Here's the link...

https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/43081/big-eyes-small-mouth-rpg-returns

Thoughts? Ideas? I'm curious, but skeptical if it will bring anything new to the table. 3 had so much potential, but it fell flat on its face, and then Mark vanished from the rpg world.

Wait a minute.  Dyskami Publishing Company has signed with White Wolf to publish BESM 4, and Dyskami Publishing Company is Mark MacKinnon, the former head of Guardians of Order?

So... GoO tanked, he disappeared, and comes back under a different name to keep working on BESM?

I had a Magnum Opus publishing contract with GoO.  I lost a decent chunk of money when GoO tanked.

http://www.dyskami.ca/besm.html

From the looks of it Mackinnion has not learned anything from past mistakes and seems to want to walk back into the industry with open arms. While thinking no one noticed let alone remembering he committed fraud and screwed over freelancers and others out of money he owed them.

For ocne TPB is actually useful: https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/besm-4th-edition-announced.845219/page-4 . Post # 36 shows he is trying to make accuses and no attempts at an apology. "I owe them nothing and not my fault it was Guardians of Order. It is too bad because I enjoyed Silver Age Sentinels at the time. The background and art the system not so much.

I thought that guy disappeared off the face of the earth.  I recall someone was posting stuff on drivethtu. It must have been him.

He kind of did, for all intents and purposes. Though I was once a fan, I'm actually not sure a revived BESM does me any good at this point in time. Doing "anime" is mostly a matter of tone and attitude in an RPG. I could do it with any generic system if I were so inclined. Third edition basically rubbed me as a "Not Gurps" or "Gurps Lite" than something I really needed to invest heavily into. Some of the licenses were kind of fun though. So I could see keeping an eye on it if he gets back into the licensed IP game.

Greetings!

Ok, I have never played BESM. I understand it is a RPG based on..."Anime and Manga"? Anime and Manga, as I recall from watching several series of such Japanese *cartoons* is a medium, or particular visual style of cartoon. I am familiar with the visual differences for example, between Japanese cartoons, and American cartoons.

I'm confused though on how you actually *have* a RPG that is based on a *visual animated style*. It seems to be an entirely technical/computer/technology/artist thing. I'm not seeing how you go from that to an RPG. Am I making any sense?

Furthermore, how do you actually go about making an "Anime" or "Manga" character? How would such a character be in any way different from D and D? What would adventures and monsters etc, in an "Anime and Manga" campaign even look like? Why or how would they be any different from D and D?

How are your characters actually "Anime and Manga"?

Thanks!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

SHARK,

I agree with your point about it being a medium. I suppose, because nothing else makes sense, that the anime bit is a marketing tool to market cartoon based games to Americans like me: people who don't fully get the flavor of Japanese fantasies, or to those people who love that stuff. I've seen some stuff, but not a lot. It's hit or miss like everything is with me.

Quote from: SHARK;1085190Greetings!

Ok, I have never played BESM. I understand it is a RPG based on..."Anime and Manga"? Anime and Manga, as I recall from watching several series of such Japanese *cartoons* is a medium, or particular visual style of cartoon. I am familiar with the visual differences for example, between Japanese cartoons, and American cartoons.

I'm confused though on how you actually *have* a RPG that is based on a *visual animated style*. It seems to be an entirely technical/computer/technology/artist thing. I'm not seeing how you go from that to an RPG. Am I making any sense?

Furthermore, how do you actually go about making an "Anime" or "Manga" character? How would such a character be in any way different from D and D? What would adventures and monsters etc, in an "Anime and Manga" campaign even look like? Why or how would they be any different from D and D?

How are your characters actually "Anime and Manga"?

Thanks!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

As an anime fan I can tell you, anime is mostly a medium that covers a wide range of stories and genres. The caveat is that most anime is full of tropes unique to itself and also a healthy dose of Japanese culture. It creates a unique blend of entertainment.

For example, one of the most highly regarded anime series is Cowboy Bebop. It's a space western kind of like Firefly. But because it's anime, there are katanas, inappropriately injected comedy (often comedy of the absurd), unrealistically emotive facial expressions, and other anime tropes. People tend to either like it or not so much. Yet there is still a huge range of content, some amazing and some is cheap garbage.

