'How did we get here' edition.Because I figured discussion wasn't quite done yet.Previous thread >>97373285
>>97444175My whole thing is the speculative biology that would result from the changing environment.Again, also, I know earth geography pretty well.>Ocean depth.I'd put it at ~200-400 meters elevation.A lot of places would be well drowned, sure. But There'd be enough settlements near enough in elevation to be habitable.There's also, iirc, a meteorite that is supposed to have delivered all the extra water. That, plus tectonic upheaval, is enough to bullshit away most major land masses, or explain why cities at our sea level are still accessible.Personally though, I see the setting as a bit smaller scale. I'd just pick out a section of the world and base the start at least, from there.
>>97445225It's certainly a way to add an overarching sense of peril to the game.Though does this mean kemonomimi in space?
>>97448327Though does this mean kemonomimi in space?I mean...obviously.>CATstronomy>Space, stars, catgirls (both male and female) and shines!>The Boundless Black is a cozy, post-apocalyptic expanse of infinite worlds and eternal horizons, full of animal people (our gene-spliced descendants) whose entire purpose in life -- in between lounging in space bases and partying around mess halls -- is to set out into the void and return with treasures from the long-extinct star empire known only as the Earless.
Something I disliked about the original iteration of this concept was it was a little too whimsical and light hearted, with no stakes whatsoever. I'm not saying that it's the catgirls who need to be more grimdark, no keep them as whimsical and light hearted as they were before, it's everything else that needs more threat, peril, and grimdarkness. There should be a large contrast between the happiness and safety of certain regions, and the post apocalyptic danger of others - even if they are inhabited by semi-neutral tribes of people. The worst it had, if I recall, were salamanders that stole from you. Not exactly something you can build up as a threat.You cannot have adventure without danger, can't have a story without conflict. Simple as. Catgirls should be like Hobbits, innocent and always overcoming evil, but they need a Mordor to do that.
>>97448410I mean, can't it just have krakens and dandâns and megalodons and perfectly ordinary sharks as threats?Rival hunters and divers, of course.Smokers! This is Waterworld with catgirls, there should absolutely be Smokers.
>>97448410There are a number of systems that let you play with slice-of-life tier stakes. CATastrophe was clearly envisioned as some level of slice-of-life game, if all the inspiration art wasn't any indication. Sure, you can have pirates or whatever, if you really want man vs. man conflict.
>>97448421>Smokers! This is Waterworld with catgirls, there should absolutely be Smokers.See that's exactly what I mean. You need a Dread Pirate Gillman with his crew of cutthroat mermaids. Terror of the seas. Lurk the deepest darkest ruins, where various chernobyls are still going off and who knows what are locked in cryostorage waiting to be unleashed.>>97448426I can understand the appeal for some for slice of life tier stakes, but having that and no room for anything above that left the setting feeling very lifeless. Like the above description. That can be either "a legend" or something you can run into. Either way, it adds to the setting. No dangers means nobody takes anything that feels like a legitimate risk. There should be safe low stakes areas, and very high stakes areas; and where you want to explore is up to you but they exist side by side.And there's also how you deal with danger too. A lot of legitimately threatening problems could be solved in wacky fun ways. I think the overall vibe should be more "saturday morning cartoon" rather than "fight for your life."
>>97448474>No dangers means nobody takes anything that feels like a legitimate risk.NTA, but I figure for SoL games, the trick is to make the risks the result of the Characters' actions.There isn't a great pressing mortal need to go out diving into the old megastructures of the Earless. But danger by way of hostile megafauna or flora does exist there, and the party has already decided "we're going to go out diving".I mean, if you want conflict though, there's a bunch of settlements, and species, that could engender conflicts between themselves.>Catgirl Bikini Pirates leading Nelsonian tier actions to steal your catnip.>Malfunctioning robots looking to conquer the world.>Secret underwater populations of mermaids.
