ClayFighter-inspired tabletop game lets you sculpt your own creatures - then squish them
Ha-dough-ken!
An indie tabletop game inspired by video game ClayFighter will give you the chance to create your own powerful fighting creature and see how it fares against the clay creations of your friends.
Designer Jared Sinclair describes Clay Creatures: Calamitous Confrontation as “based on your favorite old game of fighting clay monsters, but with some respect for your time and attention” - referencing the somewhat notorious 1993 video game that featured claymation characters scrapping in 2D stages à la Street Fighter.
Each player starts the game by creating a character out of a tub of sculpting clay, such as Play-Doh. The physical design of the character affects gameplay elements - for instance, giving your creation more legs will increase its movement distance, while the number of limbs it’s able to strike with determines the number of attacks performed.
Attacks are resolved by rolling pools of six-sided dice, with the target number once again influenced by the design of the creature - gaping mouths and beefy limbs can make it easier to land a hit, while attacking with your entire body further ups the chance.
Players can use special abilities and craft any leftover clay into missiles to chuck at their opponents - although not using as much clay for your actual creature will reduce its total health.
The creatures take to the field (i.e. a table) to throw down until only one is left standing. The rules pamphlet instructs players to take any creature that runs out of health and squish it in their hand, making defeat that extra bit gutting.
Clay Creatures: Calamitous Confrontation saw a digital release via Sinclair’s Itch.io page towards the end of last year, with the six-page pamphlet now getting a physical release via Spear Witch. The physical edition, which costs $5 plus shipping, will include a pot of “high-quality, system-agnostic Role-claying Dough” for a limited time, which we mention mainly because it’s quite a funny pun.