Disdain for new fantasy

[AllisterH]

Anime...

People who lump anime into one thing have no idea what they're talking about. Anime is a medium.

For example, Berserk, either the anime or the manga, would be far more at home in 'standard' D&D and perhaps more prototyped for older versions due to the lack of magic within it..

Berserk really is what most people that love "old-school" D&D probqably think D&D should be. Other than the big problem that Guts is the prototypical swordsman who wields a sword bigger than himself.

 

[Cadfan]

Huh. I wouldn't have thought that Mouseferatu would be on the anti-anime-in-my-D&D side, given that he wrote the Shadowcaster.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Huh. I wouldn't have thought that Mouseferatu would be on the anti-anime-in-my-D&D side, given that he wrote the Shadowcaster.

Well, as I said, it's mostly just that I've never yet seen an anime I truly liked. I'm not averse to the notion of anime-inspired concepts in D&D in concept, though, and I'm certainly not claiming that I've never seen anything worth borrowing in anime.

That said, how does the shadowcaster tie into anime? I'm honestly curious, since nothing I've personally seen suggests that connection to me.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Well, as I said, it's mostly just that I've never yet seen an anime I truly liked. I'm not averse to the notion of anime-inspired concepts in D&D in concept, though, and I'm certainly not claiming that I've never seen anything worth borrowing in anime.

That said, how does the shadowcaster tie into anime? I'm honestly curious, since nothing I've personally seen suggests that connection to me.

See, that's the thing about calling things 'anime', ESPECIALLY when you aren't talking about an art style.

No one can agree on what it is, because its a MEDIUM for various genre within.

Its like saying "That game smacks of Baroque". What does that MEAN? There are Baroque paintings, buildings, etc...and yet there are difference in specifics within it all.

It feels to me, and many others from what I've seen, that its just a buzz word to mean "I don't like it" with no real connection to...well...reality.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

I have been playing rpgs since 1978 or there abouts and there have always been people complainging that no-one really roleplays anymore and it is all degenerating in to mindless hack 'n' Slash. It is just that WoW has given a focus for this.

As for the anime bashing, well it is a handy label to toss about, and there are anime shows that are very much not D&D, but that in its self means very little. There are people that are convinced that D&D should be various things, Medieval European Courtly romance, swords and sorcerery, Toklinesque high fantasy and so forth and they feel obliged to make disparaging remarks about anything that takes it further from what they think is the true and proper path.

It is all meaningless nonsense. At the end of the day a good D&D campaign is not obtained by mindless application of rules but be a judicious excerise in imagination between the DM and the players.

Your comment is made from pure undistilled AWESOME.

 

[Doug McCrae]

See, that's the thing about calling things 'anime', ESPECIALLY when you aren't talking about an art style.

No one can agree on what it is, because its a MEDIUM for various genre within.

There do seem to be certain elements that are more commonly found in anime than elsewhere. For example mecha, schoolkids who have to juggle normal life with having superpowers, dweebs pursued by several incredibly exotic girlfriends, elves with big ears, girls with blue hair, catgirls and naughty tentacles.

That said, none of the above are ever what people mean when they describe D&D as being too similar to anime.

 

[Kaodi]

I'll sell ya mine for $40 including s & h if in America.

I can't really afford to buy anything I don't need at the moment, because I'm going off to university, otherwise I might have taken you up on that offer. If you're still willing to sell come Christmas though, maybe I can get my parents or sister to help out.

 

[Nifft]

90% of Anime is crap.
Also, 90% of video games are crap.
Likewise, 90% of classical music is crap.
(This is all because about 90% of pretty much anything is crap.)

Just like last season's battle cry ("like a videogame"), this season's battle cry ("too anime") simply indicates a general dislike for perceived youthfulness. In this case, it's particularly blatant, because there's nothing in concrete form to actually point at and dislike. All we're really arguing about is marketing.

Cheers, -- N

PS: In unrelated news, I use about 10% of the rules produced by WotC.

 

[KarinsDad]

If the world and the adventures were solely PC/NPC builds, I would agree completely. Scaling up and down would be a matter of adjusting wealth and xp given out per challenge - and things like this.

However, monsters do not scale so easily. Some monsters in the monster manuals just down't scalle down easy. Forgive me if this is a crude comparison, but with some creatures it is hard to defang them a little without outright neutering them. It can be done, but it is a ton of work to scale monsters down. Scaling them up, however, is usually much easier!

Scaling down is super easy. Pick a different monster appropriate to the power level of the PCs.

Done.

Next.

It's whats done already with the default power / magic items levels.

 

[KarinsDad]

But, beyond that... I dunno. There's something else that rubbed me the wrong way about every anime I've seen, but I honestly can't tell you what it is. :\

For me, it's the anime in the anime that rubs me the wrong way.

That's not DND. It's anime. It belongs where it is. It does not belong in DND. IMO.