Here is an RPG that all you HardKOR fans would like!
Robosmut International
and
Orange Roadies of San Diego
Present
W h i m s i c a l O r a n g e R o a d :
The Role-Playing Game
Version 3.0
Updated: March 1990
Designed By Totoro Hunter Leto II (GEnie: LETO-2)
10849 Macouba Place -- San Diego, CA 92124 USA
Based on Kimagure Orange Road
(C) Izumi Matsumoto and Jump Comics
I n t r o d u c t i o n
"One meeting turned into two loves,
moved three hearts and wraped them in
friendly color. I am Kyosuke Kasuga,
15 years old -- I'm living my youth!"
Kimagure Orange Road is popular comic and animated TV series from Japan
written by a very talented Japanese artist named Izumi Matsumoto. The
story focuses on the Kasuga clan, an ancient family line with rare
esper powers (referred to here as "Cho-no Ryoku" powers, which
translates simply as "super natural powers"), living in Japan, and on a
love triangle between the main character, Kyosuke Kasuga, a cute but
irritating girl named Hikaru Hiyama and the beautiful and enigmatic
Madoka Ayukawa. I liked the universe, liked the way the powers were
set up, and decided to make an RPG system and try it out on my friends.
And now you can too!
This is a roll-playing game. It requires one person to be the Game
Master (GM) and some 10 sided dice. Also, you'll need some paper,
pencils, junk food, xeroxes of the character sheets at the end of this
file, and, oh yes, maybe people who care to play -- at least 2 players,
but not more than 56. Players generally assume the roles of "new"
relatives, distant cousins of Kyosuke's branch of the family, etc., who
were never in the series. Players will have random esper powers and
various stats to help define their character's abilities and goals.
NOTE: Throughout this file I've tried to notate examples of what I'm
talking about from the episodes or the mangas. Episode references will
say something like [cf. episode 22], and manga references will give the
volume and page number, as in [cf. vol. 5, pg. 100].
C r e a t i n g a c h a r a c t e r
If you are playing as existing Orange Road characters, get the stats
and other information in Background, towards the end of this file.
Because the stats listings aren't totally complete (not all possible
stats are included) you'll have to make-up some of the numers based on
the characters. If you're playing regularly with "new" characters in
the Orange Road universe, then follow these simple instructions.
Steps in Character Creation
1. Roll for/choose sex.
2. Choose a name and family relation background. Okay it with the
GM.
3. Choose your age.
4. Roll 1d10 for your three abilities FIGHTING, SMARTS and DAI-SUKI
and adjust.
5. Roll for personality traits/background.
6. Roll your six "extra stuff skills."
7. Roll for hit points (HPs).
8. Roll for power points (PPs)
9. Fill in hair/style and other asthetic features at the bottom of
the page based on your stats.
10. Finally, roll for your primary and secondary esper powers.
"NO FUCKING WAY" RULE: When rolling 1d10 for any number is limited to
one die, rolls of 1 or 2 should be re-rolled, the player calling out
"No Fucking Way" as he re-does the roll. A variant is the "Fuck This
Shit" Rule. These rules apply only while rolling your character and
only rolling for values with only one die in the roll
S E X : Roll 1d10 for your player's sex or, if you prefer, choose
female (you cannot choose male for your character's sex -- you must
roll it). It is not a yes or no question.
1-5 male
6-10 female
N A M E / B A C K G R O U N D : First, choose a name for your
character. Typically, the name should be a standard Japanese one,
either made up or kiped (=stolen) from some other Japanese show (i.e.,
A-ko Aznable, Tetsuo Racer, Speed Hunter, etc.). Then describe your
relation to the Kasuga family -- a cousin living in a nearby town, a
distant relative from another branch of the same family, etc. The
details of the Kasuga family tree from the manga are vague, but it is
clear that there have to be a lot more people with esper abilities than
we see in the series (unless they're inter-breeding awfully close), and
that the line doesn't have to remain pure for esper powers to appear in
new offspring. Be imaginative. Summarize your relationship in a few
words -- who are you? Note that Kasuga is not the name of the line as
a whole -- Kasuga is Takashi's name, and we don't know Akemi's maiden
name (thus, the actual name of the esper clan). Therefore, assume
there are enough branches of the family to accommodate whatever
relation you wish to be and assign any name you choose.
A G E : Write in your desired age. This trait is not rolled randomly.
15-17 is the recommended age range (since this game is a Teenagers From
Outer Space rip-off).
A B I L I T I E S : Your three abilities are FIGHTING (your
hand-to-hand fighting skill, for combat, when needed), SMARTS
(intelligence), and DAI-SUKI (pronounced DIE-ski, which rates your
looks, charisma and all-around appeal). Roll 1d10 for each ability and
write them down lightly in pencil, applying the "No Fucking Way" rule
to values of 1 or 2 (but only on 1d10 rolls for character generation).
You may now adjust your three abilities with ten additional points,
which you may place anywhere you like. An adjusted score may exceed 10
but no ability may go past 15. 15 is god in each respective category.
Remember that.
T R A I T S / B A C K G R O U N D : Roll d% three times against the
following table to receive personality traits, special abilities,
background, etc. Re-roll a given roll only if a) your sex may not be
assigned that trait (see M/F sex notes in parentheses beside each
entry) or b) the GM says you have to, based on the scenario he has
planned for that day. The GM may also assign traits to characters at
his descretion.
In this game, characters have various "goals" which they will try to
accomplish, depending on what kind of adventure they're playing, but
also depending on what they roll on this table; i.e., a player with the
"pervert" trait may be on a quest to get laid, in addition to whatever
else he is trying to accomplish. These individual goals should be paid
attention to by the GM, and employed in a campaign. Good players will
use these traits to improve the game.
All characters should roll three times on the table below, re-rolling
repeated traits or traits for which the player's sex is not allowed.
S P E C I A L T R A I T S /
B A C K G R O U N D S U M M A R Y T A B L E
01-07 M/F PERVERT
08-10 M/F NEARSIGHTED
11-14 F BUTCH +1 FT
15-20 M/F BIKER 9 Drv +2 DS +2 KAKKO
21-24 M/F RADICAL RIGHT-WING RAMBO TYPE
25-28 M/F RADICAL LEFT-WING COMMIE TYPE
29-32 M/F ANTI-AMERICAN NATIONAL
33-37 M/F SUPER EGO/MIRROR SHADES +2 DS
38-40 M/F FAT CHARACTER -1 DS
41-44 M/F FREAK ANIME MORON SYNDROME
45-48 M/F REBELLOUS YOUTH +1 FT -1 DS
49-53 M/F SHADY PAST
54-60 M/F TWIN
61-62 M/F PRECOCIOUSNESS
63-64 M/F RECENTLY MOVED
65-66 F BURIKKO
67-68 M/F COMPUTER GEEK +2 SM (-1 DS if male)
69-70 F WIDDOW/CHITOSE SYNDROME +2 DS
70-74 M/F KARATE KID +2 FT
75-79 M/F TEENAGE NINJA +2 FT +1 SM
80-83 M/F SUPER RICH
84-87 M/F SUPER NICE +2 DS
88-92 M/F RANMA SYNDROME
93-96 M/F ICZER SYND./UN-JAPANESE HAIR/
C-KO SYND./OTHER SHOW CLONE
97-98 Roll twice more on this table
99-00 Roll three times more on this table.
PERVERT (M/F) Character is a "sukebeh," a pervert, (cf. Komatsu and
Hatta, Kyosuke's friends from the series). Character always carries a
condom in his wallet, has at least one anatomically correct blow-up
doll in his room of either a woman or a sheep, and roams the world in
search of teenage girls' panties. Panty raids and sex with teenage
girls are the goals of such a person, and should be played accordingly.
NOTE: All male characters have a certain amount of "pervert" in them,
so this trait is not the only road to sexual innuendo in your game. If
a female gets this trait, she has a wish to have sex with a certain
character (and may or may not be a virgin) because of some upcoming
event (operation, etc. -- cf. episode 21).
NEARSIGHTED (M/F) Like Akane or Manami from Orange Road or Chitose
from Sesame Street, character is so nearsighted that, without aid
(contacts or glasses) the character would be unable to recognize
familar people at close range. Roll 1d10: on 1-5, character has
glasses and no contacts; 6-10, character wears contacts.
BUTCH (F) [cf. Akane] Character is bisexual, shunning men and
preferring women instead. Character will probably be infatuated with
some other female and will try to seduce her -- that might be a goal
assigned by the GM. Character is also loud, strong-willed and
unfeminine. Add +1 to fighting.
BIKER (M/F) Character has a buff bike and wears riding leathers to
bed. Character has a good style to go with his toy. +2 to dai-suki,
and +2 to Kakko (in the "extra stuff skills") when rolled. Characters
with this trait automatically have a DRIVING (in the "special stuff
skills") of 9.
RADICAL RIGHT-WING RAMBO TYPE (M/F) Character loves guns and buck
knives and will have one or the other one his or her person all the
time. Character loves Ollie North and Ronald Reagan and is in the NRA,
and, of course, has "seen Rambo 600 times." For combat purposes,
firearms do not do damage against opponents and cannot be used for that
purpose (they will conveniently jam at the worst possible moment). In
terms of Japan, the character's conservative attitude is expressed by
his desire to see Japan re-arm.
RADICAL LEFT-WING COMMIE TYPE (M/F) Character is a "tax and spend
liberal" in the spirit of Carter, Dukakis and LBJ. Character abhors
guns, thinks that Japan (a very conservative country by American
standards) should nationalize industry and institute massive welfare
programs. And abortion! Character advocates state-funded abortions on
demand. Character also wears tie-die T-shirts everywhere.
ANTI-AMERICAN NATIONALIST (M/F) Character is very nationalistic and
detests any American influence, including Japanese influenced overly
much by American culture, called "Katakana Boys/Girls." Character
thinks that Japan can say "no" to America and should at every
opportunity. Character's English cannot advance past 5 in the skills
roll, below.
SUPER-EGO (M/F) Character smokes cigarettes, thinks rather highly of
him or herself, and "Omae wa mo shinde-ru" to inanimate objects.
Character usually has a short nickname like "B-D" or "Coach" and wears
cool mirror shades. Add +2 to dai-suki.
