The Campaign Builder's Guild

I've watched anime for along time and there have been a few series that have had influence upon my home brew campaign.  Record of the Lodoss War, Weathering Continent, Escaflowne to name a few.  Anime is perfect for it over the top battles, and often story lines that are intricate and make good serials.  in many ways it has helped me broaden my game in term of a visual oratory in which my gamers can visualize while playing.

Does anime influence your game?  And in what way?

Anime influences my game by reminding me exactly what I don't want my games to look like.

I have yet to see an anime I have liked since I was twelve, and the way it generally tends to be over-the-top conflicts entirely with what I want to do with my campaigns and settings.

I think its definitely influenced my worldbuilding and writing, but I'm not quite sure in what way.
Wordlbuilding: Rurouni Kenshin, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Escaflowne, Trigun, Full Metal Panic, and Bleach.
Writing: Rurouni Kenshin, Trigun, FMP, Love Hina.
My favorites of those would have to be Rurouni Kenshin and Bleach.
And I love over-the-top stuff. Love it.

I do like anime but in general I don't get inspiration from it. When I am world building if anything I get inspiration from things like Lord of the Rings.

Well for the Grand Realm my inspiration is definatly Tolkien, but anime has been a great inspiration for me, in turns of viual storytelling and describing Dynamic Action.

I like the imagery and feel of numerous animes.  These are the animes that I've been inspired by -

 - Last Exile: The imagery in this anime is brilliant and beautiful.  The plot grows with each episode, but the main characters remain down to earth.  The flight and use of flight is amazing, but I love the world design in Last Exile. Aerial combat is very prominent, and overlooking the nations fighting down below is the Guild, which controls flight.  It's a brilliant world.

 - Claymore and Berserk: I can put these two together because they both have the same feel.  Its a human or demon world, which is something I very much appreciate.  They're both dark and intense, and a lot of people die.  

 - Full Metal Alchemist: Most fantasy magic just doesn't do it for me.  The scientific magic in Full Metal Alchemist is refreshing, and it continues to grow and expand as the anime progresses.  While Full Metal feels light-hearted a lot of the time, it's probably one of the darker and more thought-provoking animes out there.  The storyline is overwhelming and the world is complex and highly political.  This is one of my favorites.

 - Basilisk: I should probably have included this with Claymore and Berserk, but it's very different.  Whereas Claymore and Berserk feel very European, Basilisk has a much stronger Japanese feudal era element to it.  While the characters and their powers aren't unique among animes, the ways they use them and develop them are.

 - Haibane Renmei: This is a beautiful anime, greatly toned down and with enormous character development.  It's not your normal anime - there's no fighting, no great powers, it's just a setting and the people inside trying to understand it.  The imagery is beautiful and the characters grow and develop throughout the entire story.

 - Miyazaki Films: It's not right to talk about world-building without talking about Miyazaki.  His many vivid films have had a lasting and profound effect on me.  Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind always stands out the most, as the entire story is about the world and how it interacts with mankind.  Yet this is a common thread in this movies.  Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away are all visual masterpieces.  I highly recommend each one.  The unique imagery has inspired me to no bounds, from Kamajii the six-armed worker of the boiler room in Spirited Away to Calcifer the fire demon in Howl's Moving Castle to the forest spirit in Princess Mononoke.  His films alone make anime into an art.

There's a whole slew of other animes that I like, but I wouldn't say that they've had profound effects on the way I build my worlds.  Those above certainly have.  The second season of Bleach (no other season was worthwhile) and small tidbits of Naruto have certainly been inspiring.  If I could make a world with mechs, then without a doubt I would find inspiration in Full Metal Panic, Code Geass, and Gundam (likely in that order).  

So yes, anime has affected how I build worlds.  Certainly.

What enemy was in the second season o Bleach? I completely forgot.

I consider the second season to be the entire Soul Society arc, from the point they arrived in Soul Society to the point that they left.  

I know anime has very strongly influenced the cyberpunk setting I started a long time ago. In particular, the flashy colorful outfits of the bike gangs in Akira helped inspire the flavor for Kiddies. Also, I had an anime-esque mental image that inspired me to try alternate rules for throwing weapons that weren't meant to be thrown (greatswords, for example), only to find out later on that a very similar was used in Naruto.

Other then that, though, anime really hasn't influenced my gaming very much, if at all. I'm not opposed to stuff that far over-the-top, but I want it to fit in right. Truth be told, I don't see very many genres that I could successfully work that in to. Action and cyberpunk, sure, but not fantasy or horror, and I don't really have any interest in romance-based games. Adventure I could see as a bit of a "wild card", but that might be dependant on the context of the adventure itself.

Quote from: WickedTrollAnime influences my game by reminding me exactly what I don't want my games to look like.

