Doing something different this week, building off several requests from followers and patrons (join out Patreon, and convince me to do more stuff like this!). I firmly buy into the idea that everything is an RPG sourcebook, so let’s see how that applies to some particularly odd objects I have lying around the house. I guess these mostly fall more into the category of “elaborate player handout/prop,” but I think most of them, if presented in the context of an RPG, would add a lot of depth to a game beyond just looking interesting. I don’t know – you tell me!

Let’s start with this creepy old thing. Is it from some fell feline beast that stalked a medieval village, preying on livestock and stray children until a mysterious holy man appeared to smite it, leaving nothing but the paw? Or is it a taxidermy gaff – a sort of sculpture composited from the materials of several animals into something that resembles no living creature, like the Fiji mermaid? Well, if you guessed the latter, you’re right. Alas, as far as I know, devil cats do not exist.

I bought this ages ago from a taxidermy weirdo, before taxidermy weirdos were more common, because come on, look at that thing. It remains one of the strangest things I own. I love when someone new sees it for the first time and you can watch as a series of increasingly alarming questions play across their face. This would be an amazing thing to plop on the table to set an adventure in motion and works rather well for both a real world game or a fantasy one. I’m all for theater of the mind, but something like this really sets the stage.