So...magic?

[Frog]

This has been bothering me for a while now, but how is magic going to work in this? As magic is a very important part of several anime series, it wouldn't seem right to make people wait for a supplement to get some rules on the matter (As that would alienate a good portion of the target audience)..but in order for the RPG to be versatile enough to emulate most anime settings, there probably couldn't be clearly defined rules on the existence of magic either. So, what details can you give about how magic is going to be handled? Are there going to be any real rules or guidlines? Or is it pretty much entirely the GM's discresion as to how magic works? Or, worst of all, are you planning on just trying to avoid the subject entirely until OVA Fantasy is released, thus forcing everyone who wants to use magic to buy that to even make the characters they wanted to (Which would seem to go entirely against the concept of not having lots of different rule books)?

Obviously, I don't expect you to mention every detail about magic from the book, but it'd be nice to be given some idea about how it'll work.

[Clay]

Although various things will be further explored and detailed in future supplements, rest assured that you can do ANYTHING with the core OVA rules.

Although in an upcoming Fantasy supplement there will likely be numerous spell-lists that RPGamers have grown to love, the Magic rules in OVA are split into two basic abilities.

Magic, Arcane allows a player to mimic any other Ability in the game at the cost of endurance. For example, if a wizard wanted to make a "haste" spell, he'd simply have a spell that gives "Quick" as a temporary Ability for an endurance cost depending on his level in Magic and the level of the ability he wants to recreate. It's encouraged for players to make a "list" of spells common to their character before the game.

Magic, Witchcraft, on the other hand, allows a character to recreate WEAKNESSES. In this way, you can cast a "Slow" spell, or even turn someone into a toad! Witchcraft is also unique in that the effect can theoretically be made permanent, (though it's encouraged for Game Masters to require esoteric materials in addition to the Endurance cost for particularly nasty curses).

That's the basic rundown. I hope that clears up your question.

[Divine Dragon]

I have always loved magic, and that goes for every type of RPG I've played.

I'm just curious, you say that you encourage players to create spell lists for their character. Does that mean that there won't be the sort of free/ad-lib magic that was made possible in BESM through the "dynamic sorcery" attribute?

Also, you say that all magic will be tied in with the games Abilities and Weaknesses. What happens if a player wants to create a character who uses magic like lightningbolts or divine retribution? Is there a way in the game to encompase such things as well? (Stupid question perhaps, I don't know. But I just had to ask.)

[Clay]

It is definitely possible to create spells "on the fly." It is merely suggested characters make predefined spell-lists to avoid bogging down gameplay.

As for your examples, both can easily be recreated using Magic, Arcane and the Power Move Ability, using Affinities of Lightning and Holy respectively.

[Divine Dragon]

Ok. Thanks. Guess I should wait and look at the game before I ask any more stupid questions. lol

[Michael Hopcroft]

Not having seen the game yet the answer would porbably be under my nose as soon as I do. But how would you handle things like Sakura Kinomoto's cartomancy, or the dinemsonal magis of Yuuko (xxxHOLiC)?

[Clay]

I've actually not seen CCS or read the CLAMP offshoot xxxHolic, but I'll try to comment on Sakura as much as I can.

Probably the easiest way is to treat the cards as spells, and give them the Special Flaw "only can be cast on self"

Alternatively, you could combine Transformation with Human Arsenal (which is a REAL stretch mind you. Human arsenal usually lets you have unlimited weapon times, but I can see it being used with cards...possibly)

I don't know enough about dimensional magic to really give an answer. If you just mean changing dimensions, I probably wouldn't give it stats at all, since it rarely has any in-game effect. It's merely an excuse to change the setting drastically. If you had to, you could just chart it up as a "Special Ability"

[Michael Hopcroft]

Then maybe a little more detail in my explanation will help the process of modeling.

Sakura Kinomoto, the Card Captor, has access to a deck of magical cards. each card has a spirit bound intto it that is utterly loyal to her. She can reelase the spriits to create spell-like effects. Within the confines of each card's function (such as "watery",Light" or "Shield") Salkura can tell the spirits to do just about anything she can imagine. if the spirit she calls upon is incpaable of the desired effect, nothing happens. The only imitation is the range of cards she actually has on her person at any given time -- early in her carreer she had only a few cards and could perform only a limited number of spells. By the end of the series Sakura is capable of using multiple cards simu;ltaneously to produce spectacular and surprisingly complex effects (especially given that she was, at the time, only eleven).

