Adeptus Evangelion

[SuperFish]

Angels, Eva's and psychological instability, oh my!

Have any of you other Playgrounders had the chance to give this Dark Heresy alteration a go? I've found it quite fun, smacking Angel's around in my giant cyborg/robot.

Current character is an overconfident, hot blooded Manufactured Skirmisher focusing on melee. The scientists who created him set out to create a shonen mecha hero. They succeeded.

God help us all.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Eh, when I want to play NGE: The Roleplaying Game I go with Bliss Stage (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BlissStage). But then again, I've gotten very rules-light in my dotage :smalltongue:

Still, I'll have to check this out sometime. How does it model relationships?

[SuperFish]

Well, there's still the Fellowship score from Dark Heresy, but I think character relations are at least partially expected to be just roleplayed things.

Not entirely, though. My character is fanatically devoted to NERV, to the degree that if I get an order from someone at NERV, I must follow it.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Well, there's still the Fellowship score from Dark Heresy, but I think character relations are at least partially expected to be just roleplayed things.

Not entirely, though. My character is fanatically devoted to NERV, to the degree that if I get an order from someone at NERV, I must follow it.
Ha! It's only a matter of time before two of the factions within NERV issue you conflicting orders :smallamused:

Nah, Bliss Stage has a mechanic for integrating RP into mechanical power during missions. AFAIK it's a unique mechanic and one well suited for NGE: your power in missions depends on the strength of your relationships with others; going on missions can damage those relationships over time. By making the management of relationships central to the gameplay, Bliss Stage encourages even the most mechanically-minded Player to focus on character development and RP interaction.

[SuperFish]

I'm familiar with Bliss Stage, yes.

I'm not sure that a mechanic like that is entirely appropriate for NGE, to be honest. I know that character development and interaction is a very big part of what makes NGE what it is, but...well, like you said, it can be used to "force" such roleplay. With the group I play with, "forcing" roleplay is entirely unnecessary.

Besides, unlike the ANIMa, the Evas aren't powered by feelings. ...Well, not in the same way, at least.

...And it wouldn't work for me in any case, my character has no sex drive.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Besides, unlike the ANIMa, the Evas aren't powered by feelings. ...Well, not in the same way, at least.
Ah, but they are, aren't they? :smallamused:

Nah, the RP is no more "forced" in Bliss Stage than it is in any other "RP focused" RPG - it's just integrated into gameplay.

And you certainly don't need to have a sexual character to play Bliss Stage... but it helps :smalltongue:

[Tengu_temp]

The setting and mechanics of Bliss Stage are very tightly connected - it's pretty much impossible to use the same rules for any other premise. It also requires a certain mindset from the players - they create the story and narrative as much as the DM, if not more (as opposed to more traditional RPG where you just describe your character's actions), and there are many topics in the game that might feel uncomfortable for some players. But it's a good system, if a bit too light on the setting.

For over a year now I've been playing a M&M PbP campaign that can be described as "Evangelion meets Power Rangers" - not directly, it uses its own setting and terminology, but the inspiration is clear and was from the very beginning (not to mention that some of the PCs are fans of one or both of these shows). It's great fun - probably the best game I ever played, in fact.

[SuperFish]

They are sort of powered by feelings, sure, but also by, y'know, electricity. Otherwise the Umbilicals wouldn't be needed = /

And it's not so much feelings you have for other people, either.

And while RPing being integrated with the gameplay is always nice, I say again that it doesn't matter for my group, because we all RP anyways.

[Tengu_temp]

"RPing integrated with the rules" and "encourages roleplaying" is not the same thing. Pretty much all my games are very RP-heavy, but Bliss Stage, with the way it handles both storytelling and conflict resolution, really feels very different. Not my favorite game ever, but certainly unique.

[SuperFish]

(not to mention that some of the PCs are fans of one or both of these shows)

My Ad Eva PC is a huge fan of GunBuster. = /

[Yukitsu]

Man, NGE characters would be so very boned if it relied on their stable emotional connections to other people to run.

Did play an NGE game, but it wasn't the Dark Heresy variant, as it was a mostly RP one, and hence the mechanics rarely came into question.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Man, NGE characters would be so very boned if it relied on their stable emotional connections to other people to run.
Who said anything about stable emotional connections :smalltongue:

No, Bliss Stage tracks the Intimacy of relationships separately from the stability ("Trust") of the relationship. Intimacy is what gives you more power - and what makes the breakup hurt more when it comes.

[Yukitsu]

Who said anything about stable emotional connections :smalltongue:

No, Bliss Stage tracks the Intimacy of relationships separately from the stability ("Trust") of the relationship. Intimacy is what gives you more power - and what makes the breakup hurt more when it comes.

