Opinion Peace

On The Western Front...

Taking a break from my discussion of the various uses of and approaches to Japanese Anime and Manga pop culture entertainment in role playing games, I wanted to share my take on another blogger's recent thoughts.

Inspiring and intriguing as ever, Noisms of Monsters and Manuals, has put up an interesting post that discusses, quite simply, the games he likes and the games he doesn't and the why and what for of his preferences.

While I won't go so far as to say our choices are diametrically opposed, there are a few key differences that really jumped out at me. It makes you think about how two people can see/read the exact same game and get two very different takes on it.

Games I Like

All things being equal I could really go for a game of Toon. Or Traveller.

Faery's Tale Deluxe
InSpectres
Mekton (Especially Mekton II)
Mutants & Masterminds (Especially 3rd Edition)
Star Trek (FASA)
Star Trek (Last Unicorn Games ICON)
Star Wars (West End Games D6)
Teenagers From Outer Space
Toon
Traveller (Original/Classic)

Games I Don't Like

7th Sea
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1st Edition - Only partially familiar with 2nd)
Dungeons & Dragons (4 Edition)
GURPS
ICONS
Marvel Super Heroes
Metal, Magic & Lore
Palladium (Especially RIFTS)
Rolemaster (and MERP)

Special Cases

Champions
Ars Magica

Now obviously these aren't all the games I like nor all the games I don't. Interestingly (to me at least), the games I like came to me instantly and the ones I don't I had to think about a little. I'm not sure why but I see that as a positive.

About the Games I Like

I notice right off the bat that a good number of the games I like share a number of things in common.

First, most of them are relatively rules/crunch-lite. While some of them buck this philosophy (like M&M, Traveller and the Star Treks), none of them are games one would identify as crunch heavy.* Most are very rules-lite. One of the reasons for this preference (beyond despising Math in all its forms) is that I've always found it easier to add ingredients to spice up a recipe than take them out once the food's been made. I love modifying and tweaking simple games but I really don't enjoy having to throw out fifty pages worth of rules here and there to make a game playable.

Second, few of them use charts during play. To me, charts stink. I do not like charts. Charts slow the game down. I will deal with a game that has one chart, am annoyed if there are two charts and any game with three or more...well don't let the door hit you on your way out (wouldn't want to scratch the door). Again, there are exceptions but not many. One of my 'Rules For A Good Game' is you should never need to look at anything other than your character sheet and the dice during play.

Third, the games have character. They are often very specific to a genre or a style of play. I am not enamoured by the idea of generic systems (again with rare exception) and feel a game that does everything does nothing especially well. That said, many of these games are pretty darn flexible and can be used for multiple campaign concepts beyond the ones for which they were developed (I've modded TFOS for many things, Star Wars D6 is essentially the same system as Ghostbusters and MIB, InSpectres has InSpace and is a perfect match to crossbreed with Ghostbusters, MIB or many other ideas).

About the Games I Don't Like

Rolemaster.

The game for people who really, really like charts.**

Any game with a high degree of crunch, charts, math and/or seemingly** arbitrary rules that don't reflect the setting or the nature of the game is likely to end up on this list.

You may notice there are no medieval fantasy games in the first category and its mostly medieval fantasy in the second. This is partially because I'm not a big fan of the medieval fantasy genre but also because most of the major (and some of the minor) fantasy RPGs suffer from one or more of the above mentioned issues.

For me at least, most medieval fantasy games, especially older ones or those evocative of their style or era, are overworked mechanically, chart heavy and don't really feel fantastic or magical in their mechanics.

The odd men out on this list are Marvel Super Heroes, the original TSR classic by the brilliant Jeff Grubb and ICONS, a far more modern game by Mutants & Masterminds designer Steve Kenson. Both games are very similar in feel and design and sadly, I feel both fail to give me what I want in a Superhero game. The problem of course is that there are a lot of ways of looking at Supers and these days the idea of emulating comics is winning out over simulating a world of superpowered beings (as Champions' default mode seems to do. More on Champions in a bit). That's fine in and of itself, but I find it doesn't really work for my players and I.

Why? Not exactly sure. It may be the immersion level weakens when we look at our comic book characters as comic book characters, narrative constructs and not as actual people. It may be that as gamers, we like a certain level of detail depending upon the genre and over simplifying Supers makes them seem two-dimensional and cartoonish (indeed the irony is palpable).

