#cats of cthulhu

[sprintingowl]

Magical Kitties And Other Cat RPGs

Magical Kitties Save The Day is a deluxe, all-ages ttrpg about cat adventures.

It comes in a big box, which is half empty space and half dice, character sheets, core rules, and multiple supplements. The art is absolutely gorgeous, and that quality you see on the cover is consistent throughout the core book and supplements.

Design-wise, Magical Kitties is pretty simple. You have a few skills, a talent, and a magical power, and together they give you a d6 pool. Outcomes on checks tend towards success-with-a-complication, and I'd broadly describe the game as being oriented towards mischief and hijinks.

Of note to me, the system is *really* similar to Joel Sparks' Cats Of Cthulhu, but absent some of the interesting lore about dreaming, without the more defined character classes, and a lot softer in tone.

Kitties in Magical Kitties can, at worst, get knocked out for a scene. And that's if you let your Owies build up enough that you start getting into actual dice pool penalties. Damage goes away fast, so if you get absolutely scrapped it's more of a signal from the game to cool it for a bit than a serious consequence for your character.

The overall design in Magical Kitties is trying to split the difference between being a game for kids and a game for adults, and I think mostly it works. There's enough meaningful choice during character creation that a typical DnD group could have a great time playing a mini-campaign of Magical Kitties. And the tone is soft enough and the consequences low enough that a younger kid isn't going to get too dispirited if the dice don't go their way.

My guess would be this system works best for ages 7+. For much younger audiences, you might want to check out something like Starport.

Overall, I'd describe this is a really, *really* big budget indie game that'll appeal the most to folks who:

-love cats -are at least a little interested in rpgs

It's impossible to overstate how lovely, fun, and creative the art is, and I kind of think the game is worth it for that alone.

That said, it's far from the only cat-based ttrpg! There's lots of good ones.

I've had the most fun with Cats Of Cthulhu, and strongly recommend it to anyone with an interest in rpg design, and I've also really enjoyed GMing Secrets Of Cats.

If you have a favorite cat-centric ttrpg, or if you've played Magical Kitties and have your own feelings on it, please feel free to continue the discussion.

[corvid-khaos]

fionna and cake but simon drops increasingly wild anecdotes about his life

[bobzillashiftwoods]

[thingsthatcannotsaveyou]

[steamtasticvagabond-blog]

Okay, so I just blew bubbles at my two cats and for a moment related to the outer gods.

They cats freaked out at it, and I felt like an elder god chucking a can of blasphemous rites and dark magics at a lesser being because it’s funny.

It was the feeling of saying “hold my beer” to your homies in the outer cosmos before slam dunking a colour out of space into some primate’s well for the lols

[ask-terraria-bosses]

EoC, how was your time spent in Don’t Starve >.>

EoC: The funky artstyle was a real EYE-opener though!!

[inkdemonapologist]

a while back someone shared a couple of song snippets from the in-progress musical Epic with me, including "Monster," which I IMMEDIATELY sent to Maf as having EXTREME HENRY VIBES, specifically the monochrome "pointy henry" from the Bad Loop. The other day Maf let me know a little more of the song has been released and I just had to drop everything to draw a murderous henry about it...

[inkyvendingmachine]

T'was The Night Before Crisis... Season 4, Episode 1

💀 Call of Cthulhu: Haunted Hijinx Masterpost 💀 Call of Cthulhu Season Four Masterpost (Coming Soon)

Warning: This campaign is an edited version of  a Call of Cthulhu scenario from the Tales of the Crescent City book. While a lot has been changed, there IS spoilers for it throughout these posts.

WE'RE BACK. After over a whole heckin year of 10000 RP logs, we have returned with our final season of Cthulhu! It's been not just a year out of game, but a little over a year worth of in game time has passed too, and they boys are indulging in a chill, at home seasonal celebration... for now! Surely nothing weird will happen, nothing ever does around holidays for these boys obviously.

:)

Happy Holidays!

Art Credit: @inkdemonapologist : sketching + inking @inkyvendingmachine : concept + colouring

A week. Two weeks. A month. A season. A year.

A whole year and a couple of months go by without any crazy outside force trying to rid the boys of… anything really. The time isn't exactly calm or empty… but compared to recent events, for a while, things were… kinda normal?

