Streaming Session is Unlocked With License On Deck
over 5 years ago – Sun, Apr 04, 2021 at 03:08:22 AM

Wow! You have all generously worked together to unlock 22 stretch goals up to this point. Since the campaign recently reached $190K, we will schedule some time for Mark to host an Anime 5E livestream adventure to showcase the game and take it for a public spin around the internet block.

Anime License Unlocking at $200K

The next stretch goal is a big one! If the campaign reaches the $200K funding milestone, we’ll take some of the additional funds pledged to continue the process of acquiring a game license to create a role-playing game set in the world of a popular anime series using the Anime 5E game system. Note that we said “continue” rather than “start” the process, since we have already made some great licensing headway from our work with BESM Fourth Edition. The funds from the stretch goal will help us resource the fees and development work to make an Anime 5E version a reality. While we aren’t in the position to make any title announcements quite yet, we are <—THIS CLOSE—> to securing the rights to a popular anime fantasy series that would make for a fascinating Anime 5E game. Yes, you can try to guess what it may be; no, we won’t confirm or deny your guesses. 😉

Anime 5E Preview: Combat Flowchart

Although the mechanics of Fifth Edition combat isn’t difficult, following a straight-forward flowchart makes it easier for newer players to understand. We include the one above in Anime 5E to highlight the pace of battle and show what actions are possible. Page references are included for handy navigation as well.

Local Interview With Mark

This morning, a local newspaper in Dyskami’s home city of Guelph, Ontario posted their interview with Anime 5E designer, Mark MacKinnon. We are passing it on in case some of our backers would be interested in some broader context for Mark’s design passions.

Enjoy your Saturday and stay safe this weekend!

Roll20 Advancement and Anime 5E Mounts Unlocked
over 5 years ago – Sun, Apr 04, 2021 at 01:59:52 AM

What a great way to start our Friday morning! You unlocked two stretch goals overnight as you pushed through $150K and $160K – and it still hasn’t even been three full days into the campaign yet! Your support means that we can advance development work on Roll20 Anime 5E support, though we don’t yet know what form that will take since we are only just now starting that process. Furthermore, we will now create five original fantasy mounts across the power and size spectrum, with Anime 5E stat blocks and brief descriptions. These beasts will be available as a free bonus PDF download for all backers pledging at least $13 in the Kickstarter.

$170K Stretch Goal: Weapons and Armour Reference Sheet

Although the information about weapons and armour are easily accessible in the Anime 5E core book, it’s also handy to have the material available separately. If the funding reaches $170K, you will unlock another physical extra that we will add to the Anime 5E Game Screen and Adventure: a convenient weapon and armour summary reference sheet! Keeping these reference sheets on hand during your adventures offers you a quick way to look up weapon details and armour values without having to flip through the game book. This upgrade is automatically included in the $100 Adventurer and $300 Storyteller reward levels, as well as any other pledges that add on the Game Screen. The photo below shows what a similar reference sheet looks like when it was unlocked as a stretch goal during our BESM Fourth Edition Kickstarter.

Anime 5E Designer Note: Should You Roll The Dice?

Not all actions require a dice roll. Obviously many mundane character activities, such as hammering a nail, riding a horse down a road, or eating lunch, should never need dice rolls unless there are exceptional circumstances surrounding the character’s actions. In other situations, the necessity to roll dice is less obvious. If a character is virtually guaranteed to succeed at a task, then the DM should consider whether the roll is necessary. While it is true that the character might fail, having the player roll the dice will slow the game down. Consequently, DMs should recognise when a character is almost certainly going to succeed at an unopposed task and not request a dice roll. Game play can then continue uninterrupted.

The following is a list of suggestions when the dice should and should not be rolled. If a roll is unnecessary, the character should gain an automatic success for the action.

Roll dice when...

• The unpredictability of dice adds to the game’s excitement
• The action is foreign to the character
• The action has been a past weakness for the character
• The character is somewhat distracted or cannot concentrate
• An opponent is working directly against the character
• The action is not of trivial difficulty
• Outside forces influence the actions
• The player wants to roll the dice

Do not roll dice when...

• Rolling dice would reduce the enjoyment of the game
• The action is routine for the character
• The action requires a trivial amount of talent compared to the character’s level, Attribute Rank, or competency
• The character is using a passive check on a roll (ie. automatic 10)
• Story flow is more important than the roll

Thanks for reading. We will check back soon!

Stickers Unlocked and Roll20 Advancement
over 5 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 5 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 5 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!