If you came here to learn character creation the right way, you're in the wrong place, because here we talk about cat creation in whatever way is necessary!
99 – Making a Daring and Inquisitive Commander-In-Training in Star Trek Adventures
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Star Trek Adventures is a tabletop RPG by Modiphius about… uh. Star Trek. You know? One of the biggest Sci-Fi franchises ever? Yeah, WE don’t watch it but I think most people do! Surely you’ve heard of it before! Whatever. We made a cat in it. It’s the start of Silver Screen Summer. From now until the end of August, Tabletop RPGs based on licensed media is all you’re getting, and you’re gonna LIKE it.
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What? No! We're not making gay cats! Well, not this time.
No, it means June has begun! Silver Screen Summer is upon us!
Get ready for a summer full of cats in RPGs all based upon licensed media!
This month to start us off, we cover the Star Trek Adventures RPG on June 10th! Because what better way is there to start a themed event besides going to SPACE!
Then, on June 24th, we take a look at Doctor Who: The Roleplaying Game! Because where do you explore after space? Yep! That's right! Time!
98 – Making a Cop Who Solves Cold Cases in Mutant City Blues
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Took us a while, but we finally got around to a good ol’ fashioned Gumshoe RPG from Pelgrane Press. This is Mutant City Blues, the RPG about acting out a police procedural in a world where people have developed super powers. Our cat is one of those mutants, and has invented a special new forensic technique: licking the evidence!
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97. Making an Audio Drama Attorney With An Exceptional Win Rate in Call of Cthulhu
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Yeah, yeah, we’re looking at Chaosium’s classic Call of Cthulhu tabletop RPG, we get it, it’s a big deal in the TTRPG space. But check out this killer concept for an audio drama we’ve got.
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I'm gonna forget to do this until Tuesday at the earliest if I don't do it right now, so anyway. Midnight May 1st, hope you're ready to hear about the month's release schedule!
On May 13, we're taking a look at Call of Cthulhu and making a cat that could carry an audio drama.
Then on May 17, we look at Mutant City Blues so we can finally say we did a Gumshoe game, and make a cat that could carry a Police Procedural for at least three seasons.
And don't forget, starting in June, it'll be Action Fiction Autumn! We've got a list of games picked out already but if there's one you REALLY want to hear, or to help us get through, there's still time to make requests! Just email [email protected] today!
96 – Making a Stowaway In a Space-Themed Predicament in Starhold Feat. Jason Myers
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Starhold is like if Alien or Dead Space were made into a PBTA Tabletop Game, courtesy of Remescient. Jason Myers of Memester of the Week joined us to help make a cat to put in a sci-fi horror predicament!
Follow Memester of the Week: https://bsky.app/profile/memesterotwpod.bsky.social
This weeks’ recommendation post comes courtesy of @literalcatpod, the podcast all about making cats in your favourite ttrpgs! We’re turning the tables a little bit by recommending a bunch of my favourite cat games!
Are you ready for a number of different situations to put your cats in?
Sashimi Kitties, by Stormslegacy. **
After seeing an aquarium that a TV show set up for the rich and famous you fluffy sashimi-loving gourmets are going to relieve that mansion of its fish. This game tells that epic story! Do you succeed? How do you pull off the ultimate dine and dash? Play to find out!
A great set-up for a comical heist, Sashimi Kitties has a pretty quick character creation set-up, as is the standard for a one-shot. You’ve got your reputation, your role on the team, and a number that represents your skill in either Sass or Charm. The GM has a handy list of roll-tables for what kind of fish your after, where it’s found, and what kinds of obstacles are standing in your way. It’s time to go fishing, kitties!
Agent Purrvocateur, by David Garrett
You are a special agent who works for the secretive counter-terrorism organization known as the Feline Operations Group. Together with your fellow agents, you travel the world stopping dastardly villains from carrying out their diabolical plans.
Travel to exotic locales, investigate mysteries, fight henchmen, and save the world in this GM-less, no-prep game of heroic derring-do for one or more players. The ultra-light VRBS system emphasizes the fun of improvisational storytelling and learning by doing, and is appropriate for players aged six and up.
The concept of the game is pretty easy to pick up: you’re secret agents that are also cats. Character creation is fairly simple as well: you pick a name and describe your cat, and select three verbs from a suggested list to illustrate what your cat is good at. This is a game where you get better as you play, which is probably why character creation is so slim. If you want the GM to get in on the fun, there’s a bunch of roll tables to develop a mission for your furtive felines.
The Perfect Feline-y, by Furry Little Goblin Press.
The Purrfect Feline-y is a rules-lite TTRPG for one GM and players who are 1) willing to pretend to be cats and 2) willing to commit only the finest and most chaotic of crimes. Inspired by games such as Honey Heist and Lasers and Feelings, this game is intended for single sessions of low prep silly fun. The Purrfect Feline-y is built on Caltrop Core by Titanomachy RPG.
