Monday Musings #76 🤬
Dan Da Dan. DanDaDanDanDaDanDanDaDanDanDaDan
Good Monday, Gamer!
"Maaaan, what a drag” –Okarun, Bard.
I spent the long holiday weekend (US Thanksgiving) binge-watching Dan Da Dan on Netflix. I'm pretty certain, like Dorohedoro, I'll be searching for the original source material. From the opening music, it grabbed me.. I'm not into young adults as protagonists, but this anime is pure entertainment. I like it! It is a blend of off-the-wall humor, supernatural weirdness, aliens, ghosts, psychic powers, and heartfelt teen drama that delivers the goods. It screams "potential TTRPG campaign."
Dan Da Dan premise: You and your friends are teens or young adults caught in the whirlwind of alien abductions, cursed objects, spirit mediums, and secret powers. Whether you’re battling a grotesque ghost with your newfound telekinesis or trying to escape an alien mothership with your dignity intact, there’s no shortage of chaos. But the real heart of the story? It’s all about connection, friendship, and finding your place in a very weird, weird world.
Let’s talk about the five best TTRPGs to run a campaign inspired by the wonderfully strange world of Dan Da Dan, plus my Mad Jay Pick! Bonus: I've run and played all of these RPGs with the exception of Kids on Bikes; I've only played in a two-shot. In order of GM setting prep (Least to Most)
1. Monster of the Week
Starting off strong, Monster of the Week by Michael Sands is a Powered by the Apocalypse game built for supernatural investigations and monster hunting. In Dan Da Dan, characters are constantly thrown into encounters with ghosts, yokai, aliens, and other paranormal oddities. With Monster of the Week, you can channel that episodic, “monster-of-the-week” format, letting your players play as psychics, spiritualists, or even hapless high school students accidentally roped into the action. The game’s mechanics encourage character drama and creative problem-solving, perfectly matching Dan Da Dan’s chaotic energy.
2. Urban Shadows
Urban Shadows (2nd Edition) offers a gritty, supernatural-political twist on the Dan Da Dan formula. While the anime might not involve intricate power struggles, the system's mechanics for debts, alliances, and factions feel spot on for a world where every relationship has stakes. Picture a campaign where calling in a favor from a vengeful ghost puts you in the crosshairs of an alien collective. The city's supernatural underbelly becomes a playground for your characters' ambitions and entanglements. It’s messy, dramatic, and endlessly engaging!
3. Liminal
Liminal is all about existing on the boundary between the mundane and the supernatural, making it an excellent choice for a Dan Da Dan-inspired campaign. In Liminal, players take on the roles of people who live in this in-between space—part of both worlds but never fully belonging to either. With mechanics for faction-based intrigue and investigation, it’s perfect for exploring Dan Da Dan’s mix of the paranormal and extraterrestrial, where characters are caught between psychic battles, alien mysteries, and school drama. Plus, the emphasis on group dynamics and shared goals echoes the camaraderie of the main cast. The game’s tone is more serious than some of the others on this list, but it offers a unique framework for creating a world filled with wonder and danger.
4. Kids on Bikes
If you want a more rules-light option with a focus on collaborative storytelling, Kids on Bikes fits the bill. The system encourages players to flesh out the world and its strange happenings alongside the GM, making it perfect for building a Dan Da Dan-style setting where anything can happen. The game also includes mechanics for "powered characters," which could easily represent the wild psychic abilities that show up in the anime.
5. Feng Shui 2
For something more action-oriented, Feng Shui 2 brings the big, chaotic energy of Dan Da Dan to life. This game thrives on cinematic, over-the-top action scenes, from high-flying martial arts to epic psychic showdowns. It’s perfect for running the wild battles seen in the anime, where physics take a backseat to spectacle. The game’s archetypes also lend themselves to the larger-than-life characters of Dan Da Dan—you could easily create a Psychic Warrior, a Kung Fu Cop, or even an alien conspiracy theorist as a PC.
Honorable Mention: Tales from the Loop
Stranger Things vibes? Check. Teens dealing with strange, otherworldly occurrences while still trying to balance school and social lives? Double-check. Tales from the Loop is perfect for grounding the more out-there elements of Dan Da Dan in a nostalgic, heartfelt framework. The Year Zero engine is easy to pick up, and the game’s focus on solving mysteries while also navigating everyday life feels tailor-made for this setting. It’s a fantastic pick if you want to highlight the emotional and nostalgic elements of the anime while keeping the gameplay streamlined and fast.
The Mad Jay Pick: Apocalypse World or Sorcerer
Let’s ditch the coming-of-age teens and stand ten-toes down into the gritty desperation of adults 'going thru it.' Apocalypse World gives you the tools to create a harsh, chaotic world where survival is never guaranteed. Swap the post-apocalyptic wasteland for a bizarre mix of alien invasions, cursed artifacts, and spirit hauntings. With its intense focus on relationships, scarcity, and hard choices, Apocalypse World cranks up the stakes. The mechanics push players into conflicts that feel deeply personal while keeping the world unpredictable and full of surprises. It’s Dan Da Dan, but rougher, meaner, and desperate in the best way possible.
If you really want to dig into the high-stakes relationships and power dynamics of Dan Da Dan, look no further than Sorcerer RPG by Ron Edwards. In Sorcerer, players make pacts with demons for incredible power—only to face the consequences of their decisions. It’s a deeply personal game that thrives on tension, moral dilemmas, and supernatural chaos, making it a fantastic fit for Dan Da Dan’s psychic battles and interpersonal drama. You could easily adapt the mechanics to reflect characters’ connections to paranormal or alien entities, emphasizing the dangerous trade-offs they make in pursuit of power.
Dan Da Dan is a wild ride, and it deserves its own TTRPG just as wild to capture its bizarre charm. Whether you want lighthearted humor, factional intrigue, or deeply personal drama, these TTRPGs have you covered. What’s your pick for running a Dan Da Dan game? What TTRPG would you use to run a Dan Da Dan campaign? Let me know in the comments!
Catch you next week! 🎲
Dec:
Running The One Ring: Balin’s Expeditions online via Foundry VTT.
PAXU!! Lifted: Indomitable
Games on Demand
RPG Designer Meet & Greet
PANELS!!!