Time to Roll the Dice

Music Used ‘ Techna-Hero ‘ - Shadowfox2
[link]



I don’t even know where to begin with this picture. 150+ hours from sketches and designs, to the finished product, good god I feel like a production manager. I will be uploading the individual character profiles this week as they all have their own stat sheets portraying the stats as if they were in a fighting game.

Ok, let’s begin. So a few friends and I came up with this idea for a huge group of characters that would play a part in a fighting game similar to streetfighter, but incorporating gun mechanics, each weapon having a chance theme or deriving design off of a Casino game. It came about from a conversation where the term ‘Slot Machine’ and ‘Machine Gun’.

This is High Roller, a crazy, over-the-top Casino themed future world where District Leaders, called High Rollers, go head to head to control the 13 districts of the city in the most popular bloodsport in the world. Goldenlight City, the gigantic sprawling metropolis of High Roller, spans 3000 miles across and everything in Goldenlight contains themes of casinos, gambling, chance, promiscuity, entertainment, and of course, gunfighting. Taking place in an alternate reality set about 200 years from now, the city is run by a governing system that also serves as the world’s most popular bloodsport and entertainment source, High Roller. Leaders of the districts, each representing a playing card 2-Ace in a deck, go head to head to try to defeat each other, winner claiming the ruling ability of the loser’s district. However, although entertainment, instant gratification, and personal temptation have become increasingly common and accepted, society maintains a general sense of honor, sportsmanship, and courteously. Because of this, the High Roller Bloodsport is able to determine the best leaders through its matches.

Now, gunfighting is not done in the same sense as modern gunfights (which are usually fought using Guerilla-style tactics). Instead, gunfighting is closer to martial arts, very hand-to-hand combat, trying to use finesse and elegance to defeat an opponent rather than uses cover and shoot from behind. This also lends itself to the spectator-sport side of the fighting, as matches between High Roller district leaders are broadcasted to millions and millions of people, as well as often or always being viewed live in a stadium setting. However, matches are often times spontaneous in nature, springing to life anywhere. Because of this, engineers and city planners have designed large areas of the city and its buildings to become arenas at a moment’s notice. These areas can range from hotel lobbies, supermalls, and casino floors, to even the side of a skyscraper. These arenas also incorporate casino themes and house powerups that are obtainable by the players in the match itself, allowing from anything to increased weapon damage, to magnetic ammunition, to ricocheting shots, to much much more.
The weapons and their owners are even more over the top. Weapons are not constrained to the accepted laws of physics and reality, as they are able to generate their own ammunition, use built-in casino mechanics to alter the ammunition and behavior of the weapon. This ranges from slot-machine reels that can grant anything from shotgun ammunition and railgun shots, to guns that project cards above the firing barrels that modify the gun damage, to pachinko rifles where every bullet bounce magnifies shot damage exponentially.

The characters however are the most fun part (in my honest opinion) of High Roller. Each character has an exciting personality and appearance that me and several others spent a lot of time and passion on, and the result is one of the most fun, diverse sets of anthro characters that I’ve ever had the pleasure to draw. Each character represents a card from the 2 to the Ace (and jokers) , and increasing card value reflects the deadliness of the character. Here’s the list. This will be updated as the stat sheets are posted.

Adam Vegas – Jackrabbit (0 of Diamonds) {Technically he is not a combatant at the time the story begins, therefore he is not assigned a card value as a High Roller)
Weapon – ‘The Trump Card’ Slot Machine Revolver

Adam is the primary protagonist of the High Roller storyline. From an early age, he wishes to be part of the High Roller as the primary antagonist, Fargus Poker, has caused a large portion of the city to fall into disrepair through his corrupted leadership (and the fact that he has killed every challenger he’s fought against.) Adam finds (or is given) his gun, a slot machine gun revolver “The Trump Card” by mistake and goes to compete in the circuit, taking the city by storm, making friends and allies along the way to stop Fargus and help restore the city to it’s former glory.

Captain Johannes Vaylor – Walrus (2 of Diamonds)
Weapon – ‘The Kraken’ Craps Harpoon Gun

Leader of Adam’s district, Johan is also a longtime friend of Adam’s family, more specifically his grandparents, Old Maid and Go Fish. Vaylor is aware of Vegas’ aspirations but tries to convince him that trying to do the High Roller circuit without the proper training and weapon is a suicide mission. However, after Vegas obtains the Trump card, Vaylor agrees to help train Vegas and put him to the test in the first formal High Roller match in years. Vegas wins in an impressive and rather clever win by entangling Vaylor in his own harpoon cables and Vaylor joins him and ventures alongside Vegas as he aims to win the hearts of the people and the districts of the city.

