''Cat's Paw'' is a

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as 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 ...

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 battling the

Leader Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

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 (arts), 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 tha ...

s must stop an attempt to sabotage the hydroelectric

James Bay Project The James Bay Project () involves the construction of a series of hydroelectricity, hydroelectric power stations on the La Grande River in northwestern Quebec, Canada by government-owned corporation, state-owned public utility, utility Hydro-Qué ...

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

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, 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 ''

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'' #69, rating it 6/10 overall. He jokingly notes that any resemblance between the

Cthulhu Mythos The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of American Horror fiction, horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent and protégé of Lovecraft, t ...

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'' 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, often abbreviated as FF, is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in '' The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover-dated November 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism i ...

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