Wise Turtle Publishing

I have released a 20 page "demo" of our flagship title, OVA. You can find it by clicking this link.

Download Demo

Just a little teaser. I want you all to know I thank you for your support.

Looks excellent. I'm very anxious to see the finished product!

I can hardly wait for the finished product either.

Iain.

Gotta say you picked the wrong part to demo... I couldn't help but think that it almost exactly copied BESM's introduction, and I got next to no impression of how the system actually worked.

Actually, I don't own BESM or BESM 2e. I only know the Big Eyes Small Mouth system through some of their licensed products. (Sailor Moon and Tenchi Muyo anyone?) Any similiarities are coincidental.

But to be honest, there's only so many ways to give a history of anime. It's the same history, no matter how you say it. Same goes for RPGs.

Also, if you want an impression of the rules, go the Ricochet section of the site. The demo is meant only to give people an impression of the quality of the game and to show off character creation. Showing off other sections would, really, defeat the purpose of buying the final book.

You can't play the demo. That's on purpose.

Hopefully the aforementioned section will give you more of what you're looking for. Various facets of the rules are mentioned on these forums as well.

So are you saying that you couldn't do fast play rules because that's pretty much where the rules are now?

More or less. OVA is very simple at its core, with most of the flavor coming from the extensive Ability/Weakness list.

BESM likes to toss a million different and useless rules at you to fill up a page count. OVA doesn't do that.

OVA, by default, is fast play. That's a design decision I made early on. There are a lot of good complex systems out there, but very few good simple ones. To me, BESM isn't one of those. But that's just my opinion, and one not neccessarily popular even with other OVA fans.

Clay wrote:More or less. OVA is very simple at its core, with most of the flavor coming from the extensive Ability/Weakness list.

That's good to know.

BESM likes to toss a million different and useless rules at you to fill up a page count. OVA doesn't do that.

OK, maybe you shouldn't say stuff like that about a book you don't own. BESM uses a digest size to increase page count, the main part of the book is the attributes, with maybe 13 pages (don't have it with me to check exactly) of rules you actually work with. So far I'm seeing a bit of a different approach on the core mechanics and dice rolling, not too much different elsewhere.

OVA is also digest size. ^^

And I know enough of how the rules work from Tenchi Muyo! and Sailor Moon (Both being more or less reworked versions of the 2e and 1e rules respectively) to get this opinion.

BESM just rubs me the wrong way is all. But there are several big fans on this board, so I suppose I'll stop making my views so blatant.

But you're right. They are similar. BESM did one thing right, and that was take a very rules-light approach to an anime RPG. I just feel like that instead of properly revising the game with 2e, they just added more content to try to fix the mistakes they made the first time around.

And as much as I complain, BESM is not a bad system. I just feel like they could've done more. Maybe they will with 3e.

Clay wrote:OVA is also digest size. ^^

Cool, I'm a big fan of Digest Sized books.

And I know enough of how the rules work from Tenchi Muyo! and Sailor Moon (Both being more or less reworked versions of the 2e and 1e rules respectively) to get this opinion.

I disagree, A) Your opinion is flat out wrong, they don't use rules to fill up the pages because there simply aren't very many pages on rules in BESM 2ER. B) While TM and SM are valid for getting an idea of how the rules system works, it's not for getting an idea of the page count and distribution.

BESM just rubs me the wrong way is all. But there are several big fans on this board, so I suppose I'll stop making my views so blatant.

Probably a good idea, but I don't really mind so much as long as they're not blatantly inaccurate, like the comment about filling pages.

But you're right. They are similar.

And seeing as I already have BESM, OVA is that much harder of a sell for me. What I'm really looking for is what the differences are, and if it's worth it for me to get. The comparisons would help a bit more if it looked like you'd actually read BESM. (Although on the flipside it does help make it pretty clear that you didn't copy it).

BESM did one thing right, and that was take a very rules-light approach to an anime RPG. I just feel like that instead of properly revising the game with 2e, they just added more content to try to fix the mistakes they made the first time around.

I think they more just added the content because it was there, and the fans wanted it all in one book. I didn't see them really trying to fix anything, they were just adding more options to it.

And as much as I complain, BESM is not a bad system. I just feel like they could've done more. Maybe they will with 3e.

Yeah, of course, that could be said about any system.

I think I use rules a bit more loosely than you do. Either way, I have flipped through the book once before. I feel like a simple system like BESM doesn't warrant 200+ pages. Whether my feelings are "blatantly innacurate" are a matter of opinion, so I'll leave it there.

But we are off topic. This is the OVA forum. We can discuss the finer points of BESM via email or on the General Discussion forum.