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Simple question:
Been watching Bleach lately.
What system(s) would do a decent job handling a Bleach campaign?
Obviously something entirely narrative such as FATE could do it, and Mutants & Masterminds could also handle it.
The design goals of FATE simply don't match up with my tastes (That kind of narrative control doesn't fit the kind of game I enjoy).
Mutants and Masterminds has great chargen but the gameplay is bland and samey, and falls flat.
Are there any other viable options?
>>44259651
Bleach classless D20.
It's pretty great. It uses D20 as a base which is eh, but it ramps everything up past 11 and keeps things really interesting by having no exact classes to be locked into.
I'm running a game in it right now, it's been a lot of fun, but we are playing a really high power game in it so things are a bit crazy, you can definitely use it to suite your needs.
>>44259880
>Bleach classless d20
This is a thing?
Interesting.
Which version? A google search seems to turn up several different Bleach Classless d20 games.
In the one you use, can you build custom powers, or is it a matter of choosing from a big list?
>>44259934
>>44259651
Maybe OVA or STRIKE! RPG, though the latter is very, VERY strict in its build rules due to having been built by an engineer and a math professor, though the crunch -once understood- is fairly sound. Since Bleach is (supposed to be) all about dem sword battles the very placement-heavy nature of STRIKE! could benefit your game.
...fuck, I sound full shill, and that's despite me REALLY not liking the core mechanic of the thing.
>>44259934
http://bleachd20.proboards.com/
The zip here is the most recent. Some of the supplements aren't in the zip though.
>In the one you use, can you build custom powers, or is it a matter of choosing from a big list?
Sort of both. There is a big list of shikai and bankai picks, you kind of mash those together along with feats to make your own powers.
For example one of my players has a constant release shikai that is Distortion Ice type.
It has two modes, the first is for general attacking and messing up her opponents chance to hit. The second mode is a sacrifice release that functions as a one off really strong attack, it extends out to 100 ft, drains the opponents reiatsu, and ignores most forms of damage reduction.
Her Bankai is more of a crowd control deal. It creates black tentacle/wall of thorns effects any thing that touches them has a chance to be frozen and have a reiatsu draining seed planted in them.
Another character has a katana shikai used with a quick draw style that becomes a literal blade of light, ignoring all armor and damage reduction, it also deals more damage when the sword judges an enemy guilty. His is more straight forward but gets complex with his Bankai, he combines it with a stance to really pump his damage.
>>44260146
>OVA
Seemed to be pretty restricted in what it could support. More like World of Darkness than Bleach.
I remember trying to figure out how to build an Edward Elric type character in it for about 5 hours and getting absolutely /nowhere/.
It's possible I seriously missed something, but it didn't seem nearly as flexible as they made it sound.
As for Strike!, I'll check it out, I'm not too familiar besides knowing it's a highly tactical game with a heavy basis on 4e.
>>44260280
That said there is plenty of precedence in system to create your own new powers.
Vastuo Lorde hollow powers, Combat Styles, and Stances all reference making custom effects with DM approval.
>>44260280
>>44260299
That sounds pretty neat.
How's the game balance?
Better than 3.5's Martial-Caster disparity I assume.
I'd tend towards Legends of the Wulin, but it's my default for high action stuff, and it's pretty easy to adapt to do shonen anime combat in it.
It's a decently heavy system but the combat mechanics are sublime, and they're relatively easy to tune to the setting you're using.
Bleach is one of those shows where the setting always felt vastly superior to the actual storyline, so an RPG making use of the world and concepts could end up being a lot less cliche generic bullshit than the actual show.
>>44260330
>Bleach is one of those shows where the setting always felt vastly superior to the actual storyline
There's a lot of IP like that.
That's how I feel about most of the Star Wars content, including the OT.
But I agree.
I'm not too familiar with Wulin. I should check that one out as well.
>>44260280
Thanks. dling it now.
>>44260357
Word of warning, Legends of the Wulin has a major issue in terms of editing and usability. It's not a simple system and has a lot of unusual assumptions about how things work, and the bad layout of the core book only make it worse. The Wulin Legends homebrew wiki and the Half Burnt Manual fan supplement (hosted there) help, and you can always drop by the #LotW channel on Sup/tg/ if you have any questions or need help understanding something.
>>44260394
If I have any questions I will check in. Thanks.
>>44260280
>Some of the supplements aren't in the zip though.
What's missing?
