Naruto possible

[Suzushiro Aoi]

Greetings all,
I backed the kickstarter and am really excited about the book comming out.
And so I started to think what kind of campaign to run with it when it arrives.
I asked my regular gaming group and since many of them are fans of the naruto anime and manga.
The answer became clear. We are gonne play a naruto rpg with OVA as rules.

The question I want to ask to the forum is if this is possible. Since naruto has many bloodlines and special skills and powers.
I was thinking of changing magic to Ninjutsu and Create a similar skill called genjutsu.
Taijutsu shouldn't be a problem in the current rules.

I think the bloodlines are gonne be the biggest difficulty to fine tune.
For instance I am quite sure one of my players is gonne want a sharingan eye.

My next question is at what power level should i make them start?
I wanted them to be genin (about a year out of the academy) and ready to take the chunin exam.
I was thinking of giving them base 10 points and power ceiling of 20 but since never having played the game i don't know if it is gonne be enough or to low?

I hope I made my answers clear I am not a native english speaker. If anyone wants some clarifications please ask.

[Suzushiro Aoi]

I have been thinking some more on this and maybe it would be better to use the perks alot instead of just "forcing" everyone to take ninjutsu.

Maybe use transformation with bloodlines like sharingan/byakugan?

Or for some signature ninjutsu use the perks like:
Katon: Gokakyou no jutsu (fire technique: great fireball technique)
requirements (ninjutsu3 or attack/combat expert 2)
Affinity fire (-5 endurance if own element is fire favored)
effectiveX2(+10 endurance, +2DX)
area effect(+10 endurance, +3 targets close)
elaborate gestures(-5endurance, hand seals)
ranged (+0endurance)
delayed(-5endurance, resolve at end of turn)
final cost endurance 10 or 5 if fire favored

Suiton: Kirigakure no jutsu (water technique: hidded mist technique),ninjutsuX2 rounds
requirements (ninjutsu3 or defense 2)
limited blinding (+20 endurance, blind penalties inside mist)
maleable area(short range(+5), medium range(+10), long range (+15endurance))
Unique stealth X2 for self in area(+10 endurance,+2 stealth dice in area)
defensive X2 for self in area (+10 endurance, +2defensive dice in area)
no damage (-20endurance)
affinity water(-5endurance if own element is water favored)
elaborate gestures(-5endurance, hand seals)
requirements: near water(-5endurance, must be near water or alot of moisture)
unique weakness: doesn't work against most sensory "jutsu" (-5endurance)
final cost 5-15 or 0-10 if water favored

What do you guys think?
to elaborate or on the right track?
did i make any mistakes, are there any ways to make it easier?

[Suzushiro Aoi]

Since I don't seem to get replies I must be on the right track or my questions are unclear.
I hope it is the first.

I have some ideas for the byakugan and the sharingan.
I would like it if someone would comment on them if these ideas seem good or not?

Sharingan:
uses transformation to take either combat expert/attack.
or sixt sense/perception.
Reading an opponent, only usuable once or twice per session.
with a unique power to "copy" for +5 endurance enemy non bloodline jutsu.
possible weaknesses: bizarre appearance 1-2, endurance use, limited uses,...

At higher transormation levels you can make special techniques like amaterasu or tsukuyomi with the perks and flaw system.
And i would consider izanagi, susanoo and izanami usuable after at least a scale increase in transformation

Byakugan:
most likely an adaption technique to perception

what do you guys think?

[StarRaven]

I'm not as familiar with Naruto as I could be (I stopped reading at about the... the competition thing, where Orochimaru first really showed up?) but I'm pretty familiar with OVA, so maybe I can help a bit.

First off, the forums are a little bit dead right now! We're all kind of waiting for the game to come out before we can really play. Well, not that that's stopped me, hehe. That's probably why you're not getting any replies. The other reason is that your question is really specific to Naruto, which not everyone is familiar with.

I think you were on the wrong track to start, but you're getting there now. There's an instinct to look at OVA and try to change it to tailor it to whatever specific thing you're running, when that is usually not necessary. Some advice I can offer is: rather than looking at what you want to do in a literal way, instead look at the effects you want to get. An example: to make a technique like Naruto's shadow copies, you might think, "There's nothing in the book that lets a character make copies of himself, so I should make that ability!" Instead, look at the effects you want to get out of it -- what does it actually do? For example, the first time he uses it, it's basically just a powerful rapid-fire beatdown attack. So just define that attack!