Special Cases

Champions. I've said it before and I'll say it again, there is no good reason for me to like Champions. It is complex, math intensive, can be chart heavy in older editions and certain situations. Why than do I like it? Scratch that, love it. I love that game. Why?!

I'm sure a big part of it is that I get it. I get the genre and I get the idea of creating not just any character but the exact character I picture in my head. My old group in High School totally grokked Champions and had fun with it like nobody's business. I went to the High School of Art and Design in New York City and many of the cartooning and illustration students were comic book fans who had created entire superhero universes of their own long before they ever saw Champions or any RPG. Like myself, many of my friends were used to creating characters. With Champions, you didn't roll randomly and then figure out what to do with your PC. You took the rules in hand and said to yourself, "I am going to build this super hero I've been drawing and writing stories about since I was 10. Let's see, how can I do that...".

As for Ars Magica, I mentioned in a previous post that I probably don't play that game quite the way it was intended to be played. I did recently, that is, run a campaign of it in the style it is likely designed for and I got bored of it pretty quickly. I would much rather have run a more folklore, mythical campaign but I don't really have the players for that right now.

***

Another thing I just noticed that I didn't notice when I first started writing this post...I don't like a lot of games that use multiple die types.

I seem to prefer to use 6-sided dice to anything else and often several of them. Next up I think would be D10s and indeed I have converted some D6 games to D10 to give them a wider scale (Teenagers from Outer Space for example). I can deal with D20 but largely, only when there are no other dice involved.

Curious.

***

So there you have it. My preferences and I in a nutshell. More accurately a pile of nutshells as I think I ran on for a bit here and there.

Oh well, it was fun looking at the similarities and differences in the these games and coming to terms with what I enjoy and what leaves me sort of flat.

I feel I am now at opinion peace.

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Barking Alien

*Noisms, Zak Smith and a few others I have spoken to recently find Mutants & Masterminds to be crunch heavy. I don't feel that way, although it certain isn't crunch-lite. I feel it is crunch-middle ground and really, what more could you ask for. Noisms points out a logical bias on my part. Since I love Superheroes and know the genre especially well, what may seem second nature to me may not be quite so user friendly to others.

**Only in my humble opinion. You do not have to agree with me and indeed can seriously disagree and I won't hate you and think of you as a bad or unintelligent person. Likewise, have a sense of humor and forgive me for my snarky jests, even if you don't agree with them or think them funny.

Those Obnoxious Aliens

I have Star Trek on the brain.
I have Superheroes in my soul (or spirit...well if I actually had either of those).
But my heart belongs to Teenagers from Outer Space.

I mentioned once before that Teenagers From Outer Space is probably my most favorite game of all time. Yes, a love Star Trek and I can hardly get enough of playing Supers but the game, The Game Itself, that I find the most fun is TFOS.

With Star Trek it's about exploring the unknown and playing in the universe of the shows and films. With Superheroes it's a combination of being a hero, saving people and emulating the comic books I grew up on. With Teenagers from Outer Space, it's an excuse to run wild.

If Mike Pondsmith was ahead of his time with Mekton, he was taking a long shot gamble on the future with the creation of this simple, flexible and humorous RPG based on Japanese Anime and Manga comedies, the likes of which had not yet been seen in the mainstream American pop culture at the time the game was published in 1987.

Robo...the R-word...hit American Television in 1985. Prior to that, American exposure to Japanese animated shows were either the early action/adventure/humor shows like Tetsuwan Atom (The Mighty Atom aka Atom-Boy - known to us as Astro-Boy) and Mach-Go-Go-Go ( or Speed Racer) or serious science fiction series like Space Battleship Yamato (as Star Blazers). A third type of sci-fi/superhero or space opera type show was seen in the form of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (known to us as Battle of The Planets or G-Force) and in some states Space Legend Ulysses 31 (simply Ulysses 31* to most Americans).

Japanese romantic comedies and shows of a truly comedic bend wouldn't appear state-side until the late 80s or early 90s. While there is some indications in my research that Akira Toriyama's Doctor Slump and the original Dragonball series aired in English on American television as early as 1984 and 1989 respectively, those shows are still not really in the style or theme that Teenagers From Outer Space is addressing.

Urusei Yatsura, which roughly translates to 'Those Obnoxious Aliens That Make Bad Neighbors', is the most obvious inspiration for TFOS and indeed, the original edition of TFOS borrows heavily from the characters, ideas and adventures seen in episodes of the show, direct-to-video OVAs and films (there were 6 feature films produced). It should be noted that Urusei Yatsura (also known as Lum, named for the starring female lead character) didn't come out in America until 1992! When it did, it was a direct to video release.