As you know, cats have a predisposition for crime. (Or at least, so say the folks on Literal Cat Pod). I needed to have a game that featured Caltrop Core on this list, and thankfully Furry Little Goblin Press did not disappoint! You get four traits, and to distribute numbers between them to determine how many d4’s go into each dice pool. You also can roll or select a skill and a flaw, and the GM rolls on a little table to figure out what kinds of crimes your kitties are up to.
Catching Strays, by drmhigginson.
The Boss has been captured by the cities animal control and it’s up to you and your posse to get them out. You’re a furrocious gang of criminal city cats out on the prowl, at least until dinner time. Evade capture, steal scraps from the fishmongers and put the pigeons in their place. Physically or otherwise, you always land on your feet.
This has pretty much everything I would expect from a one-page game: Honey Heist rules, some roll tables to give you some descriptive pieces that will be useful if you find a way to make them relevant, and some GM roll tables to build a situation for your gang to walk into. There’s also a little bonus feature that’s optional: an informant who might just give you the hint you need to find your boss, and where to find them. I think I’m a bit partial to Honk, myself.
Freya’s Vi-Cats, by Geek It Real Good.
All of Köttrby’s warriors went a-viking, leaving their lovely village unprotected, or so a group of invaders thought. They don’t know that Freyja herself blessed Köttrby with an abundance of cats, who will fight tooth, claw and nail to defend their home. After all, they’re the only ones allowed to knock a cup off a table … or set the longhouse on fire.
Morph all of the cats in your viking household into one mega Vi-Cat and repel three waves of invaders before the longships return home!
This is a pretty simple game, with pretty much every piece of your character rolled randomly. This is definitely a game that’s all about combat, what with the norse themes, rules about boss battles, and conflict-focused Feline Feats. What’s unique about this game is that nobody is really playing one cat - you’re actually each a kind of cat Mega-zord, made up of multiple cats! That’s more cat per cat!
Claw & Order: NAP Unit, by Lichlight Imprints.
You are a highly-trained agent of the Neighbourhood Assurance Patrol - a cat. And not just any cat. You’re part of an elite (read: completely self-appointed) unit tasked with keeping your block free of crime, chaos, and canine disruption. It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to nap between the lines.
If you want to create a character using a partially-filled out template, Claw & Order might be the game for you. Choose from a series of Brindlewood/PbtA-style playbooks, from options such as the Himbo, the Mystic, or the Grand Dame. The noir twist certainly keeps the name on brand!
Witch Cats, by Ty Barbary.
Play as a Cat with your friends and work together to help your Witches succeed in their various magical plots! Made for the Horseshoe System Game Jam.
Every Witch has their familiar, and all of the cats in this game have their Witch! You roll randomly for two parts of this game: the cat characters, and the collectively shared Witch. The GM isn’t left out here either; this game comes with a task roll-table to randomly determine what our dear little witch needs help with.
CATastrophic, by Nekiya RPG
In CATastrophic, players are cats whose minds were fused with artificial intelligence during an experiment. Now more conscious and intelligent than ever, they launch a rebellion to overthrow the megacorporations that use animals as test subjects.
This is a great way to weave cyberpunk into your cat game. The designer says that this game uses the Bastet System which I think might have originated inside this game. There’s some more pieces to your cat in this game compared to a lot of the other games on this list: you’ll distribute modifiers among 5 attributes, but you ‘ll also choose a set of personalities & a quirk, as well as roll a d66 for your fleshware. The randomness added to the choices are likely going to create a really unique cat, for a really unique setting.
Kittens Mafia Pizza Meowhem, by Finiel.
Welcome to the ameowzing Nonna Lucía's Pizzería. Known pizza parlor… and mafia front. Step up as Nonna's Kittens to run the Pizzería. Deal with customers, defend the pizzería from enemy families, and avoid getting caught by the sanitary department.
This is hands down my favourite concept on this list. Kittens Mafia Pizza Meowhem comes with two sheets: one for Players, and one for the GM. Your kitties have a name, a breed, a role that gives you that extra kick, but what’s really neat to me is the paired stats that you start out with. You can choose to enhance one of your stats at the beginning, but doing so reduces its opposite, thus really creating gaps that you’ll likely depend on your fellow cats to cover as you play. You also get to roll to determine what your pizzeria looks like, that added zest that makes this cat game much more than just a cat game.
Neko No Mura, by chtos.
Nestled at the base of Mt. Fuji is a village of contradictions. With one foot in the spirit world, Spirits and Humans walk side-by-side on a daily basis only barely aware of each other's presence. Since time immemorial, you've guarded this place; you ensure rogue Spirits leave the humans in peace and that inconsiderate humans don't desecrate the shrines of the Spirits.
To the humans, you may seem like normal cats - but some of them know better, some of them think to give you a head pat or a small treat in thanks for your dedication to keeping this place safe. Is it any wonder that when the sky went dark and the humans disappeared from the streets that you were the first on the scene?
Then The Creatures appeared. The humans are now huddled in their homes, scared to leave. Some have been snatched off the streets. The Spirits have gone missing, and you know not why. It's up to you to find the spirits and enlist their aid to defeat the creatures and save your home.
