1.1 Foreword

Welcome to Anima Prime. The game is currently in development, and this is its second incarnation – the Beta version. It has been playtested, but not yet by outside groups, which is the next step in the development. Hopefully you’re reading this now in preparation to do just that.

The game is meant to be spontaneous: easy to pick up and play without much preparation. The dice handling rules are intuitive, most of the bookkeeping can be done by moving dice around, and the focus is on spontaneous fun. At the same time, there is a lot of flexibility and support for involved stories and intense conflicts.

This is an unabashed anime game with many of the genre’s clichés. It’s also an homage to the Final Fantasy series of video games, most of all Final Fantasy X. It isn’t meant to completely emulate any particular source but to allow players to create their own stories in those veins.

As a beta version, this document has not been thoroughly edited, so there might be some incoherent rambling and potential changes. Some things are going to have funny names that I might later replace with something ingenious. (Probably not though.) If you find any errors or omissions, please let me know so I can fix them.

This game text is Creative Commons licensed. While there will be a book version with art and a better layout at some point, the complete game text—rules, settings, powers, eidolons, essays, and everything else—will always be freely available.

This document is laid out to be printed double-sided, due to its length. The pages are arranged, with alternating odd and even page numbers and section indicators, to make sense when you bind it on the left side. The idea is to put this thing into a notebook to be able to flip back and forth as needed.

The document also contains an introduction to tabletop roleplaying. If you’re a beta tester, chances are you know how that works. But there are some differences between this game and a traditional setup, mainly regarding making up details and sharing responsibilities. I suggest reading the section in any case.

That all said, enjoy the game, and let me know how it went! If you play and provide feedback (preferably on a public forum like RPG.net, Story-Games.com, or Indie-RPGs.com, where we can discuss it with other players), you and your fellow players will be properly listed in the final version as playtesters. If you do this for 3 or more play sessions, I’ll send you a free book version when it’s done.

I will set up a website for the game at www.AnimaPrimeRPG.com, where you can read the latest version of the rules, leave comments on specific passages of the text, connect with other interested players, and more. I’d be more than happy to see you there as well, and I appreciate every single contribution to making this game all it can be. In the meantime, the Berengad.com forums are always open!

The website for the game will also collect any additional materials that people would like to share. If you’ve created a cool setting, with or without special powers, factions, and so on, it would be great if you could post about it. I will also add additional thoughts and materials later on.
Again, thanks for your interest, and above all: have fun with the game!

- Christian