>>97448895I like the robot conquer idea. Give them a tronbot aesthetic and its perfect.For salvaged I thought it would be best to give game masters the opportunity to have conflicts they can choose, so there is some variety of what you could be fighting against. But at the same time, those threats should be more localized and not so all-encompassing and existential as to not completely ruin the vibe. I think it's pretty obvious this setting is much about the whimsy and wonder and the slice of life aesthetics and less about fighting for bitter survival. Survival elements are important i think, but should be taken a little more lighthearted.So far i got the one piece thing going on with a government that tries to take over everything, and a faction of salvagers who is against that control. Pirates were a given, but pirates usually are just small splinter groups and small crews to fight. Something more overarching like a pirate armada that flies under the same flag would be kinda cool i think. I really like the >>97448474 dread pirate idea. Gives an overarching pirate faction to fight. Don't quite know about the mermaids tho. They weren't established at all, but I guess it could be a secondary group of people that are maybe mostly unknown to the kemo because they live below the waves. Going back to one piece, much like the fishmen. And it sort of makes sense. The earless adapted the kemo for survival in this new flooded world, doesn't mean they were the only project. Could very well be that another group tried to splice humans with fish and created mermaids that could live underwater. Fruit for thought.The rest of the danger really comes from the ruins and the mega fauna found there in and around. There should be enough to do even if the game master chooses to ignore all the factions i wanna include in the book. After all, the idea in my head is that those factions are there as an option, they are there if you want to get involved with them.
>>97448410Low stakes would be part of the appeal to me.But I guess I personally could think of a lot of low stakes dangers off the bat.
I'm glad people are talking about catgirls again. They're a dying breed in the public consciousness
>>97444577>Where did these feels go, bros?To me, a lot of it seems to come from the aesthetic used for a small span in times in video games, primarily late 90s and early 2000s. The reason for the short-lived prominence of this aesthetic - at least for video games - was that several Japanese video game companies decided to open offices in Hawaii around that time and became inspired by their surroundings. Sony, Squaresoft, SEGA, etc. There were also companies that also imitated the look, as usual.I actually have a whole folder for just this aesthetic from various media sources, if anyone wants me to dump it.
>>97449262This thread feels like old /tg/.Its great.
>>97449236You could have lots of everyday conflict and dangers too, like competing transport entrepreneurs or fishercats sabotaging each other or shooting each other with water cannon or some such
>>97448367Remember.Telescopes are complex and expensive devices, and NOT to be misused for personal gain by kemonomimi.They are NOT to be used as climbing objects for playtime.They are NOT to be used as giant fidget toys. They are NOT to be used to observe things from very far away.These devices have been CAREFULLY CALIBRATED to generate an extra sunny patch for napping in by research fellows and high performing technicians.Access to these devices is a PRIVILEDGE, and will be treated as such.
>>97448421>dandânsDandadans?
>>97448410Nah. The ideal rules would be rabbit-man Ryuutama. Travel a li'l bit, do a li'l cooking, do a li'l diving, dry out on a concrete rooftop, maybe fight a giant clam.
>>97449422>DandadansIt's a giant fish from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, basically. Most commonly known through it's magic card depiction, I think.
>>97449284That chilled-out Y2K aesthetic (before Frutiger Aero hit in the mid-2000s) is a fucking jam, dude.
>>97449147>PiratesI like the idea of them having a fair bit of variation in presentation.The world is almost all tropical-esque oceans and island chains with small societies on each, it makes sense that a lot of people take to the seas for adventure. Be that on motorboats, raydudes, or old fashioned sail ships.Also, it allows for a range of motivations, and subsequently, intensity in each faction.Though having some peril is good, the average kemonomimi is either chronically lazy, dumb, shy or laid back, and is probably not going to be super-lethal.You may get Waterworld tier Smokers, but you may also get a group of Nelsonian cosplayers broadsiding you with water cannons and raiding your booze supplies simply for the fun of the game.>Mermaids There was this other mecha mermaid rpg called "Mermaids of the Deep" in which you're an "aquatic-dwelling cyborg (mermaid) inan alternate-reality, post-apocalypticversion of Earth".I figured it could make an interesting crossover idea. Especially to advance a campaign, or to substitute the cyborg robots out for mecha mermaids.