FAT CHARACTER (M/F) In nearly every anime show where there is a
medium-sized group of characters, one person is always characterized by
being taller and more overweight than any of the others. You are this
character (cf. Ben Dixon or Lunk from Robotech, Kotaro-san from Touch,
Mama from Laputa, or the Pillsbury Ninja Chick from Crying Freeman Pt.
2). Add +2 to HP score when you roll it, later, and take -1 off
DAI-SUKI now.
FREAK ANIME MORON SYNDROME (M/F) In all anime shows, there is one
character who looks totally different than anyone else (cf. Dr. Slump,
Dr. Sane, Godzilla the cat from Dirty Pair, etc.). This character
serves in this role. For some reason, no one else seems to notice how
stupid the character's face looks, so there is no DAI-SUKI adjustment.
REBELLOUS YOUTH (M/F) (cf. Madoka in the first episode, smoking behind
the school with Hikaru, or Johnny Winters from the English translation
of Megazone 23 Pt. 2.) Character smokes, insults teachers, cuts
classes, and generally needs an attitude adjustment. Doesn't get along
well with other students. Their goals are an easy life and freedom
from parents, school, etc. +1 on fighting, -1 on dai-suki.
SHADY PAST (M/F) Character has a secret shady past which may include
a) a previous lover, b) hanging out with a certain type of "warui"
(bad) crowd or c) a history of sleeping around.
TWIN (M/F) Character has a twin, either identical or non-identical.
The twin can be either one of the other characters or an NPC character
controlled by the GM (but making his/her twin a player is
recommended).
PRECOCIOUSNESS (M/F) (cf. Kazuya or Akane.) Character likes to get
into trouble and frequently stirs up trouble with his or her powers.
For example, telling secrets, lifting up girl's skirts to show panties
with his powers, playing practical jokes, etc. This character tends to
use his or her powers at the worst times and often seems to have to
greatest risk of anyone of giving away the family secret.
RECENTLY MOVED (M/F) Character has recently moved into the
neighborhood and will know no more than 1-2 of the other characters he'll
be close to. The reason character had to move from the last place he or
she lived will have something to do with the esper powers (i.e.,
somebody found out so they had to move, etc.).
BURIKKO (F) In Japan, burikko (buRI-ko) are a breed of false,
two-faced Japanese teenage girls who fake interest in things, who say
"kawaiiiiii!" (cute) when they see a puppy, all on the same chord, etc.
The word comes from "buru" which is "to be false" and "ko" the historic
last syllable in girls' names. Hikaru is Burrikko, to some extent, as
is Kurumi and sometimes Manami. They give headaches to the rest of
us.
COMPUTER GEEK (M/F) Character is intelligent, and can work most any
computer. Proficient at hacking, carding and phreaking. +2 on smarts.
Also, -1 on dai-suki if male.
CHITOSE SYNDROME (F) Character is like the beautiful Chitose-san
(chi-toe-se) from the Sesame Street mangas. Character (female), got
married a few months ago to a good Japanese man who, right after the
wedding, had to go away on business then died in a plane crash.
Therefore the character is a widow without having really had a marriage
to lose. Character gets +2 on DAI-SUKI because I feel like it. Note
that the character's age must be 19.
KARATE KID (M/F) Character is highly proficient at kendo, karate and
other forms of martial arts at the black belt level. Character with
this trait may make a special "Crane" attack in addition to other forms
of attacks. If do right, can no defend. +2 on fighting.
TEENAGE NINJA (M/F) Character is a secret ninja, working for an
ancient Japanese family or something. His or her individual long range
goals should be set by the GM -- something interesting, please, like
assassinating someone, recovering something valuable. GM, you may want
to keep this from the other players, to add to the fun. Teenage Ninjas
making a "ninja strike" attack may attack twice on the same target
only. +2 on fighting, +1 on smarts.
SUPER-RICH (M/F) Character has unlimited wealth -- maybe he or she is
the child of Takeshita or something. Character is snotty and selfish
about the whole thing (cf. Lendo Rivalsan from Ninja High School or
Mendo Shuutaro from UY). Characters with this trait may, when they
want to intimidate a character, make a "Katana Attack," in which they
cause a sword to materialize out of thin air and attack their enemy,
screaming insults in Japanese. The attacked person will always catch
the sword in his palms and will never have damage caused to him, and
will look scared while doing this. The player may never use the
samurai sword in normal combat (but could use it to perform certain
special tasts in non-combat situations).
SUPER-NICE (M/F) Character is a really nice person, with clean, proper
motivations for everything and a healthy capacity for guilt when
necessary (cf. Kyosuke from Orange Road, Kasumi from Ranma 1/2 or
Minami from Touch). If female, character is totally into classic
kimonos and geta (geh-ta, which are those wooden shoes they wear). +2
to DAI-SUKI.
RANMA SYNDROME (M/F) While travelling in China, this character fell
into one of the mysterious "Cho-chuan-shan" pools, where some specific
person or animal has died a few thousand years ago, ala Ranma 1/2.
Now, whenever this player gets soaked with cold water something
interesting will happen (changing sex, turning into some animal like a
pig or a cat, developing features like former President Nixon, etc.).
Warm water will turn the character back to his or her "base" state.
Rain, bath water, and water being discarded by being dumped out a
window are ways for the character to change; the jury is still out on
sweat and urine.
ICZER SYNDROME/UN-JAPANESE HAIR/C-KO SYNDROME/OTHER SHOW CLONE SYNDROME
(all M/F except C-KO, which is female only) GM should select one of
the above four and assign it to the character. Characters with Iczer
syndrome will look elfish, with vulcan ears and thin faces. Characters
with un-Japanese hair will have an orange afro, purple "Shin Kazama"
hair, or some other odd non-Japanese color. Females with C-ko syndrome
will act like C-ko from "Project A-ko" (big mouth, crying rivers out of
the eyes, age 2-3 years younger than most other characters in the
group, immaturity). Other Show Clone Syndrome means there is, in some
other anime show, a character designed by the same character designer
as you who copied your character's style exactly (cf. anything by
Mitsuru Adachi, like Touch and Rough and Miyuki).
" E X T R A S T U F F S K I L L S " : Your six "skills" are
ENGLISH, SPORTS, DRIVING, KAKKO, VIRGINITY and SWIMMING. Abilities
range from 1-10 or have "yes/no/sort of" values. If any number ability
goes above 10, make it 10; below 1, make it 1. Most are
self-explanitory. KAKKO (pronounced kah-koe and meaning 'style') is an
extension of DAI-SUKI, your general style or glamor, what kind of first
impressions you make, how you come across when wanting to sound
'tough.' VIRGINITY is whether or not you've slept with someone of the
opposite sex (or of the same sex, in some circumstances).
ENGLISH: Roll (1d10/2)+(SMARTS/2). If the score is 5 or less write
in "no"; 6-7, "sort of"; and 8 or higher, write in "yes."
SPORTS: Roll 1d10-2. If FIGHTING is above 11, add one. If
DAI-SUKI is above 11, add one more.
DRIVING: Roll 1d10-1. If your age is 18 or over, add one. If 20 or
over, add 2. If the value is 1-5, write in "no"; if 6-7,
"sort of"; above 7, write "yes."
KAKKO: Roll (1d10/2)+(DAI-SUKI/2). Kyosuke has a Kakko of 3 or
so. Madoka is 14 when she wants to be.
VIRGINITY: Roll 1d10. Add +1 for every year above 17 your character
is. If your character has one or more of the following,
add +1 for each: BUTCH, BIKER, SHADY PAST, SUPER EGO, or,
if character is female, PERVERT. Subtract 1 for each of
the following: FAT CHARACTER, RT. WING RAMBO, LFT. WING
LIBERAL, BURIKKO or COMPUTER GEEK. Subtract 3 if character
has SUPER NICE trait. If Kakko, above, is 7 or up and
character is female, add +1; if male, add +2. If the
resulting number is 1-4 write in "yes" (yes, they're a
virgin); if it's 5-7 write in "sort of" (had some
experience of some sort but is "officially" still a
virgin); higher than 7, write in "no." Only non-virgin men
(and all women) are totally immune to nosebleeds. (Note
that this is one ability you can obviously alter by game
play.)
SWIMMING: Roll (SPORTS+1d10/2)/3 and drop decimal. 1-2=no, can't
swim. 3=can swim barely. 4-5=yes, can swim and could
perform lifesaving techniques.
H I T P O I N T S : Though this game will not focus on combat unlike
Mekton or Battletech, as it is a "fun" RPG, hit points are necessary
because I feel like putting them in the game. When your character, for
whatever reason, reaches 0, he has not died but is rather "beaten up"
-- death will only happen in extreme cases at the GM's discretion.
Roll 1d10+4 for your hit points. If your FIGHTING exceeds 8 add +1.
If it exceeds 12 add +2. If it is 15 add +3.
P O W E R P O I N T S : Power Points (PPs) are energy points for
your "Cho-no-ryok" powers. Each time you use one of your powers to do
some specific action, subtract the per-use cost for that amount.
Roll 1d10/2+6 for your PPs. The range is therefore 7-11.
A S T H E T I C S : At the bottom of the character sheet, fill in
hair color and style, eye color and basic body build. (In other words,
what character's appearance are you ripping off, who do you want us to
be reminded of when we picture your character?) These indicators
should reflect your other stats -- in other words, if you rolled
"un-Japanese hair color" you cannot put in "black" for that category;
if you have only 5 hit points, do not write in "robust" for your
stature.
E S P E R P O W E R S : Since no one would want to be a "normal"
human (with no powers), all players who are playing with a character
that they rolled up are related in some way to the Kasuga clan and thus
have esper-powers. All players have a "primary" power and three or
more "secondary" powers. NOTE: Abilities cannot be gained later in
the game by getting more "experience points" or killing Orcs, and you
must take what you get. If your character really sucks because of bad
rolls feel free to start with a new one.
The number following the d% range is the "per use" cost in PPs of that
power. It takes this amount of PPs to perform one "action" (such as
picking up someone and suspending them in the air for a few minutes,
teleporting once, etc.). If the defined, specific action takes an
especially long time (i.e., is more than one "action"), more PPs should
be deducted at the GM's descretion. Note that, a player utilizing
telekinesis, for example, as a primary power, gets it at a lower cost
than someone who has a different primary power. To keep powers that
are either on or off (such as telekinesis) "on" requires concentration,
so other actions (like running or fighting) or extremely difficult (25%
of letting the esper power go per attempt) and utilizing a second esper
power while another is activated is impossible.
