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Drowicorn
2017-09-03, 03:12 PM
Through many conversations with my group, I've found that we all have grand ideas for campaigns set in the worlds of our favorite animes/video games/movies/etc. but they never really pan out for various reasons. Mostly the fact that our only experience with this sort of thing was a D20 Modern game set in the world of RWBY that went sour really fast, and left a bitter taste in everyone's mouths.
My question to the forum is, do you have any tips and ideas for making a game like this run smoothly? Do you have a favorite system for more general use? Are they a good idea at all?

Thanks

Koo Rehtorb
2017-09-03, 03:18 PM
You need to either very carefully select a system that will actually do a decent job of representing the setting, or you need to be prepared to make compromises on the setting to accommodate the system. Probably both.

Edit - or carefully hack the system to make it fit better, of course. But I'd be careful doing this unless you have a ton of experience with the system.

Vitruviansquid
2017-09-03, 03:42 PM
The most important thing is to use the system with the right mechanics. For example, D&D-like systems with large numbers of HP and the assumption that characters will take a fairly large number of hits is really bad at games that represent high lethality settings while swingy systems like Savage Worlds is really bad at representing a certain species of heroic adventure.

Here is the worst answer available: You would want to write your own system to represent these settings, sometimes even if the settings already have their own system.

Besides this, it is also good to look at the setting before every session, especially if you are the GM. If you're playing RWBY, watch an episode of RWBY before every game. If you're playing Game of Thrones, read a chapter before the game. This will help you keep to the setting's tone.

Lord Raziere
2017-09-03, 04:00 PM
Well first, one has to take into account that an established universe usually has the benefit of being written by one person and therefore they can make everything happen the way they want. me writing a pokemon fan fic and participating in a pokemon roleplay are two different things. I am both the protagonist and the enemy, and therefore everything happens as I want it to, even if I have to be logical/reasonable about it. in roleplaying however, the dynamic changes, you only control apart of the world, and some one else controls another part. often other players and the GM, so its more about a back and forth and different people have different styles and moods and whatnot, thus capturing the mood, the style and so on a little tricky given that none of you can read the authors mind and have to interpret the source material on your own, a problem regardless of the system you choose to represent it.

of course, systems present their own problems. a perfect simulation of that world has the problem in that a lot of things that are focused in established universes are rare, anomalous or stand out for that world, as such universes focus on people with power to do exciting things in that world and thus are not representative of the normal state of that established universe. thus a simulation of that world would probably seem quite different from source material, even if its modeling it right. a system that focuses on the narrative and story being told can capture the feel better, but people have problems with narrative systems. while d20 is just plain horrible for simulating any universe that isn't DnD.

so is it any wonder there is some problems with fitting an established universe into a roleplaying game? its six people trying to agree on a common interpretation of a setting that you can all enjoy then filtering that through a system of numbers and mechanics that makes its own interpretation of the established universe in the process, then try to make that interpretation fit with your interpretation. when previously, one person could just say something happened and it happened. thats what you have to keep in mind: there are seven different interpretations of the established universe at work here trying to all fit together, eight if you count the authors. you try to get as close as you can while still being reasonable to your fellow players. sometimes you just got to accept that your going to put some of your spin on it and roll with it.

for example, in the Dragon Ball roleplay I'm in, my character is a snarky, sarcastic, reference-spouting cynical cyborg who never had any formal martial arts training unless you count being kidnapped and programmed to be a killing machine, who hates the saiyan/martial artist mindset of fair fights and allowing your foes to live and get stronger, doesn't participate in tournaments, does not enjoy fighting, has trauma issues, is a completely pragmatic fighter who uses any tactic they can to protect others and defeat her foes, will kill her enemies without regret or remorse if she deems it necessary, and despite knowing various ki attacks, is unable to pull off a simple kamehameha. she is completely different from and unlike any dragon ball protagonist or hero, definitely different from Goku, and its unlikely that she fits with canonical Dragon Ball unless she is in the same arc as Future Trunks. Yet, she is not any less valid a character, she is one of my most long running characters I've played and she is still liked by the rest of my group, she brings her own thing to Dragon Ball, her own spin on it, and it can be interesting to see how different spins on the same universe interact with one another.

SimonMoon6
2017-09-03, 04:07 PM
For me, the best system for doing absolutely anything, including superheroics of the most absurd power levels, is Mayfair's old DC Heroes Role-Playing Game. The system is simple enough to easily model anything (you never roll more than 2 dice, even if you can destroy a planet with a single attack) and complicated enough to have just enough detail that you don't have make judgement calls about things like "Can Character X lift an entire mountain or not". And it's the only game system I've seen that cleanly and easily handles every kind of shape-shifter and every kind of power-absorber/neutralizer/duplicator, the sorts of powers that are often very complicated in other game systems (so I use those powers as a test of how "good" a game system is).

However, for me, the most important thing in general is not necessarily the game system. If you're playing in established worlds (as I have done on numerous occasions, including having a multiverse made of many established universes), the most important thing is to know the setting REALLY well. Ideally, you would know everything about the setting; if that's not possible, try to know the setting at LEAST as well as any of the players; if that's not possible, at least know the setting pretty well, but be prepared to stop and do research when someone says something like (things that have happened to me) "I'm going to Chicago to find where the original Blue Beetle's magic scarab was lost" (actually it was destroyed) or "I want to go the planet of the Organians" (Who are they? They are the all powerful beings who stopped a war between the Federation and the Klingons).

Also, more than just knowing the facts of the setting, it's important to know the feeling of the setting, what's appropriate and what's not. A story about murder and rape is probably not appropriate in a "My Little Ponies" universe. You shouldn't have stories involving magic in a Star Trek universe (except to show that magic isn't real) or even in a Doctor Who universe (even though that becomes more and more debatable.. especially when writers and showrunners try to use magic in stories and then try very badly to explain it as science).

