GURPS Anime...what should be in it?

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by WingedKagouti

Well, you do lack one recent Gainax production in that list.

Believe it or not, nobody's given me a review of it yet. (It's difficult to publish something that hasn't been written...)

Edit: And while I have no objection to a thread about the Anime Primer (and would likely take part in one), it shouldn't be in the GURPS forum. I suspect Geeks Rule! would be the best home for such a thread here...

[Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2]

Originally Posted by robkelk

Believe it or not, nobody's given me a review of it yet. (It's difficult to publish something that hasn't been written...)

I haven't been able to grab a copy of it myself. But considering that it's a Gainax production, expect a lot of improbably-moving female anatomy. (But the concept of designing a SM+140 mecha is intriguing just by itself. I'd have to see the anime to judge what the capabilities are, though.)

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Xenarthral

Yes, and nobody who, if you pardon the expression, is in their right mind would
suggest a GURPS Animation sourcebook or make an "Animation The Role-playing
Game".

http://www.sjgames.com/toon/

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

http://www.sjgames.com/toon/

I wouldn't call that Animation: The Roleplaying Game. I'd call that Slapstick: The Roleplaying Game. It's about a specific style of silly comedy where everybody runs around committing pratfalls, and I would say that "slapstick" is as valid and well-defined a game topic as, say, "martial arts" or "horror." Despite the game's title, the "animated" part is merely a justification for suspending the laws of physics so that animals can talk, nobody dies, and things like gravity are optional. However "super-powers" and "an age of mythology" could as easily justify those features without invoking a specific medium.

That's really my mental block with the whole idea. Animation is a tool used to represent things that can't easily be represented with live people – a tool that's less-and-less necessary as CGI blurs the lines between visual reality and visual fiction. It's a crutch to aid suspension of disbelief. But because it's purely visual, and tabletop RPGs are not, it seems odd to try to emulate it in tabletop RPGs. Tabletop RPGs have their own crutches, like "you have superpowers" and "here are rules for things that aren't possible in the real world." Most of these are implemented through words and through make-believe in the mind's eye, and don't need the conventions of visual make-believe.

I guess I'm confused by the redundancy. I don't quite see what:

"You're fantasy heroes who can do fantastic things and have remarkably odd physiques because you're in a fantasy world where the physical laws we gamers know don't apply. Here are rules for that."

gains from adding:

"This is possible because, were this a TV or film feature instead of a make-believe story, you'd be animated characters."

I can see the utility of a game supplement that details how "toons" who are animated characters subject to the laws of animated reality would interact with non-toons in a less far-out world. But that's a whole other thing. Really, it would be more of a racial splatbook for beings not unlike spirits or superheroes.

[Mgellis]

Just playing around with ideas, and trying to fit them to the e23 Wish List, I could see the following titles for e23...

GURPS Powers: Anime

...which would provide a rundown of advantages, disadvantages, perks, quirks, and templates common to anime. Special attention would, of course, be paid to magic girls, mecha (as gadgets and allies), tentacled horrors from beyond, commonly encountered supernatural critters like fox girls, ice women, demons, and anime-style vampires, and some of the really over-the-top powers seen in series like Inuyasha, Elfin Lied, etc.

You could also have...

GURPS Locations: Anime High School

...perfect for intrigue, mystery, romance, horror, or comedy, this school is home to numerous cliques, clubs, and secrets. Everyone one needs--rooms, teachers, important NPCs (student council, impossibly rich classmate, etc.) Short sections could provide "lenses" for rural boarding schools, urban high schools, and schools for superheroes or mecha pilots.

And, of course...

GURPS Locations: A Quiet Little Village in Japan

...which, as you know, will be hiding some dark secret. With tentacles.

[Mark Skarr]

Originally Posted by Mgellis

With tentacles.

All right, this thread has gone on long enough without me showing up. You invoke "tentacles" enough times and you know I've got to show up.

As a Pastafarian watching tentacle "anime" is a form of worship. I'm just not sure I want to be touched by those noodly appendages.

I'm pretty much of the opinion that a GURPS Anime book would be redundant. GURPS is Anime. It can be serious or goofy or down right ridiculous. It can be light-hearted or somber and depressing. You can have giant robots and catgirls made with the same set of rules and they can interact wherever you want them to. And, honestly, what most people think of when they think “anime” differs. I think of a style of animation, not any specific thing.

Just like you could have a story about Mecha and have it be a thousand different things anime is a means to an end, not the message being conveyed. Compare Robotech to BattleTech to Heavy Gear to Gurren Lagann, they’re all mecha stories, but have little in common. Heck, compare Macross to Macross Plus to Macross Frontier they’re the same freaking series and they have little in common (other than transformable planes, music and CMoA).

I don’t know that someone could effectively encapsulate the various forms of what people think when the word “anime” is used and put it into a book. GURPS does its best by just giving you the framework and letting you build the feel.

[Mgellis]

Originally Posted by Mark Skarr

I don’t know that someone could effectively encapsulate the various forms of what people think when the word “anime” is used and put it into a book. GURPS does its best by just giving you the framework and letting you build the feel.

I see the logic of what you (and others) have said on this subject. I think you might have an "anime" book, but I think it would be a collection of the things that make anime distinctive--templates, races, commonly seen powers (you can't get all of them, but you could do what was done in Supers, outlining several of the more common "types"), perks, etc.

You could also have a series of settings--again, subgenres like "boarding school," "mysterious village," "cyberpunk city," "a world torn by war/disaster, defended by mecha pilots!"

Actually, stepping back from anime itself, GURPS Locations: Boarding School with lenses for Victorian, modern, urban fantasy, anime, etc. campaigns might do well, too.

[Ragitsu]

What is hentai?

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by Kromm

I wouldn't call that Animation: The Roleplaying Game. I'd call that Slapstick: The Roleplaying Game.

This highlights my problem with an anime RPG. A "true" anime RPG is really just generic. As others have said: GURPS is already anime. What most people mean by anime is something specific, much like people who want a "cartoon" RPG mean Loony Toons, rather than Batman: the Animated Series or the Critic.

You have to nail down what that specific thing is and offer a good byline so that those perusing the catalog get a good idea at a glance. "Anime" is too broad. "Shojo" is better, as it brings to mind over-the-top romance and explorations of relationships and excessively pretty men, but we can get more specific still with "Magical Girl" or something. You need to narrow your focus down similarly if you want, say, Shonen, or better, Mecha. "GURPS Mecha" is fine where "GURPS Anime" is not, because "GURPS Anime" can just as easily mean "GURPS Magical Girl"

[Mark Skarr]

Originally Posted by Ragitsu

What is hentai?

In this context it's "adult" anime.

One translation of Hentai is "Pervert," hence my connection to it.