>>97449521>PiratesYeah that's what I figured myself. Have different variety of pirates is gonna add to the setting.I like the idea of the pirates who steal your booze. I already added booze as an item, so this is perfect.>lazy and laid backAlso what i figured, it's kind of self-evident. In general i think the overarching factions that cause conflict are a little more ambitious, but the individual kemo is probably pretty lazy. The setting is a lot about slow life and taking it easy i feel.>Mermaids An interesting idea to be sure. Maybe they are just a little more advanced because the mermaids have more ready access to technology. They don't want to share though because they think they are superior to the surface dwellers, or something.So it could be android mermaids, but it could also be mermaid with cyberware or something.Maybe.
I don't care for catgirls and whatnot but the "flooded world with a handful of structures rising above an endless expanse of blue" aesthetic is so fucking good.
>>97449588>I like the idea of the pirates who steal your booze.Or even pirates who're just doing it for the fun of it.The kind to get on board and take the ship, before aimlessly nicking something unimportant 'for the principle of the thing'.>The setting is a lot about slow life and taking it easy i feel.Most people; live in stuff like picrel, wake up at ~12:30 or so, and spend all their time lounging, partying, or treasure hunting.Though, it does actually raise a question. A lot of the art for this has these open-sided concrete skeleton boxy structures, submerged partially in water, as major habitation structures.Is there lore for this? Is this a common building style (and if so, why and how?), or leftover from the Earless that's just been built onto?
>>97449853I suppose the easiest way to explain the building structure is that it is what they saw from the earless ruins. Of course there will be a lot of settlements that may not employ this sort of style, especially if they are more inland and/or low tech, but those structures could just be build by the kemo trying to imitate what they saw from the earless. They discovered concrete, they saw how the earless build concrete structures (even if it was just withered skeletons of skyscrapers and such) and build structures in a similar way.Makes sense to me.Especially when its self-healing concrete, its easy to build, low maintenance, very sturdy, and water resistant. Very practical for their purposes to create more surface where there is no land in sight.
>>97449853Can't speak to the lore but this looks to me like just a bus stop, with a burger stand on top to profit off people swimming or rowing there to take the waterbus. Granted that you see similar structures in the distance and not much in the way of other buildings or vessels, but I just take that as artistic license to convey a sense of space/scale. It seems more probable that most would inhabit larger structures as seen in >>97448276 for example. (The building style is the same, admittedly.) I think >>97449928 has a good point here too, open Roman-concrete frameworks could stay standing for literally millennia and would allow a lot of additive construction/rebuilding over time as needs change (the konbini in OP is a great example).You could strongly suspect that the concrete frames are all Earless remnants as well, built as part of an attempt to fight the rising waves, and that the kemono have no idea how to construct anything that industrial, or what the material even really is. Again looking at OP we can see that the concrete frame has been seamlessly integrated with some kind of low-tech ancient ruin, vaguely pre-Columbian in style, which seems like something they might not bother with but humans could.
>>97450324Couldbe either, honestly. Either the structures have been build by the earless for the kemo to inhabit (which would explain why they got kemonomimi written all over them in different ways/abbreviations), or they learned how to make this sort of structure by imitating earless structures. Could also be that the knowledge and/or technology that would help make those structures is very limited so its not a universal thing easily accessible to every community. Which is to say, it could be both that the earless made those structures for the kemo, and then when the kemo got the technology to make them, they kinda just made those pretty much like that.The ruins in the OP i would say point towards the earless making them while >>97449853 kind of look to me like the kemo made them. So both kind of would make sense. In the OP i would think the structire was there, kemo build from the concrete structure and expanded with what they knew how to make, and then changed the concrete structure to fit their pruposes later on.
I found more art by the same artist that made the OP, which is coincidentally the same artist who made the BoS Burger one.
>>97449147>>97449521>>97449588>>97449853Reminder that even IRL we had Stede Bonnet "the Gentleman Pirate", who was basically a rich guy LARPing away his mid-life crisis by playing pirate. He wouldn't kill people or take captives until later in life after getting double-crossed by more serious pirates and was considered a generally delightful fellow, even by his victims. There's no reason you can't translate that over to CATastrophe by having a pirate captain whose only frame of reference for piracy is romanticized kids shows or something. Or play it completely straight and grim and have a seedy underbelly/outcaste to kemonomimi society. The whole reason CATastrophe tried to keep things vague is so that GMs could decide on the ultimate tone of their specific game, much like how Ryuutama has the four different colors/seasons of dragon that determine the tone of your adventure.I've always had the sneaking suspicion that people who wanted various concepts or tones set in stone were more interested in filling out a wiki than actually making a game/setting document that's meant to be played.
