"Kaiju Rampage Playtesting" Topic

Hey Everyone,

Over the years I have been collecting comments and ideas about Giant Monster Rampage, with the intent of using that information to make the game better by adding new rules and options.

Over the past few months I have been outlining some ideas I had for a possible new edition of GMR when I decided that the ideas I had would change the core game too much and that it would be better to treat this game as its own system.

I think GMR Deluxe/3rd edition is fine as it is and it doesn't really need a new edition. That said, I still wanted to pursue these new ideas, which lead to the creation of this new game I am calling Kaiju Rampage (this was the title I original created GMR under).

Kaiju Rampage does feature a lot of familiar elements from GMR, its just that many of them are presented in new or different ways to hopefully give you a more streamlined giant monster gaming experience.

I am looking for players interested in trying out this new game to give me feedback on how it plays.

If you are interested in helping out please email me at radioacitve_press@yahoo.com

Experience with GMR is a plus, but it is not required.

In order to playtest the game you will need to have access to monster figures, building blocks, and 10-sided dice.

Thanks,
Ken
Radioactive Press

It anyone is interested in following along, I was going to use this thread to go over some of the design changes and choices I am making with this new game.

The first change is that I have dropped kingdoms as a classification system and replaced it with origins.

Instead of picking a kingdom based on your monster's appearance, with the new game, you now get to classify your monster based on why it exists.

The reason for this change is because I felt it offered players more creative options when creating their monster instead of being directed to a kingdom based on appearance.

I have also dropped the statistic maximums in favor of allowing player's more creative control over their monster's stats. Plus, they were only ever an issue in higher point games above the recommended point value.

Lastly, origins grant a monster a special rule, just like the kingdoms did, but these special rules can only be used once per game.

GMR players will note that the idea of the origin rules isn't new. Origins were previously an optional rule. I have taken those rules and rewritten them for this game.

That is all for now, if those of you reading this find this sort of post useful, please let me know and I will continue to explain my ideas behind this new game.

Thanks,
Ken
Radioactive Press

Yeah, please keep us informed.

Seconded, Ken. Please keep us informed.

FYI, I'd be interested in playtesting, but can't make any commitments at the moment.

@sharkbait This the first draft of the rules so there should be plenty of time for playtesting.

-Ken
Radioactive Press

The next thing I started working on was statistics.

The latest edition of GMR uses distance, dexterity, toughness, instinct, atomic power, and wounds for monster statistics.

I think those statistics function fine with the exception of instinct. Instinct just didn't quite work out the way I had wanted it to and I'm not entirely sure a mental statistic is really needed for a monster combat game. That is why I have replaced instinct with strength.

The strength statistic is not new, and the Kaiju Rampage version of the statistic is very similar to the optional strength statistic found in GMR 3rd edition.

Another statistic change I made was to atomic power. The first thing I did was change its name to energy so that a monster's power source didn't sound so specific. I also dropped the need to roll for atomic power points. You must now buy your monster's energy statistic like a normal statistic and that statistic represents how much energy your monster will gain each round to activate powers. This also means that you don't lose energy points at the end of a round.

I tweaked wounds slightly, but only in how many are given out. A monster now gains 1 wound for every 20 points it is created with. I did this to allow players more control over how they split their points when playing multiple monsters.

The last thing I added was the stress statistic. Those of you who play GMR should recognize the stress statistic from the Mech optional rules. I have taken the concept presented in the Mech rules and expanded it so that it is fully integrated into how the game plays. For example, if your monster would gain more than 10 energy points, it loses any points over 10 and gains 1 stress point from having too much energy in its body. Stress points are gained through various combat situations and can be used by your opponent to force you to reroll things like attacks and wound prevention rolls. Too many stress points can also cause your monster to lose statistic points. Ultimately stress is meant to replicate the stress of injury to the monster's bodies as they fight.

That is all for this post. Thanks for reading!
-Ken
Radioactive Press

I forgot to elaborate on why I changed energy from a d10 roll to a static statistic.

One of the reasons I changed it was to reduce the number of rolls required at the beginning of a round. Lately I have felt that all of the rolls at the beginning of the round interrupted the flow of the game.

The other reason I changed it was to hopefully make the game more tactics and strategy based by having to manage your energy points as a resource instead of hoping for a good roll.

I also think the old way didn't favor monster builds that used a lot of energy dependent powers because you could never be sure how many points you were going to get from round to round.

