPG. I think in the attempt to make this game more open and more flexible they lost a little of what makes Anime different than some other games. Both games are fun and I'd like to see more from them. Taking a break from Anime RPGs for a sec to talk about yesterday's family game day.
Due to the rain yesterday and a general lack of motivation we decided to play a game of D&D. This is the on going saga of the 'Dragon Slayers' which consisted of my oldest son's three characters (I have alway let him play multiple characters since it was just us), my youngest son and his Archer Ranger/Thief and even my wife got into the game for a bit. A couple of D&D tile sets (which my wife told me to go out and buy more!) a few of my son's toys that work great with the minis, and a half baked idea all came together for ' Dragon Slayers and the Quest for the Dragon Pearl!' I used my to put together a character for my wife really fast; a duel wielding Ranger/Fighter multiclass. Now this is not the same game as the game I have been playing in.
Though Connor is playing an older version of that character in the Dragon Slayers game. Liam's characters are also somehow related in both games. I am playing the same witch character.
In Dragon Slayers she is a 9th level witch using my Liber Mysterium rules for D&D 3.0 and in Pathfinder she is a 1st level witch using the new witch class from that game. In Dragon Slayers she is a GMPC/NPC of course, but her job in that group is to record all the knowledge the characters gather on dragons. The Dragon Slayers game has turned into a rather cool one. It is at it's base D&D 3.0 with various 3.5 add ins, a little Star Wars d20 (for the Bounty Hunter) and some and where needed.
It is set in my which is another unholy union of various D&D worlds, so it all fits really. The over arching plot here is that evil dragons are planning to take over the world by killing all the good dragons, the characters are finding all the big bad evil dragons and hunting them down, while collecting pieces of an artifact so the can defeat Tiamat. So it has it's own built in end game. While they are seraching for these artifacts they are also looking for other items of power. They are supposed to head to the South Pole next time, which I am going to draw heavy from At the Mountains of Madness for, but before they get there they will come to a country they did not know was there (it's not on their maps) and this gives me the excuse to have them gain some Dragonlances.
So yeah, this game is more cartoon than it is fantasy adventure epic, so in a way it does connect back to the topic at hand; how to add Anime Style to your games. My son's character sheets are an odd collection of D&D 3.0, M&M and BESM d20. For this game the BESM d20 sheets work the best since his wizards tend to have 'powers' instead of 'spells'.
I know there are purists out there cringing, but all I can say is it works and it is fun. Yesterday the Dragon Slayers were convinced by an Ogre to retrieve a 'Dragon Pearl'.
Why were they dealing with an ogre? Well he had the only boat that would take them from to the South Pole where they believe another piece of the artifact was. The pearl was in a submerged cave system and protected by a Deep Sea Dragon Eel and an Aquatic Dragon. Which were stat wise just two adult black dragons with about 200 hp each. The Dragon Eel was that my son got years ago and the aquatic dragon was this he bought recently on Amazon. The 'ogre' was also an 'igor' figure from a, so while he is a small figure to her, to a 7ft tall Dragonborn mini he is about 10-13ft tall (hard to tell, he is hunched over). The adventure went great and nearly everyone gained enough XP to level up.
My sons started talking about the 'end game' of this; when they defeat Tiamat and retire to pick up on 4th Edition. While I Am looking forward to playing some 4th edition with them, I am finding I am not really ready to see the end of the Dragon Slayers yet. It has been a ridiculously fun ride. What adventures will the Dragon Slayers have next rainy day? Unknown, but it will certainly be a blast. Ok, so I have worked through three different versions of BESM.
Each one had something to offer my regular Unisystem games and each one gave me a alternate game when I felt the need to recharge my batteries. Yes, Unisystem pretty much offers everything I need in a system.
But playing and reading other games, especially other genres of games, can help me build out the game I am playing. BESM added a need dose of light to my games. Trust me, I have a stack of Horror games that can provide me plenty of dark, Anime games helped me focus on some of the things that horror games often overlook.
