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[Anima: Beyond Fantasy] Bathed in the Blood of Angels.
Kisidan
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
There's a feeling I get when I look to the west,
And my spirit is crying for leaving.
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees,
And the voices of those who stand looking.
Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it really makes me wonder.
We stand at the dawning of a new Age of Chaos. The Sacred Holy Empire of Abel has been split asunder, the very walls of reality themselves shuddered from the assault of the mysterious Eljared. Thousands have already died, and now the continent of the Old World waits with baited breath for the next terror to strike.
The Child Empress, Elisabetta Barbados, may well be the legitimate heir to the throne of Abel, but who could take a thirteen year old girl seriously? Let alone one prepared to cast aside hundreds of years of tradition and throw away the power of the Church, which has protected the people of the Empire for so long?
The bonds of loyalty and necessity which have bound the Sacred Holy Empire together have started to splinter and split with the death of the old Emperor and the cruelties inflicted by Eljared before her apparent demise.
Those loyal to the Sacred Holy Empire band together. The eight nations of Abel, Ilmora, Helenia, Dalaborn, Alberia, Galgados, Arlan and Kanon all united in backing the Empress in her rightful claim to the throne and determined to see her maintain that claim against all comers.
United by one man's driving ambition, the dark Azur Alliance of Togarini, Remo and Bellafonte, lands steeped in blood and death with people who have suffered perhaps more than any other at the Empire's worst moments, stands against the Empire. Matthew Gaul, one of the most powerful men in the world, and his deadly Arbitrators, prepare to march to war to enforce his rule by force of arms the moment they feel the Empire's strength has faltered.
In the far north, the proud men of Goldar, Haufman and Hendell refuse to acknowledge the sovereignty of the Empress, but have no interest in war against the Empire itself, merely independence and freedom to live in their own way. Claims which the Empress herself would likely be sympathetic to, were it not for the fact that these ways threaten to reignite old enmities kept barely under control by the Empire, and see the return of blood on those icy mountains.
The dark lands of Moth and Dwanholf are little-explored and little-claimed. They have not answered the Empress' call for a representative in her court... but then, who can say what transpires beyond those boundaries? Even when the Empire was united, the goings-on of these mysterious people were a cause of much speculation.
The rich purses of the Coast of Commerce, Gabriel and Phaion Eien Seimon, refuse to take sides; instead profiting from newfound independence in order to bloat the coffers of their ruling families and pursue a paradise of mercantile freedom, regardless of the growing threat of their nearby neighbours who have troubled them so often in the past.
With the Empress having declared freedom of religion for the first time in the Empire's history, the Episcopal States have refused to ratify her position. Officially neutral, for the first time in the Empire's existence, Elisabetta has not been recognized in The Dominion or in Argos as the Head of the Church. Whilst she has simply claimed this position for herself, there are dark rumblings about what this means... the impossible position that she has forced on the world.
And in the more exotic lands, still, there is no sign of the Empress' words even being heard, let alone understood. The Lands of Al-Eneth, beyond the unforgiving desert. The deep forests of Nanwe. Lucrecio, ruled by Lucanor Giovanni, the last pure blood man of the Giovanni family who made the Empire, forbidden from ruling it by an act of murder forced on him by a lunatic father. Kashmir. Baho. What will come from these lands? And further still, to the Eastern Isle where the ancient feud of Lannet and Shivat is ready to explode in a powderkeg of martial arts warfare.
This is the world as it stands today. A world coming apart at the seams. And where do we find our heroes?
The Keep of Sephyr is a magnificent construction of architecture from a far better time. As the first military installation on the border of Togarini, the place has been bustling for weeks, and there is a tense atmosphere. One of the four 'Guardian Angels of Abel', Sephyr is run by Commander Archibald of Pietro, a somewhat paranoid man who is nevertheless held in high regard by most of the city. There are 25,000 troops in a city of 420,000 with more arriving every day... both troops, and refugees from the blasted lands of Togarini, who are being herded into an ever-growing slum.
