Try This New Animon Story Mechanic While You Wait for Digimon Survive

Digimon Survive finally has a release date and I am absolutely pumped for this strategy monster taming RPG. The July 28, 2022 release date is still a ways off and I need some monster action in my life now! That’s where Animon Story, the RPG created by Zak Barouh, comes into play. Animon Story captures those Digimon vibes with a healthy dose of Pokemon and a slew of other monster taming RPG feels.

What is the Critical Gauge in Animon Story?

I’m running an Animon Story adventure from the Ani-Thology right now and so far it’s been a blast. One of the mechanics that sets Animon Story apart from other RPGs is the Critical Gauge. Unlike Dungeons & Dragons where a die roll of 20 results in a single critical hit, Animon Story utilizes a Critical Gauge. The Critical Gauge is like a countdown (or count up) to a critical event called a critical move.

With a critical hit you just double your damage roll in D&D but a critical move is something decided by the whole group of players. A critical move benefits everyone and can range from all characters getting to use their special moves in tandem to all of the players’ Animon evolving.

A critical move doesn’t have to be used right away once it’s triggered. However, if the Critical Gauge is full when combat ends then the critical move is wasted because the Critical Gauge resets at the end of every combat.

Because Animon Story uses pools of d6s instead of other dice the way the Critical Gauge builds is related to rolling a 6 anytime dice are rolled. According to my own understanding of the rules the Critical Gauge counter increases each time a 6 is rolled even if the roll’s result was a failure.

When the Critical Gauge reaches a number equal to twice the number of players (including the Game Master), a critical move is possible and until this critical move is used the Critical Gauge remains at maximum.

Putting the “Monster” in Animon Story

One idea I’ll implement in my own Animon Story game is a homebrew rule called the Danger Gauge. Much like how a d6 contributes to the Critical Gauge, when a player rolls double 1’s (or multiple 1’s) on a single roll the Danger Gauge increases by one count and when the Danger Gauge reaches a number equal to twice the number of players it triggers a GM Intrusion, which results in an unexpected difficulty or increased challenge for the players. For GM Intrusion think Cypher System.

I wanted to implement this homebrew mechanic because I wanted to lean into some horror vibes for my Animon Story game, much like the feels invoked by Digimon Ghost Game. If you’ve read any of our articles on Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft or Curse of Strahd you know we love some horror vibes in an RPG.

Especially with the “mon” in Animon representing “monster” I wanted to lean into the Halloween aesthetic a bit.

Why the Danger Gauge works like it does

Unlike the Critical Gauge, which gains a point for every 6 rolled, the Danger Gauge requires multiple 1’s on a roll and only increases by 1 at a time regardless of how many 1’s were rolled. This is to ensure the Danger Gauge doesn’t overtake the characters too quickly.

Additionally, Animon Story works off of building pools of d6’s and the more d6’s you roll the more chance you have to roll multiple 1’s. By ensuring the Danger Gauge only ticks up by a maximum of 1 point per turn it limits how bad things will get.

If you want to make your game even darker or grittier then you could use this mechanic and cause the Danger Gauge to tick up by one for each pair of 1’s rolled. For an especially dark game you could have the Danger Gauge tick up for each 1 rolled so it works as a direct opposite of the Critical Gauge.

When it comes to the Critical Gauge the point is to enable narrative drama through mechanics and the Danger Gauge works much the same way. Both build suspense through the accumulation of points toward an impending finale.

What do you think?

Do you play Animon Story? What do you think of this homebrew Danger Gauge mechanic? Whatever your thoughts we’d love to hear from you on Facebook, Twitter or even right here! Just drop a comment and a like.

You can follow Animon Story’s upcoming Kickstarter and get all the latest info about Animon Story by following Zak Barouh! Catch ya later!

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