Roleplaying in the Berserk Universe

Ghostwheel · Post by **Ghostwheel** » Mon May 09, 2011 7:39 am

Does anyone have any suggestions for RP in the Berserk universe? Just to be clear, someone like Guts (the protagonist) would be just about at the highest level of what PCs can achieve in this kind of world.

A friend suggested going with aWoD and sticking to just mortal types along with changing the skills/backgrounds to match a more medieval universe; would that be a good idea, or is there a better system for this kind of game?

Vnonymous · Post by **Vnonymous** » Mon May 09, 2011 8:27 am

FATAL

Ghostwheel · Post by **Ghostwheel** » Mon May 09, 2011 8:33 am

Fail troll is fail.

Edit: Preemptively, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay is also dumb.

Fuchs · Post by **Fuchs** » Mon May 09, 2011 8:39 am

Ghostwheel · Post by **Ghostwheel** » Mon May 09, 2011 8:44 am

I don't think D&D is the way to go with this one--characters gain power on a scale that doesn't jive with the general dark fantasy archetypes, doesn't have good rules for diplomacy-type stuff, has Hollywood healing, etc.

Would a slightly changed aWoD be the best bet then?

Edit: Alternatively, my DM wants to run a game in the Song of Ice and Fire world--would aWoD work for that as well?

Vnonymous · Post by **Vnonymous** » Mon May 09, 2011 9:18 am

Berserk isn't that suited for a tabletop rpg anyway. Behelits are basically a guaranteed way to destroy the party and make everyone mad, people who aren't Guts or the Skull Knight specifically have 0 percent chance of defeating an apostle, no matter the numbers they show up in. Magical characters are playing a completely different game to everyone else and any combat with them probably won't include anyone else (their spells take way too long to cast).

Ghostwheel · Post by **Ghostwheel** » Mon May 09, 2011 9:21 am

The main point was less behelits and apostles and more a bunch of above-average people adventuring in a dark fantasy low magic campaign that's filled with intrigue, interesting characters, potential for politics, etc.

Think the first arc when Guts and Griffith were together, rather than everything that happened afterwards.

Gnosticism Is A Hoot · Mon May 09, 2011 9:30 am

Ghostwheel wrote:I don't think D&D is the way to go with this one--characters gain power on a scale that doesn't jive with the general dark fantasy archetypes, doesn't have good rules for diplomacy-type stuff, has Hollywood healing, etc.

Would a slightly changed aWoD be the best bet then?

Edit: Alternatively, my DM wants to run a game in the Song of Ice and Fire world--would aWoD work for that as well?

There's an official SIF RPG, but it's badly edited, badly balanced, and a little bland.

PhoneLobster · Post by **PhoneLobster** » Mon May 09, 2011 9:39 am

Ghostwheel wrote:Think the first arc when Guts and Griffith were together, rather than everything that happened afterwards.

Now I've only watched the anime but that's basically the bit that covers right?

The bit that was basically ALL a flash back.

And had multiple episode arcs that were in turn flash backs within that flash back.

And in those episodes there were flash backs?

That Berserk right.

I think you may need a custom RPG system. No system to my knowledge is capable of resolving that many nested flashbacks.

You will definitely need to build something from the ground up to accommodate the need for customized flashback within flashback within flashback mechanics.

Not to mention the extra rules required to account for all the phallic imagery and very thinly veiled excessive sexual innuendo. You are gonna need a lot of custom work to carry the sheer weight of that too... *edit: GOOD LORD... Fatal really IS halfway there!

Ghostwheel · Post by **Ghostwheel** » Mon May 09, 2011 9:42 am

Ignore the flashbacks and the phallic imagery for a moment; play pretend with me here, and pretend that the whole flashback is everything we're looking to recreate, as though it was--remember, pretend--cognizant and logical and such. Forget all the crap. Just concentrate on the time from when Guts joins the Band of the Hawk to when he leaves them. We might even add up to the point where they free Griffith, but no farther. That's what we're going for.

Does that clear things up at all?

PhoneLobster · Post by **PhoneLobster** » Mon May 09, 2011 9:44 am

Ghostwheel wrote:Just concentrate on the time from when Guts joins the Band of the Hawk to when he leaves them.

I'm not sure I can pinpoint that "time" within any meaningful linear context. How many flashbacks deep is it and which flashbacks at the same depth occur exist float around in a wibbly wobbly spooky flash back transition way before, after and during it?

Ghostwheel · Post by **Ghostwheel** » Mon May 09, 2011 9:46 am

I haven't watched it in a while, but from what I remember...

Guts was good with a sword.
He joined the Hawks.
He won some battles.
He helped Griffith get rid of some political opponents.
He did some dirty work for him.
He decided to leave.
Griffith got mad and did something irrational like sleeping with the King's daughter.
He got locked up and tortured.
Guts hears about it and saves him with some of the other members of the Band of the Hawk who are now labeled as traitors.

And... that, as far as I remember are the relevent bits. Though I haven't watched/read it in ages, so I might be forgetting some stuff. Oh yeah, there was fighting too. And people got wounded. But that's about it.

Fuchs · Post by **Fuchs** » Mon May 09, 2011 10:03 am

Yeah, those bits are standard low-low magic fantasy.