So without nitpicking the timeline too much, one can at least competently say, Teenagers from Outer Space was on the market for at least 6 years before its closest, relevant source material was available to US consumers.

So...why did it sell? How did people in the US comprehend this very, very Japanese idea?

Well, for one thing, while some of the humor and cultural references in Urusei Yatsura and subsequent series in the same vein (Tenchi Muyo, Ranma 1/2, Ah My Goddess!) are specfic to the Japanese, some of the concepts are practically universal. The idea that superpowered and/or high tech aliens from space would come to Earth and get caught up in our pop culture and life styles is quite funny. Add in romantic entanglements and a cast of quirky characters both Human and not and you have the perfect recipe for a great show, not to mention a great campaign.

One of the things we did early on (aside from my expansion of the rules, which I think I've mentioned but will expand on a bit in another post) was open the field up to more than just aliens. TFOS is perfect for magical girl shows like Magical Emi and Card Captor Sakura (although it would need some tweaking to use it for Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magika, one of the darker and more serious examples of the genre).

Over the years our various campaigns of TFOS have included cyborgs, comic book style mutants, demons, time lost samurai, the children of comic book superheroes and giant robot pilots.

In addition, the game is so easy, fast and flexible that I've adapted in time and time again for completely non-Anime/Manga related subjects. TFOS formed the basis for my original Galaxy Quest RPG as well as a short but thoroughly awesome campaign set in the Land of Oz (adding elements of Ars Magica to my TFOS foundation).

As I noted in the comments of a previous post, Teenagers From Outer Space is a lot like rice. Every tastes good poured over it.

Examples of cool campaigns I've run with TFOS, as well as more RPG madness inspired by Anime and Manga, coming soon.

Happy Fourth of July Everybody!

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Barking Alien

*Ulysses 31 is actually more well known among the hispanic community here on the East Coast and I'd wager that's true throughout most of the country. While it was aired in the United States, the vast majority of cities and states were it aired seem to have shown it only on Spanish speaking television channels.

Super Robot Wars

They go by many names.

Armored Trooper. EVA Unit. Mobile Suit. Mortar Head. Jaeger. Heavy Gear. Ryude Knight.

They are Mecha.

Giant Robots.

While the term 'Mecha' was actually coined by the Japanese to reflect any kind of mechanized vehicle or device (a car is a mecha), it has become synonymous in Western culture with the large, humanoid, usually human piloted or otherwise operated robots seen in a vast number of Japanese Anime and Manga series.

For the most part, mecha, being machines of some sort, are largely relegated to Science Fiction settings, although a more than casual glance across the Anime/Manga spectrum reveals mecha in such diverse genres as medieval fantasy and steampunk to World War II alternate history and modern day 'superheroes'.

The granddaddy of all Mecha RPGs is, well, sadly it's Battletech. Unfortunately the giant robots of Battletech have little to do with Japanese entertainment fiction mecha. In Battletech, the very existence of the Battlemechs they use seem questionable at best. They overheat more often then tanks in the setting, are slower than all the aircraft, and don't generally seem as versatile as you'd imagine a robot with legs and arms would be. In attempt to capture the 'realism' of what giant, humanoid robots would be like (wait...I need to stop laughing. Realism. Giant Robots. Hold on, I can't breathe. OK. Whew.), they took away the beauty of having giant robots in your setting in the first place, IMHO.

 

The first game to truly 'get it', and the only name you'll ever really need to know for giant robot gaming goodness, was (and is) Mekton.

The creation of Mike "Right on Time, Ahead of His Time" Pondsmith and produced by R. Talsorian Games, Mekton wasn't inspired by the art of giant robots from Japan, it was ABOUT the giant robots from Japan. At the same time, it was very much about the people who piloted said robots, especially in its second and third incarnations (Mekton II and Mekton Zeta respectively).

Nailing the style and feel of Japanese animation and comics perfectly, as well as hitting that oh-so-hard-to-hit sweet spot between simplicity and crunch*, Mekton became a major favorite among Players and Gamemasters alike in the gaming circles in which I roamed. The flexibility and versitility of the rules system meant that it was adaptable to many different campaign concepts.

