Rules intimidation - Is it worth learning

[Jimson 4]

 I've been reading over the rules and forums, and posting recent question on Ki rules.  After all this reading, I'm beginning to get intimidated by the rules.  I've been playing RPG's for over 10 years.  I've played D&D 3/3.5, very little Mage (World of Darkness), Shadowrun, Deadlands, and Star Wars d20.  I think Shadowrun is probably the most comparable to Anima as far as character options, and Deadlands comparison of complex combat.  It seems there are a lot of questions that people post on the boards and wondering if I'll be spending a lot of time on here trying to figure this out.  So I guess I'm looking to you guys for advice.  Are things fairly simple at 1st level?  I'll be the one explaining the game/rules/settings to my players, so I want to make sure its worth while, and also not scare my players away with the complexity.  

[Beadle 0]

Probably the most complicated part is Character Creation.  Once you've got that down, the rest tends to flow pretty well.  There may be a few little ideosyncracies, particularly with certain Magic spells, but otherwise I actually find it pretty simple to play.

And as to whether it's worth it… yes.  It's the best RPG I've ever played, both in terms of mechanics and the lore surrounding it.

[Jimson 4]

Wow!  That's quite the backing statement.  Glad to hear you enthusiasm for the game.  I started reading the setting (taking a break from rules reading) and pretty impressed so far, although I'm not too far into it.

Character creation I can handle.  Not sure if you've played shadowrun, but their character creation could get pretty complex as well.  For now, I plan on making characters for my 2 players.  Is there a recommended party balance?  One fighter type and one magic or psychic user?  

 

[Beadle 0]

Not really.  I'm currently playing in a party of 8, and we have no Psychics, and the only magic-user is an Illusionist with very little Zeon recovery.  It's nothing like D&D in that regard - you can pretty much make any party balance work.

But obviously it depends on the campaign.  If you're going to make it pretty combat-heavy, then creating a Thief & Summoner team is probably not going to be that successful. 

[Raybras 1]

The balance you are looking for depends on the campaign you wish to give to your players. If you want something easy for them to start with, i'd suggest making one a Fighter archetype (or any mix thereof) and one who is proficient with skills, such as assassin, thief or Freelancer. If you are looking for a more roleplay oriented campaign, Paladin/dark paladin make great social characters along with any non multi-archetype(that require more than one main combat focus). of course, mileage may vary.

[Jimson 4]

To make things easier, I was planning on running the module/adventure that is included in the GM Toolkit.  There will only be two characters, so I'm thinking I might have them start at level 2.  I normally would not like to do that since we are just learning, however, I do not want to kill them either.  

This is only if I can convince them to give this system/setting a try.  

[Raybras 1]

 In this case, it would be suggested to have a half active NPC with them

[Arikail 0]

What I did with my group to convince them to give the game a try (myself as well), is I had them pick pregenned characters from the GM's kit (which you have, it sounds like), and ran a couple of very basic combat scenarios, to see how the game played and give them a feel for it. I think it was a group of zombies versus the party in the middle of a burning town, but I did that because we had a pyromancer psychic in the group, and wanted him to have some tools to work with to get an idea on that system. Really, just anything basic. Last intro scenario was a rat-man ambush in the sewers of Ptolus.

[Leigngod 0]

Whats nice about Anima is that not every rule has to be used. Like the critical damage and its effects, breakable equipment. My players did not want those in the game so I agreed Id take them out. Character creation was really simple with the example acrobatic warrior walkthrough.

Im doing a kind of chronicle for my game. Granted it may be a lot seemhow I have only 2 players atm but it would be fun. Being the only 2 there i decided to let them have a 57 point allocation to their stats to make them a hair stronger. Although be wary of the psychic class, it is controversial in the forums here, but they are pretty strong despite what kind of game you run. It pretty much rick rolled all roleplaying parts and fighting parts and even puzzles given at lvl 1 and 2. (I played it at the time during another game. More roleplay than fighting but badass.)

All in all anima is really just like any other rpgs if it is good or not. It all boils down to the players and dm and how well they all work with each other. Any system can be good its just really a matter of what would be preferred?

[Arikail 0]

Also, I will throw in my glowing recommendation, after character generation it all goes much more smoothly in my opinion. And it jumped from newest system to my go-to preferred system the day I ran my first game of it, eclipsing other games I'd been playing for 10+ years on a pretty constant basis. Take that for what it's worth, but for me, Anima far surpasses it's weight in gold system-wise, with it's flexibility and vision.