''Cat's Paw'' is a

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

adventure published by TSR in 1984 for the '' Marvel Super Heroes'' role-playing game.

Plot summary

''Cat's Paw'' is a scenario set in Canada featuring

Alpha Flight Alpha Flight is a fictional team of Canadian superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The characters premiered in ''The Uncanny X-Men'' #120 (April 1979), and were created to serve as part of the X-Men member Wo ...

vs. The

Leader Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...

and his minions. ''Cat's-Paw'' consists of a sixteen-page adventure, and includes character cards for the members of Alpha Flight, a large map sheet, and game statistics for the heroes inside the covers. The

player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

s must stop an attempt to sabotage the hydroelectric

James Bay Project The James Bay Project (french: projet de la Baie-James) refers to the construction of a series of hydroelectric power stations on the La Grande River in northwestern Quebec, Canada by state-owned utility Hydro-Québec, and the diversion of neigh ...

Jeff Grubb Jeff Grubb (born August 27, 1957) is an author who writes novels, short stories, and comics and a computer and role-playing game designer in the fantasy genre. Grubb worked on the ''Dragonlance'' campaign setting under Tracy Hickman, and the ''F ...

explains in a paragraph in the introduction to ''Cat's Paw'' that other characters can be substituted for Alpha Flight.

Publication history

MH5 ''Cat's Paw'' was written by

, with a cover by John Byrne and illustrations by

Jeff Butler Jeff Butler (born February 26, 1958, in Madison, Wisconsin) is an American illustrator and comic book artist. Butler worked with the art department of TSR, Inc. for 5 years, illustrating products for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role- ...

, and was published by TSR, Inc., in 1984 as a 16-page book, a large color map, and an outer folder.

Reception

Marcus L. Rowland reviewed ''Cat's Paw'' for ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes fro ...

'' #69, rating it 6/10 overall. He jokingly notes that any resemblance between the Cthulhu Mythos and the monster manipulating the supervillains "is, of course, purely coincidental". Rowland concludes by saying: "This is probably my favourite adventure for this game to date, since it's a lot more coherent than most previous offerings and seems to have written with significant traces of humour." Pete Tamlyn reviewed ''Cat's Paw'' for ''

Imagine Imagine may refer to: * Imagination Music Albums * ''Imagine'' (Armin van Buuren album), 2008 * ''Imagine'' (Eva Cassidy album), 2002 * ''Imagine'' (Janice Vidal album), 2012 * ''Imagine'' (John Lennon album), 1971 ** ''Imagine: John Lennon' ...

'' magazine. He noted that he was able to use characters other than Alpha Flight: "with very little modification of the plot I managed to run the scenario for the

Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in ''The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover dated Nov. 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. It was the first ...

instead. I missed out on a little bit of the significance of the final encounter because the enemy in question was very closely related to Alpha Flight's characters, but other than that, no problem." Tamlyn continued by saying that "the production is up to the usual high standard with the useful addition of little cut-out character information cards for the players. The plot is somewhat variable. There is a reasonable amount of political interest to relieve the monotony of the slugfests, and also some nice atmospheric touches, although these are somewhat spoilt by the 'read this to players' boxes which contain the sort of purple prose that will have the players cringing rather than entranced. However, there are a places where plot continuity seems to rely rather too heavily on players doing what the author expected. The ending is rather tough and needs very careful handling by the GM. All in all, slightly above average for MSH, but not their best."

Reviews

*''Game News'' #8 (Oct. 1985) *''The V.I.P. of Gaming Magazine'' #3 (April/May 1986)

References

{{Reflist Marvel Comics role-playing game adventures Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1984