Good Dogs and Excellent Cats begins! Up next: Dennis Detwiller and the Monarchies of Mau Adventures Book!
almost 7 years ago – Thu, May 25, 2017 at 07:52:32 AM

Hi folks, Rose here. ^_^

Having reached $80,000, we'll begin the Roll of Good Dogs and Excellent Cats PDF (working title). Ready-Made Characters for Monarchies of Mau and Pugmire, using the backer NPC characters featured in both core books, that we will send to all backers who pledge for a reward tier that includes a Monarchies of Mau PDF. We will start with 6 Excellent Cats drawn from both books.

Up next, at $90,000 of contributions, Dennis Detwiller (Delta Green, NECROPOLIS) will write an adventure which will be compiled with the Intro adventure to start a Monarchies of Mau Adventures book. How will his uniquely dark perspective bring dread and menace to the cats of Mau? We'll send a PDF to all backers who pledge for a reward tier that includes a Monarchies of Mau PDF.

After that, at $100,000 of contributions, we will commission 2 more short stories that will be combined with later stretch goals to create the Monarchies of Mau Fiction Anthology PDF/eBook that we will send to all backers who pledge for a reward tier that includes a Monarchies of Mau PDF. Included in these two new stories will be a story written by Joseph D. Carriker, Jr. (Vampire: The Requiem, Sacred Band).

I'm particularly excited about that last one. Joe was one of the "new kids" at White Wolf along with Eddy and me, and we even had a writing group together for a while. I'd love to work with him again!

Thanks for your support!

Is this a joke?
almost 7 years ago – Tue, May 23, 2017 at 08:01:08 AM

Hi, folks. Rose here, with an update from Eddy. :)

Eddy:

While working on my previous game, Pugmire, one question I got asked regularly is whether these games are a joke. And there are complex nuances to the question beyond the obvious “no, Monarchies of Mau is a real game that is really being made.”  

Primarily, it’s worth noting the game does have humor in it, but I maintain that it isn’t a funny game. We as players laugh at the idea of cats having a code of ethics which involves pouncing on invisible monsters, but the characters in the world take it very seriously. If some folks see some funny bits, though, they might easy mistake the whole game as a joke.  

One of the trickiest parts as I work on the game is allowing humor to naturally arise without making the game “funny.” I’ve been using the term “light-hearted” to explain the nuance, but it’s something that you only get once you dive in. Some people playing Pugmire post quotes or anecdotes on social media, and most of those posts are gags. I take that as encouraging — people are excited and having fun with the game. When I’ve run the game myself the level of humor changes depending on the group, but there’s always at least some laughs.  

The reason why it isn’t a joke, and why I’m adamant on that point, is because a “funny game” can really only be funny. A light-hearted game, however, can include more depth and options. Is Mau a “serious” game? Of course not: You play cats wielding magic to rescue iPads from ancient ruins. I not only accept that, but I want to make that a feature. But it’s also a game that addresses the struggles of rebuilding after a war, political ethics, and the problems of racism and nationalism. None of that is necessary to play and enjoy the game, but it’s there if you want to dig into it.  

Is Monarchies of Mau a joke? No. Because it can be so much more.

Caturday update!
almost 7 years ago – Sat, May 20, 2017 at 01:32:39 PM

Hi, folks. Rose here. ^_^

Caturday

Eddy says:  

Part of the fun for me with Mau (and Pugmire) is looking at the pets in my life and imagining what role they might have in the world.  

Many of my players, playtesters, and other friends online have told me endless fun and exciting stories. I hear how their furry friends would be reimagined as valiant warriors or clever magicians, even if they don't have their own game running just yet.  

So, show us a picture of your feline friend, and explain how you'll make them a personality in your game of Monarchies of Mau. Don't worry about the mechanics or the details right now -- that's still to come. Just talk about the stories you can imagine with your pet. Tell me about your character.

