Six Example Enemies
about 2 years ago
– Thu, Mar 07, 2024 at 11:27:34 AM
Hello Cool Cats,
It's not all fun and games in the monarchies! There are dangers and threats that lurk in the shadows or outside the borders, and all cat adventurers should be ready and prepared to face some challenges as they navigate the world.
In addition to the creatures and dangers from the Realms of Pugmire core rulebook, curious cats may find themselves whisker-to-whisker with some of these enemies from the Curious Cats of Mau book.
Demons, Minor
When cats speak about the Unseen being all around them, it isn’t major demons that they’re speaking about. While those named demons are a horrifying threat, these lesser demons are the danger that lies both in every shadow and in the shadows of an unwary cat’s heart. None know why these fiends enjoy the terror they foster, but they delight in torment.
Frenzy Demon
(OL 4; Enemy; Unseen)
The berserkers of the Unseen, frenzy demons take possession of others and force them to crowded spaces full of unsuspecting cats before driving them to attack anyone they can get their claws on.
Description: Cats possessed by a frenzy demon can be detected by the dull red glow in their eyes and the eager way they flex their claws in the moments before they begin their assault. They tend to take the strongest of cats as their hosts.
Tactics: Frenzy demons use no tactics to speak of, aside from attempting to do as much damage as possible before their host is put down. They target mancers and other spellcasters first, before going after heftier targets.
Defense: 16 (impervious to pain)
Stamina Points: 50
Speed: 30 ft.
Experience Bonus: +3
Attributes: Agility +2, Might +5, Vitality +2, Cunning −2, Intellect −3, Presence +0
Skills: Bluff, Intimidate, Traverse
Attack: Longsword (+8 melee, 1d8 + 5 edged), small crossbow (+4 ranged, 1d8 + 1 stabbing)
Morale: +3, at 17 or fewer stamina points
Tricks: Darkvision; resistant to all damage except from silver weapons and holy; weak to holy damage and damage from silver weapons; multiple attacks (two longsword or small crossbow attacks)
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Cleave: As a bonus action, the frenzy demon can make a single additional attack when it reduces a target to 0 stamina points, but this attack must be the same type of attack it used on the previous target.
Smilodon’s Shadow
(OL 9; Legendary; Unseen)
It is said that the monarch of House Smilodon remains in the world, despite the entire House being destroyed root and stem. No one knows if this Shadow is just another shadow feline, or the father of all Shadow Felines, but the entity called Smilodon’s Shadow has been the subject of stories caretakers tell kittens to ensure their obedience. Such tales are told in hushed tones, for even now the name of that accursed house isn’t used in civilized company. Of course, their terror is real, and the tyrant of Smilodon sends shadow Felines all over the world, but he himself focuses in on Mau and those who ended his rule.
Description: Smilodon’s Shadow looks like a shadow feline, a black outline of a cat, with the points of a crown atop his head. When in his fully demonic state, however, he looks like a great demonic tiger with two fiery yellow eyes.
Tactics: Smilodon’s Shadow knows that once his feline form is defeated (his Stamina Points hit 0), the battle will continue in his demonic form, so he disregards self-preservation in battle. He uses his shadow blend trick to become invisible after an attack, giving the next turn’s attack a boon.
Defense: 20 (shadow flesh)
Stamina Points: 286
Speed: 30 ft.
Experience Bonus: +5
Attributes: Agility +1, Might +3, Vitality +0, Cunning +2, Intellect +0, Presence +1
Skills: Bluff, Intimidate, Know Arcana, Know Culture, Know History, Know Religion, Notice, Persuade, Search, Sense Motive, Sneak, Survive
Attack: Freezing claws (+8 melee, 2d10 + 4 cold), shadow bolt (+6 ranged, 2d12 + 1 deathly)
Morale: Automatically succeeds
Tricks: Darkvision; resistant to edged and ice damage; weak against holy damage; multiple attacks (two freezing claw or shadow bolt)
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Demonic Form: When Smilodon’s Shadow is reduced to 0 stamina points the first time in the battle, he transforms into his demonic form as a reflexive action, regaining half of his stamina points and alighting his eyes with cold yellow fire. As a bonus action on his turns thereafter, a target that he can see locks eyes with him and must succeed on a Cunning test (difficulty 15) or become Paralyzed until Smilodon’s Shadow uses this trick on another creature.