Acacia Spade – Lioness (3 of hearts)
Weapon – ‘Lucky Draw’ Dealer Scatterstaff

Leader of District 12, Acacia incorporates the flair of a showgirl and the expertise of a dealer. Trusting, kind, and determined, she also serves as a very skilled martial artist using a polearm fighting style. Vegas manages to develop a relationship after Acacia’s defeat and she proceeds to join the team of Adam and Johan to tour the circuit as an alliance.

Chip Wilkins – Chipmunk (4 of Clubs)
Weapon – ‘Rock Paper Headshot’ Rock paper scissors handgun

Chip represents the 11th district of Goldenlight (more specifically Arcades and how they are indeed a type of gambling). Chip incorporates the themes of arcade gaming and as such, his childish themes incorporate one of the longest-standing chance games ever, Rock paper scissors. Chip is a punk with an attitude, but not without a sense of maturity, being genius smart, having constructed his own gun, and his small size proves to be very useful in a match against larger combatants. Chip personally wishes to see Vegas mop the floor with Fargus and agrees to travel in the alliance.

Vince Voodoo – Skunk (5 of Spades)
Weapon – ‘Necrodancer’ War (cardgame) Rifle

Vince, the darkest of the protagonists, is head of District 10, and is themed off of the Louisiana voodoo/ witchcraft themes and culture. The Frenchman, more eloquently spoken, has a more ruthless side and often uses illusion and visual intimidation to heighten the intensity of matches. The skull on his face has rather questionable origin, however it is supposed he never removes it, as no one has seen his face beneath it. After his defeat, he becomes the fifth and final member to join Vegas’ team.

(mid-level combatants) {These players are more prone to be merciless and some have been known to kill challengers}

Tequila Triplets (Bloody Mary, Piña Colada, and Margarita) – Coyotes (6 of hearts)
Weapons – ‘Remember & Forget’ , ‘Johnny & Jack’ , ‘Greetings From Alamo’ Alcohol guns

The only tagteam of the circuit, the Tequila Triplets represent bar culture and its importance in gambling history. The three sisters work in unison, playing off each other’s strengths and weaknesses to create a very balanced fighting team. Each of their guns intoxicate the person they hit. When not fighting, however, they operate major distilleries in the city (and throw some pretty massive parties). Also, don’t challenge Margarita to a drinking contest. She has never, ever lost and claims she can outdrink any man, period.

Hui-Zhong Pachinko – Red Panda (7 of Diamonds)
Weapon(s) – "Tsuki no Kinsei Bureizu” (Forbidden Blaze of the Moon) Pachinko Rifle, and “Mugen no Unmei” blade (Infinite Fate blade)

Pachinko represents district 8 of Goldenlight City. He loves a good time, filled with good music and good company. However, in a match, he serves to be one of the most defense and agility apt fighters, specializing in elaborate kung-fu fighting styles. His rifle, the Pachinko rifle, fires ammunition that initially is very weak, but every time it bounces off a surface, the bullet increases speed and damage until it hits a target. His sword, the ‘Blade of Chances’ katana, changes length every time it’s unsheathed. Vegas manages to win against Pachinko without seriously injuring him. However, Fargus challenges Pachinko to a match directly following the fight with Vegas and summons Pachinko to Goldenlight tower...

Alea Parlay – Frilled Lizard (8 of Hearts)
Weapon – ‘Midnight Misfortune’ Vintage Slot machine grenade launcher

Alea is the owner and bar matron of one of the most renowned bars in the city, as well as serves as a leader to District 7 (emphasizing wild west gambling themes). Her biggest pet peeve: not finishing your drink. She’s a rather flirtatious yet loyal competitor, yet she will not hesitate to kick your butt into last Tuesday using a Grenade Launcher that has ammo ranging from Napalm, to intoxicating perfume, to nerve gas. She carries every major brew of TequilaTriplets liquor.

Deuce BlackJack – Texas Longhorn (9 of Clubs)
Weapon – ‘Walker & Texas Ranger’ Revolutionary Blackjack Shotguns

Blackjack, one of the major heavyweights of the circuit, represents District 6, which deals with more 20th century gambling themes centered around Blackjack and Texas Hold ‘em. Much more of a stern combatant, he still has a good sense of humor. His weapons, the Twin Blackjack revolvers, reload by having the barrels flip around the outside of the gun itself, and pulling the trigger deals a blackjack hand. Closer to 21? More power, go over, it backfires. The guns can also be toggled into shieldmode, where it deploys a shield that can magnify damage back to the shooter. However, going over causes shots to come through the shield at Deuce at a stronger damage than fired.

