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Atmo
2014-03-13, 02:07 PM
So, i'm thinkering witthin an one-shot (or two-shot) based on Mahou Shoujo Isuka, Mahou Shoujo Elena and Mahou Shoujo Ai to two players.

Which system should i use? How strong the monsters have to be?

They know i'm preparing a Mahou Shoujo game, but they don't know about the bad ending array i have prepared to them.

CarpeGuitarrem
2014-03-13, 03:16 PM
My #1 criteria with "what system do I use for X?" is always "What will the players be doing?" What's the focus of the game going to be on? Will it be about high-action battles or drama between characters? Is it about growing up or fighting monsters? Lighthearted or grim? (Because I know mahou shoujo shows could be both.)

For instance, you could (with a little bit of renaming) use a system like Mecha (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/82258/Chris-Perrins-Mecha) or Tears of a Machine (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/124490/Tears-of-a-Machine). Instead of piloting mecha, the characters control their magical forms. (Instead of jumping into a mecha, you have a transformation sequence!) That focuses on the intra-character interactions with some combat action alongside. (Tears zeroes in on a more Evangelion-esque look into the psyches of the characters. So it's much more tragic.)

A simple system like Wushu Open can handle the freeform creativity of mahou shoujo combat, or you could fall back on Mutants & Masterminds or the Marvel Heroic RPG for a more sophisticated look at their powers and how those interact.

Or you could always go all-purpose anime action with Anima Prime (http://www.animaprimerpg.com/main/), a system that does a lot to mimic how a show can intertwine character moments and high-tension drama with combat scenes where you build to a climactic finish.

Ionbound
2014-03-13, 04:36 PM
Carpe answered the system question pretty well, so I'll answer the strength modulation. Considering what you're basing it off of, I would say that the monsters should be very tough, compared to your player's power, but defeatable. After all, you do want to break out the bad ends, but at the same time, suffering CharDeath after CharDeath sucks, and if the baddies are challenging, it'll feel like that much more of an accomplishment when the win...And much less like the GM looking for an excuse to break out the array when they lose.

AuraTwilight
2014-03-13, 04:55 PM
I'd recomment Magical Burst by Ewen Cluney, since it's actually designed to tell Mahou Shoujo stories with of nearly any subgenre, with a bent towards the non-optimistic.

Tengu_temp
2014-03-13, 05:24 PM
Mutants and Masterminds works great for magical girls (I'm speaking from personal experience), but for a one-shot it's too crunchy and character creation is too long.

I suggest Fate or Don't Rest Your Head, refluffed as appropriate.

Erth16
2014-03-13, 09:50 PM
I also recommend Magical Burst, the system is easy to learn, it is suited towards more grim magical girl stories, and the strength of monsters can be adjusted very easily, and dying is simultaneously very easy, and very hard, so if the players are having too easy a time with the fights, you can just ramp the next one up without too much risk of it being to overwhelming. Just make sure you and the players can describe things aside from "I hit it" or "I look for x", otherwise it would be very boring, but most games are in that case.

The Oni
2014-03-13, 10:50 PM
If you opt for D&D, it turns out that the Warlock class is a dead ringer for a Magical Girl, what with them calling their attacks and having all those lovely variations on blasts and bursts. All you need is to refluff your Eldritch Blasts and houserule a cutesy familiar to follow you around.

Atmo
2014-03-13, 11:49 PM
My #1 criteria with "what system do I use for X?" is always "What will the players be doing?" What's the focus of the game going to be on? Will it be about high-action battles or drama between characters? Is it about growing up or fighting monsters? Lighthearted or grim? (Because I know mahou shoujo shows could be both.)

For instance, you could (with a little bit of renaming) use a system like Mecha (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/82258/Chris-Perrins-Mecha) or Tears of a Machine (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/124490/Tears-of-a-Machine). Instead of piloting mecha, the characters control their magical forms. (Instead of jumping into a mecha, you have a transformation sequence!) That focuses on the intra-character interactions with some combat action alongside. (Tears zeroes in on a more Evangelion-esque look into the psyches of the characters. So it's much more tragic.)

