Combat for an 'Anime' role-playing system

[SamuraiChicken]

Hello everyone. I'm fairly new to the CBG, but I thought this would be a great place to get some feedback on some projects I'm currently working on.

For this project (which currently lacks a name), I'm attempting to create a role-playing system that can portray the type of action / combat scenes often seen in anime. While this system is in no way limited to anime (action films are quite similar), I'm getting most of my inspiration from anime (and likewise watching a lot of anime for 'research' purposes).

The goal here is to make a combat system that makes the players feel like they are watching an anime. While one can make any system seem like an anime through good roleplaying, I'm attempting to take this a step further and make mechanics that blend well with the narrative.

Health
For this system, the first thing I want to do is get rid of the traditional Hit Point system. While it works well in many systems, it doesn't seem right for anime characters to have a set amount of HP. Often we see them getting up after taking a serious hit, struggling to continue the fight. They seem to never run out of HP, at least until the combat ends.
A wound system also seems out of the question, since anime characters tend to get stronger after taking a lot of hits. Well perhaps not mechanically stronger, but rather tend to save their most powerful techniques for the very end of a combat encounter (vary rarely do they start a fight with their best move).

So what to use in place of HP? Well instead of going straight to how much health a character has, let's look at anime to see what causes a character to become defeated: In my research, I have concluded that characters are defeated when their opponent is just too awesome. Sounds crazy? Well, think about it: a climatic battle is all about the characters performing amazing techniques, relentlessly trying to out-perform their opponents in a battle to grab the spotlight. When the audience thinks that one character will win, often enough the other character pulls out some impressive technique to take the spotlight away from their opponent.

I have decided that the best way to represent a character's health is to simply not have health as a mechanic. Instead, combat would be based off of the 'Level' system:

The Level System
All characters have a base level (beginning characters start at base level 1). During combat, characters can have their level increase based on what they do in combat. This temporary level increase is called an encounter level. All encounter levels are lost at the end of a combat encounter. During character advancement, characters can improve their base level.
Example 1: Hiroshi has a base level of 1. During a combat encounter, he makes a successful attack that increases his level by 2. Hiroshi's encounter level is now 3, but his base level is still 1. When combat ends, Hiroshi's loses all encounter levels and reverts back to being level 1.
Example 2: Tetsuko has a base level of 5. No matter how high her encounter level bacomes during combat, her level always reverts back to level 5 when combat ends. In a sense, she is more powerful than Hiroshi in Example 1 because she begins every combat at higher level than he does.

Whenever a character successfully hits an opponent with a technique, the character increases his or her own level. Whenever a character misses an opponent with a technique, the opponent increases his or her level. A standard technique would look something like this:

 [spoiler]
Standard Attack
Level: 1
AP: 1
Attack: Normal attack roll
Target: One Opponent
Hit: Increase your level by 2.
Miss: Increase the target's level by 1.
Advancement:
Level 6: Increase your level by 3 on a hit.
Level 11: Increase your level by 4 on a hit. Increase your target's level by 2 on a miss.
Level 16: Increase your level by 5 on a hit. Increase your target's level by 2 on a miss.
Level 21: Increase your level by 6 on a hit. Increase your target's level by 3 on a miss.
[/spoiler]

 [spoiler]
How to Read the Technique:
Level: This is the minimum level a character needs to be in order to use the attack. This level could be the character's base level or encounter level '" it doesn't really matter. This way, a base level 1 character can know a level 5 technique but can't use it until his or her encounter level increases to 5 or greater. On the other hand, a character with a base level of 5 can always use such a technique.
AP: This stands for Action Points, which are used to determine how many actions you can make in a single turn. This power uses only 1 AP, but other (more powerful) attacks could use up 2 or even 3 AP.
Attack: Any modifications to the attack roll are noted here. In this example, you just make an unmodified attack roll.
Target: Who gets hit by the attack. Harmful techniques are typically against opponents, while helpful ones can target you or an ally (helpful techniques usually don't have an 'Attack' section).
Hit: What happens if you succeed on the attack roll. In this example only the levels change, but other techniques could have additional boons (such as a bonus to your next attack roll, or a penalty to your opponent's defense next turn).
Miss: What happens if you fail the attack roll. Similar to the 'hit' section (above), other techniques could have additional effects on a miss.
Advancement: All techniques improve every 5 levels, to a maximum of n+20 (where n equals the technique's base level). In this example, a base level 1 character who has an encounter level of 6 would gain 3 levels on a hit instead of 2.
[/spoiler]

