It really happen-campaign in tenra 01

I managed to organize my group of players and the first game in the world of Tenra took place.The game consisted of what was stated in Tenra's previous post, to summarize, the feudal lord of a small town asked the group of adventurers to explore a haunted mansion with the objective of avoiding the participation of the order of the phoenix in his town.  

Although the adventurers are somewhat varied, since they are a fairy and two warriors (one of them possessed by a mutant). They soon began to work as a team and although their personalities clash, they were quickly assembled and soon arrived to the mansion. 

In the haunted mansion they were greeted by multiple specters, one of them was a maid who managed to knock them out and place each one in a room with its respective trap. With difficulty each adventurer escaped from their respective trap.

Once united they decide to confront the main ghost of the mansion, at that moment they realize that the owners of the mansion were captured by the desire for revenge of their abused servant, the heroes decide to side with the owners and purify the place, making everything disappear. 

In the end they were rewarded by the lord of the village and decided to embark to a nearby thieves' camp, with the intention of defeating them and making them work for them... Or something like that plans one of the players with a lot of hunger for power. 

As a guide I used several ideas from the module "The hell house beckons", using the description of some rooms to create simple traps. And for the creatures I used the bestiary from "Monters of the Orient", with almost no noticeable changes.

At the moment the system is not generating me too many problems, but I feel that as the players level up, the rules are going to become more and more complicated for them, I can't imagine making a long campaign with this system, there are too many details.

And now I have to think about what to do with the problem of the thieves, I will probably look for inspiration in a sandbox type module. 

The advantages of playing in a well know setting (Ravenloft D&D)

 

I don't know if the Tenra campaign is going to take place, I hope so but the group of players has not agreed yet. Luckily I had the opportunity to start a campaign at a presential game this week, I had already some time that several guys wanted to play but due to the current circumstances I decided to postpone the game. This week my dice couldn't take so much dust anymore so I had some roleplaying, but I didn't have anything planned so I used the structure of a campaign I already played repeatedly. Ravenloft.

I don't know the structure of the Ravenloft campaign entirely by heart, but I have a very clear general idea of what is happening in the campaign world. Which is something I like very much, since it allows me to start narrating in a short time. Unlike what it means to build from a module that I don't know and sometimes start from a blank page which generates me some insecurity and doubts. It's obviously great to read and set up a new world where players can adventure, but when I have the opportunity to narrate in a world of which I already have a knowledge of the plot, the important characters or random encounters, I feel more relaxed, that's for sure. 

Since I know the campaign world well, I always dare to make huge changes in the story, so even if a player who has read the whole adventure joins the table, it won't matter. On this occasion I started the game with the players entering Barovia County through the main gate. But to start introducing the group to the background of the world, I placed one of Strahd's girlfriends removing some heavy chains from the gate.

The woman introduces herself to the players, answers several questions and disappears without a trace. With the gate open, they can move on to Barovia, where they can visit a grocery store, the major's house and the church. The first thing they visit is the church and they are introduced to the father in the usual way, but out of fear they decide not to go down to meet his son. They want to go to meet the elder, but I look for things not to be easy and one of the guards asks them for a few wolf skins if they want to meet the elder.They fight the wolves but are defeated, luckily the bride was nearby and rescues them the only way she knows how. She bites their necks and begins their transformation.

I know I made a lot of changes, but that is for me, the only way to keep interesting a campaign that you already know well, you have to change what you want and have a general idea of the butterfly effect it can generate on the central plot. Thanks to the multiple changes I made in the main campaign of Barovia, I ended up removing scenes from the official campaign and including good plots or combats from the changed versions.

I encourage all of you to do the same. 

Campaign in the world of Tenra

To create a campaign in the world of Tenra the main thing is to understand the faction system of the world, on the one hand each region has its feudal lord with a personal army. While on the other side are the Buddhist orders and the native demons of the world. There is nothing else. 

The initial region of the adventurers will be the newly created Oshu, a coastal region generally led by elderly people. It reports a serious problem, since a few months ago on an island near its shores the mansion of an old merchant is full of screams and strange events, it is necessary that a group of brave adventurers clean the house of evil spirits. 

To start the conflict clock ticking, the adventurers will feel the pressure to solve the problem of the haunted mansion as well to avoid intervention of the order of the phoenix a religious organization that if it gets involved would get the town into a whole new set of problems. 

The town, like any other, needs some background, some important personalities. Oshu is an island formed from the remains of an ancient dragon, its north coast bears a striking resemblance to a sharp tail. Oshu belongs to the Tadamasa, a noble family that has always maintained a strong alliance with the monks of the Dōjo mountains. This explains the absence of a temple in the village, since the monks of the mountains, usually reject the existence of religious buildings. 

npc's

Obu Tadamasa: Old lord of the village, he is in his 130th year and is rumored to be sustained by the spirit of powerful spectres. He maintains a loving and reasonable appearance. 

