OVA Witch Hunter Robin

I spent some quality time with OVA this weekend.  I generated a few characters and it was one of the fastest character creation system I have played with in a long time.  Character creation was a snap.

To start with you work from your concepts and then basically figure out how much these concepts are worth.  What I liked about this game that abilities and weaknesses are roughly equal to qualities and drawbacks, so a +4 quality in Unisystem might give you a +4 ability in OVA.  I would also say that they are roughly equal to abilities in BESM 3.0.

What I like about this character creation is it does focus the player on what the character is all about.  Look at Kiki from "Kiki's Delivery Service", she is young, is looking for her place in world of witches, and can fly.  Not a lot really to be honest, but enough to build a story and a character concept around.  We know she can fly, can cook (sort of) and knows her way around the city.  She has a talking cat and a push broom.  OVA starts the same way.

Looking at Robin Sena we can do the same.  I have detailed Robin before both for BESM and Witch Girls Adventures.
What do we know about her?  Well she has secrets. Secrets about who she is ans what she is doing at STN-J. She is a witch, but rarely casts spells but instead uses something more like pyrokenisis. She knows a lot about the occult and can hunt.  We also know her Japanese is not great because she didn't grow up in Japan.  She also needs glasses in order to see to use her powers. She doesn't fly, but does have a Vespa scooter.

Using the rules I decide to set a power cap of 10.  Nice round number.
Finding the abilities and weaknesses I come up with this:

Robin Sena



Abilities & Weaknesses
Combat Skill (fire) +3, Magic, Witchcraft* +3, Occult Knowledge +3, Pyrokinesis (altered form of TK) +3: (Area Effect, Extra Damage),  Impared Sight -1, Secret -1, Haunted by Visions -1, Shy -1, Obsession (Discover the secret of her birth) -1, Code of Conduct -1.

That gives us a total of +6.  Just under the 10 I set.

Health: 30 (i reduced this to refelct her age)  Endurance: 40

Attack, Flame Strike +3
Defense, Magic Circle +3

I gave her "Magic, Witchcraft" instead of "Magic, Arcane" since I felt that it was better fit concept wise.  Though either would have worked fine.  I'll detail later the differences.

I like it.

I seems to be "missing" some crunch that I would normally like, but that could be partially my reading of the system and just the way the game is.   As an Anime game I think it works great.   Parts of it remind me of Cartoon Action Hour, which is cool.  I'll look into OVA again when I talk about Cartoon Action Hour.

Fudge and Fate

So I have some new (and some old) Fudge and Fate games I want to talk about.

But in general, what do you all think of Fudge and Fate?

I get the indy appeal, but something about them just never has jelled with me.  Maybe I don't get it.

I like numbers I guess.

Tell me.  What am I not getting here?  I'll have some reviews up soon, and I like the games that use it I just tend to like the games and convert them over to Unisystem.

More later in the week, or whenever I finish up Anime.

Willow & Tara: Macho Women with Guns

Note: Ok, this is a recycled one.  I had done these in the past and wanted something for Friday.  Continuing in my "can I convert a d20 game to play more like the modern horror/supernatural game of my dreams" I chose...well I chose a game I thought would be a joke, but found I liked the way it worked.

Plus it is a good excuse to post pictures of hot witches in their underwear.

These flow from my d20 Modern and d20 BESM stats.  There are few ideas here.  I like the Professions in MWWG d20 (which really work like the ones in CoC d20) and I used the Bat Winged Bimbos in other places.  These do sorta, kinda flow from the Anime d20 stuff.  A lot of the things you find in MWWG are also Anime tropes (gun bunnies, naughty school girls, succubi).


Macho Women With Guns

The original Macho Women With Guns (MWWG) was a bit of RPG silliness from the late 80's from the minds at BTRC (who would later go on to produce some really cool games). They figured with all the games out there that featured men killing things and taking things from other things and women mostly as ornaments or eye candy that something radical should be done. So this is a game about women killing things and taking things from other things. But that is not all. There is also a whole lot of blowing things up real good and looking good while doing it.

Ok, so not the cutting edge game you would expect, but hey, it was the 80's.

