New Here

[Genesis S.A. Garland]

Ok, so I have been playing table top games for a few years now. Granted it was mainly a mix between DnD, Pathfinder, and Anima: Beyond Fantasy, yet I have never been to this site so i have absolutely no idea how to begin here.

Other than creating and registering a character (to which I have been holding off just in case) how is it that I join an online campaign? i can see plenty of currently ongoing campaigns although do I first go to the recruitment section to find ones that are currently recruiting? Is it a particularly long wait time after joining a currently recruiting campaign?

For character stats, is it strictly a point buy system or will detailed instruction be given to each campaign beforehand?

You see, I am 21 years old so I am still a bit young considering I have only played tabletop Role-playing games for 3 years off and on. However I have been Role-playing via forum and costumes (cosplay while acting like the character etc)for 16 years. I can handle the written RP well but other than that this site is alien to me.

I only just came across this site when I decided on trying an encounter in the Animate Miami! convention a few days ago and received a card to this site. So in addition to the questions, do the forums have a dice roll system in them where it shows the rolls via player and the GM can decide whether or not to show their own rolls via settings?

I apologize for asking so many questions, although I do appreciate those who take the time to help me out.

Much appreciated.

[Pan]

Sorry to skip your question with one of my own but, how is anima? My players wont go near it :(

[Orthos]

First off, welcome to the forums.

Looking for an online game, you'll want to head over to the Play by Post Recruitment forum. There you can see what games are starting up, who's looking for players, and what they want out of a character submission. You might get lucky and get in quickly, you might not, or you might not find a game that strikes your interest; it's really situational and random. All the games I've been in I've been invited explicitly, so I can't give much advice for the recruitment phase.

Alternatively, if you want to start your own game, you can start up a thread on that forum. Once you have players, jump over to the PbP Discussion forum to start up an out-of-character thread, then to the Play by Post forum to post a thread for the game itself. The forums will prompt you to connect them all, so you can sort through them using the tabs that will appear at the top of all the threads involved in one particular game.

Good luck!

[Genesis S.A. Garland]

Pan wrote:

Sorry to skip your question with one of my own but, how is anima? My players wont go near it :(

It isn't a problem I'll be happy to give you my opinion. I'll start with the negative.

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Anima: Beyond Fantasy is very... Rule Obscure. Being that we have to wait for them to translate it and even when translated things are easily misinterpreted it is easy for things to get out of hand. Rules have to be read thoroughly AND changed to suite each GM's play-style otherwise things will even more hectic then it already will.

Because the rules are so vague it leads to players that are good with detail exploit these rules, meaning they can create very overpowered characters easily and within the rules forcing the GM to tweak the campaign or having them remake the character (and no one likes either of that) tweaking the campaign for those very strong low level characters will almost always get the regular characters killed usually instantly.

The game since it is in an anime perspective, has an incredibly high end curve towards the later levels. Characters can become ridiculously strong after only a few level ups depending on how they min/max their abilities. There is no rule that states they must put points into secondary abilities (such as search, intimidate, etc) so one could simply pump every allowable point into fighting ability and hold onto whatever it is they have on reserve for the next level.

To put this into perspective, Magic based characters are by far the strongest with their given system. If and only if the player is good with Zeon (Mana) management, a good Magic-type character can end entire encounters with a good roll.

There are a few more minor things such as TOO much customization but the Vague rule system is what really hurts the game.

Now for the positive.
------

The customization is great. The variety of options it gives you with its unique point systems allow you to make a unique character almost every time. Martial arts, Spells, Weapons, Special Blood Lines, Ki, Psionics. Everything is detailed so it gives a wide variety of combinations. But this also counts as a bit overwhelming and can really push away players since it might take long to create a character especially Magic and Psionic based characters.

The sense of growth. There is a chart in the book that shows the relative growth stat wise of a character and gives an example. For example a 10 in the intellect would be the equivalent of Albert Einstein in our world. or a 10 in Strength would be a world class heavy lifter. Breaking these stat limits means you are pretty much inhuman in certain categories giving a sense that you are the hero that cant be toppled. (Until you get destroyed by the ridiculous monsters of the monster book xD)

Magic. Magic in this game takes many elements and can take any form the user desires. For example a fireball isnt just a ball of flame. The caster can say they make is look like a fiery serpent that twists and turns before engulfing the enemy and it will still be considered a fireball. Even more impressive is that depending on their projection (how far they can cast the spell) if they roll good enough they can hit an enemy from across the world with just the knowledge of where they might be.("Hmm I was told that this person lives in this location in this country. Fireball!")