So let's see... if I recall correctly, the Sharingan does a few things.

The easy bit is the improved eyesight and ability to see chakra. You could just give the character Heightened Sense: Sharingan and have the bonus apply to anything that the sharingan would affect. If you want to differentiate the good eyesight and the ability to see chakra (iirc, there's another ninja ability that gives chakravision, the one Hinata and her brother have? idk it's been a while) you could make them Heightened Sense: Sight and Heightened Sense: Chakra Vision. (So maybe a Sharingan user would have HS: Sight at +4 but HS: Chakra Vision at +2, and a user of something else would have Chakra Vision +4 and whatever. It depends on how in-depth you want to do it and whether those abilities are ever going to be re-used.)

Then there's what, hypnosis? Easy again. Psychic.

Izanagi? Lucky!

The tough part is the ability to mimic other peoples' attacks. But that's really not *that* tough, either. Maybe with Arcane Magic with some perks and flaws added to it. Arcane Magic is the ability to spend endurance to temporarily give yourself other abilities, which is pretty close already. Just add...

• Self-Only (because it can't be used on other people, obviously.)
• Requirement: Familiar Abilities Only (must have seen the ability used by another ninja before it can be used; I'd give this a -5.)
• Cancel: No Bloodline Abilities (I'd give it -5.)
• No Gesture (I think?)
• At this point, you're at -10 Endurance for spells. You can leave it like this to give you a lesser endurance cost per "spell" than the chart in the book, OR you could tack on Accurate to give a bonus to dice roll instead.

Then just follow the normal rules for Arcane Magic with this in mind. To copy an opponent's attack, you'd use the usual rules for magic, granting yourself an Attack ability identical to the desired opponent. (Spells don't "stack" with natural abilities, so if you have Attack +1 already and you copy an opponent's Attack +2, you do not end up with Attack +3. It would be identical, though the dice roll and DM might be different! If your opponent has Strong and you don't, your DM might be lower! On the other hand, if you have more levels in Combat Expert, you might have more dice to roll!)

Anyway, that's how I'd do it! I hope it gives you some useful ideas!

[Suzushiro Aoi]

Thank you for your reply Star Raven.

I was getting the same impression.
That it was easier to adapt the current skill set then to make entirely new ones.

The problem with the sharingan are that it can do so much.
Isn't sixt sense sight and sixt sense chakra sight a bit heavy point wise speaking?
You don't get many points usually.
But sixt sense: sharingan and/or sixt sense: byakugan are indeed
easier than making a whole transformation thingy of it.
You made it look easy.

I am making the story now and talking to my gaming group what they want to play.
One wants to play a byakugan user(Hyuuga clan), one isn't sure but most likely will
make a very big background explaining why he has the sharingan eye and not be an uchicha.
The third is thinking of making a more standard taijutsu specialized ninja
and the last always takes to long to decide.

Thanks again for the reply.
I will think about the skillset some more and how to adapt the current ones before making entirely new ones.

[StarRaven]

Yes, the Sharingan skillset I made up there is extremely point-heavy -- you don't get a skill like the Sharingan for nothing! That's like your whole character right there! However, remember that the player can always choose to have these skills at a low level, to represent the fact that he does not have mastery of them.

When I have my players make starting characters, I usually tell them to make them along guidelines like:

• No more than 5 points of difference between Abilities and Weaknesses.
• No more than 15 Abilities. (They will go crazy. I've learned to try to emphasize that Abilities are for extraordinary skills -- otherwise literally everyone picks Smart.)
• No Abilities over +3 to start with except when approved by the GM.
• Try to keep a Threat Value* of about 15.

This is for a group of characters just starting out, so that they have room to grow. If they're playing characters that already pretty much know what they're doing, I increase or remove restrictions.

*Threat Value is not a thing that is mentioned in the backer preview, but you basically take your highest Attack, DM, Defense, Initiative, and bonuses/penalties to Health/Endurance and total them. I do this to ensure they all have roughly the same combat ability and nobody has anything way too low or way too high. (Given the opportunity, some players will take Agile AND Combat Expert AND Quick AND Evasive AND Attack AND Strong... and it starts to get a little out of hand.)

