What anime/manga would make a good RPing world?

[Brian]

Universe, setting, characters ... you decide.

[thepanda]

Pretty much anything that isn't driven by the original's main characters. Everything from Utena to Junk Force, from Full Metal Panic to Galaxy Angel and Vandread. ^^;

Of course, things like Azumanga would be difficult, as would, say, Kaeidostar. Hell, even crappy (imho) anime like Blue Gender would make a nifty background for ass-kicking action.

[Brian]

I'm considering it more as an alternative to fanfiction, and without the (at least, to me) intense investment of personal time and energy to settings.  I know it's kind of draining to try and pull a scenario from, as Lupin says, "The usual place."

I was (am) considering making several short (month long) games based on various anime just to run short scenes, and considered 'Random anime/manga' as a potential source -- especially after Anastasia's random video game thread.

Er.  Anyway.  The question I guess might be better phrased as: Which anime universe would you LIKE to play around in? :)

[thepanda]

Desert Coral. ^^

Slayers (As it would be a single short arc/ep/chapter)

Galaxy Angel

Oh, and if you could pull off Geobreeders I would willingly become your bitch. Seriously.

[Brian]

Tempting as the prospect is, I'm not too familiar with Geobreeders. :p

I could see a reasonably badass Scryed game, but the urge to powergame in such a setting would probably be really high.  Hmmm.

What about games exploring abandoned anime/manga?

Out of curiosity, who would be up for a Caravan Kidd game?

[Bean Bandit]

Shingetsutan Tsukihime! >_>
This would be fun with orginal characters, or canon ones. I found them all fascinating in their own ways.

R.O.D.
You might need to outlaw some, but playing the paper sisters, or Drake, Joker, Yomiko and the rest could be an absolute blast with the right GM.  

Steel Angel Kurumi.
This one is tricky, because it needs a GM that can handle a fanservice comedy, and you'd probably want to avoid the three 'Main' Angels, but otherwise, I can see this, too.


The universes for those three are expansive, if some thought is put into it, and a lot of fun. >_> I'd sign up for 'em.

[CyMage]

Photon: The Idiot Adventures.   Just stay away from the main characters, and you got a setting full of fun stuff.

[Anastasia]

Kanon's setting. You'd have to go for broke on plot and atmosphere, though.

Outlaw Star. There's a ton of material to workw ith here for a space game. Might be played out lately, though.

La Bllue Girl/comedy hentai option. It might just be amusing to see someone give that an honest go. Really. >_>

[Zenthor]

I'd be up for that one.  >.>

Wild ARMs: Twilight Venom could be interesting.  Much like the WA games, though, it'd probably have to take place before the actual game/anime.  

Excel Saga could have a bit of potential, for something completely and utterly random.

[metroid composite]

You know you want to do Pokemon/DBZ/Yu-Gi-Oh crossover RP!!1! <_< >_>

In all seriousness, most of the anime I've seen would be fairly interesting.  I'd be more inclined towards something I've actually seen like Evangelion or Escaflowne (or...come to think of it Pokemon could be amusing for all the self-mockery that people would throw in.  ...What? >_>)  Then again, I'm not exactly an anime expert, so I'm certainly not the best person here to ask.

[Bjorn]

I'll be honest -- I think most anime/manga makes for very poor RPG settings, for the simple reason that they are primarily character driven.  This means that there is nothing interesting in the setting beyond the canon characters (Sailor Moon), or that the world is only developed sufficiently to put the actions of the canon characters in context (Trigun) -- or both (Slayers -- if you ignore the canon characters, you're stuck with a generic, underdeveloped fantasy setting).

Neither of those are unsurmountable objections, of course, but most of the solutions require a fair bit of work on the GM's part.  Or, of course, you can just use the canon characters -- as this forum has shown, there's nothing wrong with that.

Personally, I think books offer a much better option in terms of "pre-made" settings -- authors can spend more time describing setting, which makes everything easier.  Banks' Culture would be damn cool, as would the world of the Coldfire trilogy.  Also, I would pay money to be able to play a high-powered Inter-Dimensional Humour Enforcement Official rampaging for great justice through Xanth.

[metroid composite]

Hmm, yeah I'll generally agree that book settings tend to be better developed than anime.  His Dark Materials could be interesting on that note, largely due to all characters being able to hold open conversations with their conciences.

[Huitzil]

Anime: Iria is pretty sweet, even without its main characters you have a pseudo-cyberpunk pseudo-horror setting that sure as shit doesn't <b>look</b> like anything else they got. Cowboy Bebop as well, there is definitely the feeling that everyone you see on screen has some kind of story and its laid-back, jazz-listening, cigarette-hanging-from-the-lower-lip kind of cool can't be beat. Big O... ehhhh, not so much.

Books: mid-world mid-world MID-WORLD GODDAMNIT! Nothing But Strikes At Mid-World Lanes! Even if you didn't like the Dark Tower books, you'd be hard-pressed to deny they'd make a wonderful fantasy-horror setting.

[thepanda]

Personally, I think books offer a much better option in terms of "pre-made" settings -- authors can spend more time describing setting, which makes everything easier.

The thing is, where a manga might fall short over having too little world developement I've read too many book that would fail to make good RPGs for just the opposite. When an author micromanages his universe it puts sever restrictions on what you realisticly can do and still stay true to the worldset.

[Bean Bandit]

The thing is, where a manga might fall short over having too little world developement I;ve read too many book that would fail to make good RPGs for just the opposite. When an author micromanges his universe it puts sever restrictions on what you realisticly can do and still stay true to the worldset.

I gotta agree. Manga are more ideal, I would think, -because- of the lack of detail. You can still have an entertaining gaming experience with Sailor Moon, As in our game, if the GM puts sufficient work and imagination into fleshing things out. (He did. >_>)

Granted, it does take a little work, but just copying a setting verbatim from anywhere, manga OR book would lead to a rather flimsy RP. A GM needs to put some effort into it.

So, basically, Bjorn's point about books is valid, but I think he's wrong about Manga and Anime. Both can be good for Roleplay basis, it just depends on if the GM works better with more freedom to make shit up, or less.