What system would you use for a HxH-esque campaign? The key word here is "esque," as it doesn't need to perfectly emulate the complicated Nen system. I just want something that lets me play around with a power system that can get more complex if I want it to. I've heard of OVA and BESM. Would either of those work, or would another game do it better?
I would use a blank sheet of paper as a character sheet where you write down their name and background, and then make up whatever you want to simulate play, because Nen is an author fiat system like any other that dresses itself in enough autism to fool other autists into thinking it's complex.
I think you're misunderstanding my post. I specifically said it doesn't need to perfectly emulate Nen. Maybe that wasn't clear enough - I am not looking for a game with Nen. I am looking for a game with a modular power system where I can end up doing fun things with it. HxH is just my example of a cool power system with lots of potential.
Probably a JoJo system, since Nen is just Stand powers, right down to one of the villains having King Crimson.
I'll try to find something JoJo-related, then. Thanks. Would Mutants & Masterminds be a bad fit? It doesn't need to be anime, I just want a nice system for powers that scale up well as a character grows in experience.
Mutants and Masterminds is brilliant for power systems that aren't just boxed in abilities. Only catch is trying to wrangle it, it takes a little bit to get into the headspace to figure out powers and even now I still have trouble understanding equipment, though I think that's mostly because the book examples are done weirdly
There have been JoJo fanmade RPG systems, though they are often narrativist and rules-lite because JoJo's nature of "make shit up as you go" doesn't lend itself well to crunchy systems.
It may help to recontextualize the idea of Stands like other shonen copies do. Stands themselves are essentially psychic powers anyway, just really specific ones.
Stands aren't as cool as Hamon.
You're right, they're cooler.
Bungee Gum beats both. Need I remind you that it has the properties of both GUM and RUBBER?
Spin is cooler too. That's why the best Stands just utilize Spinning (it's a neat trick).
>Literally just chi/chakra/whatever, but it's extra effective against vampires and requires you to be able to breathe (except when it doesn't)
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Battle Tendency and Phantom Blood was okay if kind of weak/formulaic writing wise, but Hamon's honestly not very interesting/deep. Besides, where do you go from "Aztec body-builder super vampires"?
>where do you go from "Aztec body-builder super vampires"?
I don't know but that's where the series peaked, for me. Stardust Crusaders was still great though.
>I am looking for a game with a modular power system where I can end up doing fun things
So why even pretend that's what HxH does?
HxH seems modular to me. You start with very basic powers and then can improve on them in various ways. Take Gon, for example. He starts just being able to amp his strength/speed/etc., but then the more you dive into Nen, you can create new abilities that are more and more specific and have specific drawbacks like the one Kurapika made. Hisoka is a good example of how you can make Nen work for you however you want it to with enough experience.
It would be cool if a game had the PCs given very basic powers at first and then let them develop those powers into very niche abilities over time that are much more powerful, but have very specific uses.
I guess emulating Nen could be done by something like Mutants and Masterminds, where the fluff behind the ability is entirely up to the player.
I think in practice Nen is generic shonen fighting energy + unique personal ability
Your unique personal ability generally isn't really built out of smaller mechanics that exist as part of the power system but on vague rules that amount to "what the author decides" (which is an perfectly fine way to write a story to be clear, as long as the author keeps the asspulls in check).
I'd probably just start by looking for Jojo homebrews.
Amber Diceless because a lot of it relies on not knowing the other parties' 'stats', when you commit to an action. Much like how other fighters might not know what are each other's nen abilities before a fight.
Plus it's diceless and reliant on some level of GM fiat so there's more freedom for stupid bullshit powers
My group ran an anime-based RPG for about six years using Mutants & Masterminds. We specifically used the Mecha & Manga expansion which has a lot of what you'd need in it (But I'd recommend just downloading all the books for maximum power shenanigans.)
Our campaign included
>Multiple training arcs where veteran fighters had to train newcomers
>Multiple tournament arcs where players fought each other
>Main villains including a giant beetle man with an army of low-rank street thugs (I can't remember his name,) An evil mastermind named Chameleon that was basically like a naruto villain, and a guy named MAKUJO (all caps) who ended up being one of the most powerful bad guys we ever faced.
That sounds like a lot of fun. By training arcs, did you mean you did time-skips, or did you RP the training as well? I've been wondering how to properly do an anime-style time-skip recently and I have no idea how to go about it. I guess the PCs should go up a level or two, but what else? What if they gain a new power that they want to show off in the new "arc"? Does M&M cover something like this?
>I just want something that lets me play around with a power system that can get more complex if I want it to
Deviant the Renegades has been my go to for this since it came out but probably not what you want so check out something like Mutants and Masterminds or something
Hero system
Give OVA a shot. It's not that hard to homebrew for and you mostly just need a rough idea of who can do what.
I would probably run it in GURPS or HERO cause i like simulationism and giving each of nen's abilities like ten or ren a skill and ranks sounds like a great way to go about it with hatsu being whatever you can wrangle out of a stack of advantages and disadvantages for more power.
If you want a more "wing it", i wouldn't go with Mutants and Masterminds because it kinda does what HERO/GU|RPS does but in d20 and with more abstractism.
Something like Wild Talents should be perfect for a more wing it type of HxX, it's a little unknown super hero dice pool system that uses dice pools very creatively.
I also second the Amber Diceless RPG for inspiration at the bare minimum and some rules to steal because it is reallly good for many of the things you do in HxH.
If you want to lean into more weeb games i know of BESM but it'snot that fitting, Valor is meh, OVA is decent i think for HxH but not exceptional, Fight! would probably be the best weeb game for it
Use a fatigue system and leave it at that. Nen is just a magic system with 5 schools and catch alls like specialist for when Togashi decides he's boxed himself in. The catch is that it gives players the ability to make up "spells" on the fly because it's so flexible. Hisoka can move objects from a distance, use his aura to snap himself somewhere, use it to slow projectiles, revive a dead heart, it's not tenable in a game. It's not going to be easy, probably not even possible, for a system to elegantly handle a mechanic which is eminently exploitable at every turn.
Just XDM it. Tell them to write down their power, and you decide on a reasonable target number for that power. Lower it for every restriction, increase it for every forseable bullshit. Negotiate it wirh them. If you want to get fancy about it make a Nen pool they deplete from just like HP..
Genesys probably
tbh outside the narrative dice Genesys feels too constrained to deal with the usual shonen ass pull stuff.
But maybe I haven't fiddled with it enough
Remember that every character in those things should feel like they belong in a different anime.
Unironically GURPS.
pick base nen, and make ability nen with gm permission
every level up base nen abilitys get stronger, and you may learn a new nen ability or make an old one stronger
(campaign should span 4-5 levels)
everything else is gm fiat