Stickers Unlocked and Roll20 Advancement
over 3 years ago – Sat, Apr 03, 2021 at 09:03:09 PM

Before we turn off the computer for the evening, you broke through another stretch goal – and so here’s another update. Reaching $140K means that all backers who pledge for physical rewards will receive a free 4” x 6” Anime 5E sticker set. Mark your precious RPG with the bookplate as a clear sign to everyone to back off! 😆

$150K Stretch Goal: Advancement on Anime 5E Roll20 Sheet

We know that many of you would like to see character sheet game support for Anime 5E on Roll20 to make your online gaming easier. It was a popular request during our BESM Fourth Edition expansion Kickstarter as well. This is something beyond our knowledge set, though, so we would need to hire a professional developer to create one to the right specifications – which, of course, carries a significant cost.

Why Roll20 and not a different VTT like Fantasy Grounds or Foundry or others? We want to focus our initial efforts on a single platform only and Roll20 is the biggest and best known. As a small RPG company, we need to start slow and smart. Over the past several months, we have been playtesting various aspects of Fifth Edition (and other) games on Roll20 to see what features we like and which we don’t. We can certainly see the appeal with purchased pre-built 5E modules that contain lots of content to explore – a path we aren’t currently exploring – but also for general role-playing community interactions and gameplay. This exploration is a vital part of going down the Roll20 development path, since we need to become familiar with the interface first.

We plan to invest in this Anime 5E development in 2021/2022, though progress has been slow. With the additional funds available at the $150K milestone we can fast-track the Anime 5E Roll20 character sheet project to deliver it sooner. If we can manage it, we’d like to co-ordinate the work with our BESM Fourth Edition development, since there may be unexpected idea synergies that can make support for both games better.

Thanks for sticking with us! We'll check in tomorrow.

Reference Sheet Unlocked and Fantasy Vehicles Up Next
over 3 years ago – Sat, Apr 03, 2021 at 09:02:54 PM

Thank you for ensuring it’s difficult for us to keep up with campaign updates! In a few short hours, you ongoing pledges pushed funding through $170K mark and unlocked the next stretch goal. Now the Anime 5E Game Screen will also come with a free weapon and armour summary reference sheet for your gaming table.

$180K Stretch Goal: Fantasy Vehicles!

Sometimes, a standard mount or simple sailing ship just won’t do because your anime character deserves to travel in style! If campaign funding reaches $180K, we will create five original fantasy vehicles across the size and utility spectrum, with Anime 5E stat blocks and brief descriptions. These sweet rides will be available as a free bonus PDF download for all backers pledging at least $13 in the Kickstarter.

Anime 5E Rule Preview: Ready (ie. Holding Actions)

Anime 5E presents a section on combat manoeuvres that modifies or expands on the standard Fifth Edition rule set. Today, we provide a sneak peek preview of the ready action.

The ready manoeuvre lets an attacker take an action later in the round, after the character’s Initiative is over but before they start the next one. On their Initiative, the player specifies the action their character will take and the conditions under which the character will take it. Any time before the character’s next Initiative, they may then take the readied action in response to that condition. The character’s readied reaction occurs just before the action that triggers it. If the triggered action is part of an opponent’s activities (for example, an attack or movement), the character’s interrupts the opponent’s action because it takes place beforehand. If still capable of doing so, the opponent continues their own action once the character completes the readied action.

If the character comes to their next action and has not yet performed the readied action, the readied action is lost (though the character can ready the same action again, if desired). If the character takes the readied action in the next round before their regular Initiative, the character’s Initiative count rises to that new point in the order of battle, and they do not get an additional regular action that round.

Initiative Consequences of Readying

The holding character’s Initiative result changes after a ready action. Since each character’s Initiative is determined only once at the beginning of a combat, for the rest of the encounter, their Initiative result is the count on which the character took the readied action. The character would therefore act in future rounds at the same time as their opponent, should the opponent’s action have triggered the character’s readied action.

