Here at EN World, I'mlookingatall-agestabletoprole-playinggames, board games, and card games. Do they engage the players at the kids' gaming table? Would they cut it at the adults' table? Are they genuinely fun for every age? My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria is an officially licensed RPG designed to let fans immerse themselves in MLP.
Co-produced by Ninja Division/Shinobi7 (US/Canada) and River Horse Games (Europe) under license from Hasbro, this is a multi-national effort to recreate the toyline/TV-series/movies/comics/books/video games/CCGs/board games/brony community experience for role-playing games. This 152-page hardcover discusses role-playing for first timers, and provides rules for character creation, combat and other actions, spells, creatures, an adventure, a character sheet, and friendship, which is magic.
You play a pony in Equestria, and you can choose to role-play as an Earth, Pegasus, or Unicorn type, but not an alicorn (think uni-pegasus) since they are broken. Earth ponies have higher starting dice in their Strong and Brainy stats than their magical counterparts. HP is called Stamina and, again, Earth ponies start with a higher maximum. The last stat is Charm, which is equal for all starting ponies. Despite strong starting dice for Earth ponies, unicorns get Telekinesis and Pegasi can Fly.
Other character details include your Element of Harmony, Quirks, Talents, Cutie Mark (a tattoo reflective of your main Talent), equipment, and Tokens of Friendship. Tokens of Friendship let you re-roll a die, or, in exchange for more tokens, pass a test, alter a story element, or make other changes as you require.
The system uses dice ranging from d4s to d20s. That is a bold, and fun, choice compared to utilizing the more common d6 (most homes have those in abundance). This game opts for RPG-centric dice, or optional number charts in the back of the book that let you close your eyes and pick a number at random. Tests require rolls against difficulties ranging from 2 to 20. Since your 1^st level ponies have stats ranging from d4 to d8, you’re limited in task difficulty. To overcome this, ToE has a teamwork mechanic I appreciate for an all-ages game. In most games, if I opt to help another character accomplish a task, instead of a gain, most likely the effort costs the helper another opportunity that round. In ToE, cooperating pays dividends. First, for every pony involved in the test, the Difficulty generally lowers by one. Second, every pony rolls their die to see if they succeeded (one success is all that’s required), so every player is genuinely involved in the outcome. This also applies to Scuffles where ganging up gives the larger side a statistical advantage over the other.
Does My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria win the kids' table? Yes, assuming your table loves MLP and has a set of RPG dice. It’s a great game that focuses on friendship with cooperation mechanics as well as the Tokens of Friendship. ToFs are given out by the GM based on the number of players, or when a PC – Pony Character – performs a great act of friendship. The focus on working together makes this an excellent game for children as it teaches all of the lessons worth imparting to the next generation.
Would My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria work at the adults' table? Yes, assuming your table loves MLP. The mechanics are excellent as they simulate group task completion. Tails of Equestria does a fantastic job in recreating the MLP experience and immersing the player in that world.
contributed by Egg Embry