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OVA: The Anime Role-Playing Game $15.00
Average Rating:4.7 / 5
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OVA: The Anime Role-Playing Game
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OVA: The Anime Role-Playing Game
Publisher: Wise Turtle Publishing
by Mark J. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/28/2024 15:02:51

I ran this game at one of our local game con's. Some players created their own characters, others used the pregens included in the book. Like other super-hero-type games, OVA is front-end loaded, so a lot of the work is done during character creation. But, OVA's chargen is fun and easy-to-understand. Once characters are in-place, the game runs VERY, VERY SMOOTHLY. In fact, I think OVA has one of the best game mechanics I've ever run. Even my slow players caught on to it quickly, and commented on how much they liked it. I highly recommend OVA.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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OVA: The Anime Role-Playing Game
Publisher: Wise Turtle Publishing
by michael w. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/01/2021 12:50:55

fun little booklet and some great art, but the game itself doesn't seem fully fleshed out and is kind of a mishmesh. as far as i'm concered it's more of a game to take some ideas from and then run them in a different game. here's hoping for a take that builds on these ideas and fleshes them out more, maybe oven a 2e of this.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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OVA: The Anime Role-Playing Game
Publisher: Wise Turtle Publishing
by Judd G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/03/2017 16:31:19

OVA (Second Edition) is an anime-focused RPG, but that really means you can play anything with it. The second edition improves upon the presentation and content from the first edition, but either is recommended.

The system is d6 based and involves assigning dice to a set of traits and weaknesses. The list of these provided by the game hits most things gamers care about, but it is easy to tweak it as required by the tone, power-level, and setting in question (and the game shows you how). Players roll dice based on their traits and weaknesses and then keep the highest value rolled (doubles, triples, etc. are added together into a single value).

It plays super fast and the combat options makes for some cool strategic choices when choosing your combat stance each round. Players and GM can create tailored attacks and defenses based on base traits and tweaks that give characters more options in battle as well.

The look of the game is amazing. Clay Gardner wrote and laid-out the product and it features the art of Niko Geyer. This is like Anime-styled Nirvana. Every image is gorgeous and builds on the cadre of sample characters used as examples in the game text.

I have GMed and played OVA in both editions and it is fun, fast, and handled a variety of genres and settings without breaking a sweat.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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OVA: The Anime Role-Playing Game
Publisher: Wise Turtle Publishing
by A customer [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/17/2016 01:18:53

This is a great open-world game, which allows for a lot of creative freedom. It doesn't come with a setting or any pre-made adventures, so your GM will need to do some planning and organising, but you can do almost anything you want with it. However the downside to having non-restrictive rules is that you players can do pretty much anything, meaning that creating any kind of plot structure in a large group is difficult.

I would also not recommend this game to any players wo play just to get the highest stats or to be the best, because the rules are very easy to exploit in that way. This game is best for people who like to role-play in order to tell a story.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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OVA: The Anime Role-Playing Game
Publisher: Wise Turtle Publishing
by Ian F. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/04/2015 22:13:31

I bought this looking for a successor to the classic (but flawed) RPG, Big Eyes Small Mouth. This is not only a spiritual successor, but a vast improvement in general on anime role-playing. From the moment you boot up the .pdf, you're going to want a print version of this book (sadly not available at this time). The system is simple, easy and fun, with character creation not hindered by complicated balance mechanisms. I could use this to simulate Akira, Dragonball Z, or almost any project I want to make.

Every person I have shown this game to has walked away not only impressed by the game, but eager to play it and buy a copy. If you are looking for a rules lite system that's more complex than RISUS but less complex than Fate, this is your baby. I would stress that game is not limited exclusively to anime - you can easily play a wide variety of game styles in the system. As well, if you've read some of the creator's posts in his resident forums, there are very thoughtful design decisions in the game mechanics.

Summary. Fast character creation. Character modelling options unseen since Marvel Super Heroes from TSR. Fast, quick action resolution. Fun, meaningful conflict/combat options. Well illustrated (in anime style). Well written, with reasonable flow in the book. For $15 for the .pdf, you're not likely to regret your purchase.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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OVA: The Anime Role-Playing Game
Publisher: Wise Turtle Publishing
by Jeff C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/13/2015 10:34:34

At a glance: Fantastic art! Simple, easy-to-learn system. Very engaging, friendly and encouraging to new players and anime fans. Well-written GM section. And again, I need to mention- AMAZING ART!

I would totally buy this as a print product, even in black and white.

I originally bought this to supplement two other anime games. I love the way this game goes about character creation and encourages free form development. Basically, if you want to recreate your favorite character from any given anime series, this is probably the best game for it. This game has a very un-complicated way of doing things.

I think this rpg suffers from the same flaw a lot of other core system, non-genre specific games have always had. It tends to be more centered on the fantasy elements of gaming. I acknowledge that even now, most gamers had their first exposure to the hobby from D&D and that does tend to influence game design. OVA leans toward a lot of the non-mecha, no-firearms, no-spacecraft type anime. While it does allow for emulation of the mecha genre, a lot of brain sweat is needed on the GM's part to get there as opposed to say, the standard sword and sorcery game. If you want to make a character based on Inu Yasha, Record of the Lodoss Wars, Full Metal Alchemist, Ikki Tousen, or Sailor Moon, or something similar, this game is ideal. If you're wanting something more involving giant robot combat, massive starships, cyborgs with huge guns, or gritty cyberpunk drama, I think you're probably better off going with a different game and using OVA as a way to develop characters before the system is applied. I also didn't get a good horror anime vibe from this, but that's a very narrow genre and is probably better treated elsewhere. (It could be done, but again there would be a bit of strain on the GM.)

I can totally see myself running a game based on Slayers, Ikki Tousen, Freezing, and maybe even Chrome-Shelled Regios using this system. I also think it might be a bit more kid-friendly, but I'll have to test that theory first. I also think, like so many other anime rpg's, a separate sourcebook would help in dealing with various sub-genres within anime gaming (Mecha and cyberpunk in particular.) I hope the folks at Wise Turtle can keep up the good work.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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OVA: The Anime Role-Playing Game
Publisher: Wise Turtle Publishing
by Joshua Z. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/14/2014 16:16:42

I absolutely love this game system as it allows for such versatility that it puts many other to shame. My friends and I started with the original OVA allowing us to pursue game ideas we couldn't in other systems. While we also enjoyed BESM and it works well for many Anime genre stories, it has more confined rules as compared to OVA. The first game we ran using OVA was a Macross saga. The flexibility in the rules and adaptability of the system itself made for one of the best multi-session games our group ever played. OVA revised answered some ambiguous rules that we had to wing it in the first edition of OVA. the system is also very easy to learn and even new comers need not worry if they don't know everything about it as each section of character building explains what is what. All in all I think that OVA is the new BESM for anime style games but as it's not limited to that and easy to use allows for OVA to be a very proficient game system.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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