Theme: Woodland Community
My dear dear friend, I love it when I am able to tell you that there is a TTRPG exactly for that - and a few more for fun!
Take care of each other, and of the land.
Grow what you need and share all you can.
Move with the seasons, their rhythm and time.
You'll flourish, together, come rain or come shine.
Come Rain Come Shine is a GM-less, collaborative story-telling and role-playing game, based on the Four Points RPG system, and inspired by Solarpunk.
In a group of 2 or more, the players create and share the roles of animal-folk characters, as well as the community they inhabit. They work together to accomplish tasks and overcome complications, in order to help their community flourish.
Come Rain Come Shine blends story-telling and role-playing by letting players decide if they wish to take on a task as a community, or as a small group of characters, drawn from a shared character pool.
This game uses a resource called Energy Points, or EP, to generate levels of success. These points exist in both community pools and character pools, reflecting how characters depend on the community and vice versa. Your characters will take animal traits and abilities that may help them in specific situations, as well as invent a profession that helps recognize the animals’ role in community. If you like this game and want to make it about dinosaurs specifically, there’s a Dinosauria supplement that’s totally worth checking out.
Man came to our woodlands with axes, hounds, and fire.
They tore down the old oak, where the birds made their nests.
They built upon the glade, where the deer used to roam.
They cast us to the wind and forced us from our home.
Only together may we wayward souls find a new place to call our own.
Play as a community of wayward animals in search of a new home in Briar & Bramble, a community focused roleplaying game crafted in the heart of the English woodlands.
This is a game that has higher stakes than the other games on this list. The animals characters embodied by the players are at risk of getting hurt, so it’s imperative that the group have a conversation beforehand about the kind of game they are going to play.
As for the system itself, this game is Powered by the Apocalypse, so expect the moves, graded successes, and playbooks typical of this game system. You’ll do things like move to new environments, bargain with NPCs for resources, fight (and flee) with predators, and attempt to hide from threats.Like the other games on this list, there is a palpable emphasis on Community and the link between the group and the individual.
A cozy minigame, rules-lite, and quick to learn. This little buddy is based on Over the Garden Wall, Wind in the Willows, the Muppets, and just general Americana.
Play as a raccoon scout playing baseball with your friends, the bicycle pie deliverer, and a harmless old witch. Spend eternal autumn days fishing in the stream and looking for Mayor Vole's lost marbles.
The ruleset is mostly Chris McDowall's Into the Odd/Electric Bastionland with some added flair from John Harper's World of Dungeons and layout inspiration from Jason Tocci's 2400. Content aspects also inspired by Cecil Howe's Forest Hymn & Picnic.
This is the quickest read out of the three recommendations here: it’s only one page. There’s a pretty simplistic 2d6-rolling mechanic, and characters (called Ramblers) are composed of three stats, an expendable resource called Pep, and specialties called Knacks. There’s a little bit of setting established in the listed character backgrounds, but the rest of the tone and setting is up to the table - I’d recommend using a city-building or map-making game to prepare for this game, like I’m sorry did you say street magic, or Ex Novo.
If you want more animal fun, you can check out the TTRPG Animals bundle currently on sale at Itch.io! Offer ends March 30.
