Hillary is my one and only pet, and is the cat here at “Drat & Cat Suggest”. Hillary is VERY opinionated and loves to let me know it in a variety of ways. She also loves to receive fan mail including pictures of followers, their cats and their stories. MEOW!

*(9-11-24): Just a quick update, Peeps on the financial situation of myself and “Drat & Cat Suggest”. Right now I know times are hard for a lot of folks, but “Drat & Cat Suggest” is basically solely funded by myself, Talia Heart (under the benevolent supervision of Hillary The Cat, of course!). I’m a physically & mentally disabled trans woman whose only income is a $1,0004.00 monthly Social Security Disability check. I’ve got no family helping me, no partner to split costs with, no Patreon supporters, no crowdfunding, and I think I’ve gotten a Ko-Fi donation maybe four times since I started “Drat & Cat Suggest” (going into significant debt to do so). I have no income from affiliations or partnerships, nor do I have any physical products or “merch” to raise funds. Basically, I’m worse than broke.

In addition to the financial difficulties I have just keeping things going here, Hillary is 19 years old, suffering from health problems & progressive dementia and caring for her needs requires a lot of time, money & strength. Further, I’m now housing insecure as my apartment complex has decided to no longer accept government rent assistance and with my lease up at the end of the month, I’m faced with the very difficult task of finding a new place to live that takes my rental assistance, allows pets, and is near enough to my healthcare providers to be practical given my inability to drive considering the many strong medications I must take for my conditions, and all this in the midst of a housing shortage crisis. Meanwhile my own health, mental & physical, is deteriorating as well & it’s not easy to fix myself with everything that’s going on.

All this is why updates here have been few & far between. I write all of this here because I try & always be honest and as much of an “open book” as I can. Hopefully at least some few of you reading this care, and perhaps some of you can learn from my mistakes. It is, however, my intention to continue reviews, news/blurbs, and to aid in advice & promotion of both mass market & especially indie TTRPGs, Board Games, Video Games, Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novels, Comics, and Dice & Accessories when my help is directly requested; this is not something I charge a fee for but rather my attempt to give some small help back to the communities that are important to me, especially on social media & for indie, LGBTQIA+, those who struggle with mental health issues of their own & anyone disadvantaged who needs a hand up if I can give it & they want it. Any person, group, or company that would like my help or who can help me help others is always welcome to write to my professional email, talia_heart@dratandcatsuggest.com & I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

So, to be clear and open with you, Peeps, as I’ve always tried to be, moving forward at least through the end of this calendar year I’ll only be able to review TTRPG’s and products here that the publisher/creator provides in exchange for a free & fair review or that you, my friends & Hillary’s, all of you, can crowdfund or donate the funds necessary for the purchase thereof via my Paypal or Ko-Fi unless I get a windfall or amazing coupon code or such for. The one publisher that will still send me review copies of their TTRPGs are the wonderful folks at Free League Publishing who gave me my start to begin with. They are wonderful people who make the BEST, most amazing products that, were I not provided a review copy of I would still buy, at full price if I had to, because their stuff is just that good. Anything by anyone else I’d need funding for. Lastly we have no affiliation with nor can we review any product from or connected to Die Hard Dice (by their request), I’m sorry.

CLICK HERE to donate to our Ko-Fi to keep “Drat & Cat Suggest” funded! Even $1.00 shows us you care & gives us the strength to carry on. Anything helps. Thank you!

https://ko-fi.com/dratheart1

THIS JUST IN…

FREE LEAGUE WINS FOURTH CONSECUTIVE “PUBLISHER OF THE YEAR” ENNIE AWARD!!!

UPDATES & MOVING FORWARD

(UPDATE 4-15-24): Just a quick note, Peeps. We’re in the final steps of the last inventory and packing up of much of our excess dice to ship to their buyer. Further we have more wonderful bureaucratic paperwork to fill out still and some medical appointments. Hopefully we’ll be back to review work, giveaways, charitable activities, and creator support in earnest starting next month (fingers crossed). Wish us luck & we hope to be more active soon! -Talia Heart, “Drat & Cat Suggest”.

