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F.H. Zebedee
2007-02-11, 10:32 PM
Okay, I was watching Adult Swim the other night, and it occurred to me that Inu Yasha lent itself very well to the whole D&D 3.5 system, with the way the battles unfolded and all. I began musing over what it would be like to homebrew up an InuYasha universe style world, with unique base classes and such to make it more setting-specific and ambient. Probably run a campaign with it on either the PBP boards or my own forums once I’m done messing with it. Monsters could also be done on a pretty much substitution basis, though homebrewing some wouldn’t be too much of a task. So, I guess I’m looking for tips or recommendations. (No, I’m not actually much of a fan of InuYasha. I like the show moderately, but I don’t go out of my way to watch it. But I AM a fan of the setting, thus my wanting to use it. I once did a similar thing with S Cry Ed, although that was entirely homebrewed, and I never finished the system for it.)

For races, I was thinking:
*Human: Not sure what to do with them. They can be pretty potent, but take training. Really, this one probably could be done with the normal human race with a tweak or two.
*Hanyou (Or Half-Demon): Not sure on this one, exactly how it goes. I’m thinking I’ll go with bonuses to all physical statistics and penalties to all mental or something like that. (Probably same for the saves, give a bonus to Reflex and Constitution, though Will saves would take a crazy dive for a lot of stuff.) Also, not sure on the name to go with for the race, since both have their own touches I appreciate.
*Wolf Demon: Apparently, low enough power level that they aren’t totally outclassing humans. Probably would give similar changes as Hanyou, though I’m thinking Con and Dex only will be raised, and probably some nice traits on top of that to compensate for how easy it will be to nerf a full-yokai.
Not sure what else would make a good PC race, so those will come along as I progress.

Classes: I’m not sure, but am considering putting gender limits on the Monk and/or the Priest(ess) classes. Don’t want to be too limiting, but I do want to keep things working a certain way.
*Monk: A monk dedicated to using their holy powers to decimate the forces of evil. Probably would be a moderately decent close combat class with a smattering of casting abilities as well. Like a Ranger, I guess.
*Priest(ess): A person who uses their spiritual powers in combat. Probably like a blaster-oriented caster or something along those lines. Would probably have a dark version as well, for those that use their powers selfishly.
*Demon Slayer: A person who through training has dedicated their life to removing the blight of demons from the land. They’d probably be a very close combat/weapon using oriented class, somewhat like Fighters. Of course, they’d have more flavor specific abilities for use.
*Swordsmith: One that crafts weapons and armors of supernatural potential. I guess that they’d be not much for melee, or even combat as a whole, but would be the only player class that could make a lot of the more hardcore items.
*Ninja: A warrior skilled in the use of deception and misdirection. Probably some Rogue/Assassin style deal, with some peculiar abilities to top it off.
*Wielder: Not sure on the name for this class. A warrior that has gained an exceptional weapon and strengthens themselves and it through battles. I want this class to be similar to Rich’s Ancestral Weapon wielding class, with the weapon the character uses getting stronger all throughout their progression. Probably will have a list of abilities that they can give their weapons so that it stays fairly well controlled.
*Sage: A person that has spiritually mastered themselves and become one with nature. I’m thinking this one will be slightly druidlike, though more towards Warlock, with at will use of chosen abilities.
*Warrior: A bold combatant, using their natural abilities to their fullest extent in combat. I’m thinking this would be the real Fighter style class, with players able to pick up feats that could specialize their character in certain varieties of combat as the character progressed.

The style of play I’m thinking would lean very heavily towards melee and blasting. I don’t think traditional, preparation casting will even be present, though Priestesses and Monks will be able to scribe sutras of various effects by taking time out of their day. I like huge charges and stuff like that, so most likely, most classes will get some kind of movement enhancers as they level up.

So, any advice or tips?

oriong
2007-02-11, 10:47 PM
Honestly, I don't think anime-esque games translate well into most RPG settings. D+D especially.

One thing BESM did get right (Big Eyes Small Mouths, an anime-based RPG) is that it went for a point based system. The class/race system of D+D just tends to fall apart, especially for settings like inuyasha where vast amounts of damage get thrown all over the place.

First problem is simply the idea of trying to take 'balance' factors from something like Inuyasha. In the standard party you've got a fairly balanced group, everyone is meant to be roughly as useful. In anime settings like inuyasha you have the Main Character With the Big Weapon who actually contributes 90% of the time, The Romantic Interest With Mysterious Powers who contributes about 9%, and the Side Characters who tend to do a lot of talking, occasionally smashing up 'mook' enemies and otherwise be useless except when the show decides to do an episode focused entirely on them or their backstory. They take up about 1% of the actual useful stuff, at best.

The other problem is the way a lot of stuff in the setting is very vaguely defined: what abilities come from race, what abilities would come from class, not to mention that a good 2/3rds of the character's abilities are based directly on items.

