Hello, I'm new to Anima and want to GM it for my RPG group, (we play pathfinder/D&D 3.5 normally) but none of us have really ever played any other kind of RPG. I've read a good amount of the Anima rules and I like the system, but I don't feel like I could give it justice as a GM without really seeing it played, even with the prewritten session in the GM Toolkit.

So basically, my question is this: is there any video or audio recording of an Anima session being played, something similar to Thursday Knights or the like? I feel like something like that would be immensely helpful for learning the mechanics to a point where I could teach others, more than just trying to memorize the book.

Welcome to the wonderfully addictive world of Anima

I GM Anima the same way I GM'd Warhammer FRP, my Custom Ruleset, Call of Cthulhu, Rolemaster, Stormbringer, etc. Arbitrating rules is only a part of GMing, and not the most significant one, IMO.

Since players need to know these rules almost as well as you do in order to play properly, it amounts to just another learning curve. Compared to just watching somebody's play session, a text doc or slde show would do a much better job at teaching the mechanics and process flow for combat.

You would never see what is actually going on from a vid unless it was made into a documentary, and then your not watching a session anymore, you are consuming a tutorial. For example, if you watched a video of a person working in photoshop, you might see some interesting work shaping up, but you still won't know how to use PS yourself.

This isn't to tear down your request, I'm just trying to point out that what you are asking for is not likely to give you what you are really going to need when it comes to grocking this game system. Once upon a time I uploaded a character creation guide here that served as a walkthrough for the confusing process of building Anima characters. That was helpful to some, but so far I don't think anybody has made a walkthrough for a generic combat session.

Other GMs: do you think its worth collaborating on a slide deck that would serve as a mini tutorial for the curious folks who pop in here?

There's a Play by Post being run over on RPGnet:

OOC: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?575684-Anima-Supernatural-Task-Force

IC: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?575683-Anima-Supernatural-Task-Force

Thank you both for the responces. You're right, a tutorial would be a great help, and I would greatly appreciate any kind of tutorials for Anima, although combat is the thing that is confusing me most at the moment.

Any guides anyone would be willing to through my way would be very helpful too. A stickied thread with links to guides would be exquisite.

Except that none exist, to my knowledge. That's why I'm busy making one for Summoners.