What's the best system to use?

[Reyemile]

I'm trying to generate a shounen anime campaign. My primary inspiration is Getbackers, mixed with Black Cat and History's Mightiest Disciple Kenichi.

For those less familiar with anime, all three have modern settings with a hidden martial-arts underworld. The Getbackers are a lightning-user and a crushing-grip warrior with the Evil eye both looking to escape their pasts and become a recovery service; Black Cat features an eagle-eye former 'number' assassin with an indestructible orichalcum gun trying to become a non-lethal bounty hunter; and Kenichi features the titular high-school character becoming the disciple of an organization of super-powered martial arts masters dedicated to the Life-Giving Fist and opposing the Killing Fist of the secret criminal organization Yami and its Nine Shadow Fists.

My chief desires in a system are that it be flexible enough to allow for mutants, martial artists, and sorcerers to coexist in a modern setting, and that it have some sort of stunting system to encourage high-flying combat and discourage "I hit him, I hit him" slogs.

My player's chief concern is that the game be 'tactical.' This doesn't necessarily mean rules-heavy, but rather it means they want their decision to have consequences--no "your actions automatically succeed" narrative games such as Wuxia would be a no-go. Currently, both of my contenders are rules heavy, though: Weapon of the Gods and Mutants and Masterminds. neither is quite a fit for the game, however, so I'm hoping for other suggestions!

 

[Umbran]

A number of friends of mine swear by "Big Eyes, Small Mouth" for anime gaming. It is a Tri-Stat System game. You'd probably have to look it over to see if it fits your needs.

 

[thecasualoblivion]

Mutants and Masterminds? Its a superhero game as opposed to an Anime game, but a fresh coat of paint should cover that.

 

[thecasualoblivion]

A number of friends of mine swear by "Big Eyes, Small Mouth" for anime gaming. It is a Tri-Stat System game. You'd probably have to look it over to see if it fits your needs.

I've played Tri-Stat a couple of times, and "tactical" would be one of the last things I'd ever call it.

 

[Umbran]

I've played Tri-Stat a couple of times, and "tactical" would be one of the last things I'd ever call it.

Tri-Stat is the sort of engine one could layer a great deal upon - I don't myself know what BESM has done with it, and the OP suggests their notion of "tactical" might be a little different than many, so I can't say if it suits.

 

[Reyemile]

Tri-Stat is low on my list of priorities, because its point-buy system requires more oversight than Hero or Mutants and Masterminds.

M&M is pretty flexible; it just came out with a fantasy setting using the same superhero engine. A number of powers would have to be ruled out for balance reasons, but I think it could work. The main worry I have is that since I'd be ruling out 75% of powers as too 'superheroey', that my players might feel restricted or end up with similar builds. It would definitely work, but I'm hoping someone will suggests a better fit.

 

[Rechan]

Heard of Feng Shui?

Feng Shui was built to emulate kung fu movies/John Woo films. The idea is to make combat awesome. Feng Shui is actually the place where 4e got its Minions idea; the martial artist besting a swarm of mooks.

However, I don't know how much Feng Shui can do what you want, because again, it is focused on combat (since your typical Kung Fu/JohN Woo film's plot is specifically just a 'get to the next fight' enabler). So skimp on the non-combat rules et al.

 

[Rechan]

M&M is pretty flexible; it just came out with a fantasy setting using the same superhero engine. A number of powers would have to be ruled out for balance reasons, but I think it could work. The main worry I have is that since I'd be ruling out 75% of powers as too 'superheroey', that my players might feel restricted or end up with similar builds. It would definitely work, but I'm hoping someone will suggests a better fit.

I've not played M&M, but I think that you could do well to just "reskin" or place some restrictions on some powers. For instance, in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon you have people making amazing leaps and bounds; so placing limits on flight (or at least levitation) could be used, to represent amazing jumps.

I would suggest HERO, but oh god unless you are good at number crunching... HERO is amazing as far as character options and functions, but it's a numbers nightmare.

 

[thecasualoblivion]

I remember hearing about a d20 version of BESM at some point. I don't remember hearing good things about it though.

I'm not really familiar with modern White Wolf systems beyond Vampire/Mage/Werewolf, but you might be able to accomplish what you're looking for with nWoD, particularly if you don't mind heavily reskinning things. I've always liked White Wolf for the general concept of a modern game with powers. The problem is if you want variety you are going to have to buy a lot of books and make a large monetary and time investment.

One of the issues is there are systems that fit and there are good systems, and the two often don't collide with each other. Sometimes its better to use a good system that is less of a perfect fit just because its a better system.

 

[thecasualoblivion]

I also hear people speak of Savage Worlds as a generic toolbox that might have an anime type of setting somewhere. I'm not familiar with Savage Worlds, but I have heard it described as tactical.