I'm looking for a new game after my Rogue Trader arc ends. What are the most compelling points to make about Anima? What do you love? What do you hate?
When answering (and you have my thanks well in advance!) remember that I have played RPGs since 1982. I've played GURPS, HERO, DnD, Pathfinder, Dark Heresy, 4E (not any longer, BTW) and dozens of others. I have never played any White Wolf Storyteller products, so references to such games will be lost on me.
Honestly no one should have to "sell' you a game. If you are interested, go to your local game shop and flip through the book, if you like what you see or are curious as to how it works then pick up a copy.
As for my personal opinions on Anima, it took me a couple read throughs to fully understand how the system works (plus the GM toolkit screen helps a load). The artwork is fantastic and I genuinely love the mechanics of the game. Combat can be visceral and typically does not take too long. And why some of the rules may give you a "huh" moment now and then, if you think about it in terms of reality it has an element of truth to it.
My only real complaints are that the binding of the book is particularly weak and that there are numerous small translation errors. The miss translations are usually not too difficult to tease out, but the binding issue does bug me a bit.
I agree with Keylime on the perception of 'sales', but its an invitation to comment 
I've GM'd since 82 as well, and seen a lot of games arise in that time. To date, my favorites had been Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and Chaosium's base system as seen in the original versions of Stormbringer and Call of Cthulhu. I spent many years with RoleMaster and SpaceMaster, so I know what simple and complicated means to a campaign. I can say without hesitation that Anima is now at the top of my list, and heres why:
Since about 2000 or so, I had pulled together pieces of all the rule systems I like best from many games, and reworked them into a sort of 'abridged' rules set that did everything I needed in the most useful and balanced way. When I opened Anima and read through it, I was struck by the similarity to my custom rules set, it seemed as if this game was the completed evolution of the tools I had made to run my campaigns.
So this is a very subjective opinion, but - in my estimation, Anima is probably the best self-contained system for running a dark fantasy as I could ever ask for. Its flexible where it needs to be, allows for any amount of custom content and expansion, and its solid when it comes to balance and mechanics. This system wasn't just put together or designed - it was clearly engineered to facilitate a wide range of gaming style, and be very difficult to break. IMO, the system is as balanced as it gets for pen & paper.
Most of the rulebook is very condensed, so you do have to read through completely before everything falls into place and makes sense - it appears that it was structured in order to be read end to end, from broad topics to the more detailed and peripheral. This is fine, but it can make it tricky to jump around and find all the pieces you are looking for when it comes to character development or general reference, so bookmarks or a reference sheet are a huge help (along with a GM screen - the official one or custom designed).
I hope this helps you make your assessment.
hellgeist said:
I agree with Keylime on the perception of 'sales', but its an invitation to comment
I've GM'd since 82 as well, and seen a lot of games arise in that time. To date, my favorites had been Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and Chaosium's base system as seen in the original versions of Stormbringer and Call of Cthulhu. I spent many years with RoleMaster and SpaceMaster, so I know what simple and complicated means to a campaign. I can say without hesitation that Anima is now at the top of my list, and heres why:
Since about 2000 or so, I had pulled together pieces of all the rule systems I like best from many games, and reworked them into a sort of 'abridged' rules set that did everything I needed in the most useful and balanced way. When I opened Anima and read through it, I was struck by the similarity to my custom rules set, it seemed as if this game was the completed evolution of the tools I had made to run my campaigns.
So this is a very subjective opinion, but - in my estimation, Anima is probably the best self-contained system for running a dark fantasy as I could ever ask for. Its flexible where it needs to be, allows for any amount of custom content and expansion, and its solid when it comes to balance and mechanics. This system wasn't just put together or designed - it was clearly engineered to facilitate a wide range of gaming style, and be very difficult to break. IMO, the system is as balanced as it gets for pen & paper.
Most of the rulebook is very condensed, so you do have to read through completely before everything falls into place and makes sense - it appears that it was structured in order to be read end to end, from broad topics to the more detailed and peripheral. This is fine, but it can make it tricky to jump around and find all the pieces you are looking for when it comes to character development or general reference, so bookmarks or a reference sheet are a huge help (along with a GM screen - the official one or custom designed).
I hope this helps you make your assessment.
You summed up what I lacked the words to say and very eloquently I might add.