Looking through it now everything *Seems* to be there.
>>44260280
>>44259880
>d20
I'm wary.
>>44260394
Sup/tg/ IRC still works? For some reason it refuses to connect for me, and I use a shit ton of IRC networks.
>>44260496
It's still up and running, yeah? irc.thisisnotatrueending.com on port 6667
>>44259651
Fate being completely narrative is an outsider's opinion. Not saying you have to like it, just saying there's actually a fair amount of crunch in there.
The biggest problem with translating any shonen anime into an RPG is that they revolve around a main protagonist constantly rising in power to overcome greater and greater obstacles.
The second part describes a lot of RPGs. but that main protagonist thing is a bigger hindrance than you might expect. The second thing is those stories don't have a graded progression, they have staggered. Team meets something they can't face, then they get stronger, they fail, they succeed. Most players get butthurt when you make them run into a wall. I've only had it go over well once.
>>44260533
The first issue's not that much of an issue; Even the most bullshit shounen foitan shows have people who're actually kinda normal. Play with a team of Rukia-tier people and you get a party that's competent without exceeding leaps in power just by being well-rounded and knowing when to bail.
>>44260533
>Fate being completely narrative is an outsider's opinion.
It's filled with a lot of mechanics where the players directly mechanically interact with he narrative of the game, outside of their characters, and I tend to look for games where that happens as little as possible.
>>44260533
>The second thing is those stories don't have a graded progression, they have staggered. Team meets something they can't face, then they get stronger, they fail, they succeed. Most players get butthurt when you make them run into a wall. I've only had it go over well once.
Hmm. I'm not sure I think that's so important if putting it into an RPG, but I do see what you mean, that's quite common in the original media.
>>44260586
If you're not worried about that stuff then any generic system (Savage Worlds, GURPS, OVA, TriStat, MHR, M&M, etc) will work.
>>44259651
Whatever you do, remember to make it drag on for far too long and to constantly sideline your PC's in favour of your mary sue DMPC with 6 different racial classes
>>44260742
har har. how very helpful.
>>44260474
That's fair.
>>44260318
Balance? The game runs on rule of cool really hard but the math seems solid enough, that said this is a game based on an anime with lots of crazy fights, but the rules seem to support lower powered more grounded games. But my game is really high power so I don't know how that holds up in a medium power game, I'll get back to you on that when I run my medium power game with it.
As for martial/caster thing. Martials mid game have the potential to peak at 100's of damage per round. There are also counter moves that can reduce or totally circumvent said damage, there is a kind of rocket tag feel to it, but also with having X amount of anti-rocket shields. a lot of a high power game comes down to outsmarting your opponents bullshit, there is potential to one shot each other but at that point it boils down to out enduring your opponent.
Casters get the short end of the stick with unclear/incomplete rules for kido. They have less damage out put potential and more utility ability, martial still get plenty of that though. it is classless though so both "types" can go into the others territory.
>>44260460
As far as I know, side suplements dedicated to dead team members that are largely ignorable and the 50,000 download spectacular which is all extra rules, but has badass rules for hollows progressing through eating things.
>>44260751
>the math seems solid enough
That's good to hear.
>my game is really high power
And it holds up okay at high power? Glad to hear it.
>50,000 download spectacular
>badass rules for hollows progressing through eating things.
That one sounds pretty cool.
>>44260742
It's not very hard for the PC's to do this themselves in d20 classless. Any one taking Hollow stuff can get really ridiculous really quick, Quincy powers are math intensive but really strong, Fullbrings are totally amazing, but Shinigami and their weapons are where the game shines.
It would be pretty easy to take things from multiple races though, progression heavy but easy. Hell just taking Old Blood Hollow and Hollow Heritage as 2 of your 6 level 1 feats grants you ever growing hollow powers as you level up.
>>44260775
It holds up well enough, we aren't taking it all that seriously but it's been fun as an off time game for me and my buddies when not everyone can make it to our D&D 5e game.
The other big obstacle, with Bleach specifically, that makes me say narrative inclined systems work best, is that EVERYONE has different abilities.
>>44260968
This is one of the reasons I think LotW would work well. The way the system is designed, almost anything can be statted up as a functional combat ability through combinations of Kung fu styles, Secret Arts, Legendary Weapons/Transcendant Techniques and loresheets. The complexity is a downside, but the functional complexity is fantastic.
>>44261101
>>44261095
>oldest
Pretty sure that got retconned later.
