D&D done right, with some anime.

[MorgromTheOrc]

So after a successful D&D night, tonight my group finally decided to let me try DMing for them. As anyone who has ever seen any post I've made before would know I play with a very strange group that has a HEAVILY houseruled play style. They've agreed to let me run a campaign and show them what real D&D is like, but they are mostly lovers of anime and want it to be a slightly anime-esque campaign. So I figured I could run a campaign similar to oriental adventures with some tome of battle mixed in to make it more anime style.

I've never done a full campaign before or really much of any DMing besides very very short one shots with some friends at school. So some advice on how to carry out this kind of campaign while still teaching them about real D&D would be very helpful(along with typical new DM advice).

So far I'm planning on having the world led by an emperor who is a 21st level unarmed swordsage/master of the nine and current grandmaster of martial arts. The average person is between levels 1-5 in the world with guards and soldiers being 3-5 and mostly samurai or monks, with the occasional wanderer or military leader being an unarmed swordsage or warblade of level 6+ and monsters around that same level. For the BBEG I'm thinking level 21 perfect creature combination of some sort that I plan on making practically unbeatable so they have to kill him with their brains. There might be one or two other people that are level 20 or a little under it but the majority of the world will be under level 10. For their starting point I thought maybe they could meet at some preliminary martial arts tournament that they're entering to get invitations to a much larger one later in the campaign.

[Marlowe]

I could have sworn there was more to anime than formulaic fighting cartoons written for 10-year old boys.

Think there might be more anime settings than Romanticised Edo-period Japan with touches of Ming China as well.

Do they watch any anime that isn't Naruto?:smallconfused:

[MorgromTheOrc]

I could have sworn there was more to anime than formulaic fighting cartoons written for 10-year old boys.

Think there might be more anime settings than Romanticised Edo-period Japan with touches of Ming China as well.

Do they watch any anime that isn't Naruto?:smallconfused:

They do but this is the kind of world they said they wanted. Most anime they watch is similar to naruto style or completely modern.

[Crake]

They do but this is the kind of world they said they wanted. Most anime they watch is similar to naruto style or completely modern.

Run a d20 modern game with some dnd aspects then perhaps?

[MorgromTheOrc]

Run a d20 modern game with some dnd aspects then perhaps?

Well I mentioned they watch modern meaning it had to be Japan style so I can still make it a classic D&D experience in a way. Plus they already said they want an emperor and everything.

[Marlowe]

Oh well. If they wanted it.

I suppose you could always start out like this and then introduce the Ominous Catholic Church Militant, the Space-Nazis dropping superweapons on Australia, the eldritch abominations walking out of the sea, the apocalypse maidens with energy wings, the cigar-chomping blondes and the cross-dressing episode later.

EDIT:
Well I mentioned they watch modern meaning it had to be Japan style so I can still make it a classic D&D experience in a way. Plus they already said they want an emperor and everything.

I really don't know what you mean by that first sentence.

OK, well if it has to be a pseudo-Japanese setting, then I presume you mean Edo-period. Earlier, more warlike periods involve things like "Gunpowder weapons everywhere" for the Hideyoshi/Tokugawa era, and "Lots of spears, bows, and fighting in boats with barely a Katana in sight" for the Kamakura. If that's the case, then the Emperor most definitely shouldn't be a combat-trained badass. He shoulder be more of a cloistered High Priest.

Monks as martial-arts experts is also much more of a Chinese thing. Japanese "warrior monks" were generally just armed thugs hired by the monasteries for a measure of protection. Often paid in saki and not regarded as much of a threat in actual battle. Low-level NPC Warrior is being kind.

[Deophaun]

Oh well. If they wanted it.

I suppose you could always start out like this and then introduce the Ominous Catholic Church Militant, the Space-Nazis dropping superweapons on Australia, the eldritch abominations walking out of the sea, the apocalypse maidens with energy wings, the cigar-chomping blondes and the cross-dressing episode later.
Don't forget the cake episode. There has to be a cake episode.

You're also missing the kawaii mascot, and the loser DMPC with his inexplicable harem of a dozen high-Charisma sanctified succubi.

[MorgromTheOrc]

Oh well. If they wanted it.

I suppose you could always start out like this and then introduce the Ominous Catholic Church Militant, the Space-Nazis dropping superweapons on Australia, the eldritch abominations walking out of the sea, the apocalypse maidens with energy wings, the cigar-chomping blondes and the cross-dressing episode later.

That's true, epic levels do offer a lot of room for anime style characters and enemies. The only really difficult part is that I'm supposed to be teaching them how actual D&D works at the same time, otherwise I'd just run big eyes little mouth style.

