In RPGPundit Presents #47: Intelligent Animal Characters of the Last Sun (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/253259/RPGPundit-Presents-47-Intelligent-Animal-Characters-of-the-Last-Sun) I present you with one of the weird features of the gonzo Last Sun setting.
In the world of the Last Sun you may never quite know if any given animal is just an animal, or an animal with human-level intelligence. A dog might just be a dog, or it might be a messenger/scout for the Kingdom of Cooland. A gorilla could be a gorilla, but it might also be a scientist of the Gorilla Kingdoms. A sloth might just be a harmless jungle creature, or it might be an enforcer of the deadly drug-running Sloth Cartel.
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-efJggtL7Dzg/W6syqp0cjwI/AAAAAAAADIE/pLBZUFYgtyQJMwV3zPtpyrQ2pLTt8WSwQCLcBGAs/s320/baboon.png)
In Intelligent Animal Characters of the Last Sun you'll find a list of 29 different animals playable as PCs or NPCs, along with their special abilities, bonuses, penalties, special attacks and descriptions of their typical behaviors and activities in the world of the Last Sun. The rules for generating and playing animal PCs are usable in any OSR system. All this for just $2.99!
So be sure to check out RPGPundit Presents #47 on DTRPG (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/253259/RPGPundit-Presents-47-Intelligent-Animal-Characters-of-the-Last-Sun) or at the Precis Intermedia Webstore (http://www.pigames.net/store/product_info.php?products_id=966).
In one of our recent rifts campaigns a player chose to play a housecat sized housecat with divine aura and telepathic communication. He had a little old lady as his 'worshipper', following instructions that she heard in her head in a cute little cat voice, thinking those thoughts her own.
I was pretty fond of Blue Rose's Rhydan (https://greenronin.com/blog/2017/05/30/ronin-roundtable-rhydan-of-unusual-size/). It was one of the better done parts of that setting.
I've always been fond of games (and books, like The Silver Tide, Duncton Wood etc.) where the characters are animals - as my own Tales from the Wood and It's a Dog's Life show.
Quote from: Simon W;1058132I've always been fond of games (and books, like The Silver Tide, Duncton Wood etc.) where the characters are animals - as my own Tales from the Wood and It's a Dog's Life show.
That is different from what Pundit meant. Animal PCs in a mostly humanoid setting as opposed to Tales and Prairie, or B&B or a few other animal centric settings like my Lost Plateau one wayyy the hell back.
Probably the first to allow it is Metamorphosis Alpha and especially Gamma World. The last MA campaign I was in one of the PCs was a sentient wolf with tentacles on his back.
Palladium's After the Bomb setting also allows for it as did TMNT prior.
D&D had one or two modules where the PCs were polymorphed, and at least one novel was from the perspective of an adventuring groups pets and familliars trying to rescue said group. Pretty sure there was one Dungeon module where you played that too? And lets not forget ye-ol' reincarnations spell. See my oft retold tale of how my magic user ended up as an otter.
Nice addition. I like the "not knowing" part on first encounter. Reminds me of several awkward moments in the Chronicles of Narnia. And I agree that the Rhydan of BR are cool. Most fantasy games allow some sort of human hunter to have a pet wolf. In BR you could be an intelligent, telepathic wolf with a pet hunter. Humans are great pets because they can speak, have opposable thumbs, and use bows for a ranged attack.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was pretty cool. Only played it a few times though.
One of my goals in my system was to be able to create as many fantasy archetypes as possible. The intelligent talking animal found its way into my system as a type of Avatar; an embodied primal spirit exiled to the Mortal World whose form could be humanoid, giant, sprite or beast (chosen at creation; though an option exists to be a shapeshifter) tied to one of eight elemental aspects (air, earth, fire, water, frost, feral, plant or metal; with an option that allows you to conceal your elemental traits when they are not in use).
Wanna play as Aslan, a Unicorn, Phoenix, Dragon, Werewolf, or just a loyal talking dog or animal companion? Yup, you can do that. They work as a PC-species by being balanced against heroic members of the other PC species while generally being considered average members of their own species (i.e. one-in-a-thousand humans might be PC-level exceptional. Every avatar is PC-level, but there's probably only one avatar for every thousand humans in the world).
In the Last Sun campaign, talking animals are hilarious. Though in fact I think only one player actually played one. But they've been great NPCs.