Regrettably I won’t be talking about artwork, layout, or any of such things. I want to talk about raw data.

Why this little gem has restricted itself solely to anime genre, I have no idea… It could do any type of game where the characters and the story matters the most, and tactical chess-type gaming next to none. There are tactical elements there, sure, but they are largely intentionally left in the background. The most astounding thing in OVA is the amount of different character types it can support, but you better leave your power-gaming hat at the hat-stand, because even a novice attempt to work the system is guaranteed to break it. This is a game for character-players, such as myself.

OVA won’t be satisfying for players who look for realistic or detailed systems, nor will it satisfy people who want to play in a fully shared narrative, such as Fiasco. It has Drama Dice as a mechanic, but as written, those alter the perceived surroundings only in traditional rpg style. There are some written examples though how players can ask questions from GM whether something is in immediate vicinity, but that’s it. This is a game for people somewhere in the middle-ground of those previously mentioned groups, such as myself.

Now here’s the boring stuff. Mechanics. I’m sure that anybody’s who’s worth their google-fu-salt can find out what the mechanics actually are, so I won’t go into details here. The Difficulty Numbers (DN) are too low. As written the DNs go from 2 to 12, but they should go from 4 to 15. That way the percentile chances are exactly what they say they are, from easy – to nearly impossible.

Seriously, check it out. Show some support to Wise Turtle, so that they would be able to give us some more books! :D