Yes, this is a real thing. A very real role-playing game based on the “My Little Pony” world of Equestria.
The Tails of Equestria RPG is all about letting you create your very own, unique pony character and playing them through adventures with your friends. There’s even spaces on the character sheet for you to draw your pony character and their cutie mark.
But there’s also a lot that will look very, very familiar to fans of RPGs. Each pony has stats, just like a D&D character. Pony stats include Body, Mind, and Charm. As in the Savage Worlds RPG, each stat is a die type, ranging from the humble d4 to the mighty d20. That’s the die the player rolls when they make a test on one of their abilities. Characters also have talents that are also ranked by die type. If your pony is trying to do something that involves one of their talents, you roll both the die for the stat and the die for the talent and take whichever you prefer. The goal is to roll equal-to or better than the number assigned by the GM.
Ponies also have quirks. These are negative traits, things like bad habits, phobias, or annoying or dangerous issues like having a bad temper or being easily distracted. Whenever your pony deals with a quirk, they earn a Friendship Token. Friendship Tokens can be spent for things like re-rolling a die that came up short. Friendship Tokens become even more powerful when they are shared or pooled by the group.
The game comes with an adventure in the book, which is good because Tails of Equestria is not like your normal RPG. Yes, there is fighting, but it’s pretty brutal; most ponies would be better served using their brains before kicking with their hooves. This means Tails of Equestria is an RPG built around puzzles and social interaction rather than the ever-present combat of a game like D&D or Pathfinder.
Tails of Equestria is written for people who don’t know RPGs, so it’s perfect to hand to your smarter teen or tween and let them run with it. Mom and Dad could also easily run the game, especially if they already are familiar with both gaming and Equestria. And for those of us with more than a few years of RPGing under our belts, Tails of Equestria offers a very different sort of challenge from our usual RPG fare. But above all, the game is an excellent introduction to the world of RPGs, with the back-cover blurb being one of the best descriptions of what an RPG is that I’ve ever read. Find a copy today at your Dragon’s Lair Comics & Fantasy®.
