GURPS Anime...what should be in it?

[Xenarthral]

"Anime roleplaying" boils down to how you visualize the characters and what is going on. If you visualize the whole thing looking like anime*, then it is "anime roleplaying", if you don't, it's not - even if the whole campaign is about psychic ninja catgirls who split their time between piloting giant robots against invading tentacle monsters and fighting over the school's bishonen kendo team captain while wearing maid uniforms.

*Which is itself a very vague description since despite claims to the opposite there really isn't any single anime style.

[sgtcallistan]

Hmm... such variety.
My suggestion: lots of small adaptation books, with things like GURPS: Yuell on the edges.

TVTropes lists the character types, many event tropes, storytelling conventions, etc.

I adapted the Tenchi Muyo books (Tri-Stat, Green Ronin?) to GURPS (simply done), but then ran into the problem of; 'which players would accept a harem comedy?'
Certainly not my bunch of hairy forty-somethings. And they all wanted to be Ryouko, while none considered they could invent a new chara that would fit.

GURPS: Anime sounds like a project for a group of fans and forumites to bring together in a wiki.

[Mgellis]

Originally Posted by sgtcallistan

I adapted the Tenchi Muyo books (Tri-Stat, Green Ronin?) to GURPS (simply done), but then ran into the problem of; 'which players would accept a harem comedy?'
Certainly not my bunch of hairy forty-somethings. And they all wanted to be Ryouko...

That is just so terribly wrong and also, disturbingly, completely believable. :)

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by sgtcallistan

And they all wanted to be Ryouko, while none considered they could invent a new chara that would fit.

Because face it, 魎呼 is just plain better than other girls.

[WingedKagouti]

Originally Posted by sgtcallistan

TVTropes lists the character types, many event tropes, storytelling conventions, etc.

<snip>

GURPS: Anime sounds like a project for a group of fans and forumites to bring together in a wiki.

Haven't you already listed one such wiki? ;-)

All you'd need would be a Trope->GURPS Template conversion, where it's possible at least.

What I could see as a useful book/e23 pdf, is one that talks about how to use the options already present to represent the sometimes way over the top action and abilites found in various Shounen series. Some common character templates could be useful as well.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Mgellis

Just for the sake of discussion...if someone was thinking of proposing a GURPS Anime book to The Powers That Be, what do you think should be included?

Something more specific. Actually I'd recommend going with a specific anime-inspired world for Infinite Worlds. Something like...say a schizotech world where the electronics are modern, but the world is socially fragmented and has no petroleum so transportation technology is stuck in the middle ages, and there are so many superhuman warriors that nobody bothered to invent gunpowder weapons.

[Mgellis]

Let me rephrase the original question...

Given that anime is a style rather than a genre, and can in fact handle a wide range of genres, from slice-of-life comedy to gritty crime drama to space opera, what kind of setting do you think would be most desirable?

What should the first GURPS Anime book cover? And what tropes of the anime style have to be covered, either as crunch or fluff?

Another way of looking at it...if someone was going to write GURPS Infinite Worlds: Anime-1, what kind of world should Anime-1 be?

Later edit...I posted this and then saw that David Johnston2 had anticipated my revised question. Interesting...

[vicky_molokh]

The first GURPS Animé book is GURPS Mecha.

[WingedKagouti]

Originally Posted by Mgellis

Given that anime is a style rather than a genre,

A bunch of quite varied styles actually, given that it's the term used for all Japanese animation. They offer just as big a variation in style as Western animation does.

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Something more specific. Actually I'd recommend going with a specific anime-inspired world for Infinite Worlds. Something like...say a schizotech world where the electronics are modern, but the world is socially fragmented and has no petroleum so transportation technology is stuck in the middle ages, and there are so many superhuman warriors that nobody bothered to invent gunpowder weapons.

So, GURPS: Naruto? I almost added One Piece, but they have plenty of gunpowder (or similar substitutes).

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by WingedKagouti

So, GURPS: Naruto? I almost added One Piece, but they have plenty of gunpowder (or similar substitutes).

But they are both examples of that kind of schizotech world.

Then here's another one:

A world superficially like ours, except that behind the scenes it is actually run by the Cabal. However, 16 years ago a rebel cast some kind of magical ritual designed to destroy the Cabal and after that, "espers" started to be born in great numbers. Now in their teens they are starting to come into their powers and the Cabal is split between those who want to study the "new power" and those who see them as the culmination of the ritual and want them all destroyed.