In general, be aware of the tropes of the universe. For example, know why it is that the PCs can't go and get help from the main characters of the story. Or if the PCs get help from the main characters of the universe, make sure it works the other way around. So if Superman helps the PCs beat Ineffective-Villain-Man, then make sure Superman gets help from the PCs when he's fighting Doomsday.

Also, if this sort of thing has failed for you in the past, analyze what it is that was problematic. Then, fix the problem.

Drowicorn
2017-09-03, 05:25 PM
Wow, thank you for all the helpful replies already!

Based on what you guys have said and my experiences in the game, I can conclude that:
D20 really does suck for non-D&D games. Especially Modern, with the weird Wealth and Reputation mechanics, and the arbitrary weapon power made things about the lore weird (Scythes in RWBY are supposed to be a dangerous, hard-to-wield weapons that really pay off in the end. In D20, they're subpar martial/archaic weapons outclassed by the Heavy Flail and the Guisarme).
RWBY is a good example of a bad universe to roleplay in. Though it does allow for the 'Sailor Earth' trope to happen, the lore is woefully incomplete, which makes the aforementioned problem of different interpretations about 100x worse.
The DM, despite seeming to really like RWBY when we started, later stopped watching for no reason.
The DM was also incompetent, and unfairly favored his brother's PC to an extreme extent. This was what mostly killed the game.
Along with the fact that he couldn't maintain that 'RWBY Atmosphere'. Long story short, when I shouted "We're not in RWBY anymore! We're playing XCOM but with robots instead of aliens!", everyone else at the table agreed with me.

Hopefully, in the future, I'll have better experiences with these types of games. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that somebody at my university will DM a game set in the world of Miraculous.

RazorChain
2017-09-03, 06:35 PM
Hopefully, in the future, I'll have better experiences with these types of games. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that somebody at my university will DM a game set in the world of Miraculous.

I hate to break it to you but you usually end GMing what you want to play. This is based on experience.

Lord Raziere
2017-09-03, 06:42 PM
I hate to break it to you but you usually end GMing what you want to play. This is based on experience.

Yes, I've tried the waiting for things that I want to play.....sigh.....still not working, aside from at least one exception. I think I actually made the right decision by making a pokemon fan fic of the character what I want to play rather than try to force it in roleplay, because then the people would be like "oh your character is a DMPC" and blah blah blah and basically screw up everything. some stories you just have to tell by yourself, sadly.

Drowicorn
2017-09-03, 07:05 PM
Yes, I've tried the waiting for things that I want to play.....sigh.....still not working, aside from at least one exception. I think I actually made the right decision by making a pokemon fan fic of the character what I want to play rather than try to force it in roleplay, because then the people would be like "oh your character is a DMPC" and blah blah blah and basically screw up everything. some stories you just have to tell by yourself, sadly.

Oh yeah. I said I was keeping my fingers crossed, not expecting. I already sort of have a fanfiction writing back and forth thing with one of my friends. We just never get around to writing our great ideas down.

RazorChain
2017-09-03, 07:21 PM
Yes, I've tried the waiting for things that I want to play.....sigh.....still not working, aside from at least one exception. I think I actually made the right decision by making a pokemon fan fic of the character what I want to play rather than try to force it in roleplay, because then the people would be like "oh your character is a DMPC" and blah blah blah and basically screw up everything. some stories you just have to tell by yourself, sadly.


At some point you realize that nobody is going to run the stories you want to tell. If you are lucky you meet a GM that matches your style and I've been lucky to have played with some good GM's. But in the end you either run the games you want to play or they'll never happen.

Haldir
2017-09-03, 10:45 PM
There are plenty of people who are willing to GM outside their system preference, but you're asking for skilled labor. Skilled labor does not exist as a hobby unless things perfectly align. To get what you want when you want I suggest contacting a professional.

Algeh
2017-09-04, 01:58 PM
Having played in my fair share of failed "established universe" games, I think one of the big things to ask yourself is why you enjoy the fiction set in that universe.

If you enjoy it for, say, the clever writing and interesting interactions between characters, those things really aren't captured by an RPG system's rules and you'll just get frustrated by the lack of correct tone. (If your group is good at clever writing and interesting interactions between characters, then you'll get that thing in all of your games regardless of setting, of course.)

If you enjoy the work of fiction because the plot always keeps you guessing with twists and turns that you don't see coming, my guess is that you will totally hate it as an RPG setting, because most players don't enjoy it when their characters are subjected to "out of nowhere" plot twists.

If you want to poke at the corners of the setting to "see what happens" when things that don't come up in the work of fiction are explored, it will probably go south unless your group can come to a consensus on what is likely to happen when you poke at that thing, since otherwise some of you will feel like the setting is "wrong" because whatever didn't behave as it would have in your personal headcanon.

If there are interesting system-mechanical details to the setting that are what everyone really wants to give a spin, then it can go well if everyone wants to dive in to how to model that mechanical interaction and stay open to revising it as you play to keep the "feel" right. This is pretty much the only case when I'd personally try to run anything other than a one-shot in an established universe anymore. Then it's a case of choosing and tweaking a system to fit the mechanics you want well, which can be hit or miss. (I tend to try GURPS first, but that probably says more about my system familiarity than it does about whether or not GURPS is always a good choice.)

SimonMoon6
2017-09-04, 08:58 PM
I hate to break it to you but you usually end GMing what you want to play. This is based on experience.

Yes, sad but true.

I recall one experience of running a game that I would've killed to be a player in. And then, when the group was deciding what other games to consider playing that would be run by somebody else, one of the players said something like, "Well we definitely shouldn't play another game like that one since we've already done that."

:(