Why do levels only go up? This is a very good question, and to fully answer it, imagine a combat scene where Hiroshi and Tesuko are fighting each other. If Hiroshi throws a fireball at Testuko and succeeds, then Hiroshi would look more awesome then Tesuko (thus Hiroshi gains an increase in levels). On the other hand, if Testuko evades the fireball, then Tetsuko suddenly looks more awesome than Hiroshi (thus Tetsuko gains an increase in levels).
Certain techniques may result in an opponent loosing levels, but I would like to keep those techniques to a minimum (or perhaps non-existent). That way, a level 1 character need not fear getting hit by a technique that makes his or her encounter level be reduced to 0 (or even '"1). Negative levels and level 0 are something I would like to avoid at this point in time.

What increases with levels? A character's level grants the character access to more powerful techniques, which comes in the form of either the advancement of low-level techniques or meeting the minimum level for high-level techniques. Levels never increase a character's attack rolls, defense, or any other modifiers (only specific techniques can do that).

And now for the big question:
How do you defeat an opponent with the Level System?
To defeat your opponent, you need to successfully hit the opponent while your level is at least 5 levels higher than the opponent. For example, if Tetsuko has an encounter level of 8 and Hiroshi has an encounter level of 13, then the next successful attack that Hiroshi makes against Tetsuko would result in Tetsuko's defeat as long as Hiroshi's level is 5 levels higher. This is important because a failed attack usually results in the target gaining levels, which could get rid of a character's 5-level advantage.
I'm also considering a mechanic called 'lethal damage.' An attack that deals lethal damage defeats an opponent if the attack results in the attacker's level being 5 levels higher than the target's. Lethal damage would make combat end sooner, because you would defeat an opponent on the turn you gain a lot of levels, which is usually due to performing a big attack. I might end up making all attacks dealing 'lethal damage' if it proves to be mechanically easier than the normal method, but this is something that can only be decided after playtesting. As it currently stands, it will probably show up more often in high-level techniques than it will in low-level techniques, simply to prevent combat encounters from lasting too long.

Defeat: I don't want defeat to necessarily equal death. I think it would be better in the character who defeated an opponent choose from a list of different 'defeat' results, such as death, knocked unconscious, monologue, or other similar effects. In general, a defeated character is someone who can no longer participate in a combat encounter. I like this option because not all battles in anime result in death, and allowing a player to choose for each opponent allows for some interesting roleplaying (especially for 'pacifist' characters).

Conclusion
This is a general summary of what I have in mind for a combat system without health or damage. I still have a lot to work on, but I would like to get some feedback on this concept before I spend more time on it. Does it look like it would work? Is it going in the right direction? If not, what should I change to improve the system? Do you know of a better system that portrays cinematic combat?

Thank you for your attention.

[Xeviat]

Hmm, very interesting. Definitely a rules-light system, but I think it does properly capture the "outlandish action" genre (which is common in anime, but other mediums as well, especially wuxai and such). The trouble you're going to have is pricing and building techniques.

What is going to boost someone's attacks and defenses? Is a higher level character going to have higher attack and defense bonuses, which will result in them always having an edge in a fight (unless the lower level character can access a technique to boost their attack)?

I think you're going in the right direction here, but you're going to need to spell out more of the system before I can give you any balance considerations. I like where this is headed, though.

