Friday, August 24, 2018

#RPGaDay 2018 Day 24: What RPG Deserves Greater Recognition

Day 24 of #RPGaDay wracked my brain a bit, but I needed to slap my forehead in disgust when the answer is so obvious.

"What RPG Deserves Greater Recognition?"

The My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria Storytelling Game
My regular readers can vouch for me, I'm not some uber-expert Brony.  I'm just a guy who sat through episodes in the 80's with my younger sister, and father of two little girls who powered through the first few seasons of MLP: Friendship is Magic (and a few of those weird Equestria Girls episodes *shakes head*)

I'm also a frequent GM at a con, and this style RPG is exactly what we need to get more people gaming.

Lemme tell ya, a table with five kids in the middle of a convention ballroom will overpower the room in a way the same table playing D&D can not.

I will admit, my sessions are only two hours long, and although they're scheduled for the kids track, anyone is welcome.  To be honest, I've had a few favorite players (a few of those are returning players), but my most memorable were the two college bros with two hours to kill and a polite attitude coming to table.

Before character creation was done, the dudes were feeding off the fun and energy off the kids, and by the time the final scene was drawn, they had embrace the fun of the game, and openly encouraged the kids to be the the true heroes, throwing all their Tokens of Friendship at them (think Bennies from Savage Worlds that you obviously should share).  With all the Tokens exhausted and one last roll needed to achieve victory, the kid with the last pony in the fight rolled just enough to succeed, the dudes erupted like very few have at a con, hootin' and hollerin', high-fivin' the kids, the parents, me, and even the some players at adjacent table who were distracted by our drama.

If we do have "Gatekeepers" in our hobby, I want those guys to be them.  Flexible, accommodating, and enthusiastic to the younger generation.

"You want to come into our group?  Let's be awesome.  I might even help if you think you need it."

I've already written a review of the core bookThe Curse of the Statuettes Boxed Set and Festival Lights module are adventures that are on-par with, if not superior to, content from Wizards or Paizo  I'm a bit behind on the rest of the catalog, but I'd be confident to say they're probably quality books as well.

Of course, I'll let my secret out.  We haven't used any of the published adventures because a) I'd like my daughter to get a few more friends together to play (the more players, the more Tokens of Friendship everyone gets) and b) it's so easy for us to roll some Rory's Story Cubes and set up a plot at the table. 

1 comment:

  1. I'm going to pick up a copy of this for the day my daughter is old enough to attempt daddy/daughter game day. With luck she'll enjoy TRPGs and we'll get to continue playing and evolve into other games like Bubble Gumshoe or whatever genre she wants to venture into.

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