Leress · Post by **Leress** » Mon May 09, 2011 10:06 am

Ghostwheel wrote:
Does that clear things up at all?

So pretty much most of Berserk and pretty everything that makes it such. Why even call it playing in the Berserk Universe then. It would be just Dark fantasy.

Ghostwheel · Post by **Ghostwheel** » Mon May 09, 2011 10:07 am

Right; so that series has the camera constantly on Guts rather than the rest of the Band of the Hawk. What's a good RPG for RPing in such a world with similar characters?

Heck, you could have a party made of Guts (the big guy), Griffith (the hero), Caska (heart of the group), Corkus (the lancer), Judeau (the smart/sneaky guy).

I'm pulling the names from what I remember with help from the character list on wikipedia--but what RPG would be good for RPing these kinds of characters in that sort of world?

Edit:

Leress wrote:So pretty much most of Berserk and pretty everything that makes it such. Why even call it playing in the Berserk Universe then. It would be just Dark fantasy.

That would probably be a better label for it, yeah. It's just that that's the first thing that came to mind when my group discussed it.

fectin · Post by **fectin** » Mon May 09, 2011 12:21 pm

Use the exalted system, but stick with mortals/heroic mortals? That or re-wicker WEG's Star Wars d6 system. Either one should give you that nasty combat where everyone dies. Exalted has a built in supernatural system which is unfair to everyone who doesn't play in it, which seems about right. Also, it already has stats for giant swords.

Fuchs · Post by **Fuchs** » Mon May 09, 2011 12:25 pm

For some of Guts stunts - like fighting dozens of enemies at once - D&D seems a good choice.

Wrathzog · Post by **Wrathzog** » Mon May 09, 2011 12:45 pm

You can use pretty much anything. I would first recommend any gaming system that you're familiar with and follow that up with AWoD and then D&D.

Midnight_v · Post by **Midnight_v** » Mon May 09, 2011 1:07 pm

Ghostwheel wrote:I haven't watched it in a while, but from what I remember...

Guts was good with a sword.
He joined the Hawks.
He won some battles.
He helped Griffith get rid of some political opponents.
He did some dirty work for him.
He decided to leave.
Griffith got mad and did something irrational like sleeping with the King's daughter.
He got locked up and tortured.
Guts hears about it and saves him with some of the other members of the Band of the Hawk who are now labeled as traitors.

And... that, as far as I remember are the relevent bits. Though I haven't watched/read it in ages, so I might be forgetting some stuff. Oh yeah, there was fighting too. And people got wounded. But that's about it.

You forgot the most important part. The part where they rescue griffith and get stuck in a literal HELL on earth in which all of the hawks them minus Guts(who loses a and) and Kaska (who's rape sacrificed but not to death) are slaughtered.
The question is always resolve what magic can/can't do.
The behlit thing is an issue.

Wrathzog · Post by **Wrathzog** » Mon May 09, 2011 1:48 pm

He's not focusing on that, though. What I got out of this was that this was less a Berserk Universe game and more Band of the Hawks.
I can't even remember them meeting up with anything supernatural until Griffith's fall... which is, you know, that point where everyone dies.

Also, Spoilers.

MGuy · Post by **MGuy** » Mon May 09, 2011 2:25 pm

They meet a demon in a castle once. Also I agree with Leress, without the sprites, magic, ghosts, ghouls, goblins, etc it really can't be called "Berserk" because that's really what the setting is.

Fuchs · Post by **Fuchs** » Mon May 09, 2011 3:13 pm

Well, I considered the "Band of the Hawk" parts Berserk when I read them, and still consider them the best part of the series so far. It's not not Beserk just because you lack the apocalypse stuff.

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Mon May 09, 2011 4:18 pm

Even though I haven't seen or read much of the series, I think (and even told PhoneLobster before) that it's pretty much agreed to be a cheap shot to use the Berserk anime to represent the series.

In terms of bad adaptations of pre-existing comics, it ranks somewhere between post-Demon King Piccolo Dragonball and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

MGuy · Post by **MGuy** » Mon May 09, 2011 4:57 pm

Fuchs wrote:Well, I considered the "Band of the Hawk" parts Berserk when I read them, and still consider them the best part of the series so far. It's not not Beserk just because you lack the apocalypse stuff.

Most of the story is apocalypse stuff. The beginning of the story starts out in that time. The entire Band of the Hawk thing is basically a prequel, an explanation as to why he's doing what he's doing ( a damn good explanation but just an explanation none-the-less). The anime is what got me to read the manga in the first place.

Fuchs · Post by **Fuchs** » Mon May 09, 2011 7:46 pm

MGuy wrote:
Fuchs wrote:Well, I considered the "Band of the Hawk" parts Berserk when I read them, and still consider them the best part of the series so far. It's not not Beserk just because you lack the apocalypse stuff.
Most of the story is apocalypse stuff. The beginning of the story starts out in that time. The entire Band of the Hawk thing is basically a prequel, an explanation as to why he's doing what he's doing ( a damn good explanation but just an explanation none-the-less). The anime is what got me to read the manga in the first place.

Yeah, most of the story is apocalypse stuff. And yet, after more than 30 volumes (I collect the german series), I still consider the band of the hawk part the best part.