The Campaign Builder's Guild

So, have always been a fan of Pokemon (I feel so dirty admitting that) however, probably my least favorite part of the game is, well it's the gayness of it all. I hate the fluffiness, I hate the happiness, and I understand it is for children. But I have always wanted to enslave a creature and make it fight to the death with other monsters for my amusement. I want my creature to grab another by the spine, rip it out and add his foe's skull to his throne.

So I want to create Monster Horde.

this is what I wrote while I was at Barnes and Noble, I will have some more soon:

 Monster Horde

The world is populated by millions of unique and strange monsters. Some of these creatures control the elements, others are demonic in power, some are undead abominations, but all serve one purpose: to be enslaved by you and to fight in the grand arena.

This game combines elements from Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, and Digimon, but takes away the light fluffy side of life, replacing it with a cold hard bloodlust. Thousands of Monster Handlers breed and compete to become the grand champion of their league.

The Leagues:
Each Country has its own league, some with their own rules and regulations, the highest competition is the World Masters held every 4 years.

The Gear:
Handlers use mind control to help enslave their Creatures. This allows a Handler to have utter and complete control of the beast; He also uses summoning stones that store the Creature in an extra dimensional prison. These stones are palm sized and usually are decorated with ancient runes. There are different types of stones that grant different bonuses and abilities. The Handler also has access to various tools that grant buffs or can even bring a Creature back from the dead.

Wargear:
Most creatures are intelligent enough to make use of Wargear, these weapons, magic items, armor, jewelry, etc. can be used in combat. Certain restrictions apply to said items, (for example, a creature without any arms cannot make use of any hand-wielded weaponry).

Battle!
There are generally two types of fights, League Sanctioned fights, and backyard fights. Fights sanctioned by the League conform to the rules and the laws, they are regulated by a Judge, and fights are rarely to the death. Certain gear and wargear can be placed on a ban if it is too powerful or dangerous.

Backyard Fights are when two handlers opt to duke it out outside of the ring. These fights are often to the death (of the creatures) and are illegal. Anyone caught in such a fight can be fined, have their creatures taken from their care, imprisoned, and banned from any league fighting for life. Regardless of the strong penalties, backyard fights are still popular.

It doesn't look like you've removed the fluffiness so much as replaced it with evil.

Why, if these critters are so valuable, would their trainers so quickly fight them to the death?

Of course, I'd still play it in a second.

Maybe they aren't that valuable. Why did we allow gladiators to fight to the death in the coliseum of Rome? Isn't a human life valuable? These monsters are just another bloodsport for the people of that world. Naturally there are organizations in the world searching to put an end to the games (PETOC, People for the Ethical Treatment of Creatures)  but they are fools. Everyone knows monsters are only good for killing.

Here is an example of one of my monsters, I plan on making this similar to a tabletop war game mixed with roleplaying. Let me know what you think:

Grinning Skullface

Power: 15...............   Attack Bonus: +3
Spirit: 13...............   Health: 20
Dexterity: 10...............   Initative: +0
Save: +6...............   Defense: 14
Speed: 6 Squares

Special Abilities:
Rifle of the Damned (Undead) The Grinning Skullface wields an assault rifle that it probably picked off the body of a fallen soldier from an ancient battlefield.
 Range: 24'
Damage: 1d6

Cannibal (Undead) As a Standard Action the Grinning Skullface can devour the remains of a fallen foe or ally (it does not discriminate). The Grinning Skullface gains 1D4+4 hp.

Bite (Melee) The Grinning Skullface can use his wide jaw as a melee weapon. It deals 1d6+3 damage.

[note]This is no way a definitive stat block, and I can change anything, i know it's hard to balance this monster against anything (if anything, it is not balanced because there is no standard) I hope to make what you might consider a starting point.

I know that your Monster crew will be decided by point value. So this monster may be worth 25 points, and to upgrade to a Sniper Rifle of the Damned is 10 points, making him 35 points. Then you and your enemy may be playing with 100 points of monsters, allowing you to begin play with a few more creatures.

I was also thinking of giving the creatures something like Mana that lets them cast their abilities, and once they are out of mana they have to rely on other means of combat (Naturally, not everything will have these mana points, like his gun for example. [/note]

Quote from: GnomemasterMaybe they aren't that valuable. Why did we allow gladiators to fight to the death in the coliseum of Rome? Isn't a human life valuable? These monsters are just another bloodsport for the people of that world. Naturally there are organizations in the world searching to put an end to the games (PETOC, People for the Ethical Treatment of Creatures)  but they are fools. Everyone knows monsters are only good for killing.

I'm not even talking about the ethical ramifications of it, simply the investment of time and resources. Why would I allow someone to kill my prized critter, which I intend to use for breeding?

Course, that depends entirely on how rigid the Man in your game is.

Ever seen that show that used to be on comedy central? It was all about remote controlled robots destroying each other. Im pretty sure those are expensive in time/money and yet people run them into buzz saws. that's my argument for the bloodsport.

Do you have any suggestions of what you want to see?

looks somewhat fun

Ooh, something for Michael Vick to play to pass the time while he's in prison. :P

Exactly! I don't agree with the wanton violence of real animals, but nothings wrong with the use of these monsters for pleasure and betting.

I want to present another opinion question to the boards: Do you think allowing these monsters to gain in levels would be a good idea for gameplay? Or would you rather have a static creature that can be improved by adding wargear and such to it. I guess the comparison would be between Pokemon leveling up, (which I have no idea how to make that balanced) or the way DnD minis are static (an orc warrior costs 6 points, always has and always will). Thoughts?

hows about, from wins, you get special points which you use to give the monster better abilities, and or metal claws, etc.

I think it's dependant on the format this is going to be; Card game or RPG?

Quote from: GnomemasterEver seen that show that used to be on comedy central? It was all about remote controlled robots destroying each other. Im pretty sure those are expensive in time/money and yet people run them into buzz saws. that's my argument for the bloodsport.

Except that those can't be 'killed.' You simply repair them. A critter is unique, and once it's dead, that's it.

You may want to look at Rocket Misfire's Pokemon system, especially Pokenomics. Makes the whole thing a bit darker.

I read it, it was a good system, to answer your concerns I dont think all of these beasties will be unique

Aha. So two creatures of the same type, Rock Goblin Smashers, for an example, will be exactly the same, minus equipment.

as of my initial concept: Yes. Using the Rock Goblin Smashers (which makes me wonder, is this a goblin wielding a rock or a rock that enjoys smashing goblins? hmmm...) example, they would have the same HP, defense, attack etc. They probably even have the same base special attacks (like swinging their gigantic rock club hands) However, you could arm them with special equipment, like a wrench, which they can use to bash the brains out of any enemies. These Rock Goblin Smashers could also potentially wear one set of bracers, one pair of boots, one cape/cloak/jacket, one pair of gloves, two rings, but no headband or lenses, Rock Goblin Smashers have no discernible head.

I am toying with idea of improving these creatures, so there may be Three "levels" of Rock Goblins Smasher to choose from, each level makes the creature more expensive than the last. So your opponent could use three first level Rock Goblin Smashers each for 25 points, while you use a single third level Goblin Smasher for 75 points.

Just ideas that I am toying with.

and you could gain points for winning fights