Observations of the Fox

For those who saw my little game about ferrets named " Tooth and Claw " there is some sad news. One of the constantly troublemaking ferrets who inspired the game has been struggling with respiratory problems, and generally losing the race against the eternal predator of time. Yesterday, we took her to the vet and we were offered a choice between a few more days of increasing agony for her, or injection that would painlessly put her to sleep and slow her heartbeat to nothing, before allowing her to pass on. It was a tough decision, but she had a good life with us, and we didn't want her to continue suffering. In ferret circles we say that Slinkabell crossed the Rainbow Bridge, and now wardances and creates mischief forever with her friends on the other side.

"Tooth and Claw" is a little game I wrote at the beginning of last year. It's a game about ferrets and since the characters call humans "Big Ones", it only makes sense that they'd be called "Little Ones". One of the things missing from "Tooth and Claw" is a series of easy access play aids...maps, trait cards, character sheets. But what would a ferret map look like? What important things would it include? Here's the first idea for a ferret map, vaguely based on my own home.

It's always awesome to release a game into the aether and have something come back. Thanks to Kristoffer Holmen, I now have a review for the little game 'Tooth and Claw' that I produced at the beginning of the year.  If you're interested, take a look. http://ludi-ictis.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/a-game-of-tooth-and-claw-review.html

I'm starting to really wonder whether the idea of expansion booklets for Tooth and Claw are good ideas? There were certainly some things that I would have liked to add into the rules, but the pocketmod format meant that I could only release the essentials for play. In some ways that's a good thing...too many rules can muddy the purity of the original concept, theuy can detract from the core vision of play. I'm pretty happy with the balance of rules that went into the game as it currently stand, but I know some groups that prefer a bit more crunch in their systems, and there could definitely be some better advice on how to create a story for these tiny heroes. With this in mind, I'm thinking of a GMs guide for Tooth and Claw...maybe with a couple of pages about how  ferret pack dynamics work and how these can be replicated in play, perhaps a couple of pages about ferret stories and how to use fallout to drive a story forward. That's before I'd even conside...