GM's Tips

GUIDE TO CHARACTER GENERATION ECONOMICS

The main thing you should remember when creating characters is that you´re creating an anime character, not contending in an accuracy contest!

Skills

As a GM you shoul be VERY strict about these, these represent the character´s actual knowledge so no character ahould have less than four skills.

Disciplines

That´s where the character´s real unique powers are. In fact, few things in the game are most badly feared than a martial artist with Body Chi, a sorcerer with Flowing spiral or a psychic with Mind Control. Even if a character´s stats are pathetic or has no impressive powers, 5 levels of Body Hardening are sure to make him a pain in the rear. Just remember that, unless the character is master Gouki he isn´t likely to start the game with 5 disciplines

Advantages & Disadvantages

A common mistake among GMs is forgetting about the player characters disadvantages which should be exploited to the maximum. Disadvantages are a price to pay, not free extra CPs.

Maneuvers

Most newbies and muchkins tend to mess up here ending with a ton of Chi blasts weaker than most kicks and punches. If what you want is a really good maneuver first THINK the coolest anime move you can think about and then jot it down, use some wise modifiers and presto!. in anime, the heroes usually start with one or two special powers at most, but that one is something really special.

ROMeo´S GUIDELINES FOR NEW ADVANTAGES&DISADVANTAGES

Murphy´s Law

In the first campaign of EVERY and ALL new Thrash´s GM, during character creation, there will always be one or more players asking for ADV. & DISADV. NOT covered in the book (any of the books). Mainly, becuase even if Blackbird (and all the people that write stuff for the game) work hard thinking on all possible sutiations it´s just not possible to cover everything, again, mainly because we´re not TSR so it´ll take years for u to see the 400 pages long "Thrash Master Guide".

Advantages

Obviously, the character will get an edge over others, but the cost can vary greatly according to the benefits:

Grants bonuses to character: 2-4
Grants equivalent to a martial arts power: 3
Imposes penalties over oponents: 3 or more
Must fullfil certain conditions: decrease cost by -1 to -3 according to how drastic the conditions.
New Weird Power: If level-based the cost should be as disciplines. 3 to 5 points if all powers
involved revolves around a same thing (ie Slash Power, Flight), and 6 points
or more if the powers have a vast range (ie elementals).

Disadvantages

This is an impairment for the character. Under no circunstance no disadvantage should give the character more than 6 character points, it´s just not ethic!.

ROMeo´S GUIDELINES FOR NEW FIGHTING STYLES

The creation of a new fighting style should not be taken that lightly, and before doing so you should ask yourself ¿Is there already another style that acomplish the same purpose?, if there is, then you should not waste your time. First, you should think on your new style´s description: Is it offensive? Defensive? Does practitioners rely on jumping and acrobatics? Speed? Raw strenght? Is it internal or external?. Remeber that styles are either external or internal. Describe how does a practitioner behaves in actual combat. You also need a philosophy for your style, martial arts are not just a means to hack&slash, they´re a way of life.

BONUSES: No external style grants more than two attribute points and no internal style grants more than 3. If the style grants bonuses to base Chi then you should only give 1 attribute point at most. If your style includes more than 2 maneuvers then attribute bonuses are highly discouragred. Under no circunstance no fighting style will include focus, elemental, psychic, or super maneuvers. Think on the most important aspect of the style and then lower the cost of all maneuvers under that category by one point to a minimum of 1.

TROUBLESHOOTING (optional solutions)

¿Can I get rid of a disadvantage trough the course of the game?

Yes, but this should be done trough roleplaying (VERY good roleplaying), and a time no lesser than 3 stories per individual disadvantage. The player should pay the XP as per an advantage but triple the XP cost. Players must understand that disadvantages are REAL impairments that limit the character BUT that acomplish the purpose of making the character more human and more fun to play, not only as a means to start the game with a more beefed up character. These flaws should be held dear and roleplayed properly, not just picked up and tossed as soon as possible.

Once I rush my $10,000 from my Resources6...¿IS THAT ALL? ¿AM I POOR?

The sum shown for each level is not all your money, but is all the money you can access per month.