[Superfluous Crow]

(slight correction: we're the CBG ^^ but welcome!)
Pretty clever little system I must say. Very slick.
The attacks, do they scale with base level or encounter level?
some possible issues: what about two low level characters fighting against each other? Don't you risk the fights dragging out for quite some time?
On the other hand I worry that 5 might be too low a limit for higher level combat.
Do characters learn abilities, or can a first base level character fire off any high level ability he has sufficient encounter level for? This might seem odd since even characters in the beginning of their career could become super-awesome by the end of small battles. Also, it puts a limit on how to implement different combat styles if everybody can suddenly do anything if they keep alive for long enough. But shouldn't be terribly hard to fix these concerns.
As a fun system quirk, fighting mooks and guards first would actually make you more capable at handling the boss since your level would be boosted.

Also, there are a few anime-based systems out which you could get some inspiration from. Anima should be quite good.

[Ninja D!]

Welcome to the CBG.

You're system seems like it would take a lot of getting used to. It would probably slow things up quite a bit while people are first learning it and that may ruin the effect. Once everyone involved had a solid grasp on the system, though, I think it would run very smoothly and could be a lot of fun.

Maybe I missed it but I was wondering how you would determine if a technique hit or missed? Also, would higher level techniques make you gain more levels? If that were the case, I would be afraid that people would just be trying to get to the point where they could use a certain technique that would put them over the level limit every time.

Are techniques unique to character, to some kind of classes, or are the some ones available to everyone? Does everyone have access to every technique or are the limited or regulated in some other way?
 
I like that defeat doesn't equal death but that brings up something that you don't seem to have considered. If you really want this to be anime style, what about when someone appears to go down, their opponent thinks it is over or starts to walk off, then they get back up?

While this system is clearly unfinished, as you've acknowledged, I think you have a very good start here and with some more work it could become a very good system for achieving your goal.

PS: Listen to the guys above me, they know their stuff.

[Ghostman]

You're going to need some rules for characters to power up by pre-battle or even mid-battle Transformation Sequences. Remember that interrupting such transformations is normally impossible, as is interrupting Inprobably Long Monologues. Extra coolness (and therefore power) should be amassed by Calling Your Attacks, perhaps at some kind of limiting cost. Heroes can also prevail against overwhelming odds by harnessing the Power of Love, as well as having more Awesome Theme Music playing on the background. Of course there's the obvious method of upgrading to Cooler Weapons and More Impressive Combat Techniques, or simply packing Excessive Quantities of Firepower, keeping in mind that Everything's Better With Spinning. Be warned that all these preparations may be in vain if one fails to take into account the irrefutable Law of the Conservation of Ninjutsu. When it comes to playing out actual battles, it's good to have mechanics to reward Sound Tactics. For example, most anime Action Girls can be defeated by Critically Embarrassing them with Surgical Cuts to the Clothes, preferably delivered using an Absurdly Sharp Blade. To say nothing of More Questionable Tactics.

[Xeviat]

Way to plug TV Tropes Ghostman.

I do subscribe to your method of taking out action girls. =P

[Cap. Karnaugh]

You do like TV Tropes, don't you Ghostman? :D

[SamuraiChicken]

Get ready for another long post'¦

Everyone has been asking about levels, so here it goes:

On the subject of levels:
At the moment, levels only increases the power of your techniques (usually how many levels you gain from them, as per the Standard Attack example) and what techniques you have access to (low-level techniques vs. high-level techniques). I don't want characters to gain a static bonus to attacks or defense simply due to being a high level. This way, the chances of hitting your opponent don't change much throughout a combat encounter, making it easier to change the tides in battle (something that happens often).
After thinking about it for a bit, this is very similar to many Fighting video games '" the accuracy of your character doesn't change, but you only gain access to your special attacks (the big cinematic ones) only towards the later half of the fight. Mechanically, this is probably the direction I'm going in.