I have yet to see an anime I have liked since I was twelve, and the way it generally tends to be over-the-top conflicts entirely with what I want to do with my campaigns and settings.

Well...

...it really depends on what anime you're watching.

Samurai Champloo is far less over the top than your standard D&D game, IMO, and not just because of the no magic thing (I know, I know, there was that zombie episode). Seriously, the "party" is poor and spend most of their time scrounging up enough money for food and maybe a room. It makes me tempted to try running something like that at the table; all humans, no magic, low funds travelers and sellswords, you know? I want to say Iron Heroes, but there would need to be some way of making up for the low gear, and especially the no armor thing.

Bebop is kind of similar, in that it's actually very toned down from the standard science fiction, though by virtue of being scifi at all it's more "over the top" than Sam Champloo. You could probably tinker with some iteration of Traveler to make it work.

Paranoia Agent is just great horror. With the exception of the villain I can't say there's anything over the top about it at all, and an RPG adaptation could focus more on the mundane plotlines if you wanted it to and still be pretty messed up. I think it would translate really well into an Unknown Armies game.

Akira the movie I wasn't a huge fan of, but the manga would be a great inspiration for some gritty post apocalyptic action. It's very very different in some ways from the movie.

All anime isn't that over the top stuff.

...that said, I'm also a big fan of Eva, Geass (I watched it in Japanese and am occasionally irked by the dubs), and Claymore. Eva and Claymore I like because they have the whole superpowers thing, but so do the badguys, who manage to inflict real damage and occasional losses. Have to confess I was less a fan of the ending of Claymore. Not gonna spoil it.

I agree with you Jharviss, that season was definitely the best. But, IMO, the current one (when they are in Hueco Mundo) is pretty good.
And beeblebrox, is Eva an abbreviation for something or the full title?

Well yes, there's bound to be exceptions to any generalization, I agree. You're right about Bebop, too, although I haven't seen Champloo, so I can't comment on that. Witch Hunter Robin, from what I've seen, isn't that over-the-top considering the content, either.

That said, anime is famous (infamous?) for it's over-the-top stuff. From huge shurikens, to chopping down trees (plural) with a single swipe of a katana, there really isn't that much shortage of cinematic effects.

In that respect, anime's over-the-top-ness is kinda like Disney's anthropomorphs. It's not fair to it unfailingly uses such an element in every piece, but there's still a good reason the generalization exists.

I completely forgot about Bebop. Loved that series. I've seen like one episode of Champloo at a party while I felt about to throw up from candy and pizza at around 1am, so I can't really comment. I vaguely remember the story, but I may have gotten it mixed up with the Pokemon show the host's little brother switched the channel to.

Quote from: beeblebroxSamurai Champloo is far less over the top than your standard D&D game, IMO, and not just because of the no magic thing (I know, I know, there was that zombie episode). Seriously, the "party" is poor and spend most of their time scrounging up enough money for food and maybe a room. It makes me tempted to try running something like that at the table; all humans, no magic, low funds travelers and sellswords, you know? I want to say Iron Heroes, but there would need to be some way of making up for the low gear, and especially the no armor thing.

I had an Eberron campaign that, essentially, turned into just that. None of my players played really magical classes, except the Paladin who never used any magic outside of an occasional heal spell and a Warlock who used his power as akin to that of an Archer. The party was constantly short of funds and relied on first level equipment (outside of the occasional +1 or +2 weapon found on an enemy's corpse) all the way to the end of the campaign, near level 7. It takes a bit of work to make it work but the result is quite fun (if your players are cool with less loot and etc.).

As for anime and me... Well I love anime and I often rely on Anime to help create on-the-fly characters. Probably my favorite was a direct rip off of Ed from Full Metal Alchemist, except my Ed was a Half-Gaint who hated to be called Tall. He was a fun NPC. I've also had a Char-like character (from UC Gundam series). He was a bad guy who wore a mask and always seemed to find a way to live/escape. Half way through the campaign he joined the PCs in an anti-Empire para-military organization under a pseudonym and no mask. After the organization successfully toppled the Tyrannical Emperor, it was believed Char had died. He pooped back up as the leader of a revolutionary army whose aim was to free the southern colonial islands. The campaign ended with a climactic battle between the PCs and a giant Steam-Punk Mech, operated by Char, which had a striking resemblance to the Sazabi (one of Gundam Char's Mobile Suits).

It was quite fun :)

Quote from: Higgs BosonAnd beeblebrox, is Eva an abbreviation for something or the full title?

Neon Genesis Evangelion. Watch it. Skip the last two episodes and watch End of Evangelion. Death and Rebirth is just a series recap and the first half of End, so you can skip that too.

