Death to all Cat People!!

[Dragonbait]

I'm a little baffled by the cat-humanoid popularity myself, but have no real problem with them. I like the anthropomorphic races, as long as a they fill a role. [mini-rant] I'm a person that can't stand many (but definately not all) of the humans-that-are-not-human races that I have seen in many games. Magic of Incarnum is a perfect example. Humans with some scaly patches and humans with glowing eyes... [/mini-rant]

IMHO rakshasa, guardianls, slaadi, and all the other outsiders that have animal traits or an animal head really don't count as an animal race per-se (spelling?). An Eladrin is not a race of powerful elves, and genies are not races of elemental humans. They are outsiders, and are the embodiments of different aspects (nature, alignments, and so on). And more importantly, if you can't play one without being something like 10th level or higher, it shouldn't really count.

As for cat people from games..
Iron Claw, Jade Claw, etc../Cats (No racial name in this one. Just Cats). If you dont like anthros, Baldhero, you'd just be frothing at the mouth with hate for this game.

Star Wars/SW has a number of feline species, and one shows up in Knights of the Old Republic as a possible character.

If there is still a Star Trek RPG, then cat people would be in that too.

Edit: Rakasta to Rakshasa because I should have known better, but didn't.

 

[Odhanan]

Now, so far most of the cat people i can recall have been noble, honorable, and often times tribal folk. In fact i dont know of any cat people that are ever bad.

In my AE campaign I have a faction of Litorians allied with Were-felines who are pretty nasty and extremists. So here you go, at least one game with "bad" cat people. I think the Litorians make sense to some extent, even if I play them in a much more feral and individualistic way in my homebrew game sessions.

I like the intelligent cats of HP Lovecraft too. Now, that isn't exactly an "anthropomorphic" race there, but the cats in Lovecraft's fiction are intelligent and mystic creatures in and by themselves.

 

[radferth]

There is a old Dragon Issue (early to mid 1980's) that has a write-up for a bunch of Kzinti get dropped from Ringworld into your local D&D world and start fighting everybody. Those Kzinti are bad-ass mother... Hey, I'm just talking about Kzinti. They did have 4+? HD and were mean as hell, IIRC.

 

[kenobi65]

There is a old Dragon Issue (early to mid 1980's) that has a write-up for a bunch of Kzinti get dropped from Ringworld into your local D&D world and start fighting everybody. Those Kzinti are bad-ass mother... Hey, I'm just talking about Kzinti. They did have 4+? HD and were mean as hell, IIRC.

Yup, I remember that article. I used kzinti as bad guys in my campaign for a while.

 

[Umbran]

Humans don't have monkey quirks, do they?

Um, yes, we do. Watch an internet flamewar, and watch a nature special with a bunch of squabbling monkeys or chimpanzees - pretty much the same thing.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

Someone used to have a quote in their sig that said that if cats had looks to reflect their personalities, they would look like toads. Since Cha is not supposed to directly reflect appearance, I think that suggests a Cha penalty...

but cha indicates stength of personality, not likabilty - cats definitly have a strong sense of self and an ability to influence people.

I haven't disliked any cat races I've come across. So far Litorians are my favorites for "big cats" and Frey are my favorite "kitties".

 

[kenobi65]

Um, yes, we do. Watch an internet flamewar, and watch a nature special with a bunch of squabbling monkeys or chimpanzees - pretty much the same thing.

Nothin' like flingin' those virtual feces.

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

To me, cat people are essentially filling the same thing that wolves did a few years ago. Remember that phase? OMFG! I was so sick of wolf-characters that I seriously thought about beating one of my players across the face with a 101 Uses for a Dead Dog book.

But, I've joined a campaign where the cat people are lazy, self-indulgent, vain, arrogant, and really, can get thier teeth kicked in by kobolds. The RPing is interesting. But I still make fun of the character in character, often referring to the fact that I need a new coat liner.

The Kzin are about as far as you can get from cute and cuddly. "SCREAM AND LEAP!" is the primary form of diplomacy, and I think they showed up first in one of Niven's short stories regarding ARM and space exploration. Ringworld showed that they are highly intelligent, but still highly aggressive, territorial, impulsive, violent, and carnivores.

As for the Cat-Girl phenomena, I look at it with the same distain as I veiwed all the "Oh, that's so KEWL!" crap that's come down the pipe.

Last year wolves. This year cat-people. Next year cybernetic wombats.

 

[DreadPirateMurphy]

Anthropomorphic animal creatures fit in much better in fantasy than they do in science fiction, because the first is grounded in human mythology, while the second at least pays lip service to scientific plausibility. There is no reason to assume that alien life would follow the same patterns as Earth life, so having something that not only was a mammal but happened to look and act like a specific family of Earth creatures (e.g., cats) is a bit of a stretch.

Traveller fudged it by claiming Aslan weren't really cat-like...that was an approximation dumped on them by humans. Having said that, there is a strong similarity between Aslan, Kilrathi, and Niven's Kzin. I believe the Kzin are the oldest of the three. The most interesting variation with Kzin is that only the males of the species were sentient. Kzin also made their way into the Star Trek universe via the animated series and Star Fleet Battles.

As for their populatrity, well, what guy can turn down...never mind...

 

[William Ronald]

Anthropomorphic animal creatures fit in much better in fantasy than they do in science fiction, because the first is grounded in human mythology, while the second at least pays lip service to scientific plausibility. There is no reason to assume that alien life would follow the same patterns as Earth life, so having something that not only was a mammal but happened to look and act like a specific family of Earth creatures (e.g., cats) is a bit of a stretch.

Traveller fudged it by claiming Aslan weren't really cat-like...that was an approximation dumped on them by humans. Having said that, there is a strong similarity between Aslan, Kilrathi, and Niven's Kzin. I believe the Kzin are the oldest of the three. The most interesting variation with Kzin is that only the males of the species were sentient. Kzin also made their way into the Star Trek universe via the animated series and Star Fleet Battles.

As for their populatrity, well, what guy can turn down...never mind...

If I recall correctly, the Kzin first appeared in Niven's work by the early 1970s. (The Star Trek animated series was on in either the early or mid-1970s.)

I don't have a problem with cat people, and I rather like the litorians of Arcana Evolved. (They are very personally honorable, and incredibly feirce as well.) I think that the similar creatures on other planets theme in science fiction works best if worlds are very similar or an outside agency (such as the Vorlons in Babylon 5) are intervening in the evolution of various races.