For example, assume combat begins with three participants: a Warder, his Hunter companion, and their Dynamic Spellbinder opponent. After rolling Initiative, the results are Hunter 18, Spellbinder 12, Warder 10.

The Hunter acts first on 18, but decides to hold their action until they see what the Spellbinder will do. Consequently, at Initiative 18 nothing happens and the DM moves down the Initiative order. At Initiative 12, it’s time for the Spellbinder to act – and, as expected, they begin waiving their hands towards the Warder and speaking an arcane language. Because the Hunter readied their action earlier, they can act just before the Spellbinder does. The Hunter throws a dagger at the Spellbinder at the beginning of Initiative 12 to interrupt the spellcasting and (after rolling dice) lands a successful hit. The damage breaks the Spellbinder’s concentration and their magic fizzles.

In round two and later combat rounds until the battle ends, the Hunter and Spellbinder now both act on Initiative 12.

Let’s Ride, Then Stream!
over 3 years ago – Sat, Apr 03, 2021 at 09:02:29 PM

Gamers do love their vehicles! Since you quickly pushed funding past the $180K mark, you collectively unlocked the next stretch goal: five fantasy vehicle designs will now be a free bonus PDF for all backers pledging $13+.

At $190K: We’re Going to Get Our Game On

If the campaign reaches $190K, sometime in 2021 designer Mark MacKinnon will livestream an Anime 5E adventure session. We’ve never attempted streaming before, though we’ve been doing research and experimentations with this since we had originally planned a streaming session for BESM Fourth Edition. Mark’s goal will be to showcase the rules from Anime 5E, which as you know are built upon a Fifth Edition foundation and then customised for that anime-esque dramatic action. Mark will aim to make the livestream recording to be both entertaining and instructional – the best of both worlds! A draft template for the stream frame is pictured above.

And with that, the Friday updates should be done. See you Saturday!

Fantasy Mecha Unlocked, Stickers to Come
over 3 years ago – Sat, Apr 03, 2021 at 06:44:42 PM

You really like your fantasy robots! Collectively, you unlocked the $130K stretch goal, which means that five original fantasy mecha designs will be a free bonus PDF for all backers pledging $13+. Booyah!

Stick Around For This $140K Stretch Goal!

We will design a 4” x 6” sticker set that includes a bookplate and Anime 5E logo that we will send as a free bonus to every backer who pledges for physical rewards! These stickers won’t be available for sale anywhere – they are exclusive promotional gifts only. You can stick the bookplate in the front of your Anime 5E RPG book to mark your territory, so to speak.

Class Spotlight: Techknight

“My father’s father brought me into the Divine Glade the night that I had reached my name day and told me he was a member of the secret Order of Techknights. He saw in me a spark that was missing from my parents and siblings and said that I was to take up his mantle in the Order once he was gone. Unfortunately, the time of his departure was rapidly approaching, and so my training began. When he was gone, I donned this wondrous emerald armour, claimed his sword as my own, and continued his mission of to cleanse the lands of filth.”

Nearly two centuries ago, a giant fireball could be seen from many kingdoms streaking brightly across the night sky before it descended below the horizon and presumably into the sea.

The presumptions were wrong. The object was not a fireball, but a spaceship that crashed into a small archipelago inhabited by a large tribe of humans who had little experience with the continental world. The ship was largely destroyed and no living creatures were discovered, but strewn about the crash site were hundreds of suits of bizarre armour. The suits were painted many colours and though they afforded protection similar to chain mail (AC 16), they were significantly lighter and allowed a greater range of movement (ie. no Strength requirement; no penalty to Stealth checks). With this unexplained gift from the heavens, thus began the martial Order of the Techknights. Over the subsequent decades, the Techknights have expanded across the world to bring peace into the land by vanquishing those creatures and humanoids who terrorise the innocent and the helpless. Stories of the “sky cave” are passed down from generation to generation, as are the suits of prized armour.

