So I've been cooking up an idea for a while, so you have these different clans/noble houses (think game of thrones) with their heraldry and symbolic animals. Then the world is cursed by a trickster god, turning everyone into beastly humanoid creatures, like Worgen from WoW or the humanoid/animal people from the Advanced Race Guide.
So what animal/humanoid selections should I make available to my players? I want to try to stay just on this side of furryness without it getting silly. So more like the catfolk from Skyrim less like the Pandarens from WoW. Is this a viable idea or is this lame? Any suggestions on what I should be focusing on?
One key element for helping me to decide is what miniatures I can get my hands on. So you'll be able to play as a Rat (skaven models from Warhammer Fantasy) or a Boar (farrow models from Warmachine/Hordes) for all intents and purposes, you're race is just the name of the animal. I plan on using the Advanced Race Guide to build some of these. The good news is that there are already a lot of these in Pathfinder (Raven are Kenkus essentially)
I haven't decided yet if they have been recently cursed, or if these people have always been cursed
Can you get Kitsune figures?
Does Legend of the 5 rings make figures?
A really smug family of nobles could have been turned into fox people.
Don't forget cow people, or as WOW calls them, Tauran. Minotaurs with both male and female creatures.
Eh, I can't judge whether hengeyokai cross the furry/silly line for you, but Rite Publishing has In the Company of Henge, which includes: dog, badger, cat, rat, monkey, raccoon-dog, hare with differences. This supplement was designed for use in Kaidan (Japanese horror) so it wasn't intended to fall into silly - it is a horror setting afterall, but again don't know where you cross the line.
Henge are shapechangers, though, and can appear in one human form. I don't know if that fits your campaign idea. I think it could. It might even alleviate any possible silliness acquired with multiple animal forms (for the various cursed houses) in a permanent animal headed form. Henge are susceptable to cold iron damage which forces them into their true form (animal humanoid form.) Requiring trigger damage like cold iron could work to reveal the cursed from those seeking them.
Reaper has a lot of werewolf wearcreature minis I plan on making use of. I like the Fox, what I've decided is that it's best to allow for every type of animal. With the Racebuilder, I could cook a stat listing for a player based on what they want to be. Whether they want to be a Fox or a Catalina Island Fox. They can be as generic or specific as anyone wants.
I'm breaking up the landscape into ecosystems (regions) and I'm going to go from there. So the main one is a temperate wooded area (think Europe/England) then there's a jungle, desert, plains, mountains, frozen north, and even aquatic regions.
Reaper has a lot of werewolf wearcreature minis I plan on making use of. I like the Fox, what I've decided is that it's best to allow for every type of animal. With the Racebuilder, I could cook a stat listing for a player based on what they want to be. Whether they want to be a Fox or a Catalina Island Fox. They can be as generic or specific as anyone wants.
I'm breaking up the landscape into ecosystems (regions) and I'm going to go from there. So the main one is a temperate wooded area (think Europe/England) then there's a jungle, desert, plains, mountains, frozen north, and even aquatic regions.
Someone should market Selkie figures. Selkies are were-seals. Usually non-violent, but you could add a trident or speargun with careful gluework.
Eh, I can't judge whether hengeyokai cross the furry/silly line for you, but Rite Publishing has In the Company of Henge, which includes: dog, badger, cat, rat, monkey, raccoon-dog, hare with differences. This supplement was designed for use in Kaidan (Japanese horror) so it wasn't intended to fall into silly - it is a horror setting afterall, but again don't know where you cross the line.
Henge are shapechangers, though, and can appear in one human form. I don't know if that fits your campaign idea. I think it could. It might even alleviate any possible silliness acquired with multiple animal forms (for the various cursed houses) in a permanent animal headed form. Henge are susceptable to cold iron damage which forces them into their true form (animal humanoid form.) Requiring trigger damage like cold iron could work to reveal the cursed from those seeking them.
Thanks, this is a good source, especially since I love Oriental Adventures. Hengeyokai, Shifters, and all the beastmen type races were the ones who really got me going.
My plan is to set up a world similar to Game of Thrones with all these Noble Families tied around the different Races. Each with their own flavor and cultures in these mini-kingdoms.
Well... there's also In the Company of Tengu, which has an especially cool tengu cavalier (tengu-hatamoto) that rides dire-boar mounts, and a bunch more cool racial archetypes. Tengu of Kaidan are especially noble creatures and already fit a kind of noble outlook that might better fit your campaign, versus the Bestiary tengu.
What would you define as 'silly'?
Squirrels are silly.
So are monkeys.
Skunks can be funny.