Modern (animal)
Dice Up Games
2019
Complexity: 1
After some of the somewhat negative reviews I’ve been doing lately I wanted to cover something that was light, fun, and happy--because my next review certainly isn’t going to be. So I will now be looking at Squirrelfriends, a one-page RPG about everyone’s favorite bushy-tailed rodents.
Character Creation: 3/5
Players in Squirrelfriends take on the role of squirrels in a park. They begin by giving their squirrel a name and description and selecting a ‘type,’ which actually have no effect on the character. Next they select two ‘strengths’--something they’re good at--assign values to their fout attributes from an array, and choose one ‘struggle’--some form of detriment. Then as a group the players design the park in which their squirrels live, for which the game provides a number of questions and features.
Mechanics: 3/5
Squirrelfriends used a modified dice pool system, in which “About 7 dice per player” are placed into a shared ‘nest’ of dice. When a player needs to make a check they can take a number of dice from the nest up to a maximum equal to their relevant attribute, if the check is successful the dice are returned to the nest, if unsuccessful they are removed from play. The target numbers range from 1 to 3 successes, with a −1 modifier if the action relates to on of the character’s strength and +1 for their struggle. Presumably this means that a 1 success task that relates to a character’s strengths is an automatic success, but it could still require a roll as there is still a chance of critical failure, unfortunately this is never addressed. And speaking of which, an interesting mechanic is that on a roll with 0 successes, a character is ‘stuck’ and helping them becomes the next obstacle that must be overcome. Aside from being a neat little mechanical bit, this seems like it would make for some great role playing, as players are responsible for narrating failures and coming up with how your character made things worse is always fun. One more interesting note, is that successes and failures are determined by even and odd rolls respectively, and the game even specifies the use of “any even numbered dice.” This is another thing I like, as more casual gamers may not have large quantities of a single type of dice.
Alright, enough nice stuff, it just wouldn’t be one of my reviews if I didn't have nitpicky complaints. My only real issues relate to the nest and its function, the general idea behind it is having a shared resource that has to be risked on each roll, with the specification that running out of dice signals the beginning of the ‘final scene.’ However, the rules also state that instead of doing this the GM can just “refill it by half to continue the fun!” which kinda makes the risk element moot, as well as my other complaint about the non-specific number of dice to be used.
Writing: 1/3 [•]
As with any--good--one-page RPG the rules as succinct, and do a pretty good job conveying the entirety of the rules in the limited space available.
Presentation: 3/5
Squirrelfriends is actually quite nicely put together. There’s a lot of cute cartoon-style squirrels, trees, bushes, and nuts adorning the document--without feeling like they’re taking up space that could be better used for rules. The same stock images are used repeatedly, but are varied enough in their size, placement, as combinations as to not feel like you’re just seeing the same things over and over. The text is laid out over several… well I guess “green blobs” is the best thing to call them, which creates a visually-interesting design. Overall it’s just very bright and cute which still being highly readable. Also there’s a nice cover image, which is an extra little bit of effort that I generally appreciate from one-page games--except for when it makes me question why they spent time making a cover when they didn’t even finish the game.
Final Remarks
Overall Squirrelfriends is a nice little game. It’s not deep or complex, but it’s not supposed to be--if you want a more in-depth rodent adventure I’d recommend Ratpack. It’s definitely one for the casual or beginning tabletop gamer, and honestly the “hardcore” gamer probably isn’t that interested in games about squirrels.
Base Points: 9
Character Creation: 3/5, Mechanics: 3/5, Presentation: 3/5
Adjustments: +0
Setting: N/A, Writing: +0, Content: N/A
Overall Score: 60% (9/15 Points)
Hey, hey, you, you, I want to be your squirrelfriend.
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