Hellgeist You sold me on it! I was in the same boat, and now I'm sold!
Gotta try this baby out.
-J
If your a little leary of the price point, though if your coming from RT/DH that probably not an issue, pick up a copy of the PDF, its $30 and has all of the content. Plus, its useful when you need to run from the laptop cause your the only one with a copy of the rules, that is often the case with me. Its a really interesting, and fun game, but i've only really done one shots, never tied a campaign
Game good. Buy game.
talsine said:
If your a little leary of the price point, though if your coming from RT/DH that probably not an issue, pick up a copy of the PDF, its $30 and has all of the content. Plus, its useful when you need to run from the laptop cause your the only one with a copy of the rules, that is often the case with me. Its a really interesting, and fun game, but i've only really done one shots, never tied a campaign
there's a PDF? you mean an official one? where to get it?
on topic :
Anima is a high fantasy medieval RPG inspired by Japanime/manga. It means Saint Seiya, Ninja scroll, naruto, Lodoss, Escaflowne could fit in the system, with all the varied and often powerful abilities (a lvl 3 character can do an ice storm on 100 meters radius or transform into a fire elemental). The background is very complex as "hidden powers" scheming for centuries, and some powerful entities walking among humans. The game seems balanced but may become complex after lvl 9 (I'm mastering a campaign and my lvl 5 characters become very powerful), which is said by the author to be that of Seiya, Cloud and Sephiroth from FFVII, Lina Inverse from Slayers, Neo from Matrix ... There's some ancient technology somewhere as found in some Anime too.
The game system has elements from Rolemaster (open ended roll, most powerful spells take several rounds to cast, bonus per level to skills), there's new things such as Summoners that can link to an entity and put him in an item, Ki powers that give you free attacks, energy shield, various combat bonuses ... The first read of the book is quite tiring, with many tables (far less than Rolemaster), and some new gameplay elements but after a few reads and some gameplay tests. I see this game as possibly having incredible fights, but also deep storyline with the secret goals of the organisations and the choices the PC will have to make.
One final thing is that the game supplements are very few as there's only 1 author to the game, so expect 2 books each year.
I really love that the release schedule is well I would decribe it as manageable. I hate that feeling when a game expoldes into splat books that I cannot keep up with. With Anima you have time to grow into the world and don't feel overwhelmed by a mega catalogue list of supplements if that makes sense?
TheTenth said:
talsine said:
If your a little leary of the price point, though if your coming from RT/DH that probably not an issue, pick up a copy of the PDF, its $30 and has all of the content. Plus, its useful when you need to run from the laptop cause your the only one with a copy of the rules, that is often the case with me. Its a really interesting, and fun game, but i've only really done one shots, never tied a campaign
there's a PDF? you mean an official one? where to get it?
on topic :
Anima is a high fantasy medieval RPG inspired by Japanime/manga. It means Saint Seiya, Ninja scroll, naruto, Lodoss, Escaflowne could fit in the system, with all the varied and often powerful abilities (a lvl 3 character can do an ice storm on 100 meters radius or transform into a fire elemental). The background is very complex as "hidden powers" scheming for centuries, and some powerful entities walking among humans. The game seems balanced but may become complex after lvl 9 (I'm mastering a campaign and my lvl 5 characters become very powerful), which is said by the author to be that of Seiya, Cloud and Sephiroth from FFVII, Lina Inverse from Slayers, Neo from Matrix ... There's some ancient technology somewhere as found in some Anime too.
The game system has elements from Rolemaster (open ended roll, most powerful spells take several rounds to cast, bonus per level to skills), there's new things such as Summoners that can link to an entity and put him in an item, Ki powers that give you free attacks, energy shield, various combat bonuses ... The first read of the book is quite tiring, with many tables (far less than Rolemaster), and some new gameplay elements but after a few reads and some gameplay tests. I see this game as possibly having incredible fights, but also deep storyline with the secret goals of the organisations and the choices the PC will have to make.
One final thing is that the game supplements are very few as there's only 1 author to the game, so expect 2 books each year.
All of the current FFG releases are avalaible in pdf from drivethrurpg.com. They are good quality as well, and they just updated the main Anima pdf, though i havn't looked at it yet, so i'm not sure what was changed.
Look up savage worlds,there are tons of reviews on youtube and its my favorite game, plus its only $10.00, but thats just me.