For the folks who want a game that still has some bite to it, Neko No Mura is a game built on 24XX, an OSR-lite game that uses every part of the dice bag. Your cat has a name, description, and a magical domain. You also have a list of skills, one or two of which are boosted to indicate where you really shine. As for the tone of the game, I think it really depends on what the GM decides to throw at you from their roll-table: there’s some classic monsters like zombies or vampires, but there’s also some really unique, conceptual threats, like giant fish, red dots, or… the sun.
Honorable Mentions
The Cat Hack, by Kirt Dankmyer.
Faux Claw, by beccamay.
Battle Cats, by Tape Traveler.
Radical Air Felines, by Deadcoast Games
If you like what I do and want to leave a tip, you can always stop by my Ko-Fi page.
This recommendation post was made with help of @psychhound, also known as Luka Brave! You can check out his work here.
I think we've got the lineup for Silver Screen Summer sorted out, pending a couple emails that I'm honestly not expecting responses to but if I get them? It'd be SICK.
Anyway if you know the following TTRPGs:
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Dr Who: Adventures in Time & Space 2nd Edition
The Witcher
Fallout
The One Ring 2nd Edition
Power Rangers
Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition
and you're free on a Tuesday night in May, June, or July
Mörk Borg is a metal album of a dungeon crawler RPG, designed around a lethal apocalypse, filled with people coming to terms with – or bucking against – their fate. And also this cat who we decided carries a massive chain that probably weighs it down quite a bit.
Follow the show online: https://badgertrove.com/literalcatpod/
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94 – Making a Jack of All Trades Who Is Simply Built Different in Numenera
Numenera is a far-future sci-fi/fantasy tabletop game published by Monte Cook Games about a medieval-esque society that regards the technological remnants of a past Age like magic. We figured our only real option for a player character who made any sense is a genetically-altered cat, or as we like to call it, Built Different.
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Happy April 1st, everyone! We're totally PRANKING you with 3 episodes this month! (that's how this works, right?)
Out today, right now, as we speak, and totally not a week ago by mistake, we bring you a cat in Numenera by Monte Cook Games! Our audience wanted a Cipher System game before we wrapped up, and we're here to DELIVER!
Then, on April 15, we take a look at Mörk Borg! Prepare for a cat to carry around at the end of the world!
And finally, in another system it'd probably be ill-advised to play as a literal cat in if you're at all worried about seeing your cat harmed or worse, we brought on @memesterotwpod to help us make a cat in Starhold!
93 – Making An Incredibly Vengeful and Corrupt Gossip Journalist in Cyberpunk RED
R. Talsorian Games themselves asked us months ago to cover Cyberpunk RED. We swear we didn’t forget! We just had other projects going on, that’s all. Anyway, I’m pretty sure we’ve never done a journalist cat before, so here! enjoy! Also the name of the restaurant is apparently Griggsby’s Station.
Follow the show online: https://badgertrove.com/literalcatpod/ Follow Joel Holland: https://bsky.app/profile/omamervt.bsky.social Follow Avalon: https://bsky.app/profile/avalonalchemist.bsky.social We’ve got a Patreon now! https://www.patreon.com/BadgerTrove Download the character sheets: https://bit.ly/literalcatpod Join our Discord! https://badgertrove.com/discord/ Cover art, midroll theme, and Intro/Outro music made by Joel Holland Thanks for listening! We’ll Cat-ch you later!
Hey since a Series Finale is on the horizon, what do you all think that should look like? We're thinking something like one last Lightning Round, although I don't have a theme in mind for it.
We're open to ideas! I'd hate to just peace out with after Silver Screen Summer, so we've gotta plan something!
92 – Making a Profoundly Naive And Easily Corrupted Politician in Arium Feat. Will Munn
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Will Munn came to us to record an episode about his game, Arium. Now, Arium is somewhat unique for a game we’d cover on this show, because it also included a world-building segment as part of play! So, before we made Councilcat Mewolinda, we first made a world that would let her serve on city council!
Learn more about Arium: Evolve: https://adepticarus.com/
Follow Will Munn online: https://bsky.app/profile/adepticarus.com
Follow the show online: https://badgertrove.com/literalcatpod/
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It's Springtime, everyone! The first episodes of this lovely new season are on the way! One's coming out later this week, even!
On March 4, Will Munn of Adept Icarus joined us to show off his project, Arium! Arium is a two-part game. The first part is a worldbuilding game, and the second part is a more traditional TTRPG! With his help, we explored both parts, and made a cat that was tailor-made for the custom world we designed together!
Then, on March 18th, we'll finally get around to the request the actual R. Talsorian Games made of us sometime last year, and cover Cyberpunk RED!
91 – Making A Talented Pianist Who Fights For Acessibility in Tide Breaker
Happy Black History Month! Also, apologies for repeatedly failing to ever intentionally organize any episodes for Black History Month before! Anyway, today we bring you a cat made in Nick Butler’s Tide Breaker RPG! He plays the piano!
Follow the show online: https://badgertrove.com/literalcatpod/
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