How to Make A Literal Cat in Your Favorite RPG

Everyone remembers beloved Monster-Of-The-Week serial drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer, directed by significantly less beloved Joss Whedon, right? Good! Because we made a cat in it! Happy Silver Screen Summer! Follow the show online: https://badgertrove.com/literalcatpod/   Follow Joel Holland: https://bsky.app/profile/omamervt.bsky.social   Follow Avalon: https://bsky.app/profile/avalonal...

Doctor Who is a British TV series that has captured the hearts and imaginations of people around the world, and as with many such series, someone tried making a TTRPG based on it as a result. We take a look at the less popular second edition of that RPG this episode! Anyway, you've heard jokes about the Cat Distribution System, but did you know it was canon to Doctor Who? Find out all about it on...

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 LI...

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! Follow the show online: https://badgertrove.com/literalcatpod/  ...

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. 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...

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 Mel Stone: https://www.youtube.com/c/MelStone/null Straight Line Arrival: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChbejD2...

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/   Follow Joel Holland: https://bsky.app/profile/omamervt.bsky.social...

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. Follow the show online: https://badgertrove.com/literalcatpod/   Fo...

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://bsk...

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.ap...

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/   Follow Joel Holland: https://bsky.app/profile/omamervt.bsky.social   Follow Avalon: https:...

Blue Rose is a Romantic Fantasy RPG published by Green Ronin. Coincidentally, it contains rules for playing as literal animals that have gained the power of telepathy. This was really convenient for us as we built our Warrior-Poet Cat! Follow the show online: https://badgertrove.com/literalcatpod/   Follow Joel Holland: https://bsky.app/profile/omamervt.bsky.social   Follow Avalon: https...

Brindlewood Bay is an RPG by The Gauntlet that combines Murder, She Wrote with Lovecraftian horror where you play as a group of old ladies who solve mysteries together for fun. We put a cat in it. Oh, and by the way, she's bisexual. Follow the show online: https://badgertrove.com/literalcatpod/   Follow Joel Holland: https://bsky.app/profile/omamervt.bsky.social   Follow Avalon: https://...

Avalon and I regret to inform you that we've decided to end How to Make A Literal Cat In Your Favorite RPG after Summer 2026. This was a difficult decision, but also one that was a long time coming. As much as we're going to miss it, for the moment at least, stepping away is the right thing for us to do. I hope it's possible to come back to this some time in the future, but for right now, we need...

Legend in the Mist is Son of Oak's latest TTRPG based on the gameplay system they created for City of Mist, this time for a high fantasy setting. Our cat this time stumbled into a destiny greater than itself when it swallowed a stone of immense power and knowledge. Follow the show online: https://badgertrove.com/literalcatpod/   Follow Joel Holland: https://bsky.app/profile/omamervt.bsky.soci...

Dicey Tales is an action TTRPG that focuses on recreating the escapist fantasies of 1930's pulp fiction. At the request of one of our guests, we have made their cat into a one-eyed Pirate Queen! 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....

Sean Walsh has returned to us to show off another favorite game, this time it's Spirit of 77 by Monkeyfun Studios! Have a look at the 70's as portrayed through 70's media! And play as our cat, the glam rocker with the world's first Keytar! Sean requests that you follow There's A TTRPG For That: https://theresattrpgforthat.tumblr.com/ Follow the show online: https://badgertrove.com/literalcatpod/ &...

The Troubleshooters is an RPG by Helmgast made to mimic the style and aesthetic of Franco-Belgian comics of the 60's, like Adventures of Tintin! We decided we'd resisted the Cat's natural affinity for Crime long enough this season, and finally made a sneak thief, a phantom, a Cat Burglar for this episode! Follow the show online: https://badgertrove.com/literalcatpod/   Follow Joel Holland: ht...

Outgunned is a game by Two Little Mice, designed to help you play out your own cinematic action films at the table. As are most of the other games we've done recently. You know, because it's Action Fiction Autumn? Anyway, this cat is one who was never prepared for the role of action hero, but just so happened to have the right skills to be a halfway decent sidekick! Follow Craig Shipman: https://t...

Hiyah! For this installment of Action Fiction Autumn, we looked at a little game called Straight to VHS by Lost Cat Games. We made Cat Cop. She's exactly what she sounds like. She's a cat. She's a cop. She's Cat Cop. Follow the show online: https://badgertrove.com/literalcatpod/   Follow Joel Holland: https://bsky.app/profile/omamervt.bsky.social   Follow Avalon: https://bsky.app/profile...

Action 12 Cinema by The RPG Academy is a little different from the kind of game we'd normally do on this show, but it's Action Fiction Autumn, and it just called to me! Also I think you'll forgive us when you hear all about Australian Mist, the hit new action flick from up and coming Australian director [insert audience member name here], who brings us a story about a cat who was trained to kill f...

Vel Mini graced us with a supervised early look at Panic at the Dojo's second edition, which may actually be out now, to help us make a cat that fights by teleporting around, offering support to its allies, and slowly wearing down its opponents! Happy Action Fiction Autumn, everyone! Follow Vel Mini: https://bsky.app/profile/velimini.bsky.social Follow the show online: https://badgertrove.com/lite...

Pathfinder has been one our listeners have wanted for a while, that we've been too scared to try because of the character sheet. UNTIL NOW! We brought on Ayl, a Vtuber with experience in Pathfinder Actual Plays to help us get through this, and she helped us make our most feral feline yet! Help Ayl's Emergency New Computer fund: https://throne.com/acupofayl Follow Ayl on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/p...

Ironsworn by Shawn Tomkin is an RPG about perilous quests and difficult vows, where every bit of progress is marked by the costs it took to reach it. Even knowing the struggles, the cat we made this episode MUST see her husband's ashes spread atop Mt. Mitten - she swore a vow to see it done in her lifetime, after all! Follow the show online: https://badgertrove.com/literalcatpod/   Follow Joe...

As July draws to a close, and we enter our fourth year as a podcast, allow me to thank you all for listening! We really appreciate you all being along for the ride. Anyway, enjoy an assortment of RPGs that'd normally be too short for a full episode! Games included: Four Sherlock Holmes and a Vampire: https://thatonegm.itch.io/four-sherlock-holmes-and-a-vampire Quantum Nobodies: https://dngnclub.it...