[Suzushiro Aoi]

Thanks again for the quick reply.

It is true that a sharingan pretty much defines a character
so investing lots of points in it is normal yes.

I was planning to make them genin about a year out of the academy.
And planning to do a mission C-rank with complications which would make it B or A rank.
(much like the wave arc in naruto where they have an escort mission but meet zabuza and haku)
This mission is for them (and me) to learn the game and their own character.

Afterwards i was planning to make them do the chunin exam.

So as power level of the group would be low to high genin.
The same power level as the chunin exam in the series
(the part where orochimaru tries to kill the hokage).
I was thinking of giving them 10 points to divide amongst their skills and
give the option of up to 10 points of weaknesses.

Would this be to much?

and ill keep that threat value in mind good tip thank you.

[StarRaven]

Hmm. 10 might be a little low, actually, unless you're making use of a lot of "container" abilities like Gear and Transformation. 15 might be more forgiving.

[Suzushiro Aoi]

Thanks again for the reply you have helped me alot already.

With 15.
Do you mean after or before calculating in the points for weaknesses?
And i think a threat value of 15 is going to be difficult then.

Container abilities do have their uses for some ninja types.
many bloodlines can be used with transformation and
gear can be used for explosive tags, kunai/weapon arsenal, seals, soldier pills, ...

But best not to over use them indeed.

I was planning on allowing each 1 skill at 4 maximum would that be ok or
maybe keep everything at 3 max to start?

[StarRaven]

Oohhh I misunderstood what you said, I think.

I thought you meant that the characters wouldn't be able to have more than a total of 10 for their abilities (regardless of weaknesses) but now I think I see what you mean.

You're talking like +20 total in abilities with -10 in weaknesses = total of 10, yeah? I think that's WAY too much. You can make a decent character in 10 points of abilities with no weaknesses at all. I would ask players to try to balance them as much as possible. I usually tell players, "Try not to go over by more than 5 points," but my players rarely ever even go near that, usually being closer to 0.

Or wait... are you using scaled costs? (So a Level 1 Ability costs one point, 2 costs two, 3 costs four, 4 costs eight, and 5 costs fifteen...?) I've never used that rule. 10 points sounds okay for that, I think....

Also, yeah, there's no reason you can't allow a +4 ability if you want. Remember though that abilities can only for to +5. It's important to understand, as a GM, whether you want to run a game where characters are going to have a lot of development or a little. Set stricter rules for campaigns where you want the characters to grow and change, or let players go wild for characters that won't change much. As with most of OVA, it's less about what's "right" and more about what kind of game you want to play.

[Suzushiro Aoi]

That all looks like good advice. As usual .

I am going to make some sample characters with 10, 15 and 20 points max
(start at 5, 10 with up to 5 weakness points and one start at 10 and up to 10 weakness points).
I think about 2 each to get a feel of the power and then decide which one to take.

We are planning to play one big scenario (about 6 sessions)
and see if it is campaign material and continue or play another big scenario.

I am not using scaled cost.
I am still not sure about the single +4 i think ill make some
of the sample character with it and a few without again to see the result.

I have game mastered for several rpg's already and am quite familiar with it.
But this game is a bit different then most others so i have a few questions regarding that.

There are many styles of rpg's which one does OVA leans closest too in your opinion?

Opposition should it be very detailed or just the most important parts?

Are there certain rules that you think are unclear for a beginner or that i should really memorize well?

I thank you again for always answering so quickly StarRaven.
And to any others reading, feel free to answer
some of the questions or give hints and tips.
They are always welcome .

[StarRaven]

Oh yeah, I don't mean to undermine your GMing experience. I mean that stuff specifically with OVA. ;D

This game is quite different than most others -- I'm not sure there's another one that I'd compare it to. For me, it's been more like running a freeform RP, with rolls mostly just to do combat and resolve conflicts.

The two things that I have found most difficult about running OVA are:

• Lack of a way to manage character improvement. (I've tried something different in every game I've run! Heh.)
• No hard rules for Health/Endurance regeneration.

So these are things I'd work out before starting the game.*

For common enemies, like bandit mooks and small monsters, I just write them up on an index card. I build them just like player characters, but smaller. 10 health/endurance for really weak mooks that travel in hordes, 20 for normal enemies, 40 for "bosses." I just sketch out the most important parts.