Explosions. Now this doesnt mean literal explosions. This is the term used when rolling a 90+ on the percentage and D10 die used in the game. This mechanic is kind of like pathfinder Critical and Critical confirm the difference is you DONT stop rolling! If you roll a 90 you explode and roll again but this time have to roll a 91 to explode. Every explosion is a number added to the overall total meaning that there are certain instances where a character can go beyond their limits and pull off something incredible like a limit breaker and giving them a sense of accomplishment.

Over all the game is very fun and flexible, it just takes some dedication and patience a long with players that will agree not to break the game TOO much. There are so many ways to abuse the system to make characters way too strong for low levels so it may be wise to find a way to keep an eye on game breaking mechanics. As of right now they are still translating very important books so currently, the books out now have old information. They toned down Magic a lot but it is still the dominant factor.

[Genesis S.A. Garland]

Orthos wrote:

First off, welcome to the forums.

Looking for an online game, you'll want to head over to the Play by Post Recruitment forum. There you can see what games are starting up, who's looking for players, and what they want out of a character submission. You might get lucky and get in quickly, you might not, or you might not find a game that strikes your interest; it's really situational and random. All the games I've been in I've been invited explicitly, so I can't give much advice for the recruitment phase.

Alternatively, if you want to start your own game, you can start up a thread on that forum. Once you have players, jump over to the PbP Discussion forum to start up an out-of-character thread, then to the Play by Post forum to post a thread for the game itself. The forums will prompt you to connect them all, so you can sort through them using the tabs that will appear at the top of all the threads involved in one particular game.

Good luck!

Thank you I really appreciate the information I will go ahead and check through the recruitment pages. I never have been much of a GM type of person although I have tried a few times. I guess it is all about trial and error so I will get the hang of the online Pathfinder world sooner or later.

Again it is very much appreciated!

[bugleyman]

Hi!

If you haven't already (sounds like maybe you have?), you should check out Pathfinder Society. It's very handy for connecting to other local players, whether to continue with organized play or to start a home game.

[MagusJanus]

Welcome to the site!

Oh, free piece of advice... if you see me arguing heavily, it's probably best to stop reading. I've been told the eye strain from rolling one's eyes at my arguments can actually cause vision problems.

And I see you have been directed to the appropriate sections ^^

I wish you a lot of luck!

[Generic Dungeon Master]

Once you go Paizo, you never go back

[Genesis Garland]

MagusJanus wrote:

Welcome to the site!

Oh, free piece of advice... if you see me arguing heavily, it's probably best to stop reading. I've been told the eye strain from rolling one's eyes at my arguments can actually cause vision problems.

And I see you have been directed to the appropriate sections ^^

I wish you a lot of luck!

Ha ha. Thank you for the warning. I am an unbiased party so I will have no problems in viewing your arguments. Perhaps I will enjoy them or learn a thing or two. Thank you for the welcome.

[Genesis Garland]

Generic Dungeon Master wrote:

Once you go Paizo, you never go back

It does look like it is relatively active and I have used Paizo resources while I gamed. I look forward to playing with you all. Thank you for the welcome.

[Charles Evans 25]

<========= Smurf!

I've nothing pertinent to add on the topic of which you originally enquired, but be careful about using the word 'smurf' (or variants thereof) in posts otherwise it does some random version of *that*. Or quoting other posts which use the word smurf for that matter...

Edit:
Oh yes, and welcome to the boards!

[Lilith]

Welcome to the boards! *offers cookies*

[The 8th Dwarf]

Greetings

Have fun enjoy the boards.

[knightnday]

Welcome to the boards.

[Calex]

One thing not mentioned that you asked about was a dice-rolling mechanics here on the forums. Check out the button on the bottom about "How to format your text" for details about how it works and you can try practice rolls on HERE. Welcome to the game.

[Locke1520]

Yes, Welcome to the boards!