Style Suggestion: Dungeons and Kittens
JulianDracos
Mapmaker
So I ran Dungeons and Kittens the other day: https://www.edge-studio.net/welcome-to-dungeons-kittens/
Not only is this an RPG, it is being made into a TV show in France. I like the artwork style and think that this could inspire a new map style. I think the Pryblyski Watercolor might be a suitable substitute. Even if that is the case, I think we are missing a compatible dungeon style. I would like both the overland and dungeon styles.
The setting for the game is where humans have gone extinct and cats and other animals have taken over. They now live in a medieval style fantasy world. But, there are human ruins of our modern world. I think that opens up some interesting symbol options. You could have cars and modern city ruins along with symbols for cat villages. Interiors would have things like scratching posts.
Additionally, there are other popular games such as Magical Kitties Save the World and Pugmire that could also use this style.
Comments
Ugh, No. Should be canines only1!!
While a bit thematically different, you also have Cats of Catthulhu which also needs cat-related mapping resources. (Including some villainous canines)
How fun! This style could also be compatible with Humblewood games.
Puppies of Tindalos?
Slightly more seriously, I suspect that like a lot of similarly quirky mapping styles, the snag will be getting enough different symbols together to try to emulate the look of the original maps, where there are a lot of unique symbols. (Not sure if Cats of Catthulu has a comparable mapping style; I don't have a copy, and can't seem to find any map images from it online quickly.)
I wasn't involved in the whole Catthulhu thing, but have seen the books. I don't recall there being much in the way of maps, especially Catthulhu-unique maps.
Thanks Scott. That's a shame. I only recall seeing the vaguely similarly-named RPG Call of Catthulhu (when it was being played once at a Free RPG Day event). Unfortunately, I believe that was withdrawn after running afoul of copyright infringement with Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu RPG (or that's what I was told, at least), which would seem rather an oversight on the part of the Catthulhu game's publisher, if correct - not affiliated in any way with the newer Cats of Catthulhu, so far as I'm aware, incidentally.
Call of Catthulhu and Cats of Catthulhu are the same game. I have both, the second one being most notable for the 10th anniversary edition.
As for maps, their adventures modules do contain them. They look like they are done in GIMP. It is a simple map with a black background, white lines for rooms, and gray rectangles for doors. They do not have any outdoor maps.
Yup, that's correct. As far as I know, it has been released in several editions under the Cats of Catthulu name before now the 10th anniversary edition, Call of Catthulu was only being used for the first edition.
It is true that the books doesn't feature any fancy maps, but in my case, as a GM, I am more interested in having the tools to make my own maps that fit the theme of the game for various game purposes rather than trying to emulate any particular art/map style existing in the official material. Honestly, I often find the included maps in a lot of gaming products to be lacking.
Not to mention the usefulness of GM generated maps for VTT.
I had AI convert some of my maps into a style similar to Dungeons and Kittens. These might be a bit too 3D, but maybe it will inspire a new style this year.
That would be a really cool map style, Julian. There aren’t a lot of isometric dungeon annuals, so that would really be useful.
Thanks for the information re Call of Catthulu. I was basing my comments on what the FLGS manager mentioned to me, as regards what happened to it. There are too many RPGs now to try to keep track of any but a handful in detail, I find!