Anima

So my guy was all HNNGG and he fell over then we went into a room and he was all AAARRGGGH and was shot and almost died then he was healed by the Russian bear wrestler, and then we went to a walkway and he was all BOOM and critical fireballed people, then we went to another room and he made someones head melt! and he had a crippled leg so cannot make any successful physical checks!
oh, and then some douchebag plot device villain who we couldn't beat was all HNNNNGG and stuff then failed and everything went black and stuff.
Also we were on an airship.

And that was the Tabletop RPG game we played today [well, it was today when I started this post :P ]( Not really proper to call it D&D, since its a different system)
So basically, this game was played using the Anima game system, which is a d100(for those who don't know, d100's are not actually 100 sided dice usually, you just use a d10 for the units and a nother d10 for the 10's) system, which basically means you get big numbers when making checks.
One of my gripes about this game is the large amount of tables, when making attack rolls(which are opposed by block and dodge rolls by the opponent) you take the amount you beat it by and look at a table.. when making a skill check you look at a table, which can bog the game down a little, though thats lessened if you have a sheet with all the tables on, or the DM screen.

The rounds in Anima are 3 seconds long, as opposed to the 6 second rounds of traditional D&D, although what with all the table consulting and the having to add up shiz with calculators it actually ends up taking a lot longer to play a round of Anima than of D&D, which is kinda ironic, as your Anima characters will kill the enemy in less time than your D&D characters (and my group take quite a while per encounter, because we are quite slow, usually because we get distracted and stuff) , but it will take longer to do that encounter in Anima. :/
We've played Anima a fair few times now, too, so its not just us being new to it, although we certainly are more experienced at D&D.

Theres kinda a mixed reactions to my friends about Anima, I'm kinda Meh, and someone else just doesn't like it, and the rest like it to varying degrees. Supposedly its more flexible, though I don't really see that, especially with magic which is a lot more restricted in terms of choice, though a lot more open in terms of spells you can cast. though Zeon (Mana basically) takes stupid long to return and you kinda have to ration your spells or you risk having none left next session, which is a bit :/
It seems fairly balanced, with no one class being amazing, and the way it does special actions, such as a called shot is quite good, with different penalties that can be decreased by weapons and advantages, but the classes don't really feel that unique or different from in any other RPG,
There certainly seems less to do to make a character, with almost no special abilities as far as I can see, which seems a bit weird for supposedly flexible system, it seems a simple hack and slash type of game, which gets a bit boring, on the plus side, it is quite easy to make a character, though the only real things to distinguish characters is the weapons you use and the advantages and disadvantages, although I suppose that's true of most systems.

Its got a few innovative features, like the Elan system, which is basically a way to record a deities favour, and you get points for doing things specific to your deity, which can get annoying if there isn't really much chance to do that thing in the game, so it can become just another thing the DM has to deal with. There are different Elan levels that can give different powers, its not that bad an idea, but it doesn't really feel amazingly awesome.

So basically, do I like this system, or recommend it? Not really, no, its okay for a change every now and again, but I find it neither more flexible nor quicker or in any way more fun than standard D&D 3.5, though there is only a few source-books, much less than 3.5
So basically, far from "Anima:Beyond Fantasy" I'd say its more "Anima:yet another generic RPG"
Not that Impressed. Anyway. Back to procrastinating on the internet and reading the rules for Pathfinder (Aka D&D 3.75) Expect a blogpost if we ever get round to playing it