I usually prep these cheat sheets for RPGs that I play or run, and I’ve shared many of them here on the Alexandrian in the past. This one is for a game that I was the Project Developer and co-designer for: The second edition of Magical Kitties Save the Day!
In Magical Kitties Save the Day, you are a magical kitty who owns a human. (Some humans believe that they own the kitties… This is clearly ridiculous.) Your human has a Problem, and you need to use your magical powers to solve their Problems and save the day! This system cheat sheet, like the others I’ve posted here at the Alexandrian, neatly summarizes all of the rules from the game — from basic action resolution to the mechanics for foes and disasters. It won’t teach you how to create a character, but it’s a great way to get a grip on a new system and, of course, extremely valuable during actual play for introducing new players to the game.
Another cool thing about the game which is not touched on in these cheat sheets are the tools we developed for prepping adventures. If you like the adventure design advice and scenario structures I talk about here on the Alexandrian, I think you’ll find this stuff right up your alley: The core structure is that, in addition to their humans having Problems, the hometowns where kitties live also have Problems. Take a hometown Problem and aim it at the human Problem. As the hometown Problem — things like dinosaurs and hyper-intelligent raccoons and fairy feuds — complicates the kitty’s human Problem, you’ll generate the seed for your adventure.
I then present several adventure recipes: Boss Rush, Five Scenes, A Simple Mystery, The Raid, and Rescue Operation. (In the supplements you’ll find additional adventure recipes. For example, in Magical Kitties & the Mars Colony, Clio Yun-Su Davis created the incredibly clever Double Trouble and Triple Trouble structures.) Each recipe has certain “slots” in it where you can plug in adventure “ingredients.” Simply plug ingredients into the rights lots and — presto! — you’ve got a cool new adventure. (We then present stuff like Foes, Disasters, and Locations with pre-baked ingredients, so if you’re a brand new GM you can basically just plug ‘n play elements.)
HOW I USE THEM
As I’ve described in the past, I keep a copy of the system cheat sheet behind my GM screen for quick reference and also provide copies for all of the players. Of course, I also keep at least one copy of the rulebook available, too. But my goal with the cheat sheets is to consolidate information and eliminate book look-ups: Finding something in a couple of pages is a much faster process than paging through hundreds of pages in the rulebook.
Magical Kitties is a fairly streamlined system, so the cheat sheet is just two pages long and the organization of material should (hopefully!) be pretty self-evident.
WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED
These cheat sheets are not designed to be a quick start packet: They’re designed to be a comprehensive reference for someone who has read the rulebook and will probably prove woefully inadequate if you try to learn the game from them. (On the other hand, they can definitely assist experienced players who are teaching the game to new players.)
The cheat sheets also don’t include what I refer to as “character option chunks” (for reasons discussed here). In other words, you won’t find the rules for character creation here.
MAKING A GM SCREEN
These cheat sheets can also be used in conjunction with a modular, landscape-oriented GM screen (like the ones you can buy here or here).
Personally, I use a four-panel screen. With larger cheat sheets, I’ll use reverse-duplex printing and create sheets that I can tape together and “flip up” to reveal additional information behind them. Since the Magical Kitties sheet is only two pages long, that’s not necessary: In fact, you’ll have a couple spare slots to drop in information on your hometown. (Which, if you’re using Magical Kitties in River City — the hometown I designed for the boxed set — could include a miniature version of the stunningly beautiful poster map by Jason Bradley Thompson.)
A slightly tangential question: how do you use the map? Do you keep it to yourself for reference, or let the players see it for inspiration?
Based on your recent articles I bought the pdf, as something that I might play with my young kids. I’m actually so excited about it, that I would be tempted to buy the deluxe set, if it becomes available in the UK.
I’ve looked at other rpgs suitable for young children, but they are either too unstructured for me, or too vague about how the game should play out. Magical Kitties seems to have enough crunch to make me feel that I am playing a game rather than telling a story, while the GM support for constructing sessions looks really solid.
Re: Map.
I’m generally in favor of putting the map out for players to see. I really wanted the players to be able to just point at the map and say, “What is THAT?! I want to go there!”
(I might make a temporary exception for Mars Colony to give the players a little sense of exploring the unknown depths of the Red Planet. But I’d still try to get that map out once they’ve oriented.)
Re: Deluxe Edition.
Very few if any copies of the Deluxe Edition will be entering distribution, so it might be worthwhile to check shipping costs through the Atlas Games website. Not sure if it’s gotten mucked a bit by the current crisis in shipping, but our rates to the UK were very reasonable a few weeks ago.
Looks like the 2nd GM screen link should now be https://hammerdog-games.myshopify.com/collections/the-worlds-greatest-screen/TWGS