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Shadow Blend: In any condition of illumination other than full daylight, a shadow feline can disappear into the shadows as a supplemental action, making it Invisible until its next turn. Artificial illumination does not negate this trick, but magical light does.
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Waking Nightmares: As an action, each creature that Smilodon’s Shadow can see within near range must succeed on a Cunning test (difficulty 15) or become Scared of him. Afflicted creatures repeat the test at the end of each of their turns, ending the effect on a Success. Whenever a creature succeeds on this test, they become immune to this trick until they nap.
Dogs
While cats know the truth of the Old Ones and their place in the story of the past, dogs believe themselves to be the chosen ones of Man and worship the Old Ones as gods. Regardless of their hopped-up ideas of honor and service, the dogs of Pugmire, Houndston, or elsewhere do have their uses, and maintaining the peace between cats and dogs is paramount.
Gruff Wizard
(OL 3; Enemy)
Cats can’t help but smile at the clumsy way dogs handle the arcane. Sure, they have access to the many masterworks they find in their realm, but they don’t have the same affinity for magic that cats do. They couldn’t ever absorb the magic into themselves, thus proving their inferiority to mancers. Often these dogs seem unable to hide their disappointment, and who can blame them?
Description: Often elderly or otherwise disgruntled, these dogs are commonly found in worn and tattered robes and carry an object (typically a masterwork made of plastic) to channel their mystical energies through.
Tactics: While cantankerous, gruff wizards don’t want to fight and could very well be talked out of combat with kind words or reason. If he does have to fight, however, it’s more likely that he’d target enemy mancers, using his ward of protection trick against the strongest warrior coming for him.
Defense: 15 (thick robes)
Stamina Points: 32
Speed: 30 ft.
Experience Bonus: +2
Ablities: Agility −1, Might −3, Vitality +0, Cunning +2, Intellect +4, Presence +2
Skills: Know Arcana, Know Culture, Know History, Know Religion, Search
Attack: Lightning bolt (+6 ranged, 2d8 + 4 electrical)
Morale: +4, at 8 or fewer stamina points
Tricks: Darkvision
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Acid Burst: Once per battle, as an action a target must make an Agility test (difficulty 14). On a failed test, they take 4d4 corrosive damage, plus an additional 2d4 corrosive damage at the end of their next turn. On a success, the target takes 2d4 corrosive damage and no additional damage.
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Ward of Protection: Once per battle, the wizard may cast this spell as an action. Until the start of his next turn, all attacks made against him are done with a hindrance.
Stubborn Sentinel
(OL 4; Enemy)
The War of Dogs and Cats didn’t end for every soldier that fought in it. Some, left for dead on the battlefield in Mau with no way to pay for passage back to Pugmire, earn whatever they can as a blade for hire in the monarchies. Others spend what’s left of their lives protecting the dogs they can find in this foreign land.
Description: Dogs wearing patchwork heavy armor or worn leather protection, these sentinels tend to rely on trustworthy weapons such as swords and axes.
Tactics: When working for some wealthy noble or other boss, there is little a sentinel won’t do, other than attack other dogs. When she finds dogs in trouble, she remembers to be a Good Dog and fights to the death to defend them.
Defense: 16 (patchwork armor and shield)
Stamina Points: 50
Speed: 30 ft.
Experience Bonus: +3
Attributes: Agility +0, Might +3, Vitality +2, Cunning +0, Intellect −2, Presence +1
Skills: Balance, Intimidate, Survive, Traverse
Attack: Battleaxe (+6 melee, 1d10 +3 edged), spear (+6 ranged, 1d6 + 3 stabbing), shield bash (+6 melee, 1d8 + 3 blunt)
Morale: +4, at 12 or fewer stamina points unless there is another allied dog in the fight
Tricks: Darkvision
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Cleave: The sentinel may make an additional attack as a bonus action when she reduces a target to 0 stamina points. She must use the same attack.
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Shield Bash: If a melee attack misses the sentinel by 5 or more, she may make a shield bash attack against the attacker as a reaction. If the triggering attack was a botch, the shield bash automatically hits.
