Best System for Berserk

[Chrono22]

If you haven't heard of it, Berserk is a dark fantasy manga (comic) series written and drawn by Kentaro Miura. It is set in the dark ages of an alternate world. Yes, I said dark twice, and I'll say it again: the series is dark. Imagine a grown up version of grim tales, and you'll still be a few amputated heads short.
Anyway, I was wondering what system would be best to characterize the world/style. At first I thought D&D was a shoe-in... but at its core D&D assumes the hero struggles against odds he can usually overcome. Combats in berserk are usually slated more towards the side of the enemy- either with vast differences in ability, or overwhelming strategic advantage. And then there is the atmosphere-a pervasive sense of powerlessness and fear saturates the series, especially in regards to emotional or social connections.
What system can offer the excitement, sense of risk, and overwhelming feeling of despair that characterizes berserk?

So, what I'm looking for is:
A system where combat is common, even necessary.
Combat is deadly.
The enemy outnumbers you, and is in a better strategic position and/or is vastly superior to you in raw power if not ability.
You have to strive to survive the environment, and not a day goes by without encountering some new deadly threat or risk.
Your sanity is at stake as the physical and emotional strain begins to erode your will.

So, some kind of fear/sanity system, and dangerous combat. Suggestions?
[sblock]Here are a couple of music videos that kind of give a gleaning into the series. If you don't like rock, you probably won't like berserk anyway, so..
*both music videos contain short scenes of partial/complete nudity and graphic violence. Their depiction, however, has artistic value and is for entertainment purposes. If you aren't of age or dislike these things, don't click the links!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV6mwnz6700"]Berserk- Symphony of Destruction[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PE22PP4lKw"]Berserk- Wonders at your Feet[/ame]

[/sblock]

 

[steenan]

I'm looking at the requirements you listed and it seems strange to me.

How would you want to play the game? If it contains necessary, lethal combat against more powerful opponents, what would prevent PCs from getting slaughtered every other session or even more often?

Do you want a system that makes creating new characters and getting them in game easy enough for the lethality to not be a problem? Or a system with metagame mechanics that help characters survive and win even though they are (in-game) weaker and/or disadvantaged? Or a system that is hardcore tactical and you may win against "impossible odds" with right choices, but get killed in an instant if you make a mistake?

One may portray winning many improbable fights in a movie or a book. In RPG you either model winning many fights or winning being improbable. If you simulate the setting, characters will lose and die much more often than in movies. If you simulate the genre, combats will be much easier from the metagame perspective than from the characters' point of view.

Games that are good at giving the feeling you aim for aren't the games that satisfy the criteria listed. If you want the struggle and despair, look for a game where the system isn't used to decide success, but to decide price - the question being not if PCs win, but what they lose to achieve victory and if it was worth it in the end. Take a look at Polaris, if you can - I know that's a completely different setting, but you'll get what I'm talking about here.

 

[Chrono22]

Hmm perhaps that is the case. But it would still be nice if the system facilitated at least the strategic/tactical considerations of combat. I'm not against using houserules or combining elements together.
I'll give Polaris a look.

 

[frankthedm]

Hmm, I'd say WFRP 2E, or Dark Heresy with heavy tweekings.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Combats in berserk are usually slated more towards the side of the enemy- either with vast differences in ability, or overwhelming strategic advantage. And then there is the atmosphere-a pervasive sense of powerlessness and fear saturates the series, especially in regards to emotional or social connections.

What system can offer the excitement, sense of risk, and overwhelming feeling of despair that characterizes berserk?

Question: Is there a protagonist, or are there perhaps protagonists, whose existence is essentially ensured, for the duration of, what, the series? Or whatever you call it, natch. In other words, how deadly - for core characters - is it really? Or hell, how risky, even?


Oh, and by the way - Polaris mightn't be quite the thing you're looking for. It's a "story game", and one with a predetermined ending, at that. For further detail, perhaps steenan could step in. . . But anyway, it ain't a RPG like you might be used to.

 

[Chrono22]

Well the foundation of berserk rests solidly on the issue of the inevitability of fate or the futility and absurdity of free will, so at that point it probably isn't so off track.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyRIoeLm7hE&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyRIoeLm7hE&feature=related[/ame]

As for your question: No, the continued existence of the protagonists cannot be assured. In fact, it would probably be closer to say, their doom is inevitable. How this fact holds up in the face of human stubbornness and our desire to survive, is up to the player. Near death scenarios are common and an expectation of being alive.

 

[Aus_Snow]

I'm pretty clueless about this setting, even now, but - from what I gather so far - I'd be tempted to use a nasty, gritty system, with the addition of fate points, hero points, etc.

So yeah, come to think of it, WFRP might be right on the money.

 

[Chrono22]

Well, there are only a couple of possibilities for a "setting" into which a player or players could be injected.

1: The world is ending. Since history unwritten, the existence of fairies and monsters, demons and gods has been nothing but the fancy of children. But all that changed when the blinding light washed over the world. Now, everywhere, the world is being overrun by beings from the Astral, beings of the unreal. Trolls invade your farming communities and kidnap their women. Ravenous monsters eat your flocks. Dragons assault your cities, laying waste and destruction in their wake. The Apostles, worst of all, rule over you with an iron and merciless grip. With cold disdain and cruel pleasure, they strike down anyone that dare oppose their will. In other words, things are hopeless.
2: You have been branded with a vile mark, a curse that has anchored your soul to your mortal body. You are trapped between worlds- the worlds of the dead and the living. Ghosts, possessed animals, magical beings, and even demons are your enemies. Some wish to possess your body to enact their life wishes. Some want to harness your soul for some ritual. Some simply want to devour you, for the power/pleasure it imparts upon them. Your death is as sure as the brand on your body... you can only hope it will be less painful.

 

[ruemere]

Pathfinder Core Rulebook, Advanced Player's Guide with Action Points, minus Magic Items or Creation Feats (artifacts are allowed as GM's vehicle for furthering the story).

To elaborate:

1. Without magic items, any melee is deadly, and magic users are very hard pressed for resources.

2. Build characters using 25 (or better) point spread. At lower levels this will offset lack of magic items. And at higher levels... well, you want them to die, so they will do just that regardless of their stats.

3. Use action points to escape impossible odds. Be generous with APs when awarding survivors. APs burn fast, but for a few seconds you can do amazing things (just like the protagonists of Berserk did).

4. Tell players that multiclassing magic characters with non-magic classes is mandatory. They won't like it, but you don't want anyone casting spells above 6th level. It just would not work well with the game you want to have.
The 6th level barrier may seem arbitrary, but actually it is the last stop before entering high level abilities.
Oh, and no Divination magic. At all.

5. Use APG archetypes to customize characters further.

Regards,
Ruemere

 

[JoeGKushner]

Over in my Appendix N blog, I talk a lot about the first 33 volumes of Berserk but don't necessazrily do it in game terms.

I believe that you can easily have the mood and themes of Berserk in pretty much any game system if you have buy in from the players about what type of game you're going to be running. Without the buy in and the sheer reliance on the game mechanics to enforce the horror and semi-grittiness of the setting, it'll be an uphill struggle.