One of the issues in my games (at least in the past) was 'what does it mean to be human?' I had many characters that were were closer in nature to the monsters they hunted rather than the humans they protected. To help with these issues games like World of Darkness are good, but full of angst that I may or may not want in an adventure where the characters go to the beach on a bright sunny day. Anime games help with those 'days off' stories where there is a lull from the action but it is a good adventure for character development. BESM, and other Anime games, were very influential on my Season 3 game 'Generation HEX' in terms of tone, pacing and story.
It also helped me see the value in a 2d6 mechanic for Unisystem. BESM 3 only solidified that. Some Crunch One of the things I like to do with a new system/game is find some gems and convert them over to what-ever system I happen to be using at the time. Often that is Unisystem. Unknown/Undeveloped Power 1-5 point Quality Prerequisite: Approval of Director/Chronicler Some characters are born with their gifts turned on or readily apparent.
These characters my start the game as normal humans only to have their powers or gifts turned on when it becomes dramatically appropriate. To represent this the player pays a certain amount of Quality points at character creation (usually 1 to 5) to have the Director/Chronicler develop the new power over time as part of the story campaign or all at once when it is needed. The Player and Director/Chronicler need to agree to this. The player pats the points now and the Director/Chronicler gives them the power that costs the amount paid plus 50% rounded up at a later date.
This payoff should be no more than two or three episodes. Longer than that should increase the amount of interest paid on the power. The character is loosing potential at the beginning of the game (making them weaker than other characters) for a larger return. So a character that is to develop magic at some point can pay 3 points now and get a return to 3 + 1.5 = 4.5 rounded up to 5 points later to buy Sorcery/Magic.
The Director/Chronicler must work to make the payoff worth it not just in terms of points, but also in terms of drama. This selection also works well for younger characters. Characters One thing that BESM 2r/3.0/d20 was missing were some iconic characters for me to convert. So I have to turn to it's sister game SAS.
And since GoO was a Canadian company I should use one of Canada's finest superheroes. Mother Raven. Human Witch This represents Mother Raven at the start of her career. As she progresses she will increase her levels of magic to a max of 8 and increase her skills and loose her recurring nightmares (loss would be something she would have come to terms with). Given that this is 'Silver Age' I would imagine she would be 'Grandmother Raven' now.
There are many strange and terrible things in the world, but few target innocence so ruthlessly or cruelly as the monstrous Bloody Mary. She has been called demon, fiend, and vampire, but is she truly otherworldly, or just an example of human capacity for evil? Bloody Mary was first reported as the perpetrator in a nation-wide kidnapping case, where a dozen children from across the United States were abducted. Street kids were whispering, “Bloody Mary got ‘em,” weeks before the FBI had a name. The Baron recognized something supernatural was involved, and helped the FBI. Mary’s plans to use the children as livestock were upset by the Baron, the FBI, and the appearance of Pan & Belle. Mary was defeated, but escaped.
The story of Bloody Mary, however, was told by street kids for years, but no one ever believed them. She was first, and known to stalk children through mirrors. Haitian kids knew she could reach through the tinted windows of Jeeps.
She was a demon, or a spirit possessing an evil woman, or even a corruption of the Virgin Mary; she fought with angels, and used children for slaves, living off of their blood and fears. Blood Mary has been seen several times since then.
Mother Raven and Lady of the Lantern teamed up when Mary invaded Empire City, once more chasing her away. Some children say she is building an army of demons, a hellish warmachine powered by the souls of children, to conquer the spirit world.
