Quote from: Orphan81;1117507Yup, got all my PDF stuff too as well. I've been going over it, and while the system is quite sound, and an improvement over 3rd... With the Naked and Primer edition giving the tools for those who just wanna do games more in the 1st and 2nd edition style.... Mark is still stuck in the early millennium of Anime.

For someone who only has 1e and Tri-Stat dX for rulebooks, what's the selling point here? I almost backed it but ultimately wanted to wait and see how it did. The only reason I regret not getting into 2e is because BESM Dungeon really seems to require it; otherwise I prefer the style of 1e. I must admit, having the Naked version seem somewhat appealing.

Not being an anime fan, I never had interest in BeSM

Quote from: RPGPundit;1118226Not being an anime fan, I never had interest in BeSM

Even if you don't like anime, it's still a very good system.

Quote from: Kersus;1118049For someone who only has 1e and Tri-Stat dX for rulebooks, what's the selling point here? I almost backed it but ultimately wanted to wait and see how it did. The only reason I regret not getting into 2e is because BESM Dungeon really seems to require it; otherwise I prefer the style of 1e. I must admit, having the Naked version seem somewhat appealing.

I'm reading though the Naked version of the game atm.  At a quick glance I'd say that 4e Naked is slightly more robust than 1e BESM.  It doesn't seem more complex, but more things are spelled out so you don't have to wing it.  For example, they give you a bunch of templates so if you want to be a dwarf, use the dwarf template. You want to be a giant living robot, they built one of them for you.  

You can customize on top of those.  There are probably about 3x to 4x the Attributes than 1e had.  Most of the things that would have fallen under the Unique Character Attribute are now proper Attributes of their own.

Like I said, while reading it it doesn't feel more complex.  If you liked the simplicity of 1e the 4e Naked might scratch that same itch if you want something a bit more updated and less hand-wavy in a few areas.  Overall it seems like it should help people get up and going faster if they are RPG newbies or don't want to mess with fiddly number crunching.

Which would be closest to Revised 2e for using compatible 2e products?

Quote from: Kersus;1118456Which would be closest to Revised 2e for using compatible 2e products?

Doing a quick side-by-side, I don't think it matters much.  Both 4e and Naked seem to run on the same rules.  Nothing, system-wise, was cut to make the Naked version slimmer.  The main difference is in the amount of things presented and the examples given.

The core 4e version has a lot more race and career templates already made up but the same number of Attributes.  Most of the areas in the core 4e book are expanded on by a few lines to a couple paragraphs.  So more examples of dice rolls, an example of combat, a few more lines here and there on what the Attribute does, etc.  The core 4e GM section seems to have more advice, more creatures (30 pages vs 12 pages) and more info (31 pages vs 3 pages) on the multi-verse they are creating.

Based on that it really seems like if you have a handle on making your own stuff and aren't really interested in their multi-verse you would do just fine with the Naked version.  I'd probably consider the 4e core book as the GM's version (or expanded version) with the Naked being more akin to a player's guide.

How applicable is BESM outside Anime? Is there anything that makes it an anime game mechanically?

Quote from: PencilBoy99;1118487How applicable is BESM outside Anime? Is there anything that makes it an anime game mechanically?

I can't think of any rules specifically that would enforce an anime style.  I'd say it's heavily written with anime in mind so all the art, examples and GM advice will reinforce anime tropes.  

There are templates like magical girl, sentai member and pet monster trainer, but there are others there that would work just fine anywhere; adventurer, martial artist, pirate.

Since anime covers a wide range of actual genres, the game was designed to easily scale things for "power" levels to get high school drama all the way up to power ranger, basic fantasy to high power mecha.

What were you thinking of?  Anything specific?

I'm always on the lookout for systems that handle characters with powers. BESM older versikns used to get recommended as a generic solution

My anime games were Robotech, Mekton, and Heavy Gear.

Quote from: PencilBoy99;1118487How applicable is BESM outside Anime? Is there anything that makes it an anime game mechanically?

It is very applicable outside anime. They did an expansion for example specifically geared to a more Disney/Bluth-esque talking animals setting and have done ones for fantasy and other themes. There is nothing really that makes it an anime game mechanically. You could strip out the anime art and refferences and youd have another generic universal role playing system like Gurps, Amazing Engine, etc.

Its the same with say TSR's Marvel Superheroes or Hero. MSH in particular can handle anything from fantasy to western to detectives to gods. And can handle anime themes. And Hero had books covering Westerns, Post Apoc and so on.