Servitors
When the Old Ones left, they knew there had to be a way for cats to prove their worth, to know that they deserve to be worshiped and to gain the masterworks of Man. To facilitate this, Man left behind masterwork creatures, known as Servitors, to guard their relics.
Death Hearse
(OL 7; Enemy; Servitor)
Cats and those in the know always look to the skies before leaving their cities for the open wilds. The death hearse’s long, thin, silvery form is difficult to spot from the true clouds in the sky. Should it notice a cat, it dives with the sound of a swarm of insects, attacking with spring-loaded silver snakes that wrap around limbs and the neck of the poor victim, pulling them into the air and the hearse’s belly.
Description: The death hearse looks like silvery clouds when hunting, but when it attacks, it becomes more solid, firing serpentine tentacles that wrap around anyone it can find.
Tactics: The death hearse uses its flight to its advantage, staying up high out of reach wherever it can and only attacking targets that are apart from the rest of the group if possible. There is no rhyme or reason why it attacks, and thus it can’t be bargained with.
Defense: 19 (amorphous shape)
Stamina Points: 72
Speed: 0 ft., 50 ft. flying
Experience Bonus: +4
Attributes: Agility +4, Might +3, Vitality +3, Cunning +0, Intellect −2, Presence −2
Skills: Search, Sneak, Notice
Attack: Slam (+7 melee, 4d12 + 3 blunt)
Morale: Automatically succeeds
Tricks: Darkvision; resistance to blunt damage
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One Track Mind: The death hearse is immune to being Charmed, Frightened, and Possessed, and automatically succeed on morale tests.
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Reeled In: As a bonus action, the death hearse can pull an Immobile target 10 feet into the air. Next round, the death hearse drops the target, who takes 2d8 blunt damage when they land. If the target is no longer Immobile when they fall, they may make an Agility test (difficulty 15) to take half the damage instead.
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Wrapped Up: After the death hearse hits with a slam attack, the target must make a Might test (difficulty 15). If failed, the death hearse’s tentacles wrap around the target and inflict the Immobile condition. The target may attempt to clear the condition by making the same test at the beginning of their turn.
Decayer Beast
(OL 5; Enemy; Servitor)
This black insectoid servitor was created to break down the old works of Man so they could create new wonders. It puts off a strange magical force that warps weapons, makes projectiles miss, and interfere with other magics, as well as spraying a strange acid that can eat through both masterworks and flesh.
Description: Decayer beasts look like large beetles made of dark metal with light purple arcs of energy between their spikes. A smaller jaw like an extendable mandible rests inside their main mouth.
Tactics: The beast always targets the cat with the most relics on their person, or the most metal if there are no relics. It cares not for wonders or fixes.
Defense: 17 (black armor)
Stamina Points: 55
Speed: 30 ft.
Experience Bonus: +3
Attributes: Agility +0, Might +4, Vitality +1, Cunning +1, Intellect +0, Presence −1
Skills: Search, Notice
Attack: Mandible bite (+7 melee or ranged; 2d10 + 4 stabbing plus 2d8 corrosive)
Morale: Automatically succeeds
Tricks: Darkvision; immune to corrosive damage
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Magnetic Field: All attacks on the decayer beast are made with a hindrance. If it is hit by an attack, this trick stops working until the end of its next turn.
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Masterwork Malfunction: When the decayer beast is dealt damage from an attack or spell, all creatures near the beast must each choose one of their relics and roll a d20. On a roll to 11-20, nothing happens. On a 1-10, the relic stops working or is unable to provide its bonuses to the user until the end of their next turn. If a relic is affected this way three times in a single battle, it is destroyed.
These are just some of the challenges that curious cats may face! I'll have another sneak peek on Sunday with an example of a Major Demon, a warrior from House Smilodon, a Sphinx, and an undead Breathtaker! We'll get the full enemies chapter next Tuesday, when backers will be able to download the current draft manuscript and provide feedback directly to the developers!
#CuriousCats
Curious Cats Draft Manuscript Part 4
about 2 years ago
– Tue, Mar 05, 2024 at 07:49:41 AM
Hello Curious Cats,
Two great chapters from the draft version of Curious Cats of Mau for backers today! This is the Who, Where, and What phase, with a dive into the culture and customs of these cats, details about the monarchies themselves, and also Guide advice on the different kinds of stories you can tell.