While the default for many is the military style giant robot war story seen in Votoms, Macross and the various Gundam series, the game also makes the superheroic mecha of Giant Robo, The Big O, Mazinger Z and others possible. With a few of the supplements (but in all honesty just a little imagination and a minimum of effort) you can easily create powered armor, cars, starfighters, massive space battlecruisers and even fortresses and space stations.

Practical? No. Easy to construct? Pretty much, yeah.

 

 

A number of other mech games have come out since the original 1984 release of  Mekton and, more importantly perhaps, the 1994 release of Mekton Z. The vast majority of these have been very much flashes-in-the-pan. The most popular and successful non-Mekton mecha game that really got the feel down right was Heavy Gear and the Jovian Chronicles, produced by Canadian based Dream Pod 9 and utilizing their Silhouette System. Heavy Gear was the most commerically successful, also generating a huge line of miniatures and a CGI animated cartoon.

 

Other notable mecha games include the mecha supplement book for GURPS (GURPS Mecha if I am not mistaken), Bliss Stage (a very cool and clever indie game patterned after Neon Genesis Evangelion) and to a fairly significant extent RIFTS (which is full of mecha, from battlesuits to gigantic striding metal menaces).

 

I could easily go on forever discussing this element of Japanese Amime/Manga and to that end I will follow this up with a post detailing some of the giant robot campaigns I have run in the past. For a long time, to many people who were only generally familiar with Japanese pop culture entertainment, all Anime and Manga was Mecha Anime and Manga. While the field is obviously far more diverse than that, it remains a favorite sub-genre of yours truly, possibly due to my general fascination with robots outside of gaming.

 

If you're interested, here are a few older posts on the subject of Mecha and Mekton:

 

Breast Fire, Rocket Punch, Form Blazing Sword

God From The Machine

M is For Mecha, Heavy Metal Gear

 

Watashi-tachi wa tanoshinde imasu ka?

 

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Barking Alien







Turning Japanese

Welcome one and all to the somewhat new and somewhat different blog known as Barking Alien!

 

I felt that after 4 years and 645 posts (Wow. Really? Huh.), the place could use a refit. Now largely it's just a new coat of paint and few details but I'm looking toward a couple more possible visual tweaks in the near future.

 

Perhaps the most significant change to the blog is that I am going to be blogging again.

 

For some time now I've not been keeping up with my posting because of one reason or another and while all the reasons were valid (illness and a lack of free time being the primary ones), I have done quite a bit more in the face of less obstacles in previous years.

 

My lack of posting was partially about my need to take a break from it so I could think about what to say but my refusal to do so. I tend to chastise myself for procrastinating and being lazy when I am not doing certain things, when in fact I fail to realize I am gunning the engine and yelling "Come on you silly machine!" when I haven't put gas in the car or allowed the batteries to charge.

 

Now however, another RECESS has come and gone and I feel a bit recharged. My health is basically back to normal and have some things to say.

 

A little rest can do you good.

 

Now, let's talk Japanese...

 

 "Anime ja nai, Anime ja nai 
   Suteki na sekai 
   Anime ja nai Anime ja nai 
   Genjitsu na no sa 
   Anime ja nai Anime ja nai 
   Fushigi na kimochi 
   Anime ja nai Anime ja nai 
   Hontou no koto sa"*
 

 

 Barkley Gone Mecha

 

 

Sometimes I look at the Labels section of  this blog and I wonder who the heck it belongs to. I mean seriously. How is it there are 102 posts about Dungeons & Dragons and only 12 on DC Adventures? Barkley says he hardly knows me anymore!

 

Take for instance the entries on Anime/Manga. Only 12 posts. Appalling.

 

I have been a fan of Japanese Animation and Comics, more appropriately referred to by the terms Anime and Manga, since long before I knew what they were. Well, before I knew where they were from and what they were like uncensored.

 

I was obsessed with 'Starblazers' and 'Battle of the Planets' quite some time before I learned that they were really 'Space Battleship Yamato' and 'Science Ninja Team Gatchaman', respectively. My father bought me a number of inexpensive robot model kits at a small store in New York's 'Chinatown' that I loved to build and paint, having no idea the figures represented the mecha of 'Mobile Suit Gundam'.

 

In Junior High School, I made friends with a boy who was of Burmese and Chinese descent by the name of Aldrin Aw. You may know him as the independent comic book artist who goes by the name of 'Buzz'. As I helped him a little with his English, he filled me in on the truth behind my favorite TV shows and models, revealing them to originate in a far off land (at least to my 11 year old American perspective) called Japan.