Well, except for when Joey got Peter to help him meet with Y secretly to prevent the gang from continuing to mess with JDS, or when Sammy and Henry realized mid tennis match that a version of Henry had slashed him right through the center. Or how the Prophet can just pop out now without ink. And how Susie has been brought in on all this, and perhaps brought in on even more than just the supernatural content as her bonds with Sammy and Joey grow tighter. And how Peter is actually moving to New York City now and ends up visiting Jack just as Beans goes missing and now there’s many little Beans kittens. And the summoning spell to ask the spirit that helped them in Haiti what will become of Sammy and Prophet. And the other summoning spell for Prophet to get his instructions from the Masked Messenger. And Sammy still can't tell where he's going half the time after uncovering some of Prophet’s memories. And Joey is still a bit hesitant to leave the studio if not being actively distracted. But other than that! It's been normal!!

And the boys have made it all the way to Christmas. Joey's received some parcels in the mail, from the Fowlers and Nicole. The Fowlers actually sent each of the helpful boys uh… 1000$?? That's a thousand. EACH. IN THE 1930s. For helping out… which I guess if stuck eternally in soul lake hell, wouldn't have that money anyways. But still, that's quite a lot for the time.

Meanwhile, Nicole has had time to move on from her heartbreak, and is ready to start a new chapter in her life, and as thanks, leaves Joey both the keys to her old apartment (the lease being paid up for a few years already) and to her previous car, with a guarantee she's giving these things up for better, not to worry about her. And totally not because maybe all the occult scratches and bullet marks in the wall makes the apartment hard to rent, or the fact that her car is an extremely recognized Mercedes, or that both of these assets were hounded by gangs for a bit after her magical mistakes…

It probably is actually all out of good will and appreciation, and these things will come in useful, especially if they do need to deal with more mafia or what have you. Joey doesn't need them tracking Henry's car home to his family or back to Jack's house.

With those gifts out of the way, the actual holiday is spent in Jack's house, with a big potluck meal. This holiday celebration includes a small group of friends and their families, namely, all the people Jack has befriended and also would be okay with the Lurker partying with em. The event goes well, Sammy gets to play through the night, Henry’s children get to hang out with a real Bendy and also a buncha newly grown-up cats, Henry gets to eat as many cookies as he wants… 

That… slows down when Henry sees a yellow sign in a ribbon. But as soon as he tries to not lose his entire cool and freak out, it disappears… the ribbon was just a ribbon the entire time. Perhaps golden ribbons shouldn't be their normal holiday decor… 

Meanwhile, Peter feels eyes on him and decides to move away from the window maybe, especially because it feels like he suddenly knew exactly which star in the sky holds Carcosa at the same time… surely a fine coincidence to have happened at almost the same time. But nobody else is acting weirdly, sooooo.

The night wraps up, with Susie and Norman heading out first, followed by Henry and his family. Sammy also heads home after being socially exhausted and desperately needing his alone time, and Peter helps Jack clean up some before heading out too. Jack heads to bed, only to find an already asleep Joey with a Spark sprawled on top of him, probably after he “closed his eyes for a moment” a little earlier. 

The next day, there's technically work, but it's a short day because what's actually happening is a charity auction and party. A collection of “originals, signed by the creators” has been donated to help raise money for relief efforts in a few warring European countries, as well as the “entertainment” for the evening (Bendy cartoons, of course), courtesy of JDS, which means of course all the stars who signed the auctioned items were invited to the party as well.

Yes, even Sammy. 

(And also Jack, Henry, Susie, and Joey of course.)

The event is being held at a yacht club, advertised to the wealthies of the city midst the great depression, with live music playing and glittering evening wear, and uh. Denis.

Y'know, Denis?? That rich guy from NOLA who invited us to the masquerade?? That Joey casually name dropped his legal name to in order to keep him from tracing himself and Sammy back to JDS, when they didn't know who or how dangerous their initial information gathering was.

Anyways, a quick little talking him in circles by Joey corrects that past mistake, as well as gets him the information that Denis is actually related to one of the people who put the entire event together. Ha. Good to know.

Of course it's difficult to shake him afterwards, since Joey is one of the few people Denis knows all the way up in New York. At least Joey actually has a fancy car to talk about now.