Ah yes Bebop was a wonderful series and it does avoid over the top fairly well to where you could develop an RPG directly from it. I am also a fan of FMA, the storyline made it a truly fascinating series beyond all doubt.

While typing this up I had the scary thought of what an Azumanga Daioh (or Cromartie High) RPG would look like. Playing it would probably drive any mortal insane.

Full Metal Alchemist is interesting.  It's certainly true that the series is one of the best to garner inspiration from, but I would argue that the manga is much better for it.  I'm guessing that a lot of y'all haven't read the manga, so I'll just say that the manga is still going on and that there isn't any world-switching in the manga.  The world-switching was entirely in the anime.

The anime and the manga for Full Metal Alchemist are very different, but they're both good.  It's the first anime I've seen that departed drastically from the manga but still wrapped up well.

Quote from: BeeblebroxHave to confess I was less a fan of the ending of Claymore. Not gonna spoil it.

The ending in the anime was atrocious, absolutely atrocious.  I recommend reading the manga which keeps going.  The manga gets into some really awesome stuff and makes that ending look illogical.

(Berserk also gained a bad reputation for its ending, but it did the same thing.  Berserk and Claymore really are quite similar.)

Quote from: beeblebroxNeon Genesis Evangelion. Watch it. Skip the last two episodes and watch End of Evangelion. Death and Rebirth is just a series recap and the first half of End, so you can skip that too.

I knew it! I love that series, though I haven't seen most of it. It was a long time ago, and I think I only got up to when Shinji is transformed back into promordial suop.[/spoiler]

In my opinion what I like about animé is that it doesn't seem as retrained as other possible sources.  I've watched fantasy animé where it's more like a sit-com.  Very rarely have I ever seen anything other than animé (or possibly a cartoon) where the people making it realized that they could do something completely different.

I wouldn't say it directly inspires anything, but this one aspect always makes me feel like I'm not required to do the same old thing.

I like some anime shows/movies (and abhor some anime shows/movies), but I can't say it has really influenced my gaming, except in one area: music.  Many anime shows/movies have very good or excellent soundtracks, and I am always trying to figure out how to get good music into my RPGs, generally with less-than-stellar results.

I've watched so much anime that I know its going to be an influence, however small, in any work I do.

Two of the big inspirations for my current system are Bleach and Claymore.
I like the way they do "Magic Items" in Bleach. They're all unique and very personalized.
I really liked the way combat worked in Claymore. It had a really cool feel to it, with fancy signature moves, and very deadly attacks. In particular I really enjoyed the story arc "The Slashers".

Noein (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noein) is another series I've been watching recently which may end up influencing how some of my temporal magic works.

Has anyone seen an anime called Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann?

I'm making my way through the episodes at the moment, it's good fun. Much silliness, and epic battles with big robots.

Also, Ikki Tousen? I thoroughly loved that, Lol. People brutally and yet very stylishly beating the shit out of each other for absolutely rubbish reasons and many women in very revealing outfits... but then as the series went on it ended up having this vastly complex plot, which ended up having me watching the last couple of episodes with my jaw basically on the floor the whole time, Lol.

Didn't Gurren Lagann just release, like, a week ago domestically?

No idea, I found it subbed online. Besides, "domestically" means in whatever country you live in, not necessarily the same as me...

[blockquote Kindling]Besides, "domestically" means in whatever country you live in, not necessarily the same as me...[/blockquote]

An excellent point, I made an assumption that may or may not correct.

I have to say that I really like Tenchi Muyo's approach to the style of things, like the wooden spaceships of Jurai.  Those are the sorts of things I mean when I say that animé seems a bit more "unrestrained".

I think the idea behind Tenchi was, "well, why can't we have a sci-fi-fantasy-action-adventure-romance-comedy-drama?"

It's that blending of genres that I liked about it.

Quote from: SDragonI think the idea behind Tenchi was, "well, why can't we have a sci-fi-fantasy-action-adventure-romance-comedy-drama?"

It's that blending of genres that I liked about it.

I'd say it was more like, "Dude, wouldn't it be awesome to have a harem?"  

But, yeah, you're take is pretty much right on too.

Quote from: Cúchulainn

Quote from: SDragonI think the idea behind Tenchi was, "well, why can't we have a sci-fi-fantasy-action-adventure-romance-comedy-drama?"

It's that blending of genres that I liked about it.

Well, there's that too, but I'm not sure if that's all that unique in anime. I believe the hapless-loser-fending-off-a-harem-of-beautiful-women thing is actually a little cliche in anime, isn't it?

Quote from: Cúchulainn

Quote from: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheUnwantedHaremIndeed[/url]

Quote from: SDragonI think the idea behind Tenchi was, "well, why can't we have a sci-fi-fantasy-action-adventure-romance-comedy-drama?"

That's exactly what I'm talking about.