Vladimir Bingo – Vampire Bat (10 of Clubs)
Weapon – ‘Not-So-Chernobyl’ Bingo Detonator Rifle

How could we have a casino-gun idea without a Russian? However, the’Russian Roulette’ theme is somewhat overused. Bcause of this, we weaponized the Game of bingo! Vladimir runs district 5 and utilizes the Bingo Detonator. At the beginning of a match, all players (including Bingo) have a bingo grid projected to their chest. The gun fires an unavoidable but slow moving round that slowly seeks the grid space that matches the assigned bullet number. Although the bullet damage is low (at first), if any player gets a bingo on their grid, the grid detonates, most likely killing the player. Because the bullets fire very spaced, the player has time to try to down Bingo before it’s too late. While Bingo does accept surrenders, he does not feel any remorse for a player too stupid to concede before they’re blown to pieces.

(Royalty Class) {none of these combatants accept forfeits from challengers and will fight to kill.}

Thomas Keno – Jackal (Jack of Diamonds)
Weapon – ‘Sandstorm MKII’ Lottery Swarm Device

Keno is an ex-college professor who was ejected from the Goldenlight Megauniversity for immoral engineering practices and illegal gambling activity. He managed to engineer his own weapons, a pair of gloves that eject a swarm of bullets that operate off of Keno lottery mechanics, and proceeded to become the first of Fargus’ Royalty (term used for the group of antagonists that run and maintain the corrupt state in the inner city). He is ruthless and even smarter than he seems and his shrewd fighting banter often demoralizes the challenger by getting into their head and toying with their inner doubts. The longer you’re fighting Keno, the worse things get, as 6 minutes in a match almost guarantee a fatality (usually from hundreds of thousands of homing bullets).

Antoinette ‘BulletQueen’ Amour -dragoness (Queen of Hearts)
Weapon – ‘Lovebite’ Pheremone Roulette Gatling Gun

Amour, the Queen of Hearts, rules district 3, and her promiscuity is her strongest weapon. Her gun, the Lovebite, fires incredible volleys of bullets that contain pheromones that intoxicate the challenger into not attacking her. To make matters worse, the further a combatant is infatuated with her, the more damage her gun does, until the lovedrunk competitor is torn to shreds by her weapon. A roulette modifier fires a random 00 shot that explodes into a perfume cloud that has a massive area of effect. The key to defeating her is to break your own psychological temptation (which is much easier said than done). “Blow your mind, everytime” {yes she is indeed based off ‘Killer Queen’ by Queen}

The Secretary - cheetah (King of Diamonds)
Weapon – ‘Pandora’s Box’

The Secretary is the right hand woman to Poker and leader of district 2, the primary financial capital of Goldenlight. She is stone cold, emotionless, and rarely/never speaks, so when she decides to talk, you better be scared. She wields Pandora’s Box, a weapon that has a chance to pull ‘any’ (and I mean any) weapon from the briefcase. The case also absorbs some ammunition from the opponent’s gun, increasing the chance that she can pull THEIR gun from the case and use it against them. However, she can only pull a particular gun out of the case once per match. The design of the case is a semi-cameo to the Devil May Cry’s Pandora’s Box.

Fargus Poker – White Tiger (Ace of Spades)
Weapon – ‘The Hammer’ 5-card draw poker flintlock

Fargus is the top of the deck, being not only the most deadly of the High Rollers, but the most ruthless on and off the High Roller circuit. He is leader of District 1, the epicenter of Goldenlight and serves as the primary antagonist of the High Roller universe; corrupt, devious, manipulative, and outright sociopathic. He has a 100% kill percentage, annihilating every combatant to challenge his position, leading spectators and other High Rollers to believe his gun, the 5-Card draw flintlock, is rigged. Rules are simple; gun damage is modified by the magnitude of the hand dealt. 2 of a kind? Not a big deal. Royal flush, and it’s a guaranteed fatality. Vegas’ goal is to unseat Fargus and bring back the glory and status that the city has fallen from in recent decades.


(joker twins) {aka the 2 masks above} Not many people know about the twins, as no one is sure if they are living creatures or demonic entities. However, intent of these two is known to be diabolic, and it is rumored that the High Roller game is rigged to cause a cataclysmic collapse of society based on manipulation of circumstances and situations on the part of the duo. (more information to come in their bio page)


To be honest, I’m completely spent on this. Even the upload serves to be intimidating, but I really couldn’t have done it without the group of people that helped contribute, whether it be the characters drawn here, or those who made a character to have in on the fun. Thank you all, especially:

for designing Pachinko and the Tequila Triplets
for designing The Secretary
for dreaming up Deuce
for designing Acacia Spades
for designing the Joker Twins, Jesse & James
for designing Alea Parlay
and my little brother Jack (no dA) who helped me in the design of over 7 characters, giving brilliant suggestions that helped create what I personally think is the best project I’ve ever attempted.

Thank you guys. Thanks for the support, and Stay lucky.


Artwork © *DanSyron
Characters © their respective owners above
High Roller © *DanSyron & Friends
Total estimated time – 156+ Hours from planning to finished product
Pencil to Bristol, to photoshop cs3.