CAH for 'girly' cartoons

[soundwave]

Now, don't ask me how this came up, but recently I discussed with some friends the possibility of roleplaying with some of the more 'girly' cartoons of the eighties as a basis. Now, I'm talking here about things like Care Bears, My Little Pony, and even Rainbow Brite. Some of the things that came up were:

1) How suitable would CAH be for these types of cartoons?
2) What kind of stories could be told within the context of these cartoons?
and
3) What would the potential be like for using variants (or perversions, depending on how much you liked the original version) on these cartoons?

So far, what I've come up wth is the following:

1) I'm not sure. CAH does seem designed for more action-oriented paradigms, whereas these cartoons tend to focus on social interaction, and a more overt morality.

2) The obvious answer is things like the plots used in actual episodes. But what about the potential for things plots unlike those used? What plots can be developed that still fit within the paradigm of this sort of moral, feel-good, 'soft' type of setting?

Things outside of the established paradigm neatly brings us to:
3) There's already been the obligatory discussion of such humourously WoD-filtered variants like Bear: The Caring, Horses: The Porn-Star Names (see brunching.com), and Rainbow: The Briteness. But to take a more serious approach, could the contrast of the rather 'soft-focus' approach of the originals with a harder look at moral and social issues serve to heighten a gaming experience?

Please, I'm interested in hearing others' points of view on this.

[Eddy Fate]

Actually, Cindi was working on something like this a few weeks back...

[Michael Hopcroft]

Then there are the modern cartoons with strong female heroines who nonetheless engage in "girly" pursuits with regularity. Clover from Totally Spies! has to be the biggest space case ever to save the world. And let us not ignore Kim Possible....

[Cynthia Celeste Miller]

You can expect to see either a large article in ... After These Messages or a small sourcebook on this topic in the fairly near future.  The girly cartoons played a big role in shaping the Saturday morning television schedules, so I think it'd be a shame to ignore them in CAH.

[Ron Edwards]

Hey,

I agree! I'm awfully interested in this project, Cynthia. If you could tell more about it here or on private email, that would be great.

Best,
Ron

[Cynthia Celeste Miller]

Very little has been etched in stone yet, unfortunately.  Here's what I can tell you;

1) It will feature a stripped down version of character creation that takes a more rules-lite approach to building Special Abilities.

2) Skitch did some work on a really cool series for this project called Starkydds.  Hopefully, it will go into the finished product.

3) We plan on an extensive section on running a series of this nature.  There's a big difference between the Smurfs and Masters of the Universe.  And this section will express these departures from normal games of CAH.

And, as always, we're always open to new ideas for the project.  As we work more in earnest on it, I'll be able to tell you more. [/list]

[Harper of Oz]

Oh, come now, who wouldn't like to see Skeletor using the Smurf Village for target practice?

[Cynthia Celeste Miller]

What??  You don't like Smurfs?  What kind of heathen are you anyway?  ;0)

[Harper of Oz]

Oh, I don't hate the Smurfs. My poor parents, before I knew about He-Man, I begged them constantly for those little rubber figures you could get. I even had one of the houses.

I just like crossovers. :-)

I'm the guy that always wanted to see Optimus Prime show up in Ponyland, She-Ra show up on New Texas, Or even see Jayce (Wheeled Warriors) fall in love with Lady Lovelylocks.

I guess I'm just strange like that.

[Eddy Fate]

I just like crossovers. :-)

I do too, but I never understood why Megatron didn't just smish Duke...

[Michael Hopcroft]

I just like crossovers. :-)

I do too, but I never understood why Megatron didn't just smish Duke...

Duke's real good at ducking?

[Eddy Fate]

I just like crossovers. :-)

I do too, but I never understood why Megatron didn't just smish Duke...

Duke's real good at ducking?

Maybe Snake Eyes is secretly an Autobot...

[Clinically Insane]

What??  You don't like Smurfs?  What kind of heathen are you anyway?  ;0)

Years ago when I was about 13 or 14 I made "The Smurf Slayer" Roleplaying Game and even had a artist friend do a cover. It had some warrior in armor with a bunch of weapons surrounded by a bunch of well you know. What can I say, boys will be boys.

[Slant]

Smurf Slayer?  Hey, sounds cool.  Personally though, I would much rather see Skeletor roasting Scrappy Doo over an open flame pit.

  "Where's your freakin' Puppy Power NOW, ya lil' mutant?"[/quote]

[Jonathan Walton]

Jem and the Holograms.

Never forget.