Table Cat Games is an independent tabletop studio run by designer Paul Vincent, dedicated to high-concept, genre-blending roleplaying games and retro-inspired aesthetics. Best known for the synthwave-soaked neon setting of Street Wolves, the freewheeling comedy-action of Monster Truckers, and the memory-hunting space game Shadow in the Stars, the imprint blends cinematic action with tactile player handouts and tailored rules systems.
Geek Native’s patrons voted Table Cat Games into this edition of the RPG Publisher Spotlight, continuing our monthly feature designed to give visibility to independent studios and creators. (If you want to help nominate and vote on future interviews, you can support the site via the Geek Native Patreon.) In this interview, Paul Vincent discusses how his early fandom shaped his path into game design, why Street Wolves is making the jump to the Year Zero Engine, and the practical challenges of cutting through the noise in modern tabletop publishing.
How did you get started in roleplaying games, and where did the name Table Cat Games originate?
Thank you for having me. I appreciate the opportunity.
I got started kind of late in the playing of roleplaying games. I always kind of wanted to play D&D, but the RPG that always eluded me was the Star Wars one. And we’re talking about in the ’90s here when there wasn’t a whole lot of Star Wars of anything around, which is hard to believe today.
West End Games was putting out some awesome Star Wars products that expanded on the universe in big ways and I was a huge fan of Star Wars. And as hard as I tried, I really couldn’t get a group together because I didn’t have a whole lot of friends (I was living in a really small town) and I didn’t know what I was doing.
It wasn’t until years later that I had the opportunity to play in a group for that very same game. This was around 2009. I was immediately bit by the roleplaying bug and as I played and ran games I found myself making more and more stuff that was custom for the games.
That led to me wanting to be able to release my own things. Unfortunately, most projects I started fell apart. I had a big problem with actually finishing things. Then the pandemic happened and I had extra time. The rest is history.
As for the name of Table Cat Games, sort of but not really. I’m kind of bad at thinking of names, so the concept of the cats jumping up on our gaming table when we played kind of stuck out to me as a name I could use.
What is the premise of Shadow in the Stars, and what inspired its storytelling structure?
The game is about a starfighter pilot with no memories charged with destroying the enemy’s homeworld. As they make their way through the mission, blowing up enemy installations and surviving cosmic hazards, they can regain some of their memories and come to various, often terrible, revelations. Shadow in the Stars leans heavily into an aspect where you don’t know what is real and what isn’t. It’s up to the player to decide as they tell their own story.
I was heavily inspired by Atari games that I would play as a kid. They would have these fabulous covers, but I never had any instructions to tell me what was actually happening in the game. The gap between game and story and what it means to make up a story in your head as you’re playing a game.
You are currently developing Street Wolves: Zero Hour, bringing the neon shadows of 1987 to the Year Zero Engine. What made this engine the right fit for the new edition?
I think the main factors behind picking the Year Zero Engine is that it’s lightweight (but not too lightweight) and it can handle tension well.
I wanted something that wasn’t super crunchy and I also wanted to create a tense and more gritty experience than found in the original Savage Worlds version of the setting. Year Zero lends itself to the type of experiences I’m looking to have at the table with this version.
And from a marketing perspective, it also has a bit of juice behind it, so when you tell someone that it uses similar rules to those found in the Alien RPG they perk up a little bit.
How are you adapting mechanics like faction favour and personal wealth for this new edition of Street Wolves?
In this version of Street Wolves, the default setting for the game isn’t that they’re agents for an organization called Wolfpack like it is in the Savage Worlds version. In this version, they’re more on their own and they can work with other factions. So in developing favor I had to tweak it so you can earn favor from multiple factions, and you should also be able to lose favor if you’re going against the interests of one of the factions you’re allied with. I really like this because there can be a push and pull between what missions or jobs you accept. I mean let’s say you’re working for Wolfpack which is ultimately the good guys, but also on the side you work for the Mafia. You really should have some conflicting interests and decision making when having to choose your jobs.
The wealth thing is just something I’m experimenting with right now. I really don’t like having to deal with having to keep like an actual dollars and cents accounting. And while I was in there I started messing around with different aspects of “wealth” where it’s much easier for rich people to spend money than poor people and how it is a lot more stressful to spend money when you don’t have much.