>>97450977Forgot my pic of ol Stedey boy.
What does a society of cat girls look like? Is it more cat or more human?
>>97448367https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnDtvZXYHgE
>>97448474>MermaidsWhatever you do, it's ESSENTIAL you see the fins on their head.
>>97451101Aren't most cats in nature solitary creatures? I know lions (and maybe cougars) are pack animals. It might be fun to lean into that angle if you wanted to do a harem sort of thing. IIRC, the lionesses do most of the hunting, so there's inherent comedy in having a mostly female party all vying for the attention of (or griping about the laziness of) a male leader. That angle could work particular well if you wanted to run the game in Maid RPG, actually.If you wanted to restrict things to the house cat angle, I feel like it would already fit the setting like a glove to have most divers be very individualistic and aloof; only really seeking each other out for companionship or if they need something. If you wanted to go a bit darker, there could definitely be a sort of thieves' guild town, where everyone's a selfish prick.Despite the name, though, you should definitely have more than just catgirls. Throw in dogs, rabbits, horses if you want umas in swimsuits. I imagine most settlements are more diverse and "human-like" as a result. Either way, you get dangerously close to the furry line the more you entertain this question.
>>97451511Even stray housecats live in well-socialized colonies, dipshit.
>>97451511There literally are more than just cat girls. Most common are cats, dogs, rabbits, bear, foxes and mice. I know some people would kill to have horse girls in there tho
>>97450787Found an archive of this artist's work somewhere a few years ago. It was a lesser known booru. Might look for it later.Has a few more pieces on the ocean/catgirl theme, but also a lot of other really nice catgirl fantasy pieces.
>>97451511>the lionesses do most of the huntingNot quite. Male lions are actually fantastic hunters, they just mostly do hunting at night rather than during the day. Male lions have to be good hunters - not all of them get prides, they have to be able to hunt on their own (or more commonly with one other male lion, often their brother) or else they'd starve.
>>97451938That entire post is pop-sci bullshit from top to bottom.
>>97451511>Aren't most cats in nature solitary creatures?No. Cats are almost always actually incredibly social creatures. They are territorial, but it's better to say they've strong convictions about how it is right to treat others (IE, not grabbing at them) then eschewing or hating others.Exceptions exist. But those are typically rare.>>97451101Canonically they're the '10% furry' option.Animal ears, some cat/dog/fox/bear behavior, but well short of being furries.
>>97450479>Buildings partially Earless remnants.>Either skeletons of quick made prefabs or old complexes.>Or made in mimicry by Kemomimi.Also worth consideration is that concrete doesn't exactly dispose itself to being built in water.You've probably got only a handful of groups able to both; pour concrete into molds, and then float said concrete out into wherever it's meant to go. Leading to the technology being relatively limited, and probably more made in small scale than anything else.
>>97450787Nice one!>coincidentallyI'm not sure it's so coincidental, all the four "original" pieces of CATastrophe inspiration art have the same waterbus design and signage.
>>97453919They also made some from the inland. As CATastrophe is set in a flooded world, naturally there would be people living up on the mountain tops. Mount everest would still be cold as shit, even if the sea level rose by 400m. This fits in there really nice.
>>97453973>KEMOBLANClmao
>>97453973Even with the rise in sea level, there's plenty land mass left.Though I imagine, with time and exposure to air, most of it is going to be pretty barren of stuff anyway.Though the fortress-tunnels and alpine dungeons of the Wizz alps certainly are a thing.
>>97449147We need more artwork like that. Ruins exploring.
>>97448276Still on the look out for these old images, if anyone has them. Search your hard drives.
Is anyone searching the archives for CATastrophe?Might help the scope of any attempted reboot.And if not, it's just fun to read the ancient bickering.https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/21881791/#21883526These old posts and threads are relics of an era gone by, much like the flooded undersea world of CATastrophe.
This thread has a lot of old pictures still online with the watery ascetic.https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/57244598
A messy doodle.