Gabamunta: Muscular man of 30 years old in charge of helping the villagers with their spiritual problems. 

Zaki: Owner of the local bar and main merchant of shark tails, the main source of wealth for all of Oshu. 

the adventure

On the outskirts of Oshu there is a rumored appearance of a structure that only reveals itself on the nights of the full moon, people say that within it are hidden warring spirits. Tadamasa needs a group of brave people who can solve the matter of the supposedly haunted mansion, before some religious order finds out and wants to intervene. 

When the group attends the mansion, they may encounter different specters, with a geisha who will try to seduce, enchant or poison them. Warriors made of mud, eager to fight. Deformed ghosts that hide in the glass of the mirrors. To clean the place, the group will have to find an object of great value to the main spirit and set it on fire. 

The creatures, ghosts and whatever the characters have to fight with, will be of a manageable CR level for them, taking into account that they are 6 should be able to defeat creatures between CR 1 to 3.

but stop !!

Everything is going wrong, I got sick for a couple of weeks, the group does not have the same interest in the game as before and now some people are too busy or with different responsibilities. This makes me think about the need to open a new game table, but then maybe I will make a different game since I was creating this whole campaign for my usual group and maybe it is too strange for a new group.  

It will be seen

few resources for an anime-style game

 

Oh I think so, aside from a good amount of post talking about anime RPGs, I found little information to prepare my game. Luckily I have the DnD Orient books  that came out through the Dungeon Master Guild website. But I can't find many pages to define plots, location names, background or concrete game experiences. Several people talk about long campaigns with the OVA system or playing BESM, but I can't find any concrete overview of the games.

I came across several pages that do have some of the information I need, but few things seem to be focused on the anime RPG experience. Which is not so strange, after all, it is a somewhat hidden setting for a hobby that in itself is not so famous. 

So taking into account that I have very few tools to create a world with blogs and web pages, I think I will have to make use of the manuals I have at hand. Luckily the Tenra Banzho Zero world sounds interesting and has the setting manual separated from the rules, which is already an advantage. 

For others, this would be the perfect opportunity to make use of the Anima manual, but in my case, the overcomplication of the rules drove me away many years ago and I have no interest in returning. The setting seems to have an air of the Final Fantasy games, for those who are curious. 

Although the Tenra manual does not have much background on the world, it does have some sections dedicated to providing ideas for encounters or quests that characters can do. In general the world is quite simple, a Buddhist cult tries to rule from the shadows a nation full of warring regions. There are groups that try to reveal themselves against the religious cult and little else. It also has lists of place names, important families and the history of the world in a very reduced form. I think that will be enough for the time being. 

Anime 5e a big little mess

 

The recent "anime 5e" book remains a reincarnation of the Big Eyes Small Mouth game, which is a good thing but also a bad thing. Character creation takes up most of the manual and is based on a point system that relates to the 3rd edition of DnD. That is not a crime, but it defeats the purpose of the 5th edition, which was intended to simplify the previous system.

We are fortunate that the creators of "Anime 5e" are aware of the problems with their system, so the manual has a detailed explanation of the changes, sometimes too detailed.  

In practice, I don't like the character creation system, I would have preferred that the points expenditure be reduced to the Ranks and defects section, leaving attributes, race and class out of the calculations. With all the changes, character creation takes longer and in the absence of examples, the creation of powers, special moves and flaws takes a long time and largely depends on the flexibility of the DM. 

The good thing is that the manual indicates the type of damage, defense and ranks that each character should have according to their class level, which simplifies things and avoids exploiting the system. And I keep talking about ranks, that new element represents the level of a special ability, either flying, having more defense, teleporting, changing appearance, healing and other suggested powers. Its rank depends on the character's level, which makes nothing too crazy. 

Combat does not change in essence, it is the same as 5th edition, magic does not move too much either. And the enemies can be as complicated as you wish, since the book lets you use the CR system, which remains unchanged.

The fact that there are no major changes in the rules is somewhat positive in the sense that it allows anyone with experience in 5th edition to know in advance what they are playing. But on the other hand, much is lost, as several optional rules would have been welcome. We miss rules for a lightning duel, sacrifice, adding all the power of your allies in a single attack and any detail related to shonen style. 

I can't make a definitive review yet, as I have yet to play a long campaign using the manual. During the campaign I am about to start with this manual I hope I can keep a balance with the system of flaws and powers, especially with the flaws, since they add several possibilities to the narration and creation of conflicts. 

I'm excited about the possibilities of the system and its ability to adapt to a myriad of settings, but all the new rules and class capabilities to take into account make me very nervous. I hope everything goes well, I'll keep you posted.