[RPG]: RandomAnime, reviewed by Dan Davenport (3/4)

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/11/11950.phtml

Dan Davenport's Summary:

The specificity of certain mechanics – especially those concerning powers – keep this from being the “Definitive Anime Role-Playing Game” it claims to be. But if the limits it imposes don’t bother you, its markedly different approach could provide an excellent alternative to <b>Big Eyes, Small Mouth</b>.

Go to the full review for more information.

[proseusr]

First of all, thanks, Dan, for taking the time to playtest and review RandomAnime!

I think this is a fair review overall, and many of the snags you've run into are things we're aware of ourselves and have worked to address in our supplements. Obviously, I'd argue with you on some points, but the point of a review is to give your own take on the material as you received it, and not necessarily as the creators intended it to be received. Years of playing the game since its publication have really refined our approach to designing and writing this stuff, and I assure you we're our own worst critics, if you'll pardon the cliche. Of course some difficulties, like gimmick selection, become much less of a problem once you're more familiar with the choices the game presents. This must be true of any game to some extent, and whether that's really a problem or not is a matter of opinion, I guess.

There's just one apparently serious inaccuracy in your review I'd like to correct. As far as I can tell, in your description of the Sempai background you seem to be under the impression that the extra Bonus Points granted by levels of the background are given to your own character. This is not the case, and if it were it would be just about the worst posible case of abusable min-maxing I could imagine for the game. In fact, those Bonus Points are given to the character's sempai, who is a completely separate NPC created and controlled by the Narrator. A character's sempai is, pretty much by definition, someone who's more capable than the character himself, and the background level determines just how much more capable he or she is by granting the Narrator extra Bonus Points with which to create the sempai NPC. I hope that helps clear up some confusion.

As we've discussed at length on the rpg.net forums, some other issues, such as dealing with Barrier, super strength, and energy-based gimmicks, really boil down to the Narrator understanding and controlling the implications of the game's mechanics. I think it's perfectly fair to point out these implications as possible problems if you see them that way. They certainly will be problematic if players don't work with them (or omit them) in a way that's appropriate to the game they're running.

As always, I welcome further discussion or even debate of any game design and mechanics issues, here, on our own forums, or wherever. We actually enjoy this stuff!

[Dan Davenport]

Originally Posted by proseusr

First of all, thanks, Dan, for taking the time to playtest and review RandomAnime!

My pleasure!

I think this is a fair review overall, and many of the snags you've run into are things we're aware of ourselves and have worked to address in our supplements. Obviously, I'd argue with you on some points, but the point of a review is to give your own take on the material as you received it, and not necessarily as the creators intended it to be received. Years of playing the game since its publication have really refined our approach to designing and writing this stuff, and I assure you we're our own worst critics, if you'll pardon the cliche. Of course some difficulties, like gimmick selection, become much less of a problem once you're more familiar with the choices the game presents. This must be true of any game to some extent, and whether that's really a problem or not is a matter of opinion, I guess.

Certainly, but please feel free to argue any points you like. I won't take offense, I promise!

There's just one apparently serious inaccuracy in your review I'd like to correct. As far as I can tell, in your description of the Sempai background you seem to be under the impression that the extra Bonus Points granted by levels of the background are given to your own character. This is not the case, and if it were it would be just about the worst posible case of abusable min-maxing I could imagine for the game. In fact, those Bonus Points are given to the character's sempai, who is a completely separate NPC created and controlled by the Narrator. A character's sempai is, pretty much by definition, someone who's more capable than the character himself, and the background level determines just how much more capable he or she is by granting the Narrator extra Bonus Points with which to create the sempai NPC. I hope that helps clear up some confusion.

Ah... that does make more sense. Thanks for correcting me on that. And yes, I was (mis)reading the description as meaning that the levels in Sempai provided extra Bonus Points to reflect the extra training the Sempai had given the character.

As we've discussed at length on the rpg.net forums, some other issues, such as dealing with Barrier, super strength, and energy-based gimmicks, really boil down to the Narrator understanding and controlling the implications of the game's mechanics. I think it's perfectly fair to point out these implications as possible problems if you see them that way. They certainly will be problematic if players don't work with them (or omit them) in a way that's appropriate to the game they're running.

Absolutely. That's why I made sure to stress that the game may be perfect for someone who doesn't see these issues as limitations, or, if they do, if they aren't bothered by them.