Meanwhile, in the quietest, emptiest corner he could find, Sammy notices something odd about the song that's currently being played live. It sounds familiar, and while surely there's been some Bendy music played this evening…. This particular song is not that. But it WAS composed by Sammy.

In NOLA.

When he was improvising with some random music on the street while hanging out on the balcony of his and Joey's hotel room. Properly freaked out by having a song from a very scary time literally come back to haunt him, Sammy runs to find someone, (Joey is still busy with Denis), and comes across Jack first. But before he can fully explain, the entire party is interrupted.

Chatter turns into hushed confusion as some pale man up near the front starts speaking in tongues. It's hard to tell if he's trying to perform some ritual or just incoherently rambling, but it doesn't matter! Because very quickly there’s a gunshot!!

And the Prophet? He's awake. He knows what that gunshot was. He's been waiting for this.

It has begun.

Of course the entire party breaks out in panic once the gun goes off. Joey doesn't know what sort of Eldritch nonsense was happening up front, but upon scanning the crowd and noticing Jack and Sammy together, beelines for the snack table to grab Henry and search for Susie.

As everyone is being rushed out, some of the boys manage to notice that not all of the panic is simply from the mad ramblings and sudden bullet, but also we've got some people in the crowd bleeding from their eyes. How festive!

Upon getting outside, the Yacht club is of course already being surrounded by security and the police, as the sudden gun shots quickly alerted locals to the nonsense going on. Nobody is allowed to bolt until an investigation is conducted and people are questioned, but of course Joey managed to sweet talk his way over to a telephone to make a very important quick phone call.

To one Peter Sunstram! 

Turns out, between all their arguments, there are a few things they can agree on, which includes quietly spying on suspicious parties even though they should probably not be doing that if they actually wanna be safe but surely everyone will understand when they find out IT'S FINE.

Anyways Peter’s been keeping an eye on Y, and earlier in the day Y seemed to be performing some ritual before having some kind of … breakthrough? Revelation? Peter had told Joey of it, and in good faith Joey agreed to keep an eye out for WEIRDNESS, hoping that Y was upholding his promise to not be interfering with JDS anymore. But now this episode seems to have specifically happened, right at their exact event for the evening, so Joey does his best to pass along as much info as he can in that moment to Peter. As well as set up a backup plan in case anything else happens to them before they can escape the Yacht Club.

After some interviews with the police though, they’re allowed to go free. Listening to other partygoers' recollections they’re able to pick up a few more names here and there – the one who fired the gun up front by the bandstand is said to be another local gangster by the name of Johnny Nero, and the band playing on that bandstand one Red Leverett and the Jumps – but no evidence that really points the crew in any sort of serious lead. (including more commentary by Denis wHY ARE YOU STILL HERE UR NOT PART OF THE GROUP)

So having managed to collect everyone together, including Prophet returning Sammy to the front for the interview thank the lord (not that one)(not that one either)(maybe that one) the JDS crew head over to their very safe and secure hide away to talk about what just happened: that’s right, they’re going to Peter’s apartment.

And staying there through midnight! Listen, the last time weird shit started happening like this, everything popped off at midnight and there were panics all around. It’d be nice to know where people were this evening. And while they’re all sitting around waiting for that to pass, Henry and Peter can even talk about the really weird things that happened last night! Yknow, where Henry saw the yellow sign for a moment and Peter felt something watching him from space? Those very normal Christmas activities?

The group also gets informed about how Peter maybe has been keeping an eye on the Y that still hangs out in the city, and how Y was excited over some weird ritual. While he goes over that and also Joey and Peter guiltily kinda admit to their secret spying tendencies, Henry gets info from Linda when he calls to explain why he’s not home yet and how he won’t be home for a little while still. She’s remembered some research that crosses over with the prophecies they had gotten a month or so after the last big event like this. And Jack and Sammy bring up how they had been theorizing over who’s and what’s in the prophecies… for instance, that which the Phantom seeks, who bears already the scars of following the Mender’s lead….

Is it Peter? He followed Jack into the weird ghosty world. Is it Joey? He’s followed the Mender in other ways, and also literally bears scars caused from Jack’s healing. Or is it somehow Y?? Who seems… involved in this somehow, despite promising he wouldn’t be fucking around with stuff that might step on JDS’s toes again.