The best solution is not to try and homebrew a whole new set of classes and races for a system that, honestly, doesn't fit the style well. Look to those systems that are meant to model anime style combat or characters and see what they have to offer: BESM and Exalted are two decent examples, probably plenty of others out there.

Scalenex
2007-02-12, 02:15 PM
Rather than going for a whole new system with classes, I'd just keep most/all the basic classes and replace the Monster Manual with demons. For the case of Inuyasha "Fae" or "spirit" would be more indicative of their "demons" since demons has angelic and evil connotations. Demon seems to be a generic term for a magical creature with a primal tie to the Earth. Most seem to have a tie to one of the five Eastern elements or to an animal or abstract concept. They can seemingly have any alignment. It also seems that almost any two demons can mate and produce viable offspring, which may or may not have powers indicitive of their parents. The downside is you'd have to make a lot of homebrew monsters for this world. The upside is that your monsters would be fleshed out and unique, making them hard to pigeonhole (most player's have skimmed the MM if not read it through).

PnP Fan
2007-02-12, 02:58 PM
I encourage you to attempt what you are talking about. But if you ever reach the point where you are tired of houseruling, and homebrewing, BESM and Exalted both have ready made systems for what you are trying to do.

Piedmon_Sama
2007-02-12, 03:08 PM
I've had thoughts to a similar end myself, actually. I think stylistically and thematically, InuYasha plays out similarly to what an epic-level D&D Campaign probably looks and feels like.


Honestly, I don't think anime-esque games translate well into most RPG settings. D+D especially.

Then I'd guess you've never seen Berserk? Or Record of Lodoss War--which is literally some Japanese guy's 1st Ed. D&D Game which got turned Dragonlance Chronicles-style into a novel, then a comic, then an anime?

I think you missed the OP's point. He's not talking about literally changing InuYasha into a roleplaying game, but borrowing from it for inspiration. As far as the "tropes" of anime not being "translatable" to D&D.... uh, Monkey Grip + Large Greatsword? The Iaijutsu Strike skill? Tome of Battle?

D&D isn't particular about where it draws its influences. It shamelessly takes from Tolkien, Lovecraft, Howard, Wuxia movies, Arthurian Legend, Victorian horror, mixes Miltonian and Dantean cosmology with pagan mythology and probably scads of things I can't even think of. What's so special about anime, they can't fit it in?


Rather than going for a whole new system with classes, I'd just keep most/all the basic classes and replace the Monster Manual with demons. For the case of Inuyasha "Fae" or "spirit" would be more indicative of their "demons" since demons has angelic and evil connotations. Demon seems to be a generic term for a magical creature with a primal tie to the Earth. Most seem to have a tie to one of the five Eastern elements or to an animal or abstract concept. They can seemingly have any alignment. It also seems that almost any two demons can mate and produce viable offspring, which may or may not have powers indicitive of their parents. The downside is you'd have to make a lot of homebrew monsters for this world. The upside is that your monsters would be fleshed out and unique, making them hard to pigeonhole (most player's have skimmed the MM if not read it through).

Definitely agree. The word "demon" in the Japanese sense seems to be more connected with "spirit" and doesn't have the same hellfire & brimstone meaning as in the west. I'm not sure if you could pin them down to a specific type, though. Fay seems right for trickster spirits like a Fox or Badger demon, but the Wolf Demons seem like humanoids while the truly powerful demons might be Monstrous Humanoids or Magical Beasts.

PnP Fan
2007-02-12, 03:29 PM
Also, ToB would be an excellent resource for you to model Anime like effects.

clarkvalentine
2007-02-12, 05:35 PM
If Big Eyes Small Mouth isn't your thing, Exalted might work for you as a basic system.

oriong
2007-02-12, 05:43 PM
Then I'd guess you've never seen Berserk? Or Record of Lodoss War--which is literally some Japanese guy's 1st Ed. D&D Game which got turned Dragonlance Chronicles-style into a novel, then a comic, then an anime?

Actually I know about both of those. Maybe my use of the term 'anime' was too broad, so let's go for 'high action anime fantasy' of the style of Inuyasha, Hellsing, DBZ, Bleach, Naruto, etc. Clearly some shows are more appropraite than others.


I think you missed the OP's point. He's not talking about literally changing InuYasha into a roleplaying game, but borrowing from it for inspiration. As far as the "tropes" of anime not being "translatable" to D&D.... uh, Monkey Grip + Large Greatsword? The Iaijutsu Strike skill? Tome of Battle?
Actually I think he was talking about literally changing the show into a role-playing game. I know he doesn't want to play as the main characters or anything like that (at least I hope not), but that doesn't really help.

And while there are a few anime tropes that do translate moderately well (some only do so appearance wise like monkey-grip) there are many that don't. An excellent example from shows like inuyasha is the Big Attack That Wins The Battle.



D&D isn't particular about where it draws its influences. It shamelessly takes from Tolkien, Lovecraft, Howard, Wuxia movies, Arthurian Legend, Victorian horror, mixes Miltonian and Dantean cosmology with pagan mythology and probably scads of things I can't even think of. What's so special about anime, they can't fit it in? Nothing. Like I said I chose my words poorly. However, I will still say that anime in the style of inuyasha is not suitable.