On the subject of Attack/Defense Bonuses
I do plan on making some techniques that provide bonuses to your attacks or defense, as well as some that bestow penalties to your opponent's attacks and defense. Such bonuses/penalties would only be temporary effects, such as 'the next attack you make this turn gains +2 to the attack roll' or even 'the target takes a '"4 penalty to defense until the end of your next turn.'

And now to answer other questions:

Xeviat:
Hmm, very interesting. Definitely a rules-light system, but I think it does properly capture the "outlandish action" genre (which is common in anime, but other mediums as well, especially wuxai and such). The trouble you're going to have is pricing and building techniques.

Now that you mention it, 'outlandish action' sounds like a pretty good name for it. Since the name of this system isn't set in stone, I'll keep it in mind for my list of candidates (just the sound of it seems to fit what I'm going for).
I agree that this genre is not limited to anime, though I'm using anime as an inspiration since I've seen so much of it. Ideally, this sort of system could work as some sort of 'universal' system '" be it giant mecha, pirates, kung-fu masters, or wizards, this system should be able to handle it all, since all you are doing is changing the flavor text.
Building techniques is going to be difficult, and playtesting is probably required for that. Since that isn't going to happen anytime soon, the best I can do is try to theorize what could happen.

Cataclysmic Crow:
some possible issues: what about two low level characters fighting against each other? Don't you risk the fights dragging out for quite some time?
On the other hand I worry that 5 might be too low a limit for higher level combat.

Ninja D!:
Also, would higher level techniques make you gain more levels? If that were the case, I would be afraid that people would just be trying to get to the point where they could use a certain technique that would put them over the level limit every time.

This system was initially designed for low-level play, and I purposely scaled the amount of 'damage' you deal (increasing your level in this system is the equivalent of dealing damage in other systems) so that fights being dragged into the higher levels ends sooner.
Now that I've just said that out loud, I see where that could be a problem if both combatants begin the fight at high levels (a base level 20 character would typically gain 6 levels on every successful attack). I don't really know how to answer this, since most fights amongst high-level characters in anime take much longer than those fought by low-level characters. The only solution I can think of at the moment would be to scale the defeat requirements based on each character's base level (so a base level 1 character is defeated when they get hit by an opponent 5 levels higher than they are, while a higher base level character would be defeated if they got hit by an opponent X levels higher than they are. I don't know what X equals, but it would be greater than 5). I don't really like this solution, and so I think I have to go back to the drawing board to work on how damage scales and/or the defeat requirements.

Cataclysmic Crow:
Do characters learn abilities, or can a first base level character fire off any high level ability he has sufficient encounter level for? This might seem odd since even characters in the beginning of their career could become super-awesome by the end of small battles. Also, it puts a limit on how to implement different combat styles if everybody can suddenly do anything if they keep alive for long enough. But shouldn't be terribly hard to fix these concerns.

Ninja D!:
Are techniques unique to character, to some kind of classes, or are the some ones available to everyone? Does everyone have access to every technique or are the limited or regulated in some other way?

At the moment, techniques are purchased at character creation. I think the best way to handle character growth is to have characters buy everything with XP, so not only do they buy techniques with XP, but they also spend XP to permanently improve all attributes, including base level. This means that everyone is limited to the number of techniques they have purchased, but given time, they could theoretically learn all the techniques.
A low-level character can purchase a high-level technique, but such a character wouldn't be able to use it until his or her encounter level reaches the same level (or higher) as the technique. While it does seem a little ridiculous, it's pretty close to how combat works in anime. They never use their most powerful moves at the start of battle (and if they do, then that means the character just happens to have a really high base level, which allows them to use it all the time). I'm not afraid of a low-level character becoming awesome all of a sudden in a small battle, because such skirmishes wouldn't last too long. Boss fights, on the other hand, should last longer than small battles, so there is an increased chance of accessing more powerful moves.
At the moment, I don't see this as much of a problem. If it proves to have too many loopholes in playtesting then I'll have to change things, but as it looks right now I don't see any major problems with it. If you think there is something that I'm overlooking, please let me know.

