Hi all! Short time lurker, first time poster, and fan of OVA here, with a question perhaps outside the norm.
I dig the OVA system a lot, and am considering using it to play a supers game, ala Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, and the rest of the other spandexed suspects.
Anyone care to lend any advice about how 4-color superheroes differ from their anime counterparts (I'm not a huge fan of anime - I know, I know (hangs head in shame)) I'd also LOVE IT if someone would stat up a few known superheroes and/or villains, just to get me going.
Thanks!
4 Color comic book super heroes!
-
Bunkabunka
- Shelled Plebeian
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Wed Apr 26, 2017 10:25 am
-
Malancthon
- Exalted Amphibian
- Posts: 279
- Joined: Sat Sep 05, 2015 4:55 pm
Re: 4 Color comic book super heroes!
It'd probably be best to think of OVA less of an anime RPG but a toolkit on how to play. Just because Clay uses an anime coat to describe the game does not mean you need to. Just lean to archetypal powers and you should be fine playing a powers or cape game.
-
Bunkabunka
- Shelled Plebeian
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Wed Apr 26, 2017 10:25 am
Re: 4 Color comic book super heroes!
Very true. I'd need to re-define what the different levels of Strong and Quick represented, though, I think. Someone with a Strong 5 should be able to lift a lot more than a loaded car in a comic book world, for example.
Re: 4 Color comic book super heroes!
In the context of OVA, a lot of the truly superhuman permutations of human ability (that is, Superman-like strength or Flash-like speed) should be handled with the Scale rules.
That is, the Flash is on an even playing field with jet planes, not mere humans. The rules tend to make Scale a "free" thing since it often results in benefits and detriments. (A story-tall robot may be super strong, but he's also super easy to hit and may have a hard time hitting tiny humans.)
With superhumans, that's less often the case, so it wouldn't be the worst idea to make the Scale Advantage be a "bought" part of the character for 5 points.
That is, the Flash is on an even playing field with jet planes, not mere humans. The rules tend to make Scale a "free" thing since it often results in benefits and detriments. (A story-tall robot may be super strong, but he's also super easy to hit and may have a hard time hitting tiny humans.)
With superhumans, that's less often the case, so it wouldn't be the worst idea to make the Scale Advantage be a "bought" part of the character for 5 points.
Re: 4 Color comic book super heroes!
A while ago I was toying with an idea for a different way of handling scale for supers.
Let's take strength for example, but you could do something similar with other attributes.
0 strength can roll to accomplish things normal people can reasonable do, 1 strength can roll to accomplish things you'd expect from a top strength athlete, 2 strength can roll to bend steel bars or flip cars, 3 can toss a vehicle, etc. Something that is above your strength level you can't do (excepting maybe with the expenditure of a drama die), things below your level you probably don't need to roll for without extenuating circumstances, feats that fall within your strength category are things you can do given time, the roll is to see if you can do it right now! or to see if there is a complication while you're doing it. When rolling instead of adding your strength level you'd just roll 2d6 versus a TN relative to your tier (i.e. what's normal, difficult, near impossible for someone with Strong+2, or +3, or whatever), your level in strength dictates what you're allowed to roll on. If you wanted to make it more fine grained you could allow for the purchasing of additional dice to roll within your strength tier (probably at a discount), but they wouldn't affect things outside your tier.
While I like the idea of the scale rules in OVA, supers are a bit weird in that they can huge differences in ability yet seem to operate on a similar scale of effectiveness regardless of those differences. So in combat you'd just use use the tier rating as though it were a normal dice pool. So your level in Strong would affect your DX as normal, or if you gave the same treatment to superspeed you'd just use your Quick levels as normal when it came to avoiding attacks (I mean how do you see the Flash getting hit despite being so much faster than everyone else).
Sorry if this is a little jumbled. I haven't actually tested it, so it might be a little half-baked, but the idea has been floating around in the back of my head for a while.
Let's take strength for example, but you could do something similar with other attributes.
0 strength can roll to accomplish things normal people can reasonable do, 1 strength can roll to accomplish things you'd expect from a top strength athlete, 2 strength can roll to bend steel bars or flip cars, 3 can toss a vehicle, etc. Something that is above your strength level you can't do (excepting maybe with the expenditure of a drama die), things below your level you probably don't need to roll for without extenuating circumstances, feats that fall within your strength category are things you can do given time, the roll is to see if you can do it right now! or to see if there is a complication while you're doing it. When rolling instead of adding your strength level you'd just roll 2d6 versus a TN relative to your tier (i.e. what's normal, difficult, near impossible for someone with Strong+2, or +3, or whatever), your level in strength dictates what you're allowed to roll on. If you wanted to make it more fine grained you could allow for the purchasing of additional dice to roll within your strength tier (probably at a discount), but they wouldn't affect things outside your tier.
While I like the idea of the scale rules in OVA, supers are a bit weird in that they can huge differences in ability yet seem to operate on a similar scale of effectiveness regardless of those differences. So in combat you'd just use use the tier rating as though it were a normal dice pool. So your level in Strong would affect your DX as normal, or if you gave the same treatment to superspeed you'd just use your Quick levels as normal when it came to avoiding attacks (I mean how do you see the Flash getting hit despite being so much faster than everyone else).
Sorry if this is a little jumbled. I haven't actually tested it, so it might be a little half-baked, but the idea has been floating around in the back of my head for a while.
Re: 4 Color comic book super heroes!
The original OVA had similar limitations on what a characters were allowed to roll for. (ie. you required certain levels of Strong to even attempt certain tasks) But in the end, it was one of the first things to go in the Revised Edition.
The reason? Because the same rationale can be pretty much applied to EVERYTHING. Racing certain distances in a given amount of time logically requires certain levels of Quick. Knowing certain things requires certain levels of Knowledge. And so on.
We've been brought up with the ubiquitous strength chart, and it just really, really feels like it needs to be there for "realism." But the truth is, we're already dealing with a very abstracted way of handling actions. There's no sense in doubling up. You either need a system that applies limitations on everything. (Ie. a potentially diceless system that just flat allows or forbids certain tasks) or one that abstracts it with dice in the name of fun. Doing both just gets in the way.
Does this mean Braun COULD roll 12 and lift a car? Sure. But so does that granny in the famous anecdote where she lifts a car off a pinned child. And that cute anime schoolgirl when she's REALLY angry, for that matter.
...but that's just my two cents. I appreciate the thought put into it, anyway!
The reason? Because the same rationale can be pretty much applied to EVERYTHING. Racing certain distances in a given amount of time logically requires certain levels of Quick. Knowing certain things requires certain levels of Knowledge. And so on.
We've been brought up with the ubiquitous strength chart, and it just really, really feels like it needs to be there for "realism." But the truth is, we're already dealing with a very abstracted way of handling actions. There's no sense in doubling up. You either need a system that applies limitations on everything. (Ie. a potentially diceless system that just flat allows or forbids certain tasks) or one that abstracts it with dice in the name of fun. Doing both just gets in the way.
Does this mean Braun COULD roll 12 and lift a car? Sure. But so does that granny in the famous anecdote where she lifts a car off a pinned child. And that cute anime schoolgirl when she's REALLY angry, for that matter.
...but that's just my two cents. I appreciate the thought put into it, anyway!