Others believe Mary is mad, perhaps driven insane at the loss of a child, and simply trying to restore her old life. Finally, a few believe she is pure evil, hunting children because she loathes their innocence and can feed off their souls. Many children believe once she’s seen your face, Mary can track you to the ends of the Earth. In 1997, a doomsday cult in San Francisco, the Temple of Mars, summoned Bloody Mary to tear apart the dimensional veil. They offered 100 refugee children as sacrifice. Whatever they intended, few seemed to realize the horror they were dealing with. Many died as Mary opened a hellgate, but Pan & Belle appeared and drove her back.
Meanwhile, Mother Raven and Slipstream arrived and dealt with the demons. But during the fight, one incarnation of Belle gave her life to keep the children safe. The FBI does not know how to deal with Mary, and calls in help whenever she is believed to be involved. The Baron clashes with her whenever their paths cross, but she tries to avoid his territory. He does not know if she truly travels between Heaven and Hell, but has seen her vanish into the spirit realms, and has even seen her personal, nightmare dimension. Mary barely acknowledges these forces, except when they directly interfere with her machinations. She sees most superheroes as bothersome distractions, but regards a few (like Red Phoenix and Sentinel) as hated angels.
Pan & Belle most often crop up wherever Mary is spotted, and much bad blood lies between them. Mary is the embodiment of everything they oppose. She eagerly anticipates the day they, and all the children of the world, lie chained at her feet. Bloody Mary (Unisystem) Character Type: Demon? Well again, it seems like a logical next step. My conversions to BESM Tri-Stat version went so well that a conversion to BESM d20 seems logical.
Plus I have done numerous d20 conversions so far and Silver Age Sentinels also has Tri-Stat and d20 variants and are very close to Mutants and Masterminds (with SAS d20 and Mutants and Masterminds both written by Steve Kenson). So yeah, it seemed logical. Plus despite that fact that Guardians of Order are no longer with us, the ' rules were released as open gaming content. So if I wanted to I could release an anime d20 supplement or an entire new rule book using the rules of the OGL. The other advantage to using this set of rules it is fairly easy to convert Unisystem to BESM and BESM to BESM d20. I can also convert d20 Modern or M&M to SAS d20 and SAS Tri-Stat.
And both SAS and BESM d20 are built on an odd mix of d20 and Tri-Stat, so in the end it seems that BESM and/or SAS d20 stats should write them selves by now. Well What happens is I get some interesting differences depending on if I start fresh, convert from Unisystem, convert from BESM Tri-Stat, or even from one of the d20 games. I will not bother with the details here (mostly they end up being differences in saves and amount of skills) but all of them are close enough for me to feel there is a good sense of 'inter-system reliability' and that was sort of the point of this long experiment; can I represent certain characters more or less the same way under multiple systems. So when looking at this conversion I am going to be focusing on BESM d20. I am grabbing things from SAS d20 as well since the systems are largely compatible. (nitpick: and by 'largely compatible' I mean 'powers were cut and pasted from one version to the next' with BESM 2, SAS, BESM d20 and SAS d20 I figure I have paid for the same blocks of text now four/five times). BESM d20 seems closer to D&D3.x and SAS d20 closer to M&M, but that is to be expected.
I am also freely dipping into 'BESM d20 Advanced Magic', but more on that later. Overview A lot of what is in BESM d20 can be found in BESM and SAS d20. So much that I wish I had just one omnibus edition with say a d20 conversion chapter. Almost all the attributes have the same (or similar) point spread across all the systems and to convert to d20 from Tri-Stat is often just a matter of doubling the points. BESM d20 includes rules for converting the D&D and d20 Mod classes to their point system so I am not at a lack of choices. I did notice right away that BESM d20's Dynamic Sorcerer is not 100% compatible with SAS d20's Costumed Wizard; and similar inconsistencies have popped up. There are also minor balance issues between the SAS classes and between the SAS and BESM classes.
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Converting the lot to Unisystem might help, or might make things worse. So my first conversion rule is giving any character an extra 5 'fluff' points to spend as they see fit. I found that these points usually balance everything out well. See defects below for more on this.