Of course in the 2000s Mongoose had opted to give us a new set of d20 based rules for MWWG, but that is sort of missing the point. Yes, it has lots of ways to kill, maim and blow things up while wearing a chain-mail bikini or halter top. Yes you can still kill scores of drunk fratboys, rednecks and sleazy televangelists. And yes there are pages and pages of scantily clad women that would make Larry Flint proud, but that was not really the point of the game. MWWG worked because it was parody. It took an established cliche and turned it on it's head. Course, later it became a parody of itself indulging in the same said cliché it used to send up. So where does that leave us?

Well. Dont pick it up thinking you can use it as a supplement to Spycraft or even d20 CoC. But as an afternoon diversion, you can do a lot worse. As a game with some fun ideas and a reminder that not every single game session is supposed to serious, then it is perfect.

What Does MWWG d20 have to Offer?

For starters MWWG d20 is mostly just the d20 Modern Rules. But it does have some interesting differences. First is the Witch profession. This gives 1st level characters a magic using option. It is similar in many ways to the Hedge Wizard profession of Urban Arcana. The other is a Mana point option, which is like a poor man's Essence system. What I did like is as out of the box rules with no modifications I got similar proportions of Mana as I did with Essence in WitchCraft for Willow and Tara.

The Professions in MWWGs can be used as a poor-mans Qualities (none should be more than 5 points). Nearly all the Heinous Drawbacks can be used in Unisystem in one way or the other. The Advanced Classes are closer to Qualities and can be used as such. Such get your Directors approval first. Assassin is fine, as are Relic Raiders and Criminal Masterminds. Questionable are Holly Rollers (Renegade Nuns on Wheels) and Infernal Mistresses (though they are like an advanced version of Bat Wing Bimbos). I dont even know what to say about the Busty Vampire Layer.

Besides, you have to like a game with a Naughty School Girl profession. Might have to port that over to BESM d20.  And I have to admit the Occult knowledge analogue, "Things Man Was Not Meant to Know (but are ok for women)" just HAS to find a way into one of my games.

New Quality/Feat/Advantage
Here is a new advantage I wrote for the original MWWG rules, converted for d20 and Unisystem.

Large with the Butch (5 per level) (BRTC)
Anytime her girlfriend is attacked or threatened the character can add the number of levels of this to her attacks and Take Charge rolls.

Large with the Butch (Combat Feat, multiple) (d20)
Anytime her girlfriend is attacked or threatened the character can add twice the number of levels of this feat to her attack, defense and Intimidate rolls.(1 feat = +2, 2 feats = +4).

Large with the Butch (1 point per level Quality) (Unisystem)
Pre-requisite: Love (romantic), Must be a woman in love with another woman
Anytime her girlfriend is attacked or threatened the character can add twice the number of levels of this Quality to her attack, defense and Influence rolls.


Willow and Tara
Of course I'll include my two favorite witches. These stats are mostly the same as the d20 Modern ones. I have made some changes to accommodate the world. Namely their professions start out as Naughty School Girls and then they become Witches. Again, I am looking for out of the box solutions here, sure I could make up new rules, but that is not the point at the moment.
Interesting additions are rules for Things Man Was Not Meant To Know which are ok for women to know. Its adds to their Occultism/Knowledge (Arcana/Magic). Would I adopt that for a Unisystem game? Not likely, but here it is fun.

Note they do get the Heinous Drawback for being conservative dressers in the MWWG world, but drop the minority bit about being a lesbian witches.

Willow Rosenberg, Hot Witch (d20 MMWGs stats)

Female Human, Smart Heroine 5, Occultist 1, Mage 7 (level 13). Medium Humanoid. Naughty Schoolgirl/Witch, hp 45, DC 14, Init +0, BAB +3 (+2 melee, +3 ranged), Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +7, Reputation +3, Wealth +1 Action Points 75.