Characters who have 1/3rd or so of their normal PP number will be very
tired, and will fall asleep 25% of the time. A character cannot go
below 0 PPs under any circumstances.
All players should roll once on the primary powers table and three
times on the secondary powers table, ignoring repeats of the same power
from primary to secondary to normal to lesser.
E s p e r - P o w e r s T a b l e s
Primary Powers
01-35 (1) TELEKINESIS
36-59 (2) TELEPORTATION
60-91 (2) TELEPATHY
92-99 Choose one above.
Secondary Powers
01-17 (3) TELEKINESIS
18-25 (2) TELEPORTATION
26-28 (4) TELEPATHY
29-32 (3) SUPER SPEED
32-37 (1) SUPER SENSES
38-43 (2) X-RAY VISION
44-49 (0) PROPHETIC DREAMS ("YOCHIMU")
50-53 (0) BODY SWAP
54-56 (0) LESSER BODY SWAP *
57-61 (3) IDENTITY CHANGE (TRANSMOGRIFY)
62-67 (2) PHANTASM PROJECTION
68-74 (5) TIME TRAVEL
75-77 (3) HYPNOTIZE/PUSH
78-79 (2) LESSER HYPNOSIS *
80-84 (1) COMMUNICATE WITH NATURE
85-88 (2) INVISIBILITY
89-92 (1) SIXTH-SENSE
93 (NA) POTENTIAL-KINETIC ENERGY
ENERGY CONVERSION
94-97 Roll twice more on this table.
98-00 Roll three times more on this table.
* Because this power sucks, roll once more.
TELEKINESIS: Also known as, how to keep your cat at home. This is a
common power, held by most of the espers from Orange Road. Telekinesis
gives users the following abilities: 1) a standard long-range "mental
appendage" which can lift or otherwise manipulate up to 250 lbs. (but
only things either in sight or familiar -- a 100 lb. bed from home 10
miles away could be lifted and brought, but a lock could not bee opened
because the mechanism is not in sight); 2) the ability to augment speed
on a bicycle [cf. episode 16], while running [ep. 1], etc.; 3) a slow
self-levitation under 200 feet off the ground (as well as spin-off
powers, such as floating over water); 4) the ability to stop one person
(yourself or someone else) from falling, and to lift a second person
straight up (i.e., pulling someone out of the water [cf. episode 18]);
5) a shield a few inches away from the esper's body which can stop
punches and can deflect bullets (but not Lasers, as Tetsuo knows); and
6) a kind of "effort/push blast" which uses a 6 PPs in one jolt but
which summons an enormous amount of power to be channeled through the
esper and does approx. 20 hp of damage to all people (and objects) in
the path of the blast [cf. ep. 19, blowing away the rock ledge, ep. 47,
before he saved 6-years ago Madoka from falling, and the Hawaiian
Suspense and Akane OAVs] (this kind of power is tied to
potential-kinetic energy conversion as seen in the movie Akira). The
main differences in the primary and secondary uses of this power is the
"per use" number -- espers using telekinesis as a secondary power are
less efficient than primary users.
TELEPORTATION: Characters using Teleportation as their primary power
can teleport themselves and several others (add one "per use" point for
each additional person) to any familiar place. They can also teleport
objects (like panties off of girls while they're standing there) and
can "flip" two objects (two photographs, for example) of similar size.
Secondary users can only teleport and flip objects but can, in absolute
emergencies, spend 5 PPs to teleport only themselves to some familiar
place [cf. the T.A.P. Gun episode and the Robot Kyo-chan episode, where
Manami and Kurumi teleport themselves). CHANGE: Related to
teleportation is the ability to change or alter colors, shapes and the
general make-up of various objects (changing the colors of mushrooms
from orange to blue, changing numbers on a menu or a hotel room door).
It works the same as normal teleportation with regard to PP cost, and
both primary and secondary users can utilize the power.
TELEPATHY: Telepathy is mind-reading and telepathic communication
(a.k.a. shining). Characters with this power as a primary power (like
Kazuya, Kyosuke's young cousin) can read minds easily (although it
requires a physical effort -- the power is not "on" all the time) and
can tell intentions of people nearby. They can also communicate via a
psychic "voice" in someone else's head [cf. episode 44 and 46] and can
lock onto someone's general location through their thoughs (if they are
relatively nearby, within one mile). Secondary users of this power
will, through great effort, get some general idea of some someone is
thinking and can, with great difficulty, focus on someone's mind and
communicate with them. Such interpretations are apt to be vague,
however. In one episode, Kyosuke tried to read Ayukawa, who was
thinking of her sister's wedding. He had a vague vision of her in a
wedding gown and got the wrong idea completely [cf. ep. 11].
SUPER SPEED: This is one power of A-ko, a distant cousin of the
"Kasuga clan" from a distant Japanese city. Character uses 1 "per use"
point for each minute of super-speed activity. Running at 50 mph (with
up to one person in tow behind you) and multiple melee attacks per
round (up to three) can be achieved. Character will run through and
destroy a building 25% of the time per single action performed at
super-speed, or for every one minute of super-speed movement.
SUPER-SENSES: Player can hear something clearly from up to 100 meters
away if he can see the speakers or knows what direction they are in
(i.e., character is hiding right around the corner so he can't see the
speakers, but knows where they are), and can similarly see something up
close from up to 100 meters [cf. manga, volume 7 pg. 89]. Note that
this power must be used consciously -- it's not just on all the time.
X-RAY VISION: Enables characters to look through things -- into
another room, into a safe, etc. Unfortunately for male characters who
get nosebleeds easily, anyone they look at with their X-ray vision will
appear naked to them and they must make a nosebleed roll! They cannot
see through lead.
PROPHETIC DREAMS: Character sometimes has prophetic bad dreams (called
"yochimu") about loved ones dying, turning on them, coming on to them,
or other bad things happening, which nearly always come true later that
day, but often not exactly as expected. Once, Kyosuke dreamed of
Ayukawa saying she hated him, but it turned out to be a
misunderstanding -- she was saying she hated something else. Another
time Kyosuke mistakenly got the idea that Hikaru was going to die
because of one of these dreams [cf. vol. 5, pg. 72]. Note: Utilizing
this power is a good way to structure a plot for an adventure, GMs.
BODY SWAP: Kazuya's famous power. When heads are bumped, bodies are
swapped. Whatever esper powers each player has are retained when the
swap is made [cf. vol. 6, pg. 12]. Thus, Kyosuke in Kazuya's body
cannot use Kazuya's telepathy but can use his own teleportation.
LESSER BODY SWAP: This is Kyosuke's version, put here only to fix an
apparent inconsistency in the show. Once, Kyosuke crashed heads with a
famous rock star, Mitsuru Hiyakawa, and flipped bodies. Another time,
Kazuya bumped a cat's head to the sleeping Kyosuke's, causing them to
change. Characters with this trait will swap bodies 50% of the time,
as opposed to always with the other version.
IDENTITY CHANGE: This is the power of Akane, who is only in the manga
and one OAV episode. To one person at a time (we are ignoring the
part, in the Akane OAV, where she affectecs both Hatta and Komatsu at
the same time, which was sloppy on the part of the animators), you can
appear as whomever you want, in whatever costume you decide, roughly
relative to the body size of the character employing the power. Others
will see you as you really are. If a character knows about your power,
he must roll make a "clue roll", rolling lower than 30+(his SMARTS
score*2) on d% or he will still be beguiled by the rouse. Characters
not knowing will automatically be caught (even if the player knows what
is happening the character will not necessarily and must be played that
way). Note that, if the character trying to change their own form is
scared or upset or sick, he or she will likely make mistakes with this
power, blink into the wrong shape, etc. (50% chance).
PHANTASM PROJECTION: With this power, a player can create an "object"
by bending light into familiar shapes and projecting them onto walls or
into fog or mist. Kurumi uses this power (in addition to other powers)
to create a UFO in episode 16 and again in episode 18 to project scenes
of leisure at the beach on her father's darkroom. Human shapes that
can fool others into thinking they're looking at that person cannot be
created; only one-dimensional images. The "per use" cost of 2 PPs is
good for 2 minutes of projection.
TIME TRAVEL: Kyosuke's grandfather has this power. You can go to any
time you wish, taking with you as many as you like [see vol. 15-16], or
you can send people without going yourself [as in episodes 47-48, the
last two episodes of the series]. In any other time other than "base"
time, esper powers will not work, save time travel (of the person who
brought you to the "new" time only). The only regular power that can
be used is the "effort-push blast" extension of telekinesis, which
causes a great out-pouring of energy and light which the player must
ride, and this is only in extreme emergencies. In the past, events
can change the present, they just tend not to. Note that you do not
move when you use the power, you stay where you were standing, and will
appear at the same point in whatever new time you go to.
HYPNOTIZE/PUSH: You can hypnotize one person per day to do your
bidding [as in manga vol. 17, pg. 148, and elsewhere]. The effect
eventually wears off when all the fun is over. The push-ee will be put
into a state of suggestion, becomming a virtual robot, in which he or
she will do anything anyone tells him or her with a simple "Hai" (which
means "yes").
LESSER HYPNOSIS: This power explains Kyosuke's self-hypnosis.
Character can hypnotize himself into being something "more," either
stronger or more manly or less of a wimp or even more of a pervert [see
vol. 5, pg. 9 for a good example, or episode 25]. A character with an
identity problem might try to make him or herself more assertive;
stopping smoking or overeating are other possibilities. It's done by
staring at yourself in a mirror and repeating the word you want to
become. The process is undone either by the character un-doing it
himself in a mirror or by being jarred, slapped or dumped in water.
Characters can easily become assholes with this power. GMs should use
caution with this power, if for no other reason than I felt like typing
this sentence here.
COMMUNICATE WITH NATURE: This was the power of Akemi Kasuga, the
mother of Kyosuke, Manami and Kurumi, who died (in childbirth with the
twins?). The user can communicate with all things in nature. Animals
may be persuaded (never ordered) to do the bidding of the user roughly
half the time (but never plants). Character will have a great affinity
for all things in nature and will be a member of greenpeace.