Stretch Goals

Rose says:

Having passed $70,000 of contributions, we'll commission 3 short stories that will be combined with later stretch goals to create a Monarchies of Mau Fiction Anthology PDF/eBook that we will send to all backers who pledge for a reward tier that includes a Monarchies of Mau PDF. Included in these three stories will be a story written by Monica Valentinelli (Firefly RPG, Hunter: The Vigil).

Up next, at $80,000 of contributions, we'll begin the Roll of Good Dogs and Excellent Cats PDF (working title). This will contain Ready-Made Characters for Monarchies of Mau and Pugmire, using the backer NPC characters featured in both core books, that we will send to all backers who pledge for a reward tier that includes a Monarchies of Mau PDF. We will start with 6 Excellent Cats drawn from both books.

Thank you for your support!

Stepping into a larger world
almost 7 years ago – Thu, May 18, 2017 at 10:05:56 AM

Hi, Rose here. ^_^ The first three days of the Monarchies of Mau Kickstarter have been amazing! Thank you all for your pledges and enthusiasm. :D

Now that we're off to such a great start, there are two things I'd like to talk about: stretch goals, and the relationship between Monarchies of Mau and Pugmire.

Stretch Goals

We've put together a fairly robust series of stretch goals that we'd love to do. But we've done a lot of Kickstarters, and one of the things we've learned is that the best goal ideas often come from backers. Tell us what you'd like to see for Mau, and we'll see if we can make them happen!

Dogs and Cats Living Together

Eddy says:

Over the next few weeks, we’ll have a lot of updates for you talking about Monarchies of Mau and why I think it’s a cool and compelling game. But some of you (hopefully many of you!) may be familiar with Pugmire, and may want to know how the two games interrelate... or at least how the two species relate to each other. Specifically, do cats and dogs always fight, and can they play together in the same game?

To answer the first question, cats and dogs only have conflicts as much as characters want to have conflicts. The Monarchies and Pugmire are interested in peace talks, but those talks are struggling. There are factions in each nation that want a second War of Dogs and Cats, but they are in the minority. Further, some grudges die hard, so there are plenty of characters on both sides who simply don’t trust the opposite species, outside of the political situation. But there are many more cats who simply don’t care about dogs, or actively want to work with them. In the end, how much animosity there is between cats and dogs is ultimately up to you.

Similarly, Monarchies of Mau is designed to work with Pugmire. It’s easy to run games with mixed cat and dog adventuring groups, and I’ll provide some advice on how to do that in the final book. Further, you can share rules between the two games. If you want to make a cat artisan, or allow a dog to learn necromancy spells, you can hack the game into those shapes. But even if you don’t want to swap parts around between the games, it’ll be very easy to have dog friends tag along on your Mau adventures.

(And I have thus far resisted the temptation to call that section of the rules “Mass Hysteria.”)

Shirt and Intro adventure Achieved! Up next: Fiction anthology!
almost 7 years ago – Wed, May 17, 2017 at 08:01:50 AM

Hi, folks. Rose here. ^_^ Thanks to you, we're moving swiftly through stretch goals!

Having passed $30,000, once the Mau KS is over, we're going to offer an exclusive KS Monarchies of Mau shirt that says something like "I'm the Best Cat! I backed the Monarchies of Mau Kickstarter" on our RedBubble store for sale at the deepest discount they'll let us do it for a limited time after which we'll change the design -- and we'll tell you folks about it first so you can order one if you want. We estimate that you'll be getting about a $10 discount.

And having passed $55,000, we can create a Monarchies of Mau Introductory Adventure PDF - everything needed to have your first adventure facing the perils of the Monarchies of Mau! We'll send it to all backers who pledged for a reward tier that includes a PDF of the Monarchies of Mau core book.

Up next, at $70,000, we will commission 3 short stories that will be combined with later stretch goals to create a Monarchies of Mau Fiction Anthology PDF/eBook that we will send to all backers who pledge for a reward tier that includes a Monarchies of Mau PDF. Included in these three stories will be a story written by Monica Valentinelli (Firefly RPG, Hunter: The Vigil).

And this is only day two! Thank you for your support!