Strength 9 (-1), Dexterity 11 (0), Constitution 11 (0), Intelligence 18 (+4), Wisdom 16 (+3), Charisma 17 (+3)

Height 53, Weight 110lbs, Eyes Green, Hair Red, Date of Birth August 1, 1981 (25 in 2006)

Skills: Bluff +4, Computer +19, Concentration +10, Craft (Chemical) +10, Craft (Electronics) +8, Craft (Mechanical) +7, Decipher Script +14, Diplomacy +4, Disable Device +9, Drive +2, Escape Artist +2, Gather Information +8, Handle Animal +4, Hide +1, Investigate +9, Knowledge (Arcana) +18, Knowledge (Earth Sciences) +8, Knowledge (Physical Sciences) +8, Knowledge (Theology) +9, Listen +5, Navigate +5, Perform (Ritual) +7, Read/Write Languages (Latin, French, Hebrew) +2, Repair +8, Research +20, Sense Motive +4, Speak Languages (Latin, French, Hebrew) +2, Spellcraft +14, Survival +5, Use Magical Devices +9.

Feats: Archaic Weapons Proficiency, Educated (Arcana and Computer), Focused, Gearhead, Magical Affinity, Meticulous, Simple Weapon Proficiency, Studious, Toughness, Ambidextrous.

Talents/Special Abilities: Magic (free), Things Man Was Not Meant To Know, Mana Boost, Mana Battery

Heinous Drawbacks: Conservative (odd) Dresser, Vengeful

Willow Rosenberg (BRTC MWWGs stats)
Vitals
Age: 20, Ht: 5'3", Wt: 104#, Hair: Red, Eyes: Green
Strength: 8
Dexterity: 9
Looks: 15
Macho: 16
Health: 13
Intelligence: 19

HTH damage: 0

Skills
Throw things (+2), Hit Things (+1), Hit Things with other things (+2), Cavort about (+3), Seduce Creature (+2), Fly Things (brooms only) (+2), Drive Things (+1), Do Technical Stuff (+5), Know it All (+6), Take Charge (+4).

Advantages
Pet (10), Run Like Hell (10), Scriptwriter (5), Witch
(Remember Willow said she was not "Large With the Butch").

Disadvantages
Conservative Dresser (20), Secret Love (Kittens, Girls, computers) (10)

Possesions
Laptop, books on magic, spell compontents.

Tara Maclay, Hot Witch (d20 MMWGs stats)

Female Human, Dedicated Heroine 6, Mystic 6 (level 12). Medium Humanoid. Naughty School Girl/Witch, hp 49, DC 12, Init -1, BAB +4 (+5 melee, +3 ranged), Fort +6, Ref +1, Will +9, Reputation +2, Wealth +1 Action Points 41.
Strength 12 (+1), Dexterity 9 (-1), Constitution 12 (+1), Intelligence 16 (+3), Wisdom 18 (+4), Charisma 16 (+3)
Height 55, Weight 125lbs, Eyes Blue, Hair Blond, Date of Birth Nov 7, 1980 (25 in 2006)
Skills: Bluff +4, Computer +7, Concentration +6, Craft (Chemical) +3, Decipher Script +9, Diplomacy +10, Gamble +7, Gather Information +3, Handle Animal +7, Hide +3, Investigate +7, Knowledge (Arcana) +12, Knowledge (Philosophy) +11, Knowledge (Theology) +11, Listen +10, Navigate +3, Perform (Dancing) +8, Perform (Painting) +8, Perform (Ritual) +7, Perform (Singing) +8, Read/Write Languages (Latin, Greek, French, Japanese) +2, Repair +3, Research +12, Sense Motive +13, Speak Languages (Latin, French, Japanese) +2, Spellcraft +12, Survival +9, Use Magical Devices +8.
Feats: Archaic Weapons Proficiency, Cautious, Creative, Educated (Humanities), Focused, Iron Will, Low Profile, Simple Weapons Proficiency, Meticulous.
Talents/Special Abilities: Magic (free), Things Man Was Not Meant To Know, Mana Boost, Mana Battery, Large With the Butch
Heinous Drawbacks: Conservative (odd) Dresser

Mana Boost and Mana Battery correspond roughly to Increased Essence Pool.

Tara Maclay (BRTC MWWGs stats)

Vitals
Age: 20, Ht: 5'5", Wt: 110#, Hair: Blonde, Eyes: Blue

Strength: 10
Dexterity: 12
Looks: 15
Macho: 17
Health: 15
Intelligence: 18

HTH damage: 0

Skills
Throw things (+1), Hit Things (+1), Hit Things with other things (+2), Cavort about (+3), Seduce Creature (+3), Fly Things (brooms only) (+3), Drive Things (+2), Do Technical Stuff (+3), Know it All (+4), Take Charge (+3).