INVISIBILITY: User can be invisible at will. He can still be smelled,
heard and bumped into, thus he has every minute a 1 in 10 chance of
being discovered accidentally, or a 5 in 10 chance of being discovered
if being looked for by someone who knows about the invisibility. In
combat, characters attacking an invisible character take -3 on their to
hit scores. The "per use" cost of 2 PPs with this power is deducted
per use and again after every 5 minutes of constant use.
SIXTH-SENSE: Whenever danger in whatever form is nearby, the character
will sense it in vague ways, ala Spidey Sense.
VOICE MANIPULATION: The user of this power can throw his or her voice
as if by ventroquilism and can further alter it to sound like anything
he or she wants (including another person's voice). This power is tied
to Identity Change.
POTENTIAL-KINETIC ENERGY CONVERSION: This is the power of Akira
Kasuga, the (eventual) son of Madoka and Kyosuke, and of Tetsuo, and
the "special children" in the movie Akira. A character with this power
can draw on the vast store of potential energy in the cosmos and may
channel it into the real world in just about any way he pleases (ala
Delphi from Radix?). Character can utilitize an incredibly powerful
version of telekenesis (with which you could crush things or manipulate
and animate piles of rubble, smash cities, bridges, etc.), has full
flight, a shield that is impervious to almost everything, etc.
Characters with this power should roll 3d10*10 for their "super
hit-points" which will take the place of their standard hit points for
game purposes. There is a 10% chance per use of any power drawing on
potential energy that control will be lose and something will go wrong.
There is a 10% chance if some measure of control is lost that the
character's energy will go berserk and will destroy whatever city they
are in to a radius of 10 miles (thus a 1 in 100 chance per use of this
power that the city will be history).
P l a y i n g
Nature of the "Cho-no-ryok" Powers
In our universe there is a certain well of power that some beings may
draw on and wield for their own purposes. It is the force that powers
the galactic core, given shape on Earth and other worlds by special,
"chosen" beings. This "Cho-no Ryoku" power (it translates as simply
"super natural power") was called magic in the middle ages, and the
forces of the occult today. (Users of this power are called
"Cho-no-ryoku-sha" which I would just translate as Superman.) This
power is the energy of all things waiting to come into creation,
created by all living thigns, the true form of "potential energy" -- it
is the source of the power of Akira and Tetsuya from the movie Akira,
of the Newtypes, of Mai the Psychic girl, and also of Trelana of
Telezart. It is The Force. In Japan, in the present day, a family who
for generations has been specially attuned to the "Cho-no-ryoku" powers
lives, and that is the "Kasuga" clan (really their name is unknown, so
we use the name of Takashi Kasuga, who is Kyosuke's father and only
related to the family by marriage).
Goals
All esper characters have one unifying goal: The secret of their
family's powers must never be learned by the world at large. When
others learn of their power, bad things happen, and families have to
move to different towns (this happened to Kyosuke's family several
times), or worse (capture by the CIA for use as weapons against the
Soviets?). This is the overlying rule that all esper players must
follow -- no use of powers around people who don't know the secret
where such powers can't be covered up somehow (except in special
circumstances, as in the "nuclear destruction of Japan" scenario at the
end of this file).
In addition, most characters have one or more general goals which they
are always working towards (Kyosuke's love for Ayukawa, for example).
Certain other goals will crop up during play, either for one character
assigned by the GM (a love interest, getting something from someone,
embarrassing someone, getting laid), possibly depending on what
personality traits the character has rolled, or will be discovered
during play as the main goal of the game. Goals must be worked
towards, but not always achieved immediately.
Goals should be declared so that the players understand them, where
applicable. If one female character has had a girl develop a crush on
her, and her "goal" is to let her off easily, she has not accomplished
her goal if she hurts the girl's feelings severely. She should be well
aware of what she must do to fulfill her assigned goal.
Combat
ROUNDS: Combat is divided into three-second "rounds" of time in which
each character (player or NPC) on each side will get to do one
"action," such as attacking, using a power, or running up to something.
(For simplicity, movement and position are simplified here.) Note that
if you have levitated someone with your Telekinesis power, you must
expend your action each round of combat keeping him where you want him
(in other words, no attacking while using an ability continually,
because you're using your action that round levitating the other person
-- although you won't subtract the "per use" PP number again for the
same action).
INITIATIVE: Initiative should be rolled at the start of every round to
see which side (the good guys or the bad guys) will attack first. Each
side should roll 1d10, and the highest roll wins the roll. Ties will
be re-rolled.
SURPRISE: If one side has surprised the other, it automatically gains
the initiative for the first round only. Note that they have to be
close enough to attack (within three meters or so) unless they are make
a thrown or missile attack of some kind. If they're not within "melee"
range, then the character must take an action to go to them.
DECLARING TARGET and ATTACK: It is the responsibility of the player to
declare which enemy he is attacking and what kind of attack he is
making (bare hands, hundred-fisted strike, etc.), if the GM doesn't
already know. If this declaration is not made or previously understood
by the GM before the to hit roll is made, the most logical and/or least
beneficial to the player situation should be assumed by the GM.
NOTE: A short list should be maintained by the GM which shows what
type of weapons each character will be using in combat (depending on
what they have and what they used last), as well as the stats, powers,
hit points, etc., of each character.
ATTACKING: A player making an attack should roll 2d10 (not 1d20) and
consult the table on the next page. Determine the 'to hit' score based
on what kind of attack it is (bare hand, large blunt weapon, etc.).
(Note that FIGHTING in the to hit column refers to the FIGHTING ability
score of the character doing the attacking.) NOTE: When a number must
be divided by another number and a fraction is left, the fraction is
always dropped. Every successful hit, however, does at least one hit
point of damage (so 2/3 would become 1 by default).
MODIFIERS: Consult below for modifiers, which make it harder or easier
to hit. A character is "in shock" if he is totally off balance
(non-espers subjected to body swap, identity change or create phantasm,
for example, would be in shock). Shock last 1-2 rounds. If the
character doing the attacking is stunned, take a -3 of the to hit
number (i.e., if that character had a 10 to hit with his bare hands, he
would now have to roll a 7 or less to hit). If the character cannot
move or is off the ground completely (levitated by an esper using
telekenesis, for example), he takes -5, and so on, according to the
table on the next page.
Remember, if something modifies the "to hit" score by a positive number
(+), it is making it easier to hit. Negative modifiers (-) make it
harder to hit (by reducing the number you have to roll less than or
equal to).
A T T A C K M A S T E R T A B L E
Attack To hit Damage
Bare Hands FIGHTING FIGHTING/3
Normal kick FIGHTING-2 FIGHTING/2
Balls kick FIGHTING-2 FIGHTING/2+2
Ninja Strike* FIGHTING 1d10/3
Crane Technique** FIGHTING-2 10 hp
100-Fisted Strike*** FIGHTING-4 already dead
100t Sledgehammer $ FIGHTING*2 humiliation
Katana Attack $ n/a humiliation
"Holding Attack" $$ base of 10 holding
Small Blunt Weapon FIGHTING+1 1d10/2
Large Blunt Weapon FIGHTING+2 1d10+1
Small Dart/Guitar Pick^ FIGHTING-2 1d10/3
Shuriken/Throw Stars^ FIGHTING-1 1d10/2
Playing Card^ FIGHTING-2 1d10/3
Knife FIGHTING 1d10/2+3
Yo Yo FIGHTING+1 1d10+1
Ball & Cup FIGHTING-1 1d10+3
Nanchucks FIGHTING-2 1d10+5
Small Blunt Missile^ FIGHTING-1 1d10/3
Large Blunt Missile^ FIGHTING-3 1d10/2
Small Firearm (.22)^ ~ FIGHTING+3 1d10+2
Lg. Firearm/Shotgun^ ~ FIGHTING+3 1d10+8
Auto. Weapons^ ~ FIGHTING+5 3d10+5
Akira Laser^ ~ FIGHTING+2 5d10+8
^ Indicates "missile" (not melee) attacks.
~ Indicates weapon that can actually kill you.
* For characters with TEENAGE NINJA trait only (2 attx)
** For characters with KARATE KID trait only.
*** For character with FIGHTING of 15 only.
$ For women attacking perverts in non-combat situation.
$$ Made by two attackers against one victem.
To Hit Modifiers (for the attacker)
Defender is in shock +3 to hit
Defender is levitated +5
Defender has "super speed" -3
Defender is blind or helpless +5
Defender has cover (mssl. only) -3
Defender is drunk +2
Attacker is using telekinesis
to right missile object +2
Defender is invisible -3
Attacker is invisible +3
Attacker is drunk +2
When making your attack, you want to roll less than or equal to the
number in the to hit column, adjusted for modifiers, as shown above.
So if you normally need 10 to make a "bare hands" attack (the base of
which is the attacker's FIGHTING score) on some other person and they
are drunk (+2 to the "to hit" number needed), you need to roll a 12 or
lower (10+2=12) to hit them with 2d10.
ATTACKS:
Bare hands refers to any punch, jab or other normal weaponless
attack.
A Ninja Strike attack, for characters with TEENAGE NINJA as a
trait, allows two attacks to be made in one round on the same character
or different characters.
KARATE KID characters can do a flat 10 hp of damage with their
special Crane Technique attack.
The Hundred Fisted Strike is for anyone with FIGHTING of 15 and
"kills" any opponent (knocks them out) instantly.
The 100t Sledgehammer is a non-combat attack any woman can make
against a pervert coming onto her, in which she produces out of thin
air a large sledgehammer and crowns the offending pervert with it,
resulting in embarrasment and humilation for the pervert but no real
damage (it is similar to the Katana Attack made by anyone with the
Super-Rich trait in non-combat situations).
Playing Card attacks entail throwing a normal playing card and
slicing your enemies. If hit, it does the rolled amount of damage to
any three enemies, then returns to the attacker.
Guitar pick attacks (used by Ayukawa a lot) are thrown and stick in
your hand. The victim must take one round to pull the pick out of his
hand.
Making such attacks as a small blunt missile require that something
is either on the person of the attacker to throw or can be found very
close by. A billy club is an example of a small blunt weapon, a
baseball bat of a large blunt weapon, etc. Note that this game is
based in contemporary Japan, thus such objects as swords and guns are
generally absent. If you come across a weapon which needs new stats,
create it yourself based on the data available.
