#RPGaDay2022 - Day 2 - What is a Great Introductory RPG?

 Day 2 of the #RPGaDay2022 brings up a valid question to the new group of players interested in learning RPGs, "What is a Great Introductory RPG?"

After years of playing D&D, GURPS, Fantasy Games Unlimited products, Savage Worlds, World of Darkeness, Call of Cthulhu, and a host of indy press, the best introductory game I have ever seen has been My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria Storytelling Game by River Horse Productions.

Yes, it's a children's cartoon franchise, but River Horse has done an excellent job with their core rulebook.  It explains role-playing far better than any game I've seen in the past 30 years or so, the mechanics are simple, yet still use the full polyhedrals, character creation is fast and easy, and best of all Friendship might be Magic, but Tokens of Friendship allow for re-rolls, re-rolls with bonuses, and if enough are used, automatic successes.  Even better, the tokens are determined at the beginning of each session based on how many players there are.  The more people you invite to enjoy the game, the more friendship tokens you can use.  

Best yet,  My Little Pony tends to avoid all-out battles, focusing on alternative solutions, and if need be, quick skirmishes, so new gamers won't be dragged into the combat machine that D&D can be presented as. 

My biggest fear is the immediate future.  My Little Pony is a Hasbro Franchise (re: the company that owns Wizards of the Coast) and their Renegade Game Studios has already done Power Rangers, Transformers, and  GI Joe RPGs.  Their version the My Little Pony RPG is currently available for pre-order, but there's no mention of system or the what's happening to River Horse's license.   Having read up on Renegade's Essence20 system for the the products, it seems wildly complicated for something that the River Horse version handled so elegantly and minimalistic.   That might also explain why the new version of the game is recommended for ages 13-up, where I've run dozens of convention game in the kids track with River Horse, and the 5-year olds can explain the rules to me.  

The River Horse Horse version was the perfect price point for a thin modern hardcover ($35), where the new Renegade will be $55.  Trust me, my job makes me fully aware of the insane and skyrocketing paper costs, and I completely understand the relative inexpensive cost versus hours of enjoyment, but that is ridiculous.