Levels, Classes and Hit Points Ok, lets get this out of the way now. BESM d20 and SAS d20 both have levels, classes and hitpoints. I typically find that people can deal with one, but not the other, and rarely both unless it's D&D. On the surface level can convert roughly to M&M's PL, rough enough that I am going to say it's fine and not worry about it. But Hit Points do not work with M&M's Damage system. On the other hand levels do not work well with Unisystem. And then there are Classes.
While some don't like this, I think it works well in terms of Anime, but less so for Supers. Ok for the most part these can be ignored since they only decide what powers a character will get and when, what Hit Die, attacks and saves. BESM d20 offers a classless option which should work fine for the class haters out there.
Also BESM d20 deconstructs the D&D classes by what they get with points to show their relative merits (useful for anyone playing D&D). We can convert the Classes to archetypes but we are still stuck with levels. It is d20 after all. The Classes in BESM d20 seem to work better for me. The SAS d20 classes felt too restrictive. One thing I wanted to do was stat up my son's favorite female super heroes and, but the closest thing that seems to work is 'Adventurer' with maybe some 'Acrobat'?
Not very satisfying. At this point I go to my and conversions to get an idea of what level I want. I have a basic understanding of their skills, so I can work backwards from that point. I also have knowledge of what types of magic (lower case m) they can do, so I can work backwards from that point as well. In the end I think I want to use the lowest possible level (so I have room to work up) and given them the 5 fluff points.
Willow comes out to about level 13 and Tara level 12 total. Magic and Dynamic Sorcerery.
Like BESM, BESM d20 has a 'Dynamic Sorcery' power, 'Dynamic Powers' in SAS and. This is used in BESM d20 to emulate the power of wizards. Its roots are in Anime of course to mimic the special magical effects of characters that are not really Vancian-style wizards.
Witch Hunter Robin for example could have dynamic sorcery limited to fire. Using Dynamic Sorcerery is one of the benefits (and one of the problems) of BESM (either Tri-stat or d20).
Dynamic Sorcerery is primarily used for improvised casting. It is bought in levels and how many levels you have decides on what it is you can accomplish. It's not cheap, 8 points per level in BESM d20 (4 points per level in BESM 2.0 Tri-Stat, 20 points per level in SAS d20), but limitations on powers (like the fire only stipulation for Robin above) drops it to 4 or 2 (or 2 and 1, or 15 and 10) points per level. Ranks in the power determine what level of spell you can cast. So to cast a 0-level d20 cantrip you need 1 rank of Dynamic Sorcery, to cast a 9th level d20 spell, you need a Dynamic Sorcery rank of 10. The parallels between this and Cine Unisystem's Magic/Sorcerery should be obvious. Buffy's Sorcery includes Telekinesis, d20 BESM has TK as a separate 4 point per rank power.
So Dynamic Sorcery is a way to do spells and on the spot magical effects. Now BESM d20's 'Magic' attribute ('Power Flux' in SAS and BESM 3.0) also allows the character to perform magical feats, seemingly similar to Dynamic Sorcery, but they caution using the two together. Magic then becomes a descriptor and then the extra 10 points per rank are used to buy other attributes/powers.
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This makes it most similar to M&M's 'Magic'. Then to power those magical attributes/powers, the character must pay some cost from their Energy Points (like Essence in WitchCraft) So a Techno Pagan then could buy Magic and use the points to buy Mechanical Genius or to be a Super Scientist. BESM d20 Magic then in Unisystem terms is a means to buy Supernatural Qualities. In this respect BESM's Magic + Energy Bonus is most similar to Classic Unisystem's The Gift + Extra Essence and Essence Channeling.
