On the Whys and Wherefores

Aside from the undeniable itch to create a new gaming system, something that I haven't done in a long while, there are a few more concrete reasons why I am setting out to develop N.E.R.V.system. I'll deal with these reasons, broken down into some broad categories for ease of digestion.

What I want from a system as of now.

As I get (sigh) older I want to spend more of my gaming time (and gaming prep time) on the fun stuff. As I GM most of the time, that means I want to concentrate on plots, characterization and the kind of stuff that doesn't involve lots of time looking at charts and lists. I want to make NPCs' stats quickly and then get on to describing who they really are.

Relatedly, I want to be able to adjudicate in-game with much less reference to the rulebook. Referencing sucks up time, sucks up energy and just plain sucks. I want something with a great deal of freedom both for myself and the players to try things out, go wild and have fun. The highly structured nature of some rule sets does not really encourage that, in my experience.

At the same time I am very uncomfortable with going completely off the rules reservation into the land of pure narrative. I want there to be things that fall back on the mechanics to resolve so that it isn't all GM fiat or unbridled, unopposed player wish fulfillment - sorry Bernie :-) .

Lastly, I rather like the possibilities inherent in the myriad genres and themes contained within the overall umbrella of the comic and animation media, both Asian and Western. There are so many possibilities (see the preceding post for example) that literally dozens of potential campaigns spring to mind. And interestingly, many of the things that we have played before would handily fit into those themes, albeit with perhaps a few new twists and maybe a little greater application of the Rule of Cool.

I don't want to have to learn a whole new set of rules every time I want to explore a new genre. I haven't got the time or the patience for it.

Which brings us to...

So what's wrong with the system we're using now or even (insert other system name here)?

Of the things we've played or discussed before, I'll say the following:

- D&D 3.5 is OK but it really only does fantasy (and at that it really really only does D&D-style fantasy) and it is way too hard to DM, for me at least, at higher levels even with a laptop and dedicated software. And let's face it, we like the high levels.

- D&D 4. The sound you hear is the baby Jesus. Crying. While George Lucas kicks puppies and rapes your childhood. In 3D. I wanted to like it, really I did. But whatever they made did not fix the problems I had with 3.5 and has the added (non-)benefit of giving less character choice and more wargame/videogame/metagame feel than I want. And from what some of you have said, I'm not alone here. Oh, and it still only does D&D-style fantasy, just a different type of D&D-style fantasy.

- Other d20 games ultimate fail on the complexity test just like D&D3.5. True20 is simpler, but the structure is still too cumbersome in many ways. At least many d20's do other genres, and True20 is multi-genre.

- Shadowrun. I'll play it but I sure as heck won't run it. And it really only does Shadowrun.

- WFRP (Hi Rod!!!). The latest version looks kinda cool but it does what it does and is not really applicable to anything else.

- Fate, Fudge, Spirit of the Century, Anima Prime, Cartoon Action Hour, Houses of the Blooded and God knows how many more related games. I like many parts of these more modern games. They are more open and fluid in many ways. But they can still be very crunchy and I want to reduce that as much as possible. At least most (but not all) of them are multi-genre.

- Exalted. Anime...check. Joseph Campbell myth-crap out the wazoo...check. Gonzo action...yuh huh. Heroin pissing dinosaurs...yes (I wish I were making that one up). Rules that make my brain bleed just to think about them...Oh Hell Yes! I'd still love to use the setting, but the rules blow goats.

BESM 3 and OVA. BESM has proved to be workmanlike and it's fairly easy to use. But character generation is a pain in the behind and is really easy to twink (witness the power differential between Father O'Dea and any of the characters who get most of their abilities through items (at 50% off) or through items with "Unknown Attributes" (add another 50% value for not knowing what you'll be able to do). It also, strangely, does not really support genre emulation the way I'd like (see below).

OVA is simpler to create characters for and looks to be easier to run, but it also has genre emulation issues.

So now...

What are my Goals for N.E.R.V.system?

The purpose of N.E.R.V.system is to serve as a transparent rules platform for roleplaying in a wide variety of genres and campaigns. To this end, the following are of importance:

Ease of use - Let's face it, not every member of the gaming group is or wants to be a rules guru. A rules system that can be grasped easily is important. Also important is a system that does not require extreme mastery in order to avoid making suboptimal choices "by mistake". Character generation must not be restrictive, but needs to be easy to use and not require hours of twinking to get just the right build.

Transparency in play - Related to the first goal, the system should not be the elephant in the room when the game is underway. Once grokked, the players (and the GM) should be able to operate smoothly and not have rules considerations unduly impact on actions...except for...

Genre emulation - There are some types of stories that pretty much demand that the characters act in certain ways or the story just doesn't work or "feel" the way it's supposed to. Though many a rom-com or Three's Company episode would have made more logical sense if someone, Hell, anyone, had just cleared up the misunderstanding, we all know that to do so violates the underlying story framework that the audience expects. The same is true of RPGs, at least some of the time.