*(UPDATE 4-1-24) Peeps., due to lack of interest in any of the levels of donation or the prize packs themselves, we’ve discontinued the project & are selling them to one extremely kind & generous dice goblin who has said they will pay a very fair price for the majority of our dice collection (just the sets we’d built up to use in BIG giveaways that aren’t going to happen now I should say, as we’ll be retaining a much reduced stock of dice for very occasional giveaways & gifts, as befits our reduced circumstances).

My influence in the #TTRPG community seems all but gone recently given we didn’t have a single inquiry about my dice stock, my inability to successfully raise any money for #TTRPGFamily members & friends or even for charity; and even with small, indie #TTRPG creators no longer want to work with me or have works reviewed me. But my own mistakes & crazy head have brought me here; why with my mental issues & memory I’ve probably wronged folks I don’t even know I have or even remember & now must reap what I sowed.

Given all this, I’ve decided to get back to the basics with “Drat And Cat Suggest”. We’ll be focusing again on reviews (mostly Free League Publishing titles, of course!), stabilizing & increasing our group of Peeps (followers) on Twitter/X (while increasing our participation on alternate platforms), and thinking out our longer-range plans while we keep recruiting more Senior Peeps to serve as “Hillary’s Helpers” in our private but hopefully expanding Discord. If anyone of our Peeps needs help or wishes to talk or get advice or whatnot, they may PM us on Twitter, Discord, email or by using the “Contact Us” feature of this website.

As always & I’ll do what I can (but please understand I no longer have the resources & friends to do much, as much as that hurts me). Perhaps it’s just as well, for it seems to me I’ve hurt as many people as I’ve helped. I know I have boundary & disclosure issues & I’ll be continuing to work on those & any other issues folks bring to my attention. To those I’ve hurt over these last few years, I’m sorry (as little as those words seem to mean these days, especially from me); to those I can’t help in the future because of my past failures, I apologize to you as well. But the future lies ahead & lonely though my road is I’ve decided to keep walking it, rather than give up. To those willing to walk it with me, thank you, thank you with all my heart, and check back here often for updates, news blurbs, and reviews, with all credit going to Hillary (meow!), of course!  -Talia Heart, “Drat And Cat Suggest”.

*UPDATE (2-24-24): Peeps I’ve started a new section on my website called “Drat’s Diaries”. This (long-awaited I’m sure, LOL!) new section will be dedicated more towards my personal life with less of that here on the front page. This new section may well end up being the darkest, for I have physical & mental disabilities, am a trans woman, disabled & low-income with a lot of past trauma that folks have told me I “overshare” (thus the new section on here on the site) so consider all of it to have a CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNING on just about everything, okay? If you can’t handle it or don’t want to read it, you don’t have to, it’s completely optional. You can still be a great Peep that I cherish & a good person. To any of you I may have accidentally traumatized or made uncomfortable for not thinking of this making my life a separate section earlier, I apologize and indeed do beg your pardon. There will be more changes here to come on this site, but this is one of the first. You can reach the “Drat’s Diaries” section by clicking the link at the top of the page to the right of the banner, or by going directly to it with this link: https:/www.dratandcatsuggest.com/ . Thank you all for bearing with me & thank you to those who helped me see the need for this separation, be they friend or foe!

*UPDATE (2-21-24):  This entry has been moved to “Drat’s Diaries” HERE.

Credits- “VtM: CS” Cover: David Mack / “Vampire Hillary” Art: @GwenArts1 (X)

*Peeps, I’ve restored the review page for Francois Baranger illustrated version of HP Lovecraft’s “The Dunwich Horror” and it’s “Thumb’s Up” review by us, a review you can read HERE: https://www.dratandcatsuggest.com/the-dunwich-horror. If you want to learn more about the story and are interested in purchasing it, you can do so at the Free League Web Store HERE.

