Raffle Drawing This Thursday!

So this Thursday we're going to have a raffle. It's pretty awesome and it has almost nothing to do with tabletop gaming. We're giving two free tickets to the Columbus Crew game on June 13, 2018. You'll get to come with us and have a fun time at the soccer match. I know it has to do with gaming though so you'll definitely have fun if you're into it.

So definitely follow the instructions in this facebook event to get a shot at coming with us: https://www.facebook.com/events/888659364639064/

As we already covered previously, we're also going to be at Origins Game Fair so definitely hit up booth #566!!!

Multiverse Musing

Have you ever heard of the theory (more like hypothesis) of the multiverse?

I was just recently making some oatmeal because I want to live a healthier lifestyle. It's something I used to do all the time because it was healthier than other choices and filling. Filling for at least an hour anyway. And hey! I was poor and it was cheap too.

While I was making the oatmeal my wife decided to comment that I am supposed to let it sit there so the water can cook the oatmeal. I was of course stirring the oatmeal as one commonly would do if they like a fusion of flavors from the two different oatmeal packets they were using.

As she was telling me this and I was stirring my food I had this thought in my head about sending some of it her way and saying "is it cooked?" like some kind of childish moron. Obviously I didn't follow through with this but it got me thinking about how bad that would have been and how glad I was that I am living in the better reality than what I have imagined.

Now, unfortunately I am living in the reality where I told her the thought had crossed my mind. It seems I'm not the most intelligent version of my multiverse self.

Still though. it makes you think. Is the thing that crossed my mind a window into another part of the multiverse? Well.... probably not, but I can't disprove that the mad scientists of Gamma Grunts don't exist in some other reality. (good luck proving/disproving any negative claim)

With that being said I've come to realize that the creation of Gamma Grunts is a window into the world we have always wanted to create. It's a window I plan on keeping open as long as possible because I enjoy what we are doing here. Sure, I've got some writers block at the moment, but I'm at least glad we are in this universe instead of the one where Mecha-Hitler wrote his tragic poem Mein Ananas. Yes, I know it had critical reviews, but it just is not my cup of tea. Too much fruit on Pizza....

I was more a fan of Gandhi's take on "Terminator 7, Death to the Machines". It just has that Gandhi flair. Also, that universe has a lot more movies to watch than this one, which is hard to believe, I KNOW RIGHT? But hey, that's the Multiverse !

Keep it Crazy -

Mad Scientist Kyle

Combos are Everything

Marcon was so awesome! There were a few of us game designers who all hung out together and talked shop every day of the convention. We also play tested our games with attendees of the convention and got some great feedback/exposure. There was a really awesome moment that came up in gameplay that made me giddy with how it played out.

I was playing with 3 other people Saturday morning of the convention. Things were ramping up and rather than playing a full game to 20 Infamy, they requested we play a shorter one to 10. One of the guys we were playing had the lead at 7 Infamy and I was close behind him at 6 Infamy. He had 4 grunts that he was attacking me with and I had nothing to defend myself with. I knew I had the card, "Angler" in my deck so I just had to hope for luck. I decided to just flip the top card of my deck to satisfy the damage being dealt and boy was I lucky. The top card was, "Angler" and I smashed it and that was it. He only got 2 Infamy from me smashing that from the card from deck, which put him 1 Infamy away from winning. As you can see below, it also lashed back at the player who damaged me for 2 damage.

So my opponent hadn't won but he had to smash cards to satisfy the damage that I was dealing to him in response. Little did I know that he had, "Mini Angler" in his hand which is the 1 cost version of the card I got him with. So he was able to smash, "Mini Angler" and cause me to smash 1 more point to make him victorious.

Moments like these are why we created Gamma Grunts the way we did. The gotcha moments. The large, devastating attacks, and the triggered reactions. I loved that I was there to witness that moment and see the satisfaction in the player's face. I hope to witness that many more times to come.

I'm excited to spend more time at conventions with our game and getting to see those interactions during gameplay more and more. Next convention, Wizard World Columbus 2018, June 8-10. Shortly after that, Origins Game Fair, June 13-17. 