Trust was important too though.

However, they'd be pretty boned from the intimacy thing as well. There's an episode entitled "hedgehog's dillema for a reason. :smalltongue: The only pilots without the intimacy issues were Kaoru and Toji, and they were only pilots in 1 ep each before dying.

Hmmm. Obviously being capable of intimacy in NGE is detrimental to your health.

[Tengu_temp]

Come on, Rei obviously has a (initially) high trust relationship with Gendou. Probably high intimacy too.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Come on, Rei obviously has a (initially) high trust relationship with Gendou. Probably high intimacy too.
Definitely high intimacy, but...
...she underwent some Trust Breaking with him in the last few episodes. And I'm sure her death didn't help much either.

Of course, it wasn't until End of Eva that we saw this Trust Breaking for real - when she busts up Gendo's Glasses.
Likewise, Shinji was getting hella Intimate with the other Pilots & Misato. Asuka would have been fine if she hadn't rolled so poorly on her conflict with Arael - it's really hard to deal with that many Trauma points in a single Mission!

[Yora]

The keyword here is "synchronicity". The effectiveness of an Eva seems to depend mostly on the harmony between the pilots and the evas souls.
Which is why EVA-01 and EVA-02 contain the souls of Shinjis and Asukas mothers, as they already had that connection before birth.

[Oracle_Hunter]

The keyword here is "synchronicity". The effectiveness of an Eva seems to depend mostly on the harmony between the pilots and the evas souls.
Which is why EVA-01 and EVA-02 contain the souls of Shinjis and Asukas mothers, as they already had that connection before birth.
You can only take the "synchronicity" bit so far. For example:
Why did Asuka + Shinji get a better synch ratio in Unit 02 than Asuka alone?

Why did Rei sometimes have such problems with Unit 01?

How was Kaworu able to "connect" with all of the souls so easily?
There's a lot to piloting an EVA; synchronicity helps but it isn't the sole consideration.

[Xefas]

You can only take the "synchronicity" bit so far. For example:
Why did Asuka + Shinji get a better synch ratio in Unit 02 than Asuka alone?

Why did Rei sometimes have such problems with Unit 01?

How was Kaworu able to "connect" with all of the souls so easily?


#1, Shinji is inexplicably attractive to older women.

#2, I dunno about anyone else, but when I was Shinji's age, my mom had a seething hatred for attractive women that I hung out with as well.

#3, Angel Superpowers.
:smalltongue:

Also, this game sounds fascinating, I'll have to go get it and report back my impressions.

[SuperFish]

Actually, Sync ratio is used as an additional stat, same as the other DH stats, and can be used for AT powers, some of which are actually really cool.

For example, any pilot can eventually use the Cross Blasts that Sachiel and Zeruel use.

Incidentally, Sachy was our first fight. The second one was a custom Angel that looked like a mix between a scorpion, a crab, and a sperm.

[Xefas]

Incidentally, Sachy was our first fight. The second one was a custom Angel that looked like a mix between a scorpion, a crab, and a sperm.
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad91/bluejanus/Spabion.png
The horror.

Also, as promised, some initial impressions: I was imagining this rulebook being less than the 205 pages that it is. By the way it was being described, I was imaging something a little more complex than Primetime Adventures, which is ~50 pages if I recall correctly. Not necessarily a bad thing, just something that took me by surprise.

I'm through the first 35 pages or so, and it's mostly the standard "This is what an RPG is!", but it goes about it in a far better way than some games do. For comparison, the 3.5 D&D Dungeon Master's Guide's introduction to the game is "You are the DM. You are better than everyone else. They all suck. You get to be awesome and they are your pathetic pawns. You control everything and they control absolutely nothing! HAHA, maniacal laughter."

Bliss Stage basically says "Yeah, you're the GM, but why would that make you more important? You're all friends and intelligent individuals here, and everyone should be able to get what they want out of the game and have fun directing the story. Make sure everyone at the table is acting rationally and friendly, and everything will be awesome."

This comforts me, because it's how every good RPG book I've found has started out as well.

[SuperFish]

My favourite part is

a little blurb giving suggestions on improving the Mass Produced Eva series. The first line? "If you feel the need to improve the MP Evas, you are a terrible person." It gives suggestions nonetheless.

A lot of the Angels can really mess you up. Ramiel, rather than blocking or dodging, simply vapourizes you as a defense, Zeruel is ridiculously strong and tough, Arael drives you insane and tears apart your Ego Barrier, and Armisael can kill your pilot and take over his Eva in one hit.

And Tabris? 400% chance to ignore any attack against him. Always.

[Yora]

Tabris tries to go straight into your pants. :smallbiggrin: