So I see this book in the local hobby store right next to an old Earthdawn 2e manual. The book says "Ironclaw" on the spine. Being an obsessive collector of RPG manuals, I decided to pull it out and take a look at what might become one of my newest acquisitions.
Then I saw the cover: two fox women who looked suspiciously like Maid Marian from Disney's Robin Hood, except wearing Gorean sleepwear that would have surely made any red-blooded Cimmerian scream, "Glory to Krom!", were posing in all of their panty-clad glory.
I stared, smile fading, greasy fingers becoming greasier with cold sweat. I was staring at a furry role playing game.
Now, let me clarify: my general philosophy is live and let live. I have nothing against people in mascot suits pretending they're animals and doing... that thing. Also, as someone with a few friends who draw animal people (and as a man who himself drew many fan pictures of Sonic the Hedgehog when the Genesis was all the rage, given I was about eight), I understand that drawing an animal person does not necessarily mean that one desires sexual contact with their creations. However, this seemed highly suspect as the shapes of said foxgirls were quite developed.
So I put the book back, rose from my crouched position, pushed up my birth control glasses, and headed on over to the store's owner where I asked him about the content included in said book. My primary concern was whether the game was some kind of toned-down-violence Disney feature for kids (doubtful, since I never saw a scene in The Rescuers where the girl mouse walked out in nothing but a towel to the docile tones of a saxophone score), whether it was a perfectly legitimate RPG, or whether it was something much darker, like a furry version of F.A.T.A.L with less rape and more "neko wa chou kawaii desu ne!"
The look he gave me was odd. It was the deeply shamed and crestfallen glance of a man who has just seen a naked picture of an eighty year old woman and thought to himself, "you know, that's just alright." And then he said, in all seriousness, "dude, that game is actually pretty good." I did a little research (mostly through Amazon.com reviews), and the general consensus is surprisingly positive.
So here's what I ask anyone with experience in the game: is Ironclaw a decent system? I'm sure that those who prefer human games could easily change the game into a human-dominated world (unless there's, like, complex rules for how many miles an anthropomorphic dog can walk before feeling an overcoming urge to piss on a tree), and maybe it would be worth the slightly-dirty feeling of seeing characters the likes of which I used to watch in cartoons in all of their developed glory. Just the cover, in fact, was what I would imagine it would be like to come home after five years to find your now-hot stepsister prancing around her house in skivvies.
Seriously, though - this isn't some hate-fueled "omg you draw animal people" thing. I seriously want to know whether or not people think this game has merit as a game, due to the positive responses I have seen. I have to be careful, however, to protect myself from fellow gamers: my role playing friends are all "goons" (members of the Something Awful forums for those who don't know), and therefore avid haters of any illustrated animal likeness. Seriously: I doodled a picture of Joe Camel smoking a cigarette through a tracheotomy hole and they called me a pervert.
Any info?
Then I saw the cover: two fox women who looked suspiciously like Maid Marian from Disney's Robin Hood, except wearing Gorean sleepwear that would have surely made any red-blooded Cimmerian scream, "Glory to Krom!", were posing in all of their panty-clad glory.
I stared, smile fading, greasy fingers becoming greasier with cold sweat. I was staring at a furry role playing game.
Now, let me clarify: my general philosophy is live and let live. I have nothing against people in mascot suits pretending they're animals and doing... that thing. Also, as someone with a few friends who draw animal people (and as a man who himself drew many fan pictures of Sonic the Hedgehog when the Genesis was all the rage, given I was about eight), I understand that drawing an animal person does not necessarily mean that one desires sexual contact with their creations. However, this seemed highly suspect as the shapes of said foxgirls were quite developed.
So I put the book back, rose from my crouched position, pushed up my birth control glasses, and headed on over to the store's owner where I asked him about the content included in said book. My primary concern was whether the game was some kind of toned-down-violence Disney feature for kids (doubtful, since I never saw a scene in The Rescuers where the girl mouse walked out in nothing but a towel to the docile tones of a saxophone score), whether it was a perfectly legitimate RPG, or whether it was something much darker, like a furry version of F.A.T.A.L with less rape and more "neko wa chou kawaii desu ne!"
The look he gave me was odd. It was the deeply shamed and crestfallen glance of a man who has just seen a naked picture of an eighty year old woman and thought to himself, "you know, that's just alright." And then he said, in all seriousness, "dude, that game is actually pretty good." I did a little research (mostly through Amazon.com reviews), and the general consensus is surprisingly positive.
So here's what I ask anyone with experience in the game: is Ironclaw a decent system? I'm sure that those who prefer human games could easily change the game into a human-dominated world (unless there's, like, complex rules for how many miles an anthropomorphic dog can walk before feeling an overcoming urge to piss on a tree), and maybe it would be worth the slightly-dirty feeling of seeing characters the likes of which I used to watch in cartoons in all of their developed glory. Just the cover, in fact, was what I would imagine it would be like to come home after five years to find your now-hot stepsister prancing around her house in skivvies.
Seriously, though - this isn't some hate-fueled "omg you draw animal people" thing. I seriously want to know whether or not people think this game has merit as a game, due to the positive responses I have seen. I have to be careful, however, to protect myself from fellow gamers: my role playing friends are all "goons" (members of the Something Awful forums for those who don't know), and therefore avid haters of any illustrated animal likeness. Seriously: I doodled a picture of Joe Camel smoking a cigarette through a tracheotomy hole and they called me a pervert.
Any info?