With no real conclusions, but midnight having come and past, people start to head home. Joey has someone drop him off at the studio, as after weirdness happened with any sort of occult stuff he’s interested in checking in on Bendy and the Stone. Since, those tend to be targets for this kinda creepy thing. Bendy is perfectly fine though, and hardly even noticed anything going on… So Joey picks up some of his notes and… finds himself unable to leave the studio. For some reason it just seems like the wrong idea… so he spends all night up researching, unsettled by how many non-leads he has into what will possibly happen next. It’s starting to feel like Haiti again, knowing that something bad is coming but really having no idea where to fortify with this information.

But he does have something new… 

He has plenty of things new now, including his dream spell. 

Peter’s not the only one who can spy, and while Joey is sure he’d hit some kind of barrier trying to peek in on Y’s dreams… just knowing whether the man was still alive, or possessed by some eldritch nonsense seemed like a good place to start. Maybe his excitement at the ritual earlier was coincidental…

The thing is, defying all reason, Joey’s able to step into Y’s dream just fine somehow.

This is probably not something he’ll regret doing later, surely.

[Next Episode] (not yet released)

[you-are-more-than-a-friend]

We carved some pumpkins today hihi (mine is the one in the middle)

[knithacker]

Crochet a Cthulhu Kitty-Cat Amigurumi … It's a 'Cathulhu' 👉 https://buff.ly/3Pgrcru

[tenebris-metallum]

@cardinalcatastrophe ulthar cat! Based off of an oriental shorthair because those cats look like aliens already

[painsleep]

Randolph Carter

[kosenart]

It's spooky month! That means it's once again time for more lovecraftian redesigns.

First deity? Stolen from egypt: Bast, the Chewer of Corpses.

[rpgsandbox]

CATS OF CATTHULHU is the beloved rules-light roleplaying game in which the players take the part of ordinary cats, secretly defending human civilization from the Chaos Cults of the other animals. All the players have to do is act like cats, while the Cat Herder arranges exciting challenges for them—anything from snacky time to daringly interrupting dire rituals.

Ten years after the original publication, we are thrilled and chilled to reveal a new Anniversary Edition, with all material refreshed and compiled into a full-color hardback book with plenty of goodies to boot.

How is Catthulhu “Rules Light”?

In Cats of Catthulhu, the way the story will go is always a mystery. You and your friends play to find out what happens. One person, the Cat Herder, arranges the secrets and situations, and sets the scene, but even they don’t know where the night will end. The players take the role of individual, ordinary cats. All you really need to do is act like a cat.

Here’s how to play.

Listen to the Cat Herder’s descriptions.

Respond like a cat.

When the Cat Herder calls for it, roll two Cat Dice and count the Happy Cats.

That’s about it! There are plenty of details and suggestions in the book, especially to help the Cat Herder. But not a lot more rules.

And there’s no math. Cats don’t do math.

Making Your Cat

Take a look at this free, complete Cat Character Sheet. It shows all the suggested ways to define your own cat — from eye color to lifestyle — without using any numbers.

You pick one from the five Roles in Cats of Catthulhu. Every cat you’ve ever known falls into one of these Roles, often shifting between them over the years.

Catcrobat: The fastest around!

Pussyfoot: Everybody loves this kitty

Scrapper: Rough and tough

Tiger Dreamer: Sleepy mystic that sees visions

Twofootologist: Clever studier of human ways!

The rulebook combines all these details into 30 back stories for different sorts of cats. Pick one, or make your own!

CHALLENGES & CAT DICE

Many things a cat wants to do just happen, because cats can do a lot. But when a cat encounters a real Challenge, whether sniffing out hidden tuna or tackling a big mean dog, the Cat Herder might call for a roll of the two Cat Dice. 

Each die showing an alert, intent Happy Cat counts as a success.

A Sad Cat means a failure of skill or luck.

Almost every risky situation is either a Normal Challenge or a Hard Challenge. For a Normal Challenge, you only need one success on the two dice:

For a Hard Challenge, you need two successes:

You get six Cat Dice in the Boxed Set with a cat-shaped dice tray. You can order the dice separately with a dice pouch as well. Regular six-sided dice can work too, if you count a 1 or 2 as a failure and a 3 to 6 as a success.