International Shipping – Collected in the Pledge Manager
One quick note about Shipping before we get into the manuscript previews.
First up, it's amazingly expensive to ship, especially from Onyx Path's home base in the US. We get that, but there's not much we can do at this time. Onyx Path is in a difficult space where the company is big enough that they're not saving money by fulfilling out of Rich's garage, but small enough that they can't really set up international partners to handle portions of the fulfillment. So we are where we are - for now.
The best we can do at this point is to plan carefully, advise everyone up front that international shipping will likely be expensive (see our projections on the main page) and only charge what it costs us when the time comes. We’ll be charging for shipping in the Pledge Manager once the books are being printed and we can deal with the actual shipping charges rather than using our best-guesses this far out. If you live outside the US and aren't sure you want the hardcover or other physical items, you can pledge to the PDF tier now and upgrade your pledge in the Pledge Manager once we know the final shipping costs.
DRAFT MANUSCRIPT PREVIEWS - BACKERS ONLY
Remember, thanks to BackerKit magic, these download links are visible to Backers only - you must be logged in and reading this on the website to have access to the manuscript preview links. So, if you're reading this via e-mail, click that "Reply to The Update" link on the bottom and I'll see you below the title treatment.
WE WANT YOUR FEEDBACK
I'm going to be sharing the manuscript in sections over the next 30 days, Part of the reason for that is to keep focus on one section at a time so the developers, Eddy and Lauren, can gather feedback to help guide the manuscript through the next steps of editing and development. To that end, they've created a special Feedback Form for you to submit your comments after reading each section!
You can submit your comments here:
CURIOUS CATS OF MAU FEEDBACK FORM <link>
Sneak Peek: Cat Culture
about 2 years ago
– Mon, Mar 04, 2024 at 11:10:45 AM
Cat Culture
Cat culture varies greatly throughout the monarchies, but the proudest Siberian can find commonalities with even the wildest moggie. Whether the Siberian can tolerate the moggies frolicking through their lounge is entirely a different question.
Spirituality
Cat spirituality is deeply personal. Many believe that Man granted the cats all manner of gifts including nine lives to enjoy and improve the state of their souls. A cat must prove worthy of the great gifts, or fall into disgrace, personal ruin, and worst of all, pernicious embarrassment! Though cats possess no past or future lives, many consider their good sense and intuition to flow from their other selves, supporting righteous and clever actions in the present. There’s no empirical evidence of such beliefs, but they still shape the ideas and actions of countless cats across the world.
Temples in Mau are dedicated to the Nine, raised by ministers as state sanctioned sanctuaries and houses of worship. Here, cats meditate or consult with their other selves safely and privately. Minsters also provide guidance and advice, some confidentially telling worshipers whether they’re a “young soul” or an “old soul” in their progression of lives. Others are orators, using the respect their positions afford to sway public opinion. Some cats privately question such uses of the pulpit, while others ascribe their abilities or ideas to their other lives communing with them inside temple walls.
Precepts of Mau
Dating back to the Treaty of Unification, the four precepts represent a common code of behavior and ethics accepted across all the great and lesser houses. While certain houses append others to the list, even Trillani and the Ruling Council could only agree on a pawful that all held in common. Other precepts are referred to as the Disputed Precepts, such as the house mottos.
Always Trust Your Instincts
All the gifts and praise Man lavished upon cats can be traced to this precept: Cats act in ways worthy of reverence, and so they were revered. A cat cannot look to an outside source to provide ultimate guidance, whether a dog’s single-minded devotion or a badger’s certain superstition. Instead, it’s up to every cat to follow the only authority they can truly accept: themselves.
Always Pounce Upon the Minions of the Unseen
Cats of old protected Man to the best of their ability, hissing, scratching, and pouncing upon the Unseen, and yet it wasn’t enough to save their poor, oblivious servants. After Man’s disappearance, cats lost their ability to detect the Unseen — perhaps due to failing Man, perhaps as a side effect of whatever foul plot stole away the Old Ones. Thus cats must redouble their guard against Unseen threats every day. The slow return of the ability to sense the Unseen has not been lost on cats, but even the least aware believes it a duty worth upholding. Of all the precepts, this is the one cats agree on the most readily.
