Berserk (anime)

I'm currently watching Berserk. It's a fantastic show. It reminds of a cross between D&D and Dark Souls. The characters are all mercenaries in a world with hidden magic and monsters. I'm still only halfway through, but I suspect magic and monsters become much more prevalent as the series goes on.

The series starts with Guts fighting a monster lord, and then goes back in time till when he was a younger mercenary. Much of the series is taking place in the past.

Lots of nasty politics, big battles, and bloodshed. Another neat thing is that the armor appears to be a mix of medieval for leaders and English Civil War for the more common troops. I like it.

I haven't finished the show or read the manga, so no spoilers, please. Just wanted to say this anime is perfect for D&D fans.

Demon city

I recently rewatched the anime Demon City Shinjuku. It gave me an idea. Have the biggest city in your setting have a demon gate open in it. The demons take over part of the city, turning it into a literal hell on earth.

For a fantasy city, I'd think the local mages find some way to use the walls around that particular neighborhood to contain the demon outbreak. The demons can't get out, but entering the area is a death sentence.

Maybe the local government uses this as a way to execute criminals. Maybe heroes come from everywhere and attempt to seal the gate. Sneaky demons may actually get over the walls and corrupt the rest of the city. The sorcerer who initially opened the gate may be dead, or he may have become incredibly powerful, but with his death, the gate might close.

No RPGs, lots of anime and gw2

I haven't played in a face-to-face rpg in a few months, due to work, people moving, etc. Ugg. Reading rpg books really doesn't fill that void. Generally, I'm just doing more of my other hobbies.

Mainly I've been watching anime. Tons of it. It's amazing how many great shows have been released in the last few years. I wasn't watching anime for probably the last five, and now all kinds of great stuff is out that I had no idea existed. HERE is a copy of everything I've seen, along with ratings for each. If you like anime, that site is invaluable for tracking stuff and finding new shows.

I've also been playing a lot of Guild Wars 2, a fantasy MMO. Sadly, their most recent major patch has ruined the game for me and many others. I view it as the Star Wars Galaxy game-killer patch, but for GW2. If they don't go back and fix the trait system immediately, I suspect this game will be completely dead in a couple months. It's too bad, because there was nothing wrong with the original Trait system.

Wanted: Black Lagoon rpg

I recently have been watching the anime Black Lagoon. It is about a group of mercenary smugglers in an imaginary city named Roanapur in Thailand, set during the 80s. They have a PT boat, and engage in piracy and other unsavory jobs for money.

The main characters are basically action heroes, with many goons to fight. There is a ton of death, but the really talented guys might get shot up and even hurt badly, but are basically safe from true death.

Roanapur is run by the Triads, the Russian mob, La Cosa Nostra, the Colombians, and other smaller groups. It is incredibly dangerous.

It's also the perfect setting for a modern game of something like Shadowrun but without magic, cybernetics, and metahumans. I'd love to see a sourcebook detailing everything.

A system like D6 or even a game based on some of the liter OSR games would probably work perfectly. Heck, using just the base rules of Shadowrun would be ok, though a bit heavier than I prefer these days. Gurps Lite is a good candidate, as well.

Shadowrun and an anime suggestion

If you are a fan of Shadowrun (and I am!) or other cyberpunk, I highly recommend you set aside time to watch the anime series Psycho-Pass. It is set in a dystopian future, where a computer system reads people auras. If you show up as a latent criminal, you will be arrested or even executed by a team of a Detective and a Hunter.

The show is very well done, and you can guess what happens if you've read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick (which is even recommend by name during an episode). Minority Report is the movie based upon this short story.

In any case, I'd give this show a 9/10 for general sf fans, and a 10/10 for cyberpunk/Shadowrun fans. Since it's on Hulu, it's free and legal, and the animation company actually gets paid, so they can make more anime in the future.

Afro Samurai - which rpg?

I really, really like the Afro Samurai anime movies. In each, an unarmored warrior using a katana takes on guys with chains, swords, bows, rocket launchers, and even mini-guns. And he wins. His toughest opponents are also sword-fighters, of course.

In any case, I haven't been able to figure out the "perfect" game for running this. It would have to have fast combat, and while people die quick, the heroes generally get beat up but win. And quite possibly are completely healthy only one day after getting shot to hell (though they usually are wounded and staggering, but still able to defeat any challenger).

Hero would work, but it's way too cumbersome. I suspect just about any supers game would work, in all reality, but none really jump out at me. Gurps might work, if the damage and combat systems were tweaked for cinematic results. BESM and OVA would work, though neither really is a perfect fit. I'm guessing there exists some game that would require very little work to get this right, but I'm not sure what it would be.