This showoff...

A) WANTS TO PARRY A CHI BLAST BARE-HANDED
I say he can, but needs a mystical protection of some sort like Chi-gong. Elemental attacks will still do half damage. Solid proyectiles like splinterburst can only be dodged (but some GMs may allow a parry combinating Proyectile deflection and Multi Punch). Chi Push is a destructive force that crushes anything on its path so blocking will just make you a sitting duck.

B) INSISTS THAT HER CLOTHING IS JUST "A LITTLE BURNED" EVEN IF WE HAVE JUST ENDURED AN EXPLOSION JUST BECAUSE SHE HAS "COSTUME"
Nope, she´s right, that´s a privilege of the "costume" anime shlock. In fact, the only thing that could rip trough the attires of a character with "costume" maybe Slash Power.

Notes on Weapon Skills, Weapon Disciplines, and Weapon Styles

A skill in the Trash concept is a knowledge about a specific topic, not an ability usable in combat (except maybe for Demolitions and other exotic skills). I mean, of course a character with the blades skill can hold a Katana without slashing himself up, but the skill is oriented to knowledge about Blades: how to properly mantain them, history about them, legends, etc. but it is not a substitute for Kenjutsu, Swordfighting, or Weapon Art.

In my games, a character with the (x-weapon) skill but WITHOUT a Weapon Style or WeaponArt is considered untrained, ok, he can fight with the weapon, but he only rolls either 1d10+Agility or 1d10+Agility+Style, the last one IF and ONLY IF his Style teaches the use of weapons (ie while a practitioner of Ninjutsu may be versed in the ways of katana and Ninjato, a Boxer isn't *and most probably never will*) AND the Style level is 5 or higher (a friend of mine who practices Kung Fu learned limited use of the Katana but only after many YEARS in the Dojo). Plus, in either of two cases, unless the Weapon Art Skill is possesed, only basic weapon maneuvers can be performed. Same goes for firearms

This days (and everyday for that matter), I keep hearing more and more of player character troupes that, even if going to the store, carry a dozen weapons on their person. However, GMs and players should see the consequences of carrying weapons around. First, weapons are hard to conceal and carrying blatantly a bladed weapon (not to mention a firearm) is not quite legal in most places (not in my country at least). Ok, ok, I have also heard of campaings carried on completely LAWLESS settings where one can become a serial-killer-property-destroyer-hero and live happily ever after because such concepts as law enforcement, the police, or the army, are not only a myth, they are almost a TABOO! (er...Hi Antinimicus! ¿How ya doing? ^_^). Besides, weapons are disallowed in most tournaments, and the average martial artist, pretty proud of his hand-to-hand prowess, see them as cheating (I personally impose a penalty on social rolls of -2 for weapon users on social rolls when dealing with other martial artists).

NPC QUICK GENERATION

While some GMs I know like to carry on 50lbs of NPC sheets on their bags (hi Antinimicus! ¿How u doing? ^_^) one thing I sure learned over the years as GM is the KISS philosophy (KISS: Keep it simple, stupid!). Never do more work than the necesary, preparing a campaing will keep u busy enuff. Work excusively on what u want your players to see from the NPC. The only thing u should pay attention to is the NPCs personality after all... first, asume your NPC knows the skills u deem apropiate, don´t jot down level, u won´t be rolling success test for them after all. Next, only jot disciplines that involve martial arts powers the NPC will be showing, same for adv&disadvantages (you already know your NPCs background ¿don´t u?). Now, forget maneuver modifiers, unless the NPC possesses a REALLY special maneuver it´s fair to assume a same accuracy for all maneuvers. Don´t assign base Dizzing or Rage Thresholds, assume the NPC is dizzy after recieving a cinematic enuff recipe of blows and let them show their anger whenever dramatism is required, be creative (and theatrical =-) ). Please be easy on yourself and don´t bother on soak rolls for minions (a real slow down when fighting a dozen of thugs!)

Quick NPC Chart

If using this chart, I assume you have a reasonably moderate gaming troupe that earns no more than 5XP per each gaming session, and the campaing's power level is fairly regular.