Having purchased the core book, Gaia and the GM screen... I've noticed one thing, it sure is rules heavy in terms of all the styling of abilities, "magic" and so on.

Any suggestions on how to digest this information easily? Now, I have played complicated games in the past using different systems... but never one with this many types of abilities set in the core book.

Prolly the same as you have done in most other games: make several characters. My usual practice is to create just your avareage character (lol, "avarage" in Anima), no ki, magic, psionics, or summoning. Then repeat, making each of the general "basic" character types. I go as far, sometimes, of mock combat with an extra just to see how things work. Also, play the "core" game before any of the toolkit or Gaia rules.

As complicated as Anima seems, I enjoy it thoroughly. My wife, whose first actual play in a session, seems to enjoy it too. Just don't do what I did with Rifts way back and get too into the world, too quickly.

Make sure to do some test runs with the combat system and magic system first as well in order to get an understanding of what stats you want to put your DP into as well. As we're progressing in my campaign, we're finding certain skills are more needed than others and we've tried to balance this out.

If you are running the campaign yourself, come up with a framework as to what things are important to you and relay that to the rest of the group.

For instance my campaign is heavy on the roleplaying, so I use the Style and Composer skill checks frequently because it adds to the flavor of the game.

Dawitchy said:

That's exactly what I intend to do. One or two RPG-CG crossover sessions where the players need to "Defend the village of Cornes" from the evil pillagers and maybe even Kidnap the Archbishop. I figured introducing the game with some light hearted runs connected to the CG they know and love would do good

Or maybe I'm just an ass....

Well when I first got the book it took me 3 days to read though it cover to cover. Each day I would focus on a new aspect of the game I wanted to learn about. You are correct in that there is a lot of information, however its not that inter-related. for instance you dont need to learn magic to understand psychic powers. Everything operates on its own system that could be taken out of the game and used on its own. You could take the ki powers and do a DBZ adventure. or just use magic and do old school style dnd. (not that I would do either of those things).

So just read what your most interisted in first and continue in that manner until the whole thing is read.

It is rather a lot of material, isn't it?

I was hoping to be able to limit the amount of material used in the game by concentrating on the areas the players' characters would use. Of course, they've ruined that by creating such a disparate group that I have to use every system...

If you're a player, then you don't need to know a lot of stuff for your character. Just skim through to decide on your basic character type then learn the system your character uses. Most players will never need to read the summoning or monster creation chapters.

If you're planning on GMing then you can try what I did. Discourage starting players from creating summoners or technicians, but be aware that this is like a red rag to a bull for some players (as I found out). Then just learn the systems your players are using and avoid the rest cropping up until you've had time to have a good look at everything. If there's no Mentalists in the group then avoid psychic powers in the campaign for now.

Hi! Um... I'm completely new to the this style of roleplaying games but I'm ready and willing to become a great GM. I just can't figure out where to start. I figure the characters need to be established first so that I can create the proper adventure but is there some campaign outline I could start with? I'm pretty good at creative writting but I'm kinda frightened by the mass of info the book dumps into my brain... its like being born again lol. Any creative campaign tips for a new GM?

there's an introduction scenario with the gm's kit

Shunosuke said:

If I could make a suggestion, chose a nation or city where YOU want the players to start in, and then require that their character background include how they made their way to that location. This way, you have a smaller region to work with, and your players will also provide you with plot hooks you can use to develop your adventures.

The key to handling a game / setting with an extensive history and sheer scope is to introduce it to your game (and players) in manageable chunks that you are comfortable with. Don't get intimidated by it. Think of it instead as a wealth of "optional" support that you get to determine not only if it fits in your game but also when you'll include it.

Yes, making characters is a wonderful way to get adequated with a new system. Another thing I'd do to avoid getting overwhelmed is to breakdown the "workload". Choose an area of power for example to learn, one at a time. i.e. Ki dominions, Magic, or Psychics.