For a beginner... I found that keeping a little cheat-sheet (link) is super helpful so that you don't have to go through the book to check things out. There's a lot less in OVA to memorize than other systems, which is nice, but it can't hurt to have a reminder. I'd especially recommend having the difficulty chart (and the difficulty/endurance chart for magic if you're going to be using that a lot) and a list of standard combat actions.

Also! I forgot to mention this at first, but definitely familiarize yourself with Gear, Focus, and Weapon. As a general rule, any Attack/Ability shouldn't be affected by more than one of those. (I made a handout (link) for my players.)

You're very welcome (for replying quickly.) It's been way too long since I had someone to nerd out about this game with. XD

*How I'm doing it right now:
EXP: I'm just doing a party experience pool that I add EXP to whenever players are being creative and playing in-character. When they reach a certain amount (10 x the highest TV in the group), I'll give them some points to spend on... something. Like maybe I'll give them 5 points to spend, and they can spend it on Abilities/Weaknesses (according to the rule of scaled costs), or on free drama dice (a point per die maybe?), or on new Attacks (1 point per Perk.)
Regeneration: Characters regenerate 5 points of Health/Endurance per day (+Tough or -Frail for Health, +Vigorous or -Languorous for Endurance.)

[Suzushiro Aoi]

I don't immediately see any connections to other rpg's either.
That is part of what I like about OVA.

For health regeneration your system looks good.
For endurance/chakra/magic in most system regenerates faster i think.
I would use endurance as you but per hour or 4hours.
I like how you incorporated the weaknesses in there .

For experience why not keep it simple like most of the system.
If they want to train a new attack (perks and such) let them train/roleplay
and give it a difficulty and time depending on complexity.
For abilities why not give them 1 point after each story and 1 point after
everyone in the party did something memorable.(no scaled cost)
That way you have more control, people will roleplay their characters
and don't need to much book keeping/math to make their characters.
And you can use some restrictions like story points can only be spend
up to lvl3 in an ability or something as an example.
And if people do memorable things give them free temporary drama dice.
Permanent drama dice if it was really memorable.

Thanks for the hint about enemies, i was just planning on making them .
What would be an appropriate number of mooks(10health) for a starting party to face?
And what point system do you use for enemies? up to 5ceiling for mooks?
10 for normal and starting player to higher for bosses?

I will reread gear, focus and weapon again and make it so that no attack will have 2 or more of these.

Thanks again for the usefull hints and cheat sheet.

I read in another post you were planning to make a certain gutsy ninja and their
2 companions might this post have something to do with that? .
If you do make them I would be honored if you post them to watch.

[StarRaven]

On getting levels via roleplaying -- of course! If the characters stop and train, or if they spend some time doing something specific, or if they pick up new items, they'll get stuff for that. But I also like to have an EXP sort of deal for players to use themselves, partially so that they can feel like they actually have some control over their characters, and partially because I don't want to have to do all the work by myself! Hehe. But it's worth noting that I have a very good group that I've gamed with for a long, long time, and who don't need extra incentive to roleplay their characters.

[Suzushiro Aoi]

I have made a few character and wanted to know what you people think?
Does something need to change or do they look ok?
Hints and Tips always welcome.

Ronin Bandit
Abilities:
armored+1, attack+1, combat expert+1
Weaknesses:
dumb+1, greedy+1
Attacks:
Katana accurate+5, weapon-5, acc: 4, DX2
Unarmed acc3, DX2
Health/chakra: 10/10

This is a mook i plan to throw at the party in a group of 3-5 i think.
Standard bandit encounter.
Nothing to special.

Iwa Genin affinity: earth
Abilities:
quick+1, attack+1, combat expert+2, perceptive+2, art of invisibility +2
Weaknesses:
ageism+1, impulsive+1, emotionless+1
Attacks:
Kunai Storm:
accurate+5, ammo-5, ranged+0
acc: 5, DX2, ranged10X
Academy taijutsu:
damaging+5, unwieldy-5
acc:4, DX3, -1defense
Doton No Jutsu, Yoroi (Earth Release, Armor)
ArmouredX2(+2)+10, continued effect+10, elaborate gestures-5, self only-5, earth affinity(-5 if earth affinity)
5-10 chakra.
Unarmed
acc4, DX2
Health/chakra: 10/10