A simple system like Wushu Open can handle the freeform creativity of mahou shoujo combat, or you could fall back on Mutants & Masterminds or the Marvel Heroic RPG for a more sophisticated look at their powers and how those interact.

Or you could always go all-purpose anime action with Anima Prime (http://www.animaprimerpg.com/main/), a system that does a lot to mimic how a show can intertwine character moments and high-tension drama with combat scenes where you build to a climactic finish.

If you opt for D&D, it turns out that the Warlock class is a dead ringer for a Magical Girl, what with them calling their attacks and having all those lovely variations on blasts and bursts. All you need is to refluff your Eldritch Blasts and houserule a cutesy familiar to follow you around.

Good suggestions, but i'll have to hide the mecha or one of the players will react unaccordlingy to what i am trying to do: break their spirits. And i don't know if they'll want to delve in d20 again... bad memories and dice rolls destroyed the "holy cows" of our last campaign, things that we cherished deeply; they think d20 is the bad guy of this situation.


Carpe answered the system question pretty well, so I'll answer the strength modulation. Considering what you're basing it off of, I would say that the monsters should be very tough, compared to your player's power, but defeatable. After all, you do want to break out the bad ends, but at the same time, suffering CharDeath after CharDeath sucks, and if the baddies are challenging, it'll feel like that much more of an accomplishment when the win...And much less like the GM looking for an excuse to break out the array when they lose.

Yes, the final part will throw them in a spiral of regret, fear and angst, but the journey itself must have challenges that they can win without spending all their resources.


I'd recomment Magical Burst by Ewen Cluney, since it's actually designed to tell Mahou Shoujo stories with of nearly any subgenre, with a bent towards the non-optimistic.

I also recommend Magical Burst, the system is easy to learn, it is suited towards more grim magical girl stories, and the strength of monsters can be adjusted very easily, and dying is simultaneously very easy, and very hard, so if the players are having too easy a time with the fights, you can just ramp the next one up without too much risk of it being to overwhelming. Just make sure you and the players can describe things aside from "I hit it" or "I look for x", otherwise it would be very boring, but most games are in that case.

Ok, i'll look for it.


Mutants and Masterminds works great for magical girls (I'm speaking from personal experience), but for a one-shot it's too crunchy and character creation is too long.

I suggest Fate or Don't Rest Your Head, refluffed as appropriate.

The book size of Fate kinda intimidates me, any suggestion of how i should work/cut it out?


Answering some questions that you guys probably have: this one-/two-shot will portray the beginning of the lives of some random magical girls, a fight they feel they can win and their ultimate demise and world changing because their very choice of being born in this world. Then i'll proceed to squishy, slimy action, time forwarding and a new scenario to my new campaign: a rip-off of Mahou Sensou anime (Magical Warfare in english). The best way to describe it is "a Harry Potter that gone japanese wrongly". It's just BAD and cliched at maximum, and will be their own fault.

The Oni
2014-03-14, 01:43 AM
...Magical Warfare? Really? Are you seriously angry at your players or something?

AuraTwilight
2014-03-14, 01:55 AM
Answering some questions that you guys probably have: this one-/two-shot will portray the beginning of the lives of some random magical girls, a fight they feel they can win and their ultimate demise and world changing because their very choice of being born in this world. Then i'll proceed to squishy, slimy action, time forwarding and a new scenario to my new campaign: a rip-off of Mahou Sensou anime (Magical Warfare in english). The best way to describe it is "a Harry Potter that gone japanese wrongly". It's just BAD and cliched at maximum, and will be their own fault.


Holy hell word salad. I can't parse half of these sentences.

Also, if you're planning this ahead of time, how is it going to be their fault? And why are you deliberately building an adventure that's bad and cliched? What the heck?

Piedmon_Sama
2014-03-14, 03:15 AM
Yeah, can you please explicate, op?

Sith_Happens
2014-03-14, 05:38 AM
In before one of the PCs wins the entire campaign setting via the chosen system's equivalent of Wish abuse.:smallamused:

Tengu_temp
2014-03-14, 06:36 AM
The book size of Fate kinda intimidates me, any suggestion of how i should work/cut it out?


Use Spirit of the Century instead, but consider add some homebrew stuff. Also heavy refluffing, obviously.