The Right Cat for the Job (RCFTJ)

Most Challenges are best met by a cat with the right background. Usually this is a matter of the cat’s Role: a Catcrobat being the RCFTJ to leap up a scrambly slope, a Scrapper best at facing down enemies, and so on. As a player you could also make your case to the Cat Herder that you are the Right Cat based on your background, your previous experiences, or anything you can make up. It’s up to the Cat Herder to approve.

The RCFTJ gets one free success on every Normal or Hard Challenge. This makes Normal Challenges automatically successful — but we roll anyway! That’s because of the two mystical combinations we call Snake Eyes and Midnight.

Snake Eyes

If the two Cat Dice come up double 1s, that's Snake Eyes. The attempt results in an Embarrassment. You describe what happens to your cat, and how you try to play it off. Note that the RCFTJ still passes a Normal Challenge — just in an embarrassing way. Be creative in describing this accidental success!

Midnight

If you roll double 6s — Midnight — it means a Triumph! Describe how your cat sails through the Challenge with ease and style. The Cat Herder might even reward you with a little extra information or victory.

Treats

Finally, every cat starts every session with one Treat. The Boxed Set comes with delicious-looking fish shaped treats, but you can use anything except candy. (Candy is against the rules because it tends to disappear before needed!)

If you don’t like the results of a Cat Dice roll, you snack on a treat real quick (returning it to the Cat Herder) and roll again! Alas, this method doesn’t work on Snake Eyes.

The Cat Herder might hand out more Treats based on clever or hilarious actions. Keep those kitty wits quick.

Dire Challenges

In rare cases, a cat feels compelled to try something incredibly important and incredibly dangerous. When tackling such a Dire Challenge, special rules allow you to roll three Cat Dice — but your cat might get hurt in the process. No Treats allowed. No automatic successes. Use with care.

Scrapping

Fights happen. Much of the time, a little pacing, a little snarling, a puffed-out tail, some quick swats, and it’s over. Other times it gets more serious. In Cats of Catthulhu, just how dangerous a fight becomes relies entirely on the player’s decisions. Five levels of intended mayhem determine what you try to inflict on your foe. Even if you lose the roll-off, the worst the baddie can do to you is one level worse than what you went for.

For example, if you face a Scrap and just want to avoid getting hurt, you choose Dodge. No matter how big and menacing the foe, the worst they can do is Stun you — because you didn’t go wildly wading in all teeth and claws.

It’s a unique approach to combat that preserves more options than just murder.

Rules Summary

The Cat Character Sheet sums up ALL this information, right next to the place reserved for your sketch of your heroic feline!

Catventures

It falls to the Cat Herder, aka the game master or referee, to arrange exciting situations for the Player Cats, and take the part of every other beast, human, god, or object in the worlds.

Fortunately, between the main rulebook and De Felis Mysteriis, you get 13 ready-to-go scenarios! Of course, as an ambitious Cat Herder, you will want to make your own cat adventures, or “catventures,” as well. The book walks you through the simple process of arranging Challenges, risks, and rewards to satisfy any group of curious four-foots.

CATS OF CATTHULHU 10th Anniversary Edition Hardback Rulebook

Compiling, revising, and expanding upon all three of the original Catthulhu Deluxe rulebooks, the 10th Anniversary Edition is a gorgeous, full-color collectible hardback with new art and information for players of all experience levels. The book will run to about 300 letter-sized pages with estimated delivery by August 2024.

ART NOT FINAL, ASSETS MAY CHANGE SLIGHTLY

DE FELIS MYSTERIIS 10 New Catventures

Created by a whole litter of brilliant modern RPG writers, De Felis Mysteriis offers ten complete adventures for the Cat Herder to run: enough for a whole campaign of Cats of Catthulhu and more. Estimated 128 pages, delivery August 2024.

ART NOT FINAL, ASSETS MAY CHANGE SLIGHTLY

BOXED SET OF ALL THE THINGS

A durable and beautiful game box contains the hardback 10th Anniversary Edition, a copy of De Felis Mysteriis, six new cat dice, a custom dice tray, five adorable cat meeples, wooden cat treats, a pad of cat character sheets, and extra goodies to boot! August 2024 estimated delivery.