[Karl Aegis]

Your setting sounds more like an old kung-fu movie than an "anime". "Anime" doesn't tell us anything about what you want. Most people would probably default to the shoujo demographic (aimed at females aged 10-18) of the magical girl subgenre and just be weirded out that someone would want to play a game similar to Sailor Moon.

[MorgromTheOrc]

Your setting sounds more like an old kung-fu movie than an "anime". "Anime" doesn't tell us anything about what you want. Most people would probably default to the shoujo demographic (aimed at females aged 10-18) of the magical girl subgenre and just be weirded out that someone would want to play a game similar to Sailor Moon.

Well "magical girl" anime is basically what they were playing before with a slight cover. This is my attempt to go halfway, still oriental style with fluff fitted around anime norms but D&D enough to at least function somewhat similar to an actual D&D world and have D&D rules.

[Karl Aegis]

The closest thing to "oriental" D&D can actually get is a rough approximation of Kabuki Theatre. Ninjas are little more than stagehands, samurai wield goofy looking swords and cue opponents to be afraid and monks are the rejects who failed to get into ninja stagehand school. There is a system out there that is literally "Kabuki Theatre as inspired by Dungeons and Dragons" which does the whole thing better, but D&D inspired by Kabuki theatre isn't going to get you anywhere.

[oxybe]

You want to see D&D: the anime? ALL episodes of The Slayers (as in all seasons, Slayers, Next, Try, Revolution and Evolution-R) can be watched legitimately free on Funimation's website. Subbed or Dubbed, pick your poison.

If you never watched or heard of the The Slayers, long and short of it is as follows: Lina is a greedy, egotistical, selfish sorceress who knows how to summon nukes, Gourry is THE big dumb fighter, Zelgadis is a gish who is cursed with awesome and Amelia is a cleric who thinks she's in a sentai show.

They go on adventures and kill demons for 100+ episodes.

for more fantasy animoos to wave my weeaboo flag: Those who hunt elves (kinda pervy fantasy comedy, really old, but still pretty good), El hazard (fantasy "transported to another world" comedy), Tower of Druaga (fantasy comedy), Record of the Lodoss war (basically an anime about a guy's D&D campaign), Spice and wolf (fantasy economics), Rurouni Kenshi (ancient japan with some fantasy), Maoyu Maou Yuusha (fantasy politics and farming), Berserk (fantasy with a WTF ending, warning: not for small children. bloody, violent and horrible things happen in this one), Chaika the coffin Princess (Fantasy with a bit of pseudo-magic-science and a, IMO, rushed ending).

Some of these can also be found on crunchyroll for free if not on funimation. Others (especially the older ones like Those Who Hunt Elves, El Hazard & Lodoss War) you might have to hunt down a DVD or do some things we can't mention on this site because of "It's not actually legal".

Special mention to:
-One Piece and Fairy Tail for basically being D&D Pirate Campaign and D&D Wizard Campaign.
-Berserk for being the bloodiest, goriest, not for children show to end right before the REALLY messed up stuff happens. War, politics, drama... it's got it.
-Log Horizon for it's incredible and surprising amount of worldbuilding, even though it's a "stuck in a videogame" and not fantasy proper. If anything to take away, it's how characters that can't die for real and play by a different set of rules then the common folk interact with the world.

Those above shows tend to have more of a western/european style, but there are tons of sengoku era shows like Rurouni Kenshin and the currently airing Sengoku Musou if you want a more fantastic representation of Ye Olde Japan.

So yeah. I'm a giant anime nerd.

[Flickerdart]

Shonen anime (at least in my experience) tends to be of the puzzle boss type a lot more often than anything else - it's pretty rare for the hero to go "haha I am stronger" and then deck the enemy upside the head repeatedly. So the BBEG plan isn't a bad one. Consider taking the Tarrasque, giving it a nasty template or two, and sprucing it up with some Martial Study and Incarnum feats instead of its nine Toughnesses. Naturally, there should be trusted lieutenants arranged in convenient order of weakest to strongest...

Basically, run them through a season of JoJo.

[Marlowe]

Maybe we should ask the OP what anime he has watched. Because I'm finding it hard to make sense of his comments on the medium with my own experience of it.

Oh. I should do that. :smallredface:

Morgrom, what anime have you actually watched?

[Morof Stonehands]

If I'm not mistaken, there was a thread at some point that had people statting up anime characters for 3.5. Could be useful for a starting point for major NPCs and BBEGs.

[bjoern]

Ingredients for a successful anime d&d campaign:

Make sure everyone has shot on the run so they can run parallel to each other round after round.

Make sure everyone has lots of buff spells so they can spend entire sessions powering up, and screaming while they do it.

Spend any extra unused time recapping what all happened last session. Usually a lot of parallel running and powering up. Oh, and screaming too.

