Help me pick an RPG engine for a game.

Athenor

Hey guys.

So I'm forming an idea for a role-playing game, but the biggest hurdle I'm going to run into is the system. While i've owned many systems over the years, and many of them are close to my heart, I don't think any I own really capture what I'm going for.

See, I'm thinking of running an anime/manga-esque game. The cornerstones would be airships, big robots, a bit of intrigue, over the top cinematic wire-fu shit, and things like that. I'm drawing inspiration from the good Final Fantasy games, Skies of Arcadia, Steampunk in general, any number of big robot plots, and maybe some western influences like Mage, Avatar/Airbender, Darksiders, and a few other sources. It's gonna be a giant melting pot -- but the story should kick ass if I come up with a decent enough framework.

The problem is the engine. Most game engines are written with a theme in mind, or conversely they are written so generically that it is hard to make anything decent with them. And considering I want the over-the-top, cinematic style, it'd be nice to play with something that works well with that. If it's too loose, though, then what's the point?

So far I'm throwing around some basics:

1) BESM /Tri Stat is the old standby for this kind of game. The problem is how generic it is, and how much you have to tweak it. I also am not sure how well power scaling will be handled.

2) Mage would be fun, but the system needs to be balanced by Vulgar magic, and I don't want to punish people for the over the top shit unless it fits thematically. On the other hand I would like supernatural creatures to be part of it, and using something like WoD would help...

3) Or possibly Exalted. I know it's anime styled, but I've never opened it despite getting a free copy somewhere along the line.

4) I could also modify a cinematic game style like L5R or 7th Sea, but both are very firmly rooted in their theme and would require a ton of re-working.

I don't want to create an engine from scratch if I can avoid it. I'd also like to avoid a heavy monetary investment if at all possible, although if something like Anima works I'll certainly look into it.

So any suggestions? Maybe I'm thinking out in right field here, who knows. I just know that if I can tell a compelling story with a solid, fluid engine underneath, then I'll have won.

PMAvers

Wushu if you want it fast, loose, and high-cinematic. I think Savage Worlds could probably handle it too if you want a bit more crunch, although you might have to do a little more work.

SageinaRage

If you're willing to put up with the lengthy character creation, Hero is a good generic system. It's designed for superhero type stuff, so it scales up to powerful stuff pretty well. It can do pretty much anything you want, and is good for lots of themes (they sell genre books for it, including manga/anime), but the downside is that character creation can take forever, especially if your players get nitpicky about their points.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'too generic' though. Do you mean 'not themed enough', or 'not customizable enough'? Or something else? Because Hero is definitely the former, for the base system, and definitely not the latter.

Razorwired

Big Eyes, Small Mouth's Tri-stat system is built around anime concepts. It's pretty simple, maybe a little too simple if you're an old school AD&D player but I found it pretty suitable and it has rules for giant mecha, elemental control, wire-fu and gunplay all in one package.

Lord Palington

I'd take a look at Exalted. They have stuff that would fit most of that - there's a city called Lookshy that has airships and some power armor. The Dragonblood empire is a mix of Asian and Roman, and they are basically elemental in nature (Avatar).

Martial Arts is also pretty over the top in the game - the Solars have martial arts that range from monkey or snake style to a martial art that uses hand held flame throwers, while Sidereals have martial arts that can rewrite the world around them.

For the cinematic part, Exalted gives you extra dice for stunting, which is just doing any action in an over the top, cinematic way. I'd at least give it a look.

Athenor

By too generic, I mean where you have to basically build the ruleset, which is what BESM does. BESM/dX gives you all these powers/abilities with costs, and then you have to decide which ones are appropriate for your game.

Not that such is bad, mind you. Just a lot of work.

Wushu doesn't exactly look like what I'm looking for. It might be good for combat, but I really do want giant robots.

OptimusZed

See, I'm thinking of running an anime/manga-esque game. The cornerstones would be airships, big robots, a bit of intrigue, over the top cinematic wire-fu shit, and things like that. I'm drawing inspiration from the good Final Fantasy games, Skies of Arcadia, Steampunk in general, any number of big robot plots, and maybe some western influences like Mage, Avatar/Airbender, Darksiders, and a few other sources. It's gonna be a giant melting pot -- but the story should kick ass if I come up with a decent enough framework.

I realize that I'm constantly pimping Saga, but this looks doable with it.

Wire Fu/Final Fantasy stuff can be easily handled by everything that Jedi can do. Giant robots aren't that different from reskinned spaceships (which even have grapple rules) and all the straight up magic stuff can probably be done with mildly reworked Force Powers.

The downside being that it's not a system that is specifically designed to go bugged out whackadoo like Exalted. But it does have mechanics like Destiny Points that let player characters occasionally do damn near anything if they're willing to pay for it.

Athenor

I own all the Saga books, and I'd love to run a game in it, but my core players aren't too hot on the theme. Plus I always find the modern D20 games.. inflexible? I don't know if that makes sense, but there seems to be a lot of the engine hidden behind the scenes.

In any case, I don't think I could convince my group to go with it.

cj iwakura

There's nothing that says you have to punish people for Vulgar magic in Mage without exception.

There's just a fairly good chance that things could go badly. Or you could just totally ignore it.

Mostlyjoe13

Okay. Quite a few options here but some drawbacks:

BESM: + Good system, scales well - Dead system, no support, hard to get copies of the books.

HERO: +Excellent scaling, handles anime power levels like a champ. - Even more generic than BESM.

Wushu: + Dynamic combats don't rely on power level. - Narrative system off putting for many players.

Saga: + Wire FU indeed, it does Jedi's after all. - It does Jedi's and is geared for space/setting specific builds.

My true suggestion for you:

Mutants and Masterminds 3rd Edition. (Or 2nd with Warriors and Warlocks).

Why?

1. It scales from street level to super heroic very well.
2. It's as flexible as HERO but requires a LOT less heavy lifting on the GM's part.
3. It's d20 based, a lot of new players grock this mechanic.
4. If you study Warriors and Warlocks you'll see how it does fantasy just as well.
5. Martial Arts styles are just a nice combo of Advantages/Powers.

Just keep in mind it does have it's flaws. All do after all. It has a 'stun' deathspiral that can happen, but a good GM with friendly Hero Point gifts can counter that.

That's my suggestion.

Darian

I don't have any personal experience with it, but Anima: Beyond Fantasy (published in English by FantasyFlightGames) sounds like it might be a system worth looking at. Very much inspired by Final Fantasy tropes. (Make sure you're looking at the RPG, though, rather than the miniatures game set in that universe, Anima Tactics.)

Quick review of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYyMgAjyDE8