Magitech games?

[Astrella]

So, a friend wants me to ask if there are any games fit for " a magitek animesque fantasy shōnen series with airships".

Anyone have any suggestions?

[Knaight]

Generally, I'd just list off the generics (Fudge, Fate, GURPS, Cortex, Savage Worlds, Hero). Those would still generally work in this case. However there is also the free game Anima Prime which is built for shonen anime. Everything but combat is freeform, but noncombat scenes are both built into the system's natural course of play and encouraged because they have an effect on character resources. You'll be needing to homebrew a few monsters/airships/mechs/whatever, but Anima Prime is light enough that doing so should be easy.

[lightningcat]

"a magitek animesque fantasy shōnen series with airships"

If he wanted to play Exalted, why didn't he call it by name?
You might look at it for ideas even if you chose to play another game, because other than the airships, that is what they were aiming for.

[Ravens_cry]

Not animesque, but with Tome of Battle and Magic of Incarnium it so could be, but Eberron in D&D fits the 'magictech with airships' part.

[The Glyphstone]

Yeah, this pretty much describes Exalted, I think. Isn't the SUN technically a giant airship in Creation?

[Arachu]

He actually doesn't want Exalted or anything D20...


~Bianca

[The Glyphstone]

He's stuck with a generic system like FATE or FUDGE then, with a lot of fluff-writing ahead of him. There might almost certainly is a GURPS Anime supplement, but if there isn't...well...it's homebrewing time.

[Tengu_temp]

How about Mutants and Masterminds? It's a very universal system that's perfect for modelling more cinematic settings. It uses a D20 die but it's not a D20 system - there's no classes, no levels the way DND understands them, and the combat system is very different.

[Hylas]

I briefly looked into using GURPS for a similar reason (mine was realistic magitech rather than anime) but it can fill in. You need to pick a tech level to have as a base and then the Tech Level you want to emulate, basically the point at which you branch off from a realistic setting. Most Steampunk is TL5 (1730 AD and on; the industrial revolution) TL6 stuff (1880 AD) being available through super steam power.

A magitech society might have the divergence start at TL3, the medieval age, with TL8 (digital age) stuff available. So you can have a computer but it's powered by magic and incantations rather than electricity, and tanks shoot arcane blasts and have a fire elemental reactor rather than uranium shells and diesel. The shorthand for this example would be TL3+5.

For a real-life example, the Flintstones are TL0+7. They're in the stone age but have nuclear age conveniences such as a dishwasher, a vacuum cleaner, television, and cars.

Regardless of what combination you do there will be plenty of customizing the rules and equipment available to suit your campaign. Things like guns and armor are especially important.

Although there's no 4th edition set of rules, there are 3rd edition vehicle rules which let you make custom vehicles to great detail, which includes a variety of anime style airships. I liked to make mine with a magically powered coal furnace, propellers, sails, and anti-gravity lifters.

[Knaight]

He's stuck with a generic system like FATE or FUDGE then, with a lot of fluff-writing ahead of him. There might almost certainly is a GURPS Anime supplement, but if there isn't...well...it's homebrewing time.

Fudge (The acronym was dropped circa 2000) has two unofficial supplements from Seraphim Guard made for anime style games. There's Heart Quest, which is shoujo, and Mecha Aces, which is Shonen. That should simplify things some.

[Pyromancer999]

This could work.

[Jack of Spades]

BESM? (Big Eyes, Small Mouth)

A bit less anime-esque and a bit more directly anime-styled, but it's definitely universal enough for what you're describing.

[Tengu_temp]

Unless you really want to have an HP bar instead of a wounds system, there is nothing BESM can do that Mutants and Masterminds with the Mecha and Manga splat can't do better. It's simply a much more balanced and smoother system.

[douglaswalkers]

So, a friend wants me to ask if there are any games fit for " a magitek animesque fantasy shōnen series with airships".

Anyone have any suggestions?

I will recommend you to go for cortex,savage worlds or hero, but I think you should also take a look on the game called anima prime, it is free game. I am sure you will definitely love it, as it have smart mazes.

[Knaight]

I will recommend you to go for cortex,savage worlds or hero, but I think you should also take a look on the game called anima prime, it is free game. I am sure you will definitely love it, as it have smart mazes.

There is something jarring about seeing Hero listed next to Cortex and Savage Worlds. Cortex and Savage worlds are both comparatively simple systems, with rules books in the under 200 page range. HERO had 600+ pages of rules in character creation alone.