I suppose that's why it's relatively rare for me to give a game an outright <u>bad</u> rating -- for that, I think I'd have to be looking at a game that both fails at what it sets out to do (IMO) <u>and</u> is seriously broken or lacking in some way. <b>RandomAnime</b> is neither of those things.

As always, I welcome further discussion or even debate of any game design and mechanics issues, here, on our own forums, or wherever. We actually enjoy this stuff!

The hallmark of a classy industry pro.
<br>

[proseusr]

Originally Posted by Dan Davenport

Certainly, but please feel free to argue any points you like. I won't take offense, I promise! <br>

I think most of the finer details have already been discussed ad nauseum, and I won't bore anybody be repeating myself here unless specific questions are asked, in which case I'll be happy to answer.

One thing I would very much like to point out, however, is that the entry in the RPG Store for "Randomanime Rpg: Minionomicon & Game Screen" is simply not correct. It was announced long ago that the game screen would not be shipping with Minionomicon, and the ad copy was updated with our distributors prior to release. Apparently many online stores did not take note of the updates, or simply never made the changes on their sites. I have yet to hear of this causing confusion or disappointment among actual customers, but I just wanted to clarify it again, since the mistake is right there in bold face underneath the review.

[Emprint]

Originally Posted by Dan Davenport

I’m not much of a fan of systems like this that disregard damage in combat, since it renders armored goons or physically tougher goons an impossibility – the only goons who are harder to defeat are those who are more difficult to hit. This presents a major problem for PCs relying on offensive Gimmicks like Blast as their major forms of attack, since they’re forced to burn Pool Points to do massive-but-wasted damage playing “mook tag.”

Seems like a straightforward fix would be not to charge anybody for Gimmick use versus mooks. But you don't mention that, which makes me suspect there's more to it...?

[proseusr]

Originally Posted by Emprint

Seems like a straightforward fix would be not to charge anybody for Gimmick use versus mooks. But you don't mention that, which makes me suspect there's more to it...?

There really isn't necessarily any more to it than that. You perform a successful attack roll with a multiple action penalty equal to the number of faceless minions you want to take out, and then describe their destruction in whatever way you like. As a Narrator, I'd allow that description to include energy blasts, if that's in keeping with the character's style, even if the player never spent points to activate a gimmick, just as long as he does not gain any of the mechanical advantages of using that gimmick. That's the important part. You could just as easily describe what is mechanically an ordinary brawling attack as a psychic blast, or what is mechanically an ordinary dodge as just standing still while attacks mysteriously miss you, as long as the numbers involved in those actions are no different from the same actions with more mundane descriptions. That's just a style decision.

I'm sure you can imagine what a slippery slope it would be if we explicitly stated that you do not need to spend Pool Points to activate gimmicks when attacking faceless minions without checking each individul gimmick for possible exploits and loopholes. We do explicitly address a similar issue that results from using dual weapons against faceless minions. In some situations, it's more mechanically advantageous to attack multiple minions using the rules for attacking with a single weapon, and simply describe the attack as using two weapons, and we say so, since it might not be immediately clear.

[JELEINEN]

Shouldn't the "sempai" background have been "sensei?" And the whole shoujo anime means weaker characters is just daft. Looks like this is a good game to avoid. Thanks for saving me money Dan.

This game sounds ridiculously over-complicated.

[proseusr]

Originally Posted by JELEINEN

Shouldn't the "sempai" background have been "sensei?"

"Sempai" is an honorific used to refer to a mentor or someone whom you look up to. It's also used by students in lower grades to refer to upperclassmen. This term is extremely common in anime, especially in series involving school-aged kids. You can also hear it quite frequently in some military series, or in any series in which the main character has a mentor or role-model. Hikaru in Macross, for example, refers to his mentor Roy Fokker as "sempai."

"Sensei" is used specifically to refer to a teacher, an esteemed scholar, or (obviously) a martial arts instructor.

[JELEINEN]

Originally Posted by proseusr

"Sempai" is an honorific used to refer to a mentor or someone whom you look up to. It's also used by students in lower grades to refer to upperclassmen. This term is extremely common in anime, especially in series involving school-aged kids. You can also hear it quite frequently in some military series, or in any series in which the main character has a mentor or role-model. Hikaru in Macross, for example, refers to his mentor Roy Fokker as "sempai."

"Sensei" is used specifically to refer to a teacher, an esteemed scholar, or (obviously) a martial arts instructor.

I know what the words mean. That's why I questioned the usage. But thanks for being condescending. I'm sure it helps sell lots of books.