Play as a Hamster in Dungeons & Dragons

An upcoming publication finally gives Dungeons & Dragons players the option to build a hamster character. Plot Hooks, a tabletop roleplaying game creation network, has launched a Kickstarter for Disaster Hamsters 2, a new 5E compatible supplement that provides a campaign setting and adventure featuring sentient animals. In Disaster Hamsters 2, players will create a party of sentient hamsters who explore the Sanctuary, a realm created by a nefarious scientist and ruled over by Snuggles, a cat spliced with red dragon DNA. The new book contains both rules for creating a hamster character for Fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons, a full description of the Sanctuary, and a Level 1-3 adventure that leads players on the road to a showdown with Snuggles. 

Hamsters are a surprisingly popular part of Dungeons & Dragons, dating back to the Spelljammer campaign setting. That space opera-esque fantasy setting featured giant space hamsters used to power magic spelljammer ships that sailed between planets. Later, Baldur's Gate introduced the character Boo, a supposed "miniature giant space hamster" who acted as the companion to the justice-oriented fan-favorite character Minsc. Minsc and Boo continue to appear in various D&D publications, including a current line of comics published by IDW and written by industry standout Jim Zub.

Disaster Hamsters 2 is a follow-up work to Disaster Hamsters, a 50-page supplement published on the DMs Guild. The first Disaster Hamsters book contained statblocks for hamster versions of various D&D classes, while this new book contains expanded lore and more mechanics for players. The creative team for Disaster Hamsters 2 includes 17 creators, including industry professionals Kat Kruger (whose D&D inspirational book will hit stores later this year) and Willy Abeel. Other creators involved with the project include Samuel Branch, Aaron Catano-Saez, Ken Hart, Austin Knight, Kat Kruger, Collette Quach, StarShinobi, Holly Wake, Ashton Duncan, Direquest, Noxbatty, Devin Symons, Ludovico Tellatin, Chloe Bolland, Nick Galvin, and Noordin Ali Kadir.

The Kickstarter for Disaster Hamsters 2 will run until February 3rd. As of press time, the project is sitting at about 10% of its $22,500 goal.