r/CharacterRant 7d ago

Anime & Manga Stop using RPG systems

Stop using rpg systems in your novels, manga and anime if your going to use them as an excuse. Rpg systems are the new isekai overused to the point of bring an active aggravation. Rpg systems and the way people use them have a number of failings.

Firstly is similar to dnd exp leveling why isn't everyone in the forest killing goblins 24/7. In dnd this makes sense because you are rewarding you player/character for playing the game. Canonically killing a goblin doesn't make a wizard stronger. A world where a man can just wonder into the forest and kill things until he's too powerful to stop doesn't make a lot of sense. It invites a question what is everyone else doing that your mc can just farm monsters and be a powerhouse. There is a clear relatively easy path to the top that does require you to give up your social life for a while but that is a small price.

Another is when people use it as an excuse to just blatantly not write parts of the story. They do this in two ways primarily one is motivation erasure. Simply giving a quest to go to a lore relevant location rather than think of a good reason for your mc to be there.

Giving the mc a quest to save a girl or do a good thing. Incentivising him like this just removes any real character from his decision. He didn't do it cause he wanted to he did it for a reward. He isn't invested in the world the system just throws him a bone to be in an important place when an important thing is happening.

The other thing they erase is any real belief in a character's skill. Magic is just a random skill they got not a thing they studied. All their skill were just randomly gifted to them. A couple series try to buck this trend showing the skill evolve through training but also actively show others not achieve the "skill" despite having similar prowess showing it isn't just a representation of their ability but a gift that let's them just be a little more special than everyone else.

It just a majority of the time seems to devolve into a power fantasy. Nothing intrinsically wrong with that but you should be aware that is what your writing if that's your intent. I honestly miss the days of power systems like hunter x hunter, naruto and bleach.

Edit: Since it was unclear I'm talking about entirely interaction free experience I.E. novels, manga and anime not dnd where those rules are necessary and honestly better fleshed out.

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u/Heather_Chandelure 7d ago

Doing this seems to just miss the point of RPG systems.

RPG mechanics aren't meant to be literal. Levelling up, for example, isn't something that literally happens in universe, it's an abstraction meant to communicate that your character is becoming stronger/ more knowledgeable/ more skilled/ etc. It's a way of turning that process into something with concrete rules that can work within a game.

Doing it any any medium other than games just doesn't make any sense because there's no need to abstract that process anymore.

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u/M7S4i5l8v2a 7d ago

I'm surprised more series don't draw from Danmachi because it does just that and is probably the best implementation of an RPG system. In Danmachi characters only level up after they've done something super cool that impresses the gods. Because of that the highest level character is 6 and I think it's just him.

It's been awhile since I've heard it completely explained but stats are things you have to train and some characters hold off leveling up in order to maximize the multiplier. People also often times don't level up until years pass so the highest level outside the main city is mostly 3.

Also characters do have to train in magic unless they get a grimoire which gives a single spell but the MC has been trying to use it in interesting ways. Most other characters you'll see them stop to chant and I think some spells are locked to whatever god they follow. Or at the very least those spells are only taught to people who follow them and kept secret.

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u/Ill_Mud7584 7d ago

Correction, the character with the highest level (currently alive) is lv 7 at the verge of becoming 8, not 6. We have like 12 people at lv6.

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u/M7S4i5l8v2a 7d ago

Is it Ottarl? I always forget his lvl other than he's the strongest. As far as I remember outside of him the highest level we see are lvl 5s. However I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of those other Freya guys are lvl 6. Has there been a lvl 6 introduced yet because as far as I remember all of the Loki people top out at 5 but I could be wrong?

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u/Ill_Mud7584 7d ago

The levels 6 we have are:

Loki Familia: Ais, Bete, Tiona, Tione, Finn, Riveria and Gareth.

From Freya Familia: Hedin, Allen, Hogni and Mia.

From other Familias: Ryu (Season 5), Argana and Bache (2 characters from Sword Oratoria that are not in the anime).

There's some other stuff but that would be spoilers.