"YATSU": The term "yatsu" should be defined here. In Japanese, it
roughly translates to "guy" but with heavy derogitory undertones
(perhaps "jerk" is closer). This word appears in the title URUSEI
YATSURA (the "ra" on "yatsura" acting as a plural). Yatsu are first
and foremost a generic type of "bad guy" character in most comics by
Izumi Matsumoto and several other mangas. Yatsu are generic "tough
guys" who love to abuse women and gang up on the weak. In general,
combat in this RPG will be against yatsu-type characters.
YATSU TERMS: Below are some examples of the kinds of things "tough
guy" characters say in Japanese, and their translations. You can use
them in your adventure.
Ii kagen ni shiro (yo) Cut (it) out, cut out
(Ii kagen ni shite kure) the shit.
Kuso! Shit
Kono yaro! (lit. "this jerk")
What a jerk!
Koitsu (da)! (kono yatsu) (lit.
"this yatsu") What a
jerk!
Omae wa mo shindru You are already dead
Shi-ne! Die!
Ba-kya-ro, baka yaro! Stupid fool!
Yurusen, Yurusenai I'll never forget this
ESPER COMBAT: Esper combat works just like regular combat, rolling for
surprise, initiative, etc., but new "to hit" and damage values for the
various things you can lift, throw, spit and do with all the various
esper powers. For general use with combat among espers, hit points
should be "stretched" to keep characters from getting knocked out too
early. In other words, where a cinderblock thrown with telekinesis
would certainly put a normal human out of commission (and possibly kill
him or her), an esper should still be able to fight. When two espers
try to use the same power to gain different goals, the one with a
higher basic PP score will win out [cf. Ojiichan trying to get away
form Obaachan in episode 41].
RUNNING AWAY: If one group decides to run away, the group they're
fighting gets one free attack on them. The subsequent chase scene will
be a close one, with both groups running roughly the same speed (as in
all Orange Road chase scenes). Thus, the characters must use some
other factor to escape -- hiding or inventive use of esper abilities.
SUPREME BULLSHIT ACTION: Once per adventure, a character with a
DAI-SUKI of 13-15 and a KAKKO (sub-skill) of 7-10 may do one "supreme
bullshit action" that involves dexterity or athletic skills that no
normal human could possibly do. The action should a) be okayed with
the GM, b) have to do with athletic ability or dexterity rather than
esper powers, and c) should be original and unique (i.e., good plot
material if this were a real episode). A good example is the time
Madoka cut a skateboard that was flying through the air at her friend's
face in half from across the room by throwing a guitar pick at it [from
ep. 37] (and therein lies the inspiration for this paragraph). Other
examples are, A-ko ascending to the enemy spaceship by walking on the
missiles coming at her, and Madoka flipping her earring in the face of
an attacker while she was being held [from the Akane OAV].
CLUE ROLL: At certain times the GM will want to roll if a given
character has figured out a certain situation in the game. This called
a "clue roll." There is a 30+(smarts*2)% chance of figuring out the
"average" fact (knowing some detail, understanding something kept from
that character, figuring out that someone that character is talking to
is an esper using Identity Change (but only if they know that person
has the power), etc.). Clue rolls cannot be made twice by the same
character without gaining some new piece of knowledge, and even if the
player knows a certain fact, if the player does not know, the player
must play his character that way.
ROLLING FOR BANDAGES: Whenever a player finishes a combat sequence in
which he lost at least one hit point, and has less than half his
original hit points, he must roll for bandages, crutches and broken
bones. There is a 40%+2*((max HP) - (current HP)) chance that the
player will have some external and visible damage (roll this off a d%).
If there is external damage, roll 1d10 against the following table.
1-5 Assorted scrapes, shiners and band-aids
6-7 Arm in a sling
8-9 Character on crutches
10 One broken arm, one broken leg
Note that, in the spirit of anime, bandages, slings and crutches
magically appear, just like the 100t sledgehammers in City Hunter and
kettles of hot water in Ranma 1/2. Minor injuries (1-5 on the table)
will disappear within 15 minutes.
JOINING POWERS: Under certain circumstances, two or more espers may
combine their powers, especially if the power they are trying to
amplify is telekenesis. Thus a Gamilon Planet Bomb might be
successfully deflected by a group of cosmically powerful espers living
somewhere near Yokohama, Japan. Merging of power increases powers
exponentially -- If one person could lift 200 lbs. with his
telekinesis, then two could lift 400, three, 800, four, 1600, etc.
O t h e r S t u f f
ROLLING FOR USHIKO-SAN & UMAO-SAN: There is a grossly overused but
still amusing inside joke in Orange Road concerning two lovers, a woman
named Ushiko (OOshko) and a man named Umao (OOma-o) [see manga vol. 5,
pg. 100 or any episode]. (Ushiko is the word for cow with "ko" on the
end; Umao is Uma "horse" plus "o" on the end -- this is funny to
Japanese, trust us.) At any random point in the show the characters
interrupt the two lovers reciting their famous line: "Anata wa doshite
-san nan da?" ("Wherefore art thou, -san?"). In any 5
minute period of actual game play, the GM should roll for Ushiko-san
and Umao-san appearing to say their line and make some silly joke. At
some other times, the pair may be inserted into an adventure directly.
NOSEBLEED ROLLS: Male characters who are virgins will get a nosebleed
75-3*(dai-suki)% of the time of the time when put into a sexually
embarrassing situation. Examples of the situations are having a girl
come on to them, walking in on a nude woman, having Ayukawa's towel
fall off her unexpectedly, etc. Male characters who are "sort of"
virgins (a VIRGINITY of 2) get nosebleeds 25-3*(dai-suki)% of the time.
Studs and females never do [see vol. 5, pg. 168 or vol. 10, pg. 16 for
an example of nosebleeds].
"MUNE" ROLL": Also called a "notice tits" roll. If male, when "futari
de" (alone with one other person) who is female with a DAI-SUKI of 12
or higher, you should make a "mune" (pronounced mu-neh) roll by rolling
1d10. A score of 3 or lower (5 if you've got the PERVERT trait) means
you've "noticed" the female's breasts (as well as other bodily parts,
although breasts are the first things you notice). If you're caught,
you're distracted, and will probably get yelled at by the woman for
thinking perverted thoughts.
FALSE DAYDREAMS: Sometimes in the series a character will
fantasize/daydream about some strange event happening. Examples from
the series could be Hikaru walking in on Kyosuke while he's in
Ayukawa's bath, or Kyosuke thinking about Ayukawa kissing him. The
scene is played out for a few game minutes, then the trick is
revealed.
REGAINING HIT POINTS: Players regain 1/3 (fractions rounded down) of
total hit points by resting 20 minutes and fixing wounds, applying
bandages, etc. Every two hours one more HP is acquired. A night's
sleep is required to totally heal all hit points.
REGAINING POWER POINTS: PPs are regained at the rate of 1 per half
hour of resting, one hour of mild stress and 2 hours of excessive
stress. A full night's sleep regenerates all your PPs.
THE "GM IS GOD" RULE: In some games, the players could, because of
their powers or numbers, have far too easy a time of a certain
adventure. If the players are too powerful, the GM may invent reasons,
both rational and stupid, for the players to not be able to use all
their powers, or at least in a certain way, to accomplish certain
things. The GM is God in this game -- players are playing in his mind,
and may not argue with him on points of his script.
DO IT WITH MUSIC: We recommend you to have your CD player set up while
playing, preferably with one of the BGM CDs in. Crank up the right
music at the right time and experiment.
KIMAGURE ORANGE BUMPER: On Sound Color 2 (?) you will find the
middle-of-the-episode song which goes to the "Jingoro stretches"
footage (track 8 I believe). Put that in the middle of your game for
added excitement (?).
POTENTIAL ENERGY CONVERTERS: Characters who have this power have
basically the powers of Akira and Tetsuo and the three blue stooges
from the movie Akira. "Super hit points" take the place of normal hit
points, 3d10*10. For game purposes, the GM should make a challenge up
to the task for players with this ability -- fighting the Japanese
military (with their Mitsubishi-built fighters), fighting another
person with like power, etc., lest the game deteriorate from
boringness. In actuality, of course, this power is really here only so
you can laugh at it, and should probably not be played at all. Not
that anyone will ever play this game anyway.
ALTERNATE UNIVERSES: Sometimes a character (or characters) may
arbitrarily slip into a parallel world in which something is different.
Examples from the manga are a biker universe [see vol. 10 pg. 7 or
episode 48] or a world one in which just one character is missing (to
show how the other characters would be without the influence of the
first character on their lives, [as in vol. 8, pg. 53]). I suggest a
parallel world in which Japan won WWII, or sending the characters into
other anime shows, Dirty Pair, Akira, Robotech, the San Diego Comicon,
etc.
TIMESLIPS: Certain places in the Orange Road universe are called
Timeslips. One stairway near Kyosuke's high school is such a place
[from vol. 5, pg. 137 or episode 38]. When someone falls or throws
himself down the stairs, he will (depending on who the person is and if
the timeslip has moved on to some other place or not) go back to the
morning of the same day. Think of them as similar to the Moongates in
Ultima IV. Other Timeslips might be around for characters to find
which will take them to other places and times. Once, Kyosuke
timeslipped himself back two hours, making it so there were two of
himself, one good and one self-hypnotized into an asshole. Another
time, he fell into a whirlpool and was in a universe where Hikaru-chan
didn't exist. Frequently, too, motion has something to do with
"slipping" your time or place; roller coasters and motorcycles have
been vehicles for movement between worlds in both the manga and the TV
series.
ARTIFACTS: Certain objects can be "charged" with esper energy
oftentimes, either permanently or temporarily. One example from the
manga series is a pocket-watch which stopped time for one minute for
all but the press-er [vol. 13, pg. 76 or episode 41]. Another was a
camera which, when subjected to Kurumi and Manami's powers of
telekinesis at the same time, started taking instant pictures of what a
given person was thinking at the time (for Komatsu it took pictures of
a naked woman; for Hikaru, it showed her marrying Kyosuke, etc.). The
latter ran out of "psychic energy" just as Kyosuke turned it on Ayukawa
to find out what her true feelings were [see vol. 9, pg. 153). Other
artifacts could be the camera from Dr. Slump that took pictures of what
the person would look like in the future, or a version of the "copy
gun" from Urusei Yatsura which copies the person shot with it (and the
second person will have a black comma (,) over his head, to show the
difference). Possibly Ojiichan's parrot [from vol. 13 pg. 31] which
calls out embarrassing things frequently could go in this category --
it has to go somewhere.