Always Reward Loyalty
Unlike the dogs who devote themselves to any friendly wagging tail, cats consider true loyalty more precious than plastic or treasure. Loyalty misplaced or abused led many a cat to ruin. Formalizing the importance of reciprocating loyalty allowed the great houses to spread trust and fraternity, and modern cats benefit from the practice without knowing how precious the gift is.
Always Respect an Honest Duel
Even the most idealistic cat didn’t expect Unification to end all conflict. The Treaty channeled traditions such as Korat’s support of martial clashes or some moggies’ fondness for knife fighting into a standardized set of dueling rules. These rules gave cats from different regions common footing to settle their serious grievances without giving over to wholesale slaughter, through an exhaustive list of conditions, considerations, and alternatives.
The basics are simple: when two cats cannot settle a dispute, a duel may determine which party is correct. Properly conducted and honestly witnessed, a duel settles the matter in favor of its victor. The code provides for any number of ways that cats may come to grips, from weapons to bare claws to nonviolent resolutions such as tests of skill or games. Some older cats disdain duels that don’t leave the possibility of bloodshed open, but modern cats accept that even a serious card game may decide matters.
Dressing duels up in social ritual or elaborate etiquette is common, often to save face for both sides. Cats of House Rex complain of “a matter involving a boat” as a pretense, allowing potentially embarrassing or secret reasons for the dispute to remain hidden while issuing a challenge. Typically, challenger and challenged clearly know the true reason for the duel, though Cymric playwrights have written a number of popular comedies about when that isn’t the case.
Stretch Goals & The Stories You Can Tell
about 2 years ago
– Sun, Mar 03, 2024 at 04:27:54 AM
Hi Curious Cats,
I've got a two-part update for you today. At the top, I wanna share our latest Stretch Goal success and set up our next targets. After that, I want to share a recent article from the Onyx Path website about the different kinds of stories you can tell with Curious Cats of Mau (and the Realms of Pugmire).
Edit
Once we'd funded, we had announced a trio of Stretch Goals to take us through the first half of this 30-day campaign. Well, we're a little ahead of schedule because we've already unlocked all three!
ACHIEVED! - At $22,000 in Funding – REDBUBBLE BACKER T-SHIRT – A Curious Cats
-themed Crwodfunding Backer shirt will be hosted on Onyx Path’s Redbubble store for a limited time. Only backers will be notified when the shirt becomes available for purchase.
ACHIEVED! - At $25,000 in Funding – DIGITAL WALLPAPER – Cool Curious Cat artwork will be used to create a wallpaper for your computer desktop. This digital wallpaper will be added to the rewards list of all backers supporting this project.
ACHIEVED! - At $28,000 in Funding – REDBUBBLE PET DESIGNS – A Curious Cats design will be hosted on Onyx Path’s Redbubble store and made available on pet merchandise, including pet mats, pet blankets, and pet bandanas. Backers will be notified when these options become available.
So, let's see if we can set up a couple more to get us through the next few weeks!
At $30,000 in Funding - NEW ADD ON: CAT ARTWORK GUIDE SCREEN - A three-panel Guide Reference Screen with charts and information for running a Realms of Pugmire game will be created and offered as an Add On to the hardcover reward tiers for +$25. This screen will have the same interior contents as the Realms of Pugmire screen, but the outside artwork will be changed to be cat-focused!
At $32,000 in Funding - MOBILE WALLPAPER – Curious Cats artwork will be used to create a wallpaper for your mobile device lockscreen. This mobile wallpaper will be added to the rewards list of all backers supporting this project.
As mentioned, if we unlock the new Guide Screen for Curious Cats of Mau, it'll have the same interior charts and references as the dog-themed Realms of Pugmire screen already available as an Add On, just with cat-themed artwork instead. Two reasons - firstly, it's the same game! Curious Cats of Mau is a setting and character expansion for Realms of Pugmire; unlike in earlier editions, it's all the same game (under the Realms of Pugmire umbrella).
Secondly, who wants to have a bunch of pictures of dog characters when you're playing cats all around the table? Right?! So, same inside, different outside. Another option for our Storyguides at the table.