Ninja D!:
Maybe I missed it but I was wondering how you would determine if a technique hit or missed?

You didn't miss anything. In fact, you saw through my disguise! (I should have known that ninjas were this cunning). The truth is that I'm building this system backwards. I began by working on how combat works, and I'm slowly learning what attributes the characters are going to need. I know there is going to be a universal attack skill/attribute/thing, which I'm currently calling 'Fighting Spirit.' I don't know how Fighting Spirit (or FS) plays a part in determining your attack roll, since I haven't thought about how attack rolls are made at this point. What I do know is that a player makes an attack roll against the opponent's defense. If the attack succeeds, the technique hits (otherwise it misses). That's pretty simple and generic, but I don't mind keeping it that way until I've perfected the combat system (or come close to it). I figure I'd better work on the most difficult aspect of the system first. :)

Ninja D!:
I like that defeat doesn't equal death but that brings up something that you don't seem to have considered. If you really want this to be anime style, what about when someone appears to go down, their opponent thinks it is over or starts to walk off, then they get back up?

At the moment, all I can say is that there should be a technique for that. However since it happens all the time, it may become some sort of universal technique that only heroes get. Alternatively, it could be that there is no such technique, but rather that is how a character would roleplay a 'miss' effect. In fact, the roleplaying bit is probably the best choice to go with (see the next answer for more on this subject).

Ghostman: I should have known somebody was going to refer to TvTropes. Fortunately, a friend of mind introduced me to the website, and that website is one of the reasons I began working on this project. While I only have access to the internet a few days a week, I should really spend some more time reading the articles on that site (thanks for the links, btw!).

I think most (if not all) of your suggestions could be done through roleplaying, though the tactic of 'defeating' action girls could easily be written as one of the options under the Defeat section. Because the combat rules are simple enough, I like to allow room for the player to come up with their own way of what the technique looks like. The Standard Attack example could be a giant sword just as easily as it can be 20 missiles fired from a giant mecha. There are no weapons stated out in this system, and there is no difference between a melee or ranged attack. Instead, this is all roleplayed by the characters.

For example: if a giant sword-wielder (let's call him Cumulous) was fighting a giant mecha (let's call him Optimal Primary), then on paper a combat round would be:
-Optimal Primary makes a standard attack against Cumulous, but misses.
-Cumulous makes a standard attack against Optimal Primary, and hits.
The Roleplaying of that sequence would be Optimal Primary launching a plethora of missiles at Cumulous, but Cumulous jumps in the air and jumps from missile to missile as he covers the distance between him and the giant robot. With one final leap, Cumulous slashes with his mighty blade at Optimal Primary. To Optimal such a wound is but a scratch, but Cumulous has proven himself to be a worthy foe.
While this was badly written off the top of my head, it does illustrate how important the narrative would be in this system. The techniques would all seem pretty generic, yet the same attack could have very different visuals from character to character. Some characters could shout out a much more elegant name than 'Staaaaandaaaaard Aaaaaaaaaaattaaaaack!!!!!' if they wanted to (renaming techniques is not a problem, so long as the rules are kept the same), though some characters could use other methods for 'reflavoring' attacks. Since this is an anime-esque game, I may end up awarding more XP to characters who play along with general anime tropes and clichés, rather than fight against them.

Well, that was a lot of writing. Thanks for your comments, support, and questions (I don't get nearly as much feedback from the people I talk to). I know now that I'm going to have to work on the defeat requirements and/or scaling encounter levels, since it seems problematic to high base-level characters.

[Ninja D!]

Get ready for another long post'¦

Now that you mention it, 'outlandish action' sounds like a pretty good name for it. Since the name of this system isn't set in stone, I'll keep it in mind for my list of candidates (just the sound of it seems to fit what I'm going for).[/quote]does[/i] sound good.

