This is the second in a series of posts about using characters from Roger Zelazny's other works of fiction in an Amber Diceless campaign. I suggest starting with my earlier post for details about how and why I pulled this off in one of my games.Eye of Cat was a 1982 Zelazny science fiction novel which pitted William Blackhorse Singer, a famous Navajo hunter and tracker who specialized in the live capture of alien animals, against Cat, a shape-shifting carnivore who blamed Singer for the destruction of its race. It was nominated for the 1983 Locus award, and Zelazny cited the novel as one of his personal favorites among his own works.
As described in my previous post, I assigned a character or group of characters from Zelazny's other works of fiction to each player character as 'shadow allies' in one of my Amber Diceless campaigns. William Blackhorse Singer was one of the characters used, and once his assigned player character had initiated contact with Singer over the course of the game, I then began to use Cat as a mysterious unseen opponent working to thwart and hinder that player's goals from a distance.
This write-up departs from the events of the novel and it includes spoilers.
William Blackhorse Singer, Navajo Tracker and Medicine Man [83 Points]
PSYCHE [Chaos Rank]
STRENGTH [Chaos Rank]
ENDURANCE [Chaos Rank]
WARFARE [Chaos Rank]
Underworld Shamanic Limited Shadow Wandering [10 Points]
Power Words (Navajo Songs of Power) [10 Points]
Psychic Defense, Neural Disrupt, Lifeforce, Defensive Luck, Burst of Psyche
Paranormal Allies Construct [100 Points]
* Astral Plane Shadow [27 Points]
- Personal Shadows [1 point]
- Only Accessible via Astral Projection [8 Points]
- Countless Quantity [*3 Points]
* Psychic Contact Manifestation [73 Points]
- Exalted Psychic Dominance [16 Points]
- Psychic Barrier [4 Points]
- Named & Numbered Psychic Identities [2 Points]
- Containa Named & Numbered Power Words [2 Points]
~ Elizabeth Banks - artist with psychic gift of ESP
- "Resume True Form" power word
~ Charles Dickens Fisher - government contractor with psychic attack ability
- "Pain Attack" power word
~ Alex Manson - telepathic stockbroker
- "Burst of Psyche" power word
- "Psychic Disrupt" power word
~ Mercy Spender - alcoholic spiritualist and healer
- "Lifeforce" power word
~ Walter Sands - ghost with ability to manipulate probability and inflict blindness
- "Defensive Luck" power word
- "Light Strobe" power word
~ James MacKenzie Ironbear - Sioux satellite engineer and 'witch doctor'
- "Burst of Magic" power word
- Flux-Pin Connextion [*3 Points]
- Psychic Sensitive [1 Point]
Supercharged Taser Pistol [1 Point]
* Extra Hard [1 Point]
.30-06 Hunting Rifle and Scope [2 Points]
* Double Damage marksmanship [2 Points]
Billy Singer is an interstellar tracker and hunter specializing in the live capture of alien animals for zoos, biological researchers, and private menagerie owners. At the novel's start he has become disconnected from his Navajo traditions and identity and is no longer satisfied with his success as an interstellar explorer and hunter-- he has given up on life and become passively suicidal. At first Billy welcomes Cat's offer to save humanity from hostile aliens in exchange for allowing Cat to hunt him, but he is taken aback when Cat insists that Billy make the hunt a real challenge as part of its offer of assistance, pointing out that it can read Billy's mind and will know if he doesn't do his best to survive. Billy is surprised to find that living under the threat posed by Cat reinvigorates him, bringing him back into touch with the roots of his childhood cultural identity. When Cat reveals that it can read Billy's mind at even greater distances than Billy had at first supposed, and that it can therefore anticipate Billy's attempts to evade it, Billy returns to the Navajo reservation and embarks on a shamanistic spirit quest, leading him into a parallel spirit world where Cat can not follow and which concealing Billy's surface thoughts from his mind-reading pursuer. This gives Billy a little time to plan for their final showdown without giving anything away through Cat's telepathic abilities.
Billy's "Paranormal Allies Construct" is a group of earth's most powerful psychics, initially assembled by the government to help him thwart an alien attack, and later instrumental in helping him defeat Cat. This group of psychics meets mentally, on the astral plane, projecting its group consciousness into Billy's psyche, aiding and advising him from afar. One of the individual members of this collective consciousness was physically killed while helping Billy, yet that member's ghost remained a part of the group's collective consciousness on the astral plane and it continued to contribute to their shared mission.
Cat, Torgalind Metamorph [250 Points]
PSYCHE [50 Points]
STRENGTH [85 Points]
ENDURANCE [55 Points]
WARFARE [Amber Rank]
Mind-reading, Telepathic Communication, and Empathic Projection [20 Points]
Psychic Shadow Trail [20 Points]
Shape Shift Animal Forms or Camouflage [20 Points]
Cat is a cunning telepathic shape-shifting predator who enjoys sporting with its prey, only closing in for the kill after the hunt becomes tiresome. Although Cat was killed at the end of Zelazny's novel, this write-up presumes that it is still lurking in shadow, watching Billy from a distance, seeking to harm those who help its prey-- but also preventing anyone else from harming its quarry or denying Cat the pleasure of the kill. Cat will probably appreciate the efforts of anyone who makes its pursuit of Billy more challenging, intentionally or unintentionally, and might even quietly assist that individual from a distance if doing so prolongs the game.
"Cat" isn't actually the alien's name-- it lifted this word from Billy Singer's thoughts when Billy first saw it in its native form (a huge pantherish body with a single large eyestalk), making a mental note of its feline appearance.
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