"Which giant monster system offers the best creation" Topic

For making original monsters?

And as a second thought, what animal/vegetable/or mineral would inspire you the most for kaiju/giant monster starter stock?

If an animal would you start with a modern animal, an extinct animal, or a creature of myth?

If a vegetable would you choose a symbiotic, stand alone, or other type?

If a mineral would you like to see an element (fire, earth, etc.), metal, or an exotic?

For me I think it is an interesting exercise to consider just about anything, but even more so to blend.

snapping turtle is a great choice
snapping turtle + lava oooo that much better…belches out ash, fumes, hot rocks, and magma…mmmm

Anyway you see where I am going with this, so which game system offers the most leeway or sound structure for creating a kaiju from scratch?

Stepping outside the box for a moment, a lot of Superhero systems are very flexible for obvious reasons, with a big focus on powers, weaknesses, funky movement, ineffectual swarms of troops, etc. Heck, they even let you knock over buildings. So you'd basically just scale down the size of the civvies and scenery as appropriate to let you pimp slap biplanes from atop art deco spires or play horseshoes with supertankers in Tokyo Harbor, and play something like Supersystem or Hero.

Somebody already built a fire breathing jet propelled snapping turtle:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamera

For a critter to be that huge and not collapse on itself… I'd think they'd not be completely material… something like the 'wraithbone' that the Eldar in 40K build all their stuff out of.
So I'm seeing something huge that is partially solid in places… and partially transparent/immaterial.

In my games of FR! I've got some titanic sorcerer critters who are just huge stone columns with swirling chains… another one is a swarming cloud of swords/knives…

I also really like the big 'monsters' in Shadow Of The Collosus (a video game):
YouTube link
YouTube link
YouTube link
YouTube link
YouTube link

"Somebody already built a fire breathing jet propelled snapping turtle"

Well yeah! That was the point of the exercise lol. Funny. I was using a known element to gain common ground in the process :)

I like Giant Monster Rampage. Monsters are broken down into Kingdoms which come with a Kingdom specific ability. Then you buy the attributes(with maxes limited by the Kingdom) and powers. Atomic Power, which is rolled for at the beginning of the turn, is spent to use your powers.

You can learn more about it at the link below.

radioactive-press.weebly.com

I say Giant Monster Rampage but I'm biased ;)

I just wanted to let anyone interested in Giant Monster Rampage know that any Toy Battle System game's powers/abilities/equipment/combat maneuvers can be used with any other Toy Battle System game, of which there is currently Giant Monster Rampage and Power Warriors and soon Mega Bots.

So, you could use the powers from Power Warriors to further enhance your Giant Monsters or vice versa which gives you a lot more options.

Having looked over a number of systems before selecting one to commit my time to statting everything out, I found Giant Monster Rampage and Monster Island equally appealling for kaiju creation. In the end, I settled on MI because it was commercially available to retailers. So when I run games at my local store, they have the ability to sell the rules.

I find that I really liked Giant Monster Rampage Second Edition the best. Lots of options and a fun game. I have seen the 3rd edition, but the 2nd edition was more enjoyable for me – construction of the monster especially.

Monster Island is ok, but the game itself was a little simplistic for my taste.

Ganesha Games are also working on Mighty Monsters which from what I've heard could end up being very cool too.

Cheers,
Ben.

For those kaiju'eers…do you collect the 5-6" or the 3-4" classic monsters to game with…and have we included the MonPoc creatures?

I have gamed with 1-2" SD Figures, 3-4" High Grade/Hyper figures 6-8" Standard figures and the 10-12" Large figures.

Of those I would have to say that I prefer the 6-8" figures for kaiju gaming.

4", goes great with 1/285 squishies.

"For a critter to be that huge and not collapse on itself… I'd think they'd not be completely material…"

just repeat to yourself 'it's just a show, i should really just relax'

just repeat to yourself 'it's just a show, i should really just relax'

You misunderstand me… I'm completely fine with Godzilla and his ilk…
But 28mmMan asked about designing our own Kaiju… and if I'm designing my own monsters then I find it entertaining to mess with the plausibility meter… make up junk to explain how something so huge can do karate moves on a skyscraper.
Not that my solution is any more plausible but it might give some particular flavor to the storyline.

Most of my models are in the 6' range… so those Privateer things won't really work for me.

6'?? WOW! :P

I know you mean 6", I've always gamed with 3-4" Godzilla figures, so the Monpoc stuff works with them. But some of them need a good repaint – hypers are good for that.

Cheers,
Ben.

Yes sir the 3-4" is the range I am working on. 6" would be fun but it seems a bit large, and why waste a chance to use the Monpoc stuff right?