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Alan45
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2025 7:20 pm Reply with quote
Sorry but: A "task force" is a temporary grouping of people or a unit/formation established to address a specific, defined task or activity. They are often used in military contexts, but also in various other organizations, including non-profits and government agencies. The term is used in both military and civilian settings to signify a temporary, focused effort on a particular goal. (from Google)

Coming from a military (Navy) background Task force is to large and too temporary for what you are describing. Separating several battleships from the main fleet to go pound the living hell out of a proposed landing site would be establishing a Task Force. I think your best bet for what you describe is squad. Team is a good option also. Platoon is a bit too infantry specific. You could try troop, a left over cavalry term. The larger groups could also be termed a company. These are all military but that is appropriate for the groups you are listing.
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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 24, 2025 9:52 am Reply with quote
I'll stick with secret organization and/or factions, for now, until I can think of something better. There aren't a whole of anime with squad type groups, anyway, so that word would probably be a niche descriptor, at most. I think the other two terms would be good enough as a generalization of what to expect from said titles. Thanks for the feedback.
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Alan45
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 24, 2025 6:18 pm Reply with quote
For what its worth, Wild Storm comics (now part of DC) used team extensively for a group of super heroes. Wild C.A.T.s their flagship title stood for Wild Covert Action Teams. The wild indicating not under government control. One nice thing about the term is it is fuzzy as to size. A team can be as little as two people and as many as you can justify if you add supporting members.
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Piglet the Grate



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PostPosted: Thu Apr 24, 2025 11:38 pm Reply with quote
Alan45 wrote:
...
Coming from a military (Navy) background Task force is to large and too temporary for what you are describing....

Nimitz to Halsey: "Where is Task Force 34? The world wonders."

So you are the guy who added the second part? Razz

Adding Task Force and anime my first thought went to when in Haisukūru Furīto/High School Fleet the Blue Mermaids supported by the girls' cadet fleet sortie to intercept the floating fortress.
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Alan45
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 25, 2025 7:01 am Reply with quote
@Piglet the Grate

No one is quite sure what happened to the junior officer that put that phrase in as padding. Twisted Evil I have an excuse myself, I was seven and a half months short of being born. Wink
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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 10, 2026 10:02 am Reply with quote
This is kind of a niche theme, or maybe not anymore, but what do y'all think about "status screen" for those fantasy titles that have them? A lot of isekai and reincarnation ones tend to have them, these days.

Not sure if a user would care enough to know which fantasy titles do or don't have them. Although, it seems to be a current enough trend, now, that it might be something to consider just for the heck of it?
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Blood-
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 10, 2026 10:06 am Reply with quote
Personally, I think that's getting too granular. It's almost like identifying shows that have characters with green hair. It's a thing, but not really terribly significant.
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Alan45
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 10, 2026 6:58 pm Reply with quote
I agree with Blood- Shocked How about "RPG Elements" ?? That could cover such things as status screens, character classes (thief, swordsman, tank etc.) and leveling up. Some of (many, all?) the reviewers here have a real issue with stat screens. I don't mind, if you accept character classes, voluntary or assigned, you might as well have stat screens.
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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2026 4:24 am Reply with quote
RPG elements sounds nice and all-encompassing. I feel it could specifically refer to any, but not limited to, something like stats, progression, mechanics, and a myriad of other categories one would typically think of in RPG-type fantasy settings
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Alan45
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2026 6:15 am Reply with quote
I think it could also cover the presence of non human but humanoid races such as elves, dwarves and demi humans such as cat people. Though perhaps that is significant enough to warrant separate mention?
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Yttrbio



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PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2026 7:23 pm Reply with quote
I think at that point you're talking about fantasy in general, not RPGs. The original idea was that the idea of in-universe literal RPG mechanics is it's own theme.
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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2026 10:22 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, I think the "fantasy" genre label by itself covers the general idea of concepts such as "demi-humans", "sorcery", "medieval", "aristocracy", "royalty", etc. But then putting those terms as theme descriptors will give extra detail, which I already do.

However, not all fantasy titles might necessarily contain one of those themes or the other, depending on the writing. For instance, something like Record of Lodoss War has a bunch of the general concepts, but doesn't have status screens, leveling up, and such. So I think using "RPG elements" could serve well as its own kind of theme for some of the more modern fantasy (and mostly isekai) titles that use a lot of that (Shield Hero, Overlord, Shangri-La Frontier, Berserk of Gluttony, to name a few).
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Alan45
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2026 6:28 am Reply with quote
@Tony K.

Not your best example. The OG Lodoss War was reported by the author to be an RPG played by the author and his friends. The original story was supposed to be a literal transcript of that game play, hence Record Of

@Yttrbio

You are right, other races can be present without RPG issues. However, Fantasy is an overbroad category. It includes modern "urban fantasy" including zombies as well as all forms of magic schools.
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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2026 9:43 am Reply with quote
Alan45 wrote:
Not your best example. The OG Lodoss War was reported by the author to be an RPG played by the author and his friends. The original story was supposed to be a literal transcript of that game play, hence Record Of

Well that's news to me. Then again, I've only seen it once, maybe 20 years ago.

At any rate, until I can think of a better term, I like "RPG elements" for now. When I think of RPGs, I think a leveling system, skill set/tree, status screens, inventory, and so on, which seems to be the current trend.
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