Furry Roleplaying in a World of Mayhem and Silliness!
“We don't know where they came from or why, but suddenly there they were among us -- the furries. Most of them were ordinary enough sorts of people, except for the fact that they might look like a cat and have a long tail ... and there were lots of different types. Dogs, cats, bats, mice, lions, tigers, bears ... you name it, they're out there somewhere.
“At first it was a big secret ... nobody mentioned that the Jones's daughter had a floofy red tail, or that in the right light (that is, any) your old buddy Bob looks suspiciously like a horse. But every day there are more and more, and we can't hide them any longer. There are furry communities, furry families ... even whole schools...”
So here's the setup: over the course of a decade or so, furries started popping up among the populace, the children of otherwise normal households. Over time, those furries began to find others of their kind and have their own children, until now, fifty years later, you've got as many furries as "norms," all trying to live together in some semblance of sanity.
However! Most furries have natural weaponry of some kind -- claws, teeth, horns, lawyers -- leaving the normal crush of humanity defenseless! So in order to keep people from feeling vulnerable, the school system has instituted martial arts training as part of the core curriculum, and brawling is considered a normal and healthy way to solve disputes.
Toss all this in a blender with weird science, high school antics, and the occasional bit of fantasy weirdness and you get Furry Battle Academy!
In Furry Battle Academy! you play a student at Walter Mondale High School, trying your best to figure out life, the universe, and everything (and possibly get a date in the process) while dealing with Teachers From Hell, Crazy Parents, the Popular Kids, and the Fall of Western Civilization.
Also, you're a furry. Or if you aren't, probably your best friend is. Which means you get to deal with furry haters, officers of the Furry Undersecretary for Zoning (or the F.U.Z.), and the occasional hairball.
Did we mention that everybody knows martial arts?
Resources
Right now, a draft ruleset is all there is. But more will come as I get the chance to work on it!
Known Issues With v. 1.2
I'm still not happy with the whole damage determination mechanic as it exists now. Having a set number for damage seems too cut-and-dried, for one thing; the damage-to-average-Guts ratio seems out of whack as well. The overall system is also somewhat arbitrary, with a lot of random "+3 here, +1 there, +2 on Tuesdays" things floating around that I'd like to find a way to get rid of. I want the rules to be robust enough to be worth the trouble of including, but not so complex that you can't have everything you need to know on a notecard and jump right in. Suggestions are welcome.
Wanna Be a Part of Furry Battle Academy!?
I am working towards getting Furry Battle Academy! into shape for print publication -- and to that end, I'd be happy to hear from anyone who'd like to contribute art or ideas. I'll warn you up front: payment is likely to be minimal-to-nonexistent (consisting mainly of a contributor's copy and bragging rights), unless the idea really takes off. We're going to be putting this thing together out-of-pocket and for the love of it. Unless specified otherwise, anything you submit will be considered given to Furry Battle Academy! "as a franchise" for use in perpetuity on a non-exclusive basis (i.e., we can use it forever, but only on things directly related to Furry Battle Academy!, and anything you submitted you can then turn around and use yourself in the future).
If you still want in on that basis, send me an e-mail at thegneech@gmail.com and let me know what you have in mind! I'd love to hear from you.
Furry Battle Academy! and all related graphics, artwork, and characters copyright ©2008 by John "The Gneech" Robey unless specified otherwise.
All rights reserved.