*Given all the talk of the amazing art in FLP’s version of “The Dunwich Horror” I feel obliged to plug my own artist, @GwenArts1, who we use exclusively at “Drat & Cat Sugest”; everything you see on this that isn’t a photo or a rare stock image (and noted as such) is her work. With AI art encroaching further & further into visual media, it’s all the more important to support your independent human artists. The phrase “starving artist” is too often very, very true. Pay for your art (if you can’t do it yourself), credit their works, and thank them. I’d be nowhere without the help of @GwenArts1 & she’s accepting commissions to my knowledge right now if you have something). And be nice, they put a piece of themselves into every illustration, sketch, graphic, photo - anything they create. Remember that.

BIG NEWS, PEEPS!

“Drat & Cat Suggest” has joined forces with “The Baron of Dice”! Known well for his awesome war-gaming dice & accessories online, they also offer an increasing line of polyhedral dice as well. The Baron hand-crafts products himself and runs his small business here in America. He does not use AI “Art” & in our talks Hillary has judged him a stand-up guy (possibly because he made her a Countess, teehee!). As a small business that we want to help we’ve accepted his standard 5% discount for you, our Peeps. We’ve elected to bank the standard commission on sales referred by us (by the products you buy!) to create a fund from which we can run future giveaways! These will help further introduce you all to The Baron’s brand & their products! Hillary & I admit our strengths & our weaknesses & war-gaming, we fully admit, has been a blind-spot for us; we’re already at work bringing ourselves up to speed on the needs of war-gamers, the various games involved, and how The Baron’s product line can help those of you in our community & the broader #TTRPGFamily as a whole. You all know that both before & since the shakeup at Twitter/X, Hillary & I feel strongly that the #TTRPGFamily will continue to thrive by valuing and partnering with adjacent communities as we already have with indie TTRPG system creators, indie comics (& some more mainstream), dice goblins, artists, sci-fi/fantasy fans (including authors), etc. We believe affiliating with The Baron of Dice and increasing our awareness of & welcoming war-gamers into the fold is a logical move & will be to the benefit of all parties. But more than anything it will help not just us, the wonderful American small business of The Baron of Dice, but you, our Peeps via this new discount & with future giveaways. We encourage you to at least browse through The Baron’s website where the same famous name, “Hillary” will get you 5% off at Baron of Dice & build funding for future giveaways! You can also use our click-through link to get to the site & then need do nothing else for the discount, and that link is:

UPDATE 12-26-23: I wanted to give everyone an update on the “Hillary’s Holidays of Hope 2023” that we’d aimed to be our biggest giveaway ever, and looking at it in the traditional sense (prize bags with Die Hard Dice & stuff), it totally fizzled. But a lot of people worked to boost our message and some even donated to help me with the shipping costs of the prize boxes ($9-11/ea. based on last year’s data, with up to 14 prize boxes going out). I wish the giveaway could have worked as originally intended but it turns out (and maybe I’m the ONLY idiot who didn’t realize this) a lot of people don’t exactly telegraph that they need help and those who I couldn’t find weren’t very interested in dice. I learned this was a VERY hard year for a lot of people. We also had recently left DHD’s affiliate program & most of the prize bags were at least half or more DHD stuff so it would have really been a hard giveaway to keep promoting, at least for me. Don’t get me wrong I spent hours a day for a couple weeks to make the prize bags up, but other than the awkwardness, I found the needs the people I was looking to help had wouldn’t be helped much at all, if any, by the dice bags. So I made the executive decision to give out small awards using some of my money & by re-purposing the shipping & handling fund raised on Ko-Fi to reimburse me shipping the dice bags. I helped people I personally knew or knew of who found themselves in various bad situations that were willing to accept help. Because the money raised was just sitting there losing value everyday (thanks inflation!) & not meant for me; I meant it for others.

