To my fellow weebs: does anyone else use anime portraits?I run all of my games via Discord text. While there are many downsides, there are also many advantages, including image links and thumbnailing. In the campaigns I run, virtually every character receives a portrait: even minor NPCs, even bystanders, even those random NPCs that PCs might spontaneously seek out (e.g. "We search around for a [profession]"). I can pull these up very rapidly from Danbooru thanks to a platinum account and plenty of experience with its keyword searches.I am an incorrigible weeb. I like anime aesthetics. I personally think that there is nothing wrong with runnin any RPG with anime aesthetics, whether portraits or tactical grid tokens.Within the past few weeks alone, I have GMed:• D&D 4e• 13th Age 2e, which I honestly like a lot more than Fabula Ultima for gridless-yet-still-tactical combat, and which I have been keeping a combat diary of here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HQC2x2FfjnBDZDaicQDCLWO2-R6xMyUAa_rJcMABpfw/edit• Daggerheart• Mage: The Awakening 2e (with some Changeling: The Lost 2e crossover)• Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blades (gritty, lethal, rules-lite wǔxiá)• Legends of the Wulin (high-powered, heroic, rules-heavy wǔxiá)All with an anime aesthetic. Every NPC, even side characters and nameless bystanders, gets an image from Danbooru. So the magical pseudo-steampunk industrialist girl looks like this ( https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/10270877 ), the half-beast fae huntsmen look like this ( https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/7306061 ) and this ( https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/5483349 ), the otherworldly river guardian in a fantastical China looks like this ( https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/6800965 ), the shaman from a fantastical northeastern China looks like this ( https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/7795761 ), and so on.Players have generally been happy to play along.Do any other weebs here GM similarly?
>>98194417I personally use gel and then add the "realistic" tag. It really is a pain there is no booru for western fantasy art.
>>98194417>does anyone else use anime portraits?Almost exclusively, as well as scenery, items and everything else; also, weeb game illustrations, particularly Kinu Nishimura stuff. I do prefer older looking anime looks, rather than the borderline gacha-y stuff you posted though. With 90s, or even early 00s stuff, it is easier to find artstyle congruency, even within vastly different artstyles. Anime characters are also usually better looking than the average WFRP 2e rat catcher illustration, or the tumblrina 5e flu-nosed fag, and that does have a subliminar effect of making players act out in more idealized ways than being cynical bitches. Plus, I love dog kobolds.I used to use a curated list of MtG artists art before, chief among the Rebecca Guay and Wayne Reynolds... sometimes I even wish I could stomach Pathfinder, but 3.5 was never my thing.>4eBased, most anime tactical grid system out there>13th Age 2e, which I honestly like a lot more than Fabula Ultima for gridless-yet-still-tactical combatI was looking for a system exactly like that, tactical yet theater of mind... what's good about 13th age?
>>98194417Traditional games?
>>98194417>Do any other weebs here GM similarly?Kind of? I like to use art from Fire Emblem and Final Fantasy Tactics when I run games though I do often like to slip in meme pogs from previous games. I also like to use digimon because I had a ton of them on my roll20 from a digimon game that I ran.
>>98194882I have talked about 13th Age 2e before:https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/96695261/#96696939As far as gridless systems go, I have had a much better time with 13th Age 2e for an expressly weeb-y, anime-y game than with Fabula Ultima. I personally like it a lot, lot, lot more than Fabula Ultima. Sure, 13th Age 2e does not have as much build customization, but I find that the moment-to-moment, turn-to-turn decisions are significantly more interesting than in Fabula Ultima. (Also, I am just not interested in Fabula relying on opaque combat information at all. I would much rather that challenge be intrinsic to the enemies, rather than arise from lack of knowledge.)13th Age 2e has surprisingly good PC option balance, and specifically gates off stronger magic items until later in a fight, so that is a plus.