>>97455836Holy moly, this has got to be the first new artwork/fanart for CATastrophe in ten plus years! Bless you drawfag. Are you open to any suggestions or just doodling for yourself?
>>97455989Uh, you can ask I guess but I'd temper any expectations.
>>97456176I'm happy you'd here me out. Since diving is a main theme, I'd like to ask for a catgirl doing just that. Something like this >>97449147. I don't know how keen you are drawing all the detailed gear required to breathe, so she could be freediving (holding her breath) wearing an eye mask and sizeable fins. Have her in a bikini, or maybe a swimsuit-style wetsuit (basically what you posted, a one piece but it would have full length sleeves. As for what's she's doing, I'd say just general exploration, finding things if interest to her that she might need/want.
>>97455061i didn't realize south africa was that elevated, i thought its dryness was just a consequence of wind patterns
>>97456278At the suggested 400m, there is even more land in africa.
>>97456236
>>97456756hey that's not half bad. Are you planing on doing proper lineart and coloring for this?
>>97456986Not really.
lmao I remember seeing posts about this like 15 years ago, it's still being worked on? What's the state of it?I remember it was inspired by the very vibey casual looking catgirl art, which you'd think would imply a rules-light, narrative focused game. But for some reason as soon as people started writing rules for it they wrote a lot of very crunchy combat rules. And also people kept adding new kinds of *animal*girl as if it needed rules for people who wanted to run fuckin beargirls instead of catgirls. I'm assuming all that shit got thrown out? Is there a physical book yet?
>>97457016unfortunate. I will see how I can somehow still include your art without it looking out of place in the book.>>97457043it's being resurrected, or salvaged (pun intended) right now.
>>97448276Reminder that Chrono Cross is peak inspiration Got Kemonos, the comfiest ocean in video games and three flavours of high tech ruins to explore
>>97457185>it's being resurrected, or salvaged (pun intended) right now.are the people currently working on it focusing on getting a basic structure that is intended to create game experiences that feel like the inspirational art, and then get that early version out into the world to get as much play test info as possible from the widest possible group so they can iterate on it and produce a marketable working game?Or is it just another wank fest like the first go?
>>97457043To add to this, just the lore that's been written is being used, not the old (and also incomplete) game rules that've been recovered.The new game runs on the Year Zero Engine because it's fairly rules light and narrative focused, and also already has light resource gathering/management and survival game elements in place since that's also part of the esthetic of the setting.
>>97457340Nice! NGL, I was a teen when the first go around on this happened and I was very excited for it, seeing it go down in flames like that sucked. I really hope you guys pull it off!But probably would be best if the project moved off 4chan. Not only because it would concentrate actually committed people in one place and limit trolls and drive bys, but also the internet has changed a lot and I think a lot of the people who would love this game would be very put off if it was a modern 4chan project
>>97448367>catgirls (both male and female)
>>97457324I intend to get this done and out for people to play test as complete a game as possible. Its... like 50% done? Mind you I'm doing this solo and picking up what suggestions come from the thread.One of the major criticisms the thread share is that there isn't really any established conflict in the setting or any kind of overarching threat. There were multiple suggestions, and i kind of wanna see what i can fit in the book. >>97457412You are not wrong. Gotta think about stuff.
>>97457723re: Conflict, if you're into nerd shit you probably know, but Halo had an interesting 3 or 4 way conflict. Depending on the book or game. Structurally, it's interesting>humanity under a unified governmentvs. >human rebel factions against the governementunited against>Hostile alien conglomerate made up of multiple alien speciesvs. >ancient robots, which turn out to be humanity's alliesAll factions united against>zombies governed by a hive mindTranslating this, you could have something like>catgirls under a unified govt. vs.>catgirl pirate factionsunited against>Hostile aliens that are trying to colonize the planet? Hostile "Earless" militant human survivor faction? Cannibalistic Catgirl savages? in Halo some members of this faction turn and ally with humans when the going gets tough against the zombies, so something like militant earless humans or intelligent alien colonists could be cool, if they can ally with the catgirls against a greater threat>Underwater automated protector robots and submersible drones that defend certain human ruin sites>Hostile Gargantia style genetically engineered squid people, that reproduce by cocooning humans and catgirlsJust spitballing, but godspeed on the project. I'm kinda excited.