Advantages
Large with the Butch* (10), Pet (10), Run Like Hell (10), Scriptwriter (5), Witch

Disadvantages
Awful Family (5), Conservative Dresser (20), Fairness, Loves to Read, Secret Love (Kittens, Girls, books) (10)

Links

• BRTC's Macho Women with Guns page.  http://www.btrc.net/html/catmain.html#MWWG 
• Mongoose's d20 version, Full and Diet Editions.
• Facebook Page

Nothing ready yet...

Work has been brutal this week and next week doesn't look any better.  I don't have my OVA write-ups done (or even started) and I still want to cover Open Anime too before I wrap-up this overview of Anime RPGs.

I have a couple of things in "storage" that I could bring out.  Let me check.

Star Wars d20

Hey all.  I know I promised more Anime stuff today, but I work has got me buried.  I did want to talk about something though really quick and that is the loss of the Star Wars RPG from Wizards.

I have not been a huge fan of Star Wars lately.  I loved the movies as a kid, have tons of action figures and toys.  I still have a couple of Boba Fetts (one I had to save proof of purchases for, one I bought) sitting on my desk.  I went from being a hard core fan to a more relaxed one.  I did like the newer movies despite HUGE plot holes (the first movie was about a trade agreement?? really??) and my kids love them.  My adult tastes went more for Star Trek.

All the same I was disheartened to hear that Wizard's was pulling the plug on d20 Star Wars.  I have (or rather my son has) the Revised d20 version.  It is a bit like D&D 3 and so we have been adding it off and on to our regular D&D game (the previously mentioned Dragon Slayers game).

To me d20 and Star Wars seemed a perfect match.  I think back to the late 70's and early 80's and what my obsessions were; Star Wars and D&D.  Having played the game a bit I can see why some people don't like it and why some still prefer the WEG d6 version (I don't), but to me it just works. Stars Wars and D&D share history, they share a common place in the Gen X collective sub-conscious right there next to video games.  To me D&D/d20 and Star Wars just belong together.

Plus, I have a long history of dissatisfaction with Sci-Fi games.  It's odd really.  I love Sci-Fi, but the RPGs I have tried (Traveler, Star Frontiers, Alternity) have left me feeling flat.  Star Frontiers was my favorite.   So I guess to me then, the perfect Sci-Fi game would have elements of Star Wars, Star Frontiers and Alternity all powered by the d20 system.  That is also easy to do.  I am a touch surprised I have not tried that yet.

Now I am fairly sure I will not use anything from the Saga Edition Star Wars, even if it has some improvements on the game.  I like the Vitality/Wound system from the Revised system better and if I plan on adding in anything from d20 Future (to get my Star Frontiers and Alternity fix).  Maybe this would even let me do my Greyhawk 2000, er Greyhawk 2500 game.  I think the Star Wars universe is big enough for that and flexible enough too.  Can't do that so much with Star Trek, despite how much I love it.

I am not sure who will be picking up the Star Wars game next, I am pretty sure I will check it out but not so sure I will buy it.  In the mean time I think I am going to go to my FLGS and see what they still have for Star Wars.

Anime RPGs: OVA

Open Versatile Anime
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.  The book is a thin 125+ pages, but that is really all it needs due to it's system and design.

OVA stands for Open Versatile Anime, and it's a pun in Anime circles.  It also stands for Original Video Animation.   There are the perfunctory introductions for the RPG player, the Anime fan and people in general.

OVA has some artwork from Niko Geyer, the same artist from BESM. This sort of gives OVA the same feel. If you go to his blog, you can see some of the art in OVA, and it is nice.

Character creation is the heart of OVA, and there are some good things here.  The character creation has the player starting with a conversation with the Game Master and even other players.  This would seem pointless in other games but important in OVA.  It helps with the next steps and helps decide what sort of game will be played. The interesting part here is that the rules encourage players to develop their character before reading the rules.  So the next step is the Concept stage.

