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{{work}}
{{quote|'''[[Present Day Present Time|Right now,]]''' [[Present Day|the moment you began reading this]], [[The End of the World as We Know It|Humanity is devastated]] [[Alien Invasion|by an alien attack]] [[Take Our Word for It|from the edges of our understanding.]]
|Back cover copy}}
'''''[http://www.tao-games.com/bliss-stage/ Bliss Stage]''''' is a 2011 tabletop roleplaying game written by Ben Lehman and produced by TAO Games, explicitly intended as his homage to ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' and similar works such as ''[[Bokurano]]'' and ''[[RahXephon]]''. It is available at his website, [http://www.tao-games.com These Are Our Games,] with more information at the blog and fansite [
In addition, [[
▲{{quote|'''[[Present Day Present Time|Right now,]]''' [[Present Day|the moment you began reading this]], [[The End of the World as We Know It|Humanity is devastated]] [[Alien Invasion|by an alien attack]] [[Take Our Word for It|from the edges of our understanding.]]}}
▲{{quote|'''[[Crapsack World|It is the first blow of a terrible war.]]''' [[Time Skip|Seven years later,]] [[Applied Phlebotinum|armed with technology]] [[Black Box|you cannot comprehend]] [[How Do I Shot Web?|and can barely operate,]] [[Final Battle|you will strike back.]]}}
▲{{quote|'''''[[Level Up At Intimacy 5|This is how.]]'''''|Back cover copy}}
▲'''Bliss Stage''' is a tabletop roleplaying game written by Ben Lehman and produced by TAO Games, explicitly intended as his homage to [[Neon Genesis Evangelion]] and similar works such as [[Bokurano]] and [[RahXephon]]. It is available at his website, [http://www.tao-games.com These Are Our Games,] with more information at the blog and fansite [http://www.loveismyweapon.com Love Is My Weapon.]
▲In addition, [[Tropers/Tsundere Lightning|Tsundere Lightning]] was recently [[Promoted Fanboy|tapped by the original author]] for an official [[Visual Novel]] adaptation of the game, [[Bliss Stage: Love Is Your Weapon]], which recently launched a Kickstarter page [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1041711353/bliss-stage-visual-novel?ref=category here].
[[Present Day Present Time|The moment the game begins,]] malevolent aliens afflict humanity as a whole with The Bliss, a form of stasis locking the [[Only Fatal to Adults|adult population of the world]] into a [[Lotus Eater Machine|sleep with apparently blissful dreams]], leaving the child and teenaged survivors in a [[Crapsack World]] ravaged by occasional attacks by [[Humongous Mecha|alien terror drones]].
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The game being a [[Deconstruction]] of [[The Power of Love]], a pilot's ANIMa is powered by their relationships with other characters, so [[Love Dodecahedron|extremely complicated romantic entanglements]] ''just happen'' in '''Bliss Stage'''. In addition, each pilot accumulates Bliss throughout the game, eventually reaching [[108]] Bliss, whereupon they either die or leave the game. Endings are often [[Bittersweet Ending|bittersweet]] or [[Gainax Ending|a little more disturbing]].
{{tropenamer}}
* [[Level Up At Intimacy 5]]: Trope namer; the only way to be effective in ANIMa combat is to deepen your relationship with your Anchor [[Love Dodecahedron|and others.]]▼
* [[More Friends, More Benefits]]: Former [[Trope Namer]]. The path to [[More Dakka]] in this game is wrapping your Pilot in a [[Love Dodecahedron]] of ludicrous proportions.▼
* [[You Lose At Zero Trust]]: The [[Trope Namer]].▼
{{tropelist}}
* [[108]]: [[Word of God]] has it that this is the reason the game ends when you go over 108 Bliss.▼
* [[Adults Are Useless]]: Both averted and played straight, in different ways. The economy and infrastructure of the civilized world collapses without the adults, but the PCs are all teenagers and the Authority Figure is inevitably a [[Magnificent Bastard]] at best and a [[Jerkass]] at worst.
* [[Animesque]]: An unusual example. While there's no art or animation, [[Word of God|Ben Lehman]] listed ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', ''[[Macross]]'' and ''[[RahXephon]]'' as influences, and the influence of Japanese tropes is evident.
* [[Applied Phlebotinum]]: the ANIMa, big time.
* [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence]]: One of the possible results of the endgame.
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Josh: [[Ax Crazy|Fuck. That. Noise.]] }}
* [[La Résistance]]
▲* [[Level Up At Intimacy 5]]: Trope namer; the only way to be effective in ANIMa combat is to deepen your relationship with your Anchor [[Love Dodecahedron|and others.]]
* [[Lotus Eater Machine]]: The Bliss itself could potentially be one, depending on interpretation.
* [[Love Triangle]]: In the continuing examples and the one-shot. [[Triang Relations]] Type 4: Josh is A, Sarah B, and Keenan C. Happens a lot in actual play, too, sometimes to the point of a --
* [[Love Dodecahedron]]: If your Pilot doesn't have one, [[More Friends, More Benefits|they're seriously underpowered.]]
* [[Mission Control]]: the Anchors. In game, the Anchor's player acts as [[Mission Control]] and describes the terrain in combat.
▲* [[More Friends, More Benefits]]: Former [[Trope Namer]]. The path to [[More Dakka]] in this game is wrapping your Pilot in a [[Love Dodecahedron]] of ludicrous proportions.
* [[Moe Couplet]]: Sara and Josh. [[Memetic Mutation|Their love is so innocent.]] This in a relentlessly [[Grimdark]] game.
* [[Parental Abandonment]]: The Bliss in general—and Josh Preston's father, the Authority Figure of [[La Résistance]] in the continuing examples, who ''didn't look for him'' after the Bliss hit in particular.
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* [[Promotion to Parent]]: To be expected when the world suddenly loses all adults.
* [[Psychic Powers]]: Mechanically significant combat takes place entirely in a bizarre dream-world.
▲* [[108]]: [[Word of God]] has it that this is the reason the game ends when you go over 108 Bliss.
* [[Only Fatal to Adults]]: The Bliss. Specifically, it's only fatal if you turn eighteen.
* [[Relationship Values]]: There are six stats in the game. Three of them are [[Relationship Values]] - [[Level Up At Intimacy 5|Intimacy,]] [[You Lose At Zero Trust|Trust]] and [[You Lose At Zero Trust|Stress.]] [[Gainax Ending|And the other three measure]] [[Lotus Eater Machine|how screwed your Pilot is.]]
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* [[Tsundere]]: Anna Lin in the running examples and introductory adventure.
* [[Teenage Wasteland]]
* [[This Is Not a Drill]]: Uttered in the example first action.▼
* [[The Virus]]: The Bliss had serious overtones of this, [[Present Day|before the before time.]]
▲* [[This Is Not a Drill]]: Uttered in the example first action.
* [[Word Salad Title]]: While it may seem like this, the trope is averted: the name is a reference to the "Bliss Stage" of a relationship - basically, the psychological term for the honeymoon period.
* [[Write Who You Know]]: The rules suggest naming Anchors after the players' unrequited crushes from when they were the age of their Pilot characters. It's also pointed out that using the name of someone you still know would be rather creepy, considering [[Level Up At Intimacy 5|certain]] [[Deus Sex Machina|mechanics]].
▲* [[You Lose At Zero Trust]]: The [[Trope Namer]].
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Tabletop Games]]
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▲[[Category:Tabletop Games]]
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