CATCHING COLD: Whenever someone falls into cold water (i.e., into a
fountain or pool or lake) with his clothes on, he has a 95% chance of
catching a cold. A person out in the rain without an umbrella will
catch one 50% of the time. Note that any person with Ranma Syndrome
will never catch a cold in any of the above situations, however.
BEING SICK: Speaking of illness, when an esper power is sick (the flu,
a cold, etc., as in vol. 5, pg.), their powers will not respond
normally. Strange things can happen when powers are used despite a
sickness on the part of the character, such as random teleporting and
problems with telekinesis (or the time Kyosuke accidentally teleports
himself out of the bathtub and into an Ushiko/Umao lovescene).
BEING DRUNK: Likewise, when an esper gets drunk, strange things
happen. Powers go off by themselves at random (sometimes embarassing)
times.
ENGLISH: All Japanese high-school students study at least six years of
English, but somehow most of them never get the hang of the language.
Characters without sufficient English ability cannot communicate with
non-Japanese speakers (for example, while vacationing in Hawaii or what
not). Note: When "speaking" English, the player should effect his
best Japanese accent, consumate to his character's speaking ability.
PASSING NOTES: At several times during play, the GM and players should
utilize secret notes with the GM to hide what they're doing from other
players. Example: A character with Identity Change wants to change
into someone else, but they don't want to tell everyone present about
it when they inform the GM. Notes should be used here.
General Timeline
(Manga universe)
1981 Kyosuke's trip to "six years ago." He buys Ayukawa the red
straw hat which she gives him in the first episode.
1984 Start of the series. Kyosuke moves into "this
neighborhood."
1986 Ayukawa appears on the talent show [vol. 17, pg. 17].
Other stuff happens (of course).
1987 Kyosuke goes back six years [vol. 15-16]. Later, end of
the manga series (April). Madoka goes to America. Kyosuke
graduates and passes the jyu-ken, then enters college.
Madoka comes back and the triangle is resolved.
Series universe: The series starts a year later, so the year of
Kyosuke's coming to "six years before" is 1982, the end, 1988, etc.
There are some confusing gaps, however, like Kyosuke mentioning in
episode #43 (of 48) that he's just getting out of junior high school
(which would place him at age 15 or so, even though it has to be 1988,
because in the Christmas episode (#38) Jiichan wrote "Merry Xmas 1987)
in the sky). We figure the movie must be closer to the series
universe, taking place in 1988 or so.
C h a r a c t e r B a c k g r o u n d
Here are stats on the people of Orange Road, who they are, what their
goals are, etc.
Ages below are for the year 1986 (manga series), as an example, and for
comparison, when Kyosuke and Ayukawa are sophomores in high school.
Wild guesses have been made in most places.
Kyosuke Kasuga: F9/S9/D11/HP 10/PP 12/Age 17. Primary power is
teleportation; secondary powers include telekinesis, telepathy,
super-hearing/seeing, lesser hypnosis, x-ray vision, prophetic dreams,
and lesser body swap. He's a nice guy, and a veritable Kwisatz
Haderach of powers, being the main character and all. He loves Madoka
Ayukawa, and wants to be with her, yet Hikaru is between them, forming
a solid triangle between the three of them. Nothing must hurt her, and
she must never find out how he and Madoka feel for each other - this is
his goal. The symbol of the love between him and Madoka is the "akai
muri-wara boshi", the red straw hat, which she gave him at the start of
the story.
Hikaru Hiyama: F4/S5/D8/HP 5/Age 16. No powers. She loves Kyosuke
blindly. She is (at least on the surface) oblivious to anything
between Madoka and Kyosuke emotionally (although she says she knew all
along about Madoka and Kyosuke in the Orange Road Movie). She showers
Kyosuke with gifts, food, throws herself at his feet. Her goal is go
keep him happy and advance their relationship.
Madoka Ayukawa: F12/S12/D15/HP 10/Age 17. No powers. Madoka works at
ABCB (a-ba-ka-bu), which is actually something that Jap high schoolers
aren't supposed to do -- work, that is. She loves Kyosuke, but has
been Hikaru's friend for life, and would never hurt her. Her goal is
to keep things stable between the three and to not do anything to upset
the delicate balance between her, Kyosuke and Hikaru. She has a
special "Ayukawa Slap" attack which can be made against a male who has
pissed her off in a non-combat situation. The attack hits 90% of the
time and does half the hit victim's HP temporarily. There is a 25%
chance of tooth loss resulting in a permanent loss of DAI-SUKI.
Kurumi Kasuga: F4/S5/D5/HP 5/PP 6/Age 16. Primary power is
telekinesis; secondaries are phantasm creation and hypnotize/push.
This is the fat sister with no glasses, twins with Kurumi. She is
always eating, butting in to other people's business, and likes
pro-wrestling. DON'T LET THIS WOMAN COOK!
Manami Kasuga: F5/S10/D9/HP 5/PP 6/Age 16. Primary power is
telekinesis; secondary is teleportation. Kurumi wears glasses and is
so nearsighted that once, with neither glasses or contacts on, she
couldn't even recognize her own brother and went on a date with him.
She seems pretty stiff, but she definetly has a feminine side. She is
motherly and cooks the family's food, keeps the family stable. Both
sisters know about Kyosuke's feelings for Ayukawa, but Manami is the
one who really cares what happens to her brother. In the manga's
ending, Manami is the one who finally tells Hikaru about Kyosuke and
Madoka and the hat.
Akane: F10/S10/D12/PP 7/Age 17. Primary power is teleportation;
secondary is identity change. Akane is Kyosuke's cousin, apparently
from a brother or sister of Akemi, although it's very vague (we do see
a woman's feet once). We don't know this branch of the family's last
name. Akane is "not too interested in boys" -- she's a lesbian -- and
is madly in love with Madoka (she has a poster of Madoka on her wall,
see vol. 17 pg. 98 of the mangas). She gets jealous of Kyosuke for
being between them, and tries to get he and Hikaru together so she can
be with "Madoka-chan." She wears contacts usually and can't tell
Kyosuke and Madoka apart without them.
Kazuya: F5/S10/D12/PP 10/Age 8. Primary power is telepathy;
secondaries are body swap telekinesis. Kazuya is the precocious little
brother of Akane. He loves to swap bodies with Kyosuke by bumping
heads with him, then mess up Kyosuke's relationships with Ayukawa and
Hikaru. Kazuya has a similar love triangle in his life, oddly enough
with two young girls that correspond with Hikaru and Madoka, and he
can't choose between them. His full telepathy keeps him well informed
of what people are thinking around him, so it can be hard to get the
jump on him.
Master: F7/S11/D9/HP 8/Age 35. No powers. Master has a beard and
owns ABCB, and is Madoka's employer. He is soft-spoken and knows about
Madoka and Kyosuke's secret feelings for each other and the problem of
Hikaru. For some reason he gains a lot of weight right before the
Orange Road Movie.
Takashi Kasuga: F7/S7/D7/HP 10/Age 35. No powers. This is Kyosuke,
Manami and Kurumi's father. He's a photographer, and a soft spoken
guy. He met Akemi near Ojiichan's house on Winter Mountain while
hiking in the summer [see vol. 9 pg. 79 in the mangas] and they fell in
love.
Akemi Kasuga: F6/S13/D14/HP 5/PP 16/Age IEY. Main power is
telekinesis; secondary is communicate with nature. She was the mother
of Kyosuke and his sisters, and she died when Manami and Kurumi were
born (?). She has a great affinity for nature and looked surprisingly
like Madoka.
Yusaku Hino: F13/S7/D9/HP 13/Age 16. He is stuck on Hikaru-chan. As
a child, he was beat up all the time in front of or by Hikaru-chan.
Because she told him once, "If you get strong, I'll be your
girlfriend," when they were children, he has dedicated himself to the
study of martial arts. He doesn't like Kyosuke. He has the KARATE KID
trait.
Komatsu-san (red hair) and Hatta-san (black hair, glasses):
F7/S8/D7/HP 7/Age 17 each: Two perverts who crave female flesh, they
are always peeking into the girls' locker room and making panty-raids.
Supposedly, these characters were based on the characters of two of
Izumi Matsumoto's assistants (cf. somehwere in vol. 2).
Ojiichan (grandfather): F8/S12/D10/HP 8/PP 12/Age 60. Primary power
is telekinesis; secondaries include telekinesis. He's a surly guy, a
bit of a pervert for his age, who is close friends with Kyosuke.
Kyosuke is always trying to keep Ojiichan from giving away the family
secret -- their powers -- to his friends. Ojiichan has two homes, one
on Winter Mountain (where Madoka and Kyosuke meet the ghost one the
manga story and the OAV) and another (only in the manga universe) near
a harbor containing two solemn islands which are a key (somehow) to the
family's powers. Next to Winter Moutain is an ancient mountain which
has year-round snow. This dangerous mountain's snow is "10,000 year
snow," which never melts. Ojiichan uses this snow in his drink rather
than ice cubes.
Obaachan (grandmother): F3/S10/D8/HP 3/PP 15/Age 58. Primary power is
telekinesis; no secondary powers known. She doesn't do much, but I
thought she should be listed here.
Yukari: F7/S10/D14/HP 8/Age 26 Normal human. Yukari is the image of a
grown-up but sad Madoka, perhaps the ghost of Madoka's future if she
pursued her singing career. She appears only in episodes 22, 43, and
48, and in vol. 4 and 17. She's the lead singer of the band Madoka
plays guitar in and looks much like Madoka.
Shu-chan Fusai: F12/S11/D13/HP 13/Age 28 Normal human. Shu-chan is
Madoka's cousin, introduced in episode 22 and seen again in episode 43
and proably the Hayakawa Mitsuru OAV. He's Yukari's man, although she
beats him up sometimes. Because we know his last name, we know either
Ayukawa's mother's maiden name (if it was Madoka's mother's brother who
is the father of Shu-chan), or else the last name of the man who
married Madoka's mother's sister. Why do I tell you these things? I
don't know.