I haven’t had the opportunity to test it yet and I don’t really want to get too much into it in case it doesn’t survive contact with the table, but I think I’ve worked out something interesting.
I’m sure that nothing I’m doing is groundbreaking here, I just want to make the right mechanical tweaks to tell a certain kind of story.
What can you tell us about Monster Truckers, and what is the status of the solo rules?
Monster Truckers is a freewheeling, over the top adventure game featuring truck driving monsters. It’s a combination of sci fi, post apocalyptic fiction, classic movie monsters, humor, truck driving, and a dash of class struggles.
There are people who love Monster Truckers, but it’s really hard to get noticed when there are so many other cool games out there and more being released every day.
The solo rules are awesome and pretty much fully written. They are an adaptation of the ones that exist made by Zadmar Games for Tricube Tales, with all the things you need to make them work with Monster Truckers. The only thing holding me back from releasing the solo rules right now is time. I have to do the layout and all that other back end business.
Table Cat Games releases often include physical artefacts, such as cassettes and audio clips. Why are tangible props so central to your releases?
I’m always trying to think of ways to create a more unique experience or one that isn’t just having to read stuff out of a book. I mean aside from the physical cassettes, I hired actor Meghan Caves to act and produce the audio clips that the players find as they investigate that are available as digital files.
I’m a more visual/tactile person, so I really appreciate when a game has cool handouts, audio, and that sort of thing. Instead of having to try to imagine what this cassette and Polaroid looks like, I can just hold it in my hands and see it.
I think a lot of people overestimate how important immersion is in an RPG, but handouts in that sort of thing do create a little bit of extra immersion.
And from a crass marketing perspective it also helps when you’re vending at a convention and you can show some neat stuff that isn’t just a book. It gives you something more to talk about or get you noticed.
It is clear that you watch a lot of comic book films and shows. Does this cinematic media influence how you design the rules and pace the action in your own games?
I hate to say this, but almost all of my game experiences are directly related to some sort of media that’s put in a blender in my brain and it comes out as a game or as an adventure.
I strive to replicate the feelings and emotions I experience while I’m watching movies and shows and what not. It really stems from a desire to escape from this world and live a more adventurous or dangerous life in some other realm. So yeah, it does influence me. I want mechanics and themes to match the cinematic experiences that play out in my head.
You often champion other indie developers and recently spoke out against the dismissive attitude some have towards independent creators. What do you think is the biggest hurdle for indie TTRPG publishers today?
I haven’t been doing this that long and I guess it probably has always been a problem but it’s super hard to get eyes on your projects. The bar for entry on making tabletop games is very low, so that means there are a lot of people making things. And I can see people becoming jaded when there’s 10 bazillion projects at one time with all the creators crying like hungry baby birds, but if we don’t try to plug our stuff, nobody is going to notice it.
There seems to be this magical thinking where if something is good, someone (other than the creator) will recommend it. Yeah, that is true for bigger projects or people with a larger following, but what are the chances my awesome but relatively small audience is going to reach even a single percent of the greater RPG audience? The creator has to be one talking about their stuff until they hopefully grow their audience or burn out and quit.
And the thing is, 99.9% of indie creators, at least the ones I know, DON’T like plugging. We don’t want to bother anyone! We just want to make games, but we’re forced to shout out into the world, otherwise our creations aren’t ever going to be seen. So, I guess to answer your question, finding an audience is the biggest hurdle that I’ve found.
You have a busy schedule ahead with the Zero Hour quickstart and Monster Truckers solo rules. Looking past those, what else is on the horizon for Table Cat Games that readers should watch out for?
Besides Shadow in the Stars print coming out and available post Kickstarter, I can’t think much further beyond those two other projects. I have lots of things that I’d like to do, but I really only schedule out about a year’s worth of work at a time. Anything more than that I’ll be overwhelmed.
The really big thing I’m aiming for next year is the Street Wolves: Zero Hour crowdfunder for full game. And I’ll probably be doing some smaller adventures and what not here and there to support Street Wolves & Monster Truckers.
Thanks, Paul!
Keep track of upcoming releases, including Street Wolves: Zero Hour and the solo rules expansion for Monster Truckers, via the official Table Cat Games website, on DriveThruRPG, or by following the studio on Bluesky and Facebook.