This system was initially designed for low-level play, and I purposely scaled the amount of 'damage' you deal (increasing your level in this system is the equivalent of dealing damage in other systems) so that fights being dragged into the higher levels ends sooner.
Now that I've just said that out loud, I see where that could be a problem if both combatants begin the fight at high levels (a base level 20 character would typically gain 6 levels on every successful attack). I don't really know how to answer this, since most fights amongst high-level characters in anime take much longer than those fought by low-level characters.

At the moment, techniques are purchased at character creation. I think the best way to handle character growth is to have characters buy everything with XP, so not only do they buy techniques with XP, but they also spend XP to permanently improve all attributes, including base level. This means that everyone is limited to the number of techniques they have purchased, but given time, they could theoretically learn all the techniques.[/quote]A low-level character can purchase a high-level technique, but such a character wouldn't be able to use it until his or her encounter level reaches the same level (or higher) as the technique. While it does seem a little ridiculous, it's pretty close to how combat works in anime. They never use their most powerful moves at the start of battle (and if they do, then that means the character just happens to have a really high base level, which allows them to use it all the time).[/quote]The truth is that I'm building this system backwards. I began by working on how combat works, and I'm slowly learning what attributes the characters are going to need.[/quote]That isn't too bad of an idea. Start with the hard stuff and work your way down.

[SamuraiChicken]

That brings up two other things that are big in anime : Special / magical items (or items that grant abilities and or enhance strength) and fighting / using special abilities as a group.

have[/i] been thinking about characters using the power of teamwork in battle (as well as making a dramatic entrance into the middle of a combat encounter). These rules are not exactly techniques, but instead use a different system that I'm currently working on (I'll post it once I get enough of it written down).

Anyways, I think I have found a way to fix the defeat/scaling damage problem:

Rules Update for Defeating an Opponent: You are defeated if you are hit by an attack from an opponent whose level is equal to or grater than your encounter level plus your power threshold.

Power Threshold: Your power threshold is equal to 5 + one half your base level.

I looked at the math, and I think these rules (along with scaling damage) make both low-level and high-level fights fairly balanced. Thanks to scaling damage on both a hit and a miss, the length of combat stays the same whether it is a low-level combat or a high-level combat.

Keeping Track of Defeat: Keeping track of when a character is defeated seems like a bookkeeping nightmare, but I thought of a way around it. Simply take out a scratchpad, and make two columns. In the first column, write the character's base level, while in the other column write the character's power threshold plus their base level (so a level 1 character would have a '1' in the first column and a '6' in the second). Whenever the character gains levels, add that many levels to both columns. This way, you always know the character's encounter level (the first column) as well as what level an opponent must be in order to defeat the character (indicated in the second column).

What's Next: I need to get around to writing out some general combat rules (such as Action Points, and what you can do on your turn), as well as creating more techniques. I've looked at the idea of having players create their own techniques by modifying existing templates, since I think it would be easier than creating a huge list of techniques. Perhaps I could even work on giving techniques keywords, similar to Magic: the Gathering (since slapping on a keyword to a template is a quick and easy way for players to customize their abilities). As I said earlier, I'm also working on special cinematic actions, such as characters teaming up to make a single attack.

As always, I'm always grateful of any comments, constructive criticism, ideas, and/or suggestions. I think this system is going in the right direction (and getting a little complicated '" so much for a lite rules system), but I'd like to hear what your opinions are.

[SamuraiChicken]

It's been a while since I last posted on this thread. The first reason being that I was working on a lot of other projects. The second reason is that I recently began working on this project with a friend, and began to make some major changes to the system (though combat runs almost the same). Due to all these new changes, I'm going to make a new thread (with a proper title and everything), but I'll continue to use this thread for all combat-related ideas that I have as well as for general brainstorming for the system. I'll write up the new thread as soon as I make some time, so stay tuned!