Yuuko's dimension magic not only involves the ability to send any number of people she wishes to other dimensions, but she can also see into just about any alternative universe she chooses, as well as forwards and backwards in time. Yuuko has a lot of other magical abilities, but that is the one that springs to mind. Yuuko also seems to have personal knowledge, if not contact, with every important mystical figure in the CLAMP multiverse. But that's another story....

[Clay]

Sorry for the time it took to reply to this. It kind of got lost in the massive amounts of posts lately.

Anyway, I think my previous Human Arsenal + Transformation example could work for Sakura. Or you could give her Magic, Arcane and Magic Witchcraft with the Special Weakness: Can only cast magic pertaining to current card

That might be simpler.

As for Yuuko, he really doesn't sound like a player character at all. At least, I'd hate to see players with this amount of power. ^_^;

But if you must, give him "Special Ability: Dimension Travelling" at like +4 or +5.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Yuuko's a woman. Very much so.

As far as I can tell, she doesn't travel the dimensions herself, at least not very often or not anymore. She just happens to have extraoridnary reach in time and space.

And if you can deal with that level of power, she's make a fine PC. She is reminicent of what CLAMP would have done had they been asked to create Doctor Who.

[RemyDuron]

And it has often been said that, in a RPG version of Dr. Who, Dr. Who would be an NPC

[Seisen Kitsune]

Being a fan of Cardcaptor Sakura, I have my own way of handling her series and spells..though it might be a tad too complex and/or eccentric for some people's tastes. It also requires quite a bit of work from the GM, but I like the idea (Duh. If I didn't, I wouldn't be posting it. But I digress.).

1.A cardcaptor character would start with only one card (In keeping with the spirit of the series, your going to have to earn the rest.). To mske s Clow Card, you design a magic spell as normal, and write all of it's details down on an Index Card. (Remember, the spell comes from the card itself, not from your character..so I reccomend keeping the spell seperate from your actual character sheet.)

2.To get new spells, you'd have to capture more Clow Cards. Basically, the GM would control the Clow Cards and you'd have to spend the night roleplaying your attempts to capture the Clow Card; Whenever you manage to finally capture the Clow Card, the GM would give you an Index Card with the stats of your new spell written down on it.

The index card thing might seem odd, but I think it adds to the CCS feeling if you literally have a constantly growing deck of magic spells to cast from, and I think it'd be a fun touch to things. The only real problems I see involve the fact that the GM would have to make Clow Cards a very major part of the plot (Not a problem if he's running a CCS campaign..otherwise, their could be some problems.) and the GM would have to do more work then normal, as they'd be creating the stats for every spell you gained throughout the campaign. BUT, if I were to ever run a CCS campaign, that's how I'd personally handle it.

[Joe_Mello]

(OMG. I actually registered)

Since this could carry over into other anime-themed campaigns (such as Pokémon, god forbid) I recommend that the powers that be take one of two actions:

1-Create a Magic: Avatar subsection (or something similar) highlighting circumstances such as facing Clow Cards or wild monsters.

2-Treat the magics in question not as magics, but as NPC's. Asthetically, this may make more sense, as there were normally more to Clow Cards than just a 2 1/2" x 6" piece of card stock.

Of course, since I am the RPG n00b, you don't have to listen to a word I say. ^^;

[Cloud]

Being a fan of Cardcaptor Sakura, I have my own way of handling her series and spells..though it might be a tad too complex and/or eccentric for some people's tastes. It also requires quite a bit of work from the GM, but I like the idea (Duh. If I didn't, I wouldn't be posting it. But I digress.).

1.A cardcaptor character would start with only one card (In keeping with the spirit of the series, your going to have to earn the rest.). To mske s Clow Card, you design a magic spell as normal, and write all of it's details down on an Index Card. (Remember, the spell comes from the card itself, not from your character..so I reccomend keeping the spell seperate from your actual character sheet.)

2.To get new spells, you'd have to capture more Clow Cards. Basically, the GM would control the Clow Cards and you'd have to spend the night roleplaying your attempts to capture the Clow Card; Whenever you manage to finally capture the Clow Card, the GM would give you an Index Card with the stats of your new spell written down on it.

The index card thing might seem odd, but I think it adds to the CCS feeling if you literally have a constantly growing deck of magic spells to cast from, and I think it'd be a fun touch to things. The only real problems I see involve the fact that the GM would have to make Clow Cards a very major part of the plot (Not a problem if he's running a CCS campaign..otherwise, their could be some problems.) and the GM would have to do more work then normal, as they'd be creating the stats for every spell you gained throughout the campaign. BUT, if I were to ever run a CCS campaign, that's how I'd personally handle it.

I recently ran a game with those similar mechanics using random anime's gimmick system. It went ok, but we only played twice. My players dident much like the system.