And speaking of Storyguides and running games in the Realms of Pugmire, I wanted to re-post an article that was recently shared on the Onyx Path website, covering the different kinds of stories and chronicles you can run with this game.
CHRONICLE STYLES
There are lots of ways to run just about any tabletop game. Small changes to the rules and setting can have an additive effect on creating a particular mood or style, which either emphasize certain parts of the game’s setting or wildly change it from its original intentions. But sometimes it can be a bit unclear what changes are useful for what styles, or even how those changes might modify things.
Both the original edition of
Pugmire and the upcoming edition
Realms of Pugmire have advice on how to “hack” a game into a different shape. But I thought I’d use
Realms of Pugmire (
which you can still pre-order!) as a good example of what kinds of chronicle styles you can get for the game, and what kinds of changes will help bring those styles around.
Silly
Silly chronicles are more than just light-hearted games. They’re explicitly comedic, and intentionally funny with low-stakes consequences for player actions. Realms of Pugmire starts off as light-hearted, but here are a few ways you can amp things up to be explicitly silly.
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Shorter Game Sessions: In my experience, players work their way past the gags and jokes about 1 to 2 hours in. So cut the session down to that length. Comedic television shows tend to be shorter as well, so the short, punchy length can reinforce to players that you’re here for a laugh before things get too deep.
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Funny Fortune: A new rule could be that players will always get a Fortune if the entire table breaks out in laughter at a joke (or groan audibly at a terrible pun). This will encourage players to keep the punchlines rolling, because everyone loves getting a reward for doing something that contributes to the game.
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No Death: You can even take death off the table entirely. Simply ignore any reference to dying, and assume instead that anyone with zero stamina points is just knocked out. It’s a simple change, but it does have knock-on effects to consider. For example, the shepherd spell “Spare the Dying” isn’t as useful when death isn’t an option, so you might want to rework it to be a simple healing spell that grants 1d4 stamina points, or something similar, to solve the problem.
Gritty
On the other hand, you can go the other direction and make things a bit darker and grittier. The original pitch for the game was called “Fall of Pugmire,” and you can channel that Gothic, elegiac feel if you want.
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No Rucksack Test: In Realms of Pugmire, players can make a Cunning test to see if characters pack something in their rucksack that isn’t listed on their character sheet. By getting rid of that test, characters have only what they have, which means that every item counts.
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Tougher Enemies: The enemies in the book are calibrated to be a challenging fight for equivalent character levels, but characters will generally win those fights. Using enemies that are a level or two higher than normal, as well as not using any characters with the Minion tag, can give characters tougher combats that require them to use every resource available.
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Political Animals: While the upcoming Curious Cats of Mau will have more focus on intrigue, it’s still intentionally shoved a bit into the background, making it something groups can opt into if they like. You can make that more of the focus of the game, putting characters as the focus of several intrigues. Muddy the waters between “good” and “bad” dogs and cats. Push the monarchies closer to all-out war between the city-states or the kingdom of Pugmire. Make it feel like everything can fall apart with a hasty word or an errant punch.
Epic
Epic is all about bigger-than-life storytelling, where everything feels like a legend in the making. Realms of Pugmire already draws on this epic fantasy tradition on some level, but you can really emphasize it with a few simple tweaks.
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Minions and Legendary Enemies: Emphasize both minions and legendary characters for epic-style play. Mobs of creatures defending a powerful warlord or a conniving necromancer are exactly the kinds of characters players love to hate. Speaking of which…
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Returning Enemies: Find ways to bring old enemies back. Maybe the characters keep running into Rondo Border-Collie, the Rat King, or Kibu the Red. Then add some more levels to them each time they return. Seeing old enemies come back more powerful than before definitely feels epic. (And remember those legendary rules!)
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Starting Artifacts: Give each player an artifact they can improve, right out of the gate. Attach a story to each: “This is my mother’s battleaxe” or “I stole this cloak from a noble’s castle the night she died.” Then, allow the character to improve the item every two levels, without spending an improvement. For those curious cats, instead give them a “family secret power” they can improve in the same way.
What are some other ways to make a chronicle feel different?
Tomorrow, I'm going to have a sneak peek at Cat Culture ahead of our next draft manuscript chapter! Let's keep up the good work and see if we can't unlock these next two Stretch Goals before we hit the end!
#CuriousCats
