Anime-Themed MUs

[Ghost]

Had a random thought this morning. Is it just me or is it surprising we don't have more MUs focusing on the larger, more popular anime IPs out there? We see the occasional Robotech game, which I'm personally a fan of, but Attack on Titan came to mind.

Attack on Titan seems like the kind of FS3/Greatest Generation high mortality MuFodder that the BSG/TGG crowd would crackfiend on, and given that AoT merchandise is everywhere, I'm just kind of surprised to see this hasn't been done yet.

There are so many breeds and brands of anime in varying grades of quality. I think there's a Naruto themed game around, but has anyone seen anyone try AoT, Knights of Sidonia, Sword Art Online, or any of the other big name anime titles in MU form?

[Lithium]

The problem with an Attack on Titan themed MU is everyone wants to be the special snowflake who can turn into a Titan.

That or they want to be the uber bad ass chick who can kill anyone and anything.

The theme itself is rather bland, and this is true of /most/ actual anime, what hooks us is the characters, not the theme which is why there are so many anime tropes when it comes to characters and why we can pick them out so readily. It also makes them familiar which makes an Anime easy to get into because we have our favorite types of characters and we want to see how those characters make it out in this anime.

But the actual setting? Horrible. Most people are the equivalent to peasants, there's an unbeatable monster out there that is just destroying and killing everyone. So even if everyone was part of the military, it'd be a one hit kill type of system. They get you once, you're dead, which would be crazy high turnover and the real lack of story variety would be... well I don't know.

It's not to me, maybe it's just something I don't see surviving for long. I'm of the opinions there needs to be a plethora of enemies and situations so as to not succumb to burnout/over saturation.

[Misadventure]

So, make the game be about those freakos who can turn into a Titan. Add in WoD-like control rolls and actions that send you closer to being a full on human chowing down monster, and now you have tension. Make them take on impossible missions, and try to be human around their support who can be NPCs or PCs. AND randomize for each mission the one character who will get like X2 the risks of sliding towards inhuman, or X2 the loss when they do fail. There will always be failure eventually.

And if there is a total wipe out, bring out younger soldiers, who were kept in reserve, with the terrible curse of having ingested Titan flesh or whatever.

[Bobotron]

@Ghost
There have been anime games before. But most of the time they're so super niche that it is difficult to keep them going. No playerbase, no momentum, no nothing.

[Olsson]

Wasn't there a fairly successful Naturo game? Last I knew it was still going.

[Songtress]

Its sort of in 'does not want to die mode' I was apart of 'Naruto Rivalries' it has had several 'reboots' and restarts and attempts to try and kick it back to life, but it kinda languishes, since the from what I remember, the player based ended up with : I wanna be the STRONGEST and the BEST, and if you didn't know the system (like I didn't), you ended up just being not very good. Or if you wanted an actual character progression, you couldn't go from 'piss poor fighter to interesting fighter' because all of the stuff had to applied for, via the @mail system.

It was not condusive to play,
You needed essentially a super UNDERSTANDING of the system, and themes nad how the game viewed them and creating attacks or powers or clans, required soo much effort, it was rediculous (I know because I tried, I only got 1 file implimented, on game and that was like a 'part 2' of a file without the part 1.

So that should tell you something.

[Vorpal]

@Songtress said:

Its sort of in 'does not want to die mode' I was apart of 'Naruto Rivalries' it has had several 'reboots' and restarts and attempts to try and kick it back to life, but it kinda languishes, since the from what I remember, the player based ended up with : I wanna be the STRONGEST and the BEST, and if you didn't know the system (like I didn't), you ended up just being not very good. Or if you wanted an actual character progression, you couldn't go from 'piss poor fighter to interesting fighter' because all of the stuff had to applied for, via the @mail system.

It was not condusive to play,
You needed essentially a super UNDERSTANDING of the system, and themes nad how the game viewed them and creating attacks or powers or clans, required soo much effort, it was rediculous (I know because I tried, I only got 1 file implimented, on game and that was like a 'part 2' of a file without the part 1.

So that should tell you something.