>>98194417>"does anyone else use anime portraits?">pictured: a video game character
>>98195086That's very cool anon, thank you. I looked at it a bit and I like the way the fighter's powers triggers work, makes for the kind of randomization that cancels "I go nova like this" pre-planned boring bullshit, but also still gives the player tactical options that each make a difference. Your point about the opaque info is interesting, it is indeed kinda "system mastery" reliant. The escalation die almost works like Will in SRW games, which was always something I thought gave them a "crossover OVA episode" feeling, like Giant Robo.You didn't ask but here's a list of some MtG artists I also used for my games, they aren't very anime-ish, or even consistent with each other artistically, but IMO those are ones that better capture what I liked about MtG (before Gatewatch, when I lost interest), and one of the things I liked about it was that I always saw it as different from usual occidental fantasy, and more compatible with the sensibilities I expect fro anime design and storytelling. Picrel in particular shows how Wayne Reynolds can make, with a completely non-anime style, a character that could easily fit an anime setting.>Richard Kane Ferguson>Ron Spencer>Rebecca Guay>Terese Nielsen>Mark Tedin>Kev Walker>Robert Bliss>Dermot Power>Adam Rex>Paolo Parente>Brom>Thomas M. Baxa>Mark Zug>Wayne Reynolds>Greg Staples>Christopher Moeller>Luca Zontini>Tomas Giorello
>>98195227>I looked at it a bit and I like the way the fighter's powers triggers workThat is mostly a 1e-ism. The 2e fighter works differently, and is more of a defender, between its old Threatening class feature and its new Momentum class feature. The 2e fighter can still access randomized attacks by specifically buying into the Flexible Attack talent, though.>Your point about the opaque info is interesting, it is indeed kinda "system mastery" reliant.My point is that Fabula Ultima's balance falls apart if the GM decides to be transparent with enemy statistics, whereas 13th Age 2e still holds up very well: and indeed, I outright hand out enemy statistics to the players at the start of each combat. I challenge the party through the intrinsic difficulty of the enemies themselves, rather than through lack of info.>The escalation die almost works like Will in SRW games, which was always something I thought gave them a "crossover OVA episode" feeling, like Giant Robo.In 2e, where the escalation die really counts is locking away certain abilities until later in the fight, such as the Lethal kin power or various offense-oriented magic item powers.
>>98194417I don't, because the contrast between other styles and anime style is usually too jarring. Sometimes I use it for fully armored dudes and/or monsters (pic related) but otherwise I avoid it because it clashes with the rest of the aesthetics. If I ran a weeb themed game then obviously I wouldn't have any isuses with it, other than the fact I'd have to do the opposite and avoid using my large collection of more traditional art.
>>98194417I mean I think most weeks use Japanese art for character portraits in some capacity.>13th Age 2eIs this your favorite system, OP? If not, which one system do you prefer absolutely?Suppose, OP, that you wanted to make your own settings and had enough committed, dedicated players for it, and artwork, and so on.Which system(s) would you use for your own original stories based on:- spiky haired power level battle shounen manga- grimderp underground fightan tournament published on a seinen manga- so-called real robot mecha (Macross, Gundam, etc.)- fightan magical girls a la Symphogear and Heartcatch PreCure- monster trainer
>>98195664>Is this your favorite system, OP? If not, which one system do you prefer absolutely?I touch upon this in my other thread: >>9819515513th Age 2e is currently my favorite system for gridless tactical combat, but it is not quite my favorite system overall.I have no favorite system overall. Before starting up a campaign, I take a moment to consider the mechanical style of game I want to run, and then I choose an appropriate system.So, for example:>- fightan magical girls a la Symphogear and Heartcatch PreCureIf I were to run this, I would have to contemplate whether I am in the mood for grid-based tactical, for gridless tactical, for something more narrative, or something else entirely. From there, I would narrow down a system.
Just finished up a short game of Fabula Ultima; I found its tactical options limiting. Is 13th Age more open about options for both players and GMs?
>>98196391Personally, I would say so, but 13th Age 2e is more about the moment-to-moment, turn-to-turn decision-making than sitting back and theorycrafting builds.
>>98194417Current party is 7.5 for 9 on anime aesthetics.The helmeted knight has an anime-style unhelmeted portrait that was revealed towards the early climax of the campaign. He had never once shown his face before that moment. So I count him as half an anime.The guy in the poncho and feather hat isn't part of the party. He's just background.
>>98197149forgot pic
>>98194417 (OP)>To my fellow weebs: does anyone else use anime portraits?No.Specifically, it's autistic to think they can work for any RPG, at least if your picture is representative (I suppose I wouldn't TOTALLY mind a Junji Itou style for every PC in a Trail of Cthulhu thing).That being said, at least as far as aeshtics go you're mostly playing dnd-like slop which is adjacent to what you call "anime", so if you weren't a moe faggot you could find something a tiny bit less gacha-slop, less broingly revolting, and make it work.