O-ryu: F13/S10/D8/HP 12/Age 17: O-ryu (read OH-ryu) is only in the TV
series, in episode 37 and 48 and perhaps in 16. If Yukari is Ayukawa's
negative "future" (perhaps if she had followed her singing career),
O-ryu could be said to be her past. She's a tough bitch with orange
short-cropped hair (and not just orange, but Kimagure orange), an close
acquaintance of the "old" Madoka, the one who used to run around with
biker gangs and smoke and throw guitar picks at people. She fights
with a Ball & Cup.
Sayuri Hirose: F10/S12/D12/HP 10/Age 17: Sayuri is a vengeful bitch,
found only in the mangas. She's jealous of Ayukawa because Kyosuke
(who she doesn't care at all for) likes her more than Sayuri. She's
into laying plans for Kyosuke's downfall.
Jingle: F6/S2/D2/HP 2/Age 3. Jingle is the cat. He's always trying
to get away from the Kasuga family, and Kurumi always brings him back.
Orange Road RPG
p E p i s o d e G u i d e
The following are "episodes" for your RPG to present ideas for other
adventures and actual basies for adventures if you want. They're
somewhat non-specific in their description of events; most of that is
up to the GM. If you get any wild ideas for applicable adventures in
the Orange Road RPG universe, please let me know somehow -- I'd like to
hear about them.
Leto II
Episode #1
"Noriko-chan, where are you?! The CIA place is scary."
The characters go off to see a movie (Bubblegum Criss Pt. 13?) with two
normal humans, a small precocious girl named Rikako-chan who is 10 and
likes to tag along with the "big kids," and Komatsu's older brother,
about 18 years old, who is on the surface fairly normal but actually
more of a pervert than Komatsu himself (cf. the episode where he tried
to fondle Kurumi) named Tetsuya Komatsu. Tetsuya is targeting one of
the female charcters in their group for sex. Outside, they meet up
with Kazuo Hanakuso (F12/S9/D11/HP 10/PP 10/Age 16, primary power is
telekinesis; others are hypnotize, increased senses and prophetic
dreams), a nondescript (male) cousin of the characters, who is short of
breath. He tells the group that Noriko-chan (F7/S8/D13/HP 7/PP 4/Age
14, primary power telekinesis; others sixth sense, telepathy and
phantasm projection), his younger sister, was taken by three caucasion
men in dark suits on her way home from school. The group must 1) ditch
Rikako-chan and Tetsuya (which will be very difficult because they both
don't want to be ditched and will try to stay, and will constantly show
up throughout this episode), 2) find clues as to where Noriko went, and
3) break onto Komatsu air force base (an actual American base in Japan,
as I understand it, no relation to Komatsu-san) and get her back,
destroying records about her in the process. Kazuo will help them look
for his sister. If they look, they can find, on the street where she
was taken, a pair of dark sun glasses and Noriko's favorite pencil
case, Dirty Pair. If they need a hint, they can find out that Komatsu
AFB, nearby, is the source of most "gaijin" (foreigners) in the area,
and that might well be checked out. When the characters get close to
the base, they will hear faint cries for help from her powers of
telepathy (and its ability to "communicate" with other people by
sending thoughts, known as "shining"), inside the base. She will let
them know that the CIA or some other American science group has
kidnapped her because they know about the powers. This is bad for the
group. They must break onto the massive base, still evading Tetsuya
and Rikako, find Noriko and save her, and destroy information on her
powers. If everything goes okay, all information will be erased and
the secret of the esper powers will be safe. Their main adversary,
whom they will meet alone after they destroy the evidence of the groups
powers, is a man named General Muska, but his real name is Muska
Rip-van-Laputa. He must be dealt with before the group can escape the
base, either made to forget about the esper abilities of the group,
killed, blackmailed, hypnotised or otherwise made to see the point of
view of the espers. He will be armed with a gun.
Episode #2
"No, Shiro-kun! Mitsubishi Bank is our friend."
In this episode, the players will combat a renegade cousin with esper
powers. His name is Shiro (F12/S10/D9/HP), and he will be an identical
twin of one of the players in the game (pick one). Shiro has broken
off with the family and run away, and has been using his powers
(primary telepathy; secondaries telekinesis, X-ray vision, invisibility
and body swap) to comit petty crimes around town. His latest was to
rob two million yen from Mitsubishi Bank and spend it on Japanese
Animation CDs and manga. No one else knows about Shiro except the
espers in the family, and they must try to bring him back into the fold
of the family before he gives away the "family secret." To make
matters worse, Shiro will be in love with one of the female characters
in the group, or else an NPC who will walk around with them, but that
love is unrequited. The characters must somehow catch Shiro, who has
set up traps for them in a deserted factory (reminscent of the last
scene in The Terminator) and convince him to stop his rampage and come
back to the "family." Individual goals to assign people might be, find
a trinket, find some money to pay back taxes with (maybe left over from
the Mitsubishi Bank robery), have sex, etc.
Episode #3
"Tennis Team Timeslip."
It's summer vacation, and the group is being sent by their respective
families to the "Panic in Orange Avenue" Tennis & Sports Camp, located
in mountains in the Kansai area (Osaka area I think). At the camp
there's a stuck-up instructor who will hit on one or more females in
the group (if there are any) named Yabio (F11/S9/D14/HP 10/Age 24) and
a bully who will push the group around named Yaro (F15/S6/D7/HP 15/Age
19, weapon is a tennis raquet treated as a lg. blunt weapon). While
playing a night game of tennis, the characters (near the edge of a
cliff, with no non-espers around) will all fall off the cliff, and
experience strange temporal turbulance, then the sky will turn into a
bubbling array of strange lights. The characters will then find
themselves, tennis raquets in hand, out in some woods, at the bottom of
the cliff. They have timeslipped back to 1942, during World War II!
In this time a) no powers will work (even someone who has Time Travel,
since it was a timeslip that brought them here and not Time Travel), b)
their money is no good, and c) they are in a fascist country which
suspects everyone of being subversive. They can a) try to get to
Hirohito or someone else and tell them information about World War II,
b) spend their time walking around aimlessly until they timeslip back
somehow, c) try to buy some land in Tokyo then go back to the future,
etc. Try to steal plot material from Back to the Future if you can.
If they do change the future so that Japan wins the war or something,
it can be explained away at the end as a dream by one of the
characters. When they return, Yabio and Yaro will be waiting for them
and must be dealt with before the adventure ends. (And if the future
is changed, then they can have changed too, in some funny way, as in
BTTF.) In the past, Ushiko and Umao's parents will be encountered
somehow.
Episode #4
"Parallel World II"
This episode is a sequel to the "Parallel Hero" story in the mangas
[vol. 10, pg. 7] (as opposed to the shortened version in the last
episode of the series, which I personally hated), in which Kyosuke
flips on a Roller Coaster to a "biker universe" (similar to the Dark
1985 from Back to the Future Pt. 2) in which everyone he knows exists
except him. It's a run-down place, where chaos reigns and everyone is
scared to go outside (much like the cyberpunk Blade Runner universe but
in the present). Manami and Kurumi have no powers, Hikaru is a
"kakko-ii" biker queen, Madoka is even tougher, and Akane leads a gang
that holds the city they live in in its grip. Komatsu and Hatta are
police officers, too. In this episode, the characters will be on a
roller coaster at a nearby amusement park and will flip over, getting
off and wondering what the hell is going on, why the sky is so dismal.
Outside, they'll find Manami and Kurumi, being accosted by a group of 4
"yatsu," trying to cop feels and possibly rape them. The group should
dispatch the bad guys. If they use their powers in such a way as to
give away the "secret" to the twins (who have no powers in this
universe), they will inquire about where they came from and by the way,
did they know a boy who had similar abilities, who passed through a few
weeks ago (this was Kyosuke, back when he was here). They'll then
learn from Kurumi and Manami that the Loud In School gang (the same
large gang that Kyosuke was up against in the manga story, though the
title is mine) has a new leader: a tough bitch named O-ryu
(F13/S10/D8/HP 16, weapon is a ball and cup). This girl replaced Akane
(who is evil in this universe, and whom Kyosuke deposed in the manga
story) and kicked her out, then began a new crime wave in the city.
The twins will offer to have the group over to their house (Kyosuke's
apartment, same as in the normal universe, only minus Kyosuke since he
doesn't live in this universe) for saving them. There, they'll meet
Hikaru (who's a tough biker chick in this universe who is somehow
solemn because she fell in love with Kyosuke while he was with them
just a few weeks ago but now he's gone). Hikaru will tell them about
Kyosuke (his coming into that world and subsequent leaving) if they
don't know already from the twins. Then she'll tell them about how
Madoka Ayukawa, her friend, was dragged off a few days ago by the Loud
In Schoolers and probably raped and killed, and how she'd give her life
to kill O-ryu if she could get through the hundred or so thugs that
guard her. The goal of the group will become clear: to get inside the
high school on scooters which acts as the gang's hideout and find
Madoka, if she's alive, and kill or otherwise dispose of O-ryu.
Manami, Kurumi and Hikaru will help. Approaching the school, the group
will be attacked by 5-8 thugs, which should be dispatched easily given
the group's powers (especially since, in this universe, they can use
them freely since everyone in the group already knows about the esper
powers -- there is no need to hide them). They must find a way inside,
either fighting through another 5 or so thugs to get to one of the side
entrances (all the while being quiet) or teleporting in if they have
someone who can accomplish the task (someone with a lot of Power
Points). Other tricks could be devised to get inside using the powers
available to the group. Inside, nearly everything will be deserted
except one wing of the ground floor, which will have four rooms close
together with lights on. One will contain 3 female gang members,
smoking and sharpening knives (make your own average stats up for them
if you need to); in another, 6 males; in another, Ayukawa and Umao-san,
who will be sleeping, and in the fourth, O-ryu and her two female
lieutenants, Yoshiko (F12/S7/D7/HP 12, weapon is a skateboard that she
flips at you, which handles like a large missile) and Mieko (same stats
as Chiemi, weapon is a bowling ball that she clubs you with, treated
like a large blunt weapon). If noise is made, all characters in all
rooms will come out to see what the disturbance is. O-ryu will know
Hikaru but not the others. She will show them Ayukawa (if they haven't
found her yet), beaten up but not dead (or even raped). The characters
need to overcome her and her minions as quietly as they can, save
Ayukawa and get everyone to safety, hopefully destroying the gang in
the process (perhaps by demoralizing O-ryu). In the end, Umao will be
reunited with Ushiko (who was waiting for him on the "outside"), and
Ayukawa will focus romantically on one male character (the one who
played the strongest role in the combat) and will ask him if he likes
her, etc., but at that moment (the characters will be moving somehow,
on a bus or in a car or something) they'll flip back to the normal
universe on the roller coaster they were on before the flipped the
first time -- the end.