Magic becomes a means to buy other powers, that can sometimes be called spells, sometimes called powers. Willow then could have a level of Magic, use the points to buy TK and use the associated Energy Points to power her TK OR she could do it with a level in Dynamic Sorcery. Tara would do the same to power her Empathy and the Sight qualities, but those 'feel' more like magic and less like dynamic sorcery. BUT keeping track of Energy Points is not how Cinematic Unisystem works (otherwise it would have Essence) so, I am going to limit how Dynamic Sorcery and Magic are used together (as the rules suggest) and treat them much the same way I treat Sorcery and The Gift.
Separate, but equal (and not in a Kansas Board of Education way). Magic and Dynamic Sorcerery are also known as Power Flux and Dynamic Powers respectively in other Tri-Stat books (SAS and BESM 3.0). So which one should I use to represent the magic I want? Good question. I have spent a lot of time working this out and the truth is for d20 BESM I want to go with Dynamic Sorcery. It's more cinematic in it's feel, it's parameters (in d20 anyway) are a little better defined. Thanks to 'd20 Advanced Magic' it is also a better choice in terms of multiple spells.
Plus at this point in my game Willow and Tara are whipping out spells left and right. For a BESM d20 'Willow and Tara' or 'Charmed' game, I would say each witch character gets a special power with the Magic descriptor added on and then Dynamic Sorcery as well.
To use TK they use their Dynamic Sorcery with a power level equal to that of their power level in Dynamic Sorcery. Sure it's expensive, but cheaper than buying DS and TK at the same time. Note: BESM d20 vs. I am further making my options for BESM d20 over SAS d20 clearer here. The Dynamic Sorcerer in BESM is much more powerful than Costumed Wizard of SAS d20. Not only in terms of points given (twice as much for BESM) the cost for the dynamic sorcery power is 8 points per level compared to SAS's 20 per level.
Now the arguement can be made that BESM is way overpowered. But this can be controlled though the use of the character points. In the end BESM d20 has a closer fit for me and what I want to do. Powers into Qualites Again the basic conversion is divide the BESM d20 power cost by 2 to get the Unisystem quality cost, unless the BESM one is 1, then it stays 1. There is so much overlap between BESM d20/SAS d20 and Mutants and Masterminds that whatever works for one will work for the other. Defects into Drawbacks If BESM d20 and SAS d20 have one edge over their d20 brethren then it is in the use of Defects.
The issue here is that both games use point systems along with levels, so defects give you more points. This makes it sometime unwieldy for other d20 games, it makes it perfect for converting them into Unisystem Drawbacks or Mutant & Masterminds.
Again, as with Powers, divide the Defect points by two to get a Unisystem equivalent, with some rounding. 1 point defects remain 1 point, 2 points = 1 point and 3 points = 2 points. Most defects never go beyond 3 points. Now if you remove the 'fluff' points option I have above then it is possible to convert them on a one to one basis; keeping in mind that a Unisystem character should never have more than 10 points in Drawbacks. Since all the drawbacks are 'scaled' in BESM and SAS they can be converted more on an as-needed basis too. Skills Skills convert on a 1 for 2 basis, so every one rank of Unisystem gives you 2 ranks of d20.
That works fine as a base, but the two games are not powered the same. So to get a level based on Spell power, you end up with a higher level character (Willow is 13th level here) and a lot more skill points to spread around. Fortunately there are a lot more skills in d20. Silver Age Sentinels vs. Mutants and Masterminds I have mentioned it above quite a bit, but I'll detail it here.
These two games have a lot in common. Yes both have Steve Kenson's name on them, yes both are d20 (and thus maybe not interesting to Unisystem players) and yes both are about superheroes. But what you don't get from reading one or the other game is how well they can work together. When doing my conversions I have decided that in my d20 Supers game, SAS represents my Silver Age (1956 - 1968) while M&M is the modern age. So I just roll back any dates of the characters back 40-30 years, where necessary. The great thing is that this has brought greater definition to my 'Superhero World'. It is a mix of Mutants & Masterminds, with SAS as part of it's history and elements from BESM where needed.
No cute and fuzzy fighting seizure monsters, well, not yet anyway, but there are dragons and some other magical beasts. Willow and Tara in BESM / SAS d20 Why always these two?. But here are my salient points. I am interested in how witches in particular will convert. I don't really care about demons, vampires or other stock creatures; every game has those. Eden has Willow and Tara sheets on their site (used to anyway), this allows people not overly familiar with Unisystem, but d20, to make judgments on my conversions. I like Willow and Tara.
If want to do all this work on converting then you can pick your own characters. Now I also use them as 'out of the box' characters.
That is I try not to make up any special rules regarding them. I have another character I use that for. But the idea here is take something that I know very well (and most people here have some idea about) and see if I can re-create them using another system.
Instead of using 'The Dragon and the Phoenix' canon/timeline, I am going to be using my ' timelines; so the same as BESM 2r. Truth is, vampires and demons, especially the kind that show up on TV are not much of a threat to humans that can leap tall buildings in a single bound. I don't feel the need to post their full stats (unless anyone wants them), but here are their levels. Rosenberg Female Human Classes and Levels: Student 2, Adventurer 2, Dynamic Sorcereress 9 (13) Strength 9 (-1), Dexterity 11 (0), Constitution 11 (0), Intelligence 18 (+4), Wisdom 16 (+3), Charisma 17 (+3) Student (to cover her time during 1st and 2nd seasons), Adventurer (starting in 2nd season and into 3rd where she 'buys' more tech and magic skills) and finally Dynamic Sorcerer. I'll make her a Student 4, Adventurer 2, Dynamic Sorcereress 7 (level 13). Compare this to her d20 Mod incarnation who is a Smart Hero 5, Occultist 1, Mage 7 (level 13) Tara A.
Maclay Female Human Classes and Levels: Magical Girl 3, Student 2, Dynamic Sorcereress 7 (12) Strength 12 (+1), Dexterity 9 (-1), Constitution 12 (+1), Intelligence 16 (+3), Wisdom 18 (+4), Charisma 16 (+3) Magical Girl (to cover her time before meeting Willow and to power her Sight and Empathy) and then Dynamic Sorcerer. Maybe a level of Student in there too. Her companion is the ghost of her dead mother (or grandmother if you want her to start earlier). She also has MKF as a companion, and in true anime fashion Miss Kitty is a talking cat. I could also make her a Magical Girl 5, Student 2, Dynamic Sorcereress 5 (level 12). Compare to her d20 Mod incarnation, Dedicated Hero 6, Mystic 6 (level 12).
I'll say they pick up the bulk of their Occult Knowledge while they are students. While I am not as thrilled with these versions as I am the BESM 3.0 or the Mutants and Masterminds ones, they are still pretty good. What gets me about BESM d20 is the huge amount of untapped potential here. There is just a ton of stuff in this book for the taking.
Same with SAS. Speaking of SAS, the best super-hero history I ever read was in the pages of SAS.
They are the same in both the d20 and Tri-Stat versions (another grumble). SAS looks like it should mix well with M&M but I guess they are really too close to each other that their differences are more obvious. It's a shame that SAS never really got it's due. It does read like a rough draft of M&M at times. Is BESM d20 Anime?
Well I guess I have to ask, what is Anime? BESM d20 is a good d20 version of BESM. I am not convinced though it taps into that collective known as 'Anime' as well as BESM 2 or 3 does. I have played more BESM d20 than BESM 3 so to me it came off more like 'Cartoon Cinematic d20'. Which is in itself not so bad. I have mixed BESM d20 and D&D3 and gotten something a bit more cinematic. I have also mixed BESM d20 with d20 Star Wars for some really weird stuff, but all of it fun.
As I wrap up BESM (all versions) I have to reiterate what a shame it is that we lost GoO. I know companies come and go all the time and each time something unique to the industry is lost. Not to say there were not issues with GoO; there were plenty, and they were hardly a model of how to run a business. It is just too bad that what they provided to the game industry is now gone. Yes I know, I did these both for BESM 2nd Ed.
But I went with a slightly different version here. The 2nd Ed versions were based on a idea of mine to do a Animated series to feature the girls as high school foreign-exchange students to Japan. In this case I am going strict the Dragon and the Phoenix, or rather in this case, my 3rd Season, 'Generation HEX' conversions. Given the style of game that Generation HEX has become (low-powered supers/magical girl in a modern supernatural occult dramady) then oddly enough the BESM 3.0 stats work rather well. The differences are mostly do to the changes in the systems, but also to reflect where the characters were at that point in my games.
These are certainly older versions of Willow and Tara than I had in BESM 2r. BESM 3.0 makes more use of their multiverse (which sadly we won't be hearing more about) so there is a Universe line now on the character sheet. Despite all thee differences though (and the change in mechanic) these are obviously related games. The conversion from BESM 2r to BESM 3 is easier than say the conversions between AD&D 2 and D&D 3. The BIG thing here though is my shift from Power Flux/Magic to Dynamic Powers. Now some of the BESM guys mentioned to me in the past that this might make them much more powerful than the numbers would suggest.
But I wanted to try it out. Plus they had become 'mages' in my Season 2 arc, 'Season of the Witch' and this is supposed to represent them at the beginning of my Season 3 arc, 'Generation HEX'. They might bee a tad powerful, but I think that is fine really. I will say this. Dynamic Powers are so ripe for abuse it is not even funny. Yeah I see why it is there.
I have watched enough anime now to get it. But it should still have something more to guide the player. BESM d20 was a handy guide for this, as was True20 believe it or not. Name: Willow D.
I was eagerly anticipating the release of (Big Eyes, Small Mouth) 3rd Edition. Of course by the time it was reasy had gone belly up and the rules were now being released by. My anticipation was tinged a little with stress. What had happened to the game I had just recently become very fond of and what was going to happen now? And of course would I be able to convert Willow and Tara to new version given how much fun I had with BESM 2nd Ed Revised? Well many of fears were put to rest, only to be replaced by new ones (and a couple that just never seemed to go away).
I'll detail those all below. Then, a change happened.
I was teaching at night so I had my days free.I also had a account. Ao I began to get anime, and flankly a lot of it was so good I even dragged my wife into them. I do admit I sought out what had been considered some of the best, Cowboy Bebop were our faves. We also enjoyed the Witchblade anime as well as some that were even less than family fare. What I liked about them were obviously the stories and in many the humor, but also the style.
Anime have a beginning, middle and an end. Obviously due to their manga origins. Some TV shows in america seem to go on ad nauseum. It is a style I would want to duplicate in an amime based RPG game.
Get in, tell your story, and get out to let others have the stage. It's a style more than a system thing. You could do high action anime D&D (and some claim that is what D&D4 is) or even horror. But all the same I sought out various games. Here is a breif run down before I get into details. For this I even have new 'label' for these threads;.
BESM My first Anime game. I started with 2nd Edtion and quickly found out that there was a 2nd Edition revised. What was great about BESM was it was a primer on all things related to Anime. I learned what 'Fan service' was, even if I already had an idea, the history, the conventions of anime (not Anime cons) and in there was also a pretty slick system.
There were parts I didn't like, but that is fine. BESM + Unisystem in my mind was a great mix. I picked up BESM d20 (which I really liked to be honest), Silver Age Sentinels (using the same system) and a bunch of the splats to go with it.
I also bought BESM 3, which I really did like a lot, but never could find anyone to play with. I like BESM, it is very easy to write for, I just wish there was a market for it. Mutants & Masterminds: Mecha & Manga I love M&M and was really looking forward to this. To me anime and supers are of a similar breed.