Apart from the beautiful books, art, and goodies, what’s different? Well, we’ve learned a lot after ten years of running Catthulhu and we’re boiling those lessons down for you. Of course, the complete edit is not done yet. We need your support for that! However, here are some changes you can expect to see in the 10th Anniversary Edition.

SIMPLIFIED CHALLENGES: From now on, every Challenge is either Normal, Hard, or Dire. Anything that would be an easy Challenge, your cat just does with no roll.

SNAKE EYES AND MIDNIGHT: Special results from double 1s and double 6s always apply, instead of being an “advanced” option.

SCRAPPING: Fights are just as quick as before, but with a new level of control. Your cat decides how hard to commit to the scrap, and that limits the consequences they can suffer—or inflict.

TREAT USE: A cat starts each session with only one Treat. The Cat Herder is encouraged to award more whenever players do something clever or funny. Also, you can now pass a Treat to another cat!

SCENT USE: Putting your smell on something to make it familiar will be simplified.

WORLDS OF CATTHULHU: The nine extra campaign settings are getting a fresh read-through, especially the extensive fantasy setting of Fuiry and its Status and Trend rules.

And everything else is getting the gimlet eye as well! The resulting whole should prove coherent, easy to understand, and full of fun. Help us make it real!

Kickstarter campaign ends: Thu, April 4 2024 4:59 AM BST

Website: [facebook]

[jonathan-cranes-mistress-of-fear]

Ko-fi Headcanons for cthulhu-cat

(the prompt was to come up with shipping headcanons for someone who has a fear of doctors, hospitals and who has medical trauma. I'm using you as a personal pronoun in this. Also there was no direction given, so I'm going with fluff even if it's ooc)

Jonathan would be very interested in someone with a phobia like this, in fact I imagine him procuring medical records illegally just to find people with this trauma response.

And that's probably how he found YOU that why, but he'd never tell you that. In fact, you two found each other through a convention relating to overcoming fear

He instantly hit it off with you, but that's partially his evil charm and ego playing the game of manipulation.

Originally he had no intentions of staying with you, you were a one night stand but fear toxin instead of sex.

But as he sat you down after dinner, and you talked to each other in your apartment living room, something changed.

You explained that dinner was anxiety inducing, because you had never dated a doctor before. Well, Crane isn't a medical doctor and yet you felt the heebie jeebies. That's a sign you'll ignore.

You tell him about trauma, often a thing you do with dates because you know if you don't expose these issues, they will become a problem sooner or later and you won't be prepared.

Jonathan simply smiles. He says he works at Arkham, and while it's not the same type of hospital, he'd love to give you a tour and explain in depth the practices of the asylum. You believe he wants to help you, so you agree.

A few days past and before you know it you are whisked away to the asylum,. willingly for now! Your legs shake on thew drive over, but Jonathan assures you that it'll be okay.

Maybe it was his super tiny conscious, maybe he wasn't feeling fear that day, but he wasn't intending on hurting you. Sure, he wanted to see you scream but something about you was different.

He walked you down the color coded halls, and explained how each wing operates . He could see you viably shaking as you both walked into the medical section but with swiftness, he put a hand on your shoulder and smiled. Not even an evil smile! A genuine one!

He says there is nothing to fear. e wants you to overcome your trauma, and while this is only the first step, he feels you need to try.

Together you would step into the darkness, and together is how you'll come out.

That experience and his gentle guidance around the doctors, nurses, and myriad of medical tools is what made you realize you wanted to know more about Crane.

Sure, he was a doctor and a teacher, but that's all common knowledge. If you have trauma, surly he does too?

When it was over, the mind freed from racing anxieties, he looked up at Jonathan and asked him if this was some sort of weird date

He laughed. "this is how I do things"

And that made you even more curious about him. You asked if you could take HIM out next time. He simply smiled and nodded.

"That, my little mouse, would be wonderful" (oops he nicknamed you already, you're in trouble!!)

And so, that was the start of your relationship with Dr. Crane. Little did you know what was in store and yet, you weren't afraid. Well, you still were but somehow you knew he'd help you through the pain. And that's more than anyone could ask for

[hemlocksgrove]

The late Mr Deadman.

[who is @absoluteboatfreak's guy]