Sidenote: I find your idea for this game deeply worrying. I hope your players know what they're getting into.

Arbane
2014-03-14, 06:38 AM
or one of the players will react unaccordlingy to what i am trying to do: break their spirits.
(SNIP)
Yes, the final part will throw them in a spiral of regret, fear and angst, but the journey itself must have challenges that they can win without spending all their resources.


...Yeah, Magical Burst will be perfect for this, seeing how one of its big inspirations was Madoka Magica

The only other Magical Girl-specific game I can think of is the World of Darkness fangame, Princess: The Hopeful, as seen on RPG.net. Which might not have enough grinding futility for your plan.

On that note, why do you want to make your players suffer? Tired of playing with them, or are they tragedians at heart?

Atmo
2014-03-14, 10:44 AM
...Magical Warfare? Really? Are you seriously angry at your players or something?

Not so much, but i believe they'll enjoy their new world to explore, ruin and destroy.


Holy hell word salad. I can't parse half of these sentences.

Also, if you're planning this ahead of time, how is it going to be their fault? And why are you deliberately building an adventure that's bad and cliched? What the heck?

Yeah, can you please explicate, op?

All the "fighting with bad monsters" and the interaction with "magical orb of power macguffin" will unleash the final boss upon them. Yes, by simply touching the orb they'll screw all the world; i'll leave some hints here and there, but i know they can't or don't want to take them seriously. Kinda feels railroading... and actually is, thinking about it now.


Use Spirit of the Century instead, but consider add some homebrew stuff. Also heavy refluffing, obviously.

Sidenote: I find your idea for this game deeply worrying. I hope your players know what they're getting into.

Refluff and homebrew, easy to do. Yes, they know where they are stepping. We use to rotate the GM mantle so that way everyone one can play and do their things while imersing in an epic world of danger, adventure and magical realm (not everytime).


...Yeah, Magical Burst will be perfect for this, seeing how one of its big inspirations was Madoka Magica

The only other Magical Girl-specific game I can think of is the World of Darkness fangame, Princess: The Hopeful, as seen on RPG.net. Which might not have enough grinding futility for your plan.

On that note, why do you want to make your players suffer? Tired of playing with them, or are they tragedians at heart?

WoD hack? Looks new to me. I'm not tired of playing with them: if i lose this group (of two players) then i'll be all alone, starting a new series of fanfics and lame PbP to quench my needs. And it is fun to play with them, even with the submissive one- oh, too much information.

CarpeGuitarrem
2014-03-14, 11:11 AM
I suggest Fate or Don't Rest Your Head, refluffed as appropriate.
!!!!!!!

I'm kicking myself for not thinking of DRYH as a magical girl game. Especially one in the darker vein.

The book size of Fate kinda intimidates me, any suggestion of how i should work/cut it out?

Fate Accelerated! It's a nice, skinny book that's pretty easy to get ahold of.

That said, tread carefully on the tone bait-and-switch. It can work, but it's even harder to pull off in an RPG than in a series, because the players are directly-invested. (It's easier to accept that people not-you made a dreadful mistake and walked right into a dark, dark world. Harder if you're the one making that mistake.)

I would focus on the tone shift. Make everything nice and pleasant on the surface, and gradually reveal the terrifying truth beneath. Let their actions figure out the arc that follows. Maybe they'll wind up accidentally giving the win to evil, maybe they'll figure things out in time. The fact that this is a one/two-shot will also make a tone switch more palatable.

sakuuya
2014-03-14, 11:28 AM
!!!!!!!

I'm kicking myself for not thinking of DRYH as a magical girl game. Especially one in the darker vein.



The one problem I've found with DRYH magical girls is that DRYH doesn't have rules for characters collaborating against threats, which is generally a staple of multi-protagonist magical girl games. A pretty trivial hack is to have them each roll vs. the same pain and total up everyone's results (so if there are three characters fighting a Pain 6 monster, they'd each roll separately against Pain 6, then count their results as a combined roll vs. Pain 18, and one pool dominates for everybody), but for extra added despair, I like to add that if anyone fails their initial roll, they get extra-bad consequences regardless of the overall outcome.