That kind of sounds like the rigmarole players had to go through in the Final Fantasy VII sim where I was a faction leader (AVALANCHE) for a while. I eventually got fed up and quit because the sim owner and two out of the three GMs were heavily pro-Shinra and tended to shoot down most perks and faction advancement ideas for Avalanche because "canon dictates they're piss-poor rebels." Which is fine when you're playing a single player game where there's a narrative of the one and chosen rising from the humble ranks to lead the underdog to victory. But when you have a multiplayer game where everybody in one faction basically gets capped and screwed because "canon doesn't allow you guys to be awesome" while the other faction's players game the system and get all the perks... yeah. There's a reason I quit and didn't look back.

[Lithium]

This is kind of a derail but I am really interested in using a system for my super game where I can fully automate all XP spending, which is one reason why I haven't settled on one yet. I've discovered that other than pure wealth economy systems like Dungeons & Dragons, nebulous money statistics (Resources from White Wolf, Fate, even Hero System) are a real pain in the ass. In very little time someone could go from broke to wealthiest person on the planet type stuff... it is an issue.

Back on topic:

I think with anime themed games the world itself has to be huge, and more expansive than just the player characters. I would think a world like Full Metal Alchemist would work, because the main characters are cool but hardly the most only alchemists on the planet. There are a lot of problems that can be used on the grid and it allows for a wide variety of game play as a setting.

Something like Knights of Sidonia... not so much.

[Vorpal]

@Lithium said:

I think with anime themed games the world itself has to be huge, and more expansive than just the player characters. I would think a world like Full Metal Alchemist would work, because the main characters are cool but hardly the most only alchemists on the planet. There are a lot of problems that can be used on the grid and it allows for a wide variety of game play as a setting.

oooh, I'd totally go for a FMA setting...

[Songtress]

I'd love an FMA Setting! Actually with its Post Inustrial Age, WWII esque flavor. ( Come on Amestrisa is totally Germany-esque in some respects).

It'd be great. Also easily done, because you can set the game after say FMA:Brotherhood, and make the world very different.

You know "Shin Sekai Yori", would make sort of for an interesting Anime. (Since its not about the 'action, but how Fucked up Society can be... its a great show. Admitedly hever one has TK!, but its interesting, and really thrilling.
You'd need to do something to make it mushable a bit.

[ShelBeast]

FMA, I think, really would make for a decent setting, where the world itself is compelling enough to warrant interesting play, unlike many anime. God, I really like playing fire based characters just so I can fingersnap all Mustang style.

[Songtress]

Come to think of FMA would be fun, especially when you think that Risa Hawkeye isn't actually an Alchemist (Is she. I don't remember. though her Brotherhood story is DARK.

[FiranSurvivor]

Neon Genesis Evangelion...

But with Disney characters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY1UhPMpWnc

[Songtress]

I think my Brain ... broke.

[FiranSurvivor]

@Songtress said:

Come to think of FMA would be fun, especially when you think that Risa Hawkeye isn't actually an Alchemist (Is she. I don't remember. though her Brotherhood story is DARK.

She wasn't. There was a lot of non-alchemist characters that kicked ass and added to the story. Hell I would love an FMA anime, and theres enough to the setting to allow for it as they established there are more then a few empires/civilizations.

[Songtress]

Its why I recommended Brotherhood, which introduced to us to Xing & Xeres ( which is own bundle of fish)

[Groth]

@Lithium said:

Back on topic:

I think with anime themed games the world itself has to be huge, and more expansive than just the player characters. I would think a world like Full Metal Alchemist would work, because the main characters are cool but hardly the most only alchemists on the planet. There are a lot of problems that can be used on the grid and it allows for a wide variety of game play as a setting.

Something like Knights of Sidonia... not so much.

What sort of system would you use to actually run FMA?

[Songtress]

Hmm. That's an excellent question.

I'd say GURPS ( but that's heavy).
Exalted 3rd ? Hmm?

OVA or BESM perhaps?

[Lithium]

@Groth What system to run FMA? That is a good question. There's a number of systems that could do it reasonably well, Fate can do just about anything, same with Savage Worlds, and Hero. You could even use something like OGR d20.

I'd think fate would probably be easiest to hack, with Savage Worlds following but I'd have to give it some real thought and I haven't. Hell I'm still trying to decide on a system for my game. I've now coded three seperate system chargens...

Ugh

[ShelBeast]

@Lithium Fate would be good, but I actually think that Savage Worlds would be a better system. It's just about as simple as Fate, but it seems to me like it's more lethal. Not overly lethal, but still deadly. And FMA should feel deadly at times.

Hughes... u_u