Characteristics

Though the existence of their Order is not widely known, Techknights are sometimes described by learned scholars as “faithless Paladins” – champions of those who cannot adequately defend themselves, but without the religious motivation behind their actions. Techknights approach their duty with respect and dedication, though they rarely take themselves too seriously.

Relationships With Other Classes

Techknights can form strong relationships with all Classes, though their combat focus naturally means that they align with other warrior Classes more easily, such as Hunters, Ninja, Samurai, Shadow Warriors, and Warders. They are also attracted to the enigmatic nature of Brokers and Isekai Students. Classes with paranormal or magical powers are not as relatable for Techknights, but they judge an individual’s worth by their actions and not their labels.

Deluxe-Deluxe Edition and Fantasy Mecha!
over 3 years ago – Sat, Apr 03, 2021 at 06:44:11 PM

We set them up, you knock them down! And blazingly fast.

Since you have blasted through the $120K stretch goal (thank you for that!), we will now print a frontsheet for the Anime 5E Deluxe Limited Edition that will be individually signed and numbered by designer Mark. We think he’s going to need a new pen to accommodate all the backers!

Fantasy is Awesome With Mecha!

Mecha aren’t just for contemporary or SF gaming campaigns. Where there’s magic that can create fireballs from nothing and leather sacks of seemingly infinite space, there can be giant piloted robots, too. 🥳

If campaign funding reaches $130K, we will create five original fantasy mecha across the power and size spectrum, with Anime 5E stat blocks and brief descriptions. These awesome artefacts will be available as a free bonus PDF download for all backers pledging at least $13 in the Kickstarter.

Race Spotlight: Half-Troll

“I met Isbjorn in a city alleyway one night when he saved me from a gang of cutpurses who were anxious to take advantage of my drunken stupor. He could have just left me at their mercy – he had nothing to gain by interfering. Yet, interfere he did. He gently carried me to his room and stayed with me until I slept off the ale by the next afternoon. Isbjorn was kind and gentle, but shy and so unsure of himself. Trying to get him to talk was like convincing a dragon to let you borrow some coins! I kept at him over the next several days, though, and I hired him to guard me on my next caravan. That was six years ago, and we’ve been happily married for the last five.”

On those (fortunately) rare occasions when a male troll mates with a humanoid, the resulting offspring takes on few monster traits; they retain much of their mother’s humanity and physical appearance. A Half-Troll’s skin usually has a pale green or brown tone, allowing them to pass as a half-goblin or even a Half-Orc – and thus avoiding the inevitable glares and probing questions from strangers. Their most significant tie to their troll origins lies in their incredible regeneration.

Adventuring Notes

Usually searching for companionship and their place in the world, Half-Trolls can make for an excellent addition to an exploration party due to their ability to quickly recover from injury and keep going. They typically prefer to serve as support for the team, and thus favour Classes like Bender, Dynamic Spellbinder, and Magical Girl/Guy.

Base Speed

Medium – a Half-Troll’s base speed is 30 feet/round.

Heightened Senses

Like their troll parent, Half-Trolls have an exceptionally keen sense of smell, with both enhanced range and precision.

Language

Most Half-Trolls have picked up multiple languages to help them integrate with various societies. These usually include Draconic, Goblin, and Orc.

Regeneration

Half-Trolls regenerate up to an astounding 4 Hit Point each round. Their bodies will even naturally repair nearly traumatic injury within several days, including severed limbs and severe organ damage. Unlike their troll parent, though, their regeneration ability is not negatively impacted by acid or fire damage; all bodily trauma is regenerated in the same manner.

Subrace Variation

When the parent is a member of the water troll Subrace, the child is similarly part of the uncommon Water Half-Troll Subrace. Such characters can breath for extended time underwater (Rank 1 Resilient: Underwater) and can also swim quickly (Water Speed Rank 2 – 90 feet/round). They lose their darkvision feature, but instead gain Heightened Senses: Taste.