Richard Bellingham's The Secrets of Cats was released as a pay-what-you-want PDF on DrivethruRPG today; you can get it here. It's a hefty 50-page adventure for Fate Core with a feline magic system. Richard's a really nice guy, so consider sending some money his way when you download it.
This is my fourth cat-game purchase this year, as I picked-up two volumes of the Call of Catthulhu RPG, along with a set of 12 Cat-dice over just the last couple months. Much to my amusement, my partner actually noticed these books, and understood why their title is funny. And he is not a geek.
And we are not cat-people.
What I really need is a dachshund game, although I guess anyone who lives with a dachsie knows that they are the GM and you are the hapless, de-protagonized PCs.
It's fun to see Richard's new cat-game for Fate - so give it a look!
While I was on Drivethru, I also noticed that this was now out:
It clocks in at 138 pages for $10 and is also for Fate. You can get it here.
I'm actually surprised there's no dachsund game already, and it can't be long if not. It would be interesting to see play in a pet-focused follow that idea of the animal being master. I mentioned The Unbearable Lightness of Being recently and if I remember rightly one of the concepts proposed in the novel is the cyclical nature of the dog day. That could also make for an unusual central feature.
ReplyDeleteWow, it has been 30 years or so since I read that book, which was recommended in The Nation. I think both "Secrets" and "Catthulu" are based on the idea of the pet being the true master. In the latter, humans are viewed as spiritually inept, and as too vulnerable to alien influences. Catthulu's Nekonomicon has alternate rules for playing dogs.
DeleteThe novel could well be worthy of new attention the way events are moving, not least for the thoughts on participation and kitsch.
DeleteThat idea of ineptness makes me think there's a lot of potential in this tack. I wonder what else is there waiting to be explored? I can't help but think there's a lot of mileage the more apparent constraints there are. A game of goldfish for example, going deep within.
I had forgotten about the big role the concept of kitsch played in the novel. There are lots of interesting ideas to be explored here.
DeleteFor sure. Plus it's got some very useful insights into life in that part of the world at the time, which would be useful in turn for exploring similar places.
DeleteI wonder why it is literary fiction so rarely gets used as a basis for games, or novels in general, when there are tie-ins with other media? Maybe full games for single works would be a bit much, but not necessarily if they were micro- or even nanogames, or worked with a common subset. Imagine something like Ulysses by Joyce. Can it really be no one's ever attempted it?
A Joycean RPG: now there's an idea! As far as mainstreamy fiction goes, I've seen a lot done with RPGs that borrowed from Eco's novels, and a tad from Borges and Kafka, but when Gregor Samsa (not Clegaine) trots to get up in the morning I suppose we've already left the mainstream.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the more liminal material could move things further inwards, possibly going by way of The Trial, things like A Clockwork Orange, later Doris Lessing and some of Rushdie's work, even novels like Trainspotting. The more I think about it, the more I can't believe this hasn't been done.
DeleteI think you're onto something here!
DeleteThanks for the kind words about "Secrets"!
ReplyDeleteI fully endorse and encourage buying the game so Evil Hat will be wowed at how popular it is and hire me for another gig, but I should point out that I got paid up front and don't get royalties.
If it takes off, I am considering starting a Patreon to release more material: Historical adventures, extra NPCs, new magical powers, antagonists and all that good stuff.
Hi there, Richard! Hopefully the product does well for Evil Hat, and gives your efforts the visibility they deserve. Here's hoping for a long tail with this cat!
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