The PCs are men and women guided by honor, loyalty, or more base motivations to have signed up with the military of the Empire. A small patrol in a small outpost on the border of merely two nations out of an entire continent waiting for the spark that will ignite yet another war...
... what possible difference could they make?
Wow that was a lot of stuff what the hell is Anima?!
Anima: Beyond Fantasy is a rich setting with a miniatures wargame, cardgame and roleplaying game set in it (also a terrible CRPG but we don't talk about that). The RPG is, in my opinion, the best thing to come out of it. Best described as 'Exalted but with a far looser system', or 'Exalted x Final Fantasy' Anima encourages players to epic feats of awesome proportions in a system which rewards creativity and allows for near limitless character archetypes to be explored. The system uses exploding d100 with results capped by how awesome PCs have become.
Anima features multiple systems of 'magic'. Spellcasting - done through charging energy and releasing it for numerous effects in and out of combat. Psionics, which relies on the innate potential of the user and does not run out, though is often less spectacular than other forms. Ki, which is the power of the soul given form, enabling awesome feats of martial arts prowess. Summoning, which... summons... things! And last but not least, Elan, the official Notice of Beings Beyond Reality.
It is worth noting that all of these forms of magic will have you cause varying levels of blind panic amongst the population at large, and will often attract the notice of the Church. They don't like that sort of thing, what with it having almost caused the destruction of the world about six times in history. (They, of course, get a free pass).
Awesome how do I play?
Well first off you are probably going to need the Anima RPG. The corebook is available on Drivethrurpg: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/81708/Anima-Beyond-Fantasy
The setting book is also available but is not needed, though it is a great read.
Unfortunately, the Big Book of Martial Arts (or Dominus Exxet) is not available online. I will be using it anyway, though, and if you want to play a Tao or Technician I highly recommend trying to get hold of it. It vastly improves the ki system.
Chargen will be 55 point buy. Each point in an attribute costs 1 except 10 which costs 2 (making an attribute of 10 cost 11 points total). You may buy up to 3 points of extra advantages from disadvantages (not three disadvantages, as listed in the book). I am not going to allow extra attributes or additional XP/session as purchases. Rookie is also disallowed, though Been Around is not. You are all humans; no Nephilim in this game.
Characters will begin play at level 1.
So I can play X?
Well maybe! Put together your character sheet and post it along with a paragraph or so including character motivations and important events in their life. If you want something you need to work with me for, send me a PM and we can chat about it.
I highly recommend that players view the 'cap limits' as the expectations in Anima. Unlike other systems, buying to your maximum in combat (or magic, or psychic etc) ability is not munchkinism. It is easy to build a mistakenly crippled character in Anima, and I'll be doing my best to make sure that doesn't happen! That said, non-combat centric characters are fine. Though you are in the army, keep that in mind!
Previous experience with Anima is not necessary (nor expected; it is still a relatively unknown system), but access to the book is (again) highly recommended. I'll do my best to field any rules problems. I've got a lot of experience with Anima so I'm pretty confident I can pull off teaching people the basics online. More fool me.
I will be running this purely through the board as much as possible (though I'm looking for a good way of getting dice rolling sorted). As I am in jolly ole England, I do not expect my times to match up superbly with everyone else, so patience is going to be a virtue.
I'm probably looking for between 4 and 6 players, though if signups are truly overwhelming I can try running for more. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!
Kisidan on
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I've looked at Anima before, I can't remember my initial impressions. But I'll take a look again and respond . Not the best response haha, but I recall some things seemed a bit overly convoluted and other mechanics seemed rather interesting. I'll take a look tonight or tomorrow.
In actual play, though, the mechanics run very smoothly.
IRL I've gotten around this by asking people what they want to do and then building a character for them which they can then edit up and down as they like. I could do the same thing here! But... I think a lot of the fun for people who have played Anima is in building the character to do what you want them to do. I know I've got dozens of characters I've sketched out in my spare time for fun. (And for use as NPCs!)
(also thank you!)