My wife got this as a gift for her birthday, so technically this is not my copy. However, it resides in our household so I decided that I could give it a read and let you all know what I found. I am somewhat familiar with the franchise, as I was a watcher of the O.G. version way back in the late 80's. I have also seen the re-booted Friendship is Magic show. However, I would not call myself a Brony by any stretch of the imagination.
My Little Pony has proven a popular enough I.P. that this is not the only My Little Pony (MLP) RPG on the market, and it probably won't be the last. However, the version I have is published by Renegade Studios and uses their proprietary Essence 20 system. This is the same system they use for Transformers, Power Rangers, and G.I. Joe. You can read a lot of my thoughts on that system in my G.I. Joe review, and those thoughts pertain to this game too.
To me, it looks like a modified D&D 5E system but instead of straight bonuses to checks, it uses a bonus dice that gets larger the better you are at something. It has a lot of other similar yet appropriately re-named mechanics as 5E after that. For example, instead of Advantage/Disadvantage they call it an Edge or a Snag.
This has a couple of advantages. First, it is easy to transition established D&D players to this system as it is essentially the same. Second, all of Renegade's systems are cross compatible. You can have G.I. Joe characters, MLP Characters, and Power Rangers all in the same game without any real issues if you wanted a Saturday Morning line-up adventure. However, the disadvantage is that the game system can be a bit crunchier than you might want for a cartoon-based game.
So, since a lot of that was recap to what I said about the other Essence 20 systems, let's take a closer look at what this game does to make it feel like Friendship is Magic!
The introduction chapter is narrated by Pinkie Pie, which changes this section up a lot for those who have read a lot of these types of "What is an RPG" sections before. Keeps it a bit fresh and really highlights the tone of the game. What is that you say? Well, this is a game about telling a story where you work together as a group to solve problems and to explore the world of Equestria with friends. Simple really.
Sometimes, I think the Essence 20 system Renegade uses can be a bit much for someone new to RPGs. I imagine some of the folks who get this book might be beginners. To help facilitate them, they have a set of 6 pre-gen characters at the end of the book called the Renegade 6 that you can print and play with right away. In addition, the game comes with a first adventure called "Stealing Thunder". This is a good way to help players learn by doing instead of sitting down and reading an entire book. In the Intro, they go Chapter by Chapter to give a summary and let newbies know which chapters should be read by who and why. For example, the Game Master and any players who have Magical powers should read Chapter 8: Magic.
There are two special mechanics to encourage Ponies to work together. The first is some simple rules for Group based tests, where Ponies make skill tests appropriate to a challenge. If half or more succeed that is a success. The second Mechanic is that all Ponies can use a resource called a Friendship Point to create a Friendship circle, that gives all the Ponies in it benefits when they are a part of it. By working together, they have a better chance of assist, help, and heal.
Modifiers take the form of Dice Shifting in this game. As you assign ranks in skills, these ranks give you additional dice to roll with a d20. Modifiers increase the size of these bonus dice up or down to add (or subtract) from you d20 roll. There is a nice ladder on page 113, that goes from Auto-success to auto-fumble!
The basics of a Character are the 4 Essences. However, if you want to be a spell-caster you need to use a single point of essence to create or improve your spell-casting ability. Therefore, magic is a sacrifice from other physical capabilities to create a trade-off. In addition, spell-casters can always try to dispel another casters magic as a contested skill check.
Wealth and acquiring gear is an abstracted concept in this game. Most day-to-day items you can just assume you have available. Wealth and resources are a standard test where some Perks, Roles, and backgrounds might give you an advantage. There is also a section on having pets as well. I am a bit sad, because I know at least 1 of my players MUST HAVE A PET in every game.
The game has a really good breakdown of how to create Conflicts in the game including the Goal, Obstacles, Rewards and Consequences, Participants, and Scope of the challenge. It also breaks down that a challenge may cause physical Health damage but is more likely to cause stress that reduces a character's Essence temporarily. This represents mental stress.
Since a big part of the game is exploring Equestria and the setting, I am glad to say that this book has two sections on the topic (Three if you include the enemies section). There is a whole section on Exploration and what that means. This includes diseases, the environment, and other details. Then, there is a chapter on key locations in Equestria to be explored! Often times, this pillar is overlooked in a game, but not in this one! The Friends and Foes section also lays out NPCs from the show and some potential threats to Ponyville. These all help populate the world.
The section for the GM was not very helpful. It was better to read the starter "Stealing Thunder" adventure to get an idea of how the game was to be played. It had good examples of conflicts and combats that made sense in the world of the Ponies. It also was useful to understand difficulty levels and various tests.