Getting creative with your character

Mad scientist Kyle here!

So, this post isn't really related to Gamma Grunts at all. It's about Dungeons and Dragons and being creative with your characters.

The other day I was at my biweekly DnD game where I am currently playing my Half Orc Barbarian Thnag. As characters go he isn't too bright. He is mostly built for smashing things wholly at random and causing chaos because he is chaotic neutral.

From the previous session he had just finished fighting off about 3 dinosaurs a magical old man, and several guards in the middle of a riot caused by his companion Ludgut (the most legendary of half orc bards). The rest of the party had run off doing their own things while I was in the thick of battle defending my newly created horde of whomever would join me.

There is one detail about Thnag that I haven't told you about yet. He is an elemental barbarian currently doing sands as his element. What's so special about this you may ask? He can cause fire damage to everything in a 10 foot radius in addition to having the power to light objects on fire.

Now, as Thnag had just taken several moonblasts and spears to the face he wasn't doing so well(one HP left). With this in mind I got the bright idea to cause a panic as an escape plan for the party. So, as Thnag ran into the forest still on his rage he started burning everything around him as he ran and started screaming "Dragon!". As he made his way into the areas with tents he naturally continued this process until his rage failed.

It was at this time a contingent of about 100 city guards had surrounded the dinosaur pens and the rest of the party members in that general area. So, continuing with the plan Thnag ran screaming at the guards about a dragon and managed to convince them of the danger as they looked back at the blaze of flames and destruction behind him.

A little over 60 of the guards had successfully been deceived by this trick as the rest were engaged with dinosaurs stomping them. Sadly though the dragon trick didn't work on the leader of the guards and his two lieutenants by his side.

In an effort to convince them further Thnag burst into his rage again and pretended a dragon had shot him with fire breath immersing himself in flames. This was good enough to convince some more guards but not the ones staring directly at him. So with a boop on the nose Thnag fell unconscious and made a guard feel like a true man for having taken out this nearly 7 foot tall half force immersed in flames of death in one hit.

This all just goes to show that your characters, although may be dumb and nearly dead, can quite easily deal with an army of people if you can be creative about it.

Tune in next time for some more hijinks and news about Gamma Grunts.

Marcon... Already?!

We're going to Marcon, a convention in downtown Columbus, Ohio. We're going to be joining other game designers to add a little something different this year. It's really an awesome opportunity and we're really excited to be a part of it.

So, be sure to hit us up at Marcon if you're coming out. We'd love to hang out. If you aren't coming, you need to hurry up and change your plans before it's too late.

Check it out here: http://marcon.org/

Thoughts of a mad scientist - Kyle's thoughts

Good afternoon, good evening, and good morning to everyone!

This is Mad Scientist Kyle here just making a post to say play testing has been going well. We have been getting a lot of feedback and have been able to fine-tune Gamma Grunts to a point where it is essentially ready for Kickstarter barring a few little details. Why don't we put it up now? Because we want to ensure we are putting our best blood, sweat, and tears out there for people to support and doing that still requires some things.

I'd like to take a second to talk about the great people that have been play testing with us. We have had everything from novice to highly experience gamers play testing our game. These wonderful people have been interested in a wide variety of games like Euros, TCGs, Deck Builders, and many other game styles.

Their feedback has helped us incorporate a whole slew of interesting ideas and design considerations. For example, just recently a group of play testers help us to understand how over powered the card Rail Gunner was so we brought his power level back in line with everything else. They even helped bring attention to how our initial card art was just a little too dark for the text to be easily readable.

One specific shout out I want to do is for Nate of Nerdarchy. He play tested our game and pointed out something no one else had even realized. The names of our cards weren't all in the Mad Scientist theme. Sure, our art ideas were, but the names weren't which was a crucial design consideration we just plain missed.

This just goes to show the mantra of game design is PLAY TEST PLAY TEST PLAY TEST!


Thanks for your time and have a great day!