Self Published
2015
Complexity: 2
Well, I’m still in a princess mood, so let’s look at another princess-themed game. Princess Pillowfighter is… pretty much exactly what it sounds like, a game in which princesses resolve issues with one another, often by pillow fighting. Is it more than that? Maybe, but it is most certainly that thing.
Setting: 1/3 [−]
Princess Pillowfighter is set in a land of princesses who settle their disagreements by pillowfighting in a magical realm called “The Castle,'' which is maintained by fairies. That is pretty much all there is to it, and it does provide a basic framework for where the game takes place, but not really anything more than that.
Character Creation: 2/5
All characters are princesses trying to increase their estates, who then come into other princesses trying to do the same, and pillow fights ensue.
Princesses are defined by two “traits,” basically a short sentence about the princess that includes a positive and negative quality. So we could say our princess was “always immaculately dressed, prim, and proper, but doesn’t like to get dirty or muss her hair.” Which would be an advantage when doing fancy princess stuff, but a disadvantage when it comes time to get down and dirty.
While this is a fairly minimal game, the character creation is perhaps just a bit too minimal, as the only choices you can make only apply to your character’s advantage or disadvantage—discussed later—and there are many more aspects to characters that are just static.
Mechanics: 2/5
Conflict resolution takes place with a system of bidding points either against each other or against a GM-controlled obstacle, 1d3 is added to the bid value and success goes to the highest bid. There’s also a system of advantage where characters get points for anything which would give them an advantage in the contest, with the one with the highest advantage rolling a d6 to determine a random advantage from a table.
Just in general, and in that case specifically, I don’t like wagering systems. It’s another one of those things where the mechanics themselves feel more like a disconnected mini-game than a system of resolving conflicts between characters. Also, it’s another one of those things that always feels like it’s done for the purpose of being different instead of because it’s the best choice.
Writing and Presentation: 2/5
The layout in this book is… not great. It is very much just text in a document. There are some very nice illustrations, like way better than the overall quality of the book would suggest. The writing is okay, it conveys the rules but not much more.
Final Remarks
So that was Princess Pillowfighter, a game I guess. It comes out with an interesting concept, but really doesn’t deliver much.
Base Points: 6
Character Creation: 2/5, Mechanics: 2/5, Presentation: 2/5
Adjustments: −1
Setting: −1, Writing: 0, Content: N/A
Overall Score: 33% (5/15 Points)
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