In the case of manga and anime, many of these tropes revolve around elements of combat and conflict. In a shounen fighting series like Bleach or Naruto, there is the tacit understanding that characters do not start the fight with their biggest attack, they start out small and work their way up.Unless they have already fought the opponent before and know they have to start out stronger. In other sorts of series, like SDF Macross or Black Lagoon, one proceeds straight to the whoop-ass when the fight breaks out.

Other tropes include the power of spirit to overcome adversity and to contribute directly to victory in battle, the power of sacrifice and the importance of teammates and friends. The degree to which these are true varies from series to series.

And then there's the question of character death. In some series, again Bleach for example, few if any main characters die. The there are shows like GUNDAM where they get killed just to demonstrate that war sucks and no-one is same. Then there are the heroic sacrifices.

So N.E.R.V.system has to be able to emulate these tropes. To encourage (but never force) characters to follow the genre conventions. To escalate combat power in one series, or take a realistic "lead with the big guns" approach in another. To try to redeem the villain (yea even to befriend her) or just shoot him in the head cause he's in the way. To allow characters to survive ()but still be defeated) in one campaign and yet fear random death in another.

I have some ideas on how to handle all of these issues (or I wouldn't have even started this project) but I'll get to them in a later post and on the wiki. I think this is enough rambling for now.

On the subject of series...

Having said that I'd like to use this blog to discuss concepts for future series that will (hopefully) use this new system, I'll throw a few out there.

On Sunday I asked Bernie, Eva and Colin if they had any ideas. There seemed to be significant interest in mecha. Can't see the appeal myself. :-) The consensus on the night was that something in the Macross/Gundam/Mospaeda continuum of "real robots" rather than something in the "super robots" genres like Transformers or Voltron would be preferable. Thoughts?

Series of this nature could include hopeful but "writ large" elements of the Macross shows, perhaps even set in that timeline, or the grittier, "war is Hell" vibe of the Gundam shows. The first person to suggest NGE gets summarily turned to Tang®.

Another idea that came up was something in a Firefly/Cowboy Bebop mode. Colin suggested that mechs could be worked into that but I just think he had giant robots on the brain by that point. Some other series that could feed into that vibe might include GunXSword, Trigun and possibly Coyote Ragtime Show.

Bernard said something about high-school drama/comedy. Done right that could be a bit of fun and would certainly be a way to test the rules on "mundanes", The problem is that most shows like that are, at least at some level, romances and I'm not sure this group is suited to that. But there are a few possibilities from series like Cromartie High School. Who knows?

From what I've been thinking about myself there are some modern fantasies like Shakugan no Shana, Buso Renkin, Fate/stay Night, Night Wizard, Shiki Tsukai and Kurokami that have promise, at least as the basis for something.

I'm also toying with a steampunk fantasy based on Elemental Gelade or Fullmetal Alchemist that could be very interesting. And finally I think (assuming you don't get the world destroyed) that it might be interesting to do a sequel series of Kurayami no shi based more on the Trinity Blood side of the source material while still incorporating the Dark Order and the stuff that has taken place in the series as played.

Anyway, what are you're thoughts on the above or suggestions. I've provided links for the series so that you can get a feel for the genres and such that they represent, if you aren't familiar with them yourself.

Now sound off!

So it Begins - or I've got some N.E.R.V.

It's been a while since I decided to try my hand at creating a custom gaming system. So many previous efforts ended...well they ended. Since 2000 we' ve played D&D, some Shadowrun and BESM 3. Now I think I want to have a go at creating something that will allow us to approach a number of different types and genres of campaign (though frequently with an anime/manga/comic book/cartoon aesthetic or underpinning) without having to change systems for each one.

So that's what I want to try.

I'll use this blog to keep my thoughts on the process and the wiki site for the actual mechanics as they develop. You'll be able to comment here on the overall concepts and to respond to my musings. I'll also set it up so that you can muse on the "meta" here as well.

To comment on specific mechanical things, I'll be setting up the page-commenting functionality of the wiki site. You'll need to have a wikidot membership to do that but I hope that at least some of you will take part and help shape the thing as it comes along.

Obviously we won't be using this new game for the second season of Kurayami no shi but once we get some things to a usable point I hope to run some short OVAs to playtest the bits. We can use this blog to discuss series concepts for what ya'll might like to see for new campaigns.

About the Name

What would an RPG be without a catchy name? And what would an anime/manga game be without a silly acronym name? So of course the first thing I came up with was the name. Yes it's corny (cheese-dipped corn at that), but I like it. As soon as I get a chance it'll even have a snazzy graphic!!

So N.E.R.V.system it is, the Novel Exciting Robust Versatile anime-manga RPG is born. Smoke 'em if ya got 'em.

And Anno Hideaki can blow me if he dosen't like it.