Here's a list of some of the problems I would foresee in conversion:

A) Most abilities are innate or racial. Almost every significant ability you see in inuyasha comes from some heritage or spiritual ability that seems to be more or less built into the character. The forms these abilities can take is almost completely arbitrary as well. Examples: Iron Reaver attack, Blades of Blood, Seshomeru's (horribly spelled) poison claws and glowing whip and shapechanging ability. The Wind tunnel. These abilities have no common ground to balance them, they seem constructed individually from character to character, something D+D almost never does since it relies on the class system where everyone gets more or less the same 'bunch' of classes. These abilities also have no common ground: moroku is human, but has an extremely powerful innate supernatural ability, while inuyasha and seshomoru are half brothers but their abilities don't even share themes in common, or even with their father from what I've seen. This is also true of most other 'demon races' throughout the show. Creatures that are basically the same often display extremely different abilities.
Also, since so many abilities are 'racial' this basically means either 'race classes' or massive, massive amounts of LA, both of which tend to be bad.

B) Extremely Item Focused: Even more so than D+D inuyasha relies on stuff, but unlike D+D the 'stuff' isn't scads and scads of various magical devices but one single uber-item. The closest approximation would be something like the Legendary Weapon Weilder class from UA, but 90% of the 'power' of many characters seems to lie in their equipment.

C) Unbalanced abilities: Almost none of the powers I've seen displayed in the show have any sense of 'balance' between them. This is mostly okay, it's a show after all it's not as though it matters. However, if these are translated into a game then it becomes an issue. Even in the show it does generate problems. For example: the Wind Tunnel was a power that was apparently so insanely deadly that the writers had to ensure it practically never got used again.

D) Many characters also display a lot of 'personal' imbalance: extreme focus on one or two abilities with almost nothing but those abilities that is worthwhile, including basic features like hit points and saves (as abstracted into the game)

E) Defects: this is a big trope of anime. Curses, weaknesses and vulnerabilities are extremely common, and often a big part of a character. However D+D and d20 in general doesn't have any sort of 'flaw' or 'penalty' system to model this. The closest are the 'anti-feat' flaws you see in UA, which don't come nearly as close.

All of these are significant problems for a class based system like d20, it would require massive amounts of homebrewing, whole new systems to make up modular character abilities or powers, and probably end up being fairly awkward. However at the same time things like this are a strength of point based systems where putting together non-associated and unique abilities is often a focus.

Quietus
2007-02-12, 06:07 PM
I do agree that this kind of system is set up better for something like BESM, Oriong, however - some people just don't have access to that, leaving them stuck working with the systems they DO know.

Perhaps, in exchange for the super-powered-kill-everything-whatevers they get, you could institute a necessary two flaws for every character? Sure, you have a big sword that can do something awesome every now and then, which would have to be homebrewed and limited in some way, but now you've also got clear penalties to deal with. Make the player HAVE to pass these flaws by the DM to ensure they'd actually be worthwhile penalties, and you've got something that starts to balance things off.

Scalenex
2007-02-13, 12:51 AM
There's a lot of talk about anime stories having imbalanced characters. First off, I am a firm believer that balance is a low priority in an RPG. Second off, just because the characters in Inuyasha (or any other setting) are imbalanced, you don't have to play that particularly party of adventurers or even their same quest. Not only could you have more customization and play balance by making your own group, it'll help both the super anime fans and the anime indifferent players. The indifferent players aren't railroading into characters they dislike and the anime fans don't have to merely follow in the footsteps of a Japanese writer.

Thomar_of_Uointer
2007-02-13, 01:16 AM
Oriental Adventures covers Inuyasha just fine. Also, Inuyasha and his brother are too unique to be called player races, they fit much better as monsters (like the half-fiend in the Monster Manual), as does Shippo.

Tome of Battle could easily cover a lot of Inuyasha's fighting style (you know, besides the major artifact greatsword).

elliott20
2007-02-13, 12:17 PM
Yeah, I think the OA would cover most of the background stuff.

I shudder to think of the effort it would take to convert these characters into D&D format. But then again, I never liked animes with a super-powerful-irrespnsible-teenager complex.

F.H. Zebedee
2007-02-13, 10:50 PM
Yeah, Scalenex is pretty much dead-on. IY and company is a ridiculously imbalanced group, with a breakdown powerwise that probably looks like two members with 30+ levels, three around 15-20, and then one around 5. The setting itself could work very well, but heavens to Betsy, IY and his party are no proper indicator of how things should be.

I think I'll check out Tome of Battle and Oriental Adventures next chance I get. Don't own either, but I think my local bookstore does, so I'll look into them. Both sound like they would be fairly helpful for inspiration and directly transferring to the game.

Also, good point on the Demon=Fae thing. They're an entirely different thing from the demons of D&D, and will need to be adjusted.