I’m going to ask y’all to trust me given these were already people who’d been burned before many times in life & because Twitter/X has become such a hate-fest unless you pay the ransom (check mark) & even even then it’s not great that I offered them all anonymity. But we had $120 and made it go as far as we could. We helped (6) folks total I believe. Folks had a lot of real-world issues that for most of them were interfering with their lives & emotional states, but those for whom those problems for barring them from gaming or just draining the fun out of it - and that’s awful. These were all TTRPGFamily folks. Folks had issues getting medication, food insecurity, tech issues, and such (problems we shouldn’t have in the “the richest/most powerful country in the world” IMHO). We helped some folks for whom pizza night was a rare treat, not an every week thing. Think about that if you will. Folks that in a whole month may not have $20-$25 to splurge and have fun with. Not once. And I got these situations because I’d been in all of them before (Food insecure, homeless, working poor, etc.). I’m very lucky to have SSDI & the Medicare that comes with it, affordable housing & free internet. This experience really refreshed my own gratitude and to all the wonderful people who gave to the shipping fund that I re-purposed to help those in our TTRPGFamily who let me help just a few folks with some basic help, thank you so much. It was a healing experience for me to do, and trust your donation helped someone who needed it.

UPDATE 12-7-23: Peeps, my apologies for delays here on the site but a lot has been going on behind the scenes. Hillary’s health grows worse (age-related dementia specifically) & with times being hard, I’m trying to find additional affiliate opportunities. That process has proven (So far at least) harder than I anticipated but I’ll keep trying because the only alternative would to be quit and I doubt Hillary or any of you wonderful Peeps would like that option. It’s just been really hard, and every day it gets harder & I have very little help IRL. But on we go - for Hillary!

Above: Vampire Hillary ready to give you the details on all the great deals she’s found for Halloween in one place for everyone’s convenience!

Drat & Cat Suggest loves our partners and we’ve worked with all these companies (Free League Publishing, DrawDistance Development & Vault Comics) before & so we bring you their deals & specials at these times of the year to reward us all!

Our friends at DrawDistance Development who created both “VtM: Coteries of New York” & “VtM: Shadow’s of New York” (both reviewed here on this site) have their creations up on Steam at 90% & 80% OFF respectively (or $1.99 USD/$2.59 USD) through 11-2-23 which you can find HERE: https://store.steampowered.com/franchise/DRAWDISTANCE .

“Vampire The Masquerade: The Complete Series” is now in full release, Peeps, and it’s a wonderful 448-page (softbound, yes, but good and sturdy!). The colors and transfer are brilliant and, though I’m not a comic/graphic novel expert, it looks to me like no expense was spared, nor rushed, in order to make this the best release it could possibly be. It does include all the bonus TTRPG material from the previous releases plus a foreword by Jason Carl, WoD Brand Marketing Manager. The retail price is $29.99 (USD) & It’s worth every penny so get it HERE: https://vaultcomics.com/products/vampire_the_masquerade-cs#variant=Paperback%20+%20eBook

Above: Two of Free League Publishing’s 2023 ENNIE-Winning Titles!

Peeps, please congratulate our friends at Free League Publishing for all their 2023 ENNIE WINS!

Best Adventure: Vaesen RPG - Seasons of Mistery

Best Art, Interior: Vaesen RPG - Mythic Britain & Ireland

Best Cartography: Blade Runner RPG Starter Set

Best Layout and Design: Blade Runner RPG Core Rulebook

Best Monster/Adversary: Ruins of Symbaroum - Bestiary

Best Setting: Vaesen RPG - Mythic Britain & Ireland

Product of the Year: Vaesen RPG - Mythic Britain & Ireland

Fans Choice for Best Publisher: Free League Publishing

You can get the above titles & more, including a free PDF of your physical copy purchases at https://freeleaguepublishing.com/en/store/ !

But Where Can We Find You?

Peeps, our final #PrideMonth2023 #fundraiser kitty (teehee!) totalled $186, $14 short of our $200 goal. However, Hillary reached in mommy's purse for the $14 needed for the goal, so both The Trevor Project & Asexual Outreach will each receive a $100 donation. Thanks everyone! (proofs below).

Some Blurbs!

