Introduction

Anime Game 2030 Blog

Introduction

As the name suggests this blog is all about a Role Play Game with emphasis on the Anime style set in the year 2030. The game system used is GURPS. Although the world will be similar in many ways to the modern one, there will be many fictional alterations, to be detailed below.

A few general words on the Anime style of gaming.

It is at times realistic, but mostly it is a matter of style over substance. Character development is the core driving force. The plots are often cliché, and will be stolen from various Anime shows. Events may require suspension of disbelief, to keep the plot moving. When possible the GM will try to provide some excuse for why things are done one way instead of what may be the more realistic way. Consider these to be green flags which would not strike the characters as being so out of the ordinary.

A few words on this specific game style.

It is a combination of school days with super hero adventure. All characters are attending an elite high school, they are (or appear to be) normal teenagers. The school actually has many students with special abilities, but as much as possible a veil of secrecy is kept over the bizarre things that go there. It is not “super hero high” but plays a similar role. The teachers aim to make useful members of society out of their students and avoid the creation of super villains. 

Trivial personal problems and romance, will form one aspect of the game. Enjoy playing some of the cliché moments. Extra points will be given to those who complicate matters the way they are often done in Anime. This aspect will be mostly comedy but should be played with drama. The second focuses of the game is on adventure. All characters should have a strong drive to ‘do the right thing’ and get involved if they see a problem.

In game terms the characters will be facing mostly Goons and Minions until they make a reputation for themselves and get involved with the serious villains.  Goons are easy to kick around and pose no real danger to a hero, although they can hurt normals. ( local thugs, gang members, min-wage security are examples ) Minions are better skilled, equipped and organized than Goons, but they do not have heavy powers. ( the police or serious security guards are examples )  Eventually the characters will be up against real Adversaries. These are single enemy characters with lots of power or small groups that have a similar “challenge rating” as the heroes themselves. ( a vampire lord, a full wizard, a hunting pack of wear-wolves, an army special forces team, are example )

Because the game is to be a cinematic Anime style, not a realistic dark and bloody style, characters will not get killed accidentally. They may die if they mess up royally or take a heroic action that is noble yet hopeless. On the other side of the coin, it’s ok to kill bad guys in combat, but torturing or finishing off a downed foe will mark you as being on the path to the dark side. It’s best if you can take out a foe with out killing them. There should be some drama over death, especially the first time. 

Pre-WW3 map according to population size

 

The wide perspective.

The game is being set up to include as many Anime story elements as possible. Although the world seems very much like modern day earth, there are lots of hidden aspects. Ultra tech equipment, weapons, battle-suits, cyborgs and robots, are known but very rare. There are space ships and the start of a colonizing effort of the solar system. Two alien races are known to exist, but little about them was ever made public. Psionic powers have been on the rise over the last few years and they have become a serious field of scientific research. Many of the unexplained ‘super powered’ heroes and villains in the news are believed to be psionic. The truth is that magic also exists, it has always been there. So too do divine powers linked to the mythical gods. Angels and Demons are real, so are many of the classic monsters. What happens to be new and troubling, to those who know about it, are the portals to some other dimension – a realm never before encountered. The creatures from that realm are considered to be a danger to everything on earth.

In other words, the world faces two big threats; aliens from space and aliens from dimension-X. The governments know about the space aliens and are actively building up a defense force. They do not know ( or maybe they don’t take seriously ) the danger of magical portal hopping creatures. It is the arcane societies, religious institution and the mystical creatures native to earth who are dealing with the danger from dimension-X.