I wanted to take some time to publicly follow up on details I’d only until recently given in a Kickstarter update. I sometimes forget about this website, but I’d like to get more things happening here again going forward.

Public Github Repo Coming Soon!

I have a lengthy vacation coming up very soon, the purpose of which is to finally finish the beta pre-RC version of the core rules that I want to send to layout. I’m dumping the current docs into a new GitHub repo for public viewing, which I plan to have launched by May 2nd at the latest. Kickstarter backers will get first notice of this repo, and after that I’ll be posting the links here as well.

For those of you unfamiliar with GitHub, I talk about it a bit in my previous post on moving to Markdown for game writing. I’ve improved my process a lot since then, too, and I’m considering putting together a new post on adapting programming best practices on Git commits to the tabletop RPG design process.

Convention Plans

I’ll be running at least two sessions of Gattaibushido at Wagoncon coming up next month. I’ll be there gaming all weekend, and doing more than one podcast on-site as well. This will be the first debut of my semi-final rules draft for the game, and the brand new playbooks for it. So stop on by, say hi, and play some games with us.

Wagoncon is my favorite new convention, taking place May 4th-6th in The Dalles, OR. Check out the schedule of events here.

I’m looking for Giant Robot-Themed Card Decks (Playing and Uno)

One of the things I love about playing cards as a core mechanic is that they are a lot more visibly theme-able than dice. Sure you can get all kinds of crazy-looking dice in thousands of different patterns, but in the end their sizes and shapes still limit qhat can be done with them as visual tools. As a long-time player of Savage Worlds, I have always loved hunting down the perfect decks of playing cards to fit the themes of whatever new game campaign I run in that system, adding to the visual feel and immersion of the players at the table. And when I made the decision during the early design stages of each of my current games to use playing cards as the core randomizer tool, that ability to customize the visual feel was something I was really excited about.

With both Cannibal Contagion and Motobusido, finding themed cards was never a problem. There are dozens of zombie-themed decks out there these days, and possibly even more samurai and “classic Japan” themed decks as well. There’s probably even a zombie samurai deck out there somewhere that I could use if I ever wanted to cross the games. But as for Gattaibushido, finding Giant Robot themed decks has been a surprisingly difficult task. I’m mind-blown that there don’t seem to exist any Voltron-themed decks. I can’t even find any for Pacific Rim or any of the big giant robo franchises (and that “shuffling-deck” card game doesn’t count). If you’re reading this and want to help out, keep your eyes open for suitable decks, and send links my way.

I know there are themed Uno decks, as well. I’ve got a couple (Ninja Turtles and One Piece) and I’m really hoping to find more. If you see any that fit the themes, let me know!

About Gattaibushido:FUSION!:

If you’re new here and you somehow made it this far, awesome! Here’s the rundown:

This game is my personal RPG love letter to Gunbuster, Majestic Prince, Vandread, and of course, Voltron. It’s a story of awesome mecha pilots who must learn to get along with each other long enough to combine their robots together and defeat Big Giant Monsters from Space (or wherever else your group decides they’re from).

The root of the game is an open-ended collaborative story experience, with each player acting as both the guide to a single character and an architect in the creation of the world. There is a Game Master player as well (we call him “Coach”), but in Gattaibushido the players have a good deal more creative authority than you might expect. Every new game world is built fresh by the group playing it, and the particulars vary so wildly that no two groups will ever likely be playing the same world.

The mechanics of this game are heavily inspired by my prior game, Motobushido, changed so the core rules more closely fit the new theme. The core tools are a couple of decks of playing cards (instead of dice) and a number of helpful (but not absolutely necessary) tokens of any kind. The cards create a constant awareness of continually-escalating scenario stakes; the more the team acts and causes trouble, the closer the inevitable Big Giant Monster gets to totally wrecking their day!

Read More on the Product Page

Site Redesign (again)

I finally stepped up to using commercial themes across my WordPress installations, and I already see a marked improvement in appearance and performance of my various sites. I’m hoping to add more things here as time permits. Expect more changes to come!