LGBTQIA+ PRIDE MONTH 2023 - DACS Giveaways

“Drat And Cat Suggest” is running TWO giveaways NOW! AND we’re giving to TWO great LGBTQIA+ charities, “The Trevor Project” & “Asexual Outreach”. For full details and links to the giveaway Entry Tweets & our Die Hard Dice link, click the flag below!

*(1-25-23) Peeps I had the opportunity to be on board with & help playtest some great work on the “Vault RPG” which looks to be, as it was when I first saw it, a really good & solid role-playing game by good people (I didn’t end up able to make time to help with it at all, but I’m pleased they didn’t give up & I’m happy to help promote Vault RPG now!). They are asking for help in the form of a Kick-Starter going live on Tuesday, February 7th, 2023! Vault’s been created by a group of 5 friends who make up “Team Rex Games”, and I’d love it if y’all can show some support to these folks; hopefully I’ll remember to remind y’all! You can find out more about the project at any of these links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/VaultRpg

Their Website: https://www.teamrexgames.com/tws

And The Kick-Starter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/vaultrpg/vault-0

*We’re thrilled to announce that the artist Hillary & I trust, @GwenArts1 (on Twitter!) has created new Twitter/DACS Website art yet again, this time some new looks for Hillary for Valentine’s Day & Easter! While we’re keeping Easter Hillary a secret until after Valentine’s Day, take a look at Cupid Hillary just below!

*(1-25-23) Friend of DACS Author KD Edwards currently has a new book out! It’s titled “The Eidolon” & is in the Top 20 of LGBTQ+ Sci-Fi/Fantasy & you can pre-order it on Kindle (for delivery on 2-28-23) for less than $5.00 HERE: https://www.amazon.com/Eidolon-Magnus-Academy-Book-ebook/dp/B0BRNGFFYY/ref=sr_1_1?crid=W3X0EN3L0RFI&keywords=the+eidolon+kd+edwards&qid=1674663105&sprefix=the+eido%2Caps%2C183&sr=8-1

“The Eidolon” will be available in more formats as well. Stayed tuned here for more information on that!

*Our good friend @Braytherpg now has his 5E setting “Braythe The RPG” up & available on Roll20! So do yourself a favor & check out his amazingly creative world for 5E HERE:

https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/bundle/20822/braythe-shattered-realities

*1-25-23: Our good friend Adam Schiller is busy fulfilling orders for the hit indie comic “Magic Powder”, physical copies of which (for all issues, 1, 2, & 3) are still available (at the time of writing) for delivery in the US at a fair price and digital copies are available for delivery to people anywhere with internet, so get yours today HERE: https://getmagicpowder.com/

Hillary’s Heard…

PSSST!

*Our good friend Heiner, creator & author of the “Braythe 5E Campaign Setting”, has been busy and written a new adventure, “Library of Sorrows”, available for purchase now at https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/415993/Library-of-Sorrows--Complete-Adventure-Pack?src=hottest_filtered for just $15.00! Heiner is extremely talented and we’ll hopefully be doing at least a rapid review for his latest title here, so keep checking back! To keep up with him, follow/subscribe or bookmark all the following places you can find him!

*Twitter: https://twitter.com/BraytheRPG

*YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1vBSCHHpdYKHkTRGedn9hA

*DriveThruRPG: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/21272/Braythe-Shattered-Realities?term=braythe

*His Website: http://web.braythe-rpg.com/

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:

*Hillary and I love to support indie/small studio games and we recently learned of a very interesting TTRPG appropriate for the Halloween season called “Locus”, a mystery/horror game for 2-5 people. If we’ve piqued your interest go take a look at (and hopefully purchase) a copy here: https://cobblepath-games.itch.io/locusrpg. You can also win a copy by entering our current giveaway on Twitter; see above for details.

