In this review I will tell you about ArmaKitten, a role-playing game in which cats are the protagonists; in particular, they become skilled secret agents, to monitor man and take over the opposable thumb to achieve feline supremacy!
Before starting, I want to thank the authors for sending us a copy of the manual to write this review.
If you are interested in purchasing, the manual is available on the official MS Edizioni store at the price of €30 in physical version (including PDF) or €15 in digital version. If you enter the code NoDiceUnrolled10 before paying, you will receive a 10% discount!
The World of ArmaKitten and the History of F.U.S.A.
The Dawn of the Bipeds did not take long to arrive while the cats, careless by nature, went about their business; meanwhile, humans built structures and cities, taking on a leadership role. The first contact between cats and humans was in Ancient Egypt; At that moment the felines finally realized the enormous power of humans, which allowed them to dominate fire and build shelters: the opposable thumb.
Ancient Egypt was a glorious era for cunning felines, who managed to ingratiate themselves with humans and become living deities; in this way, they also managed to study the behaviour of bipeds.
In 950 B.C. the cats were privileged and even managed to get a city in their honor, Bubaste. Information about human behaviour was recorded by ancient felines and laid the foundations of what became, centuries later, the F.U.S.A.
Unfortunately, however, cats were soon no longer venerated by foolish humans, but hunted and mistreated like mice. A strange new religion was spreading and saw cats as a symbol of sin. At that moment something had to be done to change the situation. All the cats in the world committed themselves to stealing the opposable thumb and achieving the supremacy of the feline species; that day, just as the title of the RPG protagonist of this review indicates, will be the ArmaKitten!
Thus was created the global intelligence organization Felini United for Supremacy and ArmaKitten, the F.U.S.A., capable of controlling every action, thought and technology of humans. However, to be able to control them you have to deal with them; here is the Great Deception, the strategy that leads cats to be seen as tender and harmless companion creatures for humans. The Mushroom of Montefalco is the Italian capital of the F.U.S.A. headed by Colonel Grigioni “Lu Guerciu”.
How to Create an Agent
As I am about to show you in this review, players will therefore have to play as valiant felines trained for the ArmaKitten. In the F.U.S.A. files, each cat has descriptors to distinguish it from other Agents.
In addition to the Basic data (name, coat colour and age), we find the CATS that distinguish the skills of each Agent. They are:
- Cuddly: the ability to use beauty to get what one wants.
- Agile: to be stealthy and perform acrobatic actions.
- Tough: represents physical strength.
- Shrewd: indicative of the cat’s intellect.
Each Agent has a Sign which is given to him after long and tiring training which allows him to specialize in a specific task. An Agent can become a charming Nyan capable of distracting any biped thanks to his cuteness, or a Piper who works together with his sub-mouse.
The feline will also have one or more Traits, or particularities that can be useful in certain situations or annoying in others. For example, the Agent may be thin and able to sneak in everywhere, but not be able to carry heavy objects.
Each cat has a more developed sense than the others; this is called Cat Sense and allows you to get four automatic clues instead of having to carry out a Test.
As we know, cats have nine Lives that can be used by the player to avoid failures, damage or even coming to a bad end!
ArmaKitten Mechanics Review
When Agents have to perform complex actions, they carry out tests to demonstrate how effective their training has been. The Nyarrator (the master) decides when a player must perform a Test and its Difficulty. The latter is determined by the sum of Stress, Danger and Secrecy. Stress is both the difficulty of performing an action and the time available. Danger is the Agent’s risk of getting physically hurt. Secrecy, on the other hand, is about trying not to be discovered by bipeds and staying hidden.
The Test must be linked to a CATS: the player will have to compose a pool of d6s determined by the CATS score, from which to add or subtract based on their Traits. Once the dice have been rolled, the Successes must be counted; a five is a Success while a six is a Purrfect or a double Success. With a Full Success, the cat manages to act as described while if you have Extra Successes you can try to help your group of Agents or improve the outcome. However, if you only overcome Stress (or Stress and Danger), you have Partial Success, which offers particular narrative evolutions.
In case of Failure or Partial Success in the test, the player can decide to use one of his nine Lives to correct the result.
Group Tests can also be carried out when Agents are performing the same action; in this case, the Successes of all participants are added.
The manual also offers rules for Expert Agents to use with an already established party; for example, we find the Gattgets, the tools of the Agents’ trade, which become additional Traits in case they can influence the Trials. The addition of optional rules allows the Nyarrator to expand and improve their sessions.
Not just Friends
The other animal species have resigned themselves to the fact that, sooner or later, the ArmaKitten will arrive and the feline species will dominate. The mice in particular have become the privileged servants of the Agents and are involved in the tasks of the F.U.S.A. Only one breed has stood out for taking sides against cats: the so-called “man’s best friends”, dogs.
Due to problems caused by domesticated dogs, curious bipeds, and other adversities, the F.U.S.A. has well decided to categorize all enemies based on Threat Level. Each opponent therefore has a card very similar to those of the players; in fact, the other creatures are characterized by CATS, Traits, Sense, Life and Special Abilities. The latter are generally related to the species, such as the venomous bite of snakes.
If the Agents have to face enemies, Combat begins in turns (and usually short, given that the manual explains how to make it last a number of turns equal to the Threat Level). Each turn has two phases, the first where the Agents act and then the Reaction of the opponents. Agents can decide to distract the enemy, hurt him or do something else by carrying out Tests; in case of Success, the agent succeeds in his manoeuvre and obtains advantages. In the case of Failure, the cat can be slowed down, suffer damage to the CATS depending on where it was hit or even risk no longer being able to continue its mission.
From here we can understand that the mechanical implications are established solely by the actions of the protagonists. The Reaction, on the other hand, is up to the master and is purely narrative.
Conclusions of the ArmaKitten Review
The manual consists of 258 pages, divided into convenient paragraphs. Moreover the chosen font is very simple and easily readable; the predominant colours are purple and yellow on a white background. The manual is full of valuable illustrations edited by Luca Rossi and Monica Greco; they represent the NPCs that can be encountered and various important places for the F.U.S.A.. Overall, the manual is easy to consult (thanks also to the initial index) and full of ideas for the Nyarrator.
Each paragraph contains a box with advice on how to play ArmaKitten as best as possible and some feline curiosities that allow you to discover new information about these wonderful creatures. For the lazy ones (or for those who want to prepare for a session on the fly), the basic rules of each page have been highlighted in purple. I appreciated how the authors accompany the reader to immerse themselves in the tones of the game and effectively explain each mechanic, to be able to make it best at the gaming table.
To make sure we don’t miss anything, in the last pages of the manual you can find a ready-made mission for the Agents: The Crystal Palace. Definitely a good introduction for new players and new Nyarrators!
In my opinion, ArmaKitten was created and designed to be played by anyone, even newcomers to role-playing games; It has very simple mechanics and is highly narrative and fun! I can only recommend it to anyone who wants to undertake a new mission as an F.U.S.A. Agent. and fight against the bipeds to conquer the world!
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