Sailor Moon Role-Playing Game and Resource Book
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| Title: | Sailor Moon Role-Playing Game and Resource Book |
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| Author: | Mark C. MacKinnon |
| Type: | Reference work |
| Language: | English |
| Publisher: | Guardians of Order |
| ISBN: | 0968243118 |
| Year of Publication: | 1999 |
| Pages: | 208 |
The Sailor Moon Role-Playing Game and Resource Book was a book released in 1999 by Guardians of Order. It was written and designed by Mark C. MacKinnon, the creator of the Big Eyes, Small Mouth interactive game. This book is currently out of print.
The Resource Book contained information on to how to roleplay in the Sailor Moon world, using the system developed in the Big Eyes, Small Mouth games. The system was very simple, and basically consisted of the book itself (which was used by the GM as a guide), a paper, a pencil, and two six-sided dice.
Contents
Plotting the Role Play[edit]
The Resource Book suggested a wide variety of ideas for the GM (the Game Master) to use. It set out suggestions for playing time (1 hour sessions of 3, for example), plot suggestions, and character creation. It encouraged players to engage in creating roleplaying sessions involving stories within the canonical universe, as well as outside (things such as "what if the Sailor Senshi were sent 1,000 years into the past?") by using their imagination, up to and including the massive 200-anime-episode role play that, if tried, theoretically could take months and even years.
Also included in the GM's Section of the book were two sample RPGs: R season-based "Where's Rini?" and Crystal Tokyo-era "The Children of Mercury" which the author created as examples of how role playing could go. It was stressed, however, that the GM was not required to use either of those two plots, and could do any story he or she pleased.
Character Creation[edit]
The basic set up of character creation was that every official character was given three pre-set stats (Body, Mind, and Soul), as well as attack and character bonuses. If one wished to create an original character, the stats for body, mind, and soul were simply allocated by a point system ranging from 1 (weakest) to 10 (strongest). A die roll determined how many points could be worked with and the stat allocation was entirely up to the player. The numbers chosen had set attack and magic points written in the book, which could be written down for reference during roleplay; this was considered an advantage for simplistic role playing.
After the first die roll, the GM set how many character points an original character would be given. Character points were used to simultaneously assign both Attributes (defined as special characteristics that were advantageous to the character) and Defects (defined as special characteristics that were detrimental to the character). The Attributes and Defects enhanced or reduced stats depending on the characteristic taken and the level the attribute had. For example, a character with a level 3 Physically Attractive attribute might be very good looking and attract people to them, and this could increase their body stats. Meanwhile, a character with a level 2 Physically Unappealing attribute was hideously ugly to the point where people were repulsed, and this could decrease their body stats.
Battling[edit]
The basic way to roleplay was to roll two six-sided dice. To attack successfully, the attacker must have rolled a higher number than their opponent, taking into account attributes and defects. If this happened, a pre-set amount of health, based on what was used to attack, was taken away from the opponent. If the die roll was less than what the opponent rolled, the attack was successfully deflected. This went back and forth until either one character was defeated or the GM intervened with the storyline; the latter was sometimes the better route to go, depending on what the pre-determined plot was.
The Resource Book as an Information Source[edit]
The Resource Book was considered by many fans to be the best and most informative source on the Sailor Moon series to be published in North America. On top of the roleplaying instructions that were written in it, the book also included character profiles of every Sailor Scout to appear in the anime, all villains up to the end of the R season, many important side characters, a summary list of all the episodes in the first two seasons (including the deleted episodes), lists of character names both in English and Japanese, a full series timeline, song lyrics, and a section dedicated to Naoko Takeuchi's works, which listed everything she had published in Nakayoshi, RunRun, and tankoubon, right up to the year of the Resource Book's publication.
There was a large section in the book about Japan and sections about the history of the magical girl genre, in order to help the roleplayers engage more intimately with the country and culture in which Sailor Moon took place (which also included a map of the real-life Azabu-Juuban). The book also had many black-and-white and color pictures and photos never before released officially in North America, and was the first American publication to mention the Sailor Starlights, as well as Haruka and Michiru as a couple.
Trivia[edit]
- The author, Mark C. MacKinnon, was also the chief designer of the Sailor Moon Collectible Card Game. This game used some concepts from this book, including the Body/Mind/Soul classification.
External Links[edit]
- The Sailor Moon Role-Playing Game and Resource Book Table Of Contents - A comprehensive table of contents which includes the list of chapter sections.
