S&P&CATS

CATS: Concept, Aim, Tone, Subject Matter

Introduced to me by the 200 Word RPG Challenge c. 2016 but formally postulated as the CATS Method by P.R. O’Leary, here is my CATS for S&P.

Concept: In Shadowlight & Personae, you play curious people captivated and intrigued by mysterious phenomena and circumstances, seeking out to reveal truths hidden within them. Groups can follow game creation to devise settings of their own design or use one of several campaign frames, or Tricks of Shadowlight, to help jump-start play.

Aim: You’ll investigate mysteries, explore and unravel paradoxes, and delve into the hidden truths of the omniverse—both within your world and possibly worlds beyond as well.

Tone: Each of the campaign frames, or Tricks, may put forward a suggested tone based on the premise of the Trick, but this should be discussed and agreed upon by the group. This is a part of game creation, but if a Trick is introduced then everyone should agree as to whether the suggested tone makes sense and would be enjoyed by everyone at the table.

Subject Matter: The omniverse of Shadowlight & Personae is a meta-setting: a collection of settings where each is a monad—a discrete, unique universe; meta-cosmology: a set of common characteristics of how the omniverse is organized and a framework for how the supernatural works in the worlds of the omniverse; meta-cosmogony: an explanation for how the omniverse was created; “progenitors”, who may have had a hand in the omniverse’s creation and framing; and how their “grand experiment” resulted in the omniverse’s present-day framework, as well as the involvement of three species—the shiruul, shaleth, and beleshedaux—whose origins and motives and agendas are out there waiting to be discovered. metaphor: recurring themes of mystery, paradox, and revealing the unknown

Establishing ideas of what might be explored during gameplay should be discussed by the group. In game creation, ideas that make anyone uncomfortable should be brought up, as well as what boundaries need to be set, if any (e.g. lines and veils).