I was also disappointed that there was no dedicated section about resolving or using Social skills, even though it is obviously a key part of the rules. They seem to just the same as standard checks with no meat beyond that. Since a few Roles lean heavily into Social as does the game itself I felt like this was a big omission. The section on Conflicts helps, but the core of the Social Pillar focused on standard checks only.
This game has too many rules and is far too crunchy for a game of My Little Pony! For example, the core concept of Cutie Marks giving a higher skill dice when it applies to a situation is a good, solid, simple rule. However, what makes up your Pony is so much more! There are a lot of skills and a lot of special rules for a new person to recall. The higher the level the more to recall!
For example, they have 6 sample characters to get you started. Looking at one of them there are..... 8-10 special rules per character from a combination of sources. Many times, these can be somewhat specialized or situational bonuses. They really needed to streamline this down for ease of play into core ideas. This is before you even get into Essences, Defenses, and Skills to recall as well. Too complicated for what this game is trying to be. You should not need a front-and-back page character sheet for this type of game.
There are a couple of pages for rules about weapons! I think the focus in on using them as equipment more than against other creatures, but the rules do cover it. Seems a bit Un-Pony like to me, but I guess bad guys can use them too.
This game talks about using battle maps! AHHHHHHHHHHH! This does not feel like it should be a game where tactical elements and positioning should be a thing. The Combat section is far too long for a game like this with a level of detail that should not be required. However, it does specify that when you go to 0 Health that doesn't mean you are dead, just defeated. However, this whole section seems more complex than a Saturday Morning cartoon about Friendship should really be.
Like other Essence 20 systems, character creation is actually pretty simple. Your character needs an Origin, Influences, and Role. Origins are if you are an earth-bound Pony, a Pegasi, or a Unicorn in this game. Influences are like backgrounds that helped shape your character that comes with some situational bonuses and some ideas for RPG. Your Role is basically your class that comes with various Class features.
Unlike the G.I. Joe RPG, the Roles in this game do not match 1-for-1 as closely to D&D classes. They take the form of a "Spirit of...." and grant situational bonuses. Most of these are more social focused and conflicts in this game are more about social interactions than actual ficticuffs. They have:
1. Spirit of Generosity - More of a Buffer character
2. Spirit of Honesty - A Social class
3. Spirit of Kindness - A healer and de-buffer of foes
4. Spirit of Laughter- A battlemaster of performance with a variety of tactics using expendable resources.
5. Spirit of Loyalty- A sentinel and bodyguard type of class
6. Spirit of Magic - A Caster class
This game uses a Fumble and Critical Success rules. Fumbles are on a failed test with a d20 roll of 1. Criticals happen when you roll a success and the highest number on your bonus die. A bit different than D&D.
There are three spell levels but only specialized Ponies will get to the third level of spells. The basic level has about 12 spells in 4 categories, the next level has about 8, and the last, most difficult level has 8 as well. There is also rules for making and using Magic Baubles like Healing Salves and more powerful items.
The game has a very simple meta-currency called Friendship Points. These allow players to re-roll dice, trigger special effects by class, active a Friendship Circle, avoid hits, and get hints as needed. The GameMaster is encouraged to hand them out based on good role-playing and other generally playing in a way where Friendship is Magic!
Final Thoughts
To quote the introduction: "How can fate be so cruel? All I ever did was love you, my shiny clicky magical math rocks!"
This game showed some development and improvement compared to the G.I. Joe. rulebook from Renegade. It did a better job explaining Conflicts and non-combat oriented parts of RPGs. I think it also broke-away from the usual Essence 20/D&D 5E framework a bit more than usual. The Roles especially seemed more thought-out for the type of game being played.
However, this game is still a bit too complex for beginners, a bit too rules-heavy, and way too focused on combat for what I was expecting. I would imagine combat should be resolved by a few simple dice rolls and decisions more like a Powered by the Apocalyspe style game, and less like a tactical combat focused-game like D&D. I think it makes too little of the Social and moral issues of MLP to focus on the easier "physical" conflicts. However, very rarely do they settle conflicts in MLP this way. This is not a Military Fantasy show like G.I. Joe!
My wife would be a first time GM and my group is asking her to run this. As a first time GM, I think this game needs to beef up the GM section AND make it a bit simpler to run for newbies. As it stands, I think it will be a challenge for her to run all the mechanics and manage all the character abilities as presented in the book. Afterall, she is a casual fan of the show and mostly likes it for the color palette and more of a casual RPGer.
That said, I think this could be a nice change of pace for a short campaign or palette cleansing 1-off for a long running group of RPGers. I could also see the reliance on the known Essence 20/D&D 5E framework could also make for some fun Convention games of this. However, as written it is more of a game for experienced RPGers than I expected.
Until next time!