I think energy as a statistic allows you to create a monster with the powers and energy output you want or you can create a monster that doesn't use energy at all and you don't have to worry about having to roll for a mostly useless stat every round.

-Ken
Radioactive Press

Those of you who play GMR know that natural attacks were part of the statistics chapter and ranged attacks were represented by powers.

I think that made them seem like two different things and with this new game I wanted to bring them more in line with each other. I did this by giving attacks their own chapter and making both close combat and ranged attacks something you build for your monster.

With Kaiju Rampage you get to custom build your monster's attacks. You pick the ranges, the damage, energy, and then you add upgrades to those attacks to make them more unique.

Speaking of upgrades, upgrades are things that you can add to your close combat or ranged combat attacks to enhance their effectiveness. There are no longer any special range rules, or close combat powers, or ranged powers. All of those things have been reworked into what is now the attacks chapter.

-Ken
Radioactive Press

Ken I've been a huge fan of GMR, it is my go to ruleset for all my Kaiju Gaming needs. I'd like to take a look at the rules if you don't mind.

@Miniature Geek: Send me an email at radioactive_press@yahoo.com and I will send you a copy of the current playtest file.

Thanks,
Ken
Radioactive Press

Just a quick note to let everyone know I am still looking for playtesters.

One area I really want to work on is making the power levels of energy-dependent monsters equal to the power level of monsters that don't require energy, or as close to equal as possible.

In GMR, monsters that don't use energy tend to have an advantage over monsters that require energy. I want to try and eliminate as much of that advantage as possible and I think I have an idea on how to do that, but I really need the point costs and energy costs tested as much as possible to see how well the system works.

Anyone interested in helping should email me at radioacitve_press@yahoo.com

-Ken
Radioactive Press

It is no secret that I am a fan of giant monsters and robots. As such I watch a lot of different movies and series that feature those types of combatants.

In the past, when I would watch those shows, I would take mental notes if I saw a power or maneuver that I thought was unique and required its own equivalent in GMR. While that added to the number of powers and maneuvers in GMR, I also felt it started to water down certain effects by having too many things that were similar.

With this new game I wanted to fix the powers section by focusing on creating powers that could be used to represent numerous effects from the different series. I also wanted to try and make more powers work together to help recreate certain effects. That is also why I removed ranged powers and made them something you could build yourself.

Other than a different perspective in how I am approaching them, powers will essentially work the same way they always have.

-Ken
Radioactive Press

Tried to email you but it was sent back several times.

If you cut and past this email it should work:

radioactive_press@yahoo.com

I don't know why it would be sent back.

-Ken
Radioactive Press

Another quick note to let you know I am in the process of refining everything I have mentioned above, so I don't really have anything left to discuss at this time.

I want to thank everyone who was following along and add a quick reminder that I can always use more playtesters.

Thanks,
Ken
Radioactive Press

Small update to let everyone know that I am planning on releasing a paid "beta playtest" version of the game, sometime this summer, in PDF format via Wargame Vault.

The reason I am releasing a paid playtest version is to help fund the art, editing, and layout for a print version as well as to try and get a larger group of playtesters.

Thanks,
Ken
Radioactive Press

The Kaiju Rampage Playtest File is now available for $3.00 USD at Wargame Vault.

link

-Ken
Radioactive Press

Giant Monster..
any new updates. I trust/ hope you had a good number of playtesters to give you some feedback on your rules set.

On a simular note (Fighting Kaiju). A cpl yrs back after seeing Pacific Rim, I went into one of those "FYE / Electronics Boutique" stores to ck out what was new.

To my pleasent surprise they had ALL Four of the main Jager's from the film: Crimeson Typhoon, Cherno Alpha, Striker Eureka and of course Gipsy Danger.
IIRC there were no less than 2 or 3 of the Kaiju (I clearly recall 'Knifehead").

I always thought, it would be wild to see them in a Wargame.
Of course at est. ea. at 18 in. tall, it would have to be played on the floor.

@Part time gamer

"real life" kept me busy for a good while and, unfortunately, I have not had enough play testers to adequately test the game to the point that I feel it is ready for publication.

That hasn't stopped me from developing the game though. I just released an updated playtest file and will continue to test it and update it until I feel it is done.

-Ken
Radioactive Press

Hey Everyone!

The next edition of the game is almost ready! I have been using my Facebook page to update players about the game as well as to share news about new toys and movies that may interest players.

If you'd like to know more about what is going on with GMR head on over to: link

Thanks,
Ken