As far as making a roleplaying game goes, yeah I don't quite get it. Anime is so varied and ranges from mostly serious fantasy all the way up to slapstick comedy space opera. I guess the game would have to focus on being cinematic, Japanese culture, and common tropes. My guess is that they are just regular RPGs with anime art in them, though.

I'm legit excited for BESM and I will support this new edition, mainly because BESM is my favorite RPG and because it will spite the Marvel-loving punk rocker woke-meisters at RPGnet

Silver Age Sentinels was a great game. Wonderful memories.

I'm open to seeing what BESM 4 does.

If he has any business sense or any sense at all he would avoid kickstarting the product as from what I am seeing their are some even more angry than myself with very long memories who will make sure that it fails. You know what I don't blame them because to publicly be caught at fraud and even them we only found out not through Mark but from George R.R. Martin. Using other people money to stay solvent and expect not to get caught at it thinking they can just walk back into the industry shows a profound lack of compassion, empathy and just an all around miserable for a person. His post shows he has learned nothing and makes me never want to give him a wooden nickel. I do not want anything he does to succeed. Even if it means never seeing a new edition of Silver Age Sentinel possibly ever.

BESM 1E was pretty solid, and as I understand it was an attempt to make something for his Amber campaign that evolved into an anime game instead. I think I have 2E as well but didn't like it as much as 1E. IIRC I saw 3E in a store and looked at it but never bought because it was getting too far from the initial simplicity that attracted me to BESM in the first place. I love a thin RPG with few rules, but never could understand why a thick rules-laden book was "better."

Quote from: sureshot;1085265If he has any business sense or any sense at all he would avoid kickstarting the product as from what I am seeing their are some even more angry than myself with very long memories who will make sure that it fails. You know what I don't blame them because to publicly be caught at fraud and even them we only found out not through Mark but from George R.R. Martin. Using other people money to stay solvent and expect not to get caught at it thinking they can just walk back into the industry shows a profound lack of compassion, empathy and just an all around miserable for a person. His post shows he has learned nothing and makes me never want to give him a wooden nickel. I do not want anything he does to succeed. Even if it means never seeing a new edition of Silver Age Sentinel possibly ever.

I have 90% of the GOO library, including Tekumel(!), and I'll never buy another book from this guy. BESM 3rd was on my radar for a long time, but the whole financial fiasco turned me off to the company. I also agree that the appeal of BESM was how fast and loose it was; by 3rd edition it was essentially trying to morph into GURPS.

I was a huge fan of Tri-Stat dX (the generic version of the Tri-Stat system which powered BESM and SAS), and had purchased a "Magnum Opus" license/printing/distribution contract for a TSdX game I was going to publish through GoO.  GoO folded while I was developing and playtesting the game.  I lost a bunch of money on the licensing costs and freelance workers.

Yeah, I know, that was the chance I took when I signed on with MacKinnon and crew.  But I also know that he left a stable of unpaid freelancers in his wake, as well as other debts that almost destroyed other publishing companies.

I have no interest in BESM 4; I think it's a slap in the face to all of the people that MacKinnon screwed when GoO crashed.

Quote from: Beldar;1085204As an anime fan I can tell you, anime is mostly a medium that covers a wide range of stories and genres. The caveat is that most anime is full of tropes unique to itself and also a healthy dose of Japanese culture. It creates a unique blend of entertainment.

For example, one of the most highly regarded anime series is Cowboy Bebop. It's a space western kind of like Firefly. But because it's anime, there are katanas, inappropriately injected comedy (often comedy of the absurd), unrealistically emotive facial expressions, and other anime tropes. People tend to either like it or not so much. Yet there is still a huge range of content, some amazing and some is cheap garbage.

As far as making a roleplaying game goes, yeah I don't quite get it. Anime is so varied and ranges from mostly serious fantasy all the way up to slapstick comedy space opera. I guess the game would have to focus on being cinematic, Japanese culture, and common tropes. My guess is that they are just regular RPGs with anime art in them, though.

That's spot on I think. Some of those 'common tropes' as well are a reflection of what is permissive in entertainment for teens in Japan. You do not really have 'ratings' in Japan for adult content except flat out porno. A lot of high school manga (for high school readers, or even younger) might have visible 'boner' and breast squeezing for a joke or the like. This is also why many early console games that originated in Japan had to be changed before being released in foreign markets.