Many games have something similar.  Here, though, it is an actual step.  Typically, this can be as simple as "magical girl with a flying cat" or "darkly handsome swordmaster with a dark past".  In the world of anime RPGs, these are very common concepts.   Since OVA is an Ability-based system (more on this), the concept helps define what a character can and can't do.

Abilities and Weakness
This is the heart and soul of OVA.  Abilities (sometimes called Attributes, sort of confusing) combine the various numbers you would normally see in other games.  In Unisystem, this would be combining Attributes, Skills, and Qualities.  So things like "Magic", "Weapon" and "Cute" would replace all the other numbers that could be combined to create these; ie Dex + Armed Mayhem for Weapon.  This makes for a very focused sort of character, which is exactly what you would expect in an Anime.  You can add all sorts of other Abilities as needed.  So our Dark Swordmaster can add Hobby (Origami) as a hobby, which would be appropriate.
Weaknesses are the same, only like Drawbacks, such as "Easy to Anger," "Bizarre Appearance," or "Obsession."   
Abilities are ranked from 1 to 5, with 5 being the best of the best.  Weaknesses are ranked -1 to -3.  Characters should start around 1 or 2 with no abilities at 5. Character creation is a matter of agreeing on how many points is the power cap.  You can choose 0, so Abilities have to equal Weaknesses, a top point, say 20 or so points of Abilities where 5 can be free and 15 are bought with Weakness points.  All really easy to be honest.

There are number of sample characters covering a variety of anime tropes. Some have a lot of Attributes and thus a lot of Weaknesses, others have much fewer.
There is a stat block for "Basic Statistics," which includes the concept, age, height and weight, and other basic information.   It makes for a very simple character sheet that is also surprisingly full of information. There are a good number of Abilities and Weaknesses, and what is not here can easily be converted from other sources.  However, I could not find anything that was "missing".   There are Power Perks and Flaws which act like Power Feats in M&M.
The system is an easy one, roll dice go for a target number.  Combat is similar.
There is a good DM's section and a bunch of sample characters and NPCs, all of which can be used to design other characters or used as NPCs or PCs.

The system is simple and really easy to play.  The character creation is similar to another new game I grabbed, "Cartoon Action Hour 2".  In fact, I bet you could easily convert between the two systems without too much trouble.  Where CAH2 does not give too many examples of Abilities/Powers, OVA does.  You could use some of the Abilities in OVA as ideas for CAH2.  It sort of defeats the purpose of creating your own, as CAH2 suggests, but it is a good place to start.
I also suppose that you could use the abilities from BESM 3 as well.  I would bet that you could take any BESM 3 character and convert it to OVA with just a couple of edits on the sheet.

OVA certainly feels like the spiritual successor to BESM.  There are a lot of similarities in feel and purpose.   While BESM is crunchier than OVA, OVA is more flexible.   The powers are fairly well-defined and easy to use/grasp.

I am going to test this theory here in a bit and try to convert a BESM character over to OVA.  Most likely Robin Sena from Witch Hunter Robin. But first, let's try a tried and true character.

Larina Nix for OVA

Larina is a witch and in my mind a perfect test for any Anime RPG.

Larina Nix

Human Witch
40 years old (2010)

Abilities and Weaknesses

Animal Companion (Cottonball) +1, Barrier (Arcane) +3, Beautiful +2, Magic, Arcane (Witchcraft) +5, Occult Knowledge +5, Perceptive +2, Smart +1, Telekinesis (part of magic) +5

Guardian (Taryn) -2, Nightmares -1

Attack

Blast +5 1

Spell +5, by spell type

Defense

Barrier +5

Health 40
Endurance 40

Not a bad build really. And really fast to do. Looking forward to doing more with this game. 

Family Game Day: All Wet (rain and ocean adventures)

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 Hero Lab for Pathfinder 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 Kid's Pathfinder 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 BESM d20 and Mutants and Masterminds where needed.  It is set in my Mystoerth world 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 Ansalon, 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 The Four Kingdoms north of the Zakhara desert 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 a toy viper fish that my son got years ago and the aquatic dragon was this sea dragon toy he bought recently on Amazon.  The "ogre" was also an "igor" figure from a Castlevania Succubus, 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.