Both typically have comics or cartoons as their storytelling medium, so that gives them a lot of surface similarities and similar stories are often told. Astro Boy and Superman are more alike than different. But while I like M&M, Mecha & Manga left me a little flat. It is a great book to add to your normal M&M game and it is a great book to add to a BESM game for other ideas. But I think I was expecting more.
OVA This is a new one to me, but not a new game. I just got it and I like what I see so far. The system is very different that BESM, but it has some good character creation guidelines that I think would work nice with any game.
Cartoon Action Hour Season 2 AKA CAH:2. Another new one for me. Like OVA I have not gone over it much other than to print it out.
It is not really an Anime RPG, but a Cartoon one. But I am not going to let that stop me. It also has some great character creation ideas and a series creation worksheet that is great for every game really. Of my recent purchases (OVA, BASH and CAH:2) this one is my favorite so far.
Heart Quest is a Soujo Anime/Magna RPG using the Fudge RPG. Why did I choose this one? Well a lot of what goes into Shoujo can be found in Buffy as well and visa versa.
There is even a very anime looking Buffy-like character on page 43. It is obvious from the start that while the mechanics are mostly the same to other Fudge games, the tenor is very different.
HQ only has five attributes in what looks like an odd cross of Unisystem and BESM. In fact, the holds up that Fudge Universal Translator theory well since HQ looks like it could convert to BESM in a snap. Skills are the same, mostly, as are the Gifts/Faults.
Magic becomes a Supernormal Power, so more inline with Buffy here. Where HeartQuest has the most to offer is half-way through the book with different Shoujo genres.
Teen Romance can add lighter feel to a younger Junior High or just starting High School set game and has some good advice on how to deal with relationships and sex on a more mature level. The chapter on Magical Girls shows the connection between and obvious debt owed to Sailor Moon by Buffy. Here again is advice on how to run a game where a group has magical powers, fighting against some evil, and yet still trying to live a normal life. In fact all seven of the types of Magical Girl games they suggest can be done with the Buffy rules. Extending the TV theme farther it is easy to see shows (and thus Buffy or Now Playing rules adaptations) for most of the Magical Girl types. Team: Sailor Moon; W.I.T.C.H., One Girl: Buffy, Witch Hunter Robin; Rivals: Winx Club, Psychic Girls: Twitches; Witch In Training: Kiki's Delievery Service, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, 8th season of Charmed.
Charmed and my Willow and Tara series has run the gambit to include all of these at one point. The book goes on to describe Historical Romance (great for Ghosts of Albion game), a sample setting for the three different genres and some sample characters. There is also a sample bibliography and resources not to be missed. There is also another Fudge game actually called that covers similar material. The bibliography in fact is identical. Which is fine for Fudge I guess, but a little odd all the same. I also have a post about Fudge/Fate coming up sometime soon.
Bounty Head Bebop A game using the Inverted 20 system. Open Anime This one just came out from Battlefield Press.
Looking to buy it here soon. Random Anime I have never been able to find a copy of this game, but have wanted to try it out.
I'll detail some of these games in, well, detail, as the weeks progress. I'll start with BESM since that is where I started.
I am most looking forward to OVA and CAH:2. Looking at any Game through the Anime Lens What happens when you add a bit of Anime to your games? Well some things change that is certain. Obviously the easiest answer is, it's the same game only there is more of it.
Black Cat above notwithstanding there is more to it than that. I'll try to detail that when I deal with each game, but the idea is this is something different. I in fact separated out my normal Unisystem-based Willow and Tara game (the Dragon and the Phoenix universe) and my anime based Willow and Tara the Animated Series. They had a lot of things in common, but enough differences that I was compelled to make them different worlds. With doing things Anime or Manga it is ok to break the rules that are often the sacred cows of the normal worlds.
For example, in the Marvel Universe Iron Man is Tony Stark, but in th eMarvel Manga universe it Toni Stark who is the Iron Maiden and the Hulk is a 70 ft tall Godzilla like monster. Small changes, but there are a lot like that.