Enjoy

[atemu1234]

I could have sworn there was more to anime than formulaic fighting cartoons written for 10-year old boys.

Think there might be more anime settings than Romanticised Edo-period Japan with touches of Ming China as well.

Do they watch any anime that isn't Naruto?:smallconfused:

Or draw inspiration from Rurouni Kenshin.


Run a d20 modern game with some dnd aspects then perhaps?

D20 modern is kind of... bland. I'd recommend the OP to play D&D but take weapon stats from D20 modern.

[MorgromTheOrc]

Maybe we should ask the OP what anime he has watched. Because I'm finding it hard to make sense of his comments on the medium with my own experience of it.

Oh. I should do that. :smallredface:

Morgrom, what anime have you actually watched?

I've watched several hundred, most mainstream, and lots of lets just say not mainstream(the B movie type) and even nice slice of life ones that are in-between. Trust me I've watched plenty this is the kind of world I was asked to do, and what I'm trying to tell all of you is it isn't just supposed to be anime, that's what they always do, I'm trying to teach what NORMAL D&D is like without straying from what they like too much.

[MorgromTheOrc]

Shonen anime (at least in my experience) tends to be of the puzzle boss type a lot more often than anything else - it's pretty rare for the hero to go "haha I am stronger" and then deck the enemy upside the head repeatedly. So the BBEG plan isn't a bad one. Consider taking the Tarrasque, giving it a nasty template or two, and sprucing it up with some Martial Study and Incarnum feats instead of its nine Toughnesses. Naturally, there should be trusted lieutenants arranged in convenient order of weakest to strongest...

Basically, run them through a season of JoJo.

JoJo in D&D... And next you'll say, "Martial arts Tarrasque!" Sounds great I think that is an idea that is actually extremely helpful.

[Coidzor]

There's a wuxia setting with some expansions of Tome of Battle and reductions in magical availability floating around the homebrew sub-forum, IIRC.

[MorgromTheOrc]

There's a wuxia setting with some expansions of Tome of Battle and reductions in magical availability floating around the homebrew sub-forum, IIRC.

I really do like that campaign setting I'm definitely going to use a lot of that thank you.

[madtinker]

Remember: Fluff can be changed.

Start simple. A barbarian could be fluffed as a kung fu master who uses his ki to make himself super strong and tough, but its a great class to play because its so simple.

Do this to three or four other classes, and you've got a classic DnD party in any style you want.

[Sian]

OA with ToB mixed into it (with its classes replacing Sohei, Monk and Fighter/Samurai) should be a reasonable starting point

[atemu1234]

Remember: Fluff can be changed.

Start simple. A barbarian could be fluffed as a kung fu master who uses his ki to make himself super strong and tough, but its a great class to play because its so simple.

Do this to three or four other classes, and you've got a classic DnD party in any style you want.

Y'know, the barbarian fluff is fairly universal. Just sayin'.

[Coidzor]

I really do like that campaign setting I'm definitely going to use a lot of that thank you.

I like it too. I just wish I could remember the name offhand though. Need to bookmark that stuff.

[Urpriest]

Ignore the people critiquing your taste. It sounds like you're proposing a campaign that's going to fit your group reasonably well, and that's all you're obligated to do here.

I'd mostly use OA for the races, not so much for the classes. Most of the good ones got updated later. You'll probably want to decide whether things are strictly "Japanese" (in which case you should stick to the stuff allowed in Legend of the Five Rings...yes, it's not historically accurate by any stretch of the imagination, but it's pretty canonical when it comes to fantasy depictions of Japan), or go more broad (and allow Vanaras, Wu Jen, and the like). Be sure to use the 3.5 update to OA found in Dragon (318 I think?), and be aware that it doesn't cover everything (it forgets to update the Shaman's animal companion, for example).

[MorgromTheOrc]

Ignore the people critiquing your taste. It sounds like you're proposing a campaign that's going to fit your group reasonably well, and that's all you're obligated to do here.

I'd mostly use OA for the races, not so much for the classes. Most of the good ones got updated later. You'll probably want to decide whether things are strictly "Japanese" (in which case you should stick to the stuff allowed in Legend of the Five Rings...yes, it's not historically accurate by any stretch of the imagination, but it's pretty canonical when it comes to fantasy depictions of Japan), or go more broad (and allow Vanaras, Wu Jen, and the like). Be sure to use the 3.5 update to OA found in Dragon (318 I think?), and be aware that it doesn't cover everything (it forgets to update the Shaman's animal companion, for example).

Yeah thanks, I told them what I was planning last night and they're all super excited. The guy who usually DM's is playing a crusader because he wants to be a paladin type character working under the Emperor so maybe this means he'll let me use tome of battle in the future since he'll be more familiar with it.