In Gunsen: The Battle for Toshi Ranbo™, players take command of the Great Clans of Rokugan and compete for control of one of the Emerald Empire’s most contested strongholds. It’s a game of reading your opponents, anticipating their moves, and trying not to look too suspicious when your plans are coming together just a little too well.
With the game’s release on the horizon, we caught up with co-designer Ben Rosset to talk about the origins of Gunsen, the challenges of making a fast-paced but deeply satisfying gameplay loop, and the kinds of stories players can expect to create once the battle begins.
Let’s start at the beginning! What was the first spark, or idea, that led to Gunsen?
I love Kemet, it’s one of my favorite games, but it takes so long to play, especially at a high player count. The initial design idea was a challenge I gave myself to design a faster playing version of Kemet that plays in 45-60 minutes. I ended up taking inspiration from both Kemet and Scythe for the design, and I actually named my initial prototype ScyKemet45 – meaning a mash up of Scythe and Kemet that plays in 45 minutes.
Thinking back to your earliest prototype, what’s one thing that’s remained unchanged, and one thing that evolved dramatically?
The thing that’s evolved dramatically is the way the action cards are selected. At the beginning of the design, I tried a 7 Wonders Duel style card pyramid. That worked really well at 2 players, worked ok at 3, but completely broke down once you got to 4 or more players. I learned quickly why that card selection method hasn’t been used in high player count games since 7 Wonders Duel introduced it. So we needed another method. The Office Dog development team worked hard to help come up with a new solution that works much better at high player counts.
One thing that has remained unchanged is the victory condition. The victory condition in Gunsen is inspired by Scythe. The end of Scythe is triggered when someone reaches 6 stars, but then you have a VP tabulation that happens after that to determine the actual winner. In Gunsen, like everything else about the game, I wanted the resolution and determination of who won to be very quick. So I just cut out the end game scoring tabulation, and made the victory condition a race to 6 achievements. Pure and simple.
Can you share a playtest moment that really captured the spirit of the game for you, or that made you realize you were onto something quite cool and unique?
Early on in playtest we had a game that ended when one player got to 6 stars in just their 7th turn. I was worried the game ended too fast, and wouldn’t feel satisfying, but the group loved how fast-paced the game was and how well that one person played to capture the victory so quickly. So we doubled down and leaned into that “speed”, and it’s something we tried to maintain all through the game’s development.
As a co-designer, how did your collaboration work? Did you take on different roles, or was the process more fluid?
Like most of our co-designs, I was the initial designer of the game, and Matthew O’Malley came in for the playtesting and development phase, to help me improve and refine the design.
What kind of experience were you aiming to create at the table? What should players expect to feel when they play Gunsen?
We were aiming to create a fast-playing game that is a mix of a dudes-on-the-map war game and engine building, along the lines of Scythe and Kemet. Speed, speed, speed was the goal here. We wanted players to feel like they had the full experience of Kemet or Scythe in just 45-60 minutes.
What’s a small thematic or mechanical detail in the game that you’re especially proud of?
I love the way that when you gain a new action card, you immediately activate all cards of that type. It really provides immediate feedback, and makes every single turn feel more powerful than the one before it.
As we approach the official release, what excites you most about finally getting Gunsen into players’ hands?
I am very excited for fans of Scythe and Kemet to play and to hear their reactions. Scythe and Kemet are both amazing games, and I hope fans of those games feel there is a place for Gunsen on their game shelf alongside those games, too.
And finally, what’s next for you? Can we expect to see another designer collaboration?
After Gunsen, the next game that will be released that is a co-design of ours is Pack and Paddle, a medium-weight bidding game from Kids Table Board Gaming, which should be released in 2027.