 

At 11 years old I had already been playing Dungeons and Dragons for 3 years. Anime concepts were already creeping into my games and the frequency of such inspirations would only increase as the years went on.

 

For a time, it was not uncommon for me to buy magazines I couldn't read, video tapes I didn't understand and models I could barely build, just to have more of the imagery and visual stimulus that most of my friends and fellow gamers had, quite literally no clue about.

 

These were the days before English dubbed Anime was in every Best Buy, Toonami and even Robo...the 'R' word*...weren't yet on television and no Manga sections existed in your local Barnes & Noble. I'm not even certain there were Barnes & Nobles.

 

Time changes things and time may change me but honey I can't change time.**

 

Eventually, the secret knowledge of Otaku fandom known only to a select few of us would be noticed by the masses and adopted like wildfire by screaming fangirls and fanguys everywhere. Alas for me, I remember those halcyon days when all we had to go on awesome images and a few cryptic English words in a Japanese magazine.

 

So...what is this post really all about? Is it merely a nostalgic look down a Sakura covered memory lane?
  

 

 

No, it's more than that.

 

Japanese entertainment such as Anime, Manga, live action series such as Sentai shows and films featuring Kaiju have been a major influence on my gaming content and style for over 30 years. This month, July of 2013, in celebration of Pacific Rim, the first American film to truly capture of the look and feel of Japanese giant robots and huge monsters, I am dedicating the focus of this blog on elements I have adapted from the Land of the Rising Sun.

 

I will be discussing American RPGs with an Anime feel like Mekton and Teenagers from Outer Space, the idea of using Anime elements in traditional games and some RPG games actually made in Japan.

 

Join me won't you? Watashi ni kōun o inorimasu!***

 

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Eirian hoeru

 

* Not an anime, not an anime,
A lovely world.
Not an anime, not an anime,
It is a reality.
Not an anime, not an anime,
A feeling of wonder.
Not an anime, not an anime,
It is true.
 

Translation of the chorus from the song 'Anime Ja Nai',

opening theme to the series ZZ Gundam.
 

 

*The 'R Word' is the only way I can refer to that terrible travesty that was the merging of three completely separate Anime shows in a single stupidly named, dumbed down mish mash that was probably most Americans' introduction to Anime.

I knew the shows by their original names: Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeda.

**Any day I can reference Anime and David Bowie in the same post is a good day. Also, it gives me an excuse for more footnotes and I. Love. Footnotes! Don't you?

***This translates to "Wish me luck!"

 

 

 



Under Renovation

Greetings admirers of all that is 'comme un chien et vert'.

You haven't seen me post often lately because I have been very busy and very sick.

I saw a doctor today and there is good news (really good news), which is that I will get better, hopefully in a week or so. This is especially good news since at first  we (my family and I) thought that what is wrong with me would be sticking with me, a permenant condition that would require me to change my eating habits and life style a bit.

As it turns out, I am actually quite healthy (according to a real doctor!), barring what is making me ill for the time being.

Sick sucks. I would rather be tired than sick and I hate being tired.

The good news has inspired me to jump back into blogging as it was (to be quite frank) my illness that was draining my energy and making it difficult to stay on the computer long enough to write out a complete thought.

I am considering doing a little remodeling on the blog, although honestly I am not certain what I want to change or update. I just feel its looked the same for a long time and I'd like to spruce the place up a bit. Suggestions are welcome.

How else can I beef up this other protein light post? Ah!

Check me out on the site of my ultra-cool fellow Muppets fan and all around broham Ryan Dosier, The Muppet Mindset. I also did the banner/button on the right that leads to news on the new Muppet motion picture, now officially titled 'Muppets Most Wanted'!

My old drinkin' buddy from our star hopper days back on the Beezagian-Altraix IV run, Jay at EXONAUTS, posted the trailer for a new Japanese CGI film coming out featuring...CAPTAIN HARLOCK! Woohoo! Take a look.

Ark, Grand Poobah of Studio Arkheim and master of the tag 'Rather Gamey', has posted a link to youtube and a new series of cartoons by the creator of Adventure Time called Bravest Warriors. It's Crazilicious.

I have a lot of ideas spinning through the Matter/Anti-Matter intermix chamber that is my noodle but I need some time to sort through them.

Will post again soon. Peace and Love everybody!

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Barking Alien