Hi there,

this is my very first post on this forum, so I try to keep it short. My mothertongue is german so I apologize for bad english. I'm working on a RPG-system where the characters are cats. I know there is an existing game called "Cat", but i want a different system and setting.
In Felis you play a Cat with nine lifes. An ordinary cat has just one life, but some special ones (the pc's) are chosen by Bastet to fight against evil and protect cat as well as human.
The core element of the system is therefore the body-soul-balance.

In the body-soul-balance you have nine points and after every death you loose a body point and gain a soul point. With the soul points you can use magic tricks, while body points are used for tricks every cat could use, like attacks or hunting.

My main problem is, that I don't have a idea what kind of dice or dice-rolling-system I should use.

For being in need of a deadline to motivate me I even have already an playtest in the future. Its in the end of february but I still have no idea what kind of dice should be rolled against what with which Boni/Mali.

Somebody please help me!

with kind regards,

Callisto

Hi, welcome to the forge!

Is there an end game to this game?

Without some sort of endgame in mind ... well, that's probably why you have no idea what dice to roll and roll against what. Without an intended ending, whatever dice you add are just hills and roundabouts - obstacles on the road to nothing. What should be an obstacle on the road to nothing? Given it's nothing, no obstacles? Do you have an end game or goal for the game?

Nah, the goal... I want the players to do risky things without being afraid of dying. They have nine lifes, after that (so when they loose their last remaining body point) they have half an hour as a ghost to use his talents.
I have two kinds of skills -> Tricks (dependet on the body points) and talents (dependet on the soul points). Everytime the pc dies it should be easier to use talents while tricks should tend to be more difficult.

I don't know if I now answered the question.

Ow, btw there is also a shadowland in which the chosen cat can travel with help of his soul points.

Oooooh, i just have to comment here:

What are you looking for?
Freeform?
Skills & Traits?
Do you want to make the Game yourself, or would you settle for adapting another one?

Curious Cat

I make the game myself. At the moment I search for the core dice mechanic. I have tricks(as ordinary skills) and talents(as magic skills), I have background information and (i hope) a good idea to handle that Rebirth-thing.  I even now how I will handle the damage. What I don't know, what dice will inflict the damage and how.

Damage system:
An attack inflicts scratches. The amount of soul points tells you how many of those scratches inflict a wound. The amount of body points tells you how many wounds you can take before dying.

Thinking about it, I'm facing a little problem. But, is it clear how the body-soul-balance should function?

Callisto wrote:
Damage system:
An attack inflicts scratches. The amount of soul points tells you how many of those scratches inflict a wound. The amount of body points tells you how many wounds you can take before dying.

Thinking about it, I'm facing a little problem.

Callisto wrote:
Nah, the goal... I want the players to do risky things without being afraid of dying. They have nine lifes, after that (so when they loose their last remaining body point) they have half an hour as a ghost to use his talents.
I have two kinds of skills -> Tricks (dependet on the body points) and talents (dependet on the soul points). Everytime the pc dies it should be easier to use talents while tricks should tend to be more difficult.

Callisto wrote:
My main problem is, that I don't have a idea what kind of dice or dice-rolling-system I should use.

Callan wrote:

Callisto wrote:
Nah, the goal... I want the players to do risky things without being afraid of dying. They have nine lifes, after that (so when they loose their last remaining body point) they have half an hour as a ghost to use his talents.
I have two kinds of skills -> Tricks (dependet on the body points) and talents (dependet on the soul points). Everytime the pc dies it should be easier to use talents while tricks should tend to be more difficult.

I'm kind of thinking your trying to address some sort of gamist 'Hoard your resources, take no risky path, look for the small yet constant and safe profit' gaming approach to play.

Does that sound like what your dealing with?

Callisto wrote:
I want some sort of randomness. it doesn't have to be much, but I want that in it. I admit also I never played with cards.

You can draw small items out of a bag.
It might be a little gimmicky, but it might be interesting to integrate little cat toys (like squeeking mice, bells, plastic lizards, bits of string or yarn) into the game somehow. Some people (self included) really enjoy using props in games (miniature figurines, boffer swords), but on the other hand some people aren't.

Do you envision this as a GM-ed system, or GM-less?
Leaning more toward Tactical play, or narrative play?

If you're looking at a GM-ed, tactical system, a dice pool system might work best, with the number of body soul points somehow determining the size of the pool, and the size of the dice themselves. 

For a more GM-Less, narrative style, consider allowing the other players to infuse complications into your turn.  I think Polaris has a great system for this:  During your narration, other players can add key phrases to try to take narrative control, such as "but only if", which you would then accept, add a "but only if" to theirs, or spend a "you ask far too much" key phrase (of which you have a limited number) to make them revise.  There are other types of narrative actions there, but that's the idea, and it might work really well for you.  I don't know how old this link is, but it might be worth it for you to check out...

I want dice. I want something new, but I don't need to be that groundbreaking with the random element.

JLFergus wrote:
Do you envision this as a GM-ed system, or GM-less?

Leaning more toward Tactical play, or narrative play?

If you're looking at a GM-ed, tactical system, a dice pool system might work best, with the number of body soul points somehow determining the size of the pool, and the size of the dice themselves. 

For a more GM-Less, narrative style, consider allowing the other players to infuse complications into your turn.  I think Polaris has a great system for this:  During your narration, other players can add key phrases to try to take narrative control, such as "but only if", which you would then accept, add a "but only if" to theirs, or spend a "you ask far too much" key phrase (of which you have a limited number) to make them revise.  There are other types of narrative actions there, but that's the idea, and it might work really well for you.  I don't know how old this link is, but it might be worth it for you to check out...

Callisto wrote:
Noo!

Callan wrote: I'm kind of thinking your trying to address some sort of gamist 'Hoard your resources, take no risky path, look for the small yet constant and safe profit' gaming approach to play.

Yet another case of typical misunderstanding, in this case about what "address" means in that case. (I misunerstood it too, but i understand now.)
Let's get back to the issue, ok?

So, Dice it is.
Since it really don't have to be groundbreaking, why not simply snatch it from virtually any other Game?

@Callan S. :Yea, thats sort of right, altough I never thought about it in that way. Now that I understood, what you meant, you're absolutely right. I'm more a narrative player so thats the tendency my game will have.

Catelf wrote:
Yet another case of typical misunderstanding, in this case about what "address" means in that case. (I misunerstood it too, but i understand now.)
Let's get back to the issue, ok?

So, Dice it is.
Since it really don't have to be groundbreaking, why not simply snatch it from virtually any other Game?

Thanks for rereading me, Callisto.

What I was leading up to was whether you wanted to turn them into risk taking gamists (entirely doable, I think) or if you were trying, via mechanics, to make them into more narrative players who engage moral issues (which, as far as I know, this is not doable at all).

Callan wrote:
Thanks for rereading me, Callisto.

What I was leading up to was whether you wanted to turn them into risk taking gamists (entirely doable, I think) or if you were trying, via mechanics, to make them into more narrative players who engage moral issues (which, as far as I know, this is not doable at all).