Opportunities You Don’t Want to Miss

(by us, popular companies & friends of the site):

*NOT TO BE MISSED! (UPDATED 10-22-22): My good friend, content creator (comics in this case) Jeff Schiller who graciously chose to participate in Free Comic Book Day, still wants to get the word out about his comic, “Magic Powder”. Two physical issues have bee released thus far, with a third issue already funded and plans for a 4th issue already. If you’d like copies of “Magic Powder”, then click the following link to get it: https://getmagicpowder.com/ for just $4.00 for a digital color copy,. Physical copies are sold-out at present. We’ve had the pleasure of giving away copies of “Magic Powder” on our Twitter account & the winners had nothing but praise for their “Magic Powder” prizes, so grab them when you can!

We also encourage you to follow Jeff on Twitter here:

https://twitter.com/aJeffSchiller

Supporting independent content creators from the very (near at least) start is a rare privilege and Jeff is very a very talented artist, who offered us the chance to see the culmination of a lot of hard work for free (on 2022’s Free Comic Book Day), is now offering us the chance to purchase copies which are definitely worth the low prices given on his website. If you’re a World of Darkness or Vampire: The Masquerade fan as I am, Jeff’s art style is very evocative of the WoD and I believe you’ll like what you see (especially since the Vault Comics for the WoD are presently paused)! So grab a copy for yourself, and do tell us what you think - we’ll share it with Jeff!

*WANT A NEW D&D 5E EXPERIENCE? Then let me bring to your attention to a great D&D 5E module by Peter Maier written under the "Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild" license and it’s called “Horrors of Frostbite Isle”. This is a wild-west, survival-themed adventure. It’s a “sandbox” with no hard goals, rather the adventure is in the journey. In this one, your party will have to deal with numerous hazards that many DMs and players breeze past such as extreme cold, insufficient food, resting without shelter, and other needs.  To cope, rules for fishing and game hunting are included, and even cigarettes & whiskey! Think your map will save you? You better look close as some may be flawed! And when you can’t settle disputes over the last of the chow, rules for guns are included. This is a 26-page module with several handouts included, and I find it an original and much-needed adventure, suitable for around (4) 1st level PC’s, and in this game, I suggest you bring a Ranger (some rules to balance the Ranger are included, as well).  You can purchase this module on DM’s Guild for just $4.99. I give this module a 5-star rating, as have the prior customers on the DM’s guild site. Purchase your copy today at: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/381015/The-Horrors-of-Frostbite-Isle!

Drat And Cat Suggest supports independent authors, both writers of original worlds, and of modules for existing games and bring this one to your attention because we believe you’ll love it!

NOTES: The author of “Horrors of Frostbite Isle” has chosen to donate all his proceeds (75% of the module list price of $4.99) from each sale to the “Child’s Play Charity” which you can learn more about here: https://www.childsplaycharity.org/

To learn more about the author, the setting, and some of his other projects & thoughts, do check out his own site at: https://thoughtstrands.com/

*1-26-22: For my #Vamily & #WoD/#VtM friends & followers, including folks who perhaps haven’t played “The World of Darkness: Vampire The Masquerade”, take a look at “BECOMING”, a great new work by independent author Tyler Rose for V5 that is a great aid in character creation (which included tips even I hadn’t thought of!) available right now for just $2.50 which you can find here:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/383628/BECOMING-A-V5-Character-Creation-Supplement?term=becoming

*4-24-22: I’d also my #Vamily friends to check out the “V5 Vampire Player's Guide” by TableGoth under the “Storyteller’s Vault” here: https://www.storytellersvault.com/product/377706/V5-Vampire-Players-Guidehttps://www.storytellersvault.com/product/377706/V5-Vampire-Players-Guide TableGoth is asking just $5.00 for 51 pages of new predator types, merits, flaws, disciplines, rituals & ceremonies. These aren’t just all former V20 or earlier powers, merits, etc; but for a small amount of exceptions these are newly-created specifically for V5. Some of the material is balanced better than the rest but your ST can always let some items in while modifying or banning others. This digital PDF is well worth the $5.00 and I’d rate it overall at 4.75 out of 5.0. Grab your copy today!

*Know of another not to be missed opportunity? Please contact us & you just might see it here!