Episode #5
"A future story! Neo-Tokyo is destroyed."
It is the future, the year 203x, right after the end of the Akira
OAV in which Neo Tokyo (the remains of the original Tokyo which got
destroyed back in 199x) is destroyed. The players will be a group of
espers living around Yokohama, who, after the explosion, will hear from
Uncle Kazuya (now 50 years old) of the story of Akira's birth to his
"Kyosuke-oniichan" and "Ayukawa-Oneesan) back in 1990. They had the
baby and everything seemed okay for three or four years or so. Then
little Akira demonstrated enormous powers, far more than even Kyosuke,
who was the most powerful esper of his generation. Akira kept giving
his vast powers away to others, facilitating Ayukwa and Kyosuke to move
around all the time. One day, agents from a powerful agency of the
Japanese government managed to capture Akira on the street on his way
to school (although it cost them three military helicopters and the
lives of 12 agents) and took him to a secret hospital for study, where
they tried to duplicate his powers in other children (the other
children in the movie). Kyosuke and Ayukawa searched nearly a year for
their son until the pressure on him to give up the search or expose the
entire family's secret got too great, so they eventually gave up and
went to America to live in Los Angeles. Kyosuke only returned once,
using his teleportation powers, to attend the funeral of his father
when he died in 2009, and even that time he was almost caught by the
government agents.
The group will go to the wet remains of Neo Tokyo right after its
destruction at the end of the movie, which is under military control so
they'll have to sneak in. They'll discover that each of them sense
that the power which destroyed Neo Tokyo is still there, lying beneath
the surface. It could explode again, they realize, unless the power
that is Akira can be someone made to leave the vicinity of the Earth.
Kazuya, who has come with the group, knows what the youths must do
-- go to America and find Kyosuke and Madoka and get them to come back
to Japan. It will be dangerous -- they are still sought for capture by
the military government -- and besides, Kazuya doesn't even know where
exactly they are. The goal of the espers, therefore, is to go to
America and search Los Angeles and vicinity, using any powers or
resouces they can to find Madoka and Kyosuke. (Madoka knows all about
the Cho-no-ryok powers by now, incidentally).
While in America (they will fly there by plane), the characters
will probably visit anime shops in Little Tokyo and see themselves on
an Orange Road movie poster or something silly like that. Note that
America, 40 years into the future, is a hell of a lot less safe, and
danger lurks everywhere in Los Angeles from street gangs and other
thugs. Also note that, here in America, the espers will have to use
English to communicate most of the time.
After locating Kyosuke and Ayukawa, living in Orange County in a
nice big home, they will convince them to come back to Japan to try to
dispell the power that was and still their son Akira so that he will
not one day destroy Japan. It turns out that Madoka and Kyosuke,
alarmed at what they've been seeing on TV about new religeons
worshipping someone named Akira, have been considering returning to
their home already. They had heard rumors of the destruction of
Neo-Tokyo, but most of the information was restricted. When they
arrive in Japan, they must all escape an ambush by military police (led
by the bald colonel from the Akira OAV) and make it Kazuya's house in
Yokohama. Nearby they will inadvertantly run into Hikaru-chan and
Yusaku, now living together happily with several children (Kyosuke and
Hikaru will conveniently use quotes from Karate Kid II like "I never
marry Sato" and "Out of respect...for husband" and "No, for your
silence.").
After more reunions, the gang, with Madoka and Kyosuke, will
journey by train and foot into the ruins of Neo Tokyo, evading military
patrols. There they will meet with the bodyless spirit of Akira, who
will cry "Mother! Father!" and will ask why they didn't come and rescue
him from the military bad guys. In the end, Kyosuke and Ayukawa will
ask Akira to leave the Earth forever, and the power that Akira wielded
will no longer endanger the Earth.
Episode #6
"An American submarine! Yuri, look out for the moose!"
The players are fishing in the sea of Japan a few miles out of
Hiroshima on their Uncle Eijiro's boat, eager to escape the news in the
city about increased tensions between the superpowers in Europe and
relax. Eijiro (F8/S10/D8/HP 10/PP 8/Age 45, primary power is
telekinesis, others are hypnotize and invisibility) is a cousin of
Akemi (Kyosuke's mother) and a nephew of Kyosuke's grandfather. If any
character has sixth sense he will feel a tinge of danger. Nearby, an
American submarine will surfce with a giant hole in it. One man will
escape before the sub sinks again, its back broken by an enemy torpedo.
The man, Seaman Third Class Chris Thompson, will swim to the boat.
(Note: Charcters will need English ability to talk to this guy.) He
will tell of how a Soviet sub torpedoed them and he alone escaped
before she sunk. Suddenly, the fishing boat will be under attack by
the Russian sub, which will surface and try to blow the fishing boat
from the water! The players will need to find a way to overcome this
attack, either by escaping or destroying the sub, then return home to
the city. World War III has started, and Russian bombers will be
flying over Japan soon, attacking American and Japanese military and
civil targets. Akemi Kasuga, the dead mother of Kyosuke and the twins
and a matriarch of sorts for the family as a whole, will appear to the
characters and tell them this, and that they must defend Japan. The
players can either 1) try to defend Japan against the bombers,
including a possible ballistic missile which will try to fall on the
Tokyo/Yokohama area (shield over the city?), 2) try to strike harder
against the Soviet Union, by teleporting/travelling to Moscow to
destroy the heads of state there or something, or 3) try some other
factor at the discretion of the players (the choice and even thinking
of the ideas of what to do should be up to them, although the GM can
prod them). Note that other espers in other cities can all band
together to defend Japan, even linking their powers in groups if they
want to knock down Russian bombers. The choice is up to them. In the
end, however, they will probably not be able to defend Japan from a
major bombardment.
Episode #7
"Japan is devestated?! The trek to grandfather's house."
This is part two of the previous episode. It has been a month since
World War III began. In Europe and North America, conventional
conflicts are still raging, but the war is over in Asia, with the
destruction of all fleets and most military and civillian targets in
the area save a few subs under the seas. Tokyo, Osaka and Yokohama
each received multiple nuclear payloads, the Imperial family is dead,
and chaos reigns in Japan. The world in which the players will find
themselves is basically similar to the land of Fist of the North Star
or Road Warrior for game purposes -- massive devestation, only with
more people as well as "stavation, contamination and lingering death."
The characters have a task: To move from their home city, which is
being evacuated due to contaminated water supply, south fifty miles to
where Kyosuke's Ojiichan (grandfather) lives (the house on Winter
Mountain, not the one near the two islands). There is no
transportation available except walking as the nuclear pulses wiped out
all higher electronic technology (you might want to draw a map for the
players). There is danger: bands of thieves and gangs are holding the
streets, defying police, and the group will be attacked at least once.
If they reach the summit on Winter Mountain, they will meet up with
Kyosuke and most of the characters from the series save Manami and
Kurumi -- they were trampled in the food mobs which flooded the streets
in the hours after the war began, the characters will learn, although
Kyosuke tried to save them with his more advanced teleportation but
couldn't (Kyosuke had been caught in the same mob but was able to
escape with his father). Hikaru and Madoka are both there, but Kazuya
and Akane and their family haven't been heard from and are feared dead
too. Yusaku is there. There are several things the group can do. 1)
Engage a large gang that is raping the countryside (and which tried to
rape Madoka and Hikaru while Kyosuke and his group made the journey to
Ojiichan's house from their city but were stopped by Kyosuke, who, in
the course of events, killed three of them and gave away the secret of
the family's powers to Madoka and Hikaru, so they know now about the
family secret now); 2) try to engage or halt an advance in Japan's
southern shores by Russian-backed Vietnamise troops with their powers;
or 3) try to go back in time to before the war with Ojiichan's (or
someone else's) time travel and stop it in some way. Whatever they do,
the characters will encounter the charred bodies of Ushiko, Umao and
their baby, Shikao. What a sad story!
O t h e r I d e a s f o r G M s
There is a lot of room in the Orange Road universe for new ideas that
don't exactly fit into the Japanese animation/manga list of required
cliches, many of which would fit quite well in the context of this
game. Ultimately, Izumi Matsumoto has made a basic super-power system
that is nearly as flexible as the "mutants" explaination of Marval's
super-hero world. A lot can be done with it.
How about characters who aren't good, who use their powers to rob banks
and get into mischief? For the socially unprogressive, how about a
group of esper super-perverts or even sex-offenders who use their
powers to, well, you know. The Kasuga-clan (and the other lines of the
family, of which there must be many) being the beginnings of the
"Newtypes" of the Gundam universe? A-ko as a relative of the Kasugas?
And of course, there's the idea of the esper powers being the source of
Akira's power from Akira, and the destruction of Tokyo and events of
the movie being the ultimate destiny of the Orange Road universe.
There's lots to do in the universe, if you care and if you have players
who care. If you have any experience with RPGs, you should do okay,
and if not, you can't do any worse than me.
- 27 -
The
K I M A G U R E O R A N G E R O A D
r o l e p l a y i n g g a m e
CHARACTER RECORD SHEET
Character Name: ____________________ Sex: _____________
Relationship: ______________________ Age: _____________
Abilities: Traits: ________________________
FIGHTING: ____________ _________________________________
SMARTS: ____________ _________________________________
DAI-SUKI: ____________
Primary Esper Power: "Special Stuff Skills"
_____________________ ENGLISH: ______ SPORTS: ______
Secondary Powers: DRIVING: ______ KAKKO: ______
_____________________ VIRGINITY: _____ SWIMMING: _____
_____________________
_____________________ HP: _______ PP: _______
_____________________
_____________________ Hair: _______ Style: _______
Eyes: _______ Body: ________
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