MonToons: Guardians of the Coral Isles preview

The printable roll-and-write arena-battle game MonToons is getting its first expansion, now on Kickstarter! Guardians of the Coral Isles adds three new maps and modular Guardians into the mix, which attach to your existing character sheets and will add various additional options once they've been Awakened. There are three different types of Guardians and players are free to start slow with just one per player, or throw in the kitchen sink and give every player three Guardians.

Bonus Guardians

The Bonus Guardians are the simplest of them, but don't underestimate their impact. Once they're Awaken condition has been met, they'll offer new tracks for your shell and cherry bonuses. These effects can even apply extra status effects to your attacks, so your opponents better watch out! My favorite part of the Bonus Guardians, though, is the addition of a heart bonus track, which can be especially useful in the early game when character's haven't taken much damage yet.

Basic Guardians

Basic Guardians give players more options for their basic attacks, ensuring that no matter the situation your character can hit the others where it hurts. The Basic Guardians actually come in a few different flavors. Some of them add a strong movement option while others give an additional passive ability that characters can use for the rest of the game. On top of more bonus options, these Basic Guardians also let players Purify their characters from Poison damage, which will come in handy on the new blighted maps.

Special Guardians

The last type of Guardian is certainly the wildest; Special Guardians all add another Special Attack to your character, but these work differently from characters' normal Specials. These new Specials all feature a unique pseudo-minigame that grants plenty of bonuses while you work to unlock the actual attacks. These aren't too complicated, and each feels right at home with the other roll-and-write mechanics.

Blighted Maps

The Coral Isles have been corrupted with Blight! This new special terrain modifies the existing terrain, afflicting the new Poison status effect on players entering the hex in addition to the standard effects. Particularly dangerous are the Acid Grounds in the Blightland Pass map, since characters still take Lava damage on top of the Blight.

This expansion adds a ton of variety to an already diverse game. Anyone looking to expand their print-and-